AN: This story doesn't follow the Deathly Hallows in terms of the muggle borns being wanted by the ministry and so on .............

Chapter 4

A Trip Back to Hogwarts

Hogwarts

The Great Hall

Owls flocked in to the great hall and flew to their respective recipients, each parents and their students seemed to be eager to keep in touch with each other during dangerous times like this. Looking up from her seat Daphne hid her smile and maintained her ice queen persona as she saw her mother's owl making its way towards her.

As soon as the owl was relived off its package Daphne gave it a peace of bacon and watched it fly away. Looking side ways at her best friend (they met on the platform nine and three quarters during her first trip to Hogwarts) she could see her reading her letter from her parents. Daphne was a pure-blood witch coming from the Greengrass family unlike her Tracy was a half-blood; her mother was a pure-blood while her father was a muggle born.

Daphne was a pretty young woman but not in a conventional manner. Her blue eyes were so bright as to be disturbing to some. Daphne's long jet black hair was wavy and her slightly petite nose complemented her strong jaw. She was curvy in all the right places but no one would ever call her busty. Her figure was that of slim athletic grace. She projected feminine strength to all.

While Tracy was slightly taller than Daphne, she dirty blonde hair that was wavy. Her blue eyes shone with mischief. She had a well filled chest that made boys drool all over themselves whenever she wore a tight blouse that tended to reveal a little bit of her packages.

Opening her letter Daphne read through it as quickly as she could, after reading it she put it school bag and mentally reminded herself to compose a reply back to her mother as soon as possible. Reaching for the Daily Prophet that had come with her mother's owl she perused through it looking for anything interesting. Opening the second page of the Daily Prophet she saw that they had not yet managed to capture Potter, as his picture was still there together with the prize money for those who will capture him.

Sighing inwardly she gazed at the picture that they had used to publish on the Daily Prophet, recognizing it instantly that this picture had been taken during his fourth year (during the Triwizard tournament) the picture of Potter seemed to look at her with those mesmerizing green eyes before looking away.

Daphne could still remember the haunted look that Potter had after the third task of the Triwizard tournament, but the haunted look had only worsened after the battle at the DOM where the Dark Lord had been sighted by the Minister and the aurors.

She still could not help but feel that Potter was not wanted by the ministry of magic but rather he was wanted by the Dark Lord himself. Some people had begun to notice the various changes that occurred at the ministry, some had even begun to suspect that the Dark Lord was behind it but they were too afraid to voice their opinions should they be targeted next.

It was pretty obvious that Potter had not killed Professor Dumbledore; Professor Snape was the one who did it. The little portentous bastard of a Malfoy, had boasted several times on how he was the one that he helped the death eaters enter the castle and how he had managed to disarm Professor Dumbledore and Snape came and killed him so as to take all the praise from the Dark Lord after he had done all the hard work.

On top of that he had gone on and on about Potter's days being numbered by the Dark Lord and he would soon be dead. It seems that he had been chosen as the Head Boy this year courtesy of the new Headmaster, who was none other than Professor Snape.

It seemed that the Dark Lord was expecting Potter to come to Hogwarts so he had gone and ensured that Hogwarts had become a home to the two Carrows, Alecto and Amycus respectively. The addition of these two death eaters as teachers here had made it tough to the muggle borns students and the other three houses (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw).

It seemed that these two new Professors had taken to heart a new way to punish students and that was through the cruciatus curse. Not only that they had even taught the junior death eaters how to use that curse, they allowed the junior death eaters to teach themselves by having them practice on their fellow students that had committed mistakes.

This had made the situation at the school extremely dangerous, with the fact that the junior death eaters had found a new hobby apart from the use of the cruciatus curse that is, they had taken to rape girls that they caught wandering in the halls sometimes. The other teachers the likes of Professor McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and even the grounds keeper Professor Hagrid had taken to helping the students that were in trouble. But that never seemed to help at all.

Daphne had even wished sometimes that Potter was here he would have tried to put a stop to this but with him on the run for his life from the Dark Lord that seemed highly unlikely. Tracy had come up with the idea of the two of them sticking together that is they stayed by each others side no matter what. It seemed that the junior death eaters liked to pick up their victims when they were alone. So when they agreed to this both Tracy and herself had even managed to defend themselves a couple of times against attempts to rape them by the junior death eaters by teaming up together.

A loud boisterous voice coming from the Gryffindor table broke her out of her thoughts. Looking at the table she saw the newest Gryffindor leader none other than the Weasel boy, he had rejoined the school together with that beaver looking Granger girl a week ago. It was rumored that the Weasel boy had gone down with spattergroit, a nasty wizarding disease that was.

