AN: Much thanks to Elflina for pointing out that I needed to explain why Harry could get into the shield to you, I knew and told her and she said you'd all like to know.

Also, as normal, many thanks to Yen for cleaning this up to be suitable for your viewing.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief when they appeared just outside the gates. 'No appearing in some random populated area in the school with people staring at us. Imagine if we'd just popped into existence in the Great Hall dressed like this. No one could see our faces – maybe we could have escaped without people knowing who we were, except Professor McGonagall might have stopped us.'

Snape tapped his wand against the wrought iron, causing it to swing open and Harry followed him through with Malfoy at his side. No one said a word until they'd neared the edge of the forest and the shore of the lake was visible.

Snape's steps didn't slow, but he turned his head slightly towards them, pushing the hood back so it pooled around his neck, and said, "I am proud of both of you. You did well today."

Malfoy lowered his hood and dragged a hand through his hair. A tired sigh, a tiredness that was echoed on his face, slipped between his lips. "Thank you for coming, sir, and for giving us an option – a chance that we didn't have before." He turned his head towards Harry, "And thank you for your help."

Shock coursed through Harry. Snape knew who he was, knew he was telling Harry Potter that he was proud of him. Malfoy didn't, but he was still thanking a Gryffindor. 'I should let Malfoy know who I am. I mean, he protected me and I protected him. He could be different now, grown-up just like I have. Perhaps, just maybe, we can set this feud aside. Maybe not be friends, but at least not enemies.'

Harry raised his hands to his hood, watching Snape just in case the man objected. The last thing he wanted to do was to destroy this strange rapport they'd developed. An infinitesimally small nod and quirk of Snape's lips gave him permission. He lowered his hood while watching Malfoy's face. "Thank you for guarding my back, Malfoy."

Malfoy shook his head slightly, "I should have known it was you, Potter. What did Professor Snape have to save you from that had you tagging along to Knockturn today?"

Harry shot a questioning look at Snape. The raised eyebrow seemed to tell him to figure out his answer on his own. "I asked – the Professor had me working on a task when he told me he had to leave for the alley."

Malfoy chuckled, "Detention? Potter, you've got to stop getting those. It's our sixth year, you need to learn how to not do things or not get caught."

Harry could hear the self-depreciation in the other boy's voice and gave an exaggerated shrug, "So, truce? We just continue as students in the same school, same classes, but not enemies?"

Malfoy's gaze studied him before turning to the castle. "Sure, Potter. Not friends – I don't know if I can do that, but not enemies."

Silence reigned for several minutes, all three lost in their own thoughts as they walked.

"Sir?" Harry called out, hoping Snape would hear him, "Is he really gone? Is there a way to know?"

Snape stopped and turned to face them, "There is one way, Potter." He flipped back the left sleeve of his robe and after quickly unbuttoning his coat and arm sleeve, he exposed his forearm that had a smudge of colour resembling a healing bruise on the pale skin. Even as they watched, it faded away.

Snape raised his eyes to meet both of their gazes, "I believe the Dark Lord is truly gone."

Tension Harry didn't even realise he had leaked out of him and looking at the other two, he believed the same thing happened to them. "Thank you."

Dark eyes considered him before Snape nodded his head, "Thank you for all your effort earlier today, Mr Potter. I believe they were what allowed us to finish him off."

Harry felt a swell of something rise up in him, causing his heart to feel lighter and a smile to curl his lips. "You're welcome, sir, but I couldn't have succeeded without you to teach me the spells and provide the potions."

Malfoy looked between them, but just shook his head and continued towards the castle. Harry and Snape joined him, silence once again falling between them, but this time it was a comfortable if tired silence. The type of silence Harry was used to when he, Hermione, and Ron succeeded in their end of year adventures.

It stayed with them until they parted ways at the stairs, and remnants continued to cling to him as the Fat Lady let him into the Common Room.

