Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Prelude: A Dark Time has come

"Albus, you cannot be serious! You would have the Wizarding world put all its eggs in one basket and then not provide a suitable contingency. You are even more insane than I believed before your death."

To average man, it would appear as though the man is sitting behind the large ornate desk in the headmaster's office was merely talking to himself, but in reality, he was speaking with the portrait of his predecessor, Albus Dumbledore.

Sitting at the large desk, was a man with a sallow face full of wrinkles; with long, greasy hair that was almost shoulder length and skin that looked as though it had not seen the light of day for several nights. He wore the jet; black robes that billowed behind him when he walked in, many would swear that he had modified the robes to do that with a spell. This man was Severus Snape, former Potions Master, and current headmaster of Hogwarts.

His attention focused entirely upon a single portrait; this portrait was lined with gold and featured a man with a stunningly long, silvery white beard. He looked as though he were several hundred years old. This was Albus Dumbledore, former headmaster of Hogwarts.

"I know Severus, but I could not have anticipated Harry and his friends splintering like an ill-made rocking chair. It appears as though I will have to enact another plan, another idea more ambitious than any other I have ever attempted. It will involve risks, and will involve assumptions based upon how I believe Harry is acting now, now that his friends have left," said the old man in the portrait.

" Albus you cannot believe that Potter can adequately accept the role we have chosen for him. After all we are simply keeping him alive so that he may die in the correct moment." The younger man said.

" Severus, that many no longer be necessary. I have spoken with other portraits and with Masters of spiritual arts. I have come to the conclusion that there may be a ritual we can perform that will rid young Harry of the Horcrux." The man excitedly replied.

Severus rubbed his head with a sigh, "Albus, if we had already discovered a way to keep Potter alive, then we would have used it by now. The Horcrux within him is fatal, unless the abundance of love you call his power, can anchor him to this world when the Horcrux is destroyed."

Albus looked disappointed at his former spy, "If that is all you can think of Severus, then perhaps my trust in you has been misguided. Trust in me, Severus, it will work. It has to work."

The desperation in the Headmaster's voice was startling, to say the least. Severus was not unaccustomed to it, in his later days; it was a common occurrence, yet still. He lifted his tired head to the portrait hanging just to the left, "What is your bright idea, then?"

"That's my boy, Severus. Now, I have an extra portrait. As you may recall I had you shrink it, and hide it in the 'Tales of Beedle the Bard' that I gave to young Miss Granger." Snape nodded his head, he remembered doing this, and how absurd he thought the action was.

"I know that you did not believe it to be a good course of action, but it has allowed me to stay up to date with Harry's predicament. It is perilous, to say the least, and may compromise the future that we both wish to see."

"Yet neither of us will see," Snape interrupted.

"Don't be so negative, Severus. Of course we will see it! That is why we must fight so hard for it!"

"No one has fought as hard or risked nearly as much as I have, Albus. In my line of work, failure begets a fate far worse than death, if you do not remember." Snape said in a deadly whisper. Times like this really irked the ex-Potions Master.

"Regardless, Harry is the only hope we have. Already, fringe members of the Order are forsaking the war, content to hide in the background until a new leader appears. We need to rally, Severus! Harry can do that."

Snape breathed into his hand, "Get on with it, Albus. It's more taxing than you believe, keeping the Carrows from killing everyone while holding up my cover."

"Alright, alright. We send him on a quest for power."

This got Snape's attention, he jerked up from his slumped position, "What!? You are joking. Sending Potter on the quest for power, into the forbidden places within the Forest of Dean while the rest of us fight for our lives is insane!"

"He's already in the Forest of Dean, Severus. The map to the first Place of Power is in Beedle's book. " Albus said with a smile.

Severus glared at the portrait, as he began to comprehend that Albus did wish to send Potter on the quest for power. It baffled him. Here, he, Severus Snape, had conspired with Dumbledore to aid Potter, despite his misgivings, and now the ex-Headmaster was throwing their previous plan out the window.

