A/N: Thanks for reading if you do so.

In case anyone is interested in reading the stories I got the ideas from, here is the updated list:

Harry Potter and the Nightmares of Futures Past by S'TarKan

To Shape and Change by Blueowl

Harry Potter and the Trip to the Past by Priya Ashok

Blindness by AngelaStarCat

Harry Potter and the Wastelands of Time by joe6991

Mastermind Hunting by Louis IX

Muggle-Raised Champion by Stargon1

—-

Chapter

2

Harry was standing next to his lifeless body, the scene in front of him would have made him laugh, if it hadn't been for how different everything looked in this new soul state he was in. The Death Eaters were huddled around Voldemort, who seemed to have fallen unconscious too, when he had hit Harry with the Killing Curse and both of them were now coming back… well, sort of.

Harry's soul wasn't in his body, he looked at the bright shade of emerald that were his hands, it was beautiful and he decided that he didn't want to go back to his body just yet. This new state was incredibly interesting and he wanted to keep looking around at all the new colors, that were a lot brighter than the ones he could see with his physical eyes. Things with life were luminous and all the creatures and humans around him had some sort of halo around them, it looked similar to his soul so he assumed that was how the soul looked like inside the body, since his body looked like a white luminous empty shell. He saw many differences between the things that didn't have life and the ones that did, it was an amazing sight.

The ground and rocks around them went from pitch black to light grey with small traces and spots of other colors here and there but none of them had light within, like living things, it was more like the dull colors were coated with a layer of shine that didn't belong to their nature, Harry took a guess and assumed that said layer was magic. The plants shared a silver white tone mixed with other undertones in their center but they were all bright and beautiful.

The giants looked very different, they shared the same yellow lime all over their halos with a small circle of a different color in their center but there was no magic in them. Harry was positive about that when he looked at Hagrid, who had an intense reddish halo and, in his center, what could only be his magical core, but it had the giant's tone in it's border, it almost looked like a shield around his magic, or a barrier.

The Death Eaters in front of him had all sorts of different hues and their magical core had different sizes and intensities and, like Hagrid's, their cores matched the shade of their souls, but they also had some traces of dark red around it, some more than others and Harry wondered if all magical humans had that in common, the same way giants and Hagrid shared their own tone.

Nagini was the weirdest thing he had seen so far, the spells surrounding her were pulsing like a soft glowing mist with an ever changing pattern, adding to the unsettling sight. She had a human halo and also a magical core but both of them looked like they had been trapped, imprisoned inside a barrier of that same dark red, that tainted the Death Eaters' cores.

Ok, so that couldn't be just something magical folk had in common, so it probably was dark magic and he assumed that the darker it was, the more power it contained.

Nagini's was blood red and the dark magic seemed to have changed the shape of her soul making it fit the body of the snake. The red light was also pushing a different color inside of her original halo, creating a weird mixture of bright purple and sage. And on top of all of that, she had a different halo, a small broken part of another soul, attached to her center, glued to her core with that same dark red color.

So that's how a horcrux looked like… It was awful.

It looked like someone had made a bad collage out of two human souls in the shape of a snake.

Then Harry looked at Voldemort, the his sight of him was disturbing to say the least. His halo was shattered and it was missing big pieces everywhere -well, no surprises there with the amount of horcruxes he had made and lost-, it seemed like it once had been a bright shade of blue,. Hhe supposed that his magical core, which was bigger than anythe biggest amongst his followers', had also been the same shade, but now it was completely drowned by that dark tone of red that was eating away the blue of his halo like a deadly disease. It was terrifying.

Harry couldn't help but to look at himself., hHe hadn't seen anything but emerald in his hands, but he was scared of seeing any trace of that red light or any piece of Voldemort's halo attached to his core, but as he looked to his center he discovered he had none of that. His core looked nothing like the rest of the people around him. He didn't know how to describe it, it was like looking at a tiny star inside of his chest, like a ball of emerald and silver fire and around it there was a shield or something of the sort, at least Harry knew that it was protecting his core and it was made of something that looked both like light and darkness, like day and night at the same time. It was amazing.

