A/N: Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling and her associates. Please support the official release.

EDIT: Due to issues with the site, I was forced to reupload this chapter shortly after posting it. For those of you who received a notification twice, I apologize for the inconvenience.

Hogwarts Dungeons

Putting down the quill he had in his hand, Harry leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh of relief. It had taken him hours, but finally, he had managed to transcribe the first 5 pages of the book. Afternoon had come and gone since he started, and even though the room he was in had no windows, he could easily tell that it was probably late into the evening at this point.

His discoveries so far worried him about as much as they excited him. The rituals described in this book were dark, darker than anything he'd come across before. The instructions for most of them involved everything from bleeding yourself to the brink of death to human sacrifices, something he honestly thought was a little cliché, but perhaps expected of something that gave off such an ominous aura.

It all started with the first ritual, which the book referred to as the "Awakening". This seemed to be a prerequisite to performing any of the other ones that came after it. You needed the first ritual to unlock some kind of "potential" within you, which would then let you take use of the power from the later ones. Simple enough in theory, correct? But it had a catch. Performing the Awakening ritual carried with it a rather impressive risk of death, due to the way it worked.

According to the book, during the Awakening, your magical core would be broken down and reconstructed into an entirely new entity that had its own special properties. In other words, you would momentarily lose the ability to perform magic as the ritual broke down your very core in order to put it back together again in a different shape. Destroying your own magical core like this was, needless to say, beyond stupid and most often equivalent to suicide for wizards and witches. Not to mention that the ritual itself required immense amounts of magical energy to work, which it in theory was supposed to get from the ingredients you had to prepare ahead of time.

The ingredient list for the Awakening ritual consisted of a cauldron that was to be placed over a hot fire, frighteningly large amounts of human blood, a bezoar to be added into the mix later and a sharp knife with Abraxan hair twirled around it that had been coated in Unicorn's Blood. It wasn't too convoluted of a recipe, but the main problem was the Unicorn's Blood. That stuff was strictly regulated by the Ministry and highly illegal, which only made it that much more difficult to obtain. The only place Harry could think of where he might be able to get his hands on some was Knockturn Alley, but due to its illegal nature it was most likely going to cost him a fortune. Luckily enough for him though, he happened to have a fortune.

The latest reports he had received from Gringotts last month estimated his total fortune to be around 61250 Galleons, which equated to about 306,250 Pound sterling. Of that money, he currently had access to around 26000 Galleons, due to the scheme he had set up during his First Year where he would deposit the maximum amount of money allowed to be withdrawn into a secondary bank account where it would then accumulate over time. Of those 26000 Galleons though, he had probably used roughly five to six hundred during his past few years at Hogwarts, meaning that his true "net worth" was somewhere in the region of 25400 Galleons. A decent amount of money to be sure, enormous compared to what most other teenagers his age had, but there was definite room for improvement.

With that many Galleons to my name though, I should technically be able to buy enough Unicorn's Blood to perform the ritual. I'll have to risk the trip to Knockturn Alley, but that should be simple enough if I apparate from the Room of Requirement to Diagon Alley.

The thought of having to perform his first long-range Apparition did make him feel a little uneasy, but he figured it would probably be okay as long as he remembered the Three D's of Apparition: Destination, Determination and Deliberation. To quote Hermione: "One has to be completely determined to reach one's destination, and move without haste, but with deliberation."

But really… why the hell am I doing this?

Procuring the ingredients for the ritual was one thing; actually performing it was the crazy part. The instructions for how to successfully perform the Awakening were grim to say the least.

This ritual… it's beyond ludicrous. Chances are I'll just mess up and die an extremely painful death. So why am I bothering?

Harry already knew why though, of course. It always came back to that one thing, after all. Voldemort. It was always Voldemort.

Ever since I was born, that fucker has been messing with me, controlling my fate. Killing my parents, hurting my friends, ripping away my chance at a normal life. He is the reason I was stuck with the Dursleys for all those years. He is the reason I have this Obscurus growing inside of me. He is the reason for everything shitty thing that has ever happened in my life.

Feeling his anger starting to flare up again, Harry looked back down at the book in front of him. This thing, this Dark artifact here… it represented something so much bigger than just an evil piece of literature. It represented an opportunity. A chance for Harry to finally get out ahead. A way for him to win in a game that had been rigged against him from the start.

