For once the author's comment is going to be at the top! This is where the story splits from cannon permanently, from now on will be almost entirely new ground. If I were doing this story in parts this would be the end of part one.
Also I would suggest reading Chapter one as I have added an additional message at the top.
"You will lose boy, no matter how much you may see yourself as my equal you will soon find out just how wrong you are, just how far behind you are. I will destroy everything you hold dear and then I will destroy you, I promise you that and your Lord does not break his promises"
"Then I will just have to end you before you can!" he replied defiantly
Harry awoke on the morning of the 31st of October with a start, already the nightmare was fading, all he could remember was a vaguely familiar voice taunting him. Looking at his watch he sighed when he saw it was three hours before breakfast would be served, not wanting to go back to sleep Harry washed and dressed quietly and slipped out of the common room towards his workshop, opening his door he was slightly surprised to see Professor Dumbledore running his hand over his table.
"Good morning Harry, I hope you don't mind the intrusion but I suspected you would be coming here and did not want you to be alone" as Dumbledore said this his eyes twinkled kindly but Harry caught a look of regret too
"Er, thank you sir, but I don't understand why, what's so special about today?"
"Oh, I had hopped your… guardians would have told you... today marks the ten year anniversary of the defeat of Voldemort, as such it is also the day you lost your parents" Now the kind look was replaced by clear guilt and sadness, Harry barely noticed however as he was lost to his own emotions
"I didn't know… I never thought to ask when they died… did… did they love me sir?"
"My boy, they thought the world of you, it is my belief that the love your mother felt is what allowed you to survive that dreadful night. Indeed the day you were born James apperated right outside the gates and stormed into my office and announced to the whole room that you had been born. Gave the minister of magic quite a scare. Both your parents would have given anything to keep you safe."
"Thank you sir" Harry tried to hold back the tears, Dumbledore became rather interested in the table top, if they both took the time to wipe their eyes neither bothered to mention it.
"Should you wish to talk I will be in my office all day and you will find that saying 'sherbet lemon' will let you in, your teachers have also been told to let you leave should you need to for any reason."
Harry nodded and Dumbledore, seeing that Harry wanted to be alone, left the workshop. Harry looked at where Dumbledore had been standing and realised he had left behind some school reports, the student's name on the top was 'Lily Evans' Harry wondered if Dumbledore had left it there by mistake but decided to read the name of the student under, one 'James Potter' and Harry realised that Dumbledore had left him the reports of his parents when they were his age.
Harry sat down in his chair and pulled the reports towards him, the first report, Lily's, was from Filius Flitwick and reported "Miss Lily Evans cast a perfect, NEWT level, dueling chain, the target ended up with perfect antlers, warts and hair growth among stinging and tickling curses. However as she was meant to be casting just a singular tickling charm I had to deduct 50 house points from Gryffindor and send Mr James Potter to the infirmary." Underneath the main report a piece of parchment had been stuck saying "Madam Pomfrey informed me that it took her almost ten minutes to undo all of Lily's charms, simply marvelous, I have never seen a fifth year cast such powerful charms with each and every one being flawless in their effect, if only I could turn her attention away from hexing Mr Potter and onto casting the charms I actually set"
Chuckling Harry turned to his father's report this time from Minerva Mcgonagall "Mr James Potter showed a mastery level of transfiguration by turning Mr Sirius Black into a Norwegian Forest cat, Mr Potter appeared to base his transfiguration off Mr Filch's new Kneazle he calls 'Mrs Norris' as the marks on Mr Black where identical to the Kneazle, Mr Black showed signs that he retained control and displayed signs of intelligence, despite Mr Potter's obvious skill I was forced to assign both him and Mr Black detention as they were supposed to be transfiguring a block of wood into a lion. I have suspicion that Mr Black and Mr Potter have been experimenting with the animagus transformation as Mr Black showed remarkable control and experience in being an animal, will require further observation."
Harry decided he would need to look up this animagus transformation as it sounded interesting.