As Voldemort regained his consciousness again, Harry looked around one more time trying to absorb as much information as he could, while lost in his thoughts. He realized that he had changed inside too, his mindset was very different, he felt confident and more capable, more powerful, his priorities more clear and defined, and for the first time in his life he wasn't scared of what could happen to him, no, that would never scare him again. But he still was afraid, terrified to be honest, about what could happen to the people he cared about. How could he save them from the disturbing madman in front of him? Well one thing was crystal clear, from now on he would do anything to keep them safe.

"My Lord, let me —" Bellatrix voice brought his attention back, she was kneeling beside her Master.

"I do not require assistance," said Voldemort coldly while Bellatrix withdrew her helpful hand. "The boy... Is he dead?"

There was complete silence in the clearing. Nobody approached Harry, but their gazes were concentrated on his body.

"You," said Voldemort throwing a stinging hex behind him that caused a small shriek of pain.

Harry was amazed by two things: First, the Elder Wand, it looked like it was made of exactly the same material that was shielding his core and that solved the mystery. The Hallows had made him immortal, as long as that shield protected his magical core no one would be able to extinguish it, ergo he couldn't die, as easy as that. Harry didn't even need to look at the other two Hallows, he knew they would look the same. And second, by magic itself: he saw the power being drawn from Voldemort's core and how his wand had given a different shape and shade to the magic he had pushed through it, but the spell still had the undertone of his magic. It made so much sense, now that he could see it so clearly.

"Examine him. Tell me whether he is dead." Voldemort's voice made him focus again, it was so easy to get distracted with all that new information.

Harry, like everyone else, stared at Narcissa Malfoy as she crossed the clearing -her core was a nice tone of malva-, the boy smiled when he realized Voldemort was wary of approaching him, his plans hadn't gone the way he had expected.

Suddenly, Harry felt something really weird, like a tingling over his chest and immediately looked back at his body, Narcissa's malva hands were creeping beneath his shirt, down to his chest to feel his heart. It was an incredibly weird feeling and he decided that he didn't like it. How could he sort of feel his body while having his soul separated from it? When he saw the woman's fast breathing, he knew that his body was not as lifeless as he assumed it would be and that she could probably feel his heart beating against his ribs. It made sense. His body looked more like the plants around him, not dull grey like the rocks on the floor that never had any life in them.

"Is Draco alive? Is he in the castle?" He heard the whisper coming from everywhere but he saw her lips were an inch from his body's ear, her head bent so low that her long hair shielded his face from the onlookers.

Harry panicked for a second, he didn't want to go back to his body yet, he wanted to be able to see the situation and make a plan. He leaned over her and touched her shoulder tentatively, when emeral touched malva he knew she could feel his touch so he got as close to her ear as he could, which sent a shiver down the woman's spine, but she didn't move.

"Yes," he said firmly knowing that only she could hear him.

He felt the hand on his chest contract; the tingling becoming more intense as she looked at the air where his soul was standing, her wide eyes full of confusion, obviously not able to see anything there. She stared for a few seconds and then let out a brief sigh as she stood up again. Her eyes shining with determination that Harry understood very well. Narcissa knew that the only way she would be permitted to enter Hogwarts and find her son, was as part of the conquering army. She no longer cared for Voldemort and Harry wondered for how long it had been that way.

"He is dead!" she called to the watchers.

"Thank you Narcissa, I'll help you find Draco if I can." Harry said pressing her shoulder tightly for a second.

She repressed a shudder and nodded while the rest of the clearing shouted in triumph, stamped their feet and sent bursts of red and silver light shoot into the air in celebration.

"You see?" screeched Voldemort over the tumult. "Harry Potter is dead by my hand, and no man alive can threaten me now! Watch! Crucio!"

Harry had been expecting something like that, he knew his body would not be allowed to remain unsullied upon the forest floor; it had to be subjected to humiliation to prove Voldemort's victory.

Narcissa visibly tensed next to his body and Harry saw her hands shaking as the curse hit it.

"Don't worry, he can't hurt me anymore, not like that" he reassured her watching her hands relax again when she saw the curse didn't seem to do anything.

Harry saw the magic hitting his body, a soft glow spreading through his emerald skin as his body was lifted into the air, it really was an odd feeling. Harry stared at the Elder Wand amazed at the sight of magic being cast through it. He heard that weird song the Hollows were singing before being hit with the Killing Curse and the rhythm matched the glowing pulse of his core.