He knew that if he had to face Voldemort as he was now, he would not win. He simply wasn't strong enough to take on the Dark Lord, no matter how many friends or allies he managed to scrape together. Voldemort had, quite literally, found a way to cheat death after all.

So Harry needed this. He needed a way to level the playing field, and this book of Dark rituals might just be it.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained…

Getting up from his seat, Harry grabbed the Invisibility Cloak from the trunk next to his bed and headed out of his room in the Dungeons. Outside, the castle of Hogwarts was dead silent, making his footsteps sound that much louder as he walked. Pulling the cloak tighter around himself, he upped the pace as he ventured towards the Seventh Floor, inwardly reflecting on what lay ahead. He was going to be visiting Knockturn Alley for the first time in his life, and late into the evening hours at that. He needed to be ready for anything.

I don't particularly feel like getting mugged tonight, after all.

Walking up the Grand Staircase, Harry took a moment to appreciate the novelty of being completely alone in such a massive room. Normally, this place was crowded with students travelling to and from classes, making it hard to ascend quickly. Now though, he could take up as much space as he wanted to. Nobody would be throwing annoying remarks at him either, as all of the portraits were asleep at this hour, their animated bodies snoring loudly from their position on the walls.

A lot has happened since I first arrived at Hogwarts… Back then, this staircase seemed like the biggest mystery in the world. Now though, it is just another means of getting around the castle.

Shaking away the nostalgia, Harry focused his mind on the task at hand. He didn't have the time to be reminiscing about the old days now. The past was behind him. The future was all that mattered.

A short while later, he arrived at the Seventh Floor and the entrance to the Room of Requirement. Walking back and forth three times, he watched with detached interest as the two iron doors appeared in front of him. He had been to this room so many times now that summoning the door had become second nature to him. It was no longer difficult to get it to materialize.

Placing his hands on either side, he pushed forwards with force and entered the room, the massive door closing shut behind him. He immediately realized that something was wrong.

The inside of the room did not look even remotely similar to what he had envisioned. He had wanted a simple room with no furniture to apparate from. This, however, looked like an expanded version of the girls' dorm in Ravenclaw Tower.

What in the world…?

Taking it all in, he noticed something very different about his surroundings. Where there in the original version of this room would usually be multiple beds belonging to different students, there were now rows upon rows of bookcases, filled to the brim with documents and papers. It almost looked like someone had taken the girls' dorm and turned it into a library instead.

Inching forwards under the cover of his cloak, Harry gradually made his way deeper into the room, before stopping dead in his tracks as his eyes landed on the queen-sized bed all the way in the back. There was only one, and it looked nothing like the usual Hogwarts-issued beds the students had. But that wasn't his main concern. The problem was that the bed currently had someone sleeping in it.

Holding his breath, Harry squinted into the darkness to get a better look at whoever had decided to turn the Room of Requirement into their very own personal bedroom. He managed to make out the contours of a female, sleeping in her nightgown atop her bedsheets.

… Wait… Is that…?

As he stood there, the girl in the bed shifted in her sleep, her face becoming briefly illuminated by the moonlight shining in through a window on the wall. Harry's heart skipped a beat as he realized who it was.

Hermione?

Walking towards her whilst taking off his Cloak, he stopped just in front of the bed, his mind racing to find answers. Why was she sleeping here, in the Room of Requirement? Didn't she know that just about anyone could enter this place if they knew about the secret? Why wasn't she sleeping with the other girls in Ravenclaw Tower?

He didn't get much time to mull over this, however, as Hermione suddenly woke from her slumber. Drowsy eyes opened to meet his own, and for a moment, the two of them stayed like that, staring at each other in silence as their minds came to a halt. Then, Hermione's tired brain finally finished its boot-up sequence, and she realized that this was, in fact, not actually normal.

Eyes wide in surprise, she flew up into an upright sitting position, her brown curls flying about wildly as she did so.

"Harry?!"

"Ehh… good evening," he responded, coughing lightly to hide his embarrassment. "Sleep well?"

"W-What are you doing here?"

