Chapter 10

Hey guys. I've been struggling to really find the will to write for my fanfiction tbh. I'm also spending pretty much al my time beta-ring, so yeah, go check out one of the stories i'm beta-ring, it's called "The best laid plans" by lowten. It's really good and he actually updates it on time!

And, lowten, if your reading this, your the one who actually convinced me to continue with this story, so thank you.

Also, you better review...

Another Author's note: to OneDocToHealThem, you have to remember, Ron has been through traumatic experiences in regards with losing family, so in my story he's grown to become quite hostile to anyone he who thinks is a threat to his family. I.e he's very explosive in nature. I will be expanding on it in later chapters.

Yet another Author's note...: Yeah so I'm gonna be changing my upload schedule, cause as I said before, I'm just too busy to find the time, or will, to write. So, I'm gonna be uploading one chapter per two weeks for the foreseeable future, and I may be able to post an extra one or two every so often.

Hope you guys understand :)

-Missing-

What would it be like to die?

That was his latest trend of thought. He'd never fully experienced death, only loneliness and emptiness. He'd grown used to both of them.

Happiness had never come quickly nor fully to him, he'd only felt small bursts of pleasure, found in the...displeasure, of others.

The boy, though, he was full of happiness. It was foreign, a euphoria of muddled senses, making you unaware...no, this would not do.

He'd need to feel darkness, to experience the pain of others, to turn him away from the light...

But the boy already despised his father. That was a good start. What was it he felt...

Jealousy...Anger...Hatred...

He could work with these.

The boy's brother would be a problem, however. He was light through and through. What was it the younger boy thought? 'a perfect little imitation of the Harry Potter...'

Yes, there was more jealousy, and hatred, and anger.

He was wrong about the boy, he would be able to mould him into the darkness quicker than he'd hoped.

Albus walked out of the library, a new set of books under his arm.

His head was aching to no end; he'd need to see Madam Pomfrey again.

He climbed the mountain of stairs up to the infirmary, walking up to the nurse's office and knocking gently on the door.

When he heard the call to come in, he slowly entered her small and cluttered office, "Madam Pomfrey, do you happen to have any pepper-up potion? I have another headache and it's quite bad."

The nurse seemed very preoccupied with something,

and vaguely waved her hand towards the potions cupboard by the door, unlocking it with wandless magic.

"Make sure you don't take anything else, Potter. I tell you now, I will know if you make off with any other potions",

she warned him sternly.

"Yes, miss", Albus bowed his head slightly to her, before turning to open the potions cupboard, looking for the small vial with the label of a 'pepper-up'.

He found it on the second row of neatly lined up bottles, and was about to shut the door when he noticed the label of another potion.

'Polyjuice potion', this was what he needed to get into the restricted section! Just take some hair from a willing Gryffindor, and then they've got a free pass to browse through all the dark and mysterious books.

First, though, he needed to sneak some without Madam Pomfrey noticing.

Surely, she wouldn't know if it was hidden, in say, a pepper-up vial?

He used a vanishing charm on the liquid within the vial, his front hidden to the nurse, who was now looking at him a little suspiciously.

With back still to her, he quickly poured in some Polyjuice potion, spilling a little on the front of his robes in his hast to not get caught.

After a minor panic attack when Madam Pomfrey cleared her throat, he turned around, trying to quickly exit her office.

"Not so fast, Potter".

Albus' breathing increased ten-fold. What would his mother say if they caught him trying to smuggle potions?

She got up from her desk, and took the counterfeit potion from his hand, holding it up to her nose to sniff it.

She stood there for a moment, thinking. Just when Albus was sure he was going to get called out on it, she said, "It's all fine, you're free to go."

Albus' eyes widened in relief, when he saw her wink at him, "Potter, if you need any help to find your father, let me know. I was always quite fond of him, even though he was in my infirmary more than any other student I've ever had!"

Albus felt a little less relieved at that. They thought he was trying to help his father?

Well...it wouldn't be bad to keep that facade up.

After all, this Voldemort guy was what everyone talked about when they mentioned his father, so he could just say that he was trying to find out about who would want to hurt him.

But most of all, he wanted to know about the person his father never told him about.

He wanted to know about the "Boy-who-lived".

It had been two weeks now. Two weeks.

Was everyone really that incompetent that they couldn't find the saviour f the wizarding world?

She hadn't even hidden him that well; he was only in a lightly warded house on the edge of the forest of Dean. Her master had told her not to use anything that would look suspicious, only to use what a normal house of a witch or wizard would use.

And what could she do apart from follow his orders?

He was always right. At least that is what her conscience tells her...

She shook herself mentally, she needed to focus, and these thoughts wouldn't help with that.

The wooden door leading to the 'interrogation room', as her master liked to call it, creaked as she opened it slowly, alerting her captor to her presence.

There, in the centre of the room, was Harry Potter, bound by magical chains, his eyes blinded by a simple spell.

He frantically looked around, searching for the source of the noise.

She smiled. Her master liked to play with his prey before he finished them.

She crept up slowly to Harry, before leaning down to whisper in his ear;

"Hello, again, Harry."

He gasped in recognition, "You..."

It felt good to stretch her legs after so long cramped in one of the notoriously uncomfortable St Mungo's beds. She breathed in the smell of the fresh air in Godric's Hollow; her home.

She hadn't been here since the incident with the diary, and she intended to find out what it was, and more importantly, why Harry had it.

Ginny stepped through the wards, feeling the slight chill as it inspected her magic, allowing her entry. If she hadn't been permitted by the wards, they would've blasted her out of its perimeter, before binding her magically so that she couldn't escape. Harry had set it up this way so that he could catch anyone who tried to enter his home without his permission.

But how had that witch gotten in, the night she'd attacked them?

Either, she knew how to override the wards, was powerful enough to go destroy them, or...she was one of the people who Harry had approved to go through the wards…

Only she and Harry had the spell to override the wards, and they'd both been there that night.

Ginny herself had just stepped through the wards, which were working normally, if a bit hazy.

So that left only one option, the person who'd attacked them that night was someone they knew, someone close enough to them that they had access to their home.

But who?

Ginny walked up the staircase to Harry's office, the scene of the crime.

The Auror who Hermione had said was meant to stay in the house was nowhere to be seen. Apparently, the diary contained so much dark magic that touching it would most likely kill the person.

Everyone was still baffled as to how Ginny had survived, though Hermione had theorised that it may have been her connection to Harry as his wife that saved her.

She opened the door to the office, wincing as the creaks echoed loudly through the deadly silent house.

Ginny was immensely grateful that Hermione and Ron had taken Lily while she was incapacitated, she couldn't imagine leaving her with anyone else.

While she loved her mother with all her heart, she knew that Molly Weasley could be very overbearing at times, and especially after what had happened, Ginny didn't think her daughter could handle it.

As she entered the room, she gasped in shock. The room was completely decimated; the furniture was completely destroyed, documents and parchment were strewn everywhere. In the middle of the rampaged room, was a man, wand in hand and clad in wizard robes. He was unresponsive on the floor, though Ginny couldn't tell if he was dead or not.

She immediately sent an owl to her brother; she didn't have it in her to muster up a patronus.

While she waited for him to arrive, she looked around the room. There didn't seem to be any evidence of a battle, it just looked like someone had intentionally destroyed the room.

The locked drawer that had originally contained the diary was wide open; the diary was replaced in there after they found that it was heavily warded and spelled so that the dark magic wouldn't leak.

Unfortunately, the case that held the diary was shattered.

And the diary was nowhere to be seen.