The life & lies of…
by
Charles Augustus
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise, obviously…
Author's note: This is a complete Alternate world / Alternate universe adaption of the Harry Potter series. I've taken some heavy liberties with the storylines, characters etc. Please bear with me.
Strong sinewy arms shackled by chains, dirty rags covering most of the torso but torn at places showing the abuse inflicted by the harsh reality that was Azkaban… Charles Augustus Potter stared at the man looking directly through him. Despite the destitute state of the man in front of him, it was his face that completely consumed his attention, demanded it. Emerald green eyes raging with an unholy fire and lips twisted in a mixture of sneer & a smirk. It had no place in the man awaiting death. Death through the Veil. A sentence reserved only for the worst of all criminals.
Azkaban broke men & women who called it their home. Mere days in the hellhole broke the spirit of the most strong-willed, tormented daily by the dementors. Those who were brought out for the death sentence ranged from weak sobbing to bewildered to completely broken. But not the man in front of him. This was a man who knew the fate he was facing but had didn't fear it. Even though , the aurors escorting the prisoner were expressionless as they were trained but they could not hide the look of fear in their eyes as they knew who he was or what he was capable of. This was the man the whole of Wizarding Europe had feared. The man who had inspired terror in their minds in ways even Voldemort or Grindlewald couldn't.
Charles Augustus Potter blinked as he found himself in his study. He had been lost in his thoughts again. That memory haunted him, again. As it had for the past 80 years. He had lived with the shame that on the day that mattered, he had stood silently & let history close a chapter that it had no right to. He knew why he did it but that didn't ease the guilt. He sighed into his hands covering his face & stood, wincing as his joints creaked. A colourful life starting since the day a madman had cursed him with the supposedly death curse that led to the moniker 'the boy-who-lived' and that had taken him through a prolonged war, a successful career in law enforcement and a 3-decade prolonged stint as the Chief Warlock of the British Wizengamot.
In fact, at the very moment there was a party going on downstairs celebrating his retirement from politics. Five decades passively & three decades actively. He had been the most decorated wizard alive for some time now. The boy-who-lived, the man-who-won, decorated auror, respected politician and one of the most powerful wizards of his age. And now close family and friends had gathered to wish him on the start of his retired life but he couldn't find it in himself to join them. He had shown up in his best clothes, smiled as he accepted their wishes, hugs, kisses, played with his great-grandkids. But this day for him was not a day of celebration. This was the start of the penance for the sins he had committed. Sins he knew he had to live with.
Sighing again, he moved to his desk, poured himself a stiff drink & pulled out a sheaf of parchment. As he dipped his quill into the ink, he knew what he had to write but couldn't find the words to put them in. Frustrated with himself, he gulped his drink and poured himself another one. Single malt whiskey. Scotch. Aged to perfection & obscenely expensive. He had been holding onto the bottle for long time not waiting for a day of celebration but this. To give him the courage to right the wrongs he had been a part of.
He began to write…
"31st August, 2097
Dear Hermione,
I am writing to you like a coward while you are sitting one floor below me enjoying my retirement party knowing that I can never look into your eyes & tell the things I've wished I could tell you for most of my life. You have always been a great friend, my best friend. But I fear that as you read this, you will lose the respect you have for me. Please accept that whatever I did whatever I was a part of, I did it because I thought it was for the best.
I read my biography that you wrote & graciously gave me a copy too. I have to thank you for being so kind to me. I do not think I ever was or will be as brave, noble & humble as you made me out to be. You have always seen the best of people even when they themselves didn't. That is probably your best quality. But it is also something I will have to rectify. Your account of my life history has been well-written as was expected from you but I think it is time I add some missing pages to it. I am leaving instructions to my attorneys that this manuscript should be given to you in confidentiality only on the event of my death. I am choosing you because out of every one I know you have always been the one to look at something objectively.
My only request is you do not make public what you are about to learn because history is what is written, it rarely is what happened. And some history has to be forgotten to protect the world we live in. I only leave this to you because I regret it – The lies I've been a part of. Of which you and countless others have been made a part of, unwittingly. Albus Dumbledore once told me that truth is a horrible thing. I did not understand this during my youth but now I do. I've tried to shield you & the others from it for most part. But I refuse to let it die. After my passing you will carry & protect the secrets I am about to reveal. And after your time, you will find someone worthy to carry this burden. Because someone should always remember.
This is the actual manuscript of the events that happened in our youth & has shaped our lives thereafter. I am naming it "The Life & Lies of Charles Potter" and it didn't start on Halloween, 1981 but 4 years before that. The day my elder brother Harold James Potter was born…"