Chapter Two

Through slightly closed and bare eyes Harry saw dark, blurry shadows surrounding him. He felt grime beneath his hands, and he realized he was no longer standing vertically like he had been a few moments ago. A cacophony of loud noises erupted in his ears. The absence of light and heat made the place even more eerie. He wasn't aware of where he was or how he had gotten there. Though as he looked around, through the overwhelming darkness and made out the shadows to be heavily-cloaked people and long lines of light, his memory came back to him like a flash of lightning. He shot a glance at the crowd to his right and realized what was happening. Panic erupted inside of him, and he trembled. An unexpected hand suddenly grabbed his chest and pulled him up onto the wall, and he was saved the trouble of formulating a plan of hurried escape. Graying hair was very close to his face now and a man spoke sharply in one long breath.

"Go through that door. It leads to a tunnel. Make your way through it and at the end you will find some of the Order. Do not make any noise whatsoever, and close your mind."

It seemed Dumbledore had done the same thing that he done last year in his office and had momentarily stunned everyone as to make a safe getaway. The Death Eaters and the Order, except for Lupin and Dumbledore had suddenly gone motionless and quiet, and his glasses were thrust into his hand.

"That's the signal. Now go, and don't look back."

He shoved his glasses onto his face and ran. He felt wisps of cold air pass across his uncovered arms and face, but had no time to shiver. He opened the door, and closed it quickly. He couldn't see anything but darkness.

"Lumos," he whispered, and his wand tip ignited.

The tunnel was low overhead and there was a damp feeling about. He took a slow step. The ground was no longer rock hard. It was soft and wet, and his feet seemed to sink in. He took another step with great difficulty. Raising the light further upward, the tunnel appeared to go forevermore straight until he could no longer see due to the black that surrounded him. He had no means of moving quickly without completely sinking, so he slowly walked forward. Where did this even lead? Who was waiting for him? How long would it take to get there? What did Lupin mean 'close your mind'? Harry's brain was working furiously and seemed not to be leading his feet, who continued walking on. After finding no answers to his endless questions he focused his attention on sounds coming from up ahead.

Inaudible whispers echoed in the dark, and he strained his ears to hear who they were coming from. As he continued the whispers grew louder but no more pronounced, and his ears began to ring. His head was now spinning, much like the feeling he got when using Floo Powder, and all that was visible was a white swirling mist. He felt sick. He closed his eyes and saw Voldemort slit his wrist again, and then heard the two voices of Aunt Petunia and an uttered curse. He heard bits of the prophecy. 'Close your mind'. The voice echoed repeatedly, louder and louder and he swirled faster and faster. He could not feel his mouth opening to scream, but sound was coming out all the same. He could not close his mind. The emotions he had felt earlier swept over him and disabled him to feel anything else. He heard the sharp voice again, accompanied by a high mirthless rage of laughter. He tried to move from the mist but his legs now would not move, or maybe just could not. He tried again to rid himself of all emotion and for a second the voices seemed to have stopped, but immediately came back louder than before. He was still helplessly screaming. Stop, please stop he thought to himself Stay calm, think of nothing, nothing. Empty yourself. The voices grew quieter, along with the screams. The swirling slowed. He attempted again to close his mind, and the process repeated itself, and he now gained control of his legs. He stepped, but didn't know where he had stepped.

The floor was no longer soft but hard and slippery. His scar seared with pain. He looked round and saw the mist swirl behind him and very faintly heard whispers. However, a new voice, a real one that didn't echo, now became audible.

"We meet again," said the high voice.

It had been that voice that Harry had heard laughing and Harry knew too well who it belonged to, but where was it coming from? There was no one around, except for himself. But what if Harry couldn't see Voldemort but he was still there. Was he perhaps invisible?

"Are you all right? You look ever so pale," but there was not a tone of concern in Voldemort's voice.

His stomach felt empty and his heart seemed to be in his throat. A gathering of nerves burst through him. He didn't know what to do but his feet lead him again. He was running as he had never run before.

"You cannot escape me," said the voice to what seemed to be from Harry's left, "for I am everywhere," and the voice sounded on his right.

Harry shot a stunning curse to his left and right as he heard those words. Harry was breathing hard and fast still sprinting as fast as his legs would carry him. He needed to reach the end of the tunnel and find someone, but it was hopeless. The tunnel didn't have an end, at least not which was reachable in the near future. He had had enough of life, enough of running, and barely escaping…he was tired of death and loss, but there was no other elective now. There was no possible way of escaping. He would die anyway, at the hand of Voldemort, and the prophecy would be fulfilled. He stopped running and stood still, awaiting death. He could fire no curses at an unseen target, and he could run no further to an unreachable place. When no sound came Harry spoke.

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

"Giving up are we? A few years ago you were so eager to destroy me and so confident you could."

Harry said nothing.

"You're not even going to put up a fight?"

Harry spoke again. "And would I be fighting against thin air?"

"Ah Harry, maybe I should make it a little easier for you."

Voldemort appeared a few feet from Harry, skeletal and sinister. His bony hand gripped his wand loosely.

"Is that better?"

Harry didn't pause to think.

