Disclaimer: Harry Potter and its universe belong to J.K. Rowling. I make no claim to any of it with this fanfiction.

A/N: Thank you everyone for the reviews! I hope this chapter answers some of the questions that were raised. There will be several more deviations from canon, some minor and a few major - these will be revealed as the story progresses, have patience!

- Control -
Prologue II

Twilight flame bloomed around me.

It embraced me, twirling about me with the fluid grace of a born dancer. I watched transfixed as it teased me, ebbing closer before falling away. A cool wind blew against me when it closed, and I felt a profound sense of loss when it receded. Finally, on one of these tidal shifts the flame simply continued to recede. I panicked, reaching forward in an attempt to touch the veil of dark fire; my fingertips brushed the flame for a single moment in time, and frost glazed my fingernails.

I awoke stumbling atop a broken tower, my hand outstretched towards the overcast sky above. I tried not to dwell on the vision I'd just seen, turning instead and looking out at the broken wasteland and torn ruins beneath me. I would recognize my mindscape anywhere.

I exhaled explosively and leaned against a stunted column near where I stood. What was that…? I questioned, casting my gaze over the planes of my mind and waiting for it to answer. The wind changed direction once, twice, and then died completely. Yeah, I don't know either…

I glanced back at the sky and frowned as I beheld the dark glass of my occlumency shields. They were cracked in many areas, with a single area directly above the tower on which I stood sporting a puncture. Twilight flame poured from the breach and raced out along the insides of the shell, rapidly consuming the cloudy sky with fire. I tried not to dwell on what that meant.

I could tell by the opaqueness of the dome that my physical body was still unconscious; I was trapped here until whatever magic that bound my consciousness was released. Probably a stunner. I mused, turning and standing at the precipice of the tower before leaning forward and diving off.

Wind rushed at my face as I plummeted to the ruins below; I smiled then, it brought a familiar pang of freedom. Freedom.

Moments before impact I extended my will and opened my arms wide; the wind rose in a gale and caught me, setting me gently on the ground. I glanced back at the tower behind me, the center of it gutted by some impact. Neither magic nor masonry allowed the tower to stand with such a wound; my will alone kept it aloft. This was my mind after all, and within this shell of dark glass I was a god.

I turned and walked into the ruins, up a staircase and into a hallway of memory. I cocked my head as I spotted a door open some way down before approaching it. Wisps of gold escaped the door and flitted about me where I stood. I must have been dreaming, I realized. I had not had a dream I could remember ever since I managed to occlude my mind, yet I realized my dreams had never stopped – I'd simply stopped remembering them. Or ignored them.

I walked into the open door, curious to see what it was that had prompted this dream. I found myself standing in the Great Hall of Hogwarts herself in all her glory, students littering her tables. A glance at the enchanted night sky above told me it was dinner time, while a look at the head table revealed a turban-clad pawn. First year, then.

Turning and slipping past a group of Ravenclaws, frozen in their chatting, I walked towards the Slytherin table. I cast a baleful look over my housemates before setting my eyes on a lone head of dark hair sitting apart from his peers. I stood beside him, watching as his wild hair slowly began to move. His robes started to rustle as well, shifting over his overly-skinny form as he stood. I think I remember now…

A boy stood and discretely tucked a tome away into his robes, leaving the great hall and ignoring the few stares at his back. His housemates still didn't understand him; he was an enigma to them, and that was perfectly fine. A half-blood that grew up with abusive muggles, I'm not exactly easy for a pureblood to figure out even if I felt like being social. He thought, sighing.

His feet led him on a long, meandering path through the hallways of the great castle. Usually at this time he'd find an abandoned classroom and practice his magic, or at least the spells he dared use within these halls. Now however, he felt a certain listlessness – it had been some time since he'd explored the castle. Wouldn't hurt to find a new spot to read, anyway. He thought, moving up a few floors and walking along an outer hallway; open air and dark night dominated his left.

He gazed impassively at the twinkling stars for a long moment – reflecting, repressing. I have far too many issues to think overly long like this. His thoughts muttered, forcing him to turn and head deeper into the castle. He walked aimlessly, fingering the spine of the tome he carried hidden beneath his robes. It was a book on minor dark arts, not exactly illegal but most certainly to be found in the Restricted Section if it were ever allowed into Hogwarts at all. He'd bought it during his very first trip to Diagon Alley after slipping away from his escort.

