Different Paths

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 4: At the village of Graypine

Within a few days, Harry and Ginny had entered England and were steadily making their way to London on foot. At present, they were wondering through some woods around North Yorkshire and were steadily heading south. Harry kept on walking at a steady pace, while Ginny trailed behind while munching one some pumpkin pastries.

"You know, I don't see why we can't take the Knight Bus to London," she said. When Harry ignored her, Ginny became angry. "Hey Potter, I'm speaking to you! What? Can't speak back to me? Yo! Four-eyes! Scar-face! Mop-head! Knobby-knees! Speak up!"

Harry groaned and mentally reminded himself that this was the girl who used to blush so badly around him that she used to become tongue-tied and knock things over whenever he so much as smiled at her. Obviously, she had change. 'Bloody Hell, she really has been hanging around Malfoy,' he thought. He turned around and said, "What, you're not going to call me 'eyes as green as a pickled toad'?"

That caused Ginny to blush a little. "Oh please Harry, that's ancient history. Besides my feelings for you are long gone. For me it's all about Draco now." She said the last sentence dreamily.

Harry chuckled. "If you say so," he said. "Sorry about ignoring you earlier, I was just lost in thought."

"Thinking about Hermione?" Ginny said playfully. When Harry didn't answer, Ginny suddenly caught on. "Wait a minute, you were thinking about Hermione, weren't you? All right, what's going on? Does Hermione even know that you're heading toward London? Does Ron? You know, maybe I should send them and owl and tell them where you are..."

"Ginny, if you would kindly not pry into my private life, I won't pry into yours," said Harry a little heatedly. "After, if you've been hanging around Draco Malfoy these past tow years, I'd hardly believe you'd have a clean slate."

Ginny blushed very red and said, "Fair enough." An awkward silence descended upon them for a moment while the two continued on. Finally Ginny broke the ice and said, "Harry, would you like a pastry?"

"What?"

Ginny grinned. "I'm offering you one of my pumpkin pastries. You haven't eaten anything for a while and I just thought you were hungry."

Harry smiled and took the pastry. "Thanks," he said. "But any chance you didn't poison this, did you?" That earned him a small punch on the back of the head. "Anyway, to answer your earlier question, I'm not using any transportation to London because I don't want the Ministry knowing where I am. Voldemort has many spies in the high places and quite frankly I don't trust any...did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" asked Ginny. She strained her ears and heard someone groan a short distance away. Harry and Ginny hurriedly made their way toward the groans. As soon as they arrived, Ginny gasped.

Leaning against a large oak tree was a bloody young man wearing the blue robes of a Ministry of Magic Hit Wizard. He was wheezing, his breath coming out in short painful gasps and in his bosom, he was clutching an unconscious young boy, no older than twelve. With a cry, Ginny knelt down in front of the man and checked his wounds. After a few seconds of examining, she turned toward Harry and shook her head, a look of sorrow on her face.

"What happened to him?" Harry whispered, willing himself not to get chocked up.

"He's been beaten up horribly," said Ginny. "But he's also been hit by the," she gulped and said, "the Cruciatus Curse."

"What?" exclaimed Harry. "Are you sure?"

"They taught us some medical magic at Beauxbatons," said Ginny. "I can't recognize all the effects of various curses by heart but I'd recognized any of the unforgivables with just a quick examination." At that moment, the man regained consciousness, though barely.

"Help...me..." he wheezed.

"Shh, you shouldn't talk," said Ginny. However, the man clearly had no intention of stopping."

"H-help...me...You-Know-Who, took over my village...G-Graypine. Came...t-to...get family...family out. Parents still down there...barely got...b-brother...Sean...out. Help...help family...please."

Ginny looked ready to cry. Harry however, knelt down in front of the man and said. "I swear to you, that I'll get your parents out of the village and get your brother to safety. That's a promise."

"Thank...you," said the young man with a small smile. With those last words, the young hit wizard drew in a breath and passed away. About a minute later, his little brother started to stir.