"Expelliarmus!" shouted Harry, but Voldemort must have been prepared for this for he merely raised his hand calmly as to stop the spell. It hit his hand and rebounded upon Harry, who ducked to avoid it. Harry was dumbfounded. Voldemort had no need even for a wand.

"Stupefy," shouted Harry again.

Voldemort raised his hand again, but this time he closed his fist around the jet of light and his hand glowed blue. He opened his hand and blew the spell towards Harry as if blowing a kiss.

"Protego." An invisible shield surrounded Harry and the spell rebounded once more toward Voldemort, who waved his hand in a curvy pattern and the jet of blue light heading in his direction vanished. Harry's eyes widened and he took one step back.

"A little scared now, Potter?"

Harry was, but he wasn't going to give Voldemort the satisfaction of knowing it, so he said nothing.

"Why don't you try another one? It may well just be the last spell you perform." Voldemort spat out these words with a grin like the one Umbridge wore. He broke into a fit of hysterical high-pitched laughter that filtered through the length of the tunnel in both directions. Voldemort raised his wand, still laughing and suddenly dropped it. He turned round to see a red light shooting toward his face.

Dumbledore was standing opposite Voldemort radiating blinding light. He looked into Harry's eyes and gave him a meaningful look. Something inside him told Harry to leave, but he could not. He stood rooted to the spot. This was his entire fault…again. Flying sparks brought Harry to his senses and he realized there was nothing for him to do. Without lighting his wand, he shot off in the opposite direction running faster than he had ever run, into the darkness.

He wanted to run forever, until he no longer had the ability to make things worse, until he was far away from human company, until he was swallowed by guilt and loneliness, until he fell off the edge of the earth, until he ran into the midst of death. He wiped his face as he went, and fell onto the hard, cold floor. He got up without knowing he had fallen, and bolted up all five sets of stone steps. He felt angrier with himself with each step he took. He could never go up against Voldemort by himself. He could not kill him. He had no power that was greater than anyone else. He couldn't stun a group of people all at once. He couldn't control spells without a wand. He couldn't read minds. Even if he did have his mother's love, that wasn't a power. How would love defeat the greatest wizard of all time? He was filled with hatred beyond belief. He could've slammed his head against the stone wall right now just to relieve him of his pain and grief. He hated every particle of himself, and every part of the world. He wanted to end it. He couldn't bring himself to do it though. He rounded a corner and slowed. Sweat was pouring down his forehead and he was mildly trembling. Purple hair came into view and Tonks looked into his red eyes, but said nothing.

"Wotcher, Harry," she said slowly. She continued to stare apprehensively. "Harry, are you all right?"

He looked blankly at the floor, breathing deeply.

"We have to get you out of here. Come on."

Tonks urged him forwards, and Harry followed silently. They reached the end of the passageway and Tonks looked up. There was a ladder leading to a small hole, covered by a boulder engraved with the Dark Mark.

Tonks pointed at the boulder and said "Ascendere". The boulder rose into the air a few feet and moonlight illuminated Harry's pale and dirty, shining face as he looked up. Tonks made her way through the hole followed by Harry.

Trees surrounded them now, and Harry sat down, leaning against a giant willow. Tonks, however, remained standing, her now purple, shoulder-length hair clearly visible.

"It's not your fault, Harry," she said sounding concerned. She walked over to him and sat down to his left, putting a comforting arm around him. "You did the right thing. Anyone would've done the same. It's just that you happened to be set up."

"And I fell for it again! Which part was right? Was it the fact that I left or the fact that we all almost got killed!"

Ignoring his shouting Tonks replied. "But none of us blame you Harry. It was right of you to come and tell us. Like I said you were set up. They captured your owl so you couldn't write. We were just lucky to be able to find you so quickly, and that we're all going to be okay."

"News flash! I'M NOT OK! I never was OK, and I never will be!"

Tonks apparently didn't know what to say to this. She was stunned. She took away her arm, got up and looked to the sky. The moon shone brightly. Another mound of guilt fell on top of Harry, smothering the barrels of shame, hate and anger that already pressed down upon him.

"We have to go". The comforting tone of Tonks' voice had vanished, and Harry could tell she had tried to say that with as little expression as possible. Harry stood up and this time it was his turn to walk over to her. She held out her wand and said "Point me". It pointed to their left, which was apparently north. Tonks took hold of her wand, but walked the opposite direction the wand had pointed, to their right, south.

"How are we getting back?" he asked, trying to sound innocent and calm.

"There's a Portkey just up ahead. But first we have to get out of this forest."

"And where exactly is this forest?"

"Oh, way west of Headquarters, but still in London, and not too far from…" She stopped speaking abruptly, and tried to cover the unexpected silence by saying "not too far from St.Mungo's".

"What were you going to say before you thought of that?" said Harry suspiciously.

"Nowhere… really"

Harry normally would have kept nagging her for an answer, but he suddenly became aware of how tired he was, and all the questions that still pounded through his head, were swept to the back of his mind. He felt weak and achy. He paid no more attention to anything on the return journey, not even when he reached the Portkey.

A/N: Hey guys, thanks to everybody who has been reading so far. I would appreciate it if you could give feedback, cos this is my first fic. thanks! I don't mind flames.