But she was clueless as to why the Granger girl had not come to school, she was sure that she wasn't sick but rather they had been in hiding or on the run with Potter. It seemed that these two not so Gryffindor's had backed away or rather chickened from what they had been doing and had.

Looking at the Weasel boy and the Granger girl she could clearly see that they both had superior and smug looks incised on their faces. A giggle caught her attention as she looked at the source and saw the Weasley girl all over the Longbottom heir.

It seemed that the Weasley girl had taken to heart in dating the last and only remaining male heirs of prominent families in the wizarding world. Last year she had dated the-boy-who-lived, the only living Potter left. This year with the absence of Potter at school she had taken to date the Longbottom heir.

A soft voice interrupted her from her musings "You seem to be deep in thought, is everything alright?" a concerned Tracy asked her friend. Before Daphne could reply her friend she was interrupted by Draco and his two cronies "Greengrass I want you to accompany me to Hogsmeade this weekend. You should be glad that I chose you over Pansy."


Daphne couldn't help but give the Malfoy skunk a disgusted look and then replied him coldly "I've already told you before and I will tell you this again Malfoy; I'd rather date Potter than be with an ass like you. Why don't you toddle off and give your Pansy a good shag." a snicker from her left alerted her that Tracy had been listening at their conversation.

Malfoy's face seemed to have adapted a chameleon's ability of changing color as his face changed from pale, purple, puce and settled at red. "You are going to regret it Greengrass. I swear you are going to pay for this really soon." a pissed Malfoy ranted at Daphne before he turned and left the great hall with his two cronies at his heels. Daphne felt a shiver run down her spine as the Malfoy heir spoke in a fit of rage.

Ignoring whatever was happening at the Gryffindor table she refocused her attention back to the Daily Prophet. Half an hour later found Daphne and Tracy making their way to the first class of the day.

The Leaky Cauldron

A dark cloaked figure could be seen entering the Leaky Cauldron and make his way to the counter. Grabbing a bottle of butter beer the dark cloaked figure made his way to the darkest corner of the Leaky Cauldron and sat down.

Harry smirked under his cloak as he sat himself at the darkest corner of the Leaky Cauldron, currently he was under disguise and he was making plans on how he could go to Hogwarts. It had been a week since Harry had read Dumbledore's letter.

During this week Harry had been able to bond with his two pets the shadow wolf and the white phoenix. He had also taken to spend his time reading, training and looking at the memories left behind by Dumbledore.

Harry had named the two pets as padfoot and talons respectively. He had named them in respect of his dead godfather. During this week he had been planning on ways of getting to Hogwarts after he had overheard a couple of amateurs death eaters talk of the caterwauling charm that had been kept all over Hogsmeade and would alert all the death eaters should someone apparate to Hogsmeade.

This news had dented his first plan, he had decided first to apparate to Hogsmeade and then slip inside the Honeydukes and take the secret passage to Hogwarts and do what he had to do. So Harry had taken to try and disguise himself using glamour spells to his utmost disappointment he could lacked the particular skill in that area.

It was during his frustration when he managed to unlock his Metamorphmagy skills; this had occurred when he willed his hair to be blond and his eyes to be black. To his credit he had taken to practice his Metamorphmagy skills and he had managed to master it quickly.

On top of that a few days after he had gotten padfoot, the shadow wolf had taken an instant liking to Harry and had bonded himself to Harry unlike the shadow wolf, talons (the white phoenix) was a little wary of Harry at first but she eventually warmed up to Harry as the days passed. Imagine Harry's surprise when he had managed to shadow walk from his bedroom to the kitchen scaring the living daylights out of Kreacher. It was an experience Harry was never going to forget because the feeling of shadow walking was nauseating and he vomited right after doing it.

Since Harry was easily not to be thwarted away he had taken to practice shadow walking with the help of padfoot he had quickly mastered it. It seemed talons had taken to perching herself on Harry's shoulder whenever he went, he had been forced to apply disillusionment charm several times when he was out in the crowds under disguise when she flatly refused to leave him alone.

After much consideration he had even thought of going there using the knight bus but he was sure that the bus would be crawling with death eaters and would attract attention of people. He ruled that idea out after much consideration. During one of his check ups on Hogwarts using the marauders map, he was not surprised to see his former friends back at school.

Ever since the split up he still couldn't get the Hermione's words out of his head 'We are not ready to die for you' and for that Harry was never going to forgive the two of them after all he had been prepared to die for them.

