Rating: PG-13 for now, although that may change later. Will be slash later in the story. Not beta read so all mistakes are my own.

Summary: Harry has picked up a bad habit in order to deal with his godfathers death. This leads to a situation that no one could have imagined and a rescuer is even more unexpected. While he deals with this he has started walking a path no one could have predicted. Sacrifices will have to be made the only question is will he be able to make them? Friends and foes alike will notice the change but who will stand with him in the end?

Spoilers: Books 1-5. Do not read unless you have FINISHED Order of the Phoenix.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot. All Harry Potter™ characters and settings are the sole intellectual property of JK Rowling, Warner Bros. and various others who all aren't connected to me in any way. No money is being made with this fanfiction and no copyright infringement is intended.

Prologue

The storm called to him.

The gales of wind, the bolts of lightning, the fury of the pelting rain that was both prison and protection. It called to the forces, those that lived within him, those that dwelled without. The bright and the dark.

With his cloak streaming back like bird-wings, he stood alone in the night. Alone but for his rage and his grief. And his hate. It was that hate that that filled him now, rushed inside him in wild, pounding strokes like the heartbeat that caused his blood to flow so easily through his veins.

And so, perhaps, it was.

He would keep his friends and the rest of his family safe and unaware. Once he had done what he had been destined to do, they would know. But he could not go back to how it was before. And he could not, would not, turn from the path he had chosen.

He could not keep living hidden here or safe behind the castle grounds. There were tears in his eyes now, and in the storm-light they burned red as blood. He could not turn from this. It was his choice. His destiny.

He stood arms outflung in the tempest that had called to him. His hair flew free and wild, dark ribbons that slashed at the night like whips. Payment must be made. And justice, however rough, would be met at last. He would take her life for his and damn her for all time.

He would call it vengeance and when they met again he would kill her. The vow he had sworn this night he would undertake no matter the price.

Justice had a price. And that was how he who was known as Harry Potter, would sacrifice his soul.

So what does everyone think so far?