DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, or anything you may find in my story that in any way resembles a character, story, or plot that is owned by another person.
Harry Potter and Yet Another Version of His Hogwarts Years
Hogwarts Year 5
Harry spent the summer before his fifth year dealing with all the investigations and court cases and staying a step ahead of the Order of the Phoenix. Naturally, they ran into him a time or two when he visited the Ministry on business. But Harry just rebuffed them in public and made sure he wasn't caught in private with any of them.
Dumbledore could only do so much considering Harry hadn't done anything illegal and was becoming more famous in the public eye already for his exploits. Even the Minister was treating him as a neutral at worse, because Harry would not speak out on the Voldemort issue, and Fudge did openly sympathize with him over the circumstances of his participation in the tournament that were beyond dispute.
The resolution of his cases went fairly quickly because the Wizengamot had no other major trials to attend to over the summer. For his two Wizengamot seats and his one Hogwarts seat, he was accepted with the limitation that he had to appoint a proxy to his seats until after he personally graduated Hogwarts with at least three NEWTS. Therefore, he appointed Sirius to his Slytherin proxy and Arthur to his Potter proxy in the Wizengamot and appointed Remus to his Hogwarts Board of Governors proxy.
As for the Potter children's books, He was awarded full cease and desist and full damages including years of back profits and royalties, and a retraction was paid for and printed by Whizz Hard Books, the publisher in question. Harry accepted a compromise settlement, since they didn't have enough cash for the full settlement.
He received one million galleons cash (five million pounds), and two six million galleon (thirty million pound) convertible bonds each with a ten year maturity earning ten percent interest. One of which he donated along with half the cash reward to a trust to start and maintain a magical orphanage, which would be run by Molly Weasley, Andromeda Tonks, and Remus Lupin as Trustees. To be located on new land adjacent and added to the wards of Hogsmeade village.
Since Harry's life turned in a different direction than what we're used to, there was no attempt on his life by Dementors, nor did he have to attend a trial to defend his right to defend himself.
Harry and his friends started fifth year with no problems. Except that Harry was now more famous than ever, and being fifteen, apparently Teen Witch Weekly decided he was fair game for matchmaking speculation. Which he found very embarrassing. After he got to school, it was worse.
Apparently since Harry's emancipation was well known, as well as his apparent wealth, not merely for the winning of his lawsuits, but the word got out mostly due to Harrys own carelessness during public speaking, that he lived in what is called 'Potter Castle'.
Fortunately that was all anyone knew of it since its was protected by Fidelius and other charms. But Dumbledore knew at least the name of where Harry was living.
As expected, after the opening feast Dumbledore summoned Harry to his office for interrogation.
"Headmaster Dumbledore, I'm sorry but meaning no disrespect I do not understand what my living arrangements outside of school have to do with said school." replied Harry.
"They don't of course Mr. Potter, but I am asking you as 'the leader of the light', to protect you from Lord Voldemort, who as you know has an unhealthy personal interest in you." answered Dumbledore.
"Sir, I don't know what 'leader of the light' even means. Is that an elected position, a hereditary position, or is it a self-proclaimed conceit?" said Harry.
"I wonder how it is that you get any sleep at night, if the lights are always on for you." said Harry. "Or as the leader of light are you still allowed to turn them off from time to time?" continued Harry, pointing out how stupid Dumbledore's self-made title sounded to him.
"However, be all that as it may, I do not require or request your assistance in protecting me. Not only that, but as I am a legal adult and the accepted head of my house, you have nothing to say about that even here at school, other than the same that affects all other students." concluded Harry.
"Mr. Potter, it is your duty to help rid the world of Lord Voldemort. And there is no one better suited to help you prepare for that and to protect you than myself. There are many who consider me to be the greatest wizard of this age, you would do well to show me the same respect and listen to me." thundered Dumbledore, having quite enough of the boy's attitude toward him.
"So, it is a conceit then. Very well, that is the assumption I was under and will therefore continue to operate under that belief. But first, without conceding any point about duties, I thought that I had already vanquished Voldemort when I was 15 months old? I was after all confirmed by magic to be his heir by conquest and have in fact inherited what is left of the Slytherin legacy through him." said Harry.
"Furthermore, I prevented him from returning through his enchanted diary in my second year. I did that sir, without your help and despite your so-called protection. Again last year it is possible I prevented his attempt to return again in that graveyard, without your help, and despite your protection, I ended up in the tournament and in that graveyard in the first place." said Harry.