Long years in the Dursleys' household had taught him to be wary and to question the motives of everyone. From so-called family that despised his very existence to muggle teachers that never interceded on his behalf despite it being their duty, no, he had no cause for trusting anyone. And so, he had explored the darker elements of this new world on his own.

I'm reflecting again… he thought with a sigh, forcing the memories away for the time being and clutching the book tighter as he passed a few portraits. He came to an intersection, listening as sounds echoed from the hallway to his right. I think I'm close to the Hufflepuff dormitories… he realized, turning the other way and continuing on his silent exploration.

He walked for a ways further, allowing his feet to choose his path. Eventually he came upon a hallway with several doors on either side, likely unused classrooms. Why is that doorknob glowing? The single handle stood out from the rest by a very slight sheen of red-orange. Is it a locking charm, privacy ward, or both? He wracked his mind for possible causes while he stood before the offending door.

Well, it's worth a shot… he thought, unsure where this sudden spike of curiosity originated and hoping it didn't lead him to intruding on some amorous upperclassmen. "Alohomora," he incanted, frowning as the door refused to budge. Maybe the ward has to be dispelled… "Finite," he tried, succeeding with the spell after two attempts and smiling as the red-orange glow dissipated. Another unlocking charm followed, and the door opened silently.

He slipped in and boggled at what he saw. A seventh year by his judgment, dancing left to right as an animated dummy sent a series of spells at her. Her movements were a beautiful, fluid grace that insured not a single spell from her opponent landed. How is an animated construct casting spells? He wracked his mind for an answer; as he watched however, the balls impacted the wall and floor with no discernible damage or impact. Are they just light? Not actual spells, but illusions? He steeled himself and purposefully stepped into the path of one of them, unable to resist the instinct to close his eyes as the ball impacted his chest… and promptly dissipated. Not even a tingle…

The young woman still hadn't recognized his presence, so he took a moment to study her. Her hair was a mystery, as bright pink was certainly not a natural shade of any race of human or demi-human. As he watched, the colors of it seemed to shift to a more muted color when she failed a dodge only to brighten considerably when her fluid movements dodged successfully. Odd…

Harry contemplated leaving her there, but his damnable curiosity forced him to stay. Yellow highlights on the robes, she's a Hufflepuff… probably won't curse me. He reasoned and gathered himself before clearing his throat loudly. Chaos ensued.

The witch was mid-pirouette when the sound came. All of his previous assertions about her grace went flying out the window as she slipped and face-planted onto the stone floor. The construct continued to happily pelt her back with light spells while she groaned in pain. It took all of Harry's will not to burst into laughter – as it was, he managed to restrain it to a snort.

"Buggering hell that hurt," she groused, pushing herself up and giving a baleful look to the interloper. "Well? Aren't you going to apologize?" She continued, glaring at the dark-haired youth with annoyance.

"Your warding spells need work. A first year got through them," Harry drawled, adopting the superior attitude he'd cultivated for dealing with in-laws and dorm mates.

She glared at him then, standing and mustering whatever dignity was to be found when one had dusty robes and an errant scrap of parchment stuck to their face. "Yeah well…" she started, frowned, tried to start again and finally let out an explosive sigh. "Was there something you wanted kid?"

"The construct, how does it work?" Harry continued without preamble, walking past her and standing in front of the now-motionless golem, tilting his head from side to side and poking it with his wand.

"Stop fiddling with it!" She snapped, slapping his hand away and giving him a look. "It cost a bloody fortune. It's a training dummy." She continued in a hard voice, the annoyance still clear in her tone.

"Explain," the boy stated, locking his emerald gaze on hers and watching in astonishment as the color of her eyes briefly matched his own before shifting back to a neutral blue. One thing at a time… "How do the enchantments work? What are its capabilities?"

"You're not going to leave me alone, are you?" She asked, frowning as young wizard kept staring at her. "Fine. It's made of wood and it's been enchanted with loads of stuff that lets it move around and whatnot. It can fire simple spells, or it can dodge incoming spells. Trainee aurors use these models; the more high-end ones are made of metal and are quite a bit faster." She finished, obviously hoping to deter the boy – it was not to be.

"I hadn't realized it was possible to animate things permanently…" Harry whispered, speaking his thoughts aloud as he processed her words with Granger-like efficiency. "So you want to be an auror?" the question surprised him, why would he care? And yet, he found himself curious. Maybe she can give me some pointers for the next time I get caught out by errant Gryffindors… he reasoned.

