The Shattering of Souls

very well, if you insist.... i am here today to let you know that the characters contained here in are not mine. well, maybe a couple of them. but the rest all belong to j.k. rowling. she is the goddess/diva of the harry potter universe. i bow to her superiority. and her lawyers..... no, i am not making money off this. i am merely doing this for my own personal satisfaction. and cos i really have nothing better to do.....

the first few chapters will be tame..... but raunch and filth will ensue. i will also state here that some of the content in here might be unpleasant to some people. if you don\'t like the way things have turned, do not continue on. and don\'t come back and tell me what a horrid person i am. i will calmly point to these words and say you\'ve been warned!

this is going to be a little different for me, but please bear with me. and feel free to let me know what you think. do not flame me, or i will use it to roast your ass.

Chapter One: The End or The Beginning?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The acrid stench of burnt flesh filled the air, wrinkling her nose as she stood guard over the crumpled body on the ground by her feet. The smoky haze of too many cast Forbiddens hung in the air, obscuring the battle field, shrouding the standing and prone figures in mystery. She knew the Medi Witches were already flooding the battle grounds, stooping over each and every body they found. They would treat one and all, whether the person was a Death Eater or a member of the Order. She knew, had she been one of the Healers, she wouldn\'t be able to maintain her impartiality.

The charred corpse of Voldemort lay in a heap at the feet of Bellatrix Lestrange. The woman\'s hand was pointed at her. The eyes of the Death Eater were filled with a crazed desire for revenge. She was merely standing there, waiting for Bellatrix\'s next move. \'You\'ll pay for killing the Dark Lord! You will all suffer a horrible fate!\'

As hard as it was to believe, Voldemort was dead. By the hand of The Boy Who Lived. Harry Potter had ended the struggle with the Dark Wizard. Tom Riddle had died, but not by a Forbidden. Nor any other spell. The instrument of his death had been Harry\'s love. For his parents, people he had never known. For his friends, whom he would have given his life to protect, should the need have arisen. The young man had wielded his undying, slightly tarnished love with the single-minded determination of a swordsman in battle. Oh, he\'d thrown his fare share of curses. But ultimately, he had loved the Dark Lord to death. The battle had taken all the boy\'s energies, though. He lay in a pile by her feet, unconscious and exhausted. But he had prevailed.

The battle had been fierce. She knew of several present students and former students of Hogwarts who had fallen in the fight. Even the teachers hadn\'t been spared in the heated assault. It had taken place on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, and many of the more powerful Witches and Wizards had banded together to cast protection spells on the small village. It had saved the little wizarding haven from bearing the brunt of the misfired curses. She had been lucky, but others had not.

\'Bella! Let us go, before we cannot leave!\' the voice called from behind the wild woman. She knew the voice well. Lucius Malfoy was fleeing like the coward he was, taking what was left of the Death Eaters with him. She smiled at him; a slow, feral smile that did not reach her eyes.

\'Ever the spineless cur, Malfoy,\' she called, her tone mild. His icy gaze moved to her, a sneer curling his lips as he saw her standing. A triumphant look settled upon her face, the overwhelming satisfaction she felt at the demise of Tom Riddle evident in her eyes and smile. His eyes flickered to the prone figure at her feet, and his sneer deepened.

\'My, my. Bri Wallace,\' he hissed.

\'That would be me,\' she confirmed.

\'You\'d best watch yourself, Wallace. I\'ll have my revenge! On you and Potter. Mark my words!\' he spat acidly. Before she could reply, he and the other remaining Death Eaters Apparated from the field with a thunderous CRACK. Hogsmeade was safe from the threat of the Dark Lord\'s lackeys. She heard footsteps behind her and spun, dropping into a crouch as she did so. She sighed and straightened when she saw it was Albus Dumbledore.

\'Sir, how is Professor McGonagall?\' she asked immediately. The Deputy Headmistress had been hit by some curse and had gone down early in the fight. The last Bri had seen of her, she was being carried from the field by a Medi Witch who was either very brave of very stupid.

\'She\'s already complaining to Poppy about being confined to bed,\' he smiled at her reassuringly. He looked tired and older than his years. In the three years since Voldemort\'s return, he had done everything in his powers to both protect and prepare the Wizarding world for the battle that was to come. He and Minerva had eventually come up with the idea to form a Wizarding Secret Service. A sort of elite group of body guards for the key members of the Order. The two of them had thought it a prudent idea to offer as much protection to thier people as they could.

