Chapter 2

He scrambled up, and muttered lumos. He had arrived on the edge of a field, which itself seemed to be on the edge of a small village. Was this the right place? He looked round, in the dim light and the small faint glow of his wand, he could just make out a sign on the path leading into the village. Slowly he approached it, holding his wand higher to read it. He scanned the sign quickly and smiled,

Welcome to the small village of Godric's Hollow!

Godric Gryffindor's ancestral home!

So this was where his parents had lived, and for a small time, him as well. He looked round but in the rapidly fading light could not make out anything further than a few yards away. He did not want to linger particularly, he just wanted to visit his parents, and then get out. Depending on how soon Ron and Hermione had found his note, and how long it took them to stop shouting, he had a limited time in which to deal with this before they undoubtedly came after them. He almost grinned to himself. Despite his express instructions for them to get along without him, he knew his best friends too well. They would be after him very quickly; he just hoped Lupin would keep to his word and stave them off for a while. He noxed his wand and walked carefully through the village, keeping an eye out for the church, and it's accompanying graveyard, though he had no idea where they may be, whilst keeping alert for any sound of people approaching. He had not for one second forgotten that the death eater's would still be looking for him, and he had not stopped looking for them. All the houses looked deserted, though he was not surprised, Sirius had once told him that the death eaters had attacked the rest of the village on the way to his parent's house. A lot of people had died, thought no one had survived, apart from him. Many of the house's were soot-blackened, even in the dark he could see that. They were crumbling and dilapidated but Harry saw that the houses would once have been very beautiful, not very large, but cosy cottages, not at all the sort that you would find on a certain road in Little Whinging, Surrey. So the village was deserted. That made things a little easier for Harry, there was no real need to creep around for fear of anyone spotting him and alerting people to the fact that the boy-who-lived was back. So, he thought as he trudged along the muddy road, heading for what he assumed was the centre of the village, there are seven horcruxes; Riddle's diary-destroyed, Slytherin's ring-destroyed, Slytherin's locket-gone who-knows-where, Nagini-alive and (unfortunately) well, Hufflepuff's cup-probably still intact somewhere, and another Gryffindor/Ravenclaw relic-no clue about that…not to mention Voldemort himself…It was looking like a near impossible task. It was now that he needed Sirius…or Dumbledore. He needed help, relief, guidance…love. Suddenly it all hit him with a crash, a resounding crash that left him gasping for breath as his grief barrelled him to his knees. Parent's-dead, Sirius-dead, Dumbledore…a wracking sob forced it's way out, but he continued. Ginny-gone, Ron-gone, Hermione-gone. He was,

"Alone…" He choked out, as tears streamed from his eyes. He wasn't sure how long he knelt in the mud, but he waited, the detached part of him waited for his emotional side to calm down, for the poison to be drawn from the wound. Eventually the tears stopped coming and his breathing returned to normal. He wasn't even sure why it had hit him, but now that it had, now that he'd realised he was…alone, it only made him more determined. Yes, right now, he was alone, but that didn't matter. Not any more, he had done the right thing. If he spent an eternity hunting down the horcruxes, then so be it. That was just how things had to be, it was up to him, they were depending on him, all of them, even the one's that had really gone, were relying on him…and he would not fail them. He pushed himself up from the ground, and cast a cleaning spell on the knees of his cloak. He wiped away the tear's and the panic and the loneliness to have it all replaced by a steely determination, a strong resolve that would not fail. He silently swept through the village, wand out just in case, but he met no one. Eventually the street he was on forked, and in the middle of the fork sat a small church…tiny to be exact. He gasped suddenly as he recognised it. It was the same church as the one in his favourite photo of his parents. Their wedding day. He could still picture it now. His parents there, Sirius just there. He suddenly wished he'd brought the photo album with him. The church had a side missing and the steeple had collapsed, but Harry could still appreciate it's simple beauty. He skirted round the walls of the dilapidated building and found himself in a small graveyard round the back. His breath caught. This was it, he was about to come as near to his parents as it was humanly possible. Slowly, stumbling slightly, he moved cautiously in between the rows of headstones, checking each ones name with mounting tension and bated breath…

It wasn't particularly special, not to anyone else, but to Harry it was everything he could have wanted for them. White marble, turned slightly green from moss with the inscriptions Here lieth James and Lily Potter, perfect parents…perfect friends…perfect people… Harry knelt in front of the headstone. After his emotional struggle earlier he was surprised he wasn't more affected by the sight of his parent's graves.

"But this isn't really them," He murmured aloud, "They can't be represented by a slab of marble, it's not what they are…were," he corrected absently. He waved his wand over the stone and cast a cleaning spell noiselessly. He had gotten quite good at silent spells over the summer.