"Not that it's any of your business… but yes," She muttered, finally sitting down on a desk and leaning back to appraise the boy in front of her. "Snape might just cost it for me with the potions NEWT, but I'm still gonna try. Bloody git." She muttered, just loud enough for her audience to hear.

Harry frowned at her – Snape was his head of house, but he supposed he could understand her feelings. He was never very fond of me either, despite being my house head… he mused, cocking his head and assessing the young woman in front of him. "Wouldn't a shield spell work just as well?" Harry queried.

"Yeah for one or two hits, but those things get tiring to hold up. Plus, your enemy isn't always gonna be flinging little light charms at you, yeah?" She asked, scoffing. "It's best to learn to move and dodge, and there's supposed to be an entire course in the auror academy for non-magical defense."

He took the scoff as a personal offense, glaring. "Perhaps you should have it cast some real spells then, to give you some proper motivation." Harry all but growled.

"Easy tiger," she laughed, suddenly grinning at him and asking, "That an offer?"

What? "What?" he queried, surprised.

"I said, are you offering to help me? You got through those door wards, so I'm assuming you can cast more than a little levitation charm," she stated, grinning wider now. He watched transfixed as her hair grew from a darker pink to an almost silvery color. She's so confusing…

"What exactly do you want me to do? And what's in it for me?" Harry fired back, crossing his arms over his chest and giving her his best impassive look.

Her hair color dimmed a bit. "Don't do that, you remind me of a hook-nosed git," she teased, then grew more serious. "You know the stinging hex?" she waited for his nod, "use that, you'll be harder to predict than the dummy. As for what ya get in return… I'll show you a few spells, yeah?"

The gleam in the boy's eyes must have been too telling, for she immediately frowned. "Nothing too dangerous, but I can show you how to do a typical stunner and maybe help you with those shields you like so much, eh?"

Harry mulled over her words for a moment and finally nodded. "Fair enough," he murmured, walking forward as she stood and offering a hand, "Harry Potter."

She smiled back at him and reached forward to ruffle his hair instead, "Wotcher Harry, name's Tonks. Just Tonks."

Her hand in his hair began to slow before the swaying dark strands finally went completely still. I looked between them at the smiling face of Tonks and the surprisingly mirrored expression on the younger boy before her. I realized suddenly that I was smiling as well, my expression matching the others.

Tonks and I had trained together after our accord that evening. My accuracy with spells had risen sharply from the efforts, and she had praised me on more than one occasion. After she got over the stinging… I thought with mirth. It had started as a strictly professional endeavor for the betterment of our individual skills.

Over time however, we'd grown closer – more than once I'd found myself in our usual training spot patting her back awkwardly as she cried over her latest romantic debacle. Apparently being a metamorph, as I had learned her gifts were called, had its downsides to go with the benefits. I can't believe some fool actually asked her to look like McGonagall… I shivered, that had been a particularly long evening.

Eventually we had been forced to drift apart as her NEWTs approached, though we had tried to meet at least once a week. These meetings usually devolved into me reading her trainee auror books while she frantically read through her school texts, but still – it had been nice to have a friend. Actually… she was probably the only one I had my entire first year, I realized.

After Tonks graduated, she had kept in touch sporadically through letters. I recalled with a smile the nearly-ineligible letter she'd sent gushing over having been chosen as an apprentice to some senior auror named Alastor Moody. Constant Vigilance! her later letters had complained. The thought of Tonks' status drew a frown to my face as I recalled the events that led to my unconsciousness.

Tonks was still a trainee Auror, why had she been there? I recalled a letter that she had written explaining trainee Aurors usually accompanied experienced mentors for mundane field work to gain experience. Well, as far as they knew it was a simple, if excessive, underage magic charge at first… I mused, slowly walking out of the memory and back into the familiar environs of my mind.

Tonks had really wanted to go on some of those field assignments, too… I remembered suddenly. The thought made me feel sick, and for the first time I cursed the fact I was stuck in my mindscape and unable to commit to the wretching that I so desperately wished to do. I slammed a fist into a wall instead and watched it crumble in face of my wrath.