The rest of his morning was spent reading his parents various reports, one report stood out which described how Lily had protected a student named Severus Snape, Harry had not realised that Professor Snape was… would have been the same age as his parents, he acted and looked like he was far older, Harry was brought back to the present when his time spell triggered, Harry quickly formed a box inside his table and stashed the reports inside then sealed the table back up, from the outside it would be impossible to see the reports were hidden there and no scan would be able to penetrate the mithril, Harry suspected that he had gotten strong enough that it would take considerable force for even Dumbledore to over power mithril as dense as his table, closing the room he sealed it with a locking charm he had designed, inspired from the locking charm Malfoy had used on the trophy room, rather than being an enchantment on the physical lock his locking charm stopped the door opening into his workshop at all and even blowing a hole in the cupboard that replaced it would not reveal the workshop.
It seemed neither Hermione or Dumbledore had noticed that the door knob was now made of mithril as he had coloured it to the exact colour of the old brass door knob alongside his notice-me-nots targeted at the mithril, it would automatically unlock if it came in contact with either his own, Hermione's or Dumbledore's magical signature, Harry had realised that while he regularly masked his magic when he was actively casting magic when his magic was just resting within his body passively it remained unmasked, evidently by the fact that Dumbledore had entered his workshop before Harry had unlocked it he did not mask his passive magic either, entering the great hall he ate his breakfast quickly wanting to return to his workshop and read more about his parents, he only had charms after lunch, he was so focused on eating so that he could leave quickly he did not notice Hermione, sitting at the Gryffindor table clearly upset.
Hermione awoke and went through her normal routine, as normal she ignored her roommates and they ignored her in turn, as she was about to leave the common room she was shoved out of the way by a hungry Ron "Sorry Granger" he said over his shoulder as he hurried off, Neville grimaced uncomfortably as he hurried after him at a slower pace, despite the fact they spent so much time around her, Ron remained jealous and Neville preferred spending time with Ron than Hermione, neither hated her and once when a fourth year made fun of her both boys were quick to draw their wands and protect her yet at the same time they did not include her.
Once she reached the great hall she was sad to see that Harry was missing from his normal spot, her mood brightened when she received a letter from her parents however her mood came crashing down as the letter said that her grandmother had fallen ill and her parents were unsure if she would be getting better.
So far Hermione thought the day could not possibly get worse, she then remembered she had potions with the Slytherins before she could relax in charms with Harry, the potions lesson went worse than she expected as she was paired with Ron who spent the entire lesson talking to Seamus so it had fallen to her to make the entire potion, when Ron tried to help he almost blew up the entire cauldron, despite this Hermione felt confident in the quality of her potion, when she handed in her potion Professor Snape glanced down at it and commented "Adequate, Granger. Keep this up and you may actually be able to pass this course, the same cannot be said for Weasley"
Ron apparently heard this comment and looked angrily at Snape, as Hermione made her way to lunch she forced herself to not listen to Ron complain about Snape and who he had paired him with, sitting down at the Gryffindor table she was relieved to see Harry at his normal spot on the Ravenclaw table eating, she wanted to go over and talk to him but the school rules said that during meal times students should remain at their own tables while eating, it was only after they finished eating could they move to other tables, Harry seemed lost in thought and didn't even look her direction, the moment he finished eating he left the hall, Hermione hurriedly finished her food and made after him, she almost caught up with him until he walked through a solid looking wall, assuming it was a fake wall Hermione sped up to catch him only to slam into a very solid wall and crash to the floor, gazing at the ceiling for a minute or two she realised the wall must require a password, checking the time revealed she only had a few minutes to get to lesson so stood and hurried to lesson, to her shame she was one of the last to arrive and had to sit next to Ron, on the complete opposite side of the classroom as Harry.
