Disclaimer In chapter 1

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Breathe

A surge of energy ran through Harry's body, much like it had in his summer before fifth year when Uncle Vernon had been strangling him. But Wormtail didn't seem to feel it, perhaps because of the silver hand. Yet Harry's mind was clearer. He turned his head slightly and saw his wand some six feet from him where it had rolled. He stretched out his broken right arm, and the wand flew to his hand.

"Stupefy!" Harry gasped, jamming the wand against Wormtail's thick throat. The wizard toppled off of him, and Harry rolled to his stomach, massaging his neck with his left hand. He stayed on the ground for a moment, savoring the feeling of air in his lungs, and then decided to rejoin the battle.

He scrambled unsteadily to his feet, and looked down at Wormtail's unconscious form, and then across the hall where Voldemort and Dumbledore were still battling. Several Death Eaters swarmed towards Harry, who chose to turn and run. He didn't think he had enough energy to duel them. He had barely reached the doors leading out to the Entrance Hall when they flew open on their own accord, and twenty or so Order members rushed into the hall, followed by hundreds of Ministry officials. Instantly the Death Eaters that were chasing Harry were stunned.

"Harry!" Lupin yelled, rushing over to him and pulling him from the hall. Harry's scar twinged again, and he looked over his shoulder to see Dumbledore stumbling backwards with the effects of a spell.

"Dumbledore!" Harry gasped, straining to get out of Lupin's grasp.

"No, Harry. You have to get out of here."

Harry didn't have enough energy to argue. Instead, he looked up into Lupin's tired face. "Snape's dead."

Some form of emotion crossed Lupin's face. What it was, Harry couldn't tell. He hung his head as yet more Ministry officials rushed into the castle, shouting orders to each other. Once Lupin and Harry were out on the steps to the castle, away from the battle, Lupin mended Harry's arm and put it in a sling to allow it's strength to come back.

"Thanks," Harry said.

"You'll have to take some potions for the swelling, but at least the bones aren't broken now," Lupin responded almost mechanically. His movements were quick and jerky, and the creases under his eyes were quite obvious.

"Are you all right?" Harry asked.

Lupin looked at Harry. "Last night was the full moon," he said.

Harry dropped his head. "Oh."

Lupin didn't say anything else, and Harry wanted to move the conversation away from that topic.

"Dumbledore wants me to go to the cave in Hogsmeade, where Sirius lived," he said.

"Then that's where I'll take you," Lupin said, leading Harry down the stairs.

"You don't have to come. I can manage —" Harry started, but stopped when he saw the determined look on his professor's face.

Harry realised he still had his wand clutched in his hand, and tucked it away. They entered Hogsmeade, and Harry saw that it was eerily empty. There were abandoned beer and rum bottles on the ground, and the ocassional newspaper, but aside from that, there was nothing. And the cloudy sky managed to make it appear that it was dusk.

They were just passing by Honeydukes when an explosion rocked the ground, causing Lupin to grasp Harry's shoulders, to steady him. They both looked back towards the castle to see a black cloud of smoke rising from it. The better part of one of it's walls was destroyed, only a pile of rubble. Harry stood in shock, almost mesmerized by the sight. Dust engulfed the castle and hid it from view, and Harry felt Lupin tugging at his arm again.

"C'mon," Lupin said gently.

Harry swallowed the lump in his throat painfully, and continued walking through the village. They reached the rocky hill, and clambered up the boulders, slipping on the occasionaly mound of snow. Finally, they made it to a narrow gap in the rock, where Harry and Lupin squeezed through. Several pairs of arms helped them in.

"Harry!"

"Professor Lupin!"

"What happened? We heard an explosion!"

"Is anyone hurt?"

"Where's Professor Dumbledore?"

Lupin held up a hand and silenced the anxious group. "The explosion you heard was Eastern wall falling. Professor Dumbledore is back at Hogwarts, fighting Voldemort with several hundred Ministry and Order of the Phoenix members. And yes, Snape was killed."

Harry sat with his back against the uneven wall and watched the effect these words had on his friends. Hermione and Ginny clasped their hands to their mouths. Neville looked down at his hands in his lap, and Ron's face seemed to harden.

"But he had joined Him, hadn't he?" Ron asked viciously.

