-1AN: Dude, this was beta ed by Ia Packy, and friend of Ia Packy. The story is a combo of the work of WriteAway and Iapacky. R and R, we beg of you.
Harry stumbled into the dark room as he tripped on the spelled chains that connected his feet. A wave of nausea hit him as he fell to his hands and knees. His robes were grey with dust, and ripped in various places. He, himself, was not in much of a better condition. Needless to say, it had not been a good week.
"Get up," one of the guards grabbed the back of Harry's robes and near flung him into a heavy set wooden chair.
He hissed angrily, but made no move to escape the thick ropes that were now twining their way up his arms and legs to tie him to the chair. Harry looked up wearily through his overgrown bangs to look around him. His hazy vision portrayed his audience fuzzily. Harry blinked away some blood from the cut that had formed when his glasses shattered. The council sat before him, muttering and shifting in their seats uncomfortably. Judgment day he thought to himself. Lets see where their loyalties truly lie. The chair where Dumbledore should have sat was unoccupied.
"Let's see the charges, um shall we?" said the head witch, standing up with scroll in hand.
"Why not?" asked Harry casually, as if he didn't care. He was rewarded with a sharp blow to his head. If I could just kill you…
"The deaths of twenty unnamed muggles, three wizards who's bodies were too mangled to recognize, four witches, and Arthur Weasley."
The last name brought gasps from the assembly, and more muttering. Harry self-consciously flashed his eyes up towards where Molly Weasley sat, crying into an already soaking handkerchief.
"What say you so far?"
"Innocent," he snarled "Innocent, I'm innocent."
"You are also charged with the ruthless slaughter of your aunt's family, and the use of the cruciatus curse on numerous occasions one including the use on a Ludo Bagman."
"Do you plead guilty?"
"Of course not, you fool."
"YOU WILL NOT ADRESS THE HEAD THAT WAY!" roared a man from the end of the council table, but he was silenced with a hand.
"Attacks from you have resulted in the loss of Mr. Longbottom's arm, and the destruction of five buildings."
Harry only emitted a harsh laugh in reply.
"Do you find this funny, Mr. Potter?"
He released an insane giggle.
"Innocent?"
"Yes, and yes again."
"The last charge is, the murder of Severus Snape. It is said that you did not use magic to perform this task, but a muggle knife. What say you?"
"Guilty!" yelled Harry
"No, Harry!" shrieked Hermione, standing up from her bench.
"He doesn't know what he's talking about, madam, he is mad." shouted Ron almost knocking over the bench in a hurry to stand. "He meant innocent."
Harry slowly turned his head until he was looking at his two friends. "First I'm an obsessed tracker of Voldemort, and now I'm mad? Snape deserved everything he got."
"You will not address the general public, Mr. Potter." snapped the Head Witch
"I murdered him well and I'll take my credit for it, thank you 'mam."
Harry ignored the shouts of outrage around him, and stared at the back of his hand. The scars in the form of letters began to rearrange themselves with a curious sensation. It was a device he and Lupin had arranged long ago. For communication purposes, only in dire need. Why not make use of a scar if it had to be there?
Harry, it read, what are you doing?
The reader shoved his hand into his filthy black cloak so Remus could see it. No, not anymore Remus. I won't be taking Dumbledore's advice anymore. Look where he landed me, Lupin. I will defy him. Harry stared right into the face of the witch in a defiant manner.
"Do I have to spell it out for you? I A-M G-U-I-L-T-Y."
The woman looked flabbergasted and with a wave of her wand metal bars surrounded Harry.
"Well, in that case I don't see any cause for a further trial. It may be that you did have a moment of temporary insanity, and that will be looked into farther at a later time. For now you will be kept in a low security position at Azkaban. Nobody gets away with crimes unpunished here!"
Unpunished! Harry rose from the chair (which had freed him) and stuck his wand arm through a space in the bars. He pulled back his sleeve to reveal a severely wounded limb. His hand and forearm was a pale color, and covered with small white burn marks. It was all that remained of his wand, which had exploded during his capture. Tiny shards of wood and core embedded under his skin.
"Unpunished?"
Looking away so that she did not have to see it, the head witch spelled the cage into Azkaban.