When she sat down Harry looked over at her and gave a small smile and a wave, Hermione smiled back and instantly felt a bit better, Professor Flitwick called out roll call and then told the class to start working on the levitation charm, Hermione felt a small spark of envy when Professor Flitwick went to talk to Harry, normally as she sat next to him she got to join in on their conversations but today she was forced to just watch from a distance, Harry had evidently said something humerus as Professor Flitwick laughed and waved his wand over Harry's feather, Hermione thought that he might have made it heavier as rather than rest upon the table top like the other feathers it now seemed to press down onto it, Harry then swished and flicked his wand at the feather and it slowly started rising, Harry seemed to be struggling which surprised Hermione as he had cast a wandless levitation charm when they had first met and it would take a lot to forget the day he had shown her his workshop.
Turning back to her own work she noticed Ron waving his wand around wildly, fearing for everyone's safety she said "Stop, Stop, your going to take somebody's eye out, besides its 'Wingardium LeviOsa', not 'Wingardium Leviosah', I thought Harry already taught you how to cast it?"
Ron turned to her annoyed and said "you do it then if your so clever!"
Hermione sighed and turned to her feather, she cast the required wand movements exactly as the book outlined and enchanted "Wingardium Leviosa", her feather began floating instantly and remained level with her wand tip.
"Congratulations Miss Granger! Take ten points for Gryffindor!" Professor Flitwick cried happily, glad to see another student so good at his subject, next to him Harry grinned at her and gave her a big thumbs up, his own feather forgotten on his desk which had started to creak under the weight of the enchanted feather.
After lesson, Hermione noticed Harry stay behind to talk to Professor Flitwick but was pushed along by the crowd, deciding to meet Harry in his workshop she overheard Ron complaining, she was going to put it out of mind when she heard him say "It's no wonder nobody can stand her, she even annoys Harry, he once told me I'm his best friend and he only puts up with Granger out of pity!"
Upon hearing those words something within Hermione broke, the day had been too much for her and she had reached her breaking point, rushing past Ron she made sure to bump into him and heard Seamus say "I think she might have heard you mate"
She ran to the nearest bathroom and locked herself within one of the cubicles and let herself cry.
If Harry had known that Ron had upset Hermione he would have dealt with it instantly, in his mind, Hermione was and would always be his best friend and he would have done anything for her, however unfortunately he did not hear what was said as he had been talking to Flitwick about his mother's school report and then went back to his workshop to read about his parents until it was time for dinner, he assumed Hermione had gone to study in the library as she was prone to doing, Hermione preferred reading about Wizarding history and theory while Harry preferred learning about magic. During dinner he did notice that Hermione was missing and when he asked Padma Patil if she had heard anything about Hermione as her sister was a roommate of his friend, she looked at him shocked and said "I would have thought you would know, apparently Ron upset her after charms and she's been in the girls toilets ever since and has refused to come out"
"Oh…" Harry said shocked, his best friend had been so upset she was crying and he had only found out through someone else, seeing Ron look over guiltily at him he was about to get up and interrogate him when the door of the great hall where blown open and Professor Quirrell ran in screaming "Troll! Troll! In the dungeon, thought you ought to know." Before collapsing, Harry was up in an instant and made for the doors, he was grabbed from behind by Penelope who said "Harry! Calm down, we need to go back to the common room"
"No you don't understand, Hermione is in the girls bathroom and she doesn't know about the troll!"
Penelope's face drained of colour and started pushing her way through the crowd of students to get to the teachers, Harry turned back to the doors but the delay had caused them to be clogged with students, remembered the side door and made his way to it, he found it locked but forced his magic onto the door and obliterated it, he came out in an unknown area of the castle but hurriedly made his way to where he suspected the charms classroom was after placing a silencing charm on his feet and rather than mask his magic he made it more obvious.
Back inside the hall Dumbledore was just about to send his staff out to look for the troll when Ms Clearwater ran up to him "Headmaster, Hermione Granger from Gryffindor House is in the girls toilets and doesn't know about the troll, Harry here just told me"
"Harry?" Dumbledore asked confused, taking a moment to process what the prefect had said
"Yes sir, Harry Potter, he's right here… Fuck where did he go!"
"Minerva! Organise the staff, I need to collect Mr Potter and Ms Granger! Ms Clearwater with me!"
