Chapter 3

Dumbledore waited patiently for the order to arrive. Pops could be heard around the area before the house appeared in front of them. With the fidelus charm still working, they entered the house in twos and threes, the headmaster, Severus and Professor McGonagall were the first to enter and they all conjured something they wanted while they waited for the others. Severus had a cold drink of pumpkin juice, Dumbledore and Minerva had cups of coffee.

After they were all inside Dumbledore got right to business. "Severus any news?" he asked the man, who looked paler than ever before. Severus didn't even bother getting up, his dark hair stopping everyone from seeing him properly. His dark eyes were burning with hidden pain and longing as well as hate.

"Nothing much, he is keeping quiet about his plans, but he was in a very bad mood tonight for some reason. No one could get a word out of him, he was so angry. But he didn't kill any of his followers, which was strange. He usually kills them when he's in a mood like that, but he didn't. He just kept cursing us and mumbling about muggles. He wants to go on a raid in Little Hangleton for some reason. He has never done that before," said Severus his voice as biting as always.

Dumbledore and everyone around nodded. Moving on he asked, "What's happening with the Aurors?"

"Well we were called to Riddle Manor in Little Hangelton to find it blown to pieces. No magic, so we can only guess it was muggles that did it. They took over fifty Death Eaters with the building," said Shacklebolt seriously.

Mad-Eye was smirking, glad that there were fewer Death Eaters, the younger ones just didn't understand. Not having been in the first war they didn't know what it was like, or how many people had died. Mad-Eye knew and he would rather the Death Eaters were killed and done with, rather than the Death Eaters go to Azkaban where Voldemort could just break them out. The others were sick that so many had died; they were children, who had not seen the last war or were people who'd not had many people close to them die at the hands of the Death Eaters. They all thought that the Death Eaters deserved to be in Azkaban and that was all, and Dumbledore always believed in second chances. He thought they would have changed when they got out of that dementor infested and disease ridden place, but he would never understand that leopards don't change their spots.

It was then that everyone started babbling, wondering what could have happened. All Severus could think was 'thank god I was not there'. If he had been, he would have died without making it up to Harry for everything he had done to him over the years. He didn't care what Harry had said; he was going to keep trying. In the end he knew he would have died trying and that was that.

The meeting soon broke up with the Aurors getting summoned again. They wondered what on earth it could be this time as they apparated into the Ministry, to the place that the Head of Auror Division had told them to.

Severus went home and without bothering to take his robes off he just fell on the bed. The Order meeting had made him realise Harry really did go home and Dumbledore was not lying. His heart ached for his son, his baby boy that he had only known for a year and a half, the child who underneath it all looked like him, with Lily's eyes. Just like the Malfoy's no matter what the Snape mothers looked like, the children always inherited mostly their father's looks. Lily had been sad that Harry had her nose not her husband's but Severus had just laughed and told her it was a blessing. All he could think before he fell asleep was 'what would Lily think of me leaving her son, our son? She would have told him or told me to tell him. We could have spoken at detentions and times alone like that, got to know each other.' And with the amount of detentions he had, they would have gotten to know each other pretty well. He cursed himself for doing what Dumbledore wanted him to do, and damned himself for going along with it.

Before he'd fallen in love with Lily, his heart had began to harden, but when Lily kept coming to him all the time, he could not say no to his beautiful red headed friend. They started going out. James and Severus never did get along but Lily thought of James as a friend. Severus trusted his wife, but did get jealous occasionally. When Lily came into his life, Severus didn't have greasy hair, it was tied back and silky. He also wore all sorts of robes except for light colours but mostly black. He never knew when he would be called to a Death Eater meeting so he had to wear black if he didn't want a round of the Cruciatus Curse for being late.

Harry himself was sleeping on his bed with no book beside him like he usually did and was having the best night's sleep he had had in ages. When he awoke fully rested, he had not wanted to get up and fell back asleep and 'bam' right into a vision. All he could do before it came on was groan and pray he made no noise.