Harry cowered into a corner of his tiny cell as a dementor slid by. A habitual shiver overcame him until the creature had past. He had been awake only a few minutes. The young man shook his head for a moment, to clear himself of the cold sensation. Looking down, he discovered that his robes had been replaced with new green ones. Then suddenly a sharp bang sounded. With a start, Harry looked up to see the wizard from the cell across the way shaking on the bars of his door. Harry slowly stood until he was at the door of his own cell.
"Hey, 're you the new kid?" the strange wizard whispered loudly
The wizard had wavy shoulder length brown hair that looked extremely unbrushed. It matched the look of his half starved, pale face that looked as though it could have been handsome before Azkaban. He seemed around the same age as Harry.
"I'm sorry," said Harry doubtfully "What did you say?"
"Ssssh!" the wizard hissed, "Shut up! Do you want to get us caught!"
"Sorry" Harry whispered back
"What, are you shy or something? Give me the low down. Name, crime, history, news from the outside world, the whole shebang." He paused for a moment to watch the newcomer, "Go on, speak."
"I was under the impression that Azkaban inmates were insane due to the dementors," Harry said sheep fully "I didn't know you would be so…"
"Normal?" supplied the wizard "Of course we're normal. This is low security, mate. The loons are down that way." he pointed down the hall "Past those large iron gates. They're dangerous ones, dude. You're lucky we aren't down there. I heard they sometimes kill each other, back when they were allowed in the cafeteria to eat. Now they have to be locked up 24/7. Keeps 'em safe from each other. I'm Tristan by the way. I'm here for the illegal hording of dragons. I used to keep 'em in a cave behind my house. Beautiful things they were, and down right loveable too. I trained them to come when I called and all sorts of tricks." Tristan paused to smile sadly "Then one day a whole family of muggles walked in there. They ministry seemed to think I had them go in there on purpose. For a little bit of fun, I guess. So I got thrown in here. Life sentence. What about you?"
"I, uh, am in here for, uh, dressing up like a death eater on Halloween." Harry spoke up reluctantly. He was beginning to like Tristan, and did not want him to know about Snape. He needed allies.
Tristan roared with laughter, pounding the wall beside him. "Dressing up like a death eater, now there's a joke for you." Wiping a tear from his eye, the wizard asked, "What's your sentence, dude?"
"Life.", said Harry with a smile. Tristan reminded him somewhat of a cross between Hagrid and the Weasley twins. "I made a pretty convincing death eater."
"That's harsh.", hissed Tristan soberly with a sharp intake of breath, "What's your name?"
Harry racked his brain for a name. Anything, anything. Just give me a name. "James."
"James what?"
"James Martin."
"A fine name for a fine man," said Tristan "I like you."
Then, with a creak, all the cell doors in low security began to slide open.
"What the-", began Harry as he hurried out of the cell, but Tristan grabbed his shoulder and put a finger to Harry's lips.
"Shut up!"
Carefully, Tristan guided Harry past the one wizard security guard on the way to the cafeteria. Harry blinked at the sudden light of the dining area, but gratefully at that. Before him lay an open circular room furnished with more orange plastic tables and chairs than the hall at Hogwarts. The place was painted white, and on the whole had a friendlier atmosphere than the cells.
"We can talk now," said Tristan cheerfully as the two stepped into line for food.
"Why couldn't we talk before?" Harry asked indignantly
"Because the guard seemed rather grumpy today and slightly hung over. That means he would have probably given us kitchen duties for talking." taking in his companion's surprised face, Tristan added "Once you're here for a while you tend to be able to categorize Mr. Filch's moods. Until then, just follow my lead."
Tristan scooped as much of the green goo called food onto his plate as he could before getting a dirty look from the cook. When she turned her head, Tristan did the same for Harry.
"Wait, did you say Mr. Filch", asked Harry in surprise
"Of course. The one and only. Well actually, he has a brother working at Hogwarts that's rumored to be just as cranky though not as ill mannered." Tristan smiled as he approached the desert table. He loaded some red goo onto Harry's plate as well as his own and then began to sprint towards the tables. Harry followed in suit.
The two wizards took their place at the table, with the silence of the other's ringing in their ears. The table's occupants seemed to be eyeing Harry warily as they ate.
"He's mine, dudes. Don't stress." Tristan laughed, turning to Harry he added "Sometimes I wonder whether or not I really am a member."
