Dumbledore, Harry and Robyn appeared suddenly in Dumbledore's office. The portraits burst into applause as Dumbledore heaved himself into his chair.

Robyn, to distract herself from the looming darkness engulfing her brain, looked around Dumbledore's office. It had not changed one bit. Little unusual trinkets lay here, there and everywhere. The portraits stood tall and mighty upon the grey stone walls.

The perch in which Fawkes the Pheonix stood was still there with the magnificent bird standing on top of it, orange and yellow feathers gleaming in the candle light. And, of course, the pensieve still sat in the office, hidden by a cabinet full of more trinkets and memories Dumbledore had collected over the years.

Harry stood quite still next to Robyn, his eyes dull as tears ran numbly down his face.

"Harry, Robyn. You should know your friends are quite alright. Ms. Granger should fully recover." Dumbledore said, his voice grave.

Harry and Robyn nodded mutely.

Dumbledore's looked at Harry, sadness etched on to his ageing face. "There is no shame in what you are feeling."

Robyn, knowing that Dumbledore was going to address her later, sat down on one of the cushiony seats and stared at her knees.

In that moment, she could tell exactly what Harry was feeling; grief, exhaustion, sadness, anger... But she couldn't quite pinpoint what she was feeling.

So many emotions were running through her, she couldn't decide which one was worse. The sadness that Sirius was gone, the fear about the impending war, the terror of what would happen to her, the confusion of who kept putting her under these curses, the hatred she had for Voldemort and his followers but also the fear she had for them.

She thought back to the way Sirius looked when he fell through the veil. He was still grinning, that was good, she supposed. After all those years being locked away, Robyn knew Sirius would have been happy to leave this world doing something to help; to be fighting for what he believed in.

One thing that filled her body with guilt was when she remembered the glossed over eyes when Sirius fell, no light was left in them when Bellatrix had finished with him but the look in his eyes made Robyn think back to Cedric, they both had dull, staring eyes that would never see the light of day again. She could have done something to save them both. Maybe if she didn't freeze with fear and if she was quick enough, she could have stopped Wormtail casting the spell that lost Cedric his life. Maybe if Robyn turned around earlier than she did, she could of blocked the spell that Bellatrix sent hurtling towards her cousin.

If Robyn felt like this, she hated to think about how Harry was feeling...

Harry glowered at Dumbledore, warning him not to go there. "You don't know how I'm feeling!"

Dumbledore's face remained quite impassive but sadness was swimming in his blue eyes as he watched Harry practically breaking at the seams. "Harry, suffering like you are proves that you are still human. Pain is part of life."

Robyn looked up and stared at her boyfriend. She had never seen him like this. She had seen him angry, she had seen him sad, she had seen him happy but she had never seen him look so exhausted and depressed, it was as though a Dementor had come along and sucked out his soul, leaving only a shell of what used to be in its tracks.

"I DON'T CARE!" Harry yelled, his eyes staring angrily at Dumbledore. He was shaking with fury and sadness as tears continued to leak from his emerald eyes.

Harry could feel himself slipping away. He couldn't do this anymore. He couldn't carry on being the hero everyone thought he was. It was all too much. He couldn't handle it.

Maybe he was a coward but he didn't care. He could feel the ache of his soul as it filled with sadness. He could feel the empty thoughts swarm in his mind.

What was the point of living if darkness was always going to win? But with every wave of sadness that took over him, a tidal wave of anger swooped in. It was reckless and overpowering.

Harry could feel himself quickly loosing control. But what worried him was the fact he didn't care. Dumbledore deserved it. All year he had been silent to Harry, and Harry needed him but he wasn't there.

Seeing red and filled with a disastrous mixture of anger and sadness, Harry began to grab the nearest objects to him and throw them, destroying them. It was satisfying in a way, it was Harry's way to vent out his anger and to show Dumbledore how he was feeling. He was sure he would regret this in the morning but for now he didn't care. He didn't care about anything.

Dumbledore made no attempt to stop Harry, but rather sat back in his chair looking calm, almost detached. Harry picked up more delicate silver instruments off the spindle-legged tables and threw them, one in which landing in the fireplace.

The raven haired boy ignored the shouts of outrage and fright from the portraits on the walls and picked up the table and threw that too.

Robyn made no movement to stop Harry, but she did flinch every time Harry threw something, though he didn't notice.

"But you do care, Harry, you do. You care so much that it burns inside of you." Dumbledore said.

