Disclaimer- I do not own the Harry Potter series
"Excuse me," he said before running out.
Hermione, Ron, and Ginny called after him. They seemed to think that he was having some emotional breakdown of some sort, but that was not the case. They would learn soon enough when he came back.
Harry ran out of the castle's main doors and ran across the starry grounds. He was out of breath when he finally arrived at the small hut that housed one of his most prized friends. He brought a hand up slowly and then knocked twice.
"Hmm, who's 'ere?" A gruff voice called from behind the wooden door.
"It's me, Hagrid, open up," Harry said. The door immediately slammed opened and Harry was enveloped into a tight hug that released all the breath from his body.
"Oh, 'arry, I thought you's was dead. Don't you scare me like that again," Hagrid sobbed.
"Hagrid, I'm sorry but that the reason I came over here, was to tell you why that all happened. How I am still alive and why I did what I did. I am explaining it to the others now and I thought it only fair that you were there also," Harry said into Hagrid's shoulder.
"Thank yeh, Harry, fer thinkin of me. I 'avent seen yeh since that day and it's been haunting me."
"Well, come along, Hagrid, we mustn't keep everyone waiting," Harry said slipping out of Hagrids hug and making his way for the castle.
Harry was now, once again, standing in front of the same group of people in the Headmistress's office but now Hagrid was included. Everyone had been confused by Harry's sudden exit but seeing him enter again with Hagrid calmed them and they were ready to listen.
"Well, as you all know me, Ron, and Hermione were sent on a mission from Dumbledore. We were on a mission to defeat Voldemort." A few gasps filled the room but others took the news lightly, like it was completely obvious and it was only a matter of time before the three friends admitted it. "We couldn't let anyone else know or come with us because it was far too dangerous and it needed to be done by just us. I was intending to go alone but these two," Harry gestured towards Ron and Hermione while Ron shrugged sheepishly and Hermione sat pin straight, not denying that she was not going to let Harry go alone. "They wouldn't have it and Dumbledore said it was a good idea for them to know in case... something happened to me."
Seeing Harry's hesitation Hermione continued the narrative.
"Dumbledore wanted us to kill Voldemort but the only way we could do that is by destroying his horcruxes first," Hermione said looking around the room to see, by facial expression, if they knew what a horcrux was. Everyone's face appeared blank so she explained. "A horcrux is an object that holds a piece of soul. It is very dangerous to make and makes the soul unstable. To make one you need to commit murder and in Voldemort's case he created seven." Gasps were clearly echoed about the room.
"But how is that possible?" an order member asked.
"This is, what I believe, to be the first time it's been done. To split your soul in half is one thing but into seven different pieces makes the soul completely unstable and unforeseen things could happen."
"Dumbledore always said that he has turned himself into something more, something inhuman. This is what he was talking about," Harry explained turning back to the crowd from his brief silence. "Dumbledore said we had to go out in search of these things. I had already destroyed one in my second year, the diary, with a basilisk's fang," Harry continued and then looked over at Ginny to see her reaction.
"So what... what was in the diary was a piece of Voldemort's soul?" she said unsteadily looking at Harry with sorrowful eyes.
"Yes, and if I hadn't been there in time there could have been two Voldemorts running around." Ginny didn't say anything she just looked at her hands. She has tried to suppress the memories of that year into a deep dark pit in the back of her mind, but they always resurfaced and at the worst of times. Harry, seeing the emotions run across her face and practically reading her mind, went over to her and squeezed her hand before conjuring up a chair and sitting next to her.
"All the horcruxes were the diary, a locket, Hufflepuffs cup, ravenclaws diadem, Nagini, and Marvolo Gaunts ring," Hermione said after seeing Harry sit down to comfort Harry.
"But that's only six," Bill Weasley said from the back of the room. Hermione looked lost for the answer because Harry hadn't exactly told her what had happened the last day and therefore the last horcrux.
"We'll get to that later," Harry said looking up and seeing Hermione's expression.
"During Harry's sixth year Dumbledore prepared him for what was to come by showing him memories of Voldemort's life, to see where he would hide them. At the end of the year Dumbledore had an idea where one was and brought Harry along. It was the locket. When they got back everything was in chaos and I'm sure all of you know what happened next..." Hermione started looking around the room to see if they got where she was going. After getting a few nods she continued. "So anyways when Harry finally looked at the locket it turned out to be a fake. Someone name R.A.B had figured out what Voldemort was doing and was trying to stop him. He had got the original locket but we had no idea if he had succeeded in destroying it or not, so we went in search for the locket first.
