BOY-WHO-LIVED ESCAPES AZKABAN!!
The Daily Prophet can exclusively reveal that yes, after just one year in Azkaban, Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived broke out of prison, in the most obtrusive fashion yet. But the drama doesn't end here, the boy-who-lived was innocent! He never murdered a single soul in his blessed life. The Ministry in their haste to exact justice threw him into Azkaban without a trial. Now it seems they will regret another bad decision.
Two death-eaters were apprehended recently, their names have been kept anonymous. thanks to the efforts of Kingsley Shacklebot and Remus Lupin, who has recently been inducted into the auror's ranks, an atrocity in itself, given the fact that Lupin is a werewolf. In the mandatory questioning under the effect of veristarserum, they plead guilty to the heinous murder of the half-giant Ruebus Hagrid around two months ago, and the framing of Potter after the murder of three muggles. They used the polyjuice potion to become two muggle children, who had apparently become friends with Potter over the summer and a muggle man. They staged a drama near the Burrow, the abode of the Weasleys, and in the process caused the incarceration of Potter - The Chosen One.
Albus Dumbledore, soon after receiving the knowledge of Potter's innocence sped towards Azkaban, wasting no time at all. Upon reaching the dread Azkaban, he realized something was amiss, the formerly massive door that guarded the prison was in ruins, a gaping hole through it center.
After gingerly stepping past the door, Dumbledore proceeded towards Potter's cell, wanting to free the golden boy as soon as possible. What he saw at Potter's cell stunned even him into submission – the cell was empty, the only proof that Harry Potter had ever been there were the mangled remains of the iron bar, a few wooden shaving on the floor and several tattered black robes.
On further investigation, the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge was stunned when he told the Daily Prophet that five dementors were missing and unaccounted for. The cloaks on the floor were later identified as being the remains of the dementors. How the boy-who-lived managed to do this is not known, as are his whereabouts. He did leave a message behind though, somehow. Inscribed on the wall was, 'So bloody easy', the objective was pretty obvious, to spite the ministry.
Indecision is racing through Ministry ranks however, as rumours about he-who-must-not-be-named attacking the prison and abducting Harry Potter flourish.
Dumbledore asked the Daily Prophet to send this message out for him, "Harry, if you read this, just know that we are all extremely sorry for what we did and wish you to come back as soon as possible. Please come back."
Harry's eyes gleamed as he read the paper clutched in his hands. 'Ah, yes. Revenge will be easy now.' Harry thought. He stood in the same cave Sirius had hid in when he had just escaped, Harry had thought it fitting that he stay there as well.
The dementor's cloak he had wrapped around him had proven to be very useful. Not only did all wizards keep away form him, thinking he was a dementor, muggles could not see him.
The cloaks were actually part of the dementors themselves, it was their only physical manifestation. Without it, they were just so much hate and souls. They were wraiths that could suck up happiness, the cloak just gave them a physical form and the fear of all mortals. They were visible to wizards only, so to muggles they, just like ghosts, were invisible. He could also use the dementors souls trapped within his staff and sword to suck the happiness out of the air, so to wizards it seemed as if though he were a rogue dementor, and swiftly sent word to the Ministry, who as expected, did nothing.
Harry wrapped the cloak around himself and obscured his face using the hood. He clutched his staff tightly, and then shrunk it to the size of a wand. He did not want to arouse the suspicions of any muggle or wizard with the stray piece of wood. He tucked the staff carefully into his pocket. He prepared to leave, and once again, cast a last look at the place that had housed him, with no traitors to attack him.
He was going back to Hogwarts!! He wanted to give himself a definite location, so Voldemort would not waste his forces searching for him. He wanted to make it clear to the world that he was not turning dark. It would also be so much easier to exact his revenge if he was close to his traitorous friends.
Why didn't he want Voldemort to waste his forces? Simple, Voldemort had being laying low of late, and the ministry was beginning to ignore him again, something he definitely did not want. He did not care how much pain Voldemort inflicted upon the wizarding masses, they had done the same to him, they had betrayed him. They deserved all the pain they would no doubt face.
He wasn't going to make it easy on Dumbledore either though, he was going to 'fight for his rights' every bit of the way, making life as miserable as he possibly could for the old fart.
