A/N: Howdy everyone! I'd like to start by saying a huge thank you to everyone who left a comment with their thoughts about the last chapter! There were more comments on the last chapter than any previous one, and many were quite lengthy too. I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of them, and I am grateful you took the time to write it.

As you no doubt remember, there'll be 75 chapters, meaning there's 6 more after this one. They're all written and ready to be posted, and should all appear in the next few days!

Again, thank you, and please enjoy your read!

Chapter 69: The One

-Harry-

My teeth clattered in the dark chamber, a shiver ran down my spine. I must have been several hundred metres beneath the school, not a single source of light existed, apart from the 'lumos' of my wand. The pale white light illuminated the tomb, casting long shadows along the walls as I crept along the passage with slow steps. I expected cobwebs, dust and deterioration in a tomb about a millennia old; but the walls stood firm, the floor was shiny enough to reflect the light back at me.

I reached the end of the tunnel, and turned the corner. I froze in my steps, my eyes widening.

The chamber in front of me was the same size as the Chamber of Secrets. Like Slytherin's chamber, it housed statues, but instead of one, there were four. Four towering statues made of four different materials towered before me, proud. Godric Gryffindore stood closest to me with a familiar sword in his hand, the entire statue was made in polished gold, shiny enough to reflect my face in. I stared at it in awe for longer than I wanted to admit before I tore my eyes away to observe the others.

A man with vaguely familiar features stood next to Gryffindor, entirely made of silver. His face resembled that in the chamber fairly well. In the middle stood a woman I'd never seen before, but it wasn't hard to guess who it was. It didn't shine nor stand arrogantly though, it was made of humble wood, bowing her head before me.

Last, but not least, stood a woman I recognised very well by then. She looked older, but her stance was so familiar. I could picture her too clearly with her hands folded neatly as she observed my work silently, or with a scathing comment. Naturally, the statue was made entirely of crystal the colour of purple. I smiled, unable to fight it back, anyone who said that Ravenclaw's colour was blue was deeply mistaken.

I shook myself from continuing to stare at the founders in awe and got on with the task I had come to do. To the far right of the room was a large stone coffin, like Rowena had explained. I approached it warily and paused a couple of decimetres away. I felt like an intruder, standing next to the grave of someone older than the castle itself.

I felt no desire to disturb the peace of someone who had rested here without interruption for over a thousand years. The woman who taught me was but a memory of the person who rested in the very tomb I stood by. I conjured a rose in a vivid colour of purple. I stared at the flower for a moment before I laid it down at the grave.

There was no name on the grave, but Rowena had told me that it was the one.

I took a deep breath and braced myself, then knocked on the coffin seventeen times like Rowena had explained. Each knock echoed in the chamber. It was very important to do it exactly seventeen times, no more, no less. I hadn't asked why, I assumed it had something to do with protections around the place.

Nothing happened for a whole minute and I was just about to try knocking on it again when I heard a scraping sound.

The lid of the grave started to slide off. A bright purple light shone from the inside, forcing me to shield my eyes. I took a step back, staggering as the light grew and grew in intensity. I thought it would burn my eyes.

Then it receded, until there was no light left, and the chamber was left in darkness again.

Instead, a person stood before me. Her hair was silver, her face wrinkled, but the purple eyes standing out against her gaunt face left no doubt who it was.

"I– What?" I said. "But you're dead?"

Rowena stepped out of the coffin, observing me with her head tilted. "So you're the one, huh?" she said.

She walked around me, inspecting me.

"You don't look like much," she said. "But appearances can be deceiving, I guess."

"Who are you?"

Rowena stopped behind me. "You should be able to figure that out," she said. "My horcrux chose you as an apprentice for a reason, after all."

My master was a horcrux, I realised, feeling my throat constrict, it all made sense, that was how she was alive. "You're a thousand years old," I said. "You should be dead."

My master –or whoever was in front of me– rolled her eyes. "I can't die, I have a horcrux, remember?"

I watched her in incomprehension, before it dawned on me. "You're the main body," he said. "You're the body the horcrux is keeping alive."

Rowena nodded. "Well done, apprentice. Now, why are you here?"

"I–" I frowned, looking at her, hesitant. "I need one of your bones."

She pressed her lips into a thin line. "Why?"

I ran a hand through my hair. "Well, it's a ritual."

"Obviously," Rowena said. "But what kind of– You know what, you don't have to tell me, I can tell myself," she said, frowning. "The horcrux can tell me, I mean."

"Right," I said. "So you don't have any of her memories? Since you split, I mean."

"No," Rowena said. "So who are you?"

"Harry Potter," I said. "Your apprentice."

"Which year is it?"

"1995."

She nodded. "Huh. Alright, let's get back to her room, then, and get this sorted out."

We walked through the tunnel back, the ramifications of my master being a horcrux running through my mind.

"Hold up," Rowena said. "Let me show you something."

She had stopped in front of a seemingly blank wall.

"What is it?" I said, standing beside her.

"Hogwarts created a couple of defences for itself," Rowena said. "Before I went to sleep, I put them in here."

