Chapter 2: Who are You?

Harry Potter.

Future savior of the Wizarding World.

Five time defeater of Lord Voldemort.

The Boy-Who-Lived.

The Boy-Who-Couldn't-get-his-stupid-worthless-piece-of-crap-trunk-to-shut! Harry huffed as he crouched on top of his trunk in a vain attempt to get the latches closed. It was to be his seventh year at Hogwarts, and Harry was anything but excited.

After Dumbledore's death in sixth year, Harry had sworn to himself and his friends that he would not return to Hogwarts, a place he had once thought of as home. He had wanted to hunt down the remaining Horcruxes, return all of Voldemort's soul to him, and then kill the bastard. It had taken three dreams of Dumbledore pleading with him to return to the school before Harry relented and approached McGonagall on the matter.

The heated discussion that had followed consisted of Harry declaring that he would return, and then demanding that he be allowed free reign to come and go from the school as he pleased. He refused to give up his hunt and felt that if everyone was expecting him to defeat Voldemort, then he should at least be allowed to do it on his own terms. The agreement was finalized, and it was decided that Harry's absences would be blamed on a reoccurring wizard flu that could take its' victims out for days and weeks at a time.

During the summer Harry had been staying at Grimmauld Place. He could no longer stand his relatives, and without Dumbledore specifically telling him to return Harry had decided that he would take his chances without the blood magic of his mother. He had spent hours in the library of the house, and had tried to get his hands on every kind of research about Horcruxes and the founders that he could find. With a summer of complete focus behind him, Harry now felt that he was as well prepared as he would get for the continuation of the hunt. He had also researched defense tactics, and had assigned Hermione to find every curse and counter curse known to wizards. Harry had even asked Ron to start making battle tactics for when the final confrontation came. He felt that with Ron's amazing mind for chess, that the redhead would be perfect for helping to align the ranks.

As Harry put the final touches on his packing, he felt a shift in the wards alerting him to the arrival of another Order member. Today way to be the last time the Order would meet before the beginning of the school year. They would discuss the transportation of the students to Hogwarts, the progress of the aurors in recruiting fellow wizards to the cause,….and Snape's returning roll as spy.

Yes, Snape. Harry still felt a great hate for what the man had done at the end of sixth year. After disappearing for a few weeks, Snape had shown up at the Weasley's doorstep and requested an audience with Harry. Ron had immediately hexed Snape, and told him to "bugger off!". Harry had been visiting the Weasleys, and had heard the commotion from the living room. After much yelling, hexing, and demanding Harry had finally agreed to hear Snape out, but only if the man was willing to take a truth serum. Snape had readily agreed.

Snape explained that Dumbledore had made him take an oath to kill the older man and save Draco. The arguing that Hagrid had heard in the woods that night had been Dumbledore telling Snape to take the Oath, and Snape vehemently refusing, and even begging Dumbledore to change his mind. The Weasleys and Lupin, who happened to be visiting Bill to help him with his new wolf side, felt that even if what Snape said was true it still didn't make up for what he had done. Harry had argued it over with them, and finally convinced them to let Snape in and to put him on a type of probation. Snape would be watched.

Everyone had been surprised that Harry had chosen to stand up for Snape, but Harry had reasoned that Snape had taken a truth serum. He also pointed out that Snape had not defended himself against any of the hexes the Weasleys or Lupin had thrown at him, and had even suffered their effects without complaint while answering their questions. They accepted Harry's choice, and healed Snape's wounds.

Harry thought about that day as he descended the stairs and headed to the kitchen. As he entered he happened to bump into the object of his thoughts. Snape jerked at the sudden touch, and looked almost surprised. He had been lost in thought, his head down, and had for some reason not felt a presence next to him. Harry, for his part, just looked at Snape impassively, and then continued into the kitchen. He knew Snape would not comment. His cutting remarks to Harry had stopped when Harry had accepted him back into the Order. In fact, Harry mused, Snape had barely even talked to him after that day.

"Hello, Harry dear!" Molly Weasley greeted as Harry entered. She chose to ignore Snape entirely…the Order often to do that now whenever the man entered a room. Harry for the first or second time wondered if the silent treatment Snape received affected the man. He brushed the thought off and blamed it on too little sleep.

"Hello Mrs. Weasley." Harry took a seat at the table and was given a healthy portion of the breakfast Molly had been cooking. Ron, Hermione, the Twins, Ginny, Lupin, Tonks, and a few other Order members were already at the table eating or reading the recent news from the Daily Prophet.

A few more 'pops' and the Order was complete, and the meeting began.

"I believe Tonks should begin the meeting. She has some information from the Ministry…" Lupin began.

"This hasn't reached the Prophet yet, thank Merlin, but last night there was a break from Azkaban. It's been reported that Lucius Malfoy escaped sometime in the early evening…." Tonks' report was cut short by the immediate ruckus created by the name. Everyone knew that Lucius was part of Voldemort's inner circle. His escape could spell big problems for the Order, as well as the Wizarding world. Ron, and a few of the adults turned to Snape, demanding an explanation. Harry noticed that Snape seemed just as shocked, and he realized for the first time that Snape was the only one without a chair.

" I assure you I knew nothing about this!" Snape tried to defend.

"Oh bugger off! You probably helped him walk right out! He's at your house isn't he!!" Ron had gotten right in Snape's face, and it was obvious he was itching for a reason to hex his former professor.

"QUIET!" Harry bellowed, sick of the noise and angry that he couldn't get the rest of the report with everyone yelling over Tonks. The room froze, and turned to their savior. "Tonks, was it a death eater attack?"

"From what we can tell, no. It looks like some one walked in and smuggled him out with the help of a charm. The officials actually think that the Malfoy family itself might have something to do with this."

"Highly unlikely unless it was Draco." Snape said to the Order as a whole, "Narcissa hates Lucius."

"Could you ask Draco?" Harry ignored the hateful looks shooting at Snape. He might not like the man, but Snape did have a connection to Draco.

" I could try, but I'd have to get to him alone and away from the Dark Lord."

"Alone?! Hell no!" Ron was still invading Snape's personal space, and snarled the negative right into the man's face.

"What, Weasley? You want to go with me and hex Draco a few times? I'm sure Draco would love to talk after he's been mangled by a botched spell."

"Why you..!"

"I'll go with him!" Harry interjected. He was already thinking about his invisibility cloak. "We'll get our answers, Snape will not be alone, and I'll get to see just how sorry Draco is for what he did at the end of last year. Snape, you mentioned last meeting that Draco wanted a way out of Voldemort's service?" Here Snape nodded, "Then let's just see how true that sentiment is. We'll go tomorrow before the train leaves. If Draco is sincere maybe we can get him to Hogwarts somehow."

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AN: Thanks for reading! Please review! Yes, the title makes me the of The Who, too:)