Ron spotted him first, his eyes widening just before he stood and walked towards the dorms. Hermione jumped up to follow him and Harry trailed behind them. The door shut tight behind them. They knew no one else would come up while they were in there.

Ron sat on his bed with Hermione sitting next to him. Harry to the edge of his own and waited as Ron studied him.

"You know why the school was locked down," he said with no preamble.

Harry nodded, "Yeah, Dumbledore was fighting Voldemort in Knockturn Alley."

Hermione leant forward, her hands grasping the edges of the mattress, "Where were you? Ron and I were worried."

"Snape took me to destroy a locket that belonged to Voldemort. From what I can tell, he thought it somehow was being used to keep him alive." Harry beamed, "I succeeded with his help, and then he was going to bring me back here, but I asked to go to the Alley with him."

Ron cut in, amazement coating his words, "And he agreed, mate?"

Harry nodded, sure he looked as shocked as Ron did. "I think it's because we've been doing good in his class -"

Hermione cut in, "You've been giving him the respect he deserves as a professor."

"Yeah – that," Harry shrugged, "and how well I did what he asked while we were in the cave."

"I bet part of it was that he thought we'd find a way to get there and this way he could keep an eye on you," Ron added in a knowing voice then sighed dramatically, "And that is how Hermione and I both missed the end of it all."

Harry laughed, "Yeah – it would have been great if you could have been there. Sorry I didn't have time to let you know until now."

"He wouldn't have let us come. Instead, we performed our prefect duties," Hermione said. "So, you need to give us all the details."

Glad for his two best friends in the entire world, Harry told them the whole story.

§§§§§

Severus watched as Potter and Malfoy headed towards their respective dorms. 'I wish I could just go to my room, but Minerva needs to be told we are back and what happened. Filius and Pomona should be told as well. I wonder if they be near enough for me to gather them all together.'

He checked the Great Hall, and not seeing her there, walked towards her office, fairly certain that she won't be in the Headmaster's. Outside of her door, he attempted to transfigure his robe back to its normal black but failed. Stopping, he stared at his wand then his robe. 'Why?'

'Maybe you're tired?' Danny said.

'Transfigurations was never your forte,' Clarence added.

'And face it,' Ty added, 'you really like them and don't want them to go away.'

'Doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to change them back. If I was tired, they should just convert back faster.' Severus groused as he tried once again, focusing on his standard black robes. Nothing happened.

'Stop fussing with them and get in there. Albus will be back shortly and you are going to have to explain yourself to him.' Oliver ordered.

Now truly wishing he could go to his room, Severus walked through the door with a perfunctory knock.

"Severus!" Filius called from his seat near the fireplace, "You've returned."

"Mr Potter?" Minerva inquired from her seat on the sofa next to Pomona.

The seat across from Filius was empty and Severus settled into it as he answered while they gaped at his robes, "He has returned to his dorm. We were successful."

"It took that long?" Pomona leant forward, pouring him a cup of tea. "Sybill said you were going to help Albus when I stopped in to check on her earlier."

Three pairs of eyes pinned him, waiting for his answer to her implied question. Even though he was glad they were trusting Sybill's words more, he wished she hadn't revealed that.

'Albus will probably mention it later anyway; might as well tell them.' Oliver said.

"Yes, Mr Potter and I both went to Knockturn Alley and helped end the menace. Albus is finishing cleaning up the mess and should be back shortly," said Severus and then he sipped his tea knowing Pomona would have made it correctly.

'They haven't made a comment on the robes,' said Danny.

'I think they think that if they do, they won't get any more information,' Ty said.

"So, we should wait for Albus so this tale is only told once," Minerva settled back obviously prepared to wait.

The other two followed suit, but Severus wasn't quite ready to. Lunch – rather dinner – would have to wait until later. At least there were small sandwiches with the tea. He focused on Filius once he had a plate of sandwiches and a cup poured. "Why did you insist Mr Potter come along?"