"In fact, if I didn't have confidence in my being able to protect myself, I'd run screaming from this school like a sissy, for fear of all the dangers I keep finding myself in here. So, as this is not school business and this is the Headmasters office not the office of the guy in charge of the lights, may... I... be... excused?..." concluded Harry, showing some righteous anger of his own in retort.
"Not until you at least tell me where you are living and give me access to the place so that I can help protect you there." pressed Dumbledore.
"No." replied Harry.
"What do you mean no Mr. Potter. I've sat and listened to quite enough of your disrespect. Answer the Headmaster now, or face a month of detention." said McGonagall.
"Oh man, unlike others who seem to just not get enough of hearing their own voice, I really don't like repeating myself. Professor McGonagall, I have already answered him. The answer was No. Furthermore, again I must ask what does this have to do with school business?" said Harry.
"While you are all thinking about that, I'm going to bed. I have indulged you all quite enough tonight having been summoned here on false pretenses of school business." said Harry as he got up and walked out the door.
"It appears that Mr. Potter has been spending too much time around his lawyers this summer." snarked Snape.
"Indeed." replied McGonagall.
During fifth year Harrys parsel magic skills grew. He no longer needed to verbalize any of the spells, he just had to think them in parsel tongue which was also getting easier and easier to do since he used the language so much now.
Voldemort decided to stop playing games and just ordered Malfoy to assist him in making another homunculus. He would repeat the ritual on the next Summer Solstice, in private, using another enemy, Lucius' pet, minister Fudge, would do nicely as a proxy enemy since he was head of the Ministry, and he would make up for the lack of Potters blood by performing the ritual at Stonehenge.
Harry officially asked Ginny to be his girlfriend and she accepted. The pair was rarely seen apart outside of classes except when they had to be or were chaperoned by the twins.
This years DADA teacher was a Parisian alumnus of Beauxbatons, a young woman named Victoire Renard. She was well liked by the male students for her beauty and the female students for her brains and her strength as an expert duelist. Her edge was speed and a remarkable ability at spell chaining. Harry and friends paid careful attention to learn as much about that as they could.
Back home, Sirius said that he was working on getting the Goblins who are usually neutral, to help them search for any more of Voldemort's horcrux's..., therefore to provide cover for their neutrality, he was simply paying them for their help... toward that end they actually found two more horcrux's. Both in Black family properties. They determined that the pendant which they found at Grimmauld Place was one, and was actually another old relic of Slytherin's. Kreacher revealed how it came to be there via Sirius's brother Regulas, and they now knew there was a fake one where that was supposed to be hidden. Then they found another when they were helping Sirius inspect the Lestrange vault, which he had control over. That one tuned out to be Hufflepuff's cup.
Sirius said that counting the diary and the ring, that was now four and they seemed to be turning up all over the place. Just how many had this sicko made? He also told Harry that the Order of the Dragon and the Goblins agreed that it looked like he was collecting founders relics to use as horcrux's, and that if this was the case, they needed to find Ravenclaw's diadem and Gryffindor's sword, which were two more possibilities. He also told him that there was another hypothesis he wanted to talk to Harry about the next time they saw each other in person.
Harry gathered Dobby's help at the school with his friends while Winky stayed back to tend the castle. Ginny introduced them to her friend Luna Lovegood who was in Ravenclaw and could tell them more about the mystery of the lost diadem. This led Harry to meeting Helena Ravenclaw, the Grey Lady, who finally gave him a clue back to the Room of Requirement in the place where things were hidden, a reference that Dobby understood. In which they found the diadem. They sent it to the Goblins and had it cleansed as well. That was five total, plus Voldemort's surviving wraith form was six, they were theorizing that he would have made seven maximum even though making one was insane. Harry then added the cup, the diadem, and the locket to the restored relics in his castle vault.
At the end of the school year, the day before school got out was the summer solstice. That was also the day of Voldemort's resurrection at Stonehenge. Unfortunately for him and everyone else affected, it was also attended by thirty-seven thousand muggles who go there on that day every year to watch the sunrise on the solstice. Precisely when Voldemort wanted his ritual performed.
Fortunately though, the muggle park authorities didn't allow the people to mingle in the center of the stones, just in a perimeter around it. So Lucius managed to obscure him and Voldemort from muggle view with anti-muggle and notice-me-not charms in the center of the henge. Lucius enervated an imperioused Fudge and took his blood to perform the ritual.