"Zack?" he whispered. When he noticed how still his older brother was, the boy sprang up and whispered frantically, "Zack?" He checked for his brother's pulse. When he felt none the boy screamed out loud. Not a scream of terror or grief but a scream of rage and anger.

* * *

About two hours later, after the Hit Wizard had been buried in a make shift grave, the young boy, Sean Collins led Harry and Ginny to a small hill overlooking the village Graypine. Perhaps the word "hamlet" would have better described the village. It was a small collection of about twenty houses, a few sheep pastures surrounding those houses, and had a population of about 40 muggles and around 5 wizards and witches. Nearby was a midsize castle, apparently constructed during the Dark Ages.

"That's Graypine," said Sean. "That castle over there is where Century lives."

"Century?" asked Ginny.

"Yeah Century," said Sean. "He's the big guy You-Know-Who appointed to run this village. Calls himself 'Gov'ner', horrible bloke. My Mum and Dad should be in the dungeons of that castle."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" said Ginny. "Lets just charge into that castle, beat up this 'Century' fellow, and get your folks out of there."

"No wait," said Harry. "Some one's coming." Ginny shoved Sean behind her and became alert. Harry fingered his wand ready to hex whomever it was coming up from behind them. However, the oily voice they heard was unmistakable.

"Potter! What are you doing here? Weren't you heading toward London?" cried the eerily familiar voice. The owner of the voice soon stepped out of the bushes right in front of Harry.

"Professor Snape?" said Harry, clearly surprised.

"It's Auror Snape now, though I doubt you'd care," said Snape. "Potter, why aren't heading toward London? What are you doing here with this," he eyed Ginny and said, "this weasel?"

"Weasel?" Ginny shouted, clearly insulted. "No one calls me that! Not even a former professor of mine!"

Snape finally seemed to have recognized Ginny. "Ah, Miss Weasley, back from France I see." He turned once again toward Harry and said, "I repeat, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to get Sean's," Harry gestured toward an apprehensive Sean, "family out of the village. What are you doing here?"

Snape studied Sean and said, "Your brother's Zachary Collins, the Hit Wizard isn't he?"

"That's right," said Sean. "But he's dead."

"So I've heard," said Snape. "He's the reason why I'm here. Apparently, he defied orders to go pull his family out of one of the villages occupied by the Dark Lord. I was sent to call him back, though, I seem to have arrived too late."

"Wait a minute, 'one of'?" said Harry.

"There have been at least thirty villages and hamlets occupied by the Dark Lord in Europe," said Snape. "Fourteen of them are in England, all in highly strategic locations in the event of a magical war."

"And the Ministries just leave them alone?" exclaimed Ginny, voicing Harry's thoughts.

"An aversion of chaos," said Snape. "If the Ministries tried to liberate these villages, that would essentially be the same as acknowledging that the Dark Lord truly has returned. Therefore, to prevent widespread panic in the major urban areas, they consider these tiny villages to be lost causes. There excuse is that the needs of the many, out way the needs of the few."

"That's crap!" shouted Ginny. Apparently, she had also picked up a colorful language from Draco.

"That's life," said Snape. "I'm not in power to change the Ministries' policies. I just follow orders."

"Well, I don't," said Sean. "I'm getting my family out of there and no one's going to stop me!" With that, he ran toward the village. Harry, Ginny, and a reluctant Snape followed him.

The village seemed to be empty. However, a quick look around indicated that all of the villagers had in fact congregated around the town center. As soon as they arrived there, it became evident why.

In the middle of the town center stood a high gallows. It was about 20 feet high and had a few nooses with skeletons hanging from the neck. However, two of the nooses had fresh corpses hanging from them, an old man and old woman. As soon as Sean saw them, his eyes widened in shock and horror.

"No!" he exclaimed. "NO! Mum! Dad! NOOOOO!!!" He tried to make a run for the gallows but some of the villagers held him back. "Mum! Dad! Cut them down! They might be alive! They might..." Losing his cool, Sean dissolved in tears and sank to the ground.