The office was silent, only the soft sob ever breaking the penetrating silence. Dumbledore sat in his chair, Fawkes perched on his shoulder, grim as grim could be. The news had not gone down very well with the public, there had been riots and several ministry buildings had been razed before the public could be calmed down. The ministry had to call in aurors. Harry had escaped, his message still engraved deep within his mind, never leaving it. He was now only god knew where, possibly in the hands of death eaters.
This was something that bothered Dumbledore more than anything else. There was no way the Harry he knew could have twisted the bars like that, there was no way he could have left such a path of destruction. He had no wand, he was in the hands of the dementors, reliving his worst memories, he was supposed to be weak. Yet somehow, he had slain five dementors, things that as far as the wizarding world knew, could not be killed. He had ripped apart cast iron bars and broken through a magically reinforced metal door. Then against all the odds he had disappeared without a trace.
Dumbledore suspected foul play and thought Voldemort had been involved in one way or another. It was all too convenient. Voldemort had carefully removed Harry from the wizarding world, and hence removed his only threat. Then right after two death eaters had been caught, Harry disappears from Azkaban, with the words, 'So bloody easy' permanently framed on the wall. He didn't know if Harry had gone of his own will or if he had been kidnapped. For the sake of himself, Harry and the rest of the wizarding world, he hoped Harry had been kidnapped. Selfish though it might sound, the alternative was too bleak to conisder. If Harry, craving revenge, stood by the side of Voldemort, the English wizarding community would fall in a matter of weeks. It would also be an insult to his parents, Sirius, Hagrid and himself if he did turn to the other side. Last of all, every one on the light side would also know why he had left, not because he had wanted to, but because he had been forced to, alienated from the world, persecuted, and tortured, he had fled to a secure place, seemingly the only sensible place to go to.
He let out a deep sigh and clutched his hands together in what seemed like prayer. The door flew open and a mass of brown and red hair flew into his office barraging him with questions.
"He was innocent Professor?"
"Dumbledore, was the Prophet telling the truth?"
"Does he-who-must-not-be-named have him?"
"Why?"
"How?" and several others. The entire Weasley clan and Hermione had flown into the room soon after reading the article. Dumbledore threw his hands up in the air but softly said, "Please calm down, all will be cleared."
A dementor glided up to a castle. The enormous structure loomed over it, steadily growing. Normally a person would be awed by the sight, but the dementor, being nothing but a wraith, was not. It was on strict business and could not bother to waste time loitering about, so it did not rest long at the gate. With a gesture of its hand, and a loud grating noise, the gates began to slide apart.
The dementor casually looked around and slid inside, and with a gesture, the gate slammed shut behind it. Suddenly, the dementor stopped dead, it looked all around the fields and the door that would lead it to Hogwarts. It had reached. Harry lowered his hood and smirked, time to initiate his revenge. Thinking about the entire scenario once more, he wondered if he actually wanted to meet the traitors. He could leave now and never return. There was nothing for him in this world. He did not give a hoot about any damage Voldemort could and would cause to the wizards, they had betrayed him. And being the cowards they were, pushed the blame onto someone else as soon as they realized their error.
He shook his head and decided to follow his original plan. It would cause great distress to his former friends, and he would find new ones, people he was sure would stand beside him no matter what. If he was a murderer, a saint or a thief, whatever he chose, he knew the type of people who would remain true to him, and they resided in the halls in front of him. His mind made up, he pulled the hood back up and masked his face. Anyone who had the misfortune to look upon him would think he was a dementor on the loose, albeit, one with powerful green eyes.
He raised his hand and, just like he had done with the entrance to Azkaban, blew the doors in front of him apart. He glided over the ruins and made his way towards Dumbledore's office. He had some things he had to sort out with that naïve old fool.
Dumbledore slowly related his tale. The interrogation, the ruins at Azkaban and finally his thoughts on Harry's current whereabouts. He spoke, blissfully unaware of the fact that a smirking Harry was right outside his door, listening to every word said.
Every one in the room was flabbergasted at the news they had just heard. Their worst fears had come true. They had imprisoned an innocent boy, never giving him a chance to prove himself. The boy who was supposed to save them, the boy who had trusted them with his whole soul, the boy who would have died for them. What had they done in return for all the things he had done for them, the times he had saved them.