Voldemort rose just as the solstice did. Fudge passed out from the loss of blood and the magical backlash. And Voldemort, despite where he was, feeling euphoric and over confident with his triumph, summoned the rest of his death eaters immediately to gloat.
Unbeknownst to him, the solstice combined with the magical backlash had caused Lucius' charms to fall. If the muggles didn't think the two men in robes next to a large cauldron and another man passed out bleeding on the ground was strange. Well, considering there where many muggles there also dressed in robes and brandishing staves in imitation of druids as well, they definitely noticed something as large waves of blackish vapor seemed to stream in from multiple directions and reformed into masked men wearing the same kind of robes.
Immediately there was shouting and bedlam from the thousands of witnesses, the events themselves had been taped by various news crews for televising a little later with the morning news shows.
Voldemort and his Death Eaters realized they'd been discovered and one of them started screaming at the others and waving around a little stick. Suddenly they were all gone as fast as they appeared, even the cauldron. Except they forgot the one man that laid there bleeding.
The authorities rushed to calm everyone and assumed they had some kind of cult victim there. They got him to medical attention and he lived. How he made it back from the muggle hospital to the Ministry isn't as important as the fact that he witnessed it all himself and while the muggles successfully played it down as the cult slash prank they believed it was, and most of their sheep fell for it, the wizarding world and Fudge himself then knew for certain that Voldemort was indeed back.
The day after that, Harry and friends returned home and learned the news that Voldemort was back, and that the Minister himself witnessed it and witnessed Lucius performing the deed, with his own pensive memory of the incident as proof. Unfortunately none of the summoned followers were unmasked or identified in the brief encounter, but they saw that eleven had responded to him.
Lucius was placed on the most wanted list with Voldemort, Fudge had no choice. Nor did he really want to believe it, but he saw it with his own eyes. Aurors tried to execute the warrant for his arrest but found suddenly they could no longer remember where he lived. The Fidelius obviously. There would be no hiding and pretending his father wasn't guilty of what he was seen doing, but luckily for Draco he got home just before they cast the Fidelius. That would have been awkward for him at least.
Back at Potter Castle, the Horcrux team informed Harry of their hypothesis regarding his scar. He didn't believe it at first but the Goblins knew how to easily check. He was (or rather had contained within him) the sixth horcrux, or seventh piece of Voldemort's soul, if that theory was true.
Harry and all present were naturally very distraught because they knew of no way to rid him of that horcrux that wouldn't kill him in the process.
Harry was moody and broody for days over the news he was a horcrux. Harry told Ginny because he had promised her not to keep such secrets from her. Thanks to the parsel mind magic they knew the information was safe with her.
The Goblins and the Order of the Dragon worked on finding a way to cleanse Harry of the Horcrux without killing him. Meanwhile the Marauders convinced him along with the Weasley trio to get started on their animagus transformation and practicing their apparation. Once Harry got the latter down he would be ready to try to learn parsel magic dimension travel.
Midway through the summer the quartet finally figured out what their forms would be.
Harry was a Wyvern, thirty-five feet long, with four foot head, fifty foot wingspan, could breath fire, had poisonous fangs, and a two foot scorpion like poisonous stinger on his tail. He also had two giant clawed hind legs, and two leathery bat like wings with claws for front feet. (That animal match for him came as a result of his parsel tongue trait, the phoenix tears he ingested, and his dragon friend tattoo). Ginny was an Occamy, a fifteen foot long serpentine bird with two clawed hind legs and an ornate feathered tail. (Also influenced by her parsel tongue ability... instead of being just a normal bird). Fred and George were both ring tailed lemur's and couldn't be more happy with the result. Once they figured out what their forms were, all four secretly learned how to apparate from Remus.
By the end of the summer, all four knew how to apparate, and first Harry and then Ginny easily mastered the parsel magic art of dimension travel, which Harry decided to just call teleportation because, he thought it sounded cooler. He found that form of travel made him invisible and intangible until he willed himself to become visible again and, ignored wards or other spells blocking magical travel. Now it made sense why the book told him to master the intangibility spell as well as apparation before learning to dimension travel. He also figured that because it was so rare, no one had the chance to study it to develop wards against it.
Harry and Ginny also discovered that it truly was travel by alternate dimension. They learned that if they held hands and traveled together that they would travel through the same dimension together and could stop mid stream and just stay immaterial together in their own dimension. They both privately thought that could be put to good use someday, neither voiced that thought, but each blushed slightly as the thought had occurred to them simultaneously.