"Why aren't you cutting them down?!' Ginny yelled at the villagers. "Those are your friends up there! You can't just leave them hanging! Cut them down!"

"We dare not," said one of the villagers in a scratchy voice. "Century will punish us if we do."

"What?" said Ginny.

"If we cut down the bodies, Century will string us up right next to them," croaked another villager. "We dare not defy his orders. All who do so, will be strung up like those two."

Ginny was utterly speechless. She tried to come up with a retort when Snape said, "There's nothing you can do. Just look at their eyes."

Ginny starred into the eyes of the various villagers. Ginny Weasley had seen many frightening things in her life, especially during her first year at Hogwarts concerning the Chamber of Secrets, but what she saw in the eyes of the villagers horrified her more than anything else. She saw a cold, lifeless look. There was nothing alive in the eyes of these people: they were all dead. Their spirits had long been crushed and their bodies were simply acting like a computer programmed to do anything to survive. It was as if, their humanity had been torn away from them amidst all their suffering from the hands of this Century.

"This is the Dark Lord's future for the world," said Snape. "A world where even the right to live is denied from you. A world where you descend to the very brink of savagery just to survive. If you stand up against, the Dark Lord, it doesn't matter whether you're magical or muggle, you will suffer. And ultimately you will lose your life."

Ginny didn't know what to say or do. Harry however walked up to the gallows pulled out his wand. Before anybody could react, he said, "Diffendo!" and cut the bodies of Sean's parents down.

The villagers were horrified to say the least. "What are you doing, you fool?!" one of them demanded. "Now we will feel Century's wrath! You foolish outsider! You've doomed us all!" The villagers started to become a mob intent on lynching Harry right then and there. However, a glare from Harry's blazing green eyes instantly quelled the mob, and they cowered back in fear.

"I made a promise to Sean's brother, that I'd get his family out of Graypine," said Harry. "And one way or another, I intend to keep my promise." He levitated the bodies over to Ginny and said, "Ginny, could you bury them right next to their son's grave?"

"Uh, OK," said Ginny. "But what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to pay this Century a visit."

* * *

Inside the castle, Seth Soran made his way toward the inner courtyard. "Mr. Voldemort, there's some news from the village," he said as soon as he was outside of the door to the courtyard.

"Seth, you know I don't like being disturbed while I'm in the hot springs," called the voice of the Dark Lord from the courtyard.

"My apologies, Mr. Voldemort," said Seth. "But apparently Harry Potter and Severus Snape have arrived in Graypine and are heading toward this castle now."

"Oh?" said Voldemort. "Well then, why don't you show are guests in?"

"Yes sir."

* * *

As Harry and Snape arrived at the castle, the drawbridge started to lower. With a clang, it opened a pathway over the moat. Standing in the entrance, was Seth Soran.

"Good Evening Mr. Potter, Mr. Snape," said Seth.

Harry instantly recognized Seth's voice. "Be careful," he whispered. "That's the guy who killed Fudge." Snape's only reply was a snort.

"Now, now, let's not have any hostilities for now," said Seth. "Mr. Voldemort simply asked me to be your guide in the castle. My name is Seth Soran by the way. Please follow me." Snape followed after Seth into the castle without question. With a shrug, Harry followed as well.

Seth led the two wizards through the darkened corridors of the castle. Death Eaters patrolled the corridors but they all simply ignored Harry and Snape. Finally, Seth led Harry and Snape into the castle's throne room. It was a high chamber, with gothic style walls and arches. Windows all over the wall let light into the room and there were also a number of torches illuminating the walls. The walls were bare but a single scarlet carpet was on the floor, leading to a high throne at the very end of the chamber. Standing next to the throne was a voluptuous woman in scarlet dress robes, her long dark hair tied up in a bun. And seated on the throne was...