So they had gone through all the names of Witches and Wizards, hunting down only the very best. There had been barely enough to cover the members of the Order. All of those picked for the esteemed honor had to be out of Hogwarts and more than capable of defending themselves and others. Killing to survive had been a requirement as well. Bri had been the first one asked, and she had felt both priviledged and insulted that they thought she was good enough. And ready to kill.

She knew she was a powerful witch, even though her grades during her seven years at Hogwarts would lead one to think otherwise. She was terrible at book learning. But the practical side came to her naturally. She had brought new ideas to the group of guards. Most importantly, the use of magic without wands. She had taught all the guards in the squad how to perform wandless magic. It had been this very reason that had seen her assigned to the task of protecting Harry Potter. \'Come. We need to get the wounded to the castle. If we remain unprotected much longer, I fear the return of Malfoy and his Death Eaters.\'

\'How bad is it, sir?\' she questioned, bending to retrieve the wand of the fallen young man. Dumbledore levitated Harry\'s body, then withdrew a small round object from his pocket.

\'We didn\'t lose as many as the Death Eaters, but there were still some casualties,\' he heaved a sigh that seemed to have the weight of the world contained within it.

\'Anyone I know, sir?\' Although her tone was casual, he could hear the worry swimming the undercurrent.

\'Jenkins,\' he told her softly. She paled for a moment, feeling the pain pierce her heart before she crushed the emotion down. She and Roger Jenkins had been involved for a brief time, and she still held some affection for him. But she couldn\'t allow her emotions to get in the way. There was still a job to be done. With a start, she reacalled who Jenkins had been assigned to protect.

\'Longbottom, sir?\' was her next question.

\'Bellatrix hit Neville pretty hard with several curses, but he was saved by the charm Jenkins gave him,\' Dumbledore reported.

\'Charm, sir?\'

\'A magical one. A dragon coiled about a rose,\' he missed the paling of her face, his concentration on the surroundings. The charm that had helped to save Longbottom\'s life had been one she\'s given to Roger. It was a special charm. \'Neville is quite incoherent at the moment, but I imagine Poppy will be able to set him to rights soon enough.\'

\' I will personally see to it that Lestrange pays for her crimes,\' Bri whispered quietly. Roger had known the risks, and yet he\'d done his duty to the boy he\'d been assigned to protect. Neville Longbottom was a rather sweet person, somewhat shy but willing to fight for what he believed in. Roger had introduced them once, and she\'d taken an immediate liking to the quiet young man. Bri would see to it that he got justice. Neville was no match for the insane Bellatrix Lestrange. But she was. She would hunt down and kill the loony bitch, even if she died in the process of doing so. Neville, Jenkins, and the Longbottoms would be avenged.

The talk ended as Dumbledore took hold of Harry, keeping the ball he held in the other hand exposed. Wordlessly, Bri put her hand on the port key. \'Dragon farts!\' he muttered, activating the key. Almost instantly, they found themselves inside the bustling Hospital Wing of Hogwarts. Madam Pomfrey was scurrying from bed to bed, diagnosing and ordering treatments for her patients. \'Poppy!\' Dumbledore\'s voice rang out with enough force to attract everyone\'s attention.

\'Good Gods!\' the woman exclaimed as she hurried over.

\'Harry!\' the strident cry came from Ron Weasley. The red head tried climbing out of the bed he was in, but Freeman, his guard, pushed him down with a very terse order to stay put. Bri looked from the worried face of Potter\'s best friend to the serene face of Albus Dumbledore. The Wizard nodded, telling her it was okay. She moved over to the cot, sitting on the edge of the bed next to the worried Weasley.

\'He\'s alright, Ron. He\'s only unconscious at the moment,\' she told him with a faint smile.

\'You\'r sure?\' Ron sounded apprehensive.

\'Of course. I was with him the entire time. He only wore himself out defeating Voldemort. Don\'t worry yourself. I\'m sure he\'ll be up and bothering you soon with the aide of Madam Pomfrey\'s competent ministrations.\'

\'Miss Wallace. Come here and get yourself looked at. You\'ve got a couple of nasty scratches that are in desperate need of attention,\' Poppy ordered brusquely from somewhere behind her. Bri cringed, then shared an eye roll with Ron.

\' I have to go. Get some rest. Everything will be alright,\' she got up, moving to where the Medi Witch stood, anxiously tapping her foot. She allowed Madam Pomfrey to look her over, sitting as she cleaned each and every scratch and wound herself. When Bri was declared well enough to move, she went in search of Professor Dumbledore.