"Well…"

Using one hand to awkwardly scratch the back of his head, he tried to come up with a passable excuse right there on the spot, but sadly enough, his mind refused to cooperate. He knew he could technically just say something obvious like "I came here to practice magic since I couldn't sleep", but for some reason… the thought of that wasn't very appealing to him. He couldn't explain why, but he didn't want to lie to Hermione right now. And that wasn't a moral conundrum he usually struggled with.

"Well…?" she urged impatiently, eyeing him with careful suspicion. She knew he couldn't have known that she would be here, but that still didn't change the fact that she was in a rather… vulnerable state right now, dressed in nothing but a nightgown, which sent her mental defenses into high alert.

After a moment of silence, Harry finally let out a sigh of resignation, completely oblivious to Hermione's internal struggle.

"I'm here to apparate to Diagon Alley," he said, his words causing her brain to short-circuit.

"What?"

"I'm going to Diagon Alley. Or, more specifically, Knockturn Alley."

"Huuuh?"

It was so far removed from what she had expected to hear that Hermione couldn't help but do a double take. Harry was going to Knockturn Alley? At this time of day? What in Godric's name was he thinking?

"But… but why?" she asked, furrowing her brows in equal parts confusion and concern.

"Because I need to get my hands on something of very questionable legality, and the only place I could think of that might sell it is Knockturn Alley."

Her confusion quickly turned to anger upon hearing his reply.

"Seriously…? First you beat up Draco like some kind of wild animal, and now you're buying illegal items from Knockturn Alley? What in the world is going on with you?!" she exclaimed, fixing him with a look of pure rage.

"Hermione…" he sighed in return. "I know you have every right to be mad at me right now, but please… just listen to me, okay?"

Narrowing her eyes, she had to mentally restrain herself from barking out a chilling reply. The anger still burned bright in her chest, but after taking a couple of deep breaths, she decided to hear him out. He deserved a chance to defend himself, after all. But his defense had better be damn near flawless.

"I know things have been… weird... between us lately. After everything that happened this summer, and… all the physical intimacy and stuff, I haven't… exactly had an easy time figuring out how I feel about you. You're my best friend, yes. But lately, you've also been… something more. And that honestly scares me a bit," he started, putting on a pained smile that conveyed the conflict he was struggling with internally. "You know how I am. I've never had feelings like these before, nor have I been in any kind of relationship. So I'm not very good at articulating how I feel, or how much I care about someone. And I know that must be very frustrating for you."

When Hermione didn't say anything in response, he took it as a sign to continue speaking.

"But there is one thing I am absolutely certain of, and that is the fact that I have feelings for you, Hermione. I don't know exactly what they are or what they mean yet, but I do know that they stretch well beyond friendship, into something... more. And I don't know what to do about that."

Hermione's heart was beating wildly in her chest now, the anger from earlier mixing with several other emotions to produce something intangible within her. She didn't know how to respond to his roundabout confession. She knew she had feelings for him as well, but... with everything that had happened over the past few days, it was all just a confusing mess.

"Now, I've done some stuff that I am not very proud of lately, and that you have every right to despise. But... I'm not perfect, Hermione. For all my rationality and my big talk... In the end, I'm just a guy trying to figure out how to survive an unfair destiny that has been pushed upon him. I didn't ask to be the Boy-Who-Lived, but for some reason, the universe has decided I'm the one who has to bear that burden. And as much as I may hate it, I'm going to make mistakes along the way. But that's exactly why I need you there."

"W... What do you mean by... "need"?" she breathed in response as the emotions within her swelled in size.

"I mean precisely that, Hermione. I need you to be there for me, because I can't fight this battle alone. I need you to lend me a shoulder when I can't stand on my own. To show me the way when I lose sight of the road ahead. Because, no matter what happens, I will always be the Boy-Who-Lived; but without you, I won't be Harry."

She could feel her eyes starting to water at this point, his honesty and unfiltered emotion threatening to overwhelm her brittle heart. In all the time she had known Harry, he had only ever acted like this twice before: once in the Room of Requirement, after she had taken him there following his run-in with a Dementor, and once in her guest bedroom. Both times had ended with her giving in to her feelings for him, and the two of them sharing a special moment together.

