DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to Harry Potter. It is the creative genius of JK Rowling.

A/N: This is a TOTAL Work in Progress. Wrote the first chapter without having any idea of where I wanted this story to go (which is unusual for me, my other stories had pages of notes & at least the first 5 chapters outlined-if not completed-before I posted them)…Any ideas you guys have would be appreciated, welcomed & perhaps incorporated into the story.

Where There's a Will, There's a Way
Chapter 2
Never Leave

Harry sat on the bed staring at the letter. Merlin knew he didn't expect anything like this. Holding the letter in his hand, Harry realized the truth of his situation. Dumbledore was dead, and Harry was alone. There was so much he still needed to know. How could he defeat Voldemort without the headmaster's guidance? How could he locate and destroy the remaining Horcruxes?

Harry knew that there were more important things than education and the completion of NEWT exams, yet at the same time he had to wonder, did he have the skills to defeat a wizard four times his age, even if some of those years were spent as a vaporlike spirit? If Hogwarts were to open in September, should he return to school? Should he insist that Hermione and Ron return, even if he didn't? How could he ask his friends to give up so much? Most likely, Hermione would be Head Girl a goal she strived for since the first time she read Hogwarts: A History. What right did Harry have to keep them from their dreams? After all, the only thing that Harry was offering in return was a high probability of death.

As the feelings of frustration and helplessness overcame him, Harry stood up and dropped the letter on the bed before picking up a lamp that was on the desk and hurling it towards the wall. WHY? Why did Dumbledore have to die? If anyone should be dead it should be that traitor Snape. Did Snape know what he did? Did he even care?

Sitting back down on the bed after taking a few deep breathes Harry stared at the broken pieces of the lamp, trying to somehow make sense of his life. Of course, if he was Hermione she could probably come up with some analogy about how his life was like that lamp.

These were the questions you were supposed to be able to ask adults for answers. He might be considered an adult in the wizarding world by the time the end of the month rolled around, but Harry knew he wasn't ready to handle all of this on his own.

Then again, he thought, it's not like he had ever had anybody to rely on before Hogwart's. Merlin knew that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon never listened to any problems he had, especially since their precious Duddikins was the main problem. Even at Hogwart's Harry and his friends usually had to fix things themselves. The few times they tried to talk to a teacher they were ignored. Of course, Harry thought with a quick grin, giving Hogwart's track record with teachers, it was quite possible that the person or thing you were trying to thwart was a professor.

Standing up once again, he walked to over the lamp, quietly chuckling, he couldn't even cast a Reparo charm to fix it since he was still underage. Tossing the broken lamp into the trash, he decided it would be much easier, and less embarrassing to just buy the Weasley's a new lamp, rather than explain why he took everything out on a lamp.

(Knock, Knock)

"Harry?" Hermione asked quietly as she gently opened the bedroom door. "Are you okay"

"What?" Harry asked, awakened from his thoughts.

"Are you okay? Can we come in?" she asked, standing aside to show a nervous Ron standing next to her.

"Yeah, sure, come on in," Harry replied motioning them in as he headed back over towards the bed where he picked up the letter once again.

"So," Ron asked as he lounged on the other bed. "What did the headmaster leave you?"

"Ron!" Hermione scolded, taking a seat at the desk chair.

"What?" Ron asked, "I wanted to know, besides it's not like Harry wouldn't tell us anyways."

"Maybe so," Hermione agreed, "Still you shouldn't ask. It might be private."

"How private can it be?" Ron debated, before turning to Harry and asking, "So, what was in the letter?"

"Ron!"

"Hermione, it's okay," Harry interrupted. "I understand that you might be curious."

"Well?" Ron asked impatiently.

"I don't know," Harry answered, still holding the envelope in his hands.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Ron asked sitting straight on the other bed. "Is it in some type of code? Another mystery for us to solve? Wicked!"

"No, Ron, it's not in code," Harry replied with a grin, before correcting himself, "At least, I don't think it is."

Hermione took a closer look at the letter. "You haven't opened it yet."

"No, not yet," Harry said, shaking his head.

"Why not?" Ron asked "Aren't you curious?"

"Curious and nervous. I can't keep from wondering what was so important that he left me a letter. Not to mention why he couldn't tell me before he d-when he was alive."

Hermione got up off the chair and knelt before Harry, placing her hands over his and the letter. She quietly asked, "Do you want us to leave you alone so you can read it?"

"Alone!" Ron grumbled, "I left him alone forthree hours and he didn't do anything with the letter."

Hermione turned and glared at Ron before looking back at Harry. "Just tell us if you want to be alone. We will understand."

"I don't think I want to be alone, yet I don't think I want company either."

"I understand," Hermione answered, patting his hand consolingly and moving to sit next to him on the bed, while Ron looked on in confusion. If he didn't want to be alone and didn't want company, what other option was there?

The three sat like that for a while, each one caught up in their own thoughts. Hermione contemplating how much Harry had grown and changed since the first time they met, yet at the same time realizing how much he had stayed the same; Harry remembering how much he had already lost in this war and thinking with trepidation about what the future might hold; Ron just kept switching his gaze between his best friends, wondering what they were thinking, and occasionally wondering what was in the letter and the box.

They did not move until Mrs. Weasley asked them to come down to eat. Dinner was a quiet affair.

Mrs. Weasley kept her gaze on Harry, shocked at how thin he was and encouraging him to eat more. Of course, all the while, she couldn't help but wonder how he was dealing with Albus's death. After all, this makes three years in a row that Harry saw somebody die in front of him. Mr. Weasley tried to engage the children, er, teenagers in conversation, but all his attempts fell short. It was times like these that he missed having the twins in the house.