"What kind of defences?" I wondered.

She smiled, as the wall in front of us faded away, revealing another dark tunnel. "You'll see."

We reached the end of the tunnel, standing right at the edge of a cliff.

My eyes widened when they saw what was down below. "What–"

"Obliviate."

-Rowena-

Sneaking through the corridors proved concerningly easy, even when I had to carry the boy's unconscious body.

Harry Potter.

He hadn't seen the obliviation coming, a most concerning sign.

The silver door stood open when I arrived. It was strange, the castle had changed so much, but to me, it felt like I went to sleep and woke up like any other sleep, not like a thousand years had passed.

The younger-looking version of me stood waiting when I arrived in the room. "Were you seen?" she said.

"What do you think?" I said. "Would you have been seen?"

The horcrux watched me for a moment. "I get your point," she said. "Put him in there."

The boy's body levitated inside the room I'd created for the future apprentice, laying him down on the bed.

"He's the one?" I said.

"He's the one," the other me repeated, assured.

"Didn't seem like it," I said, frowning at the frail boy. "How long have you trained him for? He trusted me immediately, it must have been a while."

"A few months," the other me said.

I gave her a warning look. "A few months?" I shook my head. "Are you sure he has the potential to be as great as I am?"

"As we are," the younger-looking me corrected. "And no, I don't think he will be."

"Are you stupid, why would–"

"I think that's a good thing," she said. "He's very talented, but he won't be inventing new branches of magic, like we did."

"He looks like he hasn't had a proper meal in his life," I observed.

"Abusive upbringing," the other me said. "I'm working on it."

I hummed. Was my horcrux growing soft?

"He's not like Helena," the other me said. "He's the complete opposite."

"Helena was very talented," I stated.

"But cruel and malicious," she pointed out. "I don't want to be responsible for the rise of another dark wizard, I've done that enough times already."

I rolled my eyes. "Does it matter? As long as we preserve the knowledge, it's worth it."

"Many children died because of Helena," she said. "I won't let that happen again."

"If it's worth it, it's worth it," I said.

"I agree, but we can at least try to save lives," the horcrux said. "We can try to make up for what we did wrong."

I observed the other me, who was looking at her apprentice.

"He's not your son," I said. "He won't be a replacement for Helena. Don't allow yourself to care for him, you'll regret it. He's a tool, nothing else. If you grow emotionally attached–""

"I know that very well, thank you," she interrupted. "But he's not got one evil bone in his body, and I don't want to change that. He deserves someone who cares for him."

I rolled my eyes. "You're growing soft," I said. "You're growing weak."

"Fuck you," she said. "You don't know what it's like, living without anyone to talk to for a thousand years, you could never understand how that feels." The horcrux had her hands clenched into fists.

I shrugged. "Invent new spells, I know the arithmetic well enough to do so without practical experiments, then so should you."

"And I have," she said. "But–" She licked her lips. "Don't think about it rationally, okay? Think about how it could feel to be alone for that long."

"I am used to loneliness," I said. "You should be so too."

The horcrux shook her head. My lips curled in distaste at the younger-looking me.

"Why did you wake me up?" I said, sitting down in an armchair. "I heard something about a ritual."

She refused to sit down in the armchair reserved for the apprentice. "It's a long story, but I need to do one of the horcrux rituals."

I raised my eyebrows. "You don't plan to create a body for yourself, right?"

"Of course not," she said. "I need to move a horcrux."

"What's wrong with the book?" I said.

"I am fine," she said. "There's another horcrux that needs moving."

"And how on earth did this person know how to create a horcrux?" I said.

"That too, is a long story, I'll tell you later. Just know, I had to tell him, alright?" the young woman said.

I shook my head. "I doubt it, and you're a fool," I said. "But okay then, let's clean up your mistakes."

"The boy," she said, her jaw clenched. "He is a horcrux."

I scoffed. "What? Like Helena?"

"No, he isn't one, per say. One lives inside him."

Interesting. "Aha, this boy, I assume?"

"Indeed." She paused and looked inside the fire. "He was struck by the killing curse as a kid, that is how the soul piece latched onto him."

"He wasn't struck by the killing curse," I replied automatically.

"I've seen the memory of it, he was," the horcrux argued.

"Impossible."

The woman smiled at me, the purple eyes filled with smugness. "You're wrong."

I glared at her. She was weak and she was insolent.

I hadn't considered the fact that the horcrux would develop into an inferior version of myself.

"It's irrelevant now," I spat out. "What's your plan then? Move the horcrux, the boy can live?"

"Well, there are a few more things, actually."

"Really?"

The woman folded her hands neatly behind her back. "The Dark Lord whose horcrux we need to remove, he's got more than one."

"How many? Four?" I said.

"Seven, I think," she said. "Plus his body."

"He's an idiot," I said. "I feel a bit short of breath now and I'm a fourth of a soul, I can't imagine being an eight."

"You need to find them," she said. "Destroy them. This Dark Lord has already tried to kill our apprentice four times."

"Your apprentice," I corrected. "But okay, I'll do it, where are they?"

