I've already mentioned the warnings in the summary. The idea for this story came to me a couple of years ago, and I've been sitting on it since then.
A couple things I would like to say before you read the story. I do not in any way condone what was done to my main character by her father, nor do I agree with how she handled the situation in the beginning of the story. If anyone has had any form of abuse done to them by a family member, friend, or stranger, please tell someone, do NOT let it get to the point that it does in my story. I went through something similar to this, though not quite as bad as what I imply happens to my main character and for a while, no one believed me, but I made them believe me by repeatedly telling them. The other thing that I would like to mention is that I can never see my main character's father doing this to his only daughter, but this is what my muse wanted me to write, so please only constructive criticism. No flames please! Please leave a review, they're greatly appreciated!
Disclaimer: The only characters I own are Gabrielle, Ashley, Kathryn, and Sara.
I sat and stared as the light glinted off of the silvery blade. I had endured pain from that man for far too many years...and no one would do anything about it. Not the authorities, family, friends, my long-time boyfriend, or even the staff at school.
For as long as I can remember, my father abused me, beat me, broke me…raped me. I have lived with the pain and suffering for, I feel, all my life. He says it is because my mother is dead and I remind him of her, he says that she is dead because of me, and so he punishes me to remind me that she, by my hands, died in childbirth. I can not remember what happened, because I was barely alive myself; all I can remember is that I have never had a mother in my life and it has just been father and I.
Sometimes, I still find it hard to believe that not one single person will believe me, but then I remember who my father is. He is the Savior of the Wizarding World, The-Boy-Who-Lived, The-Man-Who-Destroyed-Voldemort, and my father...Harold James Potter. No one wants to believe that the infamous Harry Potter would rape, let alone abuse his own daughter, or anyone else for that matter. There is one thing that the people in this world forget about; Harry Potter had a connection with Voldemort that ran so deep that sometimes they were one in the same person.
I am currently sitting in the Room of Requirement with a long, sharp dagger in my left hand and holding it over my right wrist. I look at a picture lying in front of me. It is of my father from a few months ago, during the Christmas season. By his face, you would think that he was the happiest, most caring person in the world...but I knew better. Why do you think he teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts here at Hogwarts?
It is two days until I graduate from Hogwarts, but I can no longer bear what my father has done to me for the past 18 years of my life. I look back at my right wrist and the dagger, I press the edge of the blade into my skin and I hiss as I feel it break the skin. I watch the red rivers of blood slide over my wrist, hand, and fingers before moving on to my skirt and legs. I switch the dagger to my right hand, resting it against my left wrist. I see the note; it explains everything that has happened to me and I told Ashley that I love him more than anything.
This time, I quickly dig the dagger into the skin on my left wrist, but I make no sound and watch as more blood is falling from my self-inflicted wounds. Soon my vision is blurring and my head is becoming dizzy as I switch the dagger back to my left hand. I raise the dagger to my throat, knowing that after this last stroke, my pain will cease to exist. The door bangs open, as the dagger makes its journey across my throat.
"Gabby, no!" Ashley shouts, pointing his wand at the dagger. I feel it leave my grasp, but I know it is too late. My body slumps to the floor and I welcome the blissful blackness.
Over 5 years after graduation
I'm sitting at the head table with family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, and media everywhere in the large ballroom. The only person not in attendance is my father, Harry Potter.
After the incident two days before my graduation from Hogwarts a little more than five years ago, I spent many months in St. Mungo's recovering from my suicide attempt and even more months in therapy to recover from the years of abuse that I had suffered from my father's hand. My father was sent to Azkaban prison and a trial was put on hold until I was well enough to attend, seeing as I was the only person that could testify against him. It took me over a year to be well enough to be able to push away the more bitter and painful memories of my childhood and testify in the one trial that would separate myself from the one person I've known all my life.
Flashback...Over 3½ years previous
A gavel sounded against the table, sending the courtroom into silence. The Minister of Magic, Toby Goldstone, stood up. He was a middle aged man with dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a stocky stature.
"We are here on this day the 17th of September, for the trial of Mister Harold James Potter," he stated, reading from the report in front of him. "The charges against him consist of child abuse and rape against his 19 year-old daughter, Gabrielle Marie Potter." He set the report down on the table in front of him and looked at Harry, who was shackled by wrists and ankles to the chair, in the middle of the room. He made no acknowledgement of the charges against him, except to ball his hands into fists at the mention of his daughter's name. The Minister turned away from the accused and turned to Gabrielle. "Miss Potter, if you would please step forward?" He indicated to a chair just to the left of where Harry was shackled, but closer to the jury and the rest of the people in attendance.
Gabrielle stood up from her seat, where she had been sitting with Ashley and two of her friends, Kathryn Weasley and Sara Zabini. She lifted a shaking hand to her hair to push back a stray piece of long, red hair. Reaching the witness chair, she adverted her eyes away from her father and sat down. She looked up at the Minister, who had resumed his seat.
"Now, Miss Potter," the Minister started, turning his brown eyes on Gabrielle, "would you please state your name and relation to the accused?"
"My name is Gabrielle Marie Potter," she replied. "The accused is my father."
"Thank you and would you mind telling the court when this started?"
