Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine

Chapter 6

Hermione, Ron, Luna, Ginny and Neville had settled into the compartment Harry was in. It did not feel right not sitting with Harry, even if it was just his dead body.

The sky outside was darkening as the sun set behind the mountains. Hermione peered out of the window, "We'll be at Hogwarts soon, we'd better get changed. We'll still be expected to be in our robes when we arrive."

There was a flurry of activity as trunks were opened, robes removed and put on, and everything put away. They had just pulled into Hogsmede Station, when to the groups' great surprise Harry gave a great gasp and sat up. He looked around at the shocked faces before jumping up and running out of the door.

The five friends looked at one another for a second before jumping up and following after Harry. Once out in the corridor, they saw him weaving between students until he reached the door out onto the platform, where upon he jumped down.

This time it was the Order members gathered together on the platform that were surprised. They stared in shock as Harry jumped down from the train and ran off of the platform, out of the station and onto the main street of Hogsmede. From there he spun around once and disapparated on the spot.

Remus Lupin looked around and spotted Harry's friends stood in the doorway where Harry had jumped from. "Ron, Hermione, what's going on?"

"We have no idea Remus; he just woke up, and then ran out. We only know what you know." Hermione said staring at the spot Harry had disapperated from. "He never uttered a single word as he left."

"I don't understand it," Ron spoke up, "he was dead, we all saw it, but he's alive now. Did they do something to him that caused him to act this way, temporarily suspend life until they need him for something?"

Everyone was at a loss for words; it was a puzzle to them all. "We need to follow him, find out where he's gone and what's going on. If You-Know-Who is controlling him, we need to put a stop to it." One Order member stated and everyone understood the urgency.

Remus turned to the students, "You five head on up to the school, it's safer for you since we don't know what's going on."

"But Remus, we need to know what is happening with Harry, he is our friend, we've never missed out on an adventure together." Ron exclaimed, but Hermione sighed.

"Remus is right Ron; we need to go back to school. No one else knows what is going on, and the teachers will need all the help of the prefects, and the head boy and girl, to keep things under control, especially when they find out what has happened."

Ron sighed, but agreed with Hermione and they all turned to go up to Hogwarts. Remus had to smile at their determination; they would do anything for their friend. He watched them until their carriage disappeared around the corner along with all the other ones, until the Order had finished tracking where Harry could have disappeared to.

"We have it; he's in a village called Little Hangleton. We should go now before it is too late!"

One by one, each Order member apperated out of Hogsmede and into the village of Little Hangleton. The place was eerily quiet; not a single person was about. No one was out walking their dogs, or even going out for a pint down at the local. There were no children running about, playing, or enjoying their last days of summer.

The reason for this became obvious as they turned in the direction of the graveyard. There, high in the sky hovering like an ominous green shadow, was the Dark Mark. Panic flared through those present as they hastened over to the graveyard, the Dark Mark was only fired where someone had been killed.

However, Harry was the only one stood there as they arrived, directly below the Dark Mark. "Come on then Tom, show yourself!" Harry yelled into the empty atmosphere, moments before a rippling in the air announced the arrival of Voldemort, Nagini coiled around his feet.

Before anyone could react to Voldemort being there Harry had thrown a quick killing curse in Voldemort's direction. However, instead of hitting the man it hit the snake, who fell to the floor with a loud thud from where it had begun to uncoil, preparing to attack.

Voldemort looked down at the snake before looking at Harry, a snarl on his face. "Do you really think that killing Nagini would destroy me Potter? I have secured many ways of preventing my destruction." He laughed in a high, cruel pitch, "Look what happened the last time people thought you had defeated me."

Harry laughed back as he and Voldemort started circling around one another, "Oh, I know that Nagini was not your only safeguard. It all started with a diary of your sixteen year-old-self, a part of your soul was encased as a memory from when you opened the Chamber of Secrets. Then there was a locket and a ring that belonged to your family, one of which was an artefact of Slythein's. Let's not forget the other two founders artefacts you defaced; the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff and the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw you stole in order to preserve your immortality. Then there was the final horcrux..."

If Voldemort could have gone pale, Harry was sure he would have done, however his eyes seemed to glow with an undetermined amount of anger. "What makes you think they were the only ones I had, or if there were anymore."

"Well seven is the most powerful number, isn't it Tom, and what's seven deaths to you? Only you messed up Tom, you only meant to have seven, but you accidentally created one more. I'm no descendent of Salazar Slytherin, so how was I able to speak and understand parsletongue? How else do you explain the connection that you and I share? Yes Tom, I was your unintended Horcrux; a piece of your soul was imbedded in me when you tried to kill me and it backfired upon you. So what's your choice Tom, kill me and face death or keep me alive and secure your immortality?"

"And who's to stop me from killing you now, and using your death to create another horcrux? Killing me now would not achieve anything, you would all end up in the same situation that you were in when I first tried to kill you."

Harry laughed again as he sidestepped a bolt of green light Voldemort threw at him. "Now that would work if your spy; your faithful servant at Hogwarts, hadn't tried to kill me earlier on. They destroyed the horcrux within me and now you and I are as mortal as one another. Do you really want to take a risk of me being able to kill you?" Harry stopped and raised his wand into an attack stance.

The members of the Order that were watching were both shocked and confused. None of them had ever heard of a horcrux before, but from what Harry had said they could guess what they were used for, several witches looked disgusted at the means used to create them. However, what was puzzling them all was this spy that Harry had mentioned, the only spy they knew was Severus Snape, but he had been A.W.O.L since he had killed the Headmaster. Had You-Know-Who been able to recruit one of the students to his own cause and use them to do what Snape had been unable to?

Voldemort had quickly become enraged by what Harry had said and did not hesitate in casting the killing curse at Harry. Harry however was slightly quicker, in the time it had taken Voldemort to issue the killing curse, he had already cast a non-verbal expelliarmous.

What happened next came as a shock to all of the spectators watching the duel.

Harry's spell hit Voldemort's wand, causing it to fly out of his hand and spin around a couple of times. Everyone watched as, almost in slow motion, the wand flew up and around, and as it reached the pinnacle of its arc, green light started to glow from the end, and then as it fell again, the green light shot out and hit Voldemort straight in the middle of his chest. He fell back to the ground dead, the wand clattering to the floor besides him.

The silence around them seemed to permeate into every crack and shadow in the near vicinity as everyone stared at the body of the dead Dark Lord.

Harry's movements as he bent down to pick up Voldemort's wand, drew them all out of their stupor and as reality dawned on them all at what had happened, they all rushed forward en mass to congratulate Harry. However, as they reached the body of Voldemort Harry had disapperated away again.

However, this time it was obvious where his destination would be: Hogwarts.