"The war can and will be won, Severus. With the abilities given to him by the quest, Harry will prevail. The Runes will guide him now. After he succeeds…"

"Don't you mean, 'If' he succeeds?" Snape cut in.

"Oh no, Severus, " Dumbledore said, shaking his head in the portrait, "I have no doubt Harry will succeed. After all, the greatest wizards of all times have completed the trials, why should he not?"

Snape scowled, "Maybe because he isn't one of the greatest wizards of all time?"

"Now, now, this is not time to be negative, Severus."

Snape scoffed, "I'm being realistic. Potter is mediocre, average at best. Even he knows it, just look at his demeanor in class. He was a terrible student who had to scrape by with a bare minimum grades necessary to enter his chosen field. There was no confidence, despite my own comments to the otherwise, and there was no drive to improve even in the face of imminent death. He spent his entire sixth year flirting with girls, and goofing off with Weasley. Until your death, the worst part of the year for him was when I gave him detention for almost killing Malfoy!"

"Perhaps if you had not been so hard on him, Severus, then you would have realized he was a perfectly capable student. It was your own foolhardy grudge, and misjudgment of his personality, that led to the rift between the two of you."

Snape slammed his fist on the desk, causing a silver artifact to topple over, "Stop making it sound like it is my entire fault, Albus. It is not, and I refuse to take the piss for whatever the boy has told you about my treatment of him."

"Calm down Severus, it is not that bad. I am merely saying that you to perhaps could find the next part of this task easier if you had not been so judgmental of Harry."

Snake merely sighed, and picked up the silver artifact. Albus said, "After I have confirmed that Harry has completed the quest for power, you will rendezvous with him inside of the Forest of Dean. Once you are there, the two of you who perform a ritual, which will forcefully extricate Tom's soul from his Horcruxes. This will, I hope, rid Harry of the malignant cancer that is the partial Horcrux in his forehead, while saving him the pain of actually dying. Then, the two of you can lead the Forces of the Light into victory."

Severus was flabbergasted, "Are you insane? That plan is even more far-fetched than the one you told me of before you died. Anyway, Tom has me forcefully in place at the school, and there is no way that I will be able to leave without informing him. In addition, I seriously doubt Minerva will be able to control the Carrows, and the other Slytherins, while I'm gone."

If Severus had any more surprise with in him, it was used by the headmaster next remark. "That is a minor problem."

Severus was almost foaming at the mouth now, "A minor problem? A minor problem! The Dark Lord appointed me personally. Unless I am going to see him, he would kill me for dereliction."

"He would kill you anyway if he knew what we're planning."

Damn that man, Severus thought, but he knew the ex-headmaster was correct. If the Dark Lord knew where his loyalties truly lay, then he would already be dead.

The current Headmaster called the conversation to an end, and stalked off to bed. Damn, he needed it too; his predecessor was even more annoying in death than in life.

(In the Forest of Dean)

Harry James Potter, the Boy Who Lived, sometimes the Chosen One, and perceived Savior of the Wizarding World, sat alone in a tent . Luckily, it was very heavily warded, and nearly impossible to find, unless you knew where it was already.

He had not moved since he laid down. He was still in shock. Shock from the earlier events with his best friends, which resulted in both leaving him for greener pastures.

Harry had begun to notice a rift in the "Golden Trio" as most called them, when Ron and Hermione had decided to promote their relationship from "Friends" to "Romantic". Ever since Dumbledore's funeral, he felt somewhat distant from both. As they grew closer with each other, they grew further from him. He truly was the third wheel in the Trio now.

Tensions had finally exploded when Ron began complaining about rations and house conditions. At first, Hermione had been in Harry's corner, but she gravitated towards Ron as the argument escalated. Wands were drawn, and it was only Hermione's shield that separated him from Ron. In that crucial moment, Ron threw his hands up, and announced his intentions to leave.

Ron had thrown the Locket of Slytherin at Harry, and left. At first it seemed like Hermione, despite her own tears and anguish, would stick it out with Harry. For that, he was eternally grateful. Until he woke up from a nightmare and realized that, she had left as well.