Harry opened his mouth and for a second he looked like he was about to shout again but instead he made a beeline for the door and attempted to swing it open. It didn't budge. He tried again. "Let me leave." Harry snarled.

"No." Dumbledore said quite calmly.

Harry could feel the fire inside him licking at the emptiness where Sirius use to be. "If you don't - if you keep me in here - if you don't let me -"

"By all means continue destroying my possessions," said Dumbledore serenely. "I daresay I have too many."

"Let me out." Harry said yet again in a voice cold and almost as calm as Dumbledore's.

"Not until you hear what I have to say."

"I don't care what you have to say! I hate you!" Harry glared at Dumbledore, the anger rising in him again.

"You will, Harry. Because you are not nearly as angry with me as you have a right to be. Harry, Sirius was a brave and great man. It's my fault that he's gone. If I had been open with you, as I should have been, you would have known long ago that Voldemort would try and lure you to the Department of Mysteries. That blame lies on me, and me alone."

Harry was still standing with his hand on the door knob though he no longer knew this. He was gazing at Dumbledore, barely breathing, listening yet hardly understanding what he was hearing.

Slowly the portrait of Phineas blinked, staring blankly out. "Am I to understand, that my great-great grandson, the last of the Blacks, Sirius . . . is dead?"

"Yes, Phineas." Dumbledore said solemnly.

"I don't believe it." Phineas said and turned to exit his portrait. Harry knew he was going to visit his painting in 12 Grimmauld Place to try and find Sirius.

"But Kreacher told me that Sirius -" Harry began.

"He lied, as you are not his master, therefore he has no need to tell you the truth. Kreacher has been feeding the Black's next closest relative information between you and Sirius."

"The Malfoy's . . ." Harry trailed in disgust and anger.

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes. To Narcissa Black, who is Lucius Malfoy's wife. Much like your friend Dobby did while he was bound to the Malfoy's, Kreacher has been feeding information to the Malfoy's. But Kreacher is still bound to Sirius by the oath of his kind; he could never reveal the location of the Order of the Phoenix; he could never totally betray us. But he could tell them that Sirius was the thing that mattered most to you in this world. A person that you would stop at nothing to rescue. But blame does not fall directly on any one man's shoulders."

Robyn and Harry watched as Dumbledore closed his exhausted eyes and covered his face with his ageing hands. It was the first time they had ever saw Dumbledore look so old and feeble.

"Harry, I owe you an answer I have been dreading for fifteen years. I have been hiding from this day for too long. You know that your scar forged a connection between you and Voldemort as I had so feared when I first saw you with it upon your head with my eyes. And recently, Voldemort became aware of this connection as well. You may wonder why I haven't so much as hardly looked at you this year. I have feared if Voldemort was to ever realize that our relationship was more than that of a Headmaster and pupil he would try to control you, as he did tonight. He hoped that I would sacrifice you in hopes of killing him. It's time I tell you the truth, Harry." Dumbledore said, with a heaviness in his voice that made him seem like the vulnerable and old man he looked like.

Dumbledore turned to Robyn. "Miss Thompson, if you will please wait outside, I will see to you later."

Robyn nodded mutely and stood to leave but Harry grabbed her hand. "She can stay, I don't mind."

"Very well." Dumbledore said while nodding and turning back to Harry. Robyn sat down.

"You've wondered why I left you with your aunt and uncle, rather than a Wizarding family that would have been honored to raise you as their son when your parents died? I knew when I saw you as a baby, that Voldemort was not truly gone. Whether it be fifteen years or fifty, he would return to power greater and more terrible than before. And I knew you would never be safe in our world. So I trusted in what your mother had done to protect you. Your mother gave you a lingering protection that forever shields you from harm that is in your blood at this very moment. So I gave you to her mother's only relative. Your aunt."

Harry's eyes darkened in anger once again, and his face held obvious distaste and hatred. "She doesn't love me. She doesn't give a damn about me -"

Dumbledore raised his hand to stop Harry, but his face was patient. "But she took you in. Bitterly, yes, but she did take you in. And sealing the charm your mother died to give you. As long as you call home the place where your mothers blood rests you can never be harmed by Voldemort or any of his angents of evil; for their power comes from their master, which they are slaves to. And your aunt alone knows that being under her roof has kept you alive these past fifteen years."

It seemed Harry forgot to be angry for a moment as his face scrunched up in thoughtfulness and confusion, Robyn could see the cogs working in his head. "You sent the Howler?"