"Voldemort," whispered Harry, barring his teeth. Although Harry had long developed special spells to nullify the pain in his scar, it still tingled a little now that he was in the presence of the Dark Lord once again.

Voldemort grinned. He had changed a great deal since he was resurrected in the graveyard following the Triwizard Tournament three years previous. Namely he now had shoulder length, shaggy black hair, and his nose was now more human like though he still had slit-like nostrils. If anything, he looked more human, more like Tom Riddle. However, his skin was still bone white and his eyes were still the frightening scarlet color Harry often saw in his nightmares. "Why Harry, it's been a while hasn't it? And Severus, so the prodigal son returns."

"I have not, returned to you," said the former Death Eater, with strong conviction.

"So it seems," said Voldemort, glancing at Snape's auror uniform. He turned to Harry and smiled. "So Potter, what can I do for you?"

"First of all, you can tell me, why this village?" said Harry icily. "Why take this village? What use will it be in the war you plan to bring upon us? Why did you take this village?"

"Hot springs," said Voldemort, rather plainly.

"What?" said Harry, getting angrier by the second.

"This village has hot springs in the castle. Very rare in England. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if they're natural. But they really help rest my bones after a hard day's work," said Voldemort. He grinned maliciously at Harry.

Harry had never been angrier in his life. He was about to yank out his wand and curse Voldemort with as many curses as he knew when the woman started laughing.

"See, I told you he would fall for it," laughed the woman.

"Right you were, Yasmine," said Voldemort with a chuckle. "On a more serious note, this village provides me with a high tactical advantage in the event that I plan a simultaneous attack against Edinburough, Liverpool, Manchester, and possibly London at the same time. Of course, I admit that the rare hot spring is an added bonus."

"You shouldn't have fallen for that, you fool," Snape hissed at Harry. "That's always been a problem with you. You make irrational assumptions and jump straight in without considering the consequences."

Harry ignored Snape. "Well it ends here," he said. "I'm not going to let your reign of terror continue. I'm liberating this village right now, whether you like it or not." He took a step toward the throne when the floor started to rumble. Suddenly, the floor burst forth in an explosion of rock and a huge hulking man, whom was clearly half-giant, pulled himself out of the newly created hole in the floor.

He was about twelve feet tall, was completely bald, was rippling with muscle, and carried two battle-axes that were like large daggers for his size. "Eh, now. Can't let you do that!" he growled, a sinister grin on his face.

"Ah, Mr. Century, how nice of you to grace us with your presence," said Seth, his characteristic smile on his face.

"You're Century?" asked Harry coolly.

"Yeah, that's right," said Century. "And I'm gonna pound you to pieces. I run this joint, and I'm not letting any scurvy, four-eyed wizard take it from me!"

* * *

Meanwhile outside, Ginny and Sean had just finished burying Sean's parents in graves right next to his brother's. "Well, I'm sure they'll finally find some peace," said Ginny, trying to be supportive.

Sean said nothing. Instead, a look of pure rage crossed his face as he picked up his brother's wand. Silently he started running toward the castle.

Ginny took off after him. "Whoa! Wait! Hold! Stop! Where do you think you're going? And with your brother's wand?"

"I'm going to kill Century!" hissed Sean in a tone that made Ginny flinch. It was a tone of pure anger and vengeance. A tone that Ginny was very uncomfortable with to say the least.

"Now, now, now hold it. Harry and...'Mr. Greased haired auror' have just gone to the castle. Just leave it to them; they'll capture this Century. And give him a good thrashing as well."

"I don't want him captured," said Sean in a voice of pure venom. "I want to kill him. I want to make him suffer like my family suffered! Now get out of the way, this is no job for a girl like you!"

That made Ginny angry. "Now hold on a minute!" she yelled, causing Sean to jump back in surprise. "I've had lots of training in this sort of stuff while I was in France. If you just go waltzing up there, you'll be captured, killed, mutilated, burned, hacked, and be subjugated to a whole lot of other things I could name if I thought about it! You need me, if you're going to this Century fellow! Now follow me!" With that, an irrationally angry Ginny grabbed a startled Sean's hand and dragged him toward the castle.

