Disclaimer: Still the same as the previous chapter. I own nothing but the plot.

Notes: Thanks once again to Hazel for being a super speedy beta-reader! You guys are lucky that I have seven chapters of this done, and maybe before school starts I can get nine. Unfortunately, NaNoWriMo is coming up in November and that means Erin and I have a lot of preparation to do getting the unofficial New Mexico branch set up and get the support groups ready! That will take up most of my time once October hits, so sorry if after that updates don't come in until the New Year. I will try, with all my might, to get this done before October.

CHAPTER TWO:

Strolling the castle corridors at night had become something of a habit for Harry Potter over the last year. Ever since the death of his best friend, Ron Weasley, the darkness and solitude brought by the old castle became a sort of sanctuary for him. The only light that he ever needed was given to him on rare occasions when the full moon was bright enough to filter light throughout the corridors, and shadows would dance along the stone walls.

It was a wonder Harry ended up here. After his sixth year, after watching Dumbledore murdered by none other than Snape, after all the things Harry had learned about horcruxes and tearing apart ones soul, he had sworn never to come back. It held too many painful memories, and, to be quite honest, he thought his time was better used finding and destroying the last four horcruxes.

The only problem was the locket of Salazar Slytherin.

It was the one horcruxes that Harry had yet to discover, and apart from the note he had found three years earlier he had no clues as to where it could be. All he had were initials.

Harry turned a corner and found himself near the entrance of the old divination classroom on the first floor used by Firenze. He smiled nostalgically at the memories that the old wooden door brought to him; memories of happier and easier days.

Back in fifth year Harry honestly hadn't thought things could get much worse, especially after the death of his Godfather, but he figured even at the young age of fifteen he should have known better. He snorted at how naive he had been all those years back. If he had any idea this is where he would end up…

You would what?. questioned a voice in his head. Harry sighed and sat down on a window seat that faced the front lawns of Hogwarts, leaning his head against the window pane. It was cold against his temple.

The voice in his head, which sounded an awful lot like Hermione, was right. He would have done nothing differently. The losses he had suffered, and the horrors he had seen, they were all necessary. He hated to admit that, especially since Ron's death, but it was true.

In war there were sacrifices. No two ways about it.

Harry stared out of the glass for what felt like hours, but when the clock struck midnight he realized he had been loitering for about half an hour. That was when he saw it.

A dark figure scurrying up the front lawns of Hogwarts, in such a rush it seemed the person had not seen it necessity to hide itself. Harry leapt up thinking it was a Death Eater getting ready to attack the castle. It had been known to happen, after all.

But then another thought struck him. Why on earth would one lone Death Eater attack them? Harry didn't waste much time, but muttered the spell that released the fifteen simultaneous locking charms on Hogwarts. It was something that Hermione came up with, and as of yet, no Death Eater could bypass. It consisted of locking all students in their dormitories; allowed that no door be opened; sealed all secret entrances; and finally had some weird seal slip over the windows. Harry had been amazed by it, as had much of the Order.

He moved back towards the window and peered outside as the dark figure came rushing up the stone steps towards the front doors. The small stature of the figure suggested that it was a women, but from this distance, and at this time of night Harry couldn't be too sure.

Almost as soon as the figure reached the top of the stairs there was a loud knock on the heavy wooden front doors that resounded through-out Hogwarts and would surely wake up any Order members that were currently sleeping on the first floor. Startled, Harry looked towards the door as if surprised someone would be knocking even though he had just seen this person cross the lawns and mount the steps.

"Harry, what the blazes is going on," asked Remus Lupin, coming to stand behind Harry with his wand out and his features rumpled from sleep.

Harry turned around quickly, and sure enough most of the Order members who had bed chambers on the first floor, and some on the second like Tonks, had come running at the sound of the knocking.

It came again and all of them turned back to the door.

Harry shrugged his shoulders and raised his wand muttering the reverse spell for the locking charm.

He heard a squeal from behind him and pinned it instantly as Ginny's. She was one of the few Weasley's left and fought along side him in the Order. Of course, nothing truly romantic had happened between them since his sixth year, however, there was a definite attraction.

Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to look down into the brown eyes of Ginny. "Harry what are you doing?"

Her voice was laced with fear and determination. He knew none of them would falter if he were to open the door, knew that they would stand their ground, but also knew none of them wanted him to do it.

He shook her arm off and stepped forward pulling on the handle of the oak door using most of his strength to make it budge. After a few moments of vain attempts Harry gave up, and with a flick of his wand opened the giant doors magically.

The sight that met his eyes was one that he had not expected. A girl that must have been around his age, nineteen or twenty, was bent over her knees using them to keep herself up right. Blonde locks fell over her face hiding her identity. She was dressed in typical muggle clothing of jeans and a black t-shirt with a black cloak draped over her shoulders.

It hadn't been raining but her hair was slicked to her head with sweat as if she had been running for days and her clothes were muddy. There also seemed to be a bag that she had dropped on the ground beside her when she was attempting to catch her breath.

Murmurs broke out behind Harry, but no one rushed forward to help their house guest. As she straightened herself up Harry felt his jaw drop to the floor. There was no way she, a known worker with Death Eaters, had just appeared here.

"Ah, Professor McGonagall" she said, brushing some hair out of her face to reveal dark green eyes that were bloodshot, and looking past Harry into the wide eyes of Hogwarts current Headmistress. "Just the woman I wished to see."

End Notes: Well, there was Chapter Two. Like I said, NaNoWriMo takes up a lot of my time this time of year, and I am really sorry if I don't complete this by October. Unfortunately, I will have to work a lot on getting stellar marks in classes, too, so that when crunch-write time comes I can slack off with ease.

I love you guys who review!