At the end of the summer, Tonks from her double-agent role between the two orders reported to the Order of the Dragon that the Order of the Phoenix was starting to protect access to a prophecy about Voldemort and Harry that Voldemort was said to be after.
Harry, being disgusted by another one of Dumbledore's secrets about him that he has kept from him, learned from Tonks how to get to the prophecy himself and Remus conjured him a fake one that he could replace it with. Then he teleported to the Ministry, remained intangible, followed someone to the Department of Mysteries, swapped them when no one was looking, then teleported home.
When he got back to headquarters, they played the prophecy. Ginny cried but not as much as she did when she learned about the horcrux. The twins just said, "Well that was the bet we would have taken anyway, except that we know Harry will win that fight like he always does." Which cheered up Ginny a little bit.
Sirius and Remus said, "Well probably so, but that explains why Voldemort is after it if he only heard the first part. He knew you were a danger to him, knew that you have defeated him at every turn so far, so he probably won't want to go forward with his end game plan without knowing that first. Which is why we must keep this secret now as jealously as Albus does. But, while he waits to get his hands on it, it buys us some time."
Do you think we should tell Dumbles that we know it then? as well as swapped it? asked Harry.
I don't think so. We don't want them becoming a leak for us and we know that within the Order of the Phoenix, probably only Albus knows exactly what they are guarding and why." said Sirius.
"With the Order in place guarding it, it gives Voldemort the impression there is something very important that needs getting." said Remus.
"Doesn't that make us as bad as Albus though, using them like that? and what if one of them gets hurt or dies when we could have prevented it?" asked Harry.
"You've got a point there. If it was just Albus himself I'd say let it go but, as it is he is probably the only one in his Order that won't be put into any danger over it..." said Sirius.
"Okay. Once Dumbledore calls me in for next years start of term interrogation, I will tell him I did it. I won't involve any of you in that so that he isn't tempted to let Snape leak something about one of you knowing it in order to bolster his cover. I know he wont risk me with that yet. As far as he knows, it's not the proper time for his weapon to sacrifice himself yet." said Harry.
Ginny cried out, "Don't talk like that Harry."
"Gin," Harry said. "It's not like that's what I want to do, but we all agreed from what we know so far and what he has gone to great lengths to keep from me, that is probably his plan. So when I'm plotting something to do with him, I've got to take into account what he believes plans are.
"This is going to be touchy. This will be the first time I let it be known that I am aware of certain strategic information about my own life that he's been keeping from me, and that I've acted on it." said Harry.
"Will you tell him about our Order then?" asked Remus.
"If I feel its necessary or useful I will, but I won't tell him who is a member. I can be just as aloof and secretive as the old man can be.
...
Hogwarts Year 6
One Dolores Umbridge was sent to Hogwarts by Minister Fudge, to keep a strong eye on Dumbledore. Fortunately for Harry though, she did not come there with any particular interest in him. So, it would depend on how Harry reacted to her.
(A/N: Yes I know that in canon this was fifth year, things are slightly different in this story, while some things are slightly the same. Don't pet the sweaty stuff).
...
As promised, when Harry was brought in front of Dumbledore for his annual interrogation, he told him that he learned from his own sources that Voldemort was after a prophecy recording made about himself and Voldemort when he was a baby. And that he had snuck into the Prophecy Room at the Ministry and removed it and replaced it with a fake.
So, he could either keep pretending to guard it if he wanted, or now that he knew that the prophecy that was there was fake, he could stop and return to going about his own business and stop meddling in matters that didn't concern him or the school.
Snape fumed at Potter's blatant disrespect for Dumbledore, but he wasn't about to punish his own house and he frankly didn't want to spend time supervising punishments for the boy either. But, he worried that eventually Dumbledore would snap and punish Potter and Slytherin House on his own. But, he never did.
"Really? How do you know all these things? And I really wish you would watch your mouth Mr. Potter. I am the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. Everything that goes on in wizarding Britain, is my business. Is that clear?" replied Dumbledore.
"Whatever. You knew about it obviously and it was about me personally, but you didn't think it was worth mentioning to me, and it is my business certainly." replied Harry.
"As for how I know. I am investigating Mr. Flight from Death's horcrux's and plan to get rid of all of them so I can get the creep off my back once and for all; now that he has shown his ugly nose around the world again." said Harry.