Gabrielle took a deep breath. "I don't recall exactly when everything started per say, but a couple of years ago, I was able to talk with my aunt and uncle, Ron and Hermione Weasley. Two friends of my father's and my uncle, Ron, is one of my mum's older brothers." Gabrielle looked at the floor in front of her, no longer able to look at the people around her. "When I spoke with my aunt and uncle, they told me that my mother and father had become very close after my mother's graduation and that they loved each other dearly. I'm told by many people, that I am a spitting image of her when she was my age." She paused and closed her eyes, bidding away memories of her past. When she recovered control of her emotions, she spoke again, "Whenever my father would beat me or...rape me, physically, he would also mentally abuse me, by telling me that he was doing this because I reminded him of my mother and that because she died while giving birth to me, it was my fault. Somewhere along the lines, I think I started to believe that it was true, that it was my fault that she died and I deserved the punishment that my father gave me...no matter what it was.
"About a week before my graduation from Hogwarts, everything within me snapped. I couldn't take the pain, the suffering, everyone saying it wasn't true...that the famous Harry Potter would never abuse his one and only daughter...so I sought the only way I could think of to relieve my pain. Five days later, I took a dagger I knew my father had in his office, wrote a note, and took both with me to the Room of Requirement. Earlier at dinner, I had told my friends that I was going back to the dorms to rest and told them that I didn't feel well. I had gone back to the dorms, but only to take the note, dagger, and a picture of my father from my trunk." Gabrielle paused and looked up at Ashley, tears had filled her eyes and one had found its way down her cheek. She took another deep breath. "By the time, Ashley had found me; I had slit both my wrists and was in the process of slitting my throat..." She fell silent and let her eyelids fall shut.
"Miss Potter," the Minister said, causing Gabrielle to open her eyes and look up at him. "It says here in my report, that for over the past year, you have been in St. Mungo's for treatment to both your wrists and throat, and also for therapy. Is this correct?"
Gabrielle nodded. "Yes, it is. After Ashley stopped me from slitting my throat..." she fell silent once more, not knowing what to say. By the time she had returned to consciousness, she was in St. Mungo's and she did not remember anything before that.
Gabrielle heard the rustling of robes as someone stood up. "Sir, if I may say what happened," a voice offered. Every eye in the court - with the exception of Gabrielle's and her father's - turned to the young man now standing.
"Who are you and how do you know either the accused or Miss Potter," the Minister questioned.
"My name is Ashley Pucey. I was a student of the accused for seven years and have been dating Miss Potter for the past four and a half years," Ashley replied. He squared his shoulders and regarded the Minister with a look that told him that he would not sit until he had finished speaking.
The Minister gave him a curt nod, waving a hand in his direction. "If you would please enlighten the court as to what happened after you found Miss Potter and what lead you to the Room of Requirement to search for her," he said.
"After I had seen Gabby leave the Great Hall, I asked her friends where she had gone, because I was worried about her. She had fallen quiet around everyone a few days before hand and I wanted to ask her what was wrong," Ashley started. He shifted his gaze from the Minister to Gabrielle before continuing, "They had told me that she had gone to her dorm, so I followed them and waited until Kathryn, her cousin, returned to tell me that she was not there. I knew only of two places that she would be...near the lake or in the Room of Requirement. I quickly made my way to a window where I could see the lake from, but she was nowhere to be seen. So, I made my way to the Room of Requirement, she had locked and warded the door, so I had to break through the wards before I could open the door and when I did get the door open, Gabby was in the process of slitting her throat. I did the only thing I could do, I banished the dagger from her grasp, but she had slumped to the floor and was out cold...still losing blood.
"I ran to her and stopped the flow of blood from her wrists and the side of her neck, before picking her up. I found the note and picture on the floor next to her and grabbed them. I carried her to the Hospital Wing, to Madame Pomfrey, and answered her questions as best as I could. No one knew what was really going on, until I opened the note she had written, which explained what had happened and why she wanted to end all the pain she was going through." His shoulders sagged, as he regarded his girlfriend, who now had tears falling freely from her eyes. He blinked slowly and looked back at the Minister. "She had told us all what was going on and none of us wanted to believe it was true, but it was."
Silence fell around the courtroom, the only sounds being the sniffling of Gabrielle and a few other women. The Minister nodded again to Ashley, who sat down as the Minister stood up. He turned to Gabrielle. "Miss Potter, if you would please have a seat," he told her.
Gabrielle nodded silently, and stood up. Before walking back to her seat, she turned to her father. At that moment, he moved his head to look at her - the first move he had made since balling his hands into fists, other than blinking. Father and daughter locked eyes. "GM, I'm so sorry," her father said, his hands loosening. "I can never forgive myself for what I did to you, but..."
"Never call me that again. And I can never forgive you for what you did to me either," Gabrielle told him, before turning around and returning to her seat in between Ashley and Kathryn.
End of Flashback...Present
My father had been found guilty of all charges and was sentenced to Azkaban for life. I still haven't found it in myself to forgive him for what he did to me, but with the help of family and friends, I have been able to push aside many of the memories. Once in a while, something will trigger the memories of my childhood, but the occurrences have started becoming fewer and fewer. For some reason, as I sit here, I'm reminded of what happened to me; and I think it is because today is supposed to be the...
I was pulled from my musings, by Ashley whispering in my ear, "Well, Mrs. Pucey, what do you say we hit the dance floor and get this party started?"
I turned and grinned at my new husband. "I would say that would be a fantastic idea, Mr. Pucey," I replied. He offered me his hand and I accepted. He led me to the dance floor, where we opened our wedding reception to all invited. I know now, that I can look back on my childhood and know that Ashley will always be there for me, when I need him, in my future…in our future.