"Yes. I thought she needed reminding of this at that time."

"Snape stopped giving me lessons . . . I could of blocked Voldemort's images of Sirius, but he . . ."

"I'm aware of this." Dumbledore said.

Harry stared into space, full of hatred again. "Snape hates me. He did it on purpose. He hated Sirius and he hates me! He wanted this to happen." Harry said, he couldn't deal with the thoughts of what he could have done to save Sirius so he decided to do the next best thing to try and make him feel a bit better; blame someone else.

"Harry, I trust Severus Snape with my life, and one day I hope you trust him as I do." Dumbledore said, a slight forcefulness in his voice. "It was a mistake not to teach you myself. Severus Snape does not hate you. Your father he did, yes; very bitterly. But not you. His hate for your father was so strong it drove him into Voldemort's grasp, to becoming one of his Death Eaters. Only in joining them did he realize this horrible error. And he loathes that his hatred for your father drove him into such a shadow and a burden he will carry for the rest of his life. You are a living reminder of his mistake."

For the first time that night, Harry look directly into Dumbledore's eyes. "How do you know Snape doesn't want me dead?"

"Because tonight he saved your life. He understood your cryptic message and send the word to Sirius and the Order. He has been protecting you from Umbridge throughout the year. If he was able to leave the castle he would of been with you tonight, fighting alongside you, Harry."

Harry didn't know whether to believe this or not, but he decided against trying to argue. He knew Dumbledore trusted Snape and he was too tired to do anything anymore.

"Why me? Why does Voldemort want me dead?"

"Because of a prophecy that was made about him."

"But it smashed." Harry said sadly, he had failed to keep that safe too.

"No, Harry. The thing that smashed was simply a recording of it. When that prophecy was made Voldemort only got a fraction of it; he did not hear it completed. He knew that a child would soon be born that could destroy him. He knew when he would be born and he knew to whom he could be born to. But nothing more."

"You know it, don't you?"

Dumbledore nodded again. "Yes, it was made to me."

Dumbledore waved his wand and over floated the pensieve and a glass jar with a swirling substance that didn't quite count as a liquid or gas.

Silently, Dumbledore poured the substance into the stone basin and once again waved his wand. The image that greeted them was of an younger looking Trelawney, her eyes glazed and her voice sounding strained and hoarse.

"The One with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches . . . Born to those that have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies . . . He will have powers the Dark Lord knows not, and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal . . . One must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives . . ."

As the memory of Trelawney disappeared, Harry continued to stare on blankly. It was like a new weight had been pushed upon Harry's shoulders. He wanted to cry and scream. He couldn't do this. It was like all his emotions disappeared and all he felt now was emptiness and dread.

Robyn grabbed his hand, but he didn't squeeze it back.

"The only person ever capable of conquering Voldemort for ever was coming."

"Me?" Harry murmured weakly.

"There were only two families this could of applied to. People who had defied Voldemort three times and had children that would be born at the end of July. The Potters and the Longbottoms." Dumbledore explained.

Harry looked up fearfully. "Than it might not be me, if could be Neville. It might not be me . . ." This news didn't excite Harry, he didn't know what he would do if he was forced to put this kind of pressure on Neville. No one deserved it.

Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "But, Harry, he chose you. He marked you as his equal. He didn't choose Longbottom who is pureblood, but a half-blood like himself. You."

"It's not fair." Harry felt himself mumble, feeling the familiar sting of tears threaten to leave his eyes.

Dumbledore sighed, his exhausted eyes watching Harry. Dumbledore felt his own blue eyes start to sting with tears. "No, it's not. It's not fair that you are robbed of the ones you love. It's not fair that you have to shoulder this fate. But this is who you are. You have a power that Voldemort will never have and never understand, Harry. It took you tonight to save Sirius. It saved you from possession, because Voldemort can not bare this power in you. It was your heart that saved you, Harry."

"I can't do this. It's too much." Harry said, his shoulders shaking with the weight of his sobs.

Robyn swallowed back her own sadness as she saw Harry break down in front of her. She wished she could do more. She wished she could help.

A tear rolled down Dumbledore's cheek. "I wish I could take this responsibility away, Harry. I do. It is unfair that you must burden this. I have tried to protect you since the moment you were born. Your happiness means too much to me. I am sorry for what I have done to you."