* * *

The sounds of crashing and pounding resided through the throne room. Harry was using the reflexes he had acquired from years of quidditch, dodging the large axes Century kept raining down on him. The two were moving around the room at very high speeds, Harry dodging each of the axe blows and Century chasing after him, smashing the axes into the ground harder and harder. He was clearly starting to grow frustrated of missing Harry all the time.

"Curious," said Seth. "Why isn't Mr. Potter using any magic? If I were in Mr. Potter's place, I would've shot Mr. Century with the first curse I thought up of."

"The answer to that is quite simple," said Snape. "Take a look at your master."

Seth did just that. Indeed, he observed that Voldemort looked a little different now. Whereas when Harry and Snape had first entered, Voldemort had spent a good deal of the time grinning and laughing menacingly at his opponents, the Dark Lord now had a look of utter seriousness and complete concentration on his face. His scarlet eyes were clearly placed on Harry as he darted around the room.

"A study of observance," said Snape. "Potter has grown far more powerful than the Potter the Dark Lord last encountered. Therefore, the Dark Lord is analyzing Potter in battle: memorizing his habits, noting potential weaknesses. Potter is fully aware of the fact that the Dark Lord is keeping an eye on him. That's why he's battling without using any of his true magical abilities. Doesn't want to give them away."

"Hmm," said Seth. "But such a tactic would clearly give Mr. Potter the disadvantage. In a match of stamina, he'd stand no chance against a half-giant like Mr. Century."

"Or so you'd think," said Snape rather mysteriously.

Meanwhile, Century had completely lost his cool. "Why can't I hit you? Curses! You should be dead now!" With a cry of rage, Century made another leap at Harry. The next moment, there was a sickening crack, and Century was rolling around on the ground clutching his left leg and howling in pain. "My leg!" he screamed. "It's broken! How did you break my leg?!"

"Quite simple," said Harry. "You moved your leg muscles around too much, over exerted yourself. In a sense, you could say that I wore your leg down." Silently, Harry thanked Madam Pomfrey for the lectures on Human Anatomy she often gave him whenever he was treated for a quidditch injury.

"But, that's not possible," cried Century between grimaces of pain. "I have far more stamina than you! If anything, you should be the first one worn down!"

"You blind fool," said Snape. "It may have seemed like Potter was simply dodging your axes all this time but that's not true. The truth is all this time Potter was slowly increasing his speed and dragging you into it! While Potter was keeping his movements at a minimum, you were going all out attacking him with full power, giving your leg muscles more and more strain!"

Century starred at Snape a look of shock and disbelief on his face. He turned toward Voldemort and whimpered, "M-Master..."

"Century," said Voldemort rather icily. "If you don't drag out at least one spell from Potter, consider yourself dead right here, right now!"

Panic completely overwhelmed Century as he fought back the pain and made one last desperate lunge at Harry.

* * *

"OK," said Ginny. "I think this is the door to the throne room. If this Century blokes anywhere he should be here." While sneaking into the castle, Ginny had tried to get passed the Death Eaters guarding the doors by attempting to seduce them. When the Death Eaters clearly made it known that they were disinterested, Ginny had lost her temper and stunned them with a few good "Stupefies!" Sean was still chuckling as Ginny pushed the doors open.

Suddenly, there was a cry of "Expelliarmus!" and a flash of red light. A split second later, a shocked Ginny and Sean saw the hulking form of Century crash into the far wall, the two axes flying out of his hands. Opposite from Century's form stood Harry Potter, his wand still smoking from the disarmer. "Fool. Saved his life," muttered Snape. The next moment Ginny was startled by a slow applause from the far end of the chamber. She looked up and gasped when she saw Voldemort rise from his throne.

