Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. He, and all of the characters mentioned in the book series of the same title, belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers.

Warning: Half-Blood Prince spoilers.

Summary: As the Dark Lord once again rises to power, Harry Potter finds himself facing situations only found in his nightmares. The path of darkness is followed by those who have nothing to lose, but has Harry really reached that point?

Does not feature Horcrux storyline!

Dark Wings

Chapter Four – His Crimes

Harry was grateful that he had Ron and Hermione in his life. His two best friends definitely made life more bearable, and he knew that if he ever lost them, he'd surely go insane. This was why he kept his friends close; even when they thought he was seeing problems where there weren't any, such as in the case of Sarah Levithan.

After Remus' warning, he'd known not to trust her. After his first private lesson with her, he had understood why putting any trust in her could be possibly tragic. It wasn't that the woman wasn't kind, far from it. She was one of the most patient people Harry had ever met. However, she was also very demanding.

She was instructing them in training that a first year Auror would receive. Harry found it a nice change – knowing that he'd instructed the D.A., McGonagall had likely ensured that Levithan wouldn't teach them anything that they had already learned.

She'd quizzed them on Patronuses first, and had been pleasantly surprised when Hermione had produced her otter, Ron his shimmering Jack Russell, and Harry his stag. It had been then that she'd launched into stronger defences including (and it irked Harry to no end that people were trying to educate him in it again) Occlumency.

Harry was still dismal at it, and predicted that he'd likely remain as such. At least it wasn't Snape peering into his head anymore. It was still odd though, having someone force you to relive your worst memories. And it was the worst memories that Levithan aimed at. How many times had he seen Dumbledore fly from the Astronomy Tower? How many times had he been witness to Sirius falling through the veil?

He hated it, and he hated Levithan for putting him through it, day after day. She tried to reason it out with him, telling him that if he didn't want to relive the scenes, he'd be able to push her out with more force. She'd made it sound like he enjoyed watching people die, and it was another reason for him not to trust her.

Hermione thought that he was being foolish, but then, she was doing far better in the training than he was. So was Ron, for that matter, though he wasn't doing near as well as Hermione. Harry hated being rubbish at things, and hated even more that he was being forced to continue that which he was rubbish at.

"Sickle for your thoughts, mate." Ron's voice came to his ears as though from a distance, and he turned to stare at his red haired friend. Both Hermione and Ron had concerned expressions on their faces that Harry knew wouldn't be shaken off by his denying that he hadn't been distracted. Instead, he chose to say nothing, but stood and crossed the room to stand just in front of the fireplace.

Gryffindor common room held too many memories that he felt overwhelmed by, each and every time he entered. He'd taken to spending more time outside of Gryffindor Tower than within it. However, he did wish that he could spend sometime outside of the castle. McGonagall wasn't having it though – Harry had asked, and argued, but the Headmistress had stayed firm.

"Harry?" Hermione's voice, right next to his ear. One of her hands reached up and touched his forehead. He shied away and shook his head sharply.

"Nothing. It's nothing," he said quietly. Hermione frowned at him, but for once, she didn't say anything further. Instead, she turned to Ron, and then angled herself to take them both in.

"Let's go down to the Great Hall, it's about lunchtime now," she said with a tone that stated she was trying to act as if everything was normal. As if nothing had changed since they'd become friends. But everything had changed. They weren't innocent children anymore. They were legal adults, no matter how young they were compared to most full witches and wizards. They were young adults who had seen too much. Nothing was the same as it had been six years prior. Nothing.

His feet followed Hermione and Ron down to the Great Hall, his mind not catching up until he heard shouts, and a shriek of, "Move! Potter, move!" Harry dropped to the floor, feeling his hair ruffle as a spell shot past. He had no time to check the colour of the spell, but had an odd feeling that it had been the sickly green that forever haunted his nightmares.

Harry wasn't aware of what happened afterward. He had no idea how Death Eaters had gotten into Hogwarts, but he did suspect them to be the same as those who had ambushed him at the Dursleys. He ended up in a fierce duel with one, both of them combating in only non-verbal spell work, until his opponent shrieked a curse for the room to hear.

"Avada Kedavra!" Bellatrix's voice howled. Instinctively, he allowed himself to fall to the ground. He was aware of a familiar shout behind him, and then came the rumbling noise of a statue crumbling. The curse hadn't hit anything.

"Go! Leave! Your orders were not for Hogwarts!" shouted a voice that Harry didn't recognise. It surprised him, and the next thing he knew was his glasses flying from his face and his body sprawled on his back. There was a flurry of movement above him, and he was aware of many footfalls and the swishing sound of robes and cloaks as the assailants scrambled to leave the hall.

He was barely aware of anything by the time familiar, friendly and non-panicked voices began to fill his ears, and finally he knew nothing as he was raised into a stretcher and magicked to the hospital wing.

"What was he hit with?"

"Will he be alright?"

"Harry, can you hear me?"

Harry's ears met with an onslaught of noise as he regained consciousness in the hospital wing nearly three days later. He blinked his eyes open and hurriedly slipped his glasses on before letting his eyes flicker onto the people who were gathered around his bedside.

"How did they get in?" he asked groggily. Hermione and Ron shared a resigned look, and then Hermione shook her head.

"No one could figure that out, Harry," Ron said with a shrug. "Security's been multiplied though…" he trailed off, and Harry sensed that he wasn't getting the full story.

"What is it?" he demanded. Hermione sighed.