Lupin bowed his head. "It appears that Snape was opening a window for Dumbledore to retake Hogwarts. Severus dueled Voldemort in the end. I guess he wanted to end it on his own terms."

Harry brought a hand up to his head and massaged his temples.

The group sat in silence, seeming to soak up this information. Disbelief was etched into all of their faces.

"And what happened to you?" Hermione asked, turning to him.

Harry lowered his hand and looked at her. "Wormtail," he said, indicating his healing arm.

"I hope you killed that rat, Harry," Ron said, rubbing his fist menacingly. "Because I don't know if I can stand seeing him again."

Harry shook his head. "As far as I know he's lying stunned in the Great Hall."

"I hope someone steps on him," Ron muttered.

Harry said nothing and turned his gaze down to the rocky floor. There was a chicken bone lying by his feet. He remembered so clearly in his fourth year when him, Ron, and Hermione had brought Sirius food.

Another explosion rocked the ground. Tiny rocks from the ceiling showered on their heads as the mountain around them groaned.

"We should get out of here," Lupin said. "The cave won't hold another explosion."

They clambered back out to the mountain side, and from his spot on a large boulder, Harry had a clear view of the castle. The dust had settled, and black smoke was rising from the castle where a fire was visible pouring out of the front doors. Several Dark Marks hovered over the castle, gleaming brightly amid the smoke. The Eastern Wall was still in ruins, and tiny beams of light told Harry that the battle was still raging. Hermione grasped his arm.

"C'mon," she said gently.

Harry and the rest of them slid down the side of the hill, finally landing in a puddle of melting snow. They walked down Hogsmeade which seemed to have an unnatural calm settled down upon it. A bird was whistling in a tree, leaping jovially from branch to branch. Harry wondered how everything could be fine here when war was raging not a mile away at the castle.

"Looks like rain," Neville commented, gazing up to the heavens.

Harry looked up too, and saw black, ominous looking clouds hovering above them.

And then, everything went silent. Harry didn't need to hear Ron's groan of, "Dementors," to know what was coming. The chill went deeper than Harry's skin, there was no way to mistake that feeling. He pulled out his wand.

"Harry, don't!" Ginny said.

Harry didn't pay attention. He had to settle this with the dementors once and for all. He needed to prove that he could handle them. In a daze, he took off running towards the Shrieking Shack right as the dementors appeared over the hill.

"Come and get me," Harry snarled at them. The dementors in the front lowered their hoods immediately, as though they understood Harry. They were rising to the challenge, sweeping down the side of the hill at an incredible speed.

Harry waited until they were 20 feet away to attack. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" he yelled. The silvery stag appeared, and charged down the front group of dementors. It turned, and took down another ten who all turned and fled.

Usually when Harry performed the Patronus Charm, he felt tired afterwards, as though he had run a great distance. But the opposite was happening now. The longer his Patronus stayed out there, the more strength Harry seemed to get.

More were spilling over the ridge, but Harry welcomed them. They would see that they could no longer make him suffer. They could see that he had finally let Sirius go, that his death would no longer keep him from defending himself.

Finally, the last dementor turned and fled, and Harry was left, wand still in his hand, and the stag trotting back towards him. He reached out his hand and patted the animal on it's powerful shoulders.

His friends were right behind him now. He turned back towards them as the gleaming animal faded from sight.

Lupin was smiling genially, apparently proud of Harry's exceptional Patronus. But Harry didn't want to hear a congratulation at the moment. He just wanted to go back to the castle to make sure that Dumbledore was all right, and that no one else had died.

"You can't go back until it's over," Lupin said after Harry had voiced his thoughts.

"But how do we know when it's over?" Harry replied angrily, wanted to make himself useful.

"Like that," Ginny said quietly, her eyes on the castle. Harry spun around to see a hundred or so Death Eaters sprinting through the Hogwarts gates, Voldemort in the front. Once they had entered the village, each and every one of them Disapparated. Harry had never seen such a bizarre sight.

Harry realized his mouth was hanging open, and promptly shut it. "So. . . . So can I go in then?"

He looked at Lupin who was also wide-eyed after what he had just seen. He nodded.