17 years ago when he had stopped Voldemort's reign, losing his parents in the fight. In reward, he had been sent to the Dursleys and spent his first 10 years in hell, treated like a servant who did not deserve to live. 10 years later when he had once again fought Voldemort and kept him at bay, stopping him from getting the Philosophers stone and becoming immortal. Not to mention saving Hermione from a troll. In return, the next year the whole world thought him to be the heir of Salazar Slytherin and the man who opened the chamber if secrets. What did he do? He promptly went on to save Ginny from the clutches of Tom Riddle and a basilisk, and seal the Chamber of Secrets. The next year, he once again proved his character by not allowing Sirius to kill the man he was imprisoned for killing. To thank him, they called him a fraud the next year, they blamed him of putting himself in the Triwizard tournament, putting himself in jeopardy and casting the name of the tournament in shame. So he again fought Voldemort and escaped, this time bearing the body of Cedric Diggory, he did not let the death eaters disrespect his body. So the next year, the world thought he was a liar, a lunatic, and the ministry made his life miserable and tried their utmost to get him expelled. Then, as soon as he heard of Sirius' apparent torture he rushed to the rescue, throwing all caution to the wind in order to save his godfather. Sirius had not been there, but he came to save Harry, interestingly enough, and died as a consequence. So after all Harry had been through, they decided to throw him in Azkaban without a care in the world as to the fact that he was innocent.
Altogether, they were surprised he had not thought them traitors earlier and left. Now they were almost certain that he had indeed decided that they were turncoats and would never forgive them. They were sure that he had joined the dark side. Once again casting judgment on the boy, bringing his name into disrepute. Altogether, it was a good ting that Harry had shown up, otherwise they might have thrown him into Azkaban on sight, again. Scared he was a death eater. Harry wouldn't have been affected, he could just leave Azkaban on whim, but then they would be forced to face the wrath of a thoroughly pissed off Harry.
"So he had been innocent all along? We betrayed him?" Hermione choked out, her face a mask of its former self, covered in tears with bloodshot eyes. Her conscience bore down on her, weighing her down, restricting thoughts and actions. Her emotions were shared by everyone else in the room. All of them were so preoccupied with their emotions, that they did not notice the door slowly open, without a whisper. They did not notice as the temperature in the room dropped drastically, as they began to wallow in their worst memories. The dementor with shining green eyes remained hidden from their vision so clouded with tears.
Harry grinned at the long silence, more than happy to let them drown in their misery. But he realized that this was the best possible time for him to sneak up on them, showing them just how powerful he could be. Taking out his staff he deftly altered his appearance, his hands were now cold and clammy, they shone a dull, all-consuming black. Decayed nails jutted out of the tip of each finger, ending in a sharp point. He cast greater shadows upon his face, disguising it from all, it just looked like there was an endless black void inside his dementor's hood. Using all the stealth he possessed, he slowly opened the door, careful not to catch anyone's attention.
Ginny was completely lost to her emotions. She had been rescued from Harry, saved from certain death, yet all she had done to return the favor, was give the boy the cold back and shove him into Azkaban. The poor soul was now lost to the world, and for all she knew being tortured by Voldemort, she refused to believe that she had willingly given himself over to the dark side. Fine change that was, from being tortured by the memories of his parents death, he was being tortured by his parents murderer. She was snapped out of her thoughts as two cold, cold hands gripped her face and pulled it upwards.
Suddenly, all the horrid memories she had ever had in her life joined the fray, and her consciousness fought a losing battle against it. Her body was lost to the all-consuming cold, she did not scream as the skeletal hands drew her closer and closer to a rasping mouth, from whence all the cold came, preparing to suck her soul out, leaving her a mere shell.
Everyone in the room suddenly became aware of the presence of another being in the room. They glanced upwards to explore the room, searching for the stranger who had imparted an odd chill to the room, a backwash of forgettable memories. What they saw completely stunned them, a dementor had taken a hold of Ginny and was about to perform the Dementor's Kiss on her, getting ready to suck her soul right out of her body.
As one, three voice yelled, "Expecto Patronum!". There was a flash of silver as three animals roared out of three wands, belonging to Dumbledore, Hermione and Ron. As one the gleaming phoenix, otter and rat converged upon the dementor. The dementor was completely surrounded by white and silver, its every move was invisible to those outside the sphere. The sphere slowly began to shrink, until the top of the dementor's hood was visible. The dementor seemed to be absorbing the patronuses! In a few seconds the patronuses had disappeared, and the dementor still stood powerful and strong. With a crack, a burst of black was expelled from the dementor, separated into three parts and went flying back to the wands that had cast them. Upon reaching the wands, they traveled up the wand, and into the person, resulting in Dumbledore, Hermione and Ron to land rather ungracefully on their behinds before collapsing into a heap on the floor. A sharp, dry chuckle seemed to emanate from the Dementor, who had left Ginny alone. She lay, curled up into a ball on the floor, but with her soul visibly intact, one could make out just by looking at her.