Turning my gaze to the dark skies above, I walked out of the western 'wing' of my thoughts and into a dilapidated courtyard. The fire's still spreading. It was true; twilight flame had consumed almost the entire sky above me and cast a shadow over my entire mindscape. "At least you're staying up there," I quipped, likely tempting fate.

Suddenly, the flames began to swirl directly above my head. Fuck me. I thought savagely, watching as the fire churned like some parody of a whirlpool. It began to lower, lengthening into a funnel shape directly towards me. A part of me told me to run, told me to escape before the nebulous tornado could claim me – but I refused to listen. As far as I was concerned it already had me, body and soul.

"Come to collect your dues?" I mocked to the maelstrom of fire above me. "13 minutes of freedom you gave me, after all," I continued, stepping up onto a broken stair just to put me that much closer. "Though I must confess, it didn't turn out quite how I expected. I suppose that's just how you work, hmm?" I taunted. Even a week ago, I would likely have considered myself mad if shown this situation. Perhaps I am.

The flames roared brighter, dusting the ruins around me in a layer of frost and devouring warmth. I stood in the center of the pillar as it widened; as I watched, a tunnel formed above me through the fire. I spread my arms wide and welcomed the frigid inferno, welcomed the contradiction, welcomed the darkness.

Suddenly the conflagration was upon me, embracing me with twilight flame. It doesn't hurt… why doesn't it hurt? I thought, suddenly feeling my mental self lurch upwards. The dark blaze propelled me towards the sky with more and more speed, towards the still-opaque barriers. I braced myself and brought my arms before my face just before I struck the shields of my mind. They shattered like glass before a muggle cannon…

I awoke suddenly, sitting bolt upright and looking around with wide-eyes. It took me several moments to push down the panic and confusion and take stock of my situation. What… what was that? I asked rhetorically, fearing even to hazard a guess as to what I'd just experienced. Hastily, I checked my occlumency shields and found them whole, if a bit worse for wear given my predicament.

My predicament indeed… I thought with a trace of amusement, looking around at the small cell I was sequestered within. My lower back still ached, ached where my spine had broken and I realized I must have been out for some time – and bore the attentions of a healer during that period.

I patted myself down, finding I was still garbed in over-large jeans and a simple T-shirt that fell far past my waist. My wand had of course been taken, as had the watch Ginny had given me. It was hard to tell which I missed more at the moment.

Slowly I stood, wincing as pain stabbed at my back. How long are you supposed to stay immobile after breaking your spine, anyway? I thought curiously, but seeing as I had no idea just how long I had been unconscious it mattered little. I stood for a moment and stretched the muscles that I dared; my mouth was dry and the aftertaste of mold was prevalent. Nutrient potion. Probably been out longer than a day, for certain.

I approached the door of the cell and looked through the small, barred window. I assumed it was a holding cell within the ministry, as I spotted a drowsy Auror sitting at a small table nearby. I assessed him for a long moment, he appeared rather young – likely a trainee, there simply to raise alarm if something happened so that more seasoned veterans could deal with the breach. As it was, I wondered what god I had pleased to bless me with such luck not once, but twice. Will they ever learn not to underestimate me?

As if sensing my gaze, the man turned his drowsy eyes to my cell bars. He must have noticed appraising stare, for he suddenly stood and blinked at me. "You're supposed to be out… they re-stunned you just an hour ago!" He exclaimed, and I cocked my head at him as I considered his words.

"Then whoever did it is obviously incompetent," I retorted dryly, leaning against the cell door and resting my chin just beneath the bars. It irritated me that I had to stand on my tip-toes to look out.

"Mad-eye… erm, I mean, Senior Auror Moody himself stunned you!" the man retorted, and I blinked. I should be out for quite some time, hell even the stunners Tonks taught me were sufficient to put someone under for over three hours… I thought, recalling a particular few Gryffindors who had served to test that duration.

"Why have I been kept unconscious?" I asked, pushing aside the issue of my rapid recovery and focusing instead on the situation at hand.

"Orders," he replied shortly, apparently getting over the shock of my sudden bout of consciousness and recalling that I was, in fact, his prisoner.

"Why haven't I been kissed?" I asked next; I felt it was a legitimate question. He seemed uncomfortable with the query. What, the thought of a 13-year-old being executed doesn't sit well with you? I mentally scoffed.

"Your trial is scheduled for tomorrow," he finally replied, shifting his gaze to the papers on his desk before looking back at me and beginning to approach my cell, "Now, go lie down on the cot so I can stun you again."

