The Enemy of Souls

Author's Notes: If you've read this fic before on Schnoogle (which was first here about seven years ago, and recently removed about a year and a half ago), I want to make it clear that this is the promised REVISED version.

The reason I rewrote the fic is because I decided to make some major plot changes, because originally this fic was the first part in a huge, messy, epic trilogy. I dropped that, because it was a complicated mess of a story that involved lots of time-travel and really didn't make sense.

So, this is the REVISED VERSION of The Enemy of Souls. It is complete, and I will get all the chapters up here on Schnoogle as quickly as can be done, because I am already working on the sequel (which involves no time-travel, thanks very much).

Also, you may note that Draco and Ginny do not actually make an appearance in this short prologue. I promise they will begin appearing in Chapter One. What happens here sets the ground work for the rest of the fic.
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Prologue

***

He couldn't believe that this was the last. By daybreak, he would be gone, possibly never to see any of it, never again. The waters were still in the summer's night. Muted starlight broke through the cloudy overcast to reflect off the shimmering black sheen of the lake. To his right, the towering stone castle, beautiful and imposing, rose into the cliff side and loomed over the stretch of lawn laid out before it. In the darkness, the castle seemed quiet and tranquil. Such an impressive aura should have calmed his spirits, but it only sunk them, lower and lower into the pit of gloom he'd come to recognize as normal.

The grief was such a part of him now that he barely noticed it clinging onto him. He'd come to accept that his life was simply doomed to be nothing more than a mass of pain and misery, that to hope for anything else was a waste of time.

Now, he only waited, left alone with his quiet grief and longing. Waiting for the last few moments of it all.

He wished he could have been spending these last moments with his friends, with Ron and Hermione. And Ginny.... He couldn't help the hint of a smile at his lips when he thought of all the work Ginny had done the past year at Hogwarts. He couldn't help the pride that welled up inside of him when he thought of how far she'd come, reviving the D.A. in Dumbledore's name and recruiting new members. He hadn't entirely approved when he'd heard that she'd allowed some Slytherins in, but they'd proved useful and worthy when it really mattered. When the attack came, in Hogsmeade...

His throat tightened slightly at the thought of the battle, at the lives lost and his failure to finally finish Voldemort once and for all. He hadn't been ready, he'd still had one last Horcrux to find and destroy, but Voldemort, all too aware of this, had attacked and drawn him out before he could finish his search. Still, he'd done his best. Some were rejoicing, claiming he'd finished off the Dark Lord for the time being, but for him, it wasn't nearly over. And he wanted to stay, he wanted to stay and finish his work, but the risk, as Lupin had pointed out, was too great.

"You need me, though," Harry had protested, anger lining his words. "I don't care what people are saying in the streets. Voldemort isn't gone, and you know that just as well as I do, so why-"

"No, he is not gone." Lupin sighed, seeming even more weary than usual. "And you are right, the world's cause for celebration is sorely mistaken. We can hope that he is gone long enough that we won't have to trouble ourselves with him for some time, but Harry, this is nothing like the last time you defeated him. Even with him near death, we haven't got the upper hand. The Death Eaters-"

"Why would they continue- I mean, surely they'll be hiding out, laying low from the Ministry?" Harry reasoned, less angrily and more sensibly.

"They've grown bolder these past few years," Lupin explained, "and some of them may even know Voldemort's whereabouts. Even if they don't, they are certainly planning to bring him back into power. The Death Eaters are more organized than they were after his last defeat. Voldemort saw to this himself when he was still in power. He learned from his mistakes the last time."

"I still don't see why-"

"Harry, surely you must realize," Lupin went on, his tone growing more urgent, "that even without him, the Death Eaters' main target will still be you. They will concentrate all their efforts on you, perhaps even more so, with Voldemort left weakened. They know they must fight to keep in power, and they will see you as their biggest threat to that power."

Harry crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't see how that's any different from the past year. The Death Eaters have always been after me-"

"The Death Eaters would not have dared to kill you," Lupin cut in. "That... privilege was left for Voldemort himself. But without his leadership, they will stop at nothing to ensure that you will no longer be a threat. You won't be safe anywhere."