His body was thrown once, twice, three times into the air: His glasses flew off, but his body looked as floppy and lifeless as a corpse should be and when it fell to the ground for the last time, the clearing echoed with jeers and shrieks of laughter.

"Now," said Voldemort as he released Nagini from the magical protection seeing that he didn't have to worry about her safety anymore, "we go to the castle, and show them what has become of their hero. Who shall drag the…"

:MASTER HE IS ALIVE!: The desperate hiss cut Voldemort's words.

Of course the stupid snake would realize he wasn't dead, she could probably smell him or feel his heart beating or something! Why would anything ever be a bit easy for him?

With a thought he was back in his body, reaching for his glasses at the same time his wand flew to his hand from his sleeve. The snake was almost over him, he saw it lunging for him, it's fangs oozing deadly venom, but Harry's wand was already pointing at it.

"Confringo! Protego!"

The explosion blasted the snake back while the shield protected him and Narcissa from the backlash, Harry didn't waste time to see any reactions, he accioed the Resurrection Stone that had fallen from his hand and put it in his pocket, then he did the same with Hagrid, before anyone could react. The flames caused by the explosion gave them some cover, he was about to apparate when a crazy idea popped in his mind, this was his chance to kill the snake and he wasn't about to waste it.

He cast the Imperio Curse on Hagrid -he knew his friend wouldn't leave him behind and he couldn't protect him and destroy the snake at the same time-, and gave directions to a very shocked Narcissa.

"Apparate to Hogwarts, give the alarm and evacuate everyone." He turned quickly to Hagrid. "I'll give you enough time and then I'll go too, don't worry about me, I'll be fine, leave. NOW!"

He didn't wait to see them disappear before turning around and hiding under his Invisibility Cloak, then he cast a silencing charm on himself and walked quickly around the clearing, a part of him regretting not being able to see the same way he had seen things in his soul state.

Behind the flames of the explosion everything had fallen into chaos, Voldemort was kneeling next to the bloody, shaking body of Nagini, trying to heal her wounds. His face contorted in a grimace of absolute concentration, obviously there wasn't anything more important in that moment than making sure his snake wouldn't die. He seemed sure he could easily take control of the situation once Nagini was stabilized and Harry was sure of it too. This was his only chance to get to the blasted beast.

He looked around quickly, taking account of everything that was going on. There was no trace of Lucius so Harry assumed he had escaped. Bellatrix was assisting her master and Dolohov was covering for them while the rest of Death Eaters were fighting Grawp that had come lumbering around the clearing yelling, "HAGGER!" His cry answered by roars from Voldemort's giants: They ran at Grawp like bull elephants, making the earth quake. Then he saw hooves and the twangs of bows, and arrows that were falling amongst the Death Eaters coming from the centaurs half hiding behind the trees.

He saw his plan unraveling in front of him as he crouched and walked forward. He had to be extremely unlucky for it to go wrong, but he was Harry Potter, better not to test his luck. When he got close enough to Dolohov, he pointed his wand at him.

"Imperio."

Harry gave him his orders as fast as he could, not giving anyone time to even realize what was coming their way. Then many things happened at the same time.

Bellatrix saw the man moving his wand to point at them and raised her wand, her lips already casting the killing curse.

Fiendfyre burst from Dolohov's wand and struck Nagini directly on the head.

There was an explosion that slammed them to the ground while Voldemort let out a horrible sound that was echoed by the destruction of the last horcrux.

Harry heard a familiar voice calling his name from behind them.

Bellatrix' hand flew wide from the blast and her wand shot green light that rushed through the air and hit a big mass that was just emerging from the smoke of Harry's explosion.

Time seemed to stop as Harry realized who the killing curse had hit. Hagrid had never left with Narcissa, the Imperio hadn't worked on him, Harry hadn't even bothered to check if they had managed to apparate and now Hagrid was laying on the forest ground...

Dead...

Because of him...

It took many precious seconds for everyone to recover from what had just happened, but it was all the cursed fire needed to unleash hell in the clearing. Harry ran to Hagrid. The giants and centaurs were already retreating and he didn't look back to see what the rest of Death Eaters where doing. As soon as he touched his friend's body they vanished.