Filius tipped his head to a side as he asked, "Why did you?"

"Sybill said he had to be there and I trusted her," he stated baldly and was surprised when Minerva nodded looking like that was an acceptable reason. "But I didn't tell anyone that, so why did you suggest him before I could?"

Filius sipped his tea as he leant back into his seat, "Because I believed that Voldemort planned on making him another phylactery, and would have started the preparatory work. Then something happened and he wasn't able to complete it – so he was unable to transfer the soul slip into the boy."

'That's why Harry was able to go through the shield, and probably why you were able to push things through to him. Harry wanted you to!' Clarence exclaimed.

The other three made sounds of agreement though Ty sounded slightly sickened at the idea. Severus couldn't blame him – the idea sickened him too.

"So, Potter's ability to access and interact with the phylactery is because he was basically a vessel waiting all this time for a bit of soul?" Severus asked.

Filius nodded.

Pomona and Minerva both turned pale, probably the same colour as he, himself, was now.

'Harry's face when he reached for the soul slip,' Danny whispered, 'If he'd touched it ...'

'He didn't though,' Oliver said, a quiet relief heard in his tone.

'Because Severus stopped him,' Ty said, 'Thank goodness he listened to you, Severus.'

'Thank goodness, indeed.' Severus replied before pinning Filius with his strongest glare. "And if a mistake had happened and the soul slip had joined the boy?"

Fear chased itself across Filius' face. "It didn't, though."

Severus decided not to tell them just how close it was.

A half an hour later, Albus came in and transfigured himself a chair next to the sofa. Pomona passed him a cup.

"Thank you, my dear," Albus took a long sip and relaxed into the chair. "Severus, why were you where I asked you not to be?"

"I decided to attempt to get to the locket in the cave," Severus finished his sandwich and poured himself another cup of tea. "Filius, Pomona and I all thought it might be Riddle's phylactery. It was Filius' who suggested that Potter might be the one who could get through the protections around it."

"Well," Filius cut in, "was I right?"

Albus signalled him to tell the tale, so Severus did, not leaving any details out, even the reason he took Potter to Knockturn with him. He set the green stone on the coffee table while the other Heads of House agreed with his reasoning for doing so.

"Potter was the one dressed in Gryffindor robes," Albus nodded towards Severus' robes, "who was the other Slytherin? The one who was missing when we were cleaning up. I assume you brought them back with you."

"It was Malfoy. Apart from Potter, the group were all Death Eaters who didn't really want to be one."

"Thank you for taking him away," Albus finished his tea and refilled the cup with a tap of his wand, "Continue telling your tale – you stopped when you made it to the Alley."

Holding back a sigh, knowing Albus wouldn't tell what happened once he left until he satisfied the man's curiosity, he continued the story.

Eventually, after Minerva gave a status report on the school, Albus stood. "We shall have a staff meeting after dinner. Let the students know it is being served in the Great Hall."

All four held back their frustration and left the office. The faster dinner was done, the faster they'd learn Albus' side of the story.

§§§§§

Severus took his customary seat at the staff table, Filius on one side and Sybill on the other. The Seer was smiling and patted his arm in a congratulatory manner.

Albus waited until they all were quiet before beginning, "Today, one of our students opened a passageway to Knockturn Alley from within the school. I followed him, making sure the pathway was closed. While I was there, Voldemort attacked which was the reason I locked the school down. Professor Snape came to retrieve the errant student, during which time he and six others helped to bring down Voldemort."

"He's dead?" Hooch asked in a hushed voice.

Hopeful eyes looked between both Severus and Albus.

"Yes," Albus saved him from speaking, "after which Professor Snape brought the errant student back. The remaining members of his team – all wonderfully dressed in robes that showed their House affiliation – told us who Snape was and how he pulled them into a team.

"Now, you should be expecting the news to be arriving shortly, and there might be families wanting their children to come home. Shall we cancel classes for a few days?"