"After the fiasco at Bill and Fluers wedding we went to Grimmauld Place. There we discovered that R.A.B was really Regulas Black, Sirius's brother. We got Kreacher to tell us the whole tale and learned that Mungdungus Fletcher had snitched it from the house when Sirius died," Hermione said before looking at Ron to continue. If they were going to do this they would all have a say.
"So we sent Kreacher off to find the little git-"
"Ronald, what you language," His mother yelled at him. Ron had the good idea to blush a bit before continuing.
"Well he told us that he had sold it to a toad-like woman, and of course, it had to be Umbridge. So we set about to make plans to invade the ministry. When we actually went through with it, it didn't really go as planned."
"Blimey, Mr. Weasley, when we were in the lift you were scary. I hope you never look at me like that again," Harry said remembering.
"Who were you impersonating?" he asked.
"Runcorn," Harry said as if that explained everything, which it did to Mr. Weasley.
"Anyways we ended the day by getting the locket and setting free a bunch of muggle borns before fleeing for our lives," Ron finished, waiting for Harry to take over again.
"So we camped out a bit going from place to place trying to find ways to destroy a horcrux or find another. It was a slow process. But from what Dumbledore gave us in his will, The Tales OF Beedle and Bard, we learned of the deathly hallows."
"Why is that important to the story, Harry?" Hermione asked in an under tone.
"You'll see," was all he said in return.
Harry then went to tell the group about his and Hermione's adventure in Godrics Hollow. He tried to skip over the part about Ron leaving, only briefly telling it. Ron only bowed his head, shamely, and made no excuses for himself. After telling of Godrics Hollow Harry quickly moved on to tell how Ron had come back and defeated the locket horcrux. He knew that Ron was ashamed for what he did, abandoning his friends, and he didn't want Ron to carry that around with him for the rest of his life. He didn't want other people to see him in a different light so he tried to explain how a horcrux affected someone. Ginny even helped with that and explained how it had affected her.
Harry, during this time, was thinking of himself and how a horcrux had affected him. How was he going to tell people that he, himself, was a horcrux? He didn't even know how to begin. It was such an unrealistic thing that not even Hermione had figured it out yet. Harry had lived with this, thing, his whole life, unknowing, while Dumbledore knew the whole time. Harry looked at the portrait now and saw him smiling sadly at him, seemly to still be ex-raying him, even in death.
"And then we made a trip to Xenophilius Lovegood," Hermione said, breaking Harry out of his thoughts. "Since Dumbledore had given me that book from his will I found an unknown symbol. Harry then recalled that he had seen Xeno wearing it around his neck at Bill and Fleurs wedding so thought that he might know what it meant... It turned out that it was the deathly hallows symbol for the unbeatable wand, invisibility cloak, and resurrection stone."
"When we got there we noticed something fishy, and not just the normal fishiness that you get from the Lovegoods," Ron said, picking up from where Hermione left off, and getting a few chuckles. "We later discovered that Luna wasn't there and demanded that he tell us what happened. Turns out he had called some death eaters to come pick us up in exchange for Luna, who had been taken off of the Hogwarts Express. Well, somehow this horn blew up and we got away in time, though leaving his house in shambles"
"But we got the information that we came for," Harry interjected. "We now knew that Voldemort was after the unbeatable wand, the deathstick, to make one last blow to the resistance."
"But isn't that just a myth?" someone inquired.
"In history there are many instances where the wand is mentioned, though under different names," Hermione supplied. "It had a bloody past, you could say."
"What exactly can it do?" another person asked, who was probably muggle born and hadn't ever read the stories.
"The wand, like in the name, is unbeatable. So whoever holds it is unstoppable, unless someone takes it from them by force. Like the first Peverell brother he was killed in his sleep, so then he was no longer the owner of the wand and it goes on from there. The resurrection stone would bring those who are dead back to life but not in a physical way. You could talk to them but they weren't all there-"
"Sort of like a ghost but a little more solid," Harry interrupted having known first hand.
"Anyways, the cloak was just like any other invisibility cloak though it would never fade or tare." Hermione finished.
"Well, on with the story," someone shouted when they saw that there were no more questions and Hermione's explanation was over.
"We camped out for a bit and then got captured by some snatchers when I said Voldemort, since we didn't know that the name was tabooed," Harry started. "They brought us to Malfoy Manor and they were trying to figure out if I was Harry Potter or not, because Hermione had cast a stinging charm at me. They couldn't decide so they threw us in the cellar but Bellatrix kept Hermione for her own games." Everyone looked at Hermione then and she gave a shy smile, signaling that she was alright, and then nodded for Harry to go on.