He hit the floor hard right next to Hagrid's body. His face was still contracted in a mixture of worry and surprise. His eyes were staring lifelessly into space, dull and empty.

Harry didn't notice the silence that fell over the great hall, nor the amount of people that were staring at him. His eyes were full of tears, desperation and utter guilt stabbed his chest mercilessly, as he hugged his fallen friend.

"I'm so sorry Hagrid." his voice was just a whisper. He felt like the world had started to collapse around him. "I wanted to save you, I wanted to save everyone. I was going to make sure no one else would die because of me…" He was shaking and his voice cracked when he heard voices around him, calling his name just like Hagrid had done. Harry looked up and saw the devastation that reigned in the great hall, the corpses and the faces of the living tainted with pain and sorrow and then he started to crumble. "Please forgive me! I went to him, I did what he asked of me!" Everyone could hear him now, everyone could see him crying, but he didn't care, he was too overwhelmed by his feelings and needed to let it all out. "He killed me, but I didn't die, I didn't! Please don't hate me..." His voice cracked again and he felt his throat closing when someone grabbed his arm and made him turn around.

"Harry it's not your…" those words made him lose the little composure he had left in him and he started to yell.

"OF COURSE IT'S ALL MY FAULT! EVERYBODY IS DEAD BECAUSE OF ME! IF I HAD...!" Suddenly a sharp pain on his cheek cut his screams, someone had slapped him really hard on the face, his cheek went numb immediately.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER, STOP THIS NONSENSE RIGHT NOW! NONE OF THIS IS YOUR FAULT, DO YOU HEAR ME? WE ALL CHOSE TO BE HERE, BECAUSE IT IS THE RIGHT THING AND THEY DIED FOR THEIR FREEDOM NOT FOR YOU!" Ginny's voice brought him back to reality.

And suddenly he was wrapped in a bone breaking hug that seemed to put back in place the pieces of his breaking soul.

"Ginny…" her warmth was like a soothing balm and he held onto her like his life depended on it. And Harry cried, he sobbed in her arms, letting all his sorrow leave his body through his tears.

Slowly he managed to breathe normally again, his mind started to clear up and regain its focus. Harry whispered a thank you in her ear and after wiping his wet eyes, he took a deep breath and stood up. His face felt hot and he knew he probably looked like a wet tomato, but now that he had it together again he didn't care how he looked.

He looked around, still holding Ginny next to him, everyone was staring at them, everyone... Why were they still there? Why had nobody left? Surely Narcissa had made it to the castle, she wouldn't leave her son there. Then he saw both of them, they were on the floor holding each other in a tight hug, Narcissa whispering something into her son's ear. None of them had a wand and professor Slughorn was watching over them.

Of course… No one had believed her, why would they?

Harry wanted to slam his head against a wall, his mind already ranting about his stupidity but he didn't have time for that, none of them had time. He took a deep breath allowing his thoughts to calm down. They needed a plan of action and they need it fast. He didn't actually need to call for attention since everyone was already looking at him, but he stepped on a table anyways, dragging Ginny with him. He wasn't ready to let go just yet. He took another deep breath and started talking.

"Hogwarts has fallen and we are an easy target if we stay here." He had to stop for a second to clear his throat, his voice was still raspy. "Voldemort and his army will come for us, that is for sure. I understand why you wouldn't believe Narcissa, but she was telling the truth, we need to leave and we need to do it now, but we need a plan to regroup. Voldemort has total control over the Ministry and even though I'm sure we still have many allies out there, we don't know for sure who is still on our side so we shouldn't waste time waiting for help that might not come. We need to find medical help for the wounded and we need to find a safe place to rest and burry the dead. After that we can plan our next step." People had gathered around him as he spoke, taking in every single word he was saying.

"We can't all go together, it would be too easy to be followed," everyone looked at Ron, his ears went pink but he kept talking, Harry could see how his friend's mind was already in strategist mode. "It seems to me like the best option is to leave in small groups, not more than five people per group. It would be best to apparate to different remote locations at least ten times to be safe, before regrouping. Families should go together and one designated group should take care of the fallen ones until we can give them a proper resting place."

People were nodding at his suggestions and they had started to make their own strategies.

