Harry stifled a yawn as he made his way to the front gates, where the Headmaster had informed him they would depart from. He had awakened at 3:30, quickly showered and dressed in his armour before leaving his dormitory, making his way quickly down.

Dumbledore was waiting for him at the gates, dressed in simple black robes, which surprised Harry, but it did make some sense as they were trying to be inconspicuous, and at night black was slightly less conspicuous than lavender with twinkling stars.

"Good morning, Harry," Dumbledore said with his normal cheerful smile.

"G'morning," Harry said, wishing he had some Pepper-Up Potion.

"I shall be Side-Along Apparating you this morning," Dumbledore said. "And we shall land approximately a quarter-mile from our destination, so as to hopefully not trip any alarm wards."

"Perfectly reasonable," Harry said, taking the Headmaster's offered hand and steadied himself for the odd sensation that accompanied Apparition. He was not disappointed, and felt the highly uncomfortable squeezing sensation that lasted for the briefest of moments before he and Dumbledore were deposited in the midst of a forest.

"I hate Apparition," Harry muttered. Dumbledore appeased him with a slight chuckle before drawing his wand and murmuring a few quiet spells.

"This way," he said, pointing his finger to the left. "It is about 500 meters to the Gaunt home, 400 until the proximity wards would be tripped. We shall have to disable those before we can proceed."

Harry nodded his assent.

"A little light would not be amiss either," Dumbledore noted. Harry cast lumos with his wand and set off in the direction Dumbledore had indicated, the Headmaster right alongside him. They proceeded cautiously until Dumbledore halted them in front of the wardline. The old wizard concentrated for a moment before tapping first Harry and then himself on the top of the head.

Harry shivered as he felt the magic wash over him. "What was that?"

"That was us being allowed through the wards," Dumbledore answered. "Pathetically simple, I had truly expected more from Tom. But perhaps this location's protections were devised while he was still a student, and thus not as complicated as others may be. Let us continue, Harry. The next trap is not until the front door."

Perhaps Dumbledore was right, if he was only speaking of magical traps. But the pair were accosted as soon as they stepped over the wardline by a great, hissing snake Harry recognised from his visions as Nagini.

"You are not my masssster," the snake hissed in Parseltongue. Harry tensed up.

"Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"That' s Tom's snake," Harry said. "She recognises that we are not him."

"Try and persuade her to leave," Dumbledore suggested.

"We have been sent here by your massssster," Harry hissed.

"Masssster would not send hisss nemesssisss here," the snake replied. "You ssssmell like a liar."

"No dice," Harry replied to Dumbledore in English. "We'll have to do this the hard way, can't have her going off and blabbing to Tom."

Dumbledore nodded. Harry drew his sword, stepped forward and neatly sliced off the snake's head, stepping back in shock as the same black mist that had issued from the destroyed locket left Nagini's body.

"Did you know the snake was a Horcrux, Professor?" Harry asked, looking back to Dumbledore, who looked quite shocked to hear the news.

"I did not," the Headmaster said. "Congratulations, Harry, that makes three of those vile things you have destroyed now."

"Three to go," Harry reminded the Headmaster as they proceeded to the front door of the Gaunt shack. Once again, Dumbledore spent some time waving his wand over the door.

"Most troubling," he said. "It seems that anyone who tries to open this door triggers a withering curse that is locked by a spell that I cannot discern, nor unravel."

"Is it shielded?" Harry asked.

"No, but – " Dumbledore began, interrupted when Harry promptly blasted the door off its hinges.

"Problem solved," Harry said, only for the satisfied look on his face to quickly morph into one of horror when the ground began to tremble.

"Shields!" he advised, transfiguring some bracken on the ground into a series of brick walls that he crouched down behind. Dumbledore quickly followed his lead, just as all the magical traps Tom had layered in throughout the house were all tripped by the door Harry had blown through it, causing a great explosion which flung debris outward in all directions.

Both Harry and Dumbledore had to Banish several pieces of debris away from themselves before everything calmed down. Harry looked over to the Headmaster, who was looking at him with a glare Harry normally only saw on Professor Snape.

"Oops," he said.

"A very unwise move, Harry," Dumbledore said. "Undoubtedly, we have been noticed. We must be quick."

"Accio ring!" Harry calmly stated, rising above his stone wall and pointing his wand at the debris. A small shiny speck flew out from the debris, and Harry intercepted it with his sword. They connected with a flash and spark of metal on metal, followed by a shriek and more black mist spitting from the destroyed ring. Careful not to touch the pieces, Harry gathered them into a transfigured pouch.

"Done," he said. "Let's get out of here." Dumbledore was only too eager to grab Harry's arm and return them to Hogwarts. Harry could swear he heard a series of Apparition cracks as he and Dumbledore were swept away.

He was quite surprised to find that they returned to the Headmaster's office.

"How'd we get here?" he asked.

