Yes, yes two chapters in one day.
I'm trying to buy your love back by turning out a few more chapters this week
to make up for the ever so long absence.

Thank you all for the reviews!
Pianomouse: All shall be revealed in time! Though gifts are the best kind. ^_~

Remember! Reviews are what feed the authors! XD

As always, I own nothing. The always epic JK Rowling owns it all.

Harry sat there in the common room that night, Hermione tucked against his side with his arm around her, reading a book on Ancient Runes. He knew what had happened. He wasn't sure how he knew, but down deep inside, he was certain that his fears were correct. He had no clue how to go about making sure or telling his girlfriend his suspicions, but he knew with every fiber of his being that he was correct. He wasn't sure what the future held now, but the world had just become a hundred times more dangerous in his eyes. Everything seemed like a threat, every shadow seemed like an enemy, and he wasn't sure how to go on knowing what he knew.

He did know that at some point he would have to tell Hermione what he had figured out, he just hoped that she would come to the realization on her own, before he was required to say anything.

He absently rubbed his hand up and down his girlfriend's arm, taking a small amount of comfort in the fact that at least for now, she was safely by his side. Right in this moment he could protect her. He had no clue as to what tomorrow would bring and that terrified him.

Harry thought back over all of the years he had spent at Hogwarts, all of the adventures he had had, all of the danger he had been in all of the close calls he had had; the near death experiences and the deaths he had seen. This pattern could not continue. He had already been determined to do all to protect Hermione, but now… now the thought of anything happening to her was physically painful. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that he would not survive anything happening to her now.

As he sat there, holding the woman he loved and staring into the roaring flames in Gryffindor tower, he could feel himself changing, evolving. He could feel darkness seeping into his very soul as he realized just what all he would do to protect his little family now. Realizing the depths he would sink to in order to assure their survival was an eye-opening thing.

He knew that the deaths they had seen thus far were just the beginning. He knew that blood would be shed in the coming war and he would be damned if any of it was Hermione's. He could feel himself falling into a murderous, almost psychotic mindset. He was no longer participating in a war for the "greater good" he was not fighting for survival.

Dumbledore, he saw now, only wanted him to win a war so that the Light could continue in the direction the old man thought best.

Voldemort, he had always known was crazed; fighting for the purity of blood and segregation from Muggles.

Harry was willing to wage a war all his own to protect the girl in his arms. Maybe it was time the Neutral faction actually had a leader. Harry would be that leader. He was not going to be Dumbledore's Golden Boy any longer. He would not be a scapegoat. He would not be a lamb to the slaughter so that the Light could defeat a madman. He had more to life for. He had a life worth living now and he planned on living it to the fullest.

Dipping his head down, he pressed a kiss to the top of Hermione's head, breathing deeply of her scent, the sweet smell of her shampoo relaxing him like nothing else on earth was capable of. He knew what he would have to do. He knew that he would have to become more, stronger, more powerful.

Being self-aware as he was now that he was in a relationship with Hermione, he realized that this was how Voldemort started on his path to madness, but unlike him, Harry had someone to ground him. He didn't want the strength or power for the sake of his ego, he wanted it so that he could protect the family he had found, the new little family he had made for himself after a lifetime of loneliness. He didn't need recognition or faceless masses bowing to him in reverence, he simply wanted to keep Hermione safe. She had become his world, his everything, and if he had to split his soul to protect her, he would. He would bathe the world in blood if something should happen to this brilliant witch in his arms.

A part of him knew that he should be scared of this new resolve to sink to such evil levels, but he felt no fear, no reservations; all he felt was a grim determination to do what he felt was necessary.

A small voice in his head wondered what his parents would think if they were alive for him to confide these thoughts and feelings in. He wondered if they would hate him for being willing to go to such lengths. He wondered if they would understand his need to keep his family safe.

He knew that Sirius hated all things Dark; so much that he had run from his own family and been disowned to escape the cycle of service to the Dark Lord. He knew that Sirius would not be understanding and would insist that there was a better way to go about things. While he had definitely been a prankster, he was not capable of true depravity. He would have loved for Sirius to have been there to maybe give opinions on alternatives, to try to find other ways and support him without fail.

He wished so many things could be different but he couldn't bring himself to worry about the hate or understanding of the dead. They were gone and there was no changing that. Hermione was here and he COULD keep her alive. That was all that mattered.

Shaking his head he pulled himself from his inner musings, looking down at the sweet girl that he had fallen in love with. "How are you feeling?" He asked gently, inconspicuously sliding a hand over her stomach, referencing the morning's illness.

"I'm fine Harry." She said, her voice laced with a hint of exasperation. The over-protective boy had asked her the same question every hour, almost on the hour, all day. While she loved him deeply and loved that he was so concerned, it was beginning to wear of her nerves. After all, there were only so many times a person could answer the same question again and again without becoming irritated. "I promise, if that changes, you shall be the first to know." She said, lovingly, patting his hand on her stomach.

"I know, 'Mione." He said, sighing softly. "I'm sorry I've been a little…."

"Obsessive…?" She offered innocently when he seemed to attempt to find the right word.

"Yes, that." He said with a laugh. "I just love you so much…" He said, his heart blazing in his emerald eyes.

"I love you too, Harry." She replied gently. "With all of my heart." Smiling, the brunette kissed her boyfriend's lips lovingly.

"There you two are." Came a voice they both new well.

Looking up at the person that had spoken, they came face to face with the other third of the so-called 'Golden Trio' that had been absent lately, and he looked anything but pleased.