Gone was the kind grandfatherly Dumbledore, now he became the high arch-mage who had fought on the front line on two major wars, in an instant his magic swept over the hall in search of Harry's magic, it noted the destroyed door to the side and he charged over to it, he ensured Clearwater was behind him and swept through, instantly he detected Harry's magic leading towards the charms classroom, he quickly followed them, already fearing the worst.
Hermione first became aware that something was wrong when she heard the doors open and a terrible smell assaulted her nostrils, exiting the cubicle she froze when her eyes fell upon the troll, the part of her brain that was not frozen with fear helpfully supplied that it was a mountain troll. The troll had noticed her too and swung its club at her, she screamed and dived out of the way, all thoughts of magic long gone, this was one of the reasons Harry would always be better at casting magic than her, she always had to think about what she wanted and did not truly trust her magic to work, Harry instinctively formed magic to his will and knew it would work, even if it did not obey him immediately he knew it would only be a matter of time before it did, it was the difference between being a prodigy and being skilled.
Harry heard Hermione scream and pushed himself to run even faster, his magic reacted and enhanced his aching muscles, he almost tripped over his own feet in his haste and rather than waste time opening them blew the doors down on top of the troll "Hermione! Get over here!" Hermione scrambled around the dazed troll as it tried to dislodge the door pinning it to the ground, she jumped over to Harry who grabbed her hand and ran, behind her she heard the troll roar and Harry pulled her to the side just as the door went spinning passed them and lodged itself into the wall at the end of the corridor, needing no further encouragement the two terrified students ran, the troll hot on their heels as despite its weight and bulk it could cover far more ground than them and it had been promised food, skidding round the corner Hermione realised they had reached the moving staircases, luckily for them the stairs where positioned so that they had a clear path upwards, the moment they were both on the staircase it started to move away, cutting off the path for the troll.
At that moment the troll stumbled onto the landing, almost falling over the rail in front, it looked around stupidly until it spotted them, it stepped backwards and Hermione hoped it had given up but instead it began running and at the last moment jumped up over the railing onto the still moving staircase, it almost fell as its momentum caught up with it but it stabilized itself, Harry pulled Hermione upwards but on the staircase the troll could go up far quicker than they could, Harry felt the air move and pushed himself and Hermione to the ground just as the club sailed over them and destroyed the railing next to them, standing quickly Harry began firing every jinx he could think off but all bounced right off the troll.
Hermione saw Harry trying to jinx the troll and realised despite his skill at charms and transfiguration he was helpless against the troll, dread began to set in as she had believed Harry was unbeatable, she saw the troll swing its club again and realised Harry was not reacting to it, she lurched forward she pushed Harry forwards out of the path of the club. Feeling himself being shoved Harry turned mid fall to see Hermione standing above him before she was replaced by the wooden club, he heard a sickening smack, a girls scream, then a distant thud…
Blood pounded in his ears as Harry reached within himself for his magic and threw it at the troll that had just ended his best friends life, he threw his hand out towards the troll and all his magic and all his anger used that hand and movement as an outlet, forming a jagged, spiked spear of pure magic, more solid than the raw magic he normally summoned yet more malleable than his mithril, it sailed through the air and stuck the troll deep in the chest, it stumbled backwards but it the spear was not enough to kill it, Harry drew back his hand back, pooling his magic ready for another blast, already he could feel the effects of magical exhaustion but he would not let Hermione die in vain.
His magic, which had grown used to the feeling of Hermione's own magic nearby, cried out in its own form of rage as it felt the magic fade from her body, desperately pulling at the scraps of what was left of her magic Harry's own magic pulled it in and used it to fulfill its owner's rage and power, it was shaped by Harry's rage into a deadly spear and once more flew through his hand to the troll pushing it back to the ground, still it was not dead but Harry fell over as his body's energy got drained, the troll stood and stomped towards Harry when it suddenly stopped and looked down and saw the giant hole going straight through its heart.
It fell over and Harry saw a very angry Albus Dumbledore, wand raised and glaring down at the troll, he looked up at Harry and relief was evident in his eyes as Harry's exhaustion caught up with him and the world faded to black.