What a ridiculous command, I thought, glaring balefully at the fool before me. I looked into his brown eyes and realized that if I was put under again now, I couldn't trust my capacity to recover so quickly again. I would be out until the trial, I would be sentenced, I would be executed…

A pleasant numbness danced up my vertebrae.

I smiled then as I looked into those approaching eyes. "No," I murmured simply, reaching out with my mind and trying to form the connection. Legilimency was an art I had tested a sum total of three times, all with Ginny and never in this fashion… and always with a wand.

Thoughts of Ginny's smiling face during our study sessions made the cold recede; it made it harder to hold my focus on his eyes. Instead, I thought of her pale lifeless body lying on the floor of a forgotten chamber. The chill returned and bathed my insides, my soul, with vindictive rime and searing twilight.

He raised his wand to stun me and I glared at him hatefully, wreathing my will in dark flame and striking. I felt myself flying forward, propelled by the same blaze that had brought my consciousness. I slammed into the rudimentary occlumency shields he had with a fury not to be denied, and soon the fire was spreading along his insides. I saw his blank gaze and smirked as he visibly shivered.

"We have to escape this place…" I whispered into the halls of his mind; I knew better than to try direct domination in such a manner and I had no wand for the Imperius. Instead, I focused on implanting a suggestion within his mind to provoke a response. "They're keeping us here. They're going to kill us. Give me my wand and we'll get out of here together."

Our wills warred on the plane of his thoughts. He seemed torn, his blank gaze never leaving my own eyes. I saw a flash of a cabinet, a cabinet containing wands. My wand! "Get it for me and we can escape!" He was rebelling, but the dark fire – my dark fire – would not be denied. His shivers grew more pronounced, and I repeated the command in a growl.

Slowly he began to backpedal, stumbling over the table though his eyes seemed locked onto mine. He fumbled behind him for the cabinet and tapped his wand on the wards, opening it and pulling out three wands from within. I recognized one as my holly and phoenix feather. "That one, yes!"

He walked back towards my cell with a mechanical gait. I reached through the bars then, outstretching my arm towards him. "Almost there… just hand it here, and we'll be free…" I cooed. The Auror raised my wand towards me slowly. Almost…

A blue curse struck my open palm at speed, slamming my forearm into the bars of my cell and snapping them audibly along with most of the bones in my hand. I screamed in pain and stumbled back into my cell; the black flame hastily returned me into my own mind and wreathed itself around me in a protective cocoon.

"I told you he's to stay stunned, Richards!" a familiar voice rumbled just before the crack of staff meeting skull reached my ears.

"Ow! Wha… Mad-Eye?" I heard the auror reply, his voice dazed as if he'd just woken from a deep sleep. "I-I mean, S-Senior Auror Moody!" he corrected moments later. Apparently he had recovered enough to remember his audience.

"This is going on your record," the gruff voice, who I now knew as Alastor Moody, growled and stepped up to the bars. I looked at his gnarled face hatefully while cradling my shattered right arm. "Nice try lad, don't know how you did it and frankly I don't care. You're going back under."

"Wait!" I tried, only to stumble forward as a thick bolt of crimson energy struck my chest and rent my consciousness asunder.

I awoke chained to a chair in the center of a large hall. Courtroom… I corrected, glancing around. There was a tingle running through my nerves, causing my fingers and toes to twitch. I must have been enervated.

"The trial shall now commence. Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore, presiding," an official voice sounded from somewhere behind me and to the right.

"Harry Potter," a voice called from in front of me, and I glanced up and gazed at my old headmaster as he sat on his dais with the entire assembled Wizengamot flanking him. I had to forcibly restrain the black fire that surged inside of me at the sight.

"You stand accused of 3 counts of murder of a muggle, 2 counts of murder of an Auror," Two? I thought I killed three… "Additionally, you are accused of using multiple Unforgivable and other illegal dark curses in the course of these acts. How do you plead?" Dumbledore asked, the sorrow in his eyes nearly made me sick. I snorted instead.

"Not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect," I replied, recalling the defense from some muggle crime drama I'd overheard while scrubbing the Dursley's floors a few years prior.

"I see," Albus started, frowning at me. "You see Harry…"

"Hem-hem!" A nasally voice interrupted, and I cast my gaze into the sea of black robes for the source.

"While I do agree insanity makes for a likely—"

"Hem-hem!"