"A most impressive display, Harry. I see that you've grown very powerful these past few years," said the Dark Lord. He looked toward the door and appeared to be mildly surprised to see Ginny there. "Why little Ginny Weasley? All grown up I see."

Ginny gulped and said, "Tom."

"Who is she?" asked Yasmine, eyeing Ginny.

"An old pen pal of sorts," said Voldemort. "You do remember my diary, don't you Yasmine?"

"Ah, yes," said the woman with a knowing nod.

"Enough chitchat," said Harry. "Now, Voldemort. Lets finish this once and for all. Just the two of us. You and me. This madness is going to end here once and for all." He pointed his wand at the Dark Lord.

Voldemort seemed to be thinking as he pulled a wand out of his robes. However, with a malicious grin, he said, "No," and tossed the wand at Seth, who caught it with a simple up turn of his hand. "Seth, take care of Potter."

"Me, Mr. Voldemort?" said Seth.

"You're running from me?" demanded an incredulous Harry. Voldemort pulled said an incantation and a flying, Persian carpet floated up from behind him and Yasmine. He escorted Yasmine onto the carpet and stepped onto it himself.

"Believe it or not Potter, I'm not in the mood to duel you right now. I leave all of my dirty work to Seth the Naturale. And besides, if you can't beat him, there is no way you can stand up against me." With that, the carpet flew out of one of the windows.

"Well then, shall we start?" said Seth, as he stepped in front of Harry. Harry sighed and faced Seth for a long moment they simply starred at each other, neither one moving an inch. Ginny dared to glance at Harry's face and gasped when she saw apprehension there.

"What's Harry waiting for?" she said.

* * *

"Are you positive that Potter will not defeat Seth?" asked Yasmine while on the carpet.

"Positive," said Voldemort. "There is a good reason why Seth is called the Naturale. For reasons dealing with his past, Seth masks all of his emotions. I'm sure you've noticed that, even in his smile. It is his greatest weapon in a duel, and what makes him my most valued assassin. Seth will take any order with out question since he doesn't feel any remorse against not doing so."

* * *

"He can't read his emotions," said Snape. "In a duel, one must constantly be on the lookout for even the smallest flinch to indicate where and how the opponent is going to attack. However, this Seth fellow isn't allowing a single emotion to register on his face. Potter has absolutely no idea where he's going to hit."

"What's Harry going to do?" said Ginny with an audible.

As if in answer, Harry lowered himself into an attack ready position. Ginny was confused. "Wha..."

"Very clever," said Snape. "Since Potter can't anticipate any of Soran's attacks, he's going to make the first attack. A clever tactic though flawed I must point out since he has no idea how Soran fights. Of course, he has no choice."

"Oh, are you attacking?" said Seth. "Well then I might as well get myself ready." Seth also readied himself into an attacking posture. For a full minute they just stood there. Finally, they struck.

* * *

"While Seth lacks any emotion or ethics, Potter is completely dominated by his ethics," said Voldemort. "Potter will never take another life if he could help it. More than anything, so long as Potter holds onto that weakness, he will never be able to defeat Seth the Naturale."

* * *

When the lights had cleared, the results of the duel were quite shocking. In Harry's hand were the splintered remains of the bottom half of his wand. Bits of Phoenix feather were poking out of the splintered half. At his feet lay the rest of the wand, in pieces. Nobody was more shocked than Harry.

"Well, there's the outcome," said Seth.

"Indeed," said Snape. "It's a tie."

"What?" said Seth clearly confused. He looked down at his wand and realized for the first time that it was splintered, though not in pieces like Harry's was.

"Well what do you know? I guess it really was a tie," said Seth. "Well, I suppose I should go now that the duel has ended." He picked up a broomstick and flew away.

Ginny walked up to Harry and starred at him. He seemed to be a little dazed. "Hey, you OK?"

"Huh?" said Harry snapping out of his daze. "Oh, yeah, of course. I'm just glad everyone's not hurt."