The three slowly began to raise themselves from the ground, Dumbledore first, Ron second and Hermione last. When they staggered to their feet, they grabbed the closest inanimate object near them and hung on for dear life. Not a single sound came from those present in the room. They were stunned more than they had thought possible. Three very powerful patronuses, including one cast by the most powerful wizard in the world, had failed to faze this dementor who stood haughtily looking all of them up and down. They were stunned, hell, even a human should have been floored by those charms, and rendered unconscious for some time at least. But the creature that they should affect the most seemed unaffected.
"How?" Dumbledore managed to choke out, his face expressing a thousand emotions at once, yet not revealing a single emotion, he quivered with the aftermath of the blow he had been dealt. Whilst staring at the dementor, he discovered something quite extraordinary, instead of having a pure black gap under the hood, two emerald lights glared out at him. Dementors aren't supposed to have eyes, especially not green ones – glowing orbs of power. Hermione, being the bookworm she was, soon informed the rest of the wizards that dementors, quite simply, did not have any visible eyes.
"Tut, tut, tut. Just the Granger I used to know. So busy to show off, that she forgets that she and the rest of the people upon whom she tried to impart knowledge, are in mortal danger.
"I'm sure that the last thing the want to know before they die is that they are being killed by something that should not exist…" A raspy voice stated rather harshly.
Everyone's attention was already on the dementor, so they realized that the source of the voice was the dementor. "Oh, and I'm sure that Granger will now inform you in her know-it-all voice, that dementors are not supposed to be able to talk. Well guess what, Granger, I am, so try to explain that to all of them. I'm sure they're dying to know." Harry's voice was thickly laced with sarcasm, cutting of Hermione before she could say anything. "It was good to she that all she is, is just a bookworm, she has no power of her own. All she can do, is read, read and boast. Oh, and lets not forget betray, and let her friends rot in hell for as long as possible." Hermione broke down into tears at this point. Harry smirked, realizing he had hit home with her and decided it was time to move on to another.
"Weasel, Weasley, weasel. Always thought you'd have something in common with a rat, after all you housed one for so long. The same rat, if I remember, that carried the person Black was supposed to have killed. The same person who caused the rebirth of the dark lord. Must have given you a sense of intense pleasure that, carrying someone so important. The same person who caused Potter so much despair, yes, you'd have, loved sheltering that traitor wouldn't you? After all people of the same kin stick together, and as you proved with your patronus, you're not far from being a rat yourself." Ron's face went from pale to paler to suddenly, a surprisingly bright shade of red, before he joined Hermione and burst into a fit of sobs, face clutched tightly in his hands. Harry decided he had procrastinated enough, and did not want to waste time crushing each one of them, snuffing their happiness out like a flickering candle. He went straight to the finale, the final blow as the dementor.
"Ah yes, remembering the poor soul you threw in Azkaban? Remembering what you did to him before he was sent to Azkaban? Have you seen what he has become now? Have you seen the filth that covers his entirety? WELL SEE NOW!" Harry threw his hood off as he roared the final sentence out, rage so clearly present in each syllable. Revenge displayed openly on his formerly expressive eyes. His hands were back to their old selves, thought not much better than the dementor form. The only difference was tat they were a pale drown, not black, they soon retreated into his sleeves.
Silence consumed the room, the penetrating silence reached the bone, there was no noise to be heard anywhere. The traitors looked up at what Harry had become. His tangled hair ran wild and free behind and in front of his face. His eyes had sunk in, his cheekbones jutted out, as the waxy skin clung so tightly to his face, lost in his robes. Dirt covered his face, hiding the once handsome features. His sunken eyes were the only thing that captured their attention, making them lose themselves in it. The power that they radiated held them all in place. That is of course, until Dumbledore gasped, his eyebrows lost in his hair, eyes as wide as saucers, heart barely beating any more, "Harry…"
One word dominated all their thoughts, summed up best by Dumbledore – Harry…