"As Headmaster, I am allowed certain privileges regarding the wards that ordinary students and teachers are not," Dumbledore replied. "Two Horcruxes destroyed in a little over 90 minutes, very well done."

Harry was about to agree when he felt Voldemort's rage pounding up against his head.

'POTTER!' the Dark Lord screamed. 'HOW DARE YOU!'

'How dare I what?' Harry asked timidly.

'YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID!' Riddle roared. 'I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO DESTROY MY HORCRUXES!'

'Little late on that front, I've already done four of them,' Harry said. 'I'll get around to the other two, and you, don't you worry your little snake-faced head.'

Voldemort responded by attempting to send a Cruciatus Curse through his link with Harry, to no effect.

'Bye Tom, have fun torturing your remaining minions for this,' Harry thought. 'Oh by the way, did you know Dumbledore left Grindelwald alive. You should really see about eliminating the competition.' His piece said, he re-raised his Occlumency shields with a tap to his family ring.

"Tom?" Dumbledore asked.

"He's not very happy with us right now," Harry said. "Understandably."

"Did you tell him about Gellert?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yeah. I also did some reading up about Nurmengard during the week. What d'you think the odds are that he gets at least one serious injury in his attempt to kill Grindelwald?"

"Low enough that I would not risk the wager," Dumbledore said. "Besides the large contingent of German Aurors, who are some of the best in the world, let alone Europe, there are manticores, lethifold, and at least one Sphinx guarding the high security levels in which Gellert is housed."

Harry grinned. "If you'll excuse me, Headmaster, I need a shower and a nap before I'm dragged into Hogsmeade by my girlfriend."

"Of course," Dumbledore said. Harry Switched back into his pajamas, before taking a pinch of Floo powder and fire-travelling to Gryffindor Tower. He quickly headed back up to bed, finding sleep easy despite the 90 minutes of action and adventure previous.


He was awoken by lewd whispering in his ear.

"Wha?" he said, looking up to see a blushing Hermione. "You're going to do what to me where?"

"Shut up," she said. "You weren't waking up with normal stimulation, so I thought I'd try something … different. It worked, didn't it?"

Harry looked down at his crotch. "Yes, it did work quite well," he replied with a cheeky grin. Hermione turned redder. "What time's it?"

"7:30," Hermione replied. "Or thereabouts."

"Seven thirty?" Harry replied with a groan, flopping back down on his bed. "Two more hours."

"Harry Potter, you get out of that bed right this instant!"

"But 'mione I'm tired," Harry whinged, to no avail as Hermione's Stinging Hex caught him in the shoulder.

"I'll be in the Common Room. If you're not showered, dressed, and down there by eight, you and I are going to have a talk." With that, she left the room. Harry sighed, and got out of bed, heading for the showers.

He entered the Common Room just as the clock chimed eight, quick to catch Hermione's eye.

"OK, I'm here, now what?"

"Now breakfast, and Hogsmeade, while you explain why you wanted two more hours of sleep even after you went to bed at nine last night," Hermione said with a glare that told Harry he would not be weaseling out of a full explanation.

Very few people were still at breakfast when they arrived, since most of them had headed into Hogsmeade at seven, eager to spend the day shopping and, most importantly, not in the castle. Harry quickly ate his own breakfast while trying to think about how exactly to phrase his explanation and waiting for Hermione to finish her own breakfast.

Soon enough, they were heading down to Hogsmeade.

"So, what was it?" Hermione asked, shortly after they left the castle.

Harry looked around to see if anyone was following them before he answered.

"I went on a raid last night," he said. "Professor Dumbledore and I are tracking down things important to Tom and destroying them."

"What kind of things?" Hermione asked.

"Horcruxes," Harry said. Hermione looked at him.

"They're the result of a Dark ritual that splits off a fragment of your soul, which you can put into an object and hide away somewhere to ensure your soul doesn't leave this plane of existence should your body be killed."

"And you said Tom Riddle has more than one?" she asked, aghast.

"The Headmaster believes he had six," Harry said. "So far, we've done in four, but we have no idea where the other two might be hidden," he added.

"That's totally barbaric," she said. "What sort of depraved person would do such a thing to their soul even once, much less six bloody times?"

"Tom Riddle is the dictionary definition of depraved," Harry said as they entered the little village. "Please tell me we're not going to the tea shop."

Hermione looked at him with an evil glint in her eye, which she held for all of three seconds before bursting into giggles.

"No, I'm not that mean, Harry. I thought we'd just do a little light shopping, have some lunch, and then head back," she said. "Unless you have other plans?"

"No, milady, I'll let you dictate our schedule today," Harry said, smiling at Hermione.


Of course, nothing even as simple as a date with his girlfriend could go as planned for Harry.

They were just finishing up their lunch in The Three Broomsticks when they heard multiple Apparition cracks, followed by screaming. Harry looked out the window to see witches and wizards in black cloaks and white masks walking down the High Street.