Robyn squeezed Harry's hand again and said gently; "Dumbledore is right Harry. We all wish to take this burden off you. It is unfair that this fate has snatched your childhood away from you. It is unfair that you will never be normal like you crave to be; you will never have a normal life. But, Harry, there is one vital thing you are forgetting," Harry was now watching Robyn with his watery emerald eyes and tear stained cheeks. "You are not alone. Nor will you ever be. It sometimes might feel like you are and no, none of us will truly ever know what you are going through but we will stand by you every step of the way. We would all die for you whether you like that or not, we would and we will try our damn best to help you in any way we can!"

Dumbledore had wiped his tears and was now smiling again. "Couldn't have put it better myself, Robyn."

"Now I believe we have some matters to discuss, don't you, Robyn?"

Robyn heaved a sighed. "Yes, I think we do."

Robyn then turned to Harry. "You can stay if you like, you're going to end up finding out when I tell the others anyway." Robyn didn't really want to burden Harry anymore but what was the point in postponing it when it would end up in the same outcome anyway.

"There is one thing I would like to talk about first and that is why your parents weren't there tonight." Dumbledore began, watching Robyn. "I gave them some orders to try and recruite some of their friends and family to join the Order, so alas they weren't at the headquarters when Severus gave his warning about Harry running off to the Ministry."

Robyn nodded. At least she knew they were okay.

"Now, would you like to explain to Harry what's been happening to you before we carry on, Miss Thompson?"

Robyn swallowed hard and nodded slowly. She shuffled in her seat and looked directly at Harry, who was gazing at her curiously.

She laughed nervously. "Where to begin?"

"Why not start from last year, just before the third task?" Dumbledore advised patiently.

Robyn nodded again and licked her lips. "Well, as you know, before the third task I did something rather stupid."

Harry nodded. "If you mean running into the maze after me, then yes."

Robyn gave a weak smile. "Well what if I told you they weren't my own actions."

"I don't understand-"

"Harry, do you remember Professor Moody - well technically Barty Crouch Jr - teaching us about the three unforgivable curses-"

Harry's eyes widened in understanding. "You mean - you mean to say - you were put under-"

Robyn nodded sadly. "I was put under to Imperius Curse."

Dumbledore folded his hands together, looking grave and defeated. "Problem is Harry, we still don't know who did it."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "But wouldn't it have just been Barty Jr."

Dumbledore chuckled. "Clever thinking, Harry. But when I first heard about this ordeal, I checked Alastor's wand and there was no trace that any Unforgivable Curse was used."

"And now it's happened again." Robyn said.

"But wouldn't it have just been one of the Death Eaters?"

"We thought so too Harry, but that doesn't explain how it happened last year." Dumbledore explained.

"Oh-"

"Now you can see our dilemma and why I didn't tell you because I didn't want to worry any of you and because I had no answers to explain any of it." Robyn said. "So you must forgive me on my behaviour tonight. I didn't mean to hurt any of them. I tried to fight it! But I couldn't. It was so hard to fight it, Harry!" Robyn was looking at Harry distressed. What if they all hated her now?

"It's fine Robyn, I believe you and I'm sure the others will too." Harry thought hard for a moment. He knew none of their group of friends would do it and he saw none of the Death Eaters get close enough to her at the time she was put under.

Then a thought struck him and he was sure he was right. "What about Noah?! That must be why he wanted to come so desperately tonight!"

Robyn sighed but Dumbledore looked thoughtful.

"Harry as much as I dislike Noah, I know he would never do something like that." Robyn muttered.

Dumbledore nodded. "Still a thought to look into."

Suddenly, Dumbledore looked at the ticking clock and sighed. "It seems time has slipped away from us, once again. I suggest you both try to get some sleep before visiting the others in the hospital wing tomorrow morning. I bid you both goodnight."

Robyn and Harry stood, both still feeling numb. "Goodnight, sir."

Robyn and Harry left the office and as they walked back to the common room, Robyn grabbed Harry's arm and rested her head on his shoulder. "I wish this would end."

Harry kissed her forehead. "Me too."

Overcome with many emotions, Robyn felt her throat constricting and she barely whispered; "Promise me you'll always be by my side."

A moment of silence passed as the two reached the Common Room. "Always."

Both Harry and Robyn knew they weren't going to get any sleep that night, so the two curled up next to the dying embers of the fire, holding on to eachother for they both knew everything was about to change...

(This is SO late. I'm so, so sorry. Please forgive me. I hope you enjoy this albeit how late it it. At least it's a long chapter, nearly 4000 words. Anyway, enjoy. Until next time...)