"While down in the basement we met ollivander and Luna. We had already seen Dean and Griphook, who had been with the same group of snatchers. We escaped with the help of Dobby and got a hold of Wormtail's wand when... when he died. We went up to save Hermione and all got away, but not fast enough. The last time we dissapparated with Dobby, Bellatrix threw a dagger at him and killed him."
"Better the house elf then you," someone muttered in the back.
"That house elf saved our lives! So you can bloody well shut the hell up!" Harry yelled at the unknown person. "Dobby didn't have to do what he did. He was a free elf and he risked his life, and a great fear, going into his old master's house. Can you say the same?" That shut the person up good and they didn't make any more interruptions. In Harry's mind he thought that, that obviously wasn't an order member.
The golden trio continued on with their tale. Telling how they figured out that a horcrux was in the Lestranges vault, from the way Bellatrix had reacted when she thought the sword had been taken. They told of their plan to get in, with the polyjuice potion and using Bellatrixes wand.
"Clever, clever," one previous headmaster said to their plan.
When they had finished that part of their tale from shell cottage to landing in the lake after their dragon ride people were full of questions and comments.
"How could you have possibly have made it past all those goblins?"
"You cast the imperious curse, Harry?"
"You're never going to get the goblins on your good side again."
"How did you know that, that cup was Hufflepuffs?"
Questions burst from practically everyone in the room and the three just waited until it quieted down, when Harry raised his hand for silence.
"I'll try to answer a few questions that I heard and we can go on from there. We pretty much just had a lot of luck getting past all the goblins. It was a spur of the moment thing and I'm still astonished that we made it out alive. Yes, I used the imperious curse but this is war. If you had to make a choice whether to not use an unforgivable curse and have that death eater give us away and have Voldemort win or you can go through with it and succeed in ending the war? Which would you choose?" Agreement nods followed and Harry continued. "That's what I thought. I knew the cup was Hufflepuffs because I had seen it in a memory that Dumbledore showed me in my sixth year when he was preparing me. He wanted me to know everything I could about Voldemorts life, so I could figure out locations where he would hide the horcruxes and what the horcruxes might be. Riddle was fascinated with the four houses and his horcruxes reflect that. He also never had a gringotts account and had always envied those who did, so where is a better place then to hide one there. Does that answer all of your questions?" nods followed his question so Hermione continued.
"After we rested a bit beside the lake Harry had a vision of Voldemort. After he had found out about us breaking in he suspected us of going after the horcruxes," Hermione started.
"When he was thinking about it he happened to let slip all the different places they were hiding," Harry added.
"So then we found out where the remaining horcruxes were located. One was at Hogwarts," Hermione explained.
"So that is why I found you in the castle, in ravenclaws common room of all places, "McGonagall exclaimed.
"Yup, and we have Aberforth to thank for letting us in," Harry said nodding to Aberforth who sat in the back and nodded back to Harry.
"So we got in the castle through this secret tunnel that led to the room of requirement where a bunch of kids were hiding out," Ron continued the story. "When we showed up that's when a bunch of other people showed up because they thought we were there for a big fight. What we were really there for was this crown thing-"
"Diadem," Hermione corrected.
"Yeah, diadem of ravenclaw. So Harry went to go see what it looked like and I guess he met the Carrows and McGonagall there."
"Nearly gave me a heart attack, Harry," McGonagall said.
"Sorry, Professor," Harry shrugged.
"Anyways I guess he came to this revelation that the diadem was in the room of requirement, so we had to get everyone out. Well we did that and got in but before long, with all the luck we have, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle showed up. The younger ones I should add. Well to make things short Crabbe ended up starting a huge fire that could destroy horcruxes and we almost didn't make it out of there. He ended up killing himself but we made it out saving Malfoy and Goyle on the way."
"What kind of fire was it?" an order member asked.
"Fiendfyre," Hermione answered.
"That's dangerous, it's amazing how you guys escaped."
"I'm a pretty lucky person," Harry said with a smirk.
"So what happened after that?" Mr. Weasley asked.
"Well, the battle was in full swing by the time we got out," Ron continued telling about them running around the castle and then finally ending up at the shrieking shack.
"The shrieking shack? Why wasn't Voldemort fighting?" someone questioned.
"He had other business to attend to." Harry said and after a pause continued. "Because he was after the elder wand he hunted down all of the last people who had had it. The last person to have it was Grindelwald." Harry let that sink in before a few gasps announced that people understood.
"So Dumbledore had the Elder wand?"
"Yes, and since he was killed by Snape, then Snape would be the owner of the Elder wand."