He watched the whole vision and Voldemort leaving. Nagini had not been seen since Little Hangleton. Voldemort thought she was dead which made Harry smirk, he had turned Voldemort's own snake against him. Harry didn't know when he had become so sarcastic or someone who enjoyed being cunning and sly. He guessed it all had something to do with the charms he had had on him for god knows how long. He was disgusted by his previous behaviour, who would not be, a charm making him act like a Potter?

Waking up gasping for breath thanking the gods that there were no curses used or he would have been in the world of pain. His uncle would kill him if he woke him or his family up one more time. He had said so the last time he had woken screaming from one of Voldemort's nightmares. Harry went through to the bathroom and had a shower while they were all asleep. Since the Order's warning he had gotten a good bit of leeway. His door was no longer locked and was allowed food. He had to cook for himself, which was not a problem because he had been cooking for the family for as long as he could remember.

Getting the other bombs that were in his room, the ready made ones; he made sure he had the detonator. He put them in his black trouser pocket straightened his green top, and threw on a black cloak. Grabbing his invisibility cloak, with a pop he was gone.

He appeared at what looked like an abandoned warehouse. Thankfully there was no trouble opening the door, and he crept inside past the training Death Eaters. Walking deeper into the building he was surprised to find a potions room, with books he knew would be worth a fortune. Summoning them all and shrinking them he put them in a bag along with the potion ingredients having no idea just how many people would die for those ingredients. He then went up the stairs onto the top of the building only to find himself in the Dark Lord's study. Taking the scroll books and everything valuable that was not dark he thought to himself 'if only Hermione could see this' before remembering what she had done to him. Shrugging he planted the bomb and he crept back out with no problem. Only when he was out of the place did he breathe properly.

He walked to the edge of the apparition barriers. The only reason he was able to get anywhere near the Dark Lord's properties was down to the scar upon his forehead. It worked both ways, and Harry was just beginning to realise that. As soon as he was far enough away, he pressed the detonator buttons for both the bombs and 'BOOM' 'CRASH' 'BAM'. Harry went flying and landed with a thump five feet from where he had been standing. As he landed he broke his wrist with a sickening 'CRACK'. Harry bit his lip so he didn't cry out; he was used to the pain.

Harry apparated straight into his bedroom, grateful to the silence spells were still up, thanks to wandless magic he had realised he had. Sometimes he forgot he could. Being muggle-born he was used to doing things himself, that included healing himself. Putting the books away for his dad, yes he knew now he had respect for the man who fathered him. He knew why Snape tortured him in class and he did not hate Snape so much that he wanted him dead, no matter how much he pretended to loath him. He had been watching his dad bow to that monster for nearly two years and lie to his face. Harry, himself, knew he would not be able to do that. No, he knew he would never be able to do what Severus did day in and day out.

Harry made lunch for his family and started his chores, which included being outside doing the yard work, something he didn't mind for once. Taking his shirt off he went outside, getting the lawnmower he cut the lawn, weeded his aunt's flowerbeds, then got the hose and watered all the plants before cutting the hedge. Harry by that time had a nice golden glow around him after spending the day in the garden with a nice healthy appearance and a tan.

At seven he cooked dinner, a healthy dinner, which Harry enjoyed consisting of carrots, sweet corn and chicken. After cleaning the dishes he went back up to his sanctuary, not coming back out for the rest of the night. He spent the night reading his books, only getting through two of them, as well as finishing his will, which he needed to take back to Gringotts. He would not let them get his money if he could stop them.

Harry fell asleep and he had a vision again. To his surprise and Voldemort's displeasure, not many people were marked that night; none of them were his classmates. During Voldemort's fit of anger he held the curse too long on one of his death eaters, causing his death through lack of oxygen. Harry kept screaming, not even trying to do anything to get out of the vision. What was the point? He would not be able to anyway.

