I do not own Harry Potter or gain anything from writing this other than the opportunity of expanding on an already brilliant universe for my own entertainment, and hopefully yours.

The Reason for Knowledge

The next morning the Prophet arrived before Amelia left for work. The front page was an image from Harry's own memory of the revived Lord Voldemort. The Director for the DMLE was busier than ever, working late, organizing her Aurors and building her support for the election as the new Minister.

Harry on the other hand had very little to do. Living with Amelia Bones was much like living alone in many ways. At least it would be if Susan didn't visit every single day. It was an excellent change, the summers he was used to were lonely and boring. Susan and him stayed in and melded quite often, but they would also go out occasionally during the day. On this day in particular, the two of them made their way to visit Hermione Granger, Apparating just outside her front door.

'Harry!' Hermione cried, pulling him into a hug when she opened the door. 'I can't believe you're here! My parents are at work right now but – Susan?'

Susan Bones stood behind Harry smiling big and waving at the bushy-haired Gryffindor. 'Hey, Hermione,' she said. 'Hope you don't mind me tagging along.'

Hermione looked to Harry in confusion then back to Susan.

'I don't mind at all - it's good to see you,' she said, brow furrowed, 'but what's going on? Why are you two …?'

'I'm living with her aunt,' Harry explained and understanding dawned on Hermione's face.

'Oh - of course!' she said, ushering them inside. 'I saw the Prophet the other day, Harry, you did it! Are you working with Amelia Bones then?'

'Sort of,' Harry said, looking around the nice, clean home. 'I gave her the information, as you know. I was living out of hotels so she decided to let me stay with her. It's been nice actually, she's an impressive witch.'

'And I always pop in to keep him company,' Susan said as she looked at the strange black box in Hermione's living room. 'So he doesn't get bored. And so I don't get bored.'

Harry spent the next little bit catching Hermione up on what he'd done the last week.

'I'm glad to see you, Harry, but I was hoping to meld with you a bit,' she said quietly, glancing at Susan. 'I was doing some research on the soul ritual you did and I wanted to run a few things by you.'

Susan jumped back about a foot when Harry turned on the TV she was regarding curiously.

'What is it?' she asked in awe.

'It's a television,' Hermione said, laughing. 'It plays videos for people's entertainment.'

Harry watched Susan in amusement, she was certainly enthralled by the strange device.

'Why don't we put on a movie for Susan,' Harry laughed. 'She'll be entertained and we can meld a bit.'

Susan sat transfixed, watching GoldenEye while Harry and Hermione melded. Immediately Harry caught a few outer thoughts that she was trying to hide.

'Nothing like that is happening with Susan and me, Hermione,' he reassured her.

'I didn't really think so,' she mumbled. 'I'm allowed to be a little jealous though aren't I?'

'No,' he said playfully. 'You'll always be one of my most important people. No need to be jealous.'

'And what if I want to kiss you but you're kissing Susan?' she asked boldly. 'Am I allowed to be jealous then?'

'I didn't realize you wanted to kiss me, Hermione.'

'Of course you did,' Hermione pointed out. 'And I don't mind that you know - you're in my head after all.'

'Enough flirting,' Harry laughed. 'Ask me a question. I've missed your questions.'

So she did, many questions, and when Susan interrupted them to say Hermione's parents were home, Harry found himself wishing he were with her in a space where time didn't matter.

Mr and Mrs Granger were very excited to finally have a conversation with the boy who had occupied the majority of Hermione's letters and stories from her time at Hogwarts. They were also interested in Susan's lack of knowledge of the Muggle world and what it was like to be raised as purely magical. It was a nice evening but too soon it was getting late. After a lingering goodbye, Harry Apparated himself and Susan back to Amelia's house. He immediately knew something was wrong. He Apparated back to the Granger's living room immediately, much to the surprise of the family.

'Harry?' Hermione asked. 'What's wrong?'

'Not sure yet,' he answered darkly. 'Stay here, Susan, I'll come get you later.'

'Harry, I don't understand,' Susan said, her voice trembling. 'What did you see?'

Harry pulled his invisibility cloak half over himself and gave her a significant look.

'I think your aunt is under attack,'

With that, he Disapparated, leaving the Granger's and Susan to worry.

Harry appeared under his invisibility cloak and moved swiftly into the home. There was no Dark Mark so he was hopefully not too late. He moved silently through the house, noting that there were eleven people who shouldn't be there. One of them being Voldemort himself.