She shrugged. "I'll try to get that information from the horcrux we remove from his body, but in the meantime, you'll have to figure it out yourself."

I stroked my chin. "I need information," I said. "About the world, I'm a bit behind. Who's the most powerful wizard alive?"

"Well," she said. "Apart from us, probably the current headmaster or Voldemort."

"The Dark Lord?" I said. "Hmm. Well, do you think I can steal the headmaster's memories?"

She frowned. "Please don't, my apprentice is under enough pressure as it is."

"Alright," I said, shrugging. "Who else, then?"

"Well, there is one wizard who was said to be one of the most powerful wizards ever, until he was defeated by the current headmaster."

"I'd rather rob memories from someone who's alive, saves me all the hustle with necromancy," I said dryly. "You can't have forgotten the incident with Salazar during Samhain?"

She smiled at me. "I have not, and the man's not dead, just imprisoned. It shouldn't be too hard to break inside."

"Good, stealing his memories should give me a pretty good idea of what people can do and can't do these days." I stretched, feeling my old joints ache. "Anything else?"

"Well, if you don't mind. Please try to keep a low profile, the wizarding community is much more organised, you can't just kill someone without repercussions anymore. Someone in some office will start looking for you."

I pouted. "Such a shame, that is. Oh well, I'll try my best."

"Good," she said. "That will be all, for now. I'll contact you when I've broken the mind of the horcrux."

"Good. Good," I said. I looked inside the fire. "How is she?" I said, watching the ghost.

"Angry," I said. "Don't let her know you're back."

"No one will know," I said, standing up. "I'll get this over as quickly as possible, then, I will go back to sleep."

The horcrux inclined her head. "As you wish."

-()-

-Draco-

There was a small crowd gathered outside the entrance to the castle. I pushed myself through, wanting to see what was waiting on the other side.

I felt my throat go dry as I reached the front, Granger was standing frozen, staring at her friend in the middle of all the blood and gore.

No one even seemed to see me, the person who'd let the Death Eaters inside the castle.

Harry was standing in the middle of it all, I saw Antonia's lifeless corpse lie below him. Her head was laying on the ground next to her body, with a red pool spoiling the green grass.

I disentangled myself from the crowd, walking up to Harry. He was swaying on the spot, not even noticing me approaching, he was staring at a point beyond the gates.

"Pott– Harry," I said, swallowing when feeling the sweet, vulgar smell of blood oozing off him. "You need to get yourself cleaned up."

Harry put a hand on my shoulder. "Thank you, Draco," he said again. "I know what you sacrificed."

"They're probably dead now," I said, feeling oddly numb about it.

"I'm sorry," he said. His green eyes blinked and tore themselves away from staring beyond the gates. "I wouldn't have done what you did in that situation," he said.

"You would have," I said, casting a glance behind me, where the crowd was waiting with a cautious expression. "I know you would have."

Harry smiled. "Look around you, I'm a monster, Draco." He breathed out a deep breath. "She won in the end, didn't she? She got the revenge she wanted."

"Do you think so?" I said. "I don't think anyone won today. Not really. Daphne had to betray you to save her parents, I had to sacrifice my parents to save you and well, Hogwarts." I sighed. "And you, well, you lost a mentor."

"Like you never know," Harry said, his voice bitter as a lemon.

"We need to talk to them," I said, gesturing to the Order. "Explain what happened."

Harry shook his head. He put his wand against his forehead, pulling out a silvery string. "This'll absolve you of any guilt," he said. "This and Snape should get you off without issue. But I can't stay here, not now."

"What?" I said. "With Dumbledore dead, you're our last hope."

Harry smiled. "I've got to go to America," he said, looking beyond the gates again. "That's where my last hope is." He extended his hm revealing the bottle with the silvery strand in, which was already wet with blood. "You'll keep an eye on the place for me, right?"

I took his bottle. "You can't leave though!" I said. "We need you."

"I'll be back," Harry said. "I think."

He closed his eyes, bracing himself, and walked beyond the gates, disappearing with a pop.

The sun was on the verge of passing past the treeline, with only pink light remaining, a weakened sun.

I turned around, looking at the Order, it was time to face the music.

To face Hogwarts, and a wizarding world without Harry Potter or Albus Dumbledore.

And who was left to stand in Voldemort's way? The people in front of me, the Order and the teachers and the students of Dumbledore's Army.

And me.

For my parents, and for every single person who, like me, lost their parents; and for every parent, who lost their child. Every sibling who lost a brother or a sister.

For everyone.

For Hogwarts.

-()-

When morning came around, aurors, ministry personnel and Order members were scurrying about the castle like ants. More people than I could remember asked me questions and wanted to look at Potter's memories.

But every person I spoke to looked the same. It was in their eyes.

Every single pair of eyes had this swirl in them, this noticeable tremble that leaped around like a virus.

Dumbledore was dead. Potter was gone.

Who was left to protect them?

Only the thick castle walls protected us inside.

People were afraid, their eyes trembled, waiting for something everyone knew would come.