"That sounds perfect Ron, take care of the organization." Harry ignored the stupid voice in the back of his head that was telling him that no one had made him the boss and instead embraced the fact that everyone was following his command to move everything forward as fast as possible.

"The woundedWounded ones need to be with at least two people that have basic healing knowledge," Madam Pomfrey came forward. "The worst ones need to stay with me, I'll need a bigger group for assistance and protection. Once we are safe, I can send word to St. Mungos, I am sure many of my friends there will join us."

Everyone nodded.

"You heard her, everyone that knows basic healing with her."

"We need a small recruiting group to gather allies everywhere we can and an infiltration team." Kingsley said. "We need to get our people out of the Ministry before they are all taken down."

Again, everyone agreed.

"Kingsley, gather the most skilled duelers with you and make your teams." The Auror gave him a nod and starting moving.

"It would be easier to find a safe place, if we have a small group in charge of that." Neville's voice sounded a bit quiet but firm.

Harry couldn't agree more.

"Good thought Neville, take care of that." Neville's face went a bit pale but he nodded and turned around.

It seemed like the whole hall was moving now. Good.

"Now the last thing is the most important and complicated one, we need a way to keep in touch and a way to contact the rest of your families and take them to safety without being traced."

"We could have a group to get the families and use patronuses to communicate." Someone suggested.

Harry started to nod while looking around to see how many people he knew could cast a patronus when Hermione spoke.

"The elves! They can apparate a bunch of people anywhere without leaving any magical traces that can be followed and they can find each other easily, they can help us with communications too. Isn't that right professor McGonagall? All that is left to do is to gather whatever supplies we can and leave."

"Most certainly, Miss Granger. I'll see to that."

"Kreacher!" Harry called and the old elf popped in front of him almost instantly.

"Master calls, good Kreacher answers. What can Kreacher helps with, Master?"

"Kreacher I need you to…" Harry's words died in his mouth when he felt a very intense tingling all over his chest and somehow he knew that a huge amount of magic was coming their way.

"SOMETHING IS COMING!" he yelled as loud as he could making Ginny and everyone around him jump in their skin. "ELFS OF HOGWARTS" Harry poured as much magic as he could on that command, hoping the creatures would understand and obey, "TAKE EVERYONE TO SAFETY NOW."

Immediately after he said that, the little house elves started popping everywhere just to vanish again, taking the groups closest to them.

Everyone that hadn't been taken by an elf was now staring at him like he had just grown another head, but they couldn't understand the danger that he was feeling.

"I need everyone to get to safety, I'll go with you as soon as I get whatever is happening under control." Ginny opened her mouth to protest but Harry cut her off. "You don't need to worry about me ever again, I can't die Ginny," he heard gasps around him so he looked at them and continued talking, "no one can kill me anymore, no one can hurt me in this body. Do you understand what that means? The only way to hurt me now is through the people I love, so please, listen to me and go somewhere safe. Please, leave. Now." The look in their faces was priceless and he would have loved to be able to enjoy it but, again, there was no time. "Kreacher, please come with me." He was going to need his elf to be able to regroup with everyone else.

He apparated outside the castle and then he saw it. It was a terrifying sight and he knew there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop it.

Fiendfyre…

A lot of it…

An unholy amount of it...

To be more exact, three monstrous gigantic snakes made of the damned cursed fire were ravaging the forbidden forest and moving straight to the castle.

"Kreacher," his voice sounded very dry, but of course, his mouth felt like a desert after seeing the scene in front of him, knowing that this was his and only his fault. "I need you to bring anyone that's still in the great hall and knows how to stop Fiendfyre. After that I need you to go to Hogsmeade and give the alarm. They need to evacuate and if there is anyone that can deal with the fire, they should make a line there to contain it in case it spreads. Help them to evacuate, if you see they need it. If they can, they should ask for backup from the Aurors."

"Yes Master, Kreacher dos that Master."

Harry stood there frozen at the possibility of actually being responsible for the ultimate destruction of Hogwarts. For a second he saw the castle get reduced to ashes and it made him feel sick. He had thought Voldemort would extinguish the Fiendfyre not feed it and send it straight at them. He thought Voldemort wanted to conquer the castle, make it his own but oh boy, was he wrong.