"SIRIUS!" Harry screamed, lunging forward as his godfather faded into the mist behind the slight sheen of the Veil. For one moment Harry was frozen in place - partly by Remus' arms holding him back from behind, and the other by the stunned reality of it all.

Sirius was dead. And it had happened before he fell through the veil. That mischievous sparkle in his eyes had faded even before his body had. Time slowed, and Harry remembered that same sparkle when Sirius had agreed to take Harry in.

And now he was gone. Snuffed out, the same as his parents.

On the far side of the room, Bellatrix's mad cackle shivered through the room, but was suddenly drowned out by a roar of anger.

In a split second, Harry had gone from stunned grief to pure rage.

His first bombarda was deflected easily enough by Bellatrix, but as she batted it away she was shocked at a second, this ball of light larger than the first. Again she deflected it, the impact against her wand noticeable.

The thumps of two more death eaters being stunned by Dumbledore was a good enough reason for Bellatrix to flee the scene before she attracted his notice.

"Reductor!"

Bellatrix barely dodged the spell, surprise striking her along with the shrapnel of the granite wall the spell had impacted.

"Die, whelp!" she snarled, whirling to fire off a severing charm.

"Protego!" Harry spat, his shield deflecting the charm as Remus fired off a spell of his own, giving Harry a rare opening for vengeance.

"Crucio!"

Bellatrix didn't hear the incantation but instantly recognized the curse's effects. For a moment her eyes widened, then she shrugged off the spell and laughed.

"You need to mean them, Potter!" She cackled. "You need to really want to cause pain - to enjoy it! Righteous anger won't hurt me for long!"

A moment later she was gone with Voldemort, and Harry collapsed to his knees, stunned.

"Sirius." He wasn't sure how much time passed - for a while all was a blur. All he could think was that he was without family...again. He was dimly aware of everyone being rounded up, and of an astonished Fudge and his Ministry stooges being outraged by one revelation after the other. They had seen Voldemort. One by one the Death Eaters were unmasked. Then they hurried off.

"Harry!" Hermione, stabilized and on a stretcher, was set near him as a mediwizard continued to cast spells on her.

"Hermione?" Harry stirred. "Why'd they bring you here to treat you?"

"Remus knew it'd break you out of your daze, obviously," Hermione smiled.

"Are you ok?"

She grimaced. "It hurt pretty bad. They doused me with a potion right away, though. I'm not sure why I got hit with, but judging by what I've overheard, I...I might have died if he'd been able to say the spell aloud." Hermione's lip trembled, and Harry felt the rage instantly spring to life again inside.

"It'll be ok, Hermione." He reached over, squeezing her hand, and smiled. On the inside, he wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do, but it felt right. Slowly he looked around the room, and felt his blood run cold.

All his friends were there and alive, but not unharmed. Ginny's ankle was being mended by a healer. Neville was cradling the halves of his wand in his lap, not aware of his broken nose. Luna was talking to a disoriented Ron, the redhead staring into space, his fingers lightly running along the welts on his face.

And Sirius was dead.

Enough. Harry started at the thought in his head, and the sudden crystal clarity of it. ENOUGH!

For a moment he wondered what was different, but then it came to him. Voldemort had taken his parents. Azkaban had taken Sirius for a time, and then Bellatrix and the Veil had taken him for good. His friends had almost died. Neville had lost his father's wand.

Enough.

It was time to fight this war differently. Harry wasn't sure how, but he was going to find a way. He was done waiting for the adults to figure everything out.

****Eye for an eye****

"You two go on. I want to check something."

Draco waited for the others to slip out, then checked carefully to make sure he was alone. Acting as normally as possible, he grabbed his case, then headed for the exit, pausing to shut the door and close the blinds.

Gone was his smirk. His father was gone, his family was disgraced. And the task ahead of him...he'd likely die attempting it. He'd certainly die if he failed.

Draco was not in the mood for spies.

"Didn't mommy ever tell you it was rude to eavesdrop, Potter?" In a practiced turn, his wand already subtly drawn, Draco flicked it forward to the rack where his briefcase had been moved. "Petrificus Totalus!"

Nothing.

For a moment, Draco felt relieved he had ordered the others out; it seemed that his paranoia was getting to him - and then a fist smashed against his nose, slamming him into the closed door, his wand clattering to the floor.

"Expelliarmus. Incarceo. Silencio. Colloportus."

Harry's calm voice was different. Every other time he'd used a spell, it had been a moment of desperation. Now he crouched in front of Draco, who had been disarmed, bound, gagged, and locked in the room with the one who had played a role in his father's fall.

"I don't know, Malfoy," Harry said after a long moment. "She was dead before I got to the age of really remembering anything. Your father's master saw to that. Killed my father, too."

Malfoy tried to reply, tried to yell, but his voice wasn't working.

"I know you're probably mad about your dad, but frankly I don't care, Draco." Harry spat. "Your aunt killed my godfather. Your dad threatened me and my friends. He deserves Azkaban! Or rather, he deserves to be kissed by a dementor. But no, even in this he got off easy. He got off the first time on the imperio defense, and this time, when he's literally caught serving the same man, is he tried for all his previous crimes? Nope!"

Harry stood for a moment, pacing back and forth, and growing more agitated. "I tried to warn everyone! I was mocked, rejected by my friends, by the school, by my teachers, by this stupid country! And now, when I'm proven right, I don't even get an apology! In the meantime, your father probably has a nice comfy cell in Azkaban, while Sirius is DEAD!"

The last word was screamed in rage and pain, and Draco hoped someone would overhear and come looking. Harry didn't seem to think of it. That was good.

"I'm done with this, Draco!" Harry snapped, turning and walking rapidly forward to crouch once more in front of him.

"I was orphaned and placed with crappy relatives. My first friend nearly got murdered by a troll. Then later by a basilisk, released by a spirit possessed book your father gave to my friend to possess her! Cedric did die. I could keep going, but you know what, I reviewed that enough in my head the past few weeks."

Reaching forward, Harry slowly began undoing the cuff on Draco's sleeve, quietly speaking.

"I'm done with fighting this war the way we have been. We follow the rules. You father doesn't, the death eaters don't, and your Master doesn't. And it's my friends and family who die."

With the sound of fabric being pushed up his arm, Draco's mark was exposed to Harry.

"I see."

Slowly Harry set his wand aside, then picked up Draco's, examining it as he spoke.

"Bellatrix taunted me after she killed Sirius, Draco. Did you know I cast a crucio at her? I did." Harry shrugged. "It didn't do much. I didn't even consciously cast it. I just wanted to hurt her, you know?"

Draco stared in horror, wide eyed but unable to do anything. Was Potter about to torture him? Surely he wouldn't...couldn't. Potter had always been weak.

"She laughed it off, Draco. Said that I needed to mean it, to want to cause pain," Harry whispered, slowly leveling Draco's wand at his face. "And you know what? I don't want to cause pain. I just want to end it."

Lucius Malfoy had long ago arranged for the trace on Draco's wand to be removed. Thus there was no owl and no magical gadget setting off an alarm or creating a notification as a light flashed on a car of the Hogwarts Express.

"Imperio."