"As I implied, I do know the full contents of the prophecy. So, I will be doing my level best to make sure he loses and I win. Whatever would you expect me to be doing?" said Harry.
Dumbledore is having so much about Harry revealed to him that he almost didn't know what to ask next.
"How is it you know about his horcrux's too? That is forbidden dark magic that you should never have even heard of." said Dumbledore.
"Yes, it is. And I would have loved to have gone my whole life without ever having heard of it. Unfortunately, I have the biggest nutter in the world who uses them that happens to also be after me." said Harry.
"To answer your question, directly this time, for once. I learned about them from the Goblins who discovered a couple of them in my Slytherin inheritance. We've been doing a search for them ever since. Also, we sussed out that the diary from my second year had been one too." said Harry.
"You know too much Mr. Potter. I'm afraid I cannot let you leave here with all that knowledge." said Dumbledore.
"Really? Well then, I suppose I will need to show you how I managed to sneak in and out of the Ministry to get that prophecy then." said Harry, wandlessly and wordlessly using his parsel magic to turn intangible and walk straight through Dumbledore's door and out of his office.
...
Dumbledore sat there with an equally stunned Snape. He just turned to him and said. "Find him and when you do, test his Occlumency to see if he can protect that information at least."
Later in the day, Snape confronted Harry in their next class and just calmly asked him to come to his office afterward. At which time Snape explained that Dumbledore wanted him to test Harry's Occlumency skill to see if he could protect that sensitive information. Harry just played along and said, "sure, go ahead."
"Legilimens." said Snape strongly with his wand pointed directly between Harry's eyes.
The longer Snape tried to get in the more his own head started to feel like it was just buzzing or hissing or something. It was giving him a bad headache. So he stopped.
"Potter, I don't know what you've done. But I can't get in at all. All I find of your mind is a strange buzzing or hissing sound. It's maddening, and the longer I stay there trying to get in the worse it makes me feel. How are you doing that?" said Snape.
"Tricks of the trade I'm afraid, Professor. But, thanks for letting me know what it was like from the other side of people trying to break in. I've only had people quickly test my surface thoughts and get nothing before. It's nice to know that a strong concerted effort will actually hurt the person attacking me, over time." replied Harry.
"Oh, yes. And before I forget. How did you turn invisible and walk right through the door, at least that is what we supposed you did." said Snape.
"Sorry sir. More tricks of the trade. Same trade though, if that helps you." said Harry.
Harry was surprised the usually sharp mind of Snape hadn't put two and two together yet. He was after all the one whom worked closely with him when he used parsel tongue during the Basilisk incident in his second year.
...
A few days later, Voldemort who in his youth possessed the very same book that Harry possessed, had the same idea and intangibly snuck into the Prophecy Room at the Ministry to obtain the prophecy for himself, when he learned that it could only be removed by the people whom the prophecy is about. At first he was simply too lazy to be bothered until he had no choice. That was what he had servants for in the first place, but it seemed they couldn't do anything right.
The only message he got from the orb was "Ee-dee nah hooy." Luckily for his sanity he didn't know what that meant. But, later back at his hidden throne room deep in the Malfoy estate, one of his minions who spoke Russian, explained it to him. Not being used to having one of his slaves speak in such language to him, he killed the man on the spot before he could even think straight and then screamed: "Pottttttttterrrrrrr!"
...
Later in the year, when certain Gryffindor's got tired of not learning any real Defense Against the Dark Arts from Professor Umbridge. They sent their ambassador, one Ginny Weasley, Harry's girlfriend, to ask Harry if he would teach them some things.
Ginny, Fred, George, and Harry never openly complained about Umbridge's lack of teaching acumen, because they just continued to meet in private and train and practice on their own. But, since Ginny asked on behalf of their other loser brother Ron. Ron of course brought along Hermione, then Hermione of course wanted to invite other friends and some fifth years who were afraid of failing their owls, before you knew it a whole club had formed.
Harry just wanted to know how he got himself into those things. Oh, yeah, this time it was Ginny's fault. If anything went wrong, he could blame her.
They'd already guessed that the reason Umbridge wasn't teaching real defense and nothing practical, was not because she didn't believe Voldemort was back. Everyone knew that now, but because Fudge didn't want Dumbledore building his own private army to challenge his political power at the Ministry. Yes, Fudge was that paranoid and delusional. And well, Umbridge was also rather incapable of teaching the subject, due to a rather substantial lack of knowledge in the subject herself.
So, naturally just to make fun of Dumbledore, they called their little club Dumbledore's Army.