"…yes, Senior Under-Secretary?" Albus finally acknowledged, giving the woman in question a mild glare.

"Such a defense is not credible under Ministry guidelines, sir," she murmured in what was likely supposed to be a sweet voice, but the dark fire inside of me seethed and was joined by my own anger. I located her finally, as she had not been among the assembled Wizengamot above. No, she was standing just beneath their podiums as acting prosecutor for the ministry. I committed her face to memory.

"Thank you, Madam Umbridge," Umbridge. The Chief Warlock replied, though even I could tell his words were slightly forced. "Do you have any other words to say before the trial commences, Harry?" Dumbledore finished.

I smiled then, leaning back and rapping my fingers – freshly healed, though still stiff – on the reinforced wooden chair that bound me. "It doesn't matter, this trial is a farce just like this Ministry," I offered, casting an amused look to the pink woman from earlier. She apparently didn't like my choice of words, judging by the scowl that briefly broke her sugary smile.

"Very well…"

In all, the trial lasted about an hour. They brought in aurors to testify against me, most of them I recognized from that fateful night. 13 minutes!

The first auror was the one I shot with my uncle's shotgun. He didn't appear worse for wear at all. Of course, muggle firearms don't exactly leave trace dark magic that complicate healing… I thought with a slight smirk. He saw the smirk and nearly drew his wand.

The second and perhaps most shocking was an auror that was missing about half of his face. It was covered in white gauze that disappeared down his robes to his right shoulder and glistened with blue-white wisps of enchantment. I recognized him with a start – he had arrived near Tonks, and I had struck him with an acid-burst curse. I had thought him dead. His testimony was damning, if brief.

Finally, Senior Auror Moody himself took the stand. I didn't bother hiding my snort when his peg-leg got caught on the edge of the stand. It got me silenced for the duration of his testimony.

Why didn't they bring in Tonks? I was curious yet thankful; I truly didn't think I could face her again. Better I get kissed without seeing her – maybe she'll remember me as I was back in first year… I thought sadly.

"Does the prosecution rest?" Dumbledore queried after Moody had ambled off and a few other investigating aurors had testified to the state of the Dursleys. One had even vomited during his testimony on the state of Petunia Dursley and I laughed openly, wondering who had paid him for the performance – that got me silenced again.

"We do, Chief Warlock," Umbridge replied smugly, sitting down in her seat and giving me her little sugary grin. Twilight flame consumed my thoughts, but I restrained it. Aurors were behind me, flanking me, more by the doors… it would be pointless to fight now – better instead to bide my time.

"Do you have any words in your defense, Harry?" Dumbledore asked, though I could tell he probably didn't want me to speak. The silencing charm on me was lifted, and I gave him my best grin.

"It was worth it," I murmured simply, but there was cause for my barb. I wanted to weaken his shields; I wanted one last parting shot at the old man…

He frowned deeply, and let out a shuddering sigh. I spotted the glint of tears in his eyes and hid my grin as I gathered the dark inferno within me. "You leave me no choice, Harry. Those in favor—" I struck with vengeance.

I poured all of my frustration into that attack. I gathered all my hate, all my sorrow, every single sin I could gather from my memory and threw it into the pyre. The raging inferno that gripped me eclipsed thought and reason, and I charged into his mind on blackened wings of most unholy flame. Pristine white shields greeted me as I rapidly approached, and I slammed into them with a fury born of desperation and a lifetime of suffering.

The shields were strong, so strong, and yet the hate within me surged onwards. Frost encased the shimmering barrier as the fire raged against it, raged against one of my perceived tormentors. I slammed the mental equivalent of a fist into the bright alabaster before me, licks of black flame expelling from my claw with each strike. Claw?

For a single moment, the shield buckled. A hairline of cracks formed beneath my strikes, and a single fragment dislodged…

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…

A prophecy? My mind whirled with the knowledge and my concentration faltered. The gleaming shields flared to brilliance suddenly and I screamed as I was violently ejected on a silver wind. Twilight flame wrapped around me and defended me from the worst, but I knew there would be damage to my mindscape after this.

"Enough!" Dumbledore was livid, though I didn't bother looking up at his face. I hung my head and fought the headache he'd sparked inside of me. There was clamor in the Wizengamot now, and I heard some unknown voice calling for order.

