Harry flinched as a man passing his compartment stopped and looked in suspiciously, almost like he could sense someone was inside.

Sitting with his fingers crossed and his invisibility cloak wrapped tightly around him, he thought about what would happen if anyone found him. He had snuck onto the last train leaving from Hogsmeade that was headed to London that night and he just knew that if he was found out that he would be escorted straight back to Hogwarts and into Dumbledore's hands.

He felt a bead of sweat forming on his forehead as he saw the man reach out towards the handle but then luckily something down the hall caught the man's attention. He gave one last glance at the compartment than shook his head and walked away.

Harry let out a relieved sigh, that had been a close one. Harry bit the inside of his lip as he looked at the compartment door. He briefly wondered if he should close the blinds but then decided against it. If that man did come back and saw that the blinds were drawn, he would more than likely think something was up.

His eyes were drawn to the window; it was a clear night with thousands of bright stars up above them. Harry had never ridden the train at night before and had to admit, even with all the stress and uncertainty he felt at the moment, it a beautiful, slightly calming sight.

As the train continued on through the night Harry's thoughts drifted to Hedwig, his once beautiful owl and her fate now. He had left her at Hogwarts, where he hopped she would be okay. The truth was that as he had walked out of the Gryffindor tower, he had been planning to take her with him.

He wasn't entirely sure how he was going to do it but he didn't want to leave her behind. However he had received a surprise when he got to the Owlery. As Harry had made his way up the steps he had heard a soft humming when he was almost at the top.

He'd been a little annoyed at first, thinking about how he didn't want anyone to see him and wondering what someone would be doing in the Owlery so late. But then, as he got to the top, and peered inside, he was amazed at what he saw.

Leah, the little Hufflepuff from earlier that morning, was sitting against the wall with Hedwig propped on her knee, running her hands over that owl's feathers. Her humming was soft but obviously calming as Hedwig leaned into her touch, looking more at peace than Harry had seen her in a while.

Harry pulled off his cloak and stepped into the dimly lit space. Leah had looked up at him in surprise and then she looked at him guilty. "Harry," she said letting him know that she did in fact know who he was "I'm sorry. I know I should have asked if I could come see Hedwig but when you said you were worried about her being sick, I decided to write my Gran who is a Herbologist, to see if she knew of anything to help…"

Harry cut her rambling off "It's okay," he said walking towards her and running a hand over Hedwig's head "I haven't seen her look this well for months. Thank you, I'm not sure what you did but whatever it was it seemed to have worked."

"Oh…" Leah said relieved by his reaction "it's okay, I was happy to help."

Harry had then looked down at his still weak owl and had known then and there that even though she did look quite a bit better, that if he were to take her with him, she might still be too weak to make it. So he had kneeled down in front of Leah who watched him curiously.

"Leah would you mind doing me a favor?" he asked.

Leah shrugged for a second "I'll try," she said.

"Would you mind coming to check on Hedwig, and doing whatever you did today until she's better?" Harry asked her.

A smile brightened Leah's face "Sure," she said "Hedwig is such a nice owl, I'd love to spend more time with her. My mom and dad told me that if I did well in school this year that they would get me my own owl, so taking care of her will be good practice for me."

"Thank you Leah," Harry said, relief flooding through him "I really appreciate it."

"No problem," Leah answered before started to stand up "but right now I should really get back to my dorm. I don't want to be out after curfew."

"That's a good idea," Harry said as he took Hedwig from Leah.

Leah smiled, said good night and headed out the door.

Harry lifted Hedwig onto her perch and then smiled as the owl started to pick at one of the mice he had left for her. "I think you're gonna be okay now," Harry whispered quietly to the bird and she turned towards him. "I have to go now Hedwig but I want you to stay here until you're better."

She hooted softly at him.

He chuckled "Don't worry, that doesn't mean I'm abandoning you." He rubbed her soft feathers and then said quietly "Come and find me when you're better."

Then he had turned and made his way to the secret passageway that would lead him to Honeydukes, pleased with the knowledge that Hedwig would be in good hands.

Now as he sat on the train, half way to London, he knew he had made the right decision. His cover most definitely would have been blown if he'd had to have hidden Hedwig as well.

Harry moved his pack that had been sitting between his feet, up onto his lap. He reached in and grabbed half of a sandwich that he had gotten from the kitchens before he left. Dobby had been as happy as ever to set him up with some snacks before he 'headed off to bed.'

Harry wasn't happy with himself for lying to the elf but he just couldn't trust Dobby not to say anything now that he was under Dumbledore's service.

He carefully placed the pack back down at his feet as he bit into his sandwich. Right now, the things that were in his pack could very well determine whether his escape was a success or not.

After their fourth year, when Barty Crouch Junior had managed to get Harry to the graveyard, Hermione had gone on and on about how they needed to be more prepared in the future.

She'd then had their trio work tirelessly during their fifth year to stock up on potions and other usual items that could come in handy if they were ever put in a dire situation.

Harry had thankfully remembered the items they had complied before he had left and with a quick accio had floated the items down from Hermione's dorm into his hands. He felt bad taking them but he knew that at that moment he needed the supplies more than Hermione did, though he was sure she wouldn't be very happy with him when she found out.

Upon taking them he had promised himself, to lessen his guilt, that he would make it up to Hermione and replace all the items.

Harry yawned, he'd had a crazy day and suddenly he felt very tired.

He didn't think it was wise to fall asleep while he was so exposed and unprotected but he couldn't help his eyes from slowly drifting closed. Soon he was fast asleep, head pressed against the window.

…

Severus sat across from Dumbledore, trying to keep the smirk from his face as they waited for Potter to come to the Headmaster's office.