'My lord,' a voice Harry recognized as Bellatrix Lestrange spoke. 'She's locked herself inside this room. There are some powerful enchantments on the door.'

'No matter,' Voldemort's high cold hiss said. 'I will break them. And she will be dead.'

Harry pointed his wand at the floor and swiped it along the wood. Immediately the hardwood floor transfigured into long thick chains and attempted to wrap up the eleven in the upper hall. Shouts of shock greeted him as he rounded the corner and shot a powerful wide area stunner into the hall.

There were ten bound and stunned bodies on the ground and one enraged Dark Lord eyeing the space where Harry stood.

'Show yourself, coward!' Voldemort snapped.

Harry dropped his cloak to the floor and Voldemort's eyes went wide. They stood in a long hallway with ten bound bodies between them, Harry could see the door where Amelia was surely hiding behind. The enchantments were blocking his sensory spells so he couldn't tell if she was alright, he took some solace in the fact Voldemort thought she was still alive. He would have to make this quick so it would stay that way.

'Not sure if eleven on one should be considered brave,' Harry said scathingly. 'But then again, bravery has never been one of your strong points, Tom.'

Voldemort's face changed into a triumphant sneer. 'Harry Potter,' he said quietly, 'how unexpected, for you to walk into your death. How foolish.'

Harry let out a low dark chuckle. Then suddenly his wand snapped up, launching a disarming spell at Voldemort. The man shielded against it but looked fairly surprised.

'You are alone,' he said, sounding almost confused. 'Was all this your magic, Harry Potter?' he gestured to his fallen Death Eaters. 'You seem to have changed quite a bit since last we met. Perhaps it was with good reason after all why so many of my Death Eaters failed so badly in the Department of Mysteries.'

While Voldemort was talking Harry had been muttering a long incantation under his breath, his mouth hidden by his outstretched arm. A quick downward slash and the wand in Voldemort's hand shattered to thousands of pieces.

'What is this?!' Voldemort screamed in a panic. 'What magic is this?!'

A series of spells later and Voldemort was floating mid-air, arms and legs spread apart, unable to hear, speak or move. As Harry walked toward the Dark Lord he sent a Patronus into the room Amelia was locked in and told her it was safe. The door opened slowly and Harry saw that she was injured, looking around at the scene in shock.

'You're hurt,' he said, and waved his wand over her. 'Give me a moment …'

He ran his wand up and down her cut open side and badly bruised shoulder, the wounds healing quickly. Amelia seemed to still be coming out of her surprise, shaking her head and letting out a quick breath.

'Call your Aurors,' Harry said, turning back to Voldemort and putting his palm against the Dark Lord's forehead. 'This may take a while.'

He moved in close to stare into the evil man's disgusting red eyes, delving into his mind and shattering his mental barriers like they were nothing. One by one he picked out the pieces of information he was looking for; each individual Horcrux, how they were protected, what enchantments were upon them. The full range of Voldemort's plans, who his followers were, who backed him in other ways. Murders he has committed or others have in his name, locations of any prisoners, anything he could find. Then he left the dark twisted mind with a gasp, struggling to catch his breath.

Amelia was on him in a moment, holding him up from falling over.

'Well,' Harry said in a thick voice, 'that wasn't exactly pleasant.'

He saw that a great deal of time must have passed. In the hallway there were a large number of Aurors, wands all trained on Voldemort. The bound Death Eaters had already been taken.

'Did you find everything?' Amelia asked, not wanting to give the details.

'Yes,' Harry said, then reached into the pouch he kept on his belt and pulled out a purple potion. 'Drink up, Tom.'

He tipped the potion into Voldemort's mouth and the Dark Lord's eyes glazed over.

'Draught of the Living Death,' Harry explained at Amelia's questioning look. 'I suppose now I need to go hunting, it promises to be annoying.'

Harry took in some of the faces of the Aurors that were around them. He recognized Kingsley Shacklebolt and Hestia Jones from the Order. Gawain Robards was there as well.

'What were you thinking of doing with the body?' he asked Amelia.

'I was planning to toss it through the Veil of Death, actually,' she said, looking over the sleeping form of the most feared wizard in the history of Magical Britain. 'I thought I was dead tonight, Harry. You saved my life - not to mention countless other lives by stopping him.'

Harry let out a humourless laugh. 'It's been quite the eventful week, hasn't it?'