As for today Harry was ready to put his plan in to action he had gotten a tip from Kreacher that today there was going to be trip to Hogsmeade. So this was the perfect day for him to execute his plan with the majority of students out of his way and the teachers would probably be relaxing and not as alert as usual.

With a smirk on his face the dark cloaked figure disappeared into the shadows but not before he left a couple of galleons on the table for Tom; the bar-keeper.

Amidst the deep dark dungeons near the Slytherin common room a solitary figure appeared in the shadows, reaching into his cloak he removed a fagged out parchment tapping it he muttered something under his breath.

As the map unveiled itself and showed the occupants in Hogwarts, Harry felt his blood boil in anger as he saw the name Draco Malfoy with his two apes with Tracy Davies and Daphne Greengrass not far from where he was.

Checking the marauders once again to make sure that Snape and the Carrows were no where nearby, he put the map away and made his way towards Malfoy and his cronies.

Harry made his way taciturnly, as soon as he saw Malfoy and his two goons towering over a raven haired girl who seemed to try to protect someone, probably her friend who was unconscious by the looks of it. The blonde seemed to be bragging while the raven haired girl simply looked furious and was glaring daggers at him.

Not wanting to know what the little pervert of a death eater was going to do, he sent multiple stunners on the two goons as soon as they fell unconscious he hit Malfoy with the Langlock spell and followed with an Expulso sending him into the wall, before finishing him off with the Bat-Boogey hex on his face. The little debauch never knew what hit him as he was knocked unconscious by the Expulso spell.

Banishing the two goons and Malfoy, away he removed his hood running a hand through his hair he knelt near the raven haired girl presuming that she was Daphne Greengrass. Looking at her he couldn't help but admire at her feminine beauty that she possessed.

Clearing his throat he questioned her, "Do you know what she was hit with?" as oceanic blue eyes met his he could clearly see the panic filled in her eyes. Patting her lightly on the shoulder he told her "You better take her to madam Pomfrey before its too late." as he stood up and started walking away he told her "You may want to keep it quiet about my visit here or you may just find yourself not remembering what happened down here." and with that he was gone.

Daphne's POV

Waking up early that day she was looking forward to leaving Hogwarts and spend the day at Hogsmeade with Tracy. She had decided that she would wear casual clothes, and blasé. This was going to be the first trip to Hogsmeade this year. Sitting on her bed as she patiently waited for Tracy to finish whatever she was doing, she couldn't help but wonder where Potter was and he was doing right now.

She was sure that he was not only on the run but he was up to something else. She was sure that Potter was not going to hide and let the Dark Lord take over the wizarding world. As much as she hated to admit it she knew that if someone was able to stop the Dark Lord then it was Potter, to her knowledge no one with the exception of Professor Dumbledore and Potter had managed to duel with the Dark Lord and live to tell the tale.

With Professor Dumbledore no longer alive the whole wizarding world seemed to pin up their hopes on the-boy-who-lived; Harry Potter. Looking over at the other room mates she couldn't help but snigger as she saw Pansy drooling all over her pillow while Millicent Bulstrode seemed to be fighting with her pillow.

As soon as Tracy was done the two Slytherins made their way to the great hall and sat themselves on their usual seats. Since it was Saturday and very few people woke up early. So the two girls took this time to write letters to their parents.

An hour later found the girls on their to the Slytherin's common room before reaching the Slytherin's common room they were attacked and before they could do anything Tracy was knocked unconscious with a wordless spell.

Turning around Daphne came face to face with a smirking Draco Malfoy with his two goons.

"What do you think you are doing Malfoy?" Daphne asked him coldly.

"Well well Greengrass it looks like you are all alone now. You are going to pay for what you said to me the other day. You will regret refusing my offer. I am going to make you my trophy and my father will make sure of that. If I am correct right now he should be at your house negotiating with your father." Draco puffed his chest as he spoke.

"Leave me alone, Malfoy. You do not want to do this." The statuesque raven haired, known as Daphne Greengrass, or the Ice Queen to many, told the white-blond boy in front of her in her typical cold tone. "You will be sorrier than you can ever imagine."

"But I think I do want this, Greengrass." Malfoy slowly and lightly trailed the tip of his wooden wand over her robes from just under her chin down to the middle of her body. "Besides, after I've finished -- experiencing you -- you need never even remember, so nothing will happen to me."


"Malfoy, even if you Obliviate me, I'll eventually figure out something has happened, and as you're the only one who won't leave me alone, I'll come after you just because." Her voice lowered even more as she finished her threat. "So help me, if you don't let me go right now, you may be the last Malfoy ever -- if I have my way."

