Walk before you run

A/N Hi! Yes, this is the sequel to weakness! Finally! I didn't have a lot of drive to write this because I was having massive writers block but I wanted to thank Stormglass, MrdaleksNaLu, and everyone who reviewed, followed and put a favourite for weakness!

Oh! And if there's anything you want to see in the story don't hesitate to review or leave a PM! (Also, see if you can figure out the chapter title themes.)

I don't own Harry Potter or the quotes I'm using as my chapter titles. Enjoy!

Text

"Speech"

"Parseltongue speech"

Thoughts

WARNING MAJOR CANON DIVERGENCE. IN FACT THIS IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BUT STILL SPOILERS!

"Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting."

Chapter 1: Never say goodbye

"Harry!" Harrison- no Harry now, Harrison is dead- turned to look at Hermione across the classroom. It's the first lesson since…then…but Snape's running late. Harry laughed a little under his breath as he thought of his new Potions knowledge and how he'd used it that morning. He shook the smile of his face and pushed his fringe back to look Hermione in the eyes. He'd let his mop of hair grow out over the summer and now it resembled something people would call emo.

"Yes, Hermione?" He smiled warmly at his friend. No matter how much he missed the past and…him, he still loved being with his friends.

"Does your scar hurt?" Harry frowned. "It's just, you didn't eat much at breakfast and I'm-" She glanced towards Ron, who nodded. "-We're worried."

"Yeah mate. You've definitely changed." Hermione opened her mouth to continue when Snape burst into the room. She slammed her mouth shut and turned to the front to listen to the professor saying… nothing?

Snape's mouth opened and closed in a parody of speech but no sound escaped. Some of the class began to snigger; he looked like a goldfish standing in the middle of the room with his mouth open. Despite the grinning students it was Harry's small smirk that Snape fixated on. He walked menacingly towards him, arms flailing and jaw moving, not a single sound escaping. You could clearly read his expression though. Detention. Oops, guess Harry would have to bribe the portraits in Snape's room next time.

He was halfway to the Slytherin dorm before he realised there was no reason to be there anymore. The thought stopped him in his tracks and he almost started crying before he turned and ran for the Gryffindor dorms, far from the haunting memory of Tom.

"Where've you been?" He was questioned almost as soon as he entered the room. Ron and Neville were sat on the sofa in the common room, briefly he wondered how long they'd been waiting.

"Detention. Snape had me washing all of his potions equipment." Not true. He'd gone to the astronomy tower after the detention. Harry moved towards the stairs when Neville grabbed his arm.

"You look awful Harry."

"Neville's right mate. You ain't been the same since that night Dumbledore called you into his office." Right. That'd only been a week ago. It felt like a lifetime and Harry felt himself being drawn into the memories before Ron's voice brought him back.

"Merlin Harry. Go to bed. You look like you're about to keel over." Harry nodded and climbed the stairs to the dorms. His dreams were plagued with the face of his lost love.

A/N Yes this chapter is short. I just wanted to establish the setting before I continue. Thank you for reading and thank you for waiting. I'll probably try to update once a week. I also won't be doing POV changes within the chapters this time so hopefully it will flow better!

TOM OR VOLDEMORT? Please put your choice in a review and I'll go with the majority. To clarify Tom is young and Voldemort is the canon one. This is why pairings are relatively undecided.

Thanks!

YukiOnnaOfWinter