Harry lead the group back to the Hogwarts gates, and past the winged boars. A roll of thunder crossed the dark sky, and rain began showering their heads as suddenly as if it had been waiting for them to enter the castle grounds once again. Up close, Harry saw that the Eastern wall was magically mending itself, already most of the Great Hall hidden from view as stone after stone replaced itself. The fire was still raging in the Entrance Hall, but Harry saw that a path had been cut through it where no flame burned, presumably made by Voldemort. It was obviously a magical fire as well, since there was no wood in the hall to fuel it.

They entered the castle and followed the path to the Great Hall. Upon entering, nearly every single person in the hall pointed their wands at them.

"Lower your wands, they are with us," a voice called across the hall. Harry turned to see Dumbledore looking back at them.

In the stretch of hall that lay between them, was a mass carnage so horrible that Harry had to close his eyes momentarily to regain his composure.

Right by his feet was an Auror who had an odd assortment of jinxes displayed on his face, but who's eyes were open, and staring emptily in front of him. Harry could tell he was dead. Not far from him was another Auror who was curled up in a ball, face slacked, with copious amounts of blood pouring from a smoking hole in his chest. Another female Auror had massive boils coating her body. Everywhere Harry looked he saw dead Aurors, with mixtures of painful jinxes disfiguring them. He saw no dead Death Eaters. Large amounts of them were bound together on the other side of the hall, several of them limp in their binds, a couple of them screaming threats to the Ministry members surrounding them.

Harry made his way through the hall, to where Dumbledore was standing. At his feet was a body covered by Dumbledore's blue cloak. Harry knew who lay there.

"What happened to all of the students?" Harry asked.

"I sent them to the Slytherin Common Room. An Auror is keeping an eye on them. They will all be given trials, and will be reprimanded accordingly."

"Where's Wormtail?" Harry asked, tearing his eyes away from the floor and forcing himself to look at his headmaster.

"The Ministry has him in possession. Sirius' name will be cleared in due time," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.

Harry looked away as his heart seemed to tighten. Sirius would no longer be the run-away convict, but the misunderstood soul. Harry wondered what the Daily Prophet would have to say about him now. The articles would probably be along the lines of what they had said about Harry; tragically misunderstood, forced to bear ridicule and slander.

Hermione and Ron came to join Harry, both gazing down at the blue cloak. Harry didn't want to look at their faces, he didn't care to know whether they were sad or happy or indifferent. Because at the moment, Harry felt anger rising in him once more; anger at the Ministry for sending Sirius to Azkaban without a trial, anger at the Ministry for refusing to believe that Voldemort was back for so long, anger at Snape for killing himself so recklessly, anger at Wormtail, anger at Sirius for keeping him waiting. . . .

He tore himself away from his friends and made his way back to the Entrance Hall where Ministry members were dousing the fire with water from their wands. He climbed the great marble staircase, gliding his hand along the banister. Unconsciously he skipped the trick step that Neville always forgot to avoid, and pulled back the hidden tapestry at the top of the stairs that led up to Gryffindor Tower. He remembered everything. He hadn't truly lived in the castle for close to 9 months, but the secrets of Hogwarts had never left him.

When he reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, it was to find her snoozing in her frame.

"Hello?" Harry said cautiously.

She slept on.

"Hello?" Harry said a bit louder.

She jerked awake. "Dear me, must have dozed off —" she eyed him. "Is that really. . . you?"

"Of course it's me," Harry said. "But I don't seem to know the password."

"How can I be sure it's you?" the picture asked him.

"Because Albus Dumbledore is downstairs in the Great Hall. Hogwarts has been retaken."

The Fat Lady sat up proudly in her chair. "Not one person has entered Gryffindor Tower since last June. The password is 'Merlin's Beard'."

Harry grinned. "Thanks." She swung forward on her hinges, and allowed Harry to scramble through the portrait hole.

It was similar to stepping into a different world. The common room was the same as Harry remembered it, scarlet and gold everything filling the room. He caught notice of the fire blazing in the grate before sprinting up the stairs to the dormitory labled 'Sixth Year Boys'. He opened the door, and found all five beds neat and tidy, with everyone's trunk at the foot of the appropriate bed. Harry located his, and opened it. His broomstick, invisibility cloak, books, potions, robes, photo album, everything was still there.

With a content sigh, he fell back on his bed.

Hogwarts was free once more.

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