She found him sitting in the hall outside the Hospital Wing. He had his head in his hands, and she got the distinct impression he was crying. When she cleared her throat, he looked up. Her suspicions were confirmed by the watery look he gave her. She sat on the bench next to him. \'Sir?\' she asked everything with the single word.

\' I am a tired old man, Bri. This battle was hard fought. My students made me proud, and I feel the loss of those who did not come back profoundly,\' he told her. She nodded, knowing there was nothing she could say that would lift some of the guilt off his shoulders. She knew he blamed himself for their deaths. She did something that she almost never did. She put her arm about his stooped shoulders, then squeezed. It was nothing by way of comfort, but she had an idea that he would know that it was an unusual thing for her to do.

\'How many did we lose, sir?\' her voice was soft and low. She knew it wasn\'t something he cared to discuss at the moment, but she had to know. She had to find some way to keep the anger bubbling beneath the surface. Every day, it got a little harder to dredge up the hatred and focus it. She was tired of the war, of the constant fighting. But until all the Death Eaters were rounded up and dealt with, she still had a job to do.

\'Three of the staff are dead, as well as a dozen students. MIss Granger is already at St. Mungo\'s, as is Professor Flitwick. Their injuries were most severe. But Madam Hooch didn\'t survive a blast from the Elder Goyle\'s wand. Nor did Sybil and Madam Vector. And the children,\' he shuddered, drawing a shaky breath. She suspected that he was trying to keep from breaking into tears. \'Both Dennis and Colin Creevey. Percy Weasley.....Ron hasn\'t been told yet. I suspect Arthur and Molly will be along to do that soon enough. They had to take Ginny to St. Mungo\'s as well.\'

\'Ginny? I didn\'t think she was involved. I had heard rumors that she....\' Bri stopped and shook her head. It wasn\'t important.

\'She was seeing Draco. Her parents took her to St. Mungo\'s because she witnessed Draco\'s demise at the hands of his own father. Roger Davies and Cho Chang. Hannah Abbot. Susan Bones. Justin Finch-Fletchley. Lee Jordan, Padma Patil, and Malcolm Baddock. All of them gone. All of them dead at the hands of Malfoy and his...\'

\'Sir, it\'s not your fault. Every one of them, and I do mean every one, was briefed as to what would happen. They all knew they could lose their lives. They went into the fray with that knowledge in their minds. It is in no way your fault that they are dead. You are only one man, and you have a hard enough time handling the pressures of running a school,\' she told him gently.

\' I wish to see you and Harry in mt office later when he feels up to it,\' Albus ignored her words, knowing in his mind that the young woman sitting next to him was right. He was only one man. And he could only do so much. But his heart was not as inclined to believe that. He felt personally responsible for all those that had been hurt and killed. Standing, he looked down at her. The kindly expression he had always worn was gone, replaced with the tired helplessness he felt. She pressed her lips together, but said nothing and nodded at him.

She stood up from the bench and stalked away, leaving him to brood in silence. She had her own thoughts to deal with at present. She knew the only place she could do that was by the lake. To hell with the others for a few moments. She needed some time to herself. Where she could be herself, and not the body guard of The Boy Who Lived.

~*~*~*~*~

It was well past dark whenHarry and Bri met with the Headmaster in his offices bove the school. Bri looked less than thrilled to be there, but she remained silent and stood behind Harry, aloof and distant. Harry himself had sunk gratefully into a chair as soon as he had arrived in the room, still wearing the look of exhaustion on his face. His skin carried the paleness earned from being in battle. The boy appeared to be ready to drop at a moment\'s notice.

Dumbldore looked more tired and old than he had earlier, deep lines etched into his face that spoke of the heavy load he had been carrying for too long by himself. She stared at them for several moments. \'You asked to see us, sir,\' Bri prompted. They needed to get the discussion over with. She had plans she had to make. The remaining ranks of the Death Eaters would die. She had promised the squid in the lake that this very afternoon.

\'Yes. I think it\'s safe to say that you two should go itno hiding. Malfoy will stop at nothing to keep his promise and see you both dead. You\'re not safe here,\' he finally spoke after a few more minutes of silence. \'The Order has several safe houses set up. Both here in England and on the Continent. You can use any of these until the remaining Death Eaters are found. Most especially Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange.\'

\' I\'m sorry, sir. But are you saying you want us to hide?\' Harry was the one who asked the question. His voice sounded dull and thin. He had seen much tragedy these last few years, and this was almost too much for him. His green eyes went wide with disbelief.