"I'm sorry about your wand," said Ginny looking sorrowful. "I know that wand has practically been your partner since you were eleven. I'm so sorry to see it go like this."

"It's OK," said Harry brushing it off. "I can always get a new wand when I get to London. I mean, it's not that I'm not sad over the wand but...Sean!"

Sean had picked up one of the axes (though it seemed a little too heavy for him), and was about to decapitate the unconscious Century. Before he could do so however, Snape yanked the heavy axe out of his hands.

"Oh no you don't," he said. "You can't go killing convicts like that. Even the scum of the earth like this poor man deserve a decent trial."

"Let me kill him!" Sean screamed. "Let me kill him! He killed my parents! He killed my brother! He deserves to die! Let me kill him!"

While Sean was screaming, Harry stepped in front of him and asked, "Do you think your brother would be pleased if you killed him?"

"What?" asked Sean, instantly snapping out of his rage.

"I don't think Zack would want you to become a killer," said Harry with a kindly smile. "What I think he'd want for his little brother would be to go on with his life. Not end it prematurely to become like those who killed him. No Sean, Zack wouldn't want that. So, I'm asking, no begging you Sean: please just let it go."

For a split second Sean just starred at Harry. Finally, He burst into tears and buried his head in Harry's chest as Harry wrapped his arms around the small boy.

* * *

"I'm sorry about your wand," said Seth as he handed Voldemort the splintered wand.

"No matter, it's only a spare," said the Dark Lord as he examined the wand. "Personally I'm surprised at the amount of damage inflicted on this wand. Potter's grown even more powerful than I originally imagined." He tucked the wand back into his wands. "We must not underestimate Potter again. Seth, go alert the rest of the Elite Ten. Tell them to gather in London."

"Yes sir," said Seth. A second later, he disapparrated.

"The Elite Ten?" said Yasmine raising an eyebrow. "You're starting take things seriously aren't you?"

Voldemort grinned and said, "My dear, in all the years you have known me when have I not taken things seriously?"

* * *

The liberation of Graypine was truly an affair to see. The villagers, whom only the day before had been too fearful to stand up to Century, were now jeering at him as the authorities led him away. Harry, Ginny, Sean, and Snape were on a hill nearby where they could see the whole thing.

"They're like rats," exclaimed Ginny, clearly disgusted. "Just yesterday they were cowards hiding from that guy and now that he's defeated, they jeer him away."

"Well, that's my village," said Sean. "Sure it's not the best place in the world, but I still hope they'll have a better time from now on."

"I'm sure they will," said Harry. "So, Sean what are you going to do from now on?"

"I'm not sure. I don't have any other relatives. And it's going to be too painful living in Graypine."

Snape walked up to him and said, "You're starting at Hogwarts in September, right?"

"That's right."

"Well in that case you can stay with Tamara until then."

"Who's Tamara?" asked Harry and Ginny at the same time.

"Tamara, my wife," said Snape as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Harry and Ginny were utterly speechless: their jaws had completely dropped.

"You're...you're married?" Harry finally spluttered.

"Hoo boy to be married to him. Mrs. Snape must be a lot like Mother Teresa to even be able to tolerate him," muttered Ginny. Snape chose to ignore her.

"I figured he'd be a good babysitter for my four year old son, Anthony," Snape muttered. "But that doesn't matter Potter. What matters is that you had better had learned a valuable lesson from what happened here. If you don't let go of your oh so precious ethics, you cannot defeat the Dark Lord." Harry said nothing.

Good byes were said and Snape led Sean away. Ginny noticed that Harry seemed to be contemplating Snape's words. "You're not thinking too much are you?"

"Of course not," said Harry. "He grinned at her and said, "Come on, let's get to London as fast as we can."

To be continued...

A/N I am so sorry this chapter took such a long time to come out! To make up for it, I made this chapter a lot longer than usual. At least I think it's a longer than usual. Anyway, please R/R. Next: Sirius meets someone on his travels and accepts a new challenge.