"That bastard!" an order member shouted.
"Don't judge him to quickly, let me finish. Voldemort had come to the same conclusion and even entered Dumbledore's tomb to claim the wand. When it didn't work for him he set to kill Snape," Harry explained.
"So then when we went to the shrieking shack Voldemort was in the act of killing Snape," Hermione started the story again. "When Voldemort left, Snape was still alive and gave Harry some memories. I haven't seen them yet, though, only Harry."
Everyone visibly turned towards Harry. He knew what was coming, and it was coming fast. How was he to explain to everyone why he had given himself up? Why it was the only way? He took a deep breath and began to speak.
"I'm not going to tell you all of what was in Snapes memories, just the jist of it. I 'm sure he wouldn't have wanted everyone to know everything, and it's pretty clear he doesn't in them," Harry began and looked at Dumbledore to be sure he was correct. With a slow nod he started the tale of Snapes memories.
"The jist of it is, is that Snape loved my mother. When he learned of her death he was devastated and begged for remorse from Dumbledore. He granted it to him but he had to remain a spy, like all of you should know. He vowed that he would protect me but wouldn't have anyone know."
"Snape!" Ron said in disbelief. "Snape has always been a right prick with you. Why would he have vowed to protect you?"
"Because he was doing it for my mum."
"I remember when I was at Hogwarts that they used to be good friends until their fifth year," Arthur said as proof that this could be possible.
"Well over the years he has done some huge favors for Dumbledore and one of them was killing him..."
Silence overcame the room. This hadn't seemed possible. They had thought for a year now that Snape had betrayed them and to hear from Harry, of all people, that he was paying Dumbledore a favor, how was it possible?
"It was his memory, it was probably tainted," an angry order member said as other joined in.
"Silence!" a voice said from behind Harry. It immediately causes all the angry folk to settle down and take their seats again. "What Harry says is true. I asked Snape to kill me," Dumbledore said with finality. "I was dying already and my time had come."
"How did you know you were dying?" one lone soul asked, somehow breaking the spell of silence that had overcome the whole room.
"It was of my own mistakes and I had to pay the consequences. I'm sure you all remember my blackened hand?" they all nodded. "Well it was from a powerful curse and if Severus had not contained it to my hand then my death would have come much sooner. Then with information that I had received from Severus, that Voldemort was going to have Draco Malfoy attempt to kill me, I made Snape say that he would do it instead. That night on the tower Snape was following orders, orders I gave him."
Dumbledore seemed finished with his speech, as his face slowly relaxed and he leaned back in his painted chair as he waited for Harry to finish the story.
"That wasn't the only thing Snape did. He also gave us Godric Gryffindors sword when Hermione, Ron, and I were searching for the horcruxes."
"I always thought that was suspicious," Hermione said.
"His patronus is a doe," Ron laughed.
"Ron, he was in love with Lilly. So naturally his patronus would take the form of Lily's patronus," Hermione smacked him upside the head causing the rest of the room to laugh at the young couple. Harry shaking his laughing head at the two of them waited a few moments before starting his account again.
"So, Dumbledore intended for Snape to have the unbeatable wand and Voldemort had come to the same conclusion of who had the wand. This is why he killed him so then he would be the master. Well, anyways you guys pretty much know what happened after that. Voldemort made the announcement that I should turn myself in and what not,' Harry shrugged and looked down.
"Harry, why did you turn yourself in?" Hermione asked softly. This question had burning within her for days now and she would finally know the answer. She knew her friend was a hero and would sacrifice himself for anybody but that whole time was a mystery to her, and she was on a mission to know the answer.
"I...I...um...well there was more to Snapes memory then I am telling you but I...I can explain that later."
Harry was at a loss for words on how he should explain all of what happened in the Forbidden Forest. It was truly his worst memory. Why should he have to share it with the whole world? His whole life has been open to ridicule and scorn by people and now they were asking him to reveal this last bit about himself. He wasn't sure if he could do it.
"Harry..." Hermione began.
"Harry," said a different voice which caused Harry to turn and look at his old mentor. His twinkling blue eyes were filled with tears as he looked at the boy that he would consider a grandson. "I am so proud of you and so sorry for the pain I have caused you. I should have told you sooner, but it wasn't a chance I could take."
"I know, but it still doesn't make the pain go away," Harry said his eyes now filling with water themselves, but it quickly went away with a few blinks.
"They need to know and you are the only one who is able to tell them..."
Authors Note- Sorry if it's just a review but how else are you supposed to tell everyone? Hope you liked it and please review: D