"The wards on the castle are weakening, but no one's sure why. They think it might be because there aren't any students around," Hermione explained. Harry shook his head and groaned. It would have been easy then.

"What happened? In the fight, I mean," Harry asked. Hermione sighed again.

"We came down the stairs. It was McGonagall who shouted for you to move, and then they started attacking. We're not sure who it was exactly, but someone shouted for them to leave – you heard that, right? – And then Ron was almost hit by the Avada Kedavra…" Hermione's voice had gone very quiet.

Harry looked at Ron to see and uncomfortable expression on his features, and a strange look in his blue eyes. "I don't know how you can have that curse directed at you so often and still be sane, Harry," Ron muttered, shaking his head.

Harry let out a soft laugh and shrugged as Hermione continued, "We aren't sure what you were hit with, Harry, but even Madam Pomfrey said that we were just going to have to let it run its course…" she shook her head. "You're alright now, aren't you?" He thought that he could see a strange look in her eye as she asked this. A strange look that seemed almost like guilt. He nodded comfortingly and made to get up.

"You lie back down, Mr Potter!" came Madam Pomfrey's voice from down the ward as the matron came toward them. Harry sighed and obeyed, albeit reluctantly.

Madam Pomfrey checked him over quickly, then sighed and gave him a large piece of chocolate, "You are a very lucky man, Mr Potter," she muttered, shaking her head and walking back down the ward. "You can go!" she exclaimed as she entered her office.

Harry grinned and rose from the bed, popping the chocolate into his mouth and leaving the wing with Hermione and Ron trailing behind.

"You're both okay?" he asked, turning to face them (and walking backward as a result) after he'd finished the chocolate. They nodded and Harry sighed, "You're sure?"

"We were more worried about you, mate," Ron said finally. "No offence, but you're usually in a bad state after fights with… Well, them…" he trailed off and shrugged.

Harry let out a breath and nodded slowly. "None taken," he grumbled. He wanted to know how weak the wards had gotten. If the non-Apparition ones were weak, then it would have been quite easy for the Death Eaters to get inside the castle. They wouldn't have had to go through Hogsmeade, wouldn't have drawn any unwanted attention to themselves. It would have been all too simple. And if the wards continued to weaken, Death Eaters wouldn't be the only ones entering Hogwarts uninvited.

He went straight up to the dormitory and collapsed onto his bed with a groan. He heard footsteps coming up the stairs and quickly pulled the curtains shut around his bed. He knew it was probably Hermione and Ron coming to check that he was really alright, but he didn't feel like talking to anyone at the moment.

It had finally sunk in – Ron had almost been killed. Again. He'd almost lost someone else to Bellatrix Lestrange. Sirius was bad enough, but Ron? He couldn't imagine losing Ron. And if Ron had been in such danger, then what had happened to Hermione? She hadn't mentioned anything about herself when recounting the battle.

He pushed back the curtain to find Ron sitting on his own bed, staring across the room at him. "Good, you're here," Harry said, sitting up. "Listen; did anything happen to Hermione? During that fight, I mean," Ron's uncomfortable look told Harry all that he needed to know. "What happened, Ron?" he urged.

Ron sighed, "She was hit with a few curses, mate," he said hesitantly. Harry raised an eyebrow, and then moved his hand, prompting Ron to continue. "She – someone Imperiused her. It was her who hit you with whatever knocked you out…" he trailed off. That was why Hermione had looked guilty. She was blaming herself for things done under the Imperius curse.

"She thinks it's her fault," Harry said in a dead tone. Ron nodded, and Harry rose from his bed and ran from the room. Hermione wasn't in the common room, which meant… He walked to the base of the stairs that led to the girls' dormitories and hollered up them.

"Hermione! Hermione!" he called. When she didn't reply, he began to run up the stairs, momentarily forgetting about the Founders' charm until he was sliding back down into the common room with an alarm blaring through the Tower.

"Hermione!" he hollered again as Ron came down the stairs form their own dormitory. Hermione came sliding down the folded in stairs then, and Harry was shocked to see that her rich brown eyes were puffy, and her cheeks were tear stained.

Harry walked to her and wrapped his arms around her. She started shaking, and began sobbing into his robes, "I'm sorry…" she whispered through her tears. "Harry, I'm so sorry…" He shook his head.

"It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself for what they did. That's what they want, Hermione," he shivered. What if they'd made her do something else? "Never blame yourself for what the Imperius curse has made you do," he added. Still, Hermione sobbed. Harry looked at Ron over her head, meeting his eyes. Ron nodded, approached and carefully pried Hermione off of Harry. She clung to him instead, still crying softly as Ron stroked her back.

Harry could hear him murmuring things softly, but couldn't make out what he was saying. Suddenly, he turned, "Who cast it?" he growled. Ron's eyes turned almost fearful at the tone in his voice, and Hermione spun, her eyes wide and scared.

"No. You're not going after him. No way, Harry," Hermione's voice was frightened, and Harry narrowed his eyes, having gained a vague idea of who it had been.

"Snape," he scowled. Hermione squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, only confirming his statement. "I'll kill him," he growled.

"No, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. She rushed back to him and again clung to him, much like a frightened child. "You can't," she whispered. He stroked her hair and rubbed her back gently before hugging her.

"It has to be done. His crimes… He has it coming," was all he said in response.

Author's Corner

;o; My chapters keep getting shorter, and it bothers me. Did you enjoy though? I'm sure two updates in two days is something of a record for me…

Please review, I beg you—

Until the next update-

Completed – December 29/05