The Golden Trio barely spoke, falling into the easy silence they had reached in Harry's room.

Ginny's gaze flitted between her brother and his two friends, wondering what had happened to make the three so quiet. A few months ago she couldn't wait for the summer to arrive. She envisioned her and Harry taking walks, relaxing outside, joking around together and flying. Then Professor Dumbledore died, and Harry broke up with her. She overheard the infamous trio's plans for the summer and next year, it had hurt when she realized that Harry really didn't want her around. She tried to convince herself that it was because he cared so much about her, yet she couldn't quite believe that. After all, he cared just as much about Ron and Hermione, yet was allowing them to follow him. Suddenly she felt so mad at Snape. Not only did he take Dumbledore from this world, but he took Harry from her. Angrily, she pushed back her chair as she announced she was finished and headed up to her room. Sometimes it hurt too much to stay in the same room as Harry and not talk to him.

The sound of the chair legs scraping against the floor brought Harry's, Hermione's and Ron's head up as they realized that they were not alone. Shortly after that, everyone else was finished eating and by unspoken agreement, the trio returned back upstairs, settling into their earlier positions.

"Harry," Hermione began tentatively, after a few minutes of silence, "Do you want us with you when you read the letter?"

"I don't know," Harry answered tiredly. He was so tired of making decisions, so tired of being strong, so tired of being 'the chosen one', so tired of being alone.

"Mate," Ron interjected, "I don't understand why you haven't opened it yet. I mean, I'm sure it's something good."

"Perhaps," Harry quietly stated. "It's just, well, by opening it…" Harry's voice trailed off, unwilling to complete his sentence.

"By opening it, it makes it all real. It makes it final," Hermione finished for him.

"Yeah," Harry's voice had drawn out that one word, filling each syllable with his pain and sorrow. "I didn't receive a letter or anything from Sirius. I know I was named his heir, and that I received Grimmauld Place, but whatever is in that box is something that Dumbledore specifically wanted me to have. Not to mention that whatever he wrote he believed I needed to know. What if there's another prophecy in there? What if this one says that I'm going to die? What if-"

"Harry," Hermione calmly interrupted. "You can't play the 'what if' game. You will drive yourself insane just thinking of all the options. The only thing you can do is to accept what has happened. Everything that has happened," she clarified. "I know that everything seems to happen to you, and I know that it's not fair that you have lost practically everyone that you have cared about. However, you need to carry on. It won't be easy, but there are things you must do. The first thing you need to do now is to come to terms with his death. I believe that in order for you to do that, you need to open that letter and listen to what he has to say."

Hermione took a deep breath and Ron's eyes darted between his two best friends as Harry just looked Hermione in the eye.

"You're right," Harry finally stated, just as quiet as Hermione had.

"The only question is do you want us to leave you alone?"

Slowly Harry shook his head in answer to her question. "Please stay, just in case there is something in this letter."

"Okay, Harry, we'll be right over here," Hermione stated as she walked to the other side of the room and transfigured a desk chair into a couch for herself and Ron.

"Show off," Ron muttered as he sank into the comfortable furniture.

Harry snickered as he picked up the letter and leaned back against the headboard.

'My dear boy,

It is with a heavy heart that I write these words. There is so much I still need to tell you. So much you need to know.

I know that my time upon this earth is coming to an end. Know that I have faith that you will do what needs to be done.

I would like to say that my death was decided by fate, or the result of another prophecy, but alas I cannot, it is just end result due to the failings of an old man. You cannot know how often I was tempted to use a timeturner to change this outcome. However, the past, and the future, are not items to be trifled with. By giving into this temptation, I might have made things far worse than they were. For there are no guarantees in life, and even going back to correct previous mistakes could unleash a box full of problems, the likes of which the world has not seen since Pandora's time.

Harry grimaced as he looked at the box on the desk. Suddenly he did not want to know what was in that box. Maybe he would have Ron open it for him, just to be safe, he reasoned. After all, Ron could use magic.

One cannot dwell on dreams and forget to live and similarly neither can one dwell on the past, what matters is that one lives in the moment they have.

We must learn from the past, that is after all, why we teach history, so young ones won't repeat our mistakes, however, that does not mean that we spend every waking moment trying to change it.

The past holds many keys to the future. From the past we can learn what we need to do now. It can also tell us why things are the way they are.

Just like how delving into Tom Riddle's past helped us learn the number of Horcruxes, as well as allowed us to determine the objects and their location, so to will the past reveal many more secrets.

All I ask is that you learn and accept this life you have, but most of all, I ask that you live it. Bestowed upon you was a burden greater than anyone has ever known. Do not let the weight of it bring you down.

Your journey will bring you many places and will reveal many things to you. I know that you have often wished that the fate of the wizarding world was not in your hands, but nothing you discover will change who you are.

As I wait for you to join me on this quest to destroy the third Horcrux, I know that I am not afraid of what the future holds. Never before have I been more confident that you will be victorious. While I may not be able to stand by your side when you face your destiny, be confident that I will never leave you.

Sincerely,

Albus P. W. B. Dumbledore

"What the-" Harry started to say as he finished the letter, only to be interrupted by Hermione.

"HARRY!"

XXXXXXX

End Chapter 2

Albus P. W. B. Dumbledore-Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore (OOTP)

Hmm, what an interesting letter Dumbledore wrote to Harry…Any clues in it? I wonder what Harry thinks of it…even more so, I wonder what Hermione makes of it.

UPCOMING: CHAPTER 3 LEMON DROPS

Third year in a row that Harry saw someone die...WOW! I JUST REALIZED THAT AS I TYPED IT…TALK ABOUT BAD LUCK-I MEAN, WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF THAT