Why is he thinking about a prophecy during my trial? What's the significance? It was so hard to focus now, the black fire had dimmed from my defeat and my occlumency shields were fractured heavily.

"All in favor of conviction?" Dumbledore finally asked; his voice was cold. I didn't bother to look at the show of hands.

"Harry Potter, the Wizengamot finds you guilty of all charges," the Chief Warlock intoned with the voice of a judge passing sentence – which he was. "As you have not yet reached your majority, your sentence is commuted to life in Azkaban." …what?

Footsteps approached and stopped in front of me; I recognized the hem of the robes as the dark blue of the Auror corps. I heard a sudden snapping sound and sighed as I beheld two pieces of a broken wand fall to the floor before me. Eleven inches, holly and phoenix feather…

"Aurors, remove the defendant," a female voice stated, the same one who had called for order earlier. I was bodily lifted to my feet and had my arms bound behind me. I walked mechanically as I was led from the room, my thoughts still reeling from my mental battle and the knowledge that I had been spared the kiss.

There were reporters outside the courtroom, of course. I paid them no mind, my eyes cast down to the shackles on my feet. What was that prophecy about, why was he thinking about it during my trial? It makes no sense… I was thinking frantically now. I hardly noticed when a reporter reached through the throng of aurors and grabbed my shoulder, nor did I pay any mind when Moody rapped him on the head with his staff.

We walked directly into what I supposed was a holding area. Finally wrestling the headache down from a splitting pain to a dull throb, I risked a glance upwards and immediately faltered. Tonks…

She was standing in front of me with tears in her eyes, and I found to my horror they were contagious. Words spilled from my lips without the approval of my mind, "Tonks… I'm sorry…" I wasn't sorry for the murders. I wasn't sorry for the 13 minutes of freedom bought with blood. No, I was sorry for bringing her into my life and holding her close enough that she was harmed by my actions, no matter how justified I felt them to be.

She sighed quietly and sniffled, and I tried to offer her a wan smile, "You'll need a new training partner," I offered, trying to remind her of better days, of days before a flight of independence landed her friend in a cage for the rest of his life, of days before black fire consumed the last vestiges of my battered soul.

My words must have struck a nerve, for suddenly the dam behind her will broke. She lurched at me and wrapped me tightly in her arms, and I pressed my face into her chest as she began to sob in earnest. Sudden warmth bloomed within me and dispelled the cold. I was unable to suppress a gasp.

"I'm sorry too…" she whispered into my hair, "Oh God, Harry I'm so sorry…" I leaned into her, wishing the restraints were removed from my wrists so I could return the embrace. I inhaled deeply of her scent, the lilacs of her perfume mingling with what I could only define as her. She smelled of earthen things, with a crispness normally found on chilly mornings. Autumn…

"That's enough, Nymphadora. We have orders," the voice was Moody's, "and you have to report to Madam Bones for your disciplinary hearing. Just forget the lad exists, he's going to join his kind," he finished in a voice dripping with disdain.

His words made me tense, and not just from indignation. She was the only one there that night that wasn't at my trial… I felt her tense and take a breath to defend me and immediately interrupted her, "Tonks, you didn't have to…" I started.

She shushed me with a shuddering breath and hugged me tighter. "I refused to testify, they can bugger off," she replied, finally drawing away from me as Moody impatiently tapped his staff on the floor.

"I'll be alright," I offered in an attempt to reassure her and she suddenly laughed through her tears.

"Only you would say something like that…" she began to tear up again and reached forward to ruffle my hair in a familiar gesture. "I'll see you later, kay?"

It was my turn to laugh, "You better not!" I replied seriously, drawing another smile from her - though this one was tinged with sadness.

"I said that's enough," Moody rumbled, and his stave impacted the back of my head. I turned and snarled at him, a torrent of black fire rose and bore me forward into the auror's mind. A granite wall greeted me, stretching infinitely in all directions. I was still weak from Dumbledore and the attack was paltry at best, but it served my purposes. I slammed my claw into the stone and watched as a spider web of cracks spread from the impact moments before I fell back into my own body.

"Constant Vigilance, old man!" I sneered, grinning savagely as he stumbled back. Raw fury consumed his remaining eye as he raised his staff.

"Harry!" Tonks cried just as the thick bolt of a stunner slammed into my breast, and I fell back into her arms.

A/N: This chapter is part two of the prologue, which will consist of three chapters total by my estimate.

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