\'Only temporarily. Until we can bring down the rest of the Death Eaters. They have you two on their list of people to kill. The very first ones on their list.\'

\'And you think hiding away is the answer?\' Bri\'s voice lacked any emotion. The cornflower blue eyes turned to her, pleading with her to understand. She wore an impassive look on her face.

\'As I said, it would only be for a short period of time. Until we can deal with the remnants of Voldemort\'s legions properly,\' he told them.

\'That, sir,\' she ennunciated each word clearly, so she knew he heard and understood it all. \' Is MY job.\'

\'No, Miss Wallace,\' he shook his graying head, his tone as close to glacial as she\'d ever heard it get. \'Your job is to protect Harry. And if it is by going into hiding, you will do it. As your immediate employer, I can make this statement with certainty.\'

\'And if I chose not to do it?\' She asked quietly.

\' I will remove you from your position and assign it to someone who will,\' he returned.

\' If I quit?\' she asked, more curious than anything. \'Go rogue and hunt them on my own?\'

\' I will have you tracked by Aurors, arrested, and imprisoned until the Death Eaters are caught and punished. Do not think to test me, Miss Wallace. You will lose,\' he replied evenly. She glared a moment or two, and was about to acquiesce when Harry stood up.

\' I won\'t allow you to do this to us! I\'ve had Bri practically in my face for the better part of the last two years. I know that both of us deserve some freedom,\' he spat angrily. He had never forgiven Dumbledore some of the things that had happened in regards to the events that had lead up to Sirius\' death. And he would use this opportunity to take his anger out on the older man.

\'Of course you do, Harry. And so does Bri. But I have a responsibility to the Wizarding community to see to it that those of Voldemort\'s ranks who are left are dealt with. Before they can kill more innocents. You brought down the Dark Lord, Harry. They want you dead. And Bri, as well, because she made it possible by keeping you alive.\'

\' I won\'t do it!\' Harry shot back. Bri stood, placing a hand on his arm. He turned to look at her, his eyes wide with his temper.

\'Yes, Harry. You will. Because if you don\'t, Dumbledore will have no problems with putting the two ofd us in Azkaban. At least there, he will think we will be safe. Isn\'t that right, Professor?\' Bri leveled her gaze on him.

\' If it is what I must do to keep you two stubborn arseholes safe, I will do it,\' he nodded. The three of them remained silent for some time, merely staring back and forth at one another. Finally, Harry sighed and dropped back into his chair, all the fight gone. Bri moved back to stand behind him, her gaze staying fixed on the Headmaster. After several moments, Albus sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. \' You can at least pick your hode away.\'

With his words, Dumbldore waved his hand and produced a map of Europe. Small green lights blinked over various places, spread across the entire landscape of the European Continent. Bri studied the map for a few moments before picking a blinking light in the Swiss Alps. \'Here.\'

\'Very good. I have a pair of packs made up for you two. Clothing and personal items. They are awaiting you in Gryffindor Tower. I have it set up so you can use a port key. It\'s one of Fred and George\'s left over jokes. Merely touch it and say \'Picklepuss\' and you will be off.\'

\'Thank you, sir,\' Bri nodded her head. She waited for Harry to stand, then followed him from the room.He lead her down the stairs, through out hallways, and finally into the Gryffindor Common Room in complete silence. As they had been told, a pair of packs sat near the fireplace. One of the twin\'s jokes, left behind nearly two years ago, sat on the table. Bri picked it up.

\'Why are we doing this?\' Harry asked.

\'Have you ever been to Azkaban, Potter?\' When the boy shook his head, she managed a grimace that made him wonder if she\'d been there for more than a visit. \'After the Dementors left, the Ministry found sseveral old spells that could induce the same type of dispair the Dementors caused. It is not pretty.\'

\'But to be in hiding, like we\'re afraid of them?\' he sounded put out.

\'Better to be afraid and alive than brave and dead, Potter. Grab up the packs and let\'s get going,\' she instructed. Harry did as he was told, scooping up both packs in one hand. He moved over to where Bri stood, handing her one of the packs before placing his hand over the joke. \'Here\'s to safety in hiding. Picklepuss!\'

With the word, the two of them were jerked out of the room.......

end chapter one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

this chapter is entirely unbeta-ed, as i wanted to get it done and out in a moment\'s notice. i have plans for this one as well. any mistakes are from hurry, not stupidity. or at least, i hope not. ;p

i will thank my usual support group. they know who they are and why. i love you all very much! ~hugs~

please, as i said, feel free to let me know what you think.