Casting a few quick spells a stack of parchment appeared in mid-air, covered in writing. He caught it and handed it to Amelia.

'This is what I learned in his mind,' he said. 'Everything you'll need to wrap all this up.' Then he turned to Kingsley and Hestia. 'Has Dumbledore been in contact with the Order at all?'

They regarded each other nervously then caught Amelia's hard look and grimaced.

'A bit,' Kingsley answered in his deep voice. 'He's been busy working on something though - wouldn't say what.'

Harry ran a hand through his hair, Dumbledore surely knew about the Horcruxes. Hopefully he didn't do anything foolish.

He turned back to Amelia. 'I'll come with you to the veil before I get to work.'

Amelia nodded and ordered her Aurors back to the Ministry. Harry took Voldemort's body himself and Apparated to the atrium at the Ministry of Magic with the rest of them. There were already a few reporter's there who photographed the procession but when they saw who they had captive there were no questions. They were far too afraid of the Dark Lord's presence, even in the state he was in. They made their way down to the Department of Mysteries and Harry sent the body through the Veil. It was a rather anticlimactic end.

'Will you need any help with the hunt?' Amelia asked as they were heading back up the lift.

'No, I think I'll be alright on my own,' Harry said. 'There is one complication though. One of them is in the Lestrange vault at Gringotts. We either need permission from the goblins to retrieve it or I'll have to break in.'

Amelia gave him a look that said "you better not talk about breaking any more laws in my presence".

'I will start communications with the goblins,' she said. 'It's not unheard of that they allow our department entry in extreme cases.'

More people must have gotten word of what was going on because as they reached the atrium again the hall was packed with reporters and spectators. Bulbs flashed blindingly throughout the atrium as questions were shouted out from every direction.

'I will not be taking any of your questions at this time but I will give a short statement,' Amelia called to the suddenly silent press. 'Tonight, my home was attacked by the Dark Lord Voldemort and a large group of Death Eaters. He was not aware that Harry Potter was staying in my home. Harry captured ten Death Eaters and the Dark Lord Voldemort single handed. The Death Eaters are in custody and Voldemort has been thrown through the Veil of Death so he can never return.'

Once it was clear she finished speaking the sound level from the reporters exploded. They were shouting questions at her and Harry, the Aurors surrounding them closed in tighter around him and Amelia, blocking them from the eager crowd.

'You could've lied and said there was a battalion of Aurors waiting to ambush them at least,' Harry said dryly.

Amelia smirked at him and let out a simpering laugh. 'Haven't you learned by now that I believe in honesty above all else?'

Harry arrived at Grimmauld Place to the unmistakable sounds of a party and the screeching wails of Walburga Black, apparently unnoticed to the ones enjoying themselves downstairs. Harry pointed his wand at the painting and it silenced immediately, putting her hands over her mouth in confusion and rage as no sound escaped her.

He walked down the stairs slowly. Through the sound of the gathering he noticed something dark and disturbing, something he recognized immediately as a fragment of Voldemort's soul. The second he entered the basement he was assaulted by drunk Weasleys and a very inebriated Sirius Black.

'Harry you old dog!' Sirius slurred slapping him happily on the back. 'You bloody powerful twit, how'd you go and do in that mouldy bastard anyway?'

He was receiving similar praise from other members of the order present. Ron was there as well, trying to get his attention and asking him what happened.

Harry pulled his wand out and shoved everyone to the side of the room, listening to the disturbing voice that was coming from a cupboard by the boiler. He silenced everything else in the room and moved slowly to the source of the Dark Magic. Throwing open the cupboard he saw the Slytherin locket lying in a crude nest of sorts that he knew belonged to Kreacher.

He floated the makeshift bed out with the locket resting in it and spoke to Sirius once cancelling the silencing charm he put on them.

'Sirius,' he said in a voice that broke no argument. 'Call Kreacher - now.'

Sirius only hesitated a moment before he complied. 'Kreacher!'

The grumpy old elf appeared in front of him muttering under his breath. 'What does the nasty master wants with poor old Kreacher?' he asked followed by a string of curses and slurs.

'Kreacher,' Harry said seriously, 'where did you get this locket?'

The elf's eyes widened in alarm as it moved to try to grab the locket but Sirius reacted first.

'KREACHER, DON'T MOVE!' he yelled quickly. 'Answer Harry's question.'

Kreacher fought to disobey, grinding his teeth and beating his fists against his mouth but he was compelled to respond.