"I can't do much for you, mum and dad, but it's only fair that I help you look nice," he smiled. Then he chuckled, that was probably the most stupid thing anyone had ever said at their first visit to a grave. He sighed, stood up and turned around. Behind him Ron and Hermione stood, watching with tense expression's on their faces. Silently Harry walked towards them, and stood staring at the both of them, who looked quite nervous at his silence. Just as he had decided not to shout, Hermione burst into tears and threw her arms round Harry's neck, making him stumble, and to his shock, Ron did the same round both of them.

"Took you long enough to catch up didn't it?" Harry muttered into Hermione's shoulder, as she sobbed hysterically, soaking his cloak.

"Yeah, well we wanted to get some of the wedding cake…" Ron choked, Harry was completely thrown to hear the raw emotion in his best friend's voice. Hermione suddenly pulled them apart. Harry had been waiting for this part,

"You stupid prat! You stupid, great PRAT! Don't you ever think…how could you…HARRY!" She shouted at him, slapping him hard on the arm,

"OW! Hermione…" he frowned, rubbing at his arm,

"NO! You went too far, Harry! Never, never do this again! Running off on your own! How could you possibly, ever think me and Ron would leave you on your own, to deal with…with this!" She demanded, flailing her arms, her bushy hair flying around energetically. Harry had been expecting some shouting, but was frankly a little taken aback by her fierceness. Apparently so was Ron,

"Hermione!" He tried to protest weakly, and took her elbow to make her move back from Harry and the inch of space between their faces,

"Get off, Ron! Harry James Potter, if you ever try and do this again, it will not be Voldemort you have to worry about catching you, IT WILL BE ME, are we quite understood?" She whispered in such a dangerous voice, that Harry was actually quite unnerved. He nodded quickly, eye's wide, and she visibly relaxed, her breathing slowing. Harry wasn't quite sure what to say, until Hermione suddenly hugged him again, only slightly less energetically. Ron stayed where he was this time.

"H-Hermione, p-please…" he stuttered. Ron came forward and pulled her off him, rolling his eyes at her behind her back. "I won't do it again, I promise…" he assured her,

"Oh Harry, it's not just that, it's what you must think of us…" Harry frowned, unsure what she meant, before Ron stepped forward,

"Harry, how could you think that we…that we weren't…" he struggled,

"Harry, we didn't want to go, of course we didn't, but neither did you, and this is our battle, just because it's yours! We'll stay with you to the end!" Harry didn't know what to say, he hadn't expected his friends to act like this at all. He'd guessed they'd come after him, but he thought they'd merely be angry, he'd never thought they'd be so…upset.

"I'm sorry…" he said, awkwardly, "I didn't mean to…to worry you!" he said, not looking at them.

"Ah, mate, don't apologise, it's us who should be apologising. You've been through a lot, after Dumbledore…" Harry's throat tightened, "…and everything…" Ron continued, "And we should have realised, you know, been more…supportive. Well anyway," he said smiling, "We're here now, so let's get to finding those horcruxes."

"We can't yet, I remembered after I left that I have to go back to the Dursley's, Dumbledore wanted me to one last time. I'll only stay one night. They wouldn't want me any longer anyway," He said, not exactly relishing the idea.

"Will they put up with the three of us, though?" asked Ron, and Harry jolted in his surprise,

"You two surely don't think it's necessary to accompany me there, do you?" Hermione's answering frown was quite enough of an answer, "But you don't want to put yourselves under their roof! They're awful!" He cried,

"That's exactly why we're coming with you, mate!" laughed Ron, "You don't think we're going to let you go back there on your own, do you? There's no point!" Harry grinned,

"I cannot wait to see my uncle's face when not just me, but two more freaks turn up on the doorstep as well!" Ron and Hermione chuckled, and they made their way back to the edge of the village. Harry glanced back at the graveyard,

"Harry?" asked Hermione quietly, "Are you okay? We can wait a bit longer if you want?" For a moment he didn't say anything, as he stared at the headstone, which after the cleaning Harry had given it, almost seemed to gleam in the darkness.

"No…it's fine…I did what I came here to do." He turned back to see his friends worried faces, "honestly," he insisted, and gradually Ron and Hermione smiled. "You two want to do some side on apparition? Seeing as you haven't a clue where Privet Drive is?" asked Harry,

"I remember where it is from our second year," Ron corrected, "I'll take Hermione, you go ahead and get your uncle's attention," He grinned, and Harry smiled back, though not quite so relaxed as his friend,

"Okay, join me in a few minutes," He took a deep breath and with an unsteady twirl he landed with a staggering CRACK on the corner or Privet Drive.