Harry shook his head. "I still have one last Horcrux to destroy," he said quietly, looking at the ground.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. "Harry-" Lupin began.

"If I could just find it," Harry said angrily, his throat closing up, "then this will all be over. If I had already found it, then none of this-" He brought himself up abruptly, falling silent.

"I suppose," Lupin said kindly, "that it won't do much good to tell you, once again, that it was not your fault?"

Harry glanced up to look in him in the eye, but he didn't answer. Lupin offered him a smile.

"Well," he said softly, "guilt is not rational."

"Look," Harry began, putting these words behind him, "I just... I need to find that Horcrux. All right, Voldemort took me by surprise, attacking Hogsmeade as he did, but don't you see? I can't risk more of that, I have to-"

"What you have to do," Lupin said gently, "is lay low. Remain hidden, where the Death Eaters haven't a chance of finding you."

Harry sighed, beginning to understand, but wishing he weren't. "I suppose Grimmauld Place isn't good enough?"

"Too many people would know."

Harry glanced up at these words. "Right. Because after Snape, no one can be trusted."

Lupin's jaw tightened. "I wish that trust was something we can afford, but you're right, it's not. That's a lesson we all learned the hard way." He sighed. "No, we must not take that risk. No one can know where you are except for you and one other person."

Harry was confused. "Me and one other...." His voice drifted off as it fell into place. "You mean to use the Fidelius Charm?"

Lupin nodded, looking as though he knew that Harry would not react well to this suggestion.

Harry fought back a grimace. "It's not foolproof," he said coolly, thinking of Sirius. "It didn't save my parents."

"No," Lupin agreed, "but we must trust that what happened between your parents and Sirius will not happen to you. Choose rationally, Harry. Think rationally."

Harry sighed. "I need Hermione for that," he muttered, more to himself than to Lupin. He glanced up, and found Lupin frowning thoughtfully at these words.

"As for Hermione...." he said quietly, sounding as though he were merely thinking aloud. "Well, she would be an obvious choice."

Harry looked at him sharply. "Too obvious, you mean?"

Lupin shrugged. "Perhaps," he said slowly. "Then again, choosing the obvious is something the enemy might not expect."

Harry sighed, biting his lip, caught in indecision.

"Think it over carefully, Harry," Lupin advised him.

Harry nodded absently. After a time, he glanced up. "I can help you," he said softly, a last plea to find some other way.

Lupin smiled sadly. "I need your help to defeat Voldemort, Harry."

"I can fight the Death Eaters-"

"Yes, you could," Lupin agreed, "but so can many others. Harry, it's too great a risk." Harry was slightly startled by the blatant need in Lupin's voice, a plea of his own, a plea for Harry to understand and accept.

And reluctantly, Harry had. And by the following morning, he'd found his Secret-Keeper, confronted the person, talked it over, and brought them with him to Lupin and Professor Flitwick, to perform the charm. And Lupin had simply smiled and said, "Excellent choice."

That had been just a few hours earlier that evening. Lupin had granted Harry a last wish, which was not to Portkey to his hidden place immediately, but to set the Portkey a few hours later. This gave him a bit more time to himself, wherever he wished, and he'd decided to spend his time at Hogwarts.

A rustling in the bushes behind him alerted him to another presence nearby. Harry, completely startled, turned and leapt to his feet, just in time to see a small, dark shadow sprint out from the foliage behind him. He reacted almost without thinking. "Petrificus Totalus!"

The shadow dodged his curse, however, so Harry resorted to a simpler method. With a quick burst of speed, he darted forward and quickly closed in on the intruder. Within seconds, he tackled the figure to the ground. It wasn't until he heard a high-pitched scream that he realized the intruder was a girl.

"What the-" he muttered, leaning back to a get a better glimpse of this girl. Some petite blonde, from what he could tell, and she looked vaguely... familiar-

"Daphne Greengrass," he realized. Shaking his head, he took her arm in a firm grip and hauled her to her feet.