'Master Regulus gave that to Kreacher to destroy it,' the elf said as he broke down into sobs. 'The night that Master Regulus died to the dead things in the water he ordered Kreacher, but Kreacher tried everything he knew and nothing could destroy the locket! Kreacher failed his noble Master!'

As the elf started banging his head against the wall Harry floated the locket in the air and devoured it with a gout of Fiendfyre in the shape of a lion before snuffing the spell out. The locket turned to black ash and crumbled to the ground.

'The locket is destroyed, Kreacher,' Harry said with a sigh, 'stop beating yourself up.'

The elf looked in awe at the destroyed locket then started a strange celebration in the ashes, rolling around in them and laughing madly.

'What the bloody hell was that, Harry?' Ron asked into the silence that fell once Kreacher had popped away.

'Not important anymore,' Harry said. 'Where's Dumbledore?'

The group all looked at each other but it was Mr Weasley that answered.

'We don't know,' he said slowly. 'What's going on Harry? Voldemort is dead, isn't he?'

Harry gave a noncommittal shrug. 'Sort of, but there are still pieces of him about - if that makes any sense to you. That locket was one of them.'

He started leaving the room but was being called back by the confused crowd.

'You lot keep having fun,' he said, smiling. 'I still have a few more things I need to do before I let myself relax. I'll try to join the party later.'

His next stop was Hogwarts. Apparating into Hogsmeade, he checked the marauders map. To his surprise, Dumbledore was with McGonagall and Snape in the Headmistress' office. He sent a Patronus message up to them and entered the castle.

The gargoyle was already moved aside when he arrived. As he passed, it jumped back in the way and Harry ascended the moving spiral stairs. He entered without knocking and was surprised by the scene. Dumbledore was sitting on a chair, a blackened arm on the desk, Snape running his wand back and forth along the injury.

'What happened?' Harry asked, then caught sight of the ring on Dumbledore's finger. 'You put it on?!'

'Potter,' Snape sneered, still concentrating on his work. 'Do be quiet.'

Not wanting to argue with Snape he glued his tongue to the roof of his mouth and tied him up in ordinary rope, letting him fall to the floor then taking his place at Dumbledore's side.

'The Horcrux was cursed, as you no doubt have noticed,' Harry said dryly. 'I'm guessing you managed to stop it from killing you by cutting off the flow of magic to your arm?'

Dumbledore looked at Harry with very tired old eyes, but didn't say anything.

'I'm surprised at you, Dumbledore,' Harry said with a disappointed shake of his head. 'I thought you to be above such compulsion.'

'I was careless,' Dumbledore murmured. 'Memories from my youth. Too tempted.'

Harry took a closer look at the stone on the ring and his eyes narrowed. 'The resurrection stone?' he said quietly. 'Voldemort didn't even know what this was …'

Dumbledore looked at him strangely, his eyes darting down to the ring. 'You have changed,' Dumbledore said weakly, 'as Minerva has said.'

Harry's eyes darted up to Professor McGonagall who was looking down at Dumbledore's hand worriedly.

'I can't save your life, Professor,' Harry said, backing away from the former Headmaster and releasing Snape. 'Your hand is dead and it is spreading. Death can't be healed, even with a stone as powerful as that.'

Snape stood up seething, looking like he was about to rip Harry's head off. Harry simply waved his wand at Snape's left arm absently, the fabric of his sleeve disappearing.

'Have you noticed?' Harry asked him.

Snape looked down at the faded Dark Mark on his arm. 'I have,' he said slowly, eyeing the tattoo, mouth still forming a sneer. 'You know what has happened?'

'Voldemort is dead,' Harry said simply.

All three turned to him sharply, eyes wide in surprise.

'I threw him through the Veil of Death myself,' he said then turned to Dumbledore. 'If you killed that one,' he indicated the ring on the old man's hand, 'then there are three that remain. One is in this castle, one in the Lestrange vault and the last is Nagini. I'd like to borrow Gryffindor's sword again if I may, Professor McGonagall.'

'My boy,' Dumbledore said, a small smile playing on his lips now, 'how have you done this?'

Harry nodded his head toward McGonagall. 'The Headmistress will explain.' He picked up the Sword of Gryffindor off the desk and made for the door. 'I want this done as soon as possible.'

Without another word, Harry left the office and made for the Room of Requirement. Storing the sword in a sheathe he transfigured onto his waist. Once the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw was destroyed he made his way out of the castle. Two to go.