"Such empty threats Greengrass, by the time my father is done with negotiating with your father you …" but he never finished his sentence as he was interrupted when Crabbe and Goyle fell down simultaneously.

Looking at the black cloaked figure that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere Daphne was impressed when the figure hit Malfoy with wordless spells before Malfoy could even turn. As soon as she saw that Malfoy was also out she focused her attention towards her friend, panic filled her heart as she looked at her unconscious best friend.

shewas cut from her rivet when the cloaked figure knelt beside her and asked her "Do you know what she was hit with?" looking up towards the cloaked figure she just managed to prevent herself from gasping out aloud as she saw the boy that was wanted by the Dark Lord and the Ministry right in front of her in one of the most guarded place in the whole of Britain; Harry Potter.

She felt a rush when Potter patted her shoulder lightly and said "You better take her to madam Pomfrey before its too late." looking up at him she saw that he was going away but not before he warned her "You may want to keep it quiet about my visit here or you may just find yourself not remembering what happened down here." she could clearly feel the warning in his statement as he spoke.

Looking up Daphne was surprised as she looked up to find that Potter was gone, casting a levitation spell on Tracy she levitated her to the hospital but not before she stomped on Malfoy's crotch and spat on his face.

------------------------------------------------

Harry made his way to the seventh floor making sure to be discreet as possible as soon as he reached the painting of Barnabas the Barmy. Removing the marauder's map from his pocket checking it once again to make sure he was alone, he called out for Dobby and asked for the Gryffindor's sword.

As soon as he was given the Sword he couldn't help but admire its beauty, swinging it above his head he noticedthatthe sword was not as heavy as it looked indicating that it was spelled to be light.

Putting the sword away he thanked the eccentric elf who was delighted in seeing him but at the same time not happy with him being there.

Focusing his attention on the stretch of blank wall opposite an enormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy's foolish attempt to train trolls for the ballet.

Walking past this bit of wall three times while concentrating hard on place where you could hide your things. As soon as the door appeared he opened it. He entered the room and saw that the room was still the same as before, it was large the size of a cathedral, whose high windows were sending shafts of light down upon what looked like a city with towering walls, built of what Harry knew must be the objects hidden by generations of Hogwarts inhabitants. There were alleyways and roads bordered and damaged furniture, stowed away perhaps, to hide the evidence of mishandled magic, or else hidden by the castle-proud house-elves.

Hurrying forward into one of the many alleyways between all this hidden treasure. He turned right past an enormous stuffed troll, ran on a short way, took a left at the broken Vanishing Cabinet in which Montague had got lost two years ago and also used by Draco Malfoy to bring death eaters to Hogwarts.

He didn't stop until he'd reached the cupboard with the bust of an ugly old warlock perched on

top. A wig and a tarnished tiara crowned the bust. Before taking the bust down, he opened the cupboard and reached behind a cage with some unidentifiable remains left inside; the Half-blood Princes book. He quickly put it in his back pack and then focused on the Ravenclaw's tiara, running his wand in an intricate manner 'a method he learned in the warding book, used by curse breakers to check if something is cursed during excavations' sighing loudly as he saw the complex wards used by Tom Riddle to protect his Horcrux, he pondered for a minute before he decided to avoid touching the tiara at all cost.

The wards used by Voldermort had been tied to the Horcrux in the tiara so for as long as the Horcrux was still there then the wards were unlikely to be removed without risking magical backlash. Making up his mind quickly knowing of the dire consequences, he levitated the tiara and dropped it right on his feet.

Summoning the Gryffindor's sword wandlessly he aimed the tip of the sword at the tiara, rising it high above his head he brought it down and with a loud bang and a Scream the Horcrux was destroyed and in that process causing the whole school to shake up after that magical backlash which had also hurled Harry thru the air and into the Vanishing Cabinet but not without leaving him with a few burns on his face from the magical reverberation.

Meanwhile.......

Daphne had taken Tracy to the hospital wing and in a matter of minutes the nurse had healed Tracy from whatsoever curse she had been hit with. But still the nurse had taken a firm stand that Tracy stayed there until dinner time for her own well-being.

With no classes that day Daphne sat near her friend who was awake after all the fuss, she told her of what had happened after she had been knocked out. Tracy like Daphne was perplexed at the audacity that Potter had and not even afraid of getting caught even when he was in the enemy's yard.

Not long after madam Pomfrey had forced Tracy to drink a potion she had fallen asleep, Daphne suspected that the potion had been laced with a dreamless potion. Lost in her own thoughts Daphne couldn't stop herself from thinking about Potter.