As soon as he spoke, the table burst out into clamor.
"Why didn't you tell me he was your's, Tristan?"
"Dude, who is the noob?"
"Aww, the nooby looks shy."
"Guys, shut up. You're scaring him."
"Why is he here?"
"Tristan, stop bringing home the strays."
"SHUT UP!"
"Thank you," Tristan laughed, "Now can I introduce you?"
Harry looked down at his food as everyone else looked at him.
"This," Tristan said "is James. Convicted for dressing up as a death eater on Halloween. Life sentence."
"Hi, James."
"Welcome new kid."
"Nice to meet ya mate."
"That punishment was too harsh."
"Hey waz up?"
"Yo Jamesey."
"That was stupid."
"Shut up, you're stupid."
"Jamesy? Where do you come up with this stuff?"
"You're one to talk, loser."
"Actually, 'Jamesy' is the stupid one. Dude, a death eater? You were only asking for trouble."
"Trouble is good."
"Only you would say that."
Harry quietly turned to Tristan as they were assaulted by the group's noise. "Are they always like that?"
"Basically. SHUT UP GUYS! SHUT UP!" Tristan yelled on the top of his lungs
There was a muttering of a "shut up yourself" followed by a bit of laughter before they all quieted down.
"Guys, you know the drill."
The young man to the right of Tristan stood up. He had a shaved head, and sharp blue eyes. He was quite tall, and muscular. He had tan skin that looked nice with his convict's green cloak.
"Scot Fine, sir!" said the wizard with a mock salute "Life sentence for getting on the wrong side of a Malfoy." Scot got a few thumps on the back and a round of laughter as he sat down. The prisoner to the right of him stood up.
"Actually, Scot did more than get on Mr. Malfoy's wrong side." he sniggered. This man had light skin with orange hair that looked as if it had been combed backwards with gel. The roots were dyed black. He had dark brown eyes that seemed to always carry some sort of laughter.
"How was I to know the woman was his?" shrugged Scot innocently, but with a twinkle in his eye "Just get on with the intro."
"I'm Alec Cooper-"
"Also known as Smart Alec," interjected a friend
"As I said, Alec Cooper. I forged fake ministry documents."
"Arman Barlow," said another. Arman had rich black skin and dark eyes. His black hair was braided close to his scalp, and came to his ribs. "I am in here for assisting Alec and trying to break him out."
"Needless to say it didn't go to well," said the next group member. She had wavy blonde brown hair that framed her lovely shaped honey colored face. "My name is Danica, meaning morning star. Last name Doyle. I pick pocketed from the minister of magic on multiple occasions." Her chestnut eyes held Harry's for slightly longer than necessary.
"Alvio Kelvin here!" shouted an enthusiastic blonde. Her chin length blond hair still held traces of mostly washed out dye. Blue streaks still remained. "I overreacted when an authority figure teased me." She winked and sat down.
"Meaning she beat him to pulp." said another dryly. "The name's Arutha Castell." Arutha had shoulder blade length black hair occasionally streaked with crimson. Dark eyes matched her hair, calculating the new comer. "Convicted for playing games with a dementor. Apparently messing with dangerous creatures isn't on the ministry's list of acceptable activities. Welcome, James."
"Thanks." said Harry, and he dug into his food. Wow, it's a whole group of jail birds. Looks like I'll be with them for a while. He looked up, surprised that every single one of them still watched him. Tristan gave a nod.
He felt a knife laid against his wrist underneath the table. The wizard masked his surprise.
"What do you want?" he asked
"Truth is," began Cecile
"We don't believe there is a James Martin." said Arutha
Damn.
AN: Hoped you liked it.
Ia- points to whoever guess the meaning of our penname and whose color is who's. Bye for now p.s. I am a spaz
WriteAway- Ia, they probably already know you're a spaz. Hey, fans. What's up? I know this strays from my usual kind of thing (boy did I have to restrain myself from making this a parody). Hope you like! READ AND REVIEW!
Ia- since I am a spaz you are an old geezer sticks tongue out
WriteAway- no, I'll have you know I'm a nerd. Thank you very much. Ignore Ia, it's what I try to do. At first it's like white noise, but then it gets really annoying. whacks Ia. New Chapter will be up soon.
Ia- grumbling whatever.
WriteAway- J