"Fuck," he said. "Somebody call the Aurors!" he shouted, standing up and Switching into his armour. "Hermione, please stay here. I'll be right back, I promise."

"If you die, Harry Potter, I am going to be very angry at you!" his girlfriend said, giving him a quick kiss "for luck" before ducking under a table as a window exploded inwards.

Harry cast a sonorous charm on himself and stepped outside.

"DEATH EATERS!" he announced, and all activity stopped. "IN THE NAME OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, I COMMAND YOU TO CEASE YOUR ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES AND SURRENDER. IF YOU CONTINUE TO RESIST, YOU WILL BE MET WITH LETHAL FORCE. WHAT SAY YOU?"

"Go to Hell, Potter!" was his answer, followed by a bone-breaker curse which his shields absorbed. Harry snapped into action, retaliating with Reductors, Stunners, Bludgeoners and Cutters while drawing his sword and closing in on the Death Eaters, dodging Killing Curses and grinning as some of them struck other Death Eaters.

He plunged his sword into a Death Eater's chest just as he heard more Apparition cracks, looking back to see two Auror companies arrive and begin attacking. Transfiguring some of the fall foliage into great black dogs, he sent them after Voldemort's minions as distractions.

"LETHAL FORCE IS AUTHORISED," he shouted to the Aurors, who nodded in acknowledgment and immediately upped the level of spells they were using, watching as multiple Death Eaters went down to a variety of curses.

Three of them, however, remained behind the others and focused their attentions on Harry.

"The Dark Lord is most displeased with you, Potter," one of them said. "We will be greatly rewarded for bringing you to him."

"In your dreams," Harry said with a laugh, shields blocking multiple Bludgeoning Hexes while he fired back with the fire whip, literally disarming one Death Eater while setting his robes on fire. His comrades stunned him to shut him up and try to envelop Harry in a pincer. Harry was very glad he had two shields.

One of the two Death Eaters – a squat woman with a bit of blonde hair escaping her hood – seemed to be by far the most prone to shooting torture curses and other high-level Dark Arts spells at him, so he conjured a mess of darts and sent them at her, following them with a Piercing Hex that caught her in the chest and dropped her like a lead weight. This, of course, pissed off the other and caused him to send three Avada Kedavras in succession at Harry, who blocked them all with conjured walls, and transfigured the debris into heavy chains which pinned the man to the ground and allowed Harry to cleanly stab the man through the heart and kill him.

Looking around, he saw that aside from him, the battle had been quickly finished as well by the Aurors. A dozen black-robed corpses littered the ground, as did four in red robes. Four shops in Hogsmeade showed signs of having been on fire, but had been extinguished by Aurors and some of the Hogwarts students with knowledge of the Aguamenti charm.

Harry was approached by Mad-Eye, who was dressed in his red Auror robes.

"Nice job, Potter," he said, surveying the four corpses near Harry. "Let's see who we've done in, eh?"

Harry and Mad-Eye removed the masks of the Death Eaters, and was not surprised with Moody recognised all four.

"The Carrow siblings, and two of the former guards of Azkaban. Good riddance to the lot," Moody said.

"Our losses?" Harry asked, having noted the four dead Aurors.

"Seconds and Thirds," Moody said. "Rookies bad at conjuration. All of 'em took an AK."

"Damn," Harry said. "IDs on the other KIAs?"

"All previously low-level criminals who got broken out of Azkaban," Moody said. "Funnily enough the eight we'd not been able to recapture."

"Funnily enough," Harry agreed, just before he was attacked by a bushy-haired missile.

"Harry!" Hermione squealed, "Oh Harry, it was horrible! I saw you fighting all of them at first, and then I saw them kill some of the Aurors, and then one of them lit the pub on fire and I helped organise the fire brigade, and then it was all over, and I started looking for you, and thank Merlin you're alright!"

"I'm fine," Harry said. "Not a scratch."

"You're all bloody," Hermione said. "Why are you covered in blood?"

"It happens when people bleed on you," Harry said, switching into his previous outfit.

"Miss Granger, we're going to need a statement from you," Mad-Eye said. "Everybody who was here, really, but we'll start with you, so you and Harry can get back to the castle and debrief Dumbledore."

Hermione nodded, quickly composing herself as Moody pulled out a piece of parchment and a dicta-quill. He made Hermione repeat her experience, asked her a few questions, then had her sign her name and let Harry take her up to the castle.

She clung to him the entire walk.


A/N: I apologise profusely for the brevity of this chapter, but I really, really didn't feel much like writing it until 8:00 last night, and lost that interest as soon as I finished that last sentence. As today is the tenth, it was going up regardless of where I finished, so that's my sorry-ass excuse. Should I recover some semblance of a muse before the 20th, I think I shall skip the rest of the fall and head to Winter Break, in which there shall be training, new knowledge, and Balls.

Until then,

Phoenix II