The boy she had met yesterday had changed a lot since last year, he still looked skinny not that he wasn't already but being on the run had certainly helped him with his growth sprout. He was a lot taller than last year and his hair which was still the same but not as messier as before due to the fact that it had grown past the nape.

But one thing that appealed to Daphne was the mysterious air that surrounded Potter; he was like a man on a secret mission there was no secret that he was magically more powerful than he ever was. With the way he had handled the little ferret, he never knew what had hit him. She now owed her life to Potter she knew that if she ever saw him again she'd have to thank him. But something kept nagging her about what Malfoy had said hopefully as soon as they were out of here she'd have to write a letter to her mother and ask her.

A sudden explosion shook the whole school broke her out of her sentiments and in the process waking up her friend. Madam Pomfrey came out of her office and left the office in great hurry. Living the two girls alone and clueless as to what was going on. A dazed Tracy looked at her best-friend with a questioning look but all she got was a shrug from her, looking towards the door she swung her legs towards the other side of the bed with a cheerful smile she said, "Well why don't you tell me what happened and how the hell did I end up here?"

Daphne sighed as she settled herself into a more comfortable position in the armchair and started recounting what had occurred earlier.

Meanwhile.....

Harry shook the cobwebs that threatened to overcome him, standing up slowly as he felt a faint throb in his back after being thrown into the Vanishing Cabinet. Staggering a little bit he managed to walk towards the pieces of the tiara that had possessed Voldermort's piece of soul.

Performing a complex scan on the tiara he saw that it was no longer warded and the Horcrux had been removed. Not wasting anytime he picked up the pieces and put them in his backpack. Knowing that the all the current residents in the school had felt that explosion and the teachers were probably investigating the source and the place where the explosion had occurred, his time at Hogwarts was limited and he had to destroy the Slytherin's Locket and get the hell out of here.

Removing the locket from his backpack (he never wanted to wear it after seeing its side-effects) he put it down and hissed open in parseltongue. The Locket swung open with a little click and at that instant a hologram of a young Tom Riddle rose out of the locket.

Harry raised the sword above his head and made a move to bring it down when the hologram of Tom Riddle spoke, "Harry Potter! I've seen your heart and it is mine. I've seen your dreams and your fears. All you desire is possible, but all that you dread is also possible..."

Harry to stunned to do anything he just stared at the hologram of Tom Riddle, his eyes changed to red and slit-pupiled as it saw the uncertainty in Harry's eyes. His eyes shining brightly he continued to speak, "You never got love and attention that you friends had in abundance....always craved to be loved and wanted your own family....Never had a parental figure in your life, lived under the cupboard for eleven years....witnessed the murder of your god-father 'Black' and your Mentor Albus Dumbledore.....abandoned by your two best-friends in the time you needed help most."

Harry backed away with a yelp as he saw Tom Riddle's eyes gleam and suddenly the Hologram split into two and this time taking the shape of Hermione and Ron.The Riddle-Hermione spoke, "Well well if it isn't the-boy-who-lived, my parents are dead I am lonely, I need your pity. Just to let you know Potter you are nothing than a murderer, you got Sirius killed and you did nothing but watch as Dumbledore was killed. That is why we hate you and have abandoned you."


As soon as she finished talking the Riddle-Hermione let out a loud cackle, before Harry, who looked emotionless. The Riddle-Ron sneered at Harry, "Just to let you know Potter I befriended you so as to get a piece of the limelight, with you so thick-headed it was easy to fool you. My family does not like you, with your tendencies of getting people killed its a wonder that we are still alive, as Hermione said the other day we are not ready to die for fat-head like you!" and he stretched like a snake and entwined himself around Riddle-Hermione, wrapping her in a close embrace: Their lips met.

A still emotionless Harry raised the sword high above his head and brought it down: a clang of metal and a long drawn-out scream was heard. The monstrous versions of Ron and Hermione were gone: looking down at the shattered remains of the locket on the floor was enough to let him know that the Horcrux had been destroyed. Picking up the shattered locket that had tormented him, he put it into the bottomless backpack together with the Gryffindor's Sword.

Knowing he had to leave Hogwarts as quickly as he could. He reached at the nearest door yanking it open he stepped out. Taking a minute to look at the surroundings he noticed that he was on the third floor. A sudden shout startled him as he heard someone yell, "It's Potter, get him!"

Before he could do anything he was hit with the Banishing charm and thrown into the wall. Struggling to get back to his feet as the pain in the back doubled, he heard someone yell, "Crucio!" sending the sickly red-curse right at him.