After the vision he blindly got to his loose floorboard and pulled out a potion. He then drank it, letting the empty bottle drop between his numb fingertips and stretching out he sighed. The potion was one of his own making, a pain potion mixed with a muscle relaxant; it made you numb, perfect for the after effects of the Cruciatus Curse. He promised to give it to Severus knowing the man would need it, not having the time to make experimental potions often himself.

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In a room with disgusting red stained walls and floor, sat Lord Voldemort on a throne, looking over his followers, wondering who was destroying so many of his bases, knowing that if this kept up that he would lose everything that he worked for. The death eaters in the room, their black robes merging together all winced, knowing it was going to be a long night.

Their Lord's hands turned whiter and whiter as he griped his chair, enjoying the cringing of his servants. Severus knew it was going to be a tough night, no one ever helped him recover, and he went to the hospital wing himself. That was one thing he hated.

He flinched when a "CRUCIO" went flying out at an alarming speed at one of the death eaters. Voldemort kept him under it for ages before he started on the others. Soon it was his turn; he tried not to scream but failed, unaware that in a different room his own son was feeling his pain.

This went on for about three hours. Every one of his Death Eaters was on the floor panting in pain, not one of them left standing. Eventually they got up except one. He had broken under the Cruciatus Curse and had died; Severus looked at him in pity. Lucius was held back while the others apparated away. Lucius and Voldemort apparated to Malfoy manor in the dungeons, Harry got a good look at them, saying to himself this was his next target.

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By the time Harry finished his dinner and settled down to read his book, everyone was packed into Grimmauld place for an emergency meeting. They all trooped in quickly, wondering what emergency the headmaster had gotten them all there for. Some of the Aurors had an idea what it was about.

All of them sat down and the headmaster started, "Right this is the second bombing and apparently they were both Voldemort's hide outs. That's been twice in one week and over one hundred Death Eaters killed. He will soon have no Death Eaters left. We must catch whoever is doing this."

"Why? What's the point? Just let the arse keep on killing them! Get rid of them for good. They're slimy Death Eaters. Why are you protecting them?" yelled Ron.

The others bristled at that and started shouting at him. It was stupid it as they were all in the order so Ron yelled, "I do more than you! I have to spy on my best mate." Everyone could tell he was not really bothered about his friend.

"Ronald Weasley, sit down!" Screeched Molly Weasley, effectively making Ron sit down. His girlfriend nearly laughed but managed to hold it in.

"Mr. Weasley. The reason I am saying the man should stop is in case another innocent person gets hurt. They might bomb the place and Voldemort might happen to be in the building. It could make him a disembodied soul again and he might use another of his school things. What happened to Miss Weasley might happen to her or someone like her. Does anyone want that?" he asked all of them sternly.

That shut them all up. Ron, Hermione and a few others knew the real reason behind that explanation. If Voldemort was a soul there was no point in killing Harry because obviously it would make the prophecy untrue. They would not both be alive to be killed and Dumbledore was aware that Harry would be more powerful than him one day as well as Voldemort. Killing him when he couldn't retaliate was the best. That was why he had Ron get Harry interested in Quidditch, as well as other things, distracting him from getting good grades or wanting to work and learn more. Why else did Harry not get help to defeat the monster as soon as he was in first year? Anyone with sense would have trained Harry as soon as there was wind of Voldemort coming back.

"Severus how is Voldemort taking this blow?" asked Dumbledore. Everyone turned to Severus; the few people who knew what Dumbledore was planning to do squirmed, stopping the guilt before it could go far. Deep inside they all knew that Harry could defeat the evil wizard if he was properly trained. They knew what they were doing was wrong, and they wanted to tell but didn't.

"He is furious. One of the death eaters died after Voldemort kept the Cruciatus Curse on for far too long. His new recruits who were in that building were all killed, and some rare books and scrolls that were in his study were destroyed. And according to him there were some potion ingredients that can't be found," said Severus.

The rest muttered, wondering who it was, and wanting to thank the person them self. It was not everyone who got the dark lord angry. Not long after that the group split up, wondering what would be blown up next.

Harry already knew where, Malfoy Manor was going to be next.