It was even more funny when they finally got caught and Dumbledore had to take the blame for the entire thing and almost got thrown out of the school. Harry didn't stop laughing for a week.
...
As the sixth year came to a close, Harry was summoned to Dumbledore's office again for Dumbledore to make another pitch at Harry to get more of his cooperation now that even he admitted Voldemort was back and knew about certain things. That they should work together.
"I know about your Order of the Phoenix, Professor. I have friends of my own who have come together around me in a group that we call the Order of the Dragon." and Harry lifted the sleeve of his left arm to remind him of his living dragon tattoo.
"I don't plan on working for you. This is personal for me. But, I don't care if you do things that are helpful on the whole. So, do what you want as long as it doesn't get in our way. I will tell you that we believe we have found and destroyed all of his horcrux's except one, but we don't know what that is." said Harry.
"We will continue to search for it. If you can find it before we do then more power to you. Then I can end him, according to the prophecy. And toward that end, I am training my ass off to be able to fight well enough to take him on someday. I have no idea when that will be, but I'm working on it. If it were not for the stupid prophecy, I would say by all means take care of the whole thing yourself. But, I've come to understand it has to be me. That is why I am taking the fight to him my own way." said Harry.
Dumbledore just thought for a moment. It didn't sound like Harry had come to guess that he was a horcrux himself yet. That might give him the opening he needed to see this got done right. So, he would adjust strategy a little bit.
"Alright then Mr. Potter. Then a truce between us if you will. I will stop trying to meddle in your affairs, hoping that you can continue to keep yourself protected. I am going on the assumption that if I could not find out where you live that Tom would not either. Just be careful in public okay?" said Dumbledore, trying to sound conciliatory.
Harry just nodded along in acceptance.
"I will look for the other horcrux you think is still out there. Can you tell me what objects you have found so far, so that I don't waste time looking in the wrong directions?" asked Dumbledore.
"Okay, sure. The one's we are sure of are: the Diary, there was a Peverell Ring in the old Gaunt house that I inherited; there was Hufflepuff's Cup which happened to be locked in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault, which Sirius currently has control of while she is in Azkaban."
Dumbledore had been nodding along and on the Cup, said "Ah, yes. That was a good find. That would've been very tricky otherwise."
"Yes, definitely." said Harry. "We also found Rowena Ravenclaw's lost diadem, hidden here at Hogwarts; and there was Slytherin's locket which was actually hidden in Sirius's old ancestral home. Apparently it was originally found by his brother Regulas Black who wanted to destroy it but got himself killed in the attempt and ordered his house-elf Kreacher to destroy it."
"We have surmised he might have made seven since it is the most magically powerful number in Arithmancy. If we are right, then we figure there is one more object, plus his original soul which is now back in a body. So, seven. Since he seems to have been after founder's relics to use, we are looking for something of Gryffindor's next. So far, that's the only founder we haven't found an object tied to one of them. Possibly Gryffindor's lost sword, according to Sirius. But, we don't know yet." said Harry.
"Good. Thanks for sharing all that with me Harry. I will begin a search for relics myself then. Thank you for allowing me in and trusting me a little bit." said Dumbledore.
"That's okay sir. As long as you're with me and not against me, and not trying to stop me from doing what I have to do." said Harry.
"Not at all. I think we are finally on the same page, my boy." said Dumbledore.
Privately Dumbledore thought Harry didn't seem to know that the number one thing he was going to have to do would be to die to see that Voldemort could. That he was the last Horcrux. But, now he would have some opportunity to prepare Harry for that. He thought he knew just how to do that, he would start next year, taking advantage of the apparent thaw in their relationship.
Privately Harry thought there was no way he would let Dumbledore know that he knew he was a horcrux. One, they didn't know for certain if Dumbledore himself suspected it, they just thought he did. If there was a chance he didn't know they didn't want to let that get out. Next, they all believed that Dumbledore wouldn't work hard like they were doing to find a way to get it safely out of him. Rather, that he would just maneuver him into position to be sacrificed, maybe even kill him himself, just to get to the end game with Voldemort. Well, naturally he wouldn't really get his own hands dirty, but however he did it, it would amount to the same thing. Harry just felt, if they could use Dumbledore a little bit along the way while keeping him in the dark on the most vital things, so much the better.
Which of course was the same thing that Dumbledore thought about Harry as he said his goodbyes and left the office to get ready for the leaving feast.