"Ow, not so hard," she complained, trying to wriggle out of his hand, but he held her tight. "I know you're eager to get your hands on me, Potter, but let- go!"

"Not until you tell me why you were spying on me," Harry replied, eyeing her suspiciously.

Harry didn't know very much about Daphne Greengrass, outside of the fact that she was a Slytherin girl, one of Pansy Parkinson's groupies who'd followed her around and mercilessly teased the rest of the student body all through school. He hadn't seen her since his sixth year, when he'd left school, although he'd heard a little bit about her from Ginny. She, like Parkinson, had been one of the students determined to hold themselves apart from those other Slytherins who had joined the D.A. So definitely not an ally, he thought.

"Don't flatter yourself, Potter." Greengrass laughed derisively, eyeing him with a vaguely amused expression. "I wasn't spying on you."

"Then what in the world are you doing here?" Harry asked evenly.

"I could ask the same question of you," she said coolly, eyeing the Portkey in his hand.

Desperately, he shoved it behind his back, his mind scrambling for an excuse. "I was just... visiting-" He stopped abruptly at her skeptically raised eyebrow.

"Oh, don't be stupid," she scoffed. "Don't even try to cover it up. I know you're going into hiding, and I know-"

"Keep your voice down!"

"I'm nearly whispering!" she shot back.

Harry shook his head at her. "How in the world did you find out?"

"That doesn't matter," she replied. "Suffice it to say, I have my ways. When does that Portkey leave, anyway?"

Harry, still slightly disturbed that someone had discovered his secret so easily, shook his head again. "Why do you care to know?" he demanded. His eyes narrowed. "Are you reporting to someone, Greengrass?"

"Don't be stupid," she repeated, but she shifted nervously in his grip. "Of course not. Don't be so dramatic."

"Then why are you here?" Harry was becoming more and more aggravated by the minute. He didn't have time for this. The Portkey would be leaving soon, and he couldn't afford to have someone running off to tell anyone-

Greengrass sighed heavily, rolling her eyes at him. "In case you've forgotten, Potter, some of us still have school."

"Now you're being stupid," he shot back. "I know the school's been shut down 'til next week. I was, actually, you know, at the battle in Hogsmeade-"

"I know that," Greengrass snapped. "Doesn't explain why you're here."

"Or you either," Harry shot back.

For a moment, they fell silent, and stared at each other with equal expressions of distaste. Then the Portkey in his hand began to glow, signaling that its time to transport was near.

Greengrass smirked, glancing at the Portkey. "Well, it seems you haven't much time left, Potter. Now if you'll just- let me go-"

"Greengrass-"

"Of course, your little hide-out plans aren't so secret anymore." She smiled sweetly, fluttering her eyelashes at him. "I could tell whoever I'd like, couldn't I? Unless you'd like to postpone your trip-"

"Daphne," he cut in, his voice laced with irritation, "please. Please, don't do this-"

"Oh, don't give me that piffle," she said scornfully. "Face it, Potter, your getaway plans are ruined. You could stay and try to stop me, but from what I hear, Death Eaters are looking for you everywhere." She glanced around behind her, as though she expected to find a group of Voldemort's followers closing in around them. "So I don't know that you'd want to take that risk."

Harry froze at her words, nearly releasing her from his grip in surprise. He likewise glanced around them, growing even more suspicious. "Who the hell are you working for?" he demanded. "Why are you here? Who sent you?"

"I told you, no one sent me." She stared at him with that infuriatingly knowing gaze, her brown eyes sparkling. "Course, you don't know that for sure, do you?"

The Portkey was going to leave any second. Harry was growing desperate. He didn't have time for this, but he couldn't let her go, not now. She knew too much.

Greengrass gave one last, insistent tug at his hand, trying to get away. "Guess you'll just have to let me go, Potter-"

"Guess you'll just have to come with me, Greengrass," Harry shot back.

Her eyes widened in panic. "What? No! Let me go, Potter, damn it, let me-"

But Harry's mind was made up. Determined, he yanked the hand he was holding towards his own grip. She shrieked and squirmed, but he forced her hand on the Portkey, and a second later, they were gone.