"We're in the middle of OWLs and NEWTs," said Babbling, "They need to get through the tests and then we can let school out early."

Everyone nodded in agreement and Albus smiled, "Then that is what we shall tell parents. They only have two more days."

§§§§§

"Harry!" Seamus shouted, waking him up.

Harry rubbed his eyes and bolted upright, hoping that nothing horrible had happened. "What?"

Ron snorted even as Dean and Neville pushed the redhead onto his bed,

"Those robes you came back in yesterday," Seamus bounced off Harry's bed and landed near the trunk at its foot, "we want to see them better."

Harry glanced to see Ron laughing before noticing Neville and Dean nodding. Shrugging, he pulled himself out of bed and found where he'd dropped the robes last night. He was shocked they were still there, normally the elves would have cleared them out. He shook them out and pulled them on.

"There you go."

"Oh, mate, those are awesome!" Seamus grabbed one arm and Dean the other, and Harry was pulled out of the dorm and into the common room.

It was then that Harry realised just how much he wanted to hide. The room was full, and every single person wanted to examine his robe from top to bottom.

After what felt like hours, Ron rescued him.

"They really do look great, mate," Ron barred the dorm door and gestured for Harry to change.

Grateful for a chance to get dressed, Harry tossed the robes into the laundry. Somehow he knew they'd make it back to him. "Yeah, they do. Snape did a great job on the transfigurations. I didn't think it would last this long though."

"Yeah, I didn't think so either," Ron peeked out the door before opening it totally. "Maybe Hermione will know why."

With a grin at that normal statement, Harry followed Ron to breakfast.

§§§§§

Severus ran a hand down his robe. He hadn't expected it to last the night, but it had. 'Minerva, Filius, and Pomona all want a set now. I guess I can try later.'

'Maybe it's because you are the Head of Slytherin and it's Hogwarts way of recognising your claim.'Ty mused.

'I wonder if anything else held true. I mean, you said Riddle's name was going to be struck out. I wonder if it was.' Oliver said.

'Let's go look,' Danny urged, 'first to the Headmaster's office to see if he is still recorded as a student in the school.'

Clarence added, 'And then to the trophy hall.'

Dressing in a standard robe, Severus headed for the Headmaster's office. The gryphon let him in easily enough, and the enrolment book was not hard to find on the bookshelf. With the portraits all watching him, Severus flipped through the book until he found 1935. Then he scanned each page, looking for his name to appear.

He stopped when he reached 1938. There a name was struck through so thoroughly he couldn't read it. Turning to the next year, there was another name scored out. It was the same until 1946.

Pausing, Severus stared at the book in his hand. Even the voices were quiet.

Eventually, Clarence spoke up, 'Check a few more years, just to be sure.'

Severus flipped through ten more and never saw Riddle's name nor any other name struck out.

'I wonder if the Book of Admittance has been changed?' Oliver asked.

Severus put the Book of Enrolment back on the shelf and headed for the small tower that normally only Minerva entered. There, it didn't take him long to find Tom Riddle's name, and his years at Hogwarts corresponded with the struck out names.

'We should check the trophy room,' Ty whispered into the stunned silence that permeated Severus' mind.

The missing special award plaque had Severus returning to his room to gather his thoughts before breakfast and facing students.

§§§§§

"Harry," Hermione leant over the breakfast table, "you said that the Head of Slytherin House disowned Voldemort, striking him from the records?"

Harry tried to answer around a mouthful of toast. Giving up, he just nodded.

"We need to check the trophy room," Hermione grinned, "Maybe it worked."

Ron's and Harry's eyes widened as did their smile. They both quickly finished breakfast and darted out of the Great Hall to check.

"It's not here," Harry stared at the space the plaque had sat.

"I don't see it anywhere else, either," Ron called from across the room.