He was finally going to have his revenge over the brat. All these years he'd had to put up with Potter's utter disrespect for the rules, his stubbornness, his rebelliousness, and now Albus was finally on his side in the matter. No more protecting the boy or coddling him from Severus' wrath.

Oh yes, Severus could not be more pleased with himself, he was happier than a kid on Christmas.

However looking over at Albus it was obvious the older man did not share his enthusiasm. It must be killing him having to punish his perfect little golden boy, he probably even wished Severus had ignored the disrespect so that everyone other than him could go along happily with their day.

What did it matter if the Potions Professor was happy anyway? There were thousands of people that could replace him but only one Savior of the Wizarding World.

Anyways Potter didn't have it so bad, his punishment was to be handed off to his relatives? Severus couldn't see how that could be much of a punishment at all, though it must not be as glamorous for the boy as he had always thought.

Severus wasn't stupid, it was obvious to him that Potter's displeasure over the thought of going back to his relatives was genuine. Maybe they were stricter than normal or they made him do chores, Severus didn't know, but they couldn't be that bad since he knew Dumbledore would never leave Potter with anyone who was actually harmful to him.

Severus shook the thoughts from his head, it didn't matter how bad the punishment was for Potter, well the worse the better, but that's not what mattered the most to him.

What mattered was that Potter would be out of his hair. Away from Hogwarts where he always got all the attention and praise from the other professors, not to mention points. He wouldn't be around to goad his Slytherins, beat them at Quidditch, or make them look bad in any way. He wouldn't have to deal with the whiny brat at any time in the near future, not unless he apologized and that in itself was sweet revenge for Severus.

At this he could no longer keep his smirk at bay.

Albus saw and shook his head "You're pleased about this aren't you…?" he didn't give Severus a chance to answer "What am I saying, of course you are. Really Severus, this is a serious matter, I don't know what has gotten into Harry but this feud between the two of you cannot continue."

"And it won't," Severus said evenly "as soon as the boy apologizes to me."

Albus let out a sigh, "What trouble you two cause me."

Severus glared and opened his mouth to protest.

"Oh don't bother Severus, you and I both know that Harry was partially right yesterday when he accused you of picking on him, you do and you don't go out of your way to hide it either. Maybe this could have been avoided if you had just let up on him a bit…"

Severus wanted to strangle Albus for saying that "Of course you would choose Potter's side over this!" he sneered.

"I'm not choosing sides Severus, and especially not Harry's or why would we be here waiting for Minerva to bring his relatives through. I'm simply saying you have not made this easy on me and perhaps in future you could heed my advice…"

Severus was glaring at the headmaster now "I shouldn't have to…" but he was cut off abruptly when the fire in Albus' hearth flared green indicating a fire-call. His mouth snapped shut and he tried to control his temper, he would not allow Albus to ruin this moment for him. He already knew what the Headmaster thought about his teaching methods and how he treated the students, it would be no use getting into the same argument they'd had a hundred times before.

"Minerva, what is it?" Albus asked as her head appeared in the flames.

"Albus," she said sounding haggard "I thought you would have called me by now to bring Mr. Potter's relatives through? I'm at his house in surrey with his Aunt and Uncle and they are not happy." Minerva's voice got low as she whispered her next few words "The husband, he's a crude man, I'm having trouble…"

Albus raised his hand silencing her "I'm sorry Minerva, I will be right there, just give us a moment."

She nodded but she didn't look happy about it. A moment later she was gone.

Albus shook his head "Where is that boy? Surely he knows… we must not keep his relatives waiting. Severus I must go through and relieve Minerva, you must go and find Potter, ask the house elves to help, once you've found him bring him here and send him through. There's no need for you to come through though, the least amount of people invading the Dursley's house the better."

Severus wanted to protest, he shouldn't have to be the one to locate the boy, if Albus'd had any sense at all he would have brought him into his office the night before so the Gryffindor didn't have any time to do anything stupid.

He was about to say all of this but Dumbledore already had the floo powder in his hand and a moment later he was gone.

Severus glared at where he had been before getting to his feet annoyed. When he found Potter the boy was going to wish he had come to the office on his own.

…

Severus glared down at his breakfast, he was not hungry. It had been two days since the Potter brat had gone missing and Albus had the teachers spread thin. Half of them were out looking for the golden boy while the others were in charge of the students.

At the moment Severus had the pleasure of babysitting the students in the Great Hall. Everything had come to a standstill when Potter had been declared a runaway. Normally when a student ran away, and yes they did get a few, Albus would have called the parents and then called the Aurors and let them deal with it but not for Potter.

Of course not, Potter always got special treatment. Albus wanted a chance to find the boy without alerting the Aurors to their predicament. He had the teachers looking because he had proclaimed that who would be better to find Potter, than those who knew him best?

Severus highly doubted any of the Professors truly knew Potter that well but none had protested so here they were a few days later. Classes still cancelled and the school on lock down, no mail in or out. No visitors, nothing. Dumbledore didn't want the disappearance of Harry Potter getting out.

Severus frowned and looked up at the students in the Great Hall as all at once everyone began talking. The post had been delivered and whatever was in the paper today had the students in uproar.

Severus was about to call them to order when he heard Minerva gasp beside him, he looked over checked out the headline of the Daily Prophet she was holding and his stomach plummeted.

The Boy Who Lived Found Dead

Early this morning, two Auror's came across the body of one Harry James Potter in a laneway just off the main drag of Diagon Alley….

That's as far as Severus got when the small amount of food he had eaten that morning threatened to come back up. Never had he thought he would care about the welfare of Potter but in that moment he wished he could turn back time and stop Potter from leaving the school. Sure he had been upset with Potter and wanted to see him punished but he didn't want to see him dead.

He had failed Lily…

In that moment with that realization he wanted to be anywhere but where he was, sitting in the Great Hall amongst the chaos.