The prideful side of her hated the fact that he held such power over her. The power to change her mind by simply being open and honest with her. But, deep inside, she also knew why he was capable of it. It was because she loved him. Both as a best friend, and... as something far more. He held a special place in her heart, a place no other person had ever come close to reaching before. And despite all of his mistakes and character flaws, she knew she couldn't stay mad at him forever. Because he was Harry. Her Harry. And nothing was going to change that.

But that didn't mean she could just forgive him for what he had done to Draco. Sure, the Malfoy heir was an insufferable asshole that needed to be brought down a peg or two. A complete prick that had done something horrible to her in the past, which she thankfully couldn't remember. But the way Harry had beaten him... the feral wildness with which he had exacted his revenge... it still haunted her even now. That image of him laying into a defenseless, borderline unconscious opponent refused to leave her mind, even if he had supposedly done it for her.

"I... I don't..." she started, her words failing her as she struggled to formulate an answer to his confession. Why did it all have to be so goddamn complicated? Why couldn't Harry just be... or at least act, a little bit more normal sometimes?

"I'm not expecting you to give me an answer right here and now, Hermione," he nodded, intrinsically understanding that matters of the heart were not always easily solved. "I know this must be difficult for you, and I apologize for that. All I ask is that you give me a second... no, a third chance. Even if I really don't deserve it."

A moment of silence came and went before Hermione gave him any kind of answer. When it came, however, it did not come in the form of a verbal or physical "yes" or "no". Hermione simply locked eyes with him, her watery gaze conveying everything she wanted to say, but couldn't. A small smile flashed across Harry's face as he stared into her chocolate-colored orbs.

"Thank you," he whispered, his emerald-green eyes taking on a softer hue as he spoke. The sight of it caused Hermione's heart to skip a beat.

Breaking eye contact, he tightened his grip around his Invisibility Cloak before moving to put it back on. Hermione watched on in silence as his body gradually disappeared from view, going completely invisible under the covers of the mysterious cloak. Before long, only his head remained, floating in the air rather ominously as he directed his attention back to her once again.

"I have to go now, but... once I get back... I'll tell you everything. Everything I know, so that there'll be no more secrets between us. I hope you'll accept my apology then."

And then he was gone, apparating away with a loud swoosh, leaving Hermione alone with her thoughts once again.

Harry...

A/N: I apologize for taking so long to get this out, but I have been very busy with writing on my other two stories as of late and as such, haven't had as much time to write on this as I would've liked to. I know you're probably tired of apologies at this point, but I really do mean it.

The next chapter will be significantly more action-focused (and is already about 60 percent done), so you can look forward to getting your hands on that sometime during or after this weekend. I already know how it's going to end so the only thing left for me to do is write the final 1500 words or so.

And now, I'm going to go off on a little bit of a tangent here for a second, so please forgive me if I come across as slightly pissed off:

This story is not perfect. There are tons of plot holes, inconsistencies and errors in it, and I have never claimed otherwise. I welcome criticism, and encourage each and every one of you to share your thoughts with me at any time, whether they be positive or negative. But lately, some of you have been getting a little too wild with your behavior regarding this story.

Over the last two weeks, I've received two separate DM's filled to the brim with vitriolic nonsense and suggestions to go kill myself. And whilst I have a sneaking suspicion that these two accounts may in fact be owned by the same guy, I want to make this crystal clear right now: THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. Shouting insults and telling someone to go kill themselves over a story provided to you FOR FREE on the internet is honestly just downright retarded. I do not know what levels of stupidity one has to stoop to in order to do shit like this, but let me tell you: it ain't cool. Luckily enough for you, I've been on the internet for about 15 years at this point, and as such, have rather thick skin when it comes to stuff like this. But what if such a message was sent to someone younger than me? There are a lot of kids frequenting this site after all, some of which do publish their own stories. And I don't like to think about what such a message could do to their psyche if they were to receive one.

So please, for the love of all that is holy, don't act like this. It doesn't make you cool or "edgy", it just makes you a pathetic loser with deep-seated issues.

To the rest of you normal people, though, I want to thank you for your continued support. This story is now in the top 3% of the most followed M-rated Harry Potter fanfictions ever posted on this site, which is honestly just incredibly humbling to me as a writer. I never thought I would make it this far, and I'm eternally grateful to each and every one of you for giving me the chance. So thank you.

And as always, I will see all of you again in the next chapter!

-Twisted