Hermione frowned, "We need to check with the Headmaster to let him know it's gone see if he pulled it."

The caught up with Dumbledore as he was leaving breakfast and told them what they'd discovered.

"No, I haven't moved the plaque," Dumbledore looked off into the distance before smiling down at them, "Perhaps Professor Snape's words held more power than we imagined. I'm sure all is right. Head on to your exams."

Knowing they wouldn't get anything out of the Headmaster, they ran off to do just that.

§§§§§

It was lunchtime when the Aurors came for Snape.

Harry and Malfoy had made eye contact across the room, both of them preparing to stand up. He wasn't sure what either of them planned to do – neither of their names had made it into the media – but he could tell that Malfoy was just as determined that nothing would happen to Snape as he was.

Dumbledore succeeded in catching both of their attention and stopping them. It was for the best, especially since Snape was back by dinner that evening.

After dinner, Harry ran into Malfoy outside of Snape's office. The blond didn't look at all surprised to see him there.

"He's not here, Potter," Malfoy turned and waved for him to follow, "come on, I'll show you the way."

Watching him walk away, Harry fought his normal reactions and rushed to catch up. "Where are we going?"

"His evening lab," Malfoy led him deeper into the dungeon eventually stopping at a door close to the Slytherin Common Room.

The door opened before either could knock.

"Get in here," Snape huffed.

The door shut behind them, and Snape swooped around them, blocking Harry from seeing the lab arms were crossed, but a small grin curved his lips.

"I expected Malfoy to find me, but not you, Potter."

Harry shrugged, "Malfoy showed me the way."

Snape shot a surprised look at the blond but didn't comment on the change in their behaviour. "I'm sure you wish to know what happened today and I know neither of you has the patience to wait for the Prophet tomorrow. I was questioned by the DMLE as I was named by the others. Auror Shacklebolt led the questioning. I was commended and sent on my way cleared of charges."

Relief coursed through Harry, making him grin at Snape before sharing a nod with Malfoy.

§§§§§

The paper the next morning was indeed enlightening – far more than the bare-bone that Snape had told him. The front page was splashed full of pictures, several of them of the ones who had joined Snape, the robes that the Potions Master had created on full display.

Harry devoured the story just like everyone else at the table. He wanted to know what happened after he'd left.

"Of course Professor Dumbledore sorted everything out," Seamus said as he flipped the paper open.

Harry couldn't help but chuckle when Seamus' jaw fell at the picture of Snape and Dumbledore in their robes. To him it was obviously after the fact – they never stood like that during the battle – but the photographer had done a good job of making it look authentic. Even the square was reformed, but there was no Gryffindor corner shown, that section was nipped off.

Skipping over the battle descriptions, Harry moved on to the aftermath. Not too many were injured, the ones that they had moved off the side had been seen to, the wands – which Albus had asked him for yesterday morning – returned unless they were on their way to trial. And all of the Death Eaters were having a trial.

Harry worried a bit for Malfoy since this would be hard on the other teen's family, but he knew he'd support Draco if need be. Not Lucius though.

Closing the paper, he focused on his breakfast. The train was coming today and Harry was dreading returning to the Dursleys' early. 'Maybe I can convince them to let me stay until the end of the school year? The true one?'

Ron leant closer to him and whispered, "Do you want to come to my place this summer? I mean, it's not like you have to return to your relatives' place for your safety. And, to be honest, mate, I think it'd be safer for you to not go back."

Relief course through him. "Sure, Ron, I'd love to."

Ron's gaze narrowed slightly and he moved even closer, "Do you want to move in? Mum won't mind, and Dad will help us get the rest of your stuff from their place."

It was too good to be true, and Harry knew he had to be dreaming, but he it was an offer he couldn't refuse. "If your Mum will have me, yes."

"No worries, but we'll ask when we get there," Ron grinned from ear to ear.

Feeling lighter, Harry finished his breakfast. The summer was looking a lot better.