Luckily, neither had taken any of the precious little food or any of the materials Dumbledore had left to them, except for Ron with the Deluminator. Harry busied himself as best he could with the Tales of Beedle the Bard and it was during his cursory look, that he noticed an indent on the back cover. He dug his fingernail into and popped it open. The interior of the book cover opened up, and inside, a portrait of the grinning Albus Dumbledore looked up at him.

"Hello Harry, it's nice to see you again."

His wand was immediately in his hand, "Prove to me! Prove you are not a..." He struggled not to call it a Horcrux, "thing of Tom's!"

The portrait chuckled, "I am certainly not one of Tom's Horcruxes, though I imagine that Locket you are wearing is. I assume that it was the Horcrux we were pursuing in my penultimate moments?"

Harry looked down, "Yes it is, Professor. Unfortunately, you weakened yourself for nothing. Regulus Black betrayed Tom, and took this from the cave many years ago."

"I remember something being rather, plain about that amulet. I was dying anyway, Harry, the curse in my hand would have killed me not long after that battle. I had a few days at most." The Headmaster said his eyes downcast.

Harry sat back, spellbound for a moment. How in the hell did Dumbledore get a portrait inside of his book? For that matter, that means that he also knew about…

"Yes, Harry. I heard the commotion earlier. It appears that the bonds of faith were not as strong as I had anticipated they would be."

"Nor I, Professor, I don't know what I will do now." Harry said with his hands clenched.

"I have a plan, Harry. It is far-fetched, as Severus insists, but it is doable. You are to begin a quest for power. There are four places of power, which are secluded away inside of the Forest of Dean. The map to the first lies hidden in this book, behind this portrait. Go there, defeat the Guardian of Purity, and accept its gift. Then, you will truly be on your way to defeating Tom."

Harry's eyes widened. He knew the quest for the horcruxes would be difficult, but this was a new task. "What about the Horcruxes?"

"Severus will meet up with you after you have completed the journey for power. The two of you will perform a ritual which will handle everything for us." Dumbledore said with a smile.

Harry was puzzled. Dumbledore had spent the greater part of the last year teaching him "important" facts about Riddle's past, which pointed to the inevitable conclusion that the once promising young man had succumbed to the deeps and darkest of arts. It did not sit well with Harry that the Headmaster had decided to forsake the quest, which cost him his life, in favor of some ritual. It seemed, Voldemort like.

He looked at his surroundings. Looking at the abandoned bags, and the Locket of Slytherin lying next to him, Harry decided he had nothing to lose. If it worked, then he would triumph. If it did not work, the worst cost was his life. Since when had his life ever been truly worth something anyway?

"Alright, I'll go. I guess this," he held up the folded piece of paper fetched from behind Dumbledore's portrait, "is the map?"

The ex-Headmaster nodded. Harry smirked, "Well, I had better start packing up. It looks like the map wants me to head to the far northern parts of the forest. There, it has a place marked 'Temple of Purity'."

"Know that I will not be able to help you in this quest, Harry. I am bound by oath, as anyone else who has completed it, to withhold information on the obstacles, which the pilgrims will face. But, perhaps you will learn something in those woods. The legends say the first magical societies originated in this very forest." Then, Dumbledore left the portrait.

That's worrisome, he thought as he tucked the portrait back into its slot, Well, it cannot be any worse than Voldemort.

He did not know how wrong he could be. Then again, he didn't know how bad Voldemort could be either.

A/N: Well, that ends the first chapter of this rewrite/edit/entirely version, of Rune Reader. Leave whatever feedback you wish. Also, I aim to keep these chapters at a low enough word count so that I don't burn out like I have in other stories, but there will not be a chapter with less than 2k words.

A/N2: I'm also undecided at this point, whether this story will remain Harry/Daphne/Tracy, or Harry/Daphne, with Tracy as a side character. However, that's a ways a way, and we won't be worried about that for a little while.