Chapter 1

Broken Bonds

At number four Privet Drive everyone seemed to be acting as normal. Mr and Mrs Dursley sat listening to the news, while there son Dudley was absorbed in a new and expensive computer game. Away from the rest of the family Harry Potter stood alone in his bedroom, staring out of his window to the misty, dark night.

His room was bare, everything packed into his trunk. He had been waiting for this day for as long as he could remember, to finally be free from the Dursley's but now the time had come he wasn't sure he wanted to go. Though for a boy of seventeen he had faced many dangers, he had a feeling that there were a lot more to come.

He shuddered. Thoughts from as long ago as his first years at Hogwarts were still clear in his mind. Quirrel, the Chamber of Secrets, the Dementors, each one more horrible than the other. His last few years though had been worse than any, ever since that night in the graveyard.

A clear vision of Cedric burst into his head, then Sirius, then Dumbledore. Harry clenched his fists and tried to shake away his thoughts. A familiar rage burned through him again but a fear as well. He had been protected, even though he didn't know it and now it wasn't their. The magic Dumbledore had used and Dumbledore himself was gone and now he, Harry was alone against things unimaginable. He wasn't anymore powerful or protected than anyone else.

Yet again he came to the choice he had been trying to make all summer. He had told his friends and himself that this year he would not return to Hogwarts. Instead he would go in search of the Horcruxes but now he had had time to think about this he wasn't so sure anymore. He didn't know where to look for them; even where to start and going of on a quest alone was sure to lead quickly to danger. Of course Ron and Hermione insisted they would join him but he couldn't drag them into danger and what use would they be anyway. Against Voldemort's supporters what could they do? Die to protect him? No, Harry had decided Dumbledore had given this task to him and no one else was going to die protecting him along the way.

The letter from Hogwarts lay on the desk with the list of spell books Harry would need for his final year. He was still tempted to go back even if Dumbledore wasn't there. Though people said Voldemort was afraid of Dumbledore and that was why Hogwarts was safe Harry still felt that Hogwarts was the safest place to be. There was ancient magic there and hadn't Dumbledore himself said he will only have truly left Hogwarts when none remain who are loyal to him. There were many who had been loyal but were they still even if he was dead, or would people give up and wait for death.

Next to the Hogwarts letter lay Hermione's telling Harry her parents would pick him up tonight and take them both to the burrow. Harry had not told the Dursley's this yet. Last time one of his friends had arrived half the living room had been blown up. He was however packed ready to leave and never come back, a thought which did not bring him nearly as much happiness as he expected. As soon as he left the magic Dumbledore had put on him and his aunt would no longer work and the blood which ran through Harry and Aunt Petunia's veins, his mothers blood, would be no use against Voldemort.

Harry sat on the bed, thinking of the wedding he would soon be at, the last happy memory he may ever have. His thoughts were interrupted by the news which blared away downstairs. Another death, the third this week, the work of Voldemort. The news brought back the feelings of rage, all this pain because of Voldemort. If there was a way to stop it all shouldn't he at least try? Dumbledore believed he could and Harry felt a determination to at least try even if the odds were stacked against him.

"Boy, get down here," Uncle Vernon suddenly yelled from the bottom of the stairs. This could only mean Hermione had arrived. Flicking his wand, his trunk and Hedwig's cage, containing his beautiful, sleeping snowy owl, rose into the air.

As he reached the top of the stair he heard a high pitched scream, Hermione pelted up the stairs. All he could see was her bush of brown hair as she embraced him. She stepped away, blushing slightly.

"What the blazes do you mean by it boy?" Uncle Vernon snarled from the foot of the stairs, his face growing purple. "How dare you invite people like you to this house and not even inform us?"

"Oh, I'll leave you to say goodbye," Hermione said and with a flick of her own wand, Harry's luggage followed down the stairs and out of the door.

"Well," Harry said as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "I'm leaving."

"Leaving, just like that, for good," Uncle Vernon spluttered.

"Yes," Harry replied simply. "There's no point being here anymore is there and now there's no chance of any wizard interfering with your life ever again. So see you." He turned to leave.

"Harry," Aunt Petunia called, running forward past her husband and son. "You're going after him aren't you?"

Harry nodded the feeling he'd felt two years ago coming back, the appreciation that she was his mother's sister. To his surprise though, tears sparkled in her cold, grey eyes.

"Don't die Harry, don't die. I couldn't forgive myself if you died." Harry watched horrified as his aunt flung her arms around him and he felt himself hugging her back, Uncle Vernon watching on in confused anger. "Be careful Harry," she said finally releasing him. He bit his lip and nodded again.

"Goodbye," he said, to her more than anyone else.