Betrayed By The Light

Harry bent to clean the leaves off the gravestone before he sat down in front of it. He hadn't been back here since the funeral, almost five years ago. Had it really been five years. Five years since they had all said goodbye to Ron Weasley. Five years since he had started on his road to revenge that had now brought him back here to make sure it didn't happen again. Sitting here Harry couldn't help but remember the night that Ron had died.

Ron, Harry and Hermione, had left Hogwarts three years earlier and had started working for the Ministry as Aurors. It was meant to be a meeting with a contact who the Ministry said was reliable and firmly committed to the light side. They were told only one should meet the contact and then return to the safe house to report. They flipped a coin to decide who would go Ron won. Harry and Hermione waited in a near by pub for Ron's return. They were just sitting down when a huge bang ripped the night air apart and sent both of them running down the street. They found Ron lying in the street, the café where the meeting was to happen had been destroyed. On Ron's back there was a business card with a black snake printed on it, the mark of Voldemort's successor Lucius Malfoy. Later that week Ron was buried. Harry and Hermione both resigned from the Ministry and started their own private war against Malfoy.

Hermione appeared in the graveyard about ten feet away from where Harry was sitting in front of Ron's grave. Hermione had started to worry about Harry because he had started to get more extreme in what he was doing. It had came to a head six months ago when they had been trying to get information out of a suspect.

Bruce was tied to the chair in the middle of the room. The room was covered in dozens of charms and wards that had been laid down with such force Hermione could almost taste the magic in the room.

Harry looked up when Hermione walked in, "Is that the Veritaserum?" he said nodding towards the vial in her hand.

"Better than Snape's or your money back," said Hermione as she handed the vial to him.

"Good," Harry walked over to Bruce and carefully poured three drops on Bruce's tongue before talking out his wand and waking the man up.

"Where are the Death Eaters meeting this month?"

"Potter," said Bruce as hate coloured his eyes and turned his face into a sneer. "Why should I tell you anything. I'm loyal to my master." Moving next to Bruce in a single stride; Harry forced Bruce's mouth open and pour the rest of the vial down his throat.

"Where's the meeting going to be?" shouted Harry his face contorted with rage.

"I will never betray my master. He is greater than you are; you can't force me with potions or trickery for I am a loyal servant of The Dark Lord."

" Crucio!" The word had barely left Harry's mouth before Bruce started screaming.

"Harry," Hermione was stunned by what she was seeing; the screams of Bruce were bad enough but the look on Harry's face was even worse. He looked like he was enjoying causing such pain. " Harry stop this, were better than this," Hermione's pleas went unheard and the screams only grow in volume. "Expelliarmus," The red jet from Hermione's wand hit Harry. Throwing his wand into the air, but Harry hadn't been a great Seeker because he was slow; he caught the wand before it hit the ground. He turned and pointed the wand at Hermione; his eyes ablaze with hate.

"Ablegatio!" The charm hit Hermione with enough force to send her across the room and in to the wall with a sickening thud. This seemed to bring harry back to reality as he took a look at Hermione and then ran from the room before disappearing.

Hermione was still standing there watching Harry and trying to decide what to do. She wanted to be angry and shout at him for disappearing for six months but that impulse warred with her relief that he was alive and well. Underling both of those feelings was a fear that she refused to acknowledge.

"Hello Hermione," Harry's voice cut the air so softly it was hard to believe that he had spoken. "I'm sorry for running the way I did and even more sorry for hurting you." Harry still hadn't turned from Ron's grave but now he turned round and looked in to Hermione's eyes, such pain and horror lurked within them it nearly drove her to tears.

"Talk to me; you can trust me," Hermione noticed that pain flashed through Harry's eyes as she said this.

"I know I can that's why I asked you here," Harry opened his jacket and took a scroll out of a pocket. The scroll was rolled up and closed with a large seal of black wax. Harry walked over and handed it over to Hermione. "Don't open it yet; that's the reason I've been gone. You're the only one I can trust to do this Hermione."

"Do what, Harry?" The entire conversation had started to unnerve her.

"Betray me," The pain Hermione saw in those eyes was too much and she started to silently cry. "I can feel the darkness clawing at my soul and I'm not strong enough to fight it and I won't become the monsters we hunt. I can't risk hurting you again. If you think I've gone to far brake the seal, and the spell on it will complete it's self and I'll die.

"I can't do that. You can't ask me to do that. You can't allow.."

"I won't become like Voldemort and be the reason a child grows up alone," shouted Harry cutting off Hermione.

"This will change everything. You could never look at me and not see me judging you, evaluating you, deciding if you should be aloud to live or not," Hermione's tears were thickly running down her face but her voice was still strong and steady.

"Hermione, my friend, my family, my love, my light." Harry softly kissed her then disappeared, leaving Hermione alone holding the scroll in her hands and for the first time she noticed writing on it.

"I love you, never let me become that which you hate."

"I love you and never will you be that which I hate" The words were spoken aloud but only the wind was there to hear the oath.