Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter books, that all belongs to J. K. Rowling.

Summary: After the death of his school mate, Cedric Diggory, Harry Potter returns to the Dursleys home in Surrey, England to suffer another summer under their guardianship. Returning to the Dursleys home after a late night out, he discovers that they have been brutally murdered and that he is being accused of murder. With no trial, he is sentenced to life in Azkaban. After being released from Azkaban after two and a quarter years in prison after being found innocent, he discovers that, as he has come of age, he is able to inherit his full inheritance and is the richest man in the wizarding world while also gaining the knowledge that he is of noble birth and has multiple titles. After forming an alliance with the Goblins, he discovers that Dumbledore is controlling the government and has been attempting to control him his entire life. Harry decides to return to school under the disguise of Harry Potter, the orphan, normal citizen, and slightly rebellious teen, while secretly working towards ending the dictatorship that Dumbledore is running.

Dedication: This story is dedicated to my brother, who inspired this story.

Previously:

Walking up the short flight of stair and finally coming face to face with Hermione and Sirius, there was a pause before Hermione enveloped me in a bone crushing hug and Sirius did his best to bath me in licks. No words were exchanged; there was no need for them. I knew these were the people who I could trust. That these were the only people I could ever trust.

There is Only Power: Chapter 4

Harry's Point of View

To say that the press had a field day with my release would be an understatement. Beyond the dock where I was released, past the field that separated the dock and the anti-apparation gates which seemed to block all of humanity from crushing in on me, to the other side of the gates was the press that waited to get as much detail as possible on the present big story. My arrest was one of the best selling stories; the press's goal was to make my release even bigger.

Hermione and Sirius did the best they could from blocking me from the press but honestly, I was too exhausted to care what the press did. After our initial reunion, it seemed the adrenaline had run its course and that I was finally starting to feel the effects of my release. The sun was blaringly bright despite it being partly cloudy but the fact that I had spent the last two or so years without seeing any sunlight had something to do my reaction to it. The addition of the photographer's flashes did not help. The constant questions of "How do you feel about your accusers," "What was prison like," "How much weight have you lost," 'How do you feel," and so on. Hermione, bless her, was muttering "No comment" the entire time we moved through the crowd or both press and observers who had heard of my release. It seemed as if this was a circus event and I was the final act. After getting past the anti-apparation wards, Hermione apparated both Sirius away; I was never more grateful for her than at the moment except that, that was the last thing I remember before passing out.

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

I woke up in a bed. It was an unusual sensation after sleeping on a cot that was little thicker than a blanket. At first I thought I was still dreaming or that I had finally succumbed to insanity. The fact that I was in a bed the size of my cell and that if I reached out I would not touch the walls of my room. Then I realized that this was the room that I lived in while at Number 12 Grimmauld Place and that I was not, in fact, insane.

I do not know how long I lay in my bed, staring at the walls and my possessions which had not been moved or even touched in over two years. It seemed that someone had warded my room in order to prevent anyone from going through my room, probably to prevent the Aurors from looking through my possessions and taking this as "evidence" to my treason.

I was so lost in my daze that I did not realize that my door had opened and that Hermione had come in until a floor board creaked under her feet. The sudden noise startled me so much that I rolled out of my bed and landed on my shoulder with a groan. It was the first noise that I had made since I was released

I could hear Hermione hurriedly placing something down and running over to me. As she helped me back into my bed, I finally heard her talk for the first time since the confrontation with the press. She kept on repeating, "Harry…Oh Harry… what have they done to you?"

"Nothing," I said I said in a quiet voice. I think it startled her, that I had actually spoken, as she froze as she was putting the cover over my body.

"Oh Harry," Hermione said as she went over to the tray that she had put down on the counter when she came into the room. "Harry, you did not do anything. It's their entire fault, not yours," she said as she placed the tray on the night stand next to me and then sitting down. "They were the ones that made the mistake of sending you to prison. They were the ones who did not look at the evidence. You did not do anything wrong, it is everyone else who did something wrong."

With Hermione sitting next to me, I finally got to get a good look at her and realized how different she looked. She had bags under her eyes, appeared to have lost at least ten pounds though she was always thin, her cheek bones were prominent, and her hair had lost all its volume and had a dead appearance to it. She simply looked exhausted, as if the years of fighting for my case had taken a major toll on her and seemed to have added years to her life.

"You look different," I said as I stared at her and under my gaze she turned away with a blush, as if she was embarrassed with how she looked. "You look tired…and thin."

At this point she turned to me with a glare. "As if you are one to talk," Hermione said as she looked me over, it was my turn to blush now. "You were thin before and after every summer when you came back from the Dursley's but now look at you. Do you realize how many nourishing potions we had to give you in order to even make a dent? You did not pass out from exhaustion, I'll tell you that." She said with a huff as she handed me the smoothie that she had made for me. I was so glad it was not soup or porridge or I may have thrown up on her. Those two foods were forever banned from my meals.

"Well it's not like I had a choice," I said as I took a sip from my smoothie. It was divine. I never thought I would appreciate a smoothie more in my life than at that moment. "Thank you for this," I said before taking a long sip from the straw.

"You are very welcome, Harry, but take it slow. Do not want to make yourself even sicker," Hermione said as she watched me drink the smoothie at an increasingly rapid pace.

Once I was finished with the smoothie, Hermione handed me a potion and some pills which I recognized as Muggle vitamins. It turns out that there was a limit to the number of potions that I could take and so they decided to use Muggle resources to help along the process.

After taking the disgusting tasting potions with a gulp and forcing myself to swallow the pills, I settled back into the pillows to get more comfortable so that I could catch up with Hermione. However, instead of feeling more awake after eating, I started to feel drowsy.

With a smile, Hermione informed me that one of the potions was a Dreamless Sleep potion; I guess I had been away from Potions class to long because I did not even recognize it. As I started to drift off to sleep, I saw Hermione start picking up the empty glass and vials which she placed on the tray. The last thing I saw before drifting off to sleep was Sirius opening the door for Hermione as she headed out the room, turning off the lights as she went.

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The following weeks were a constant cycle of waking up, eating, taking care of hygienic concerns, then sleeping. Though it was tiresome, in hindsight it was probably a good idea as I had two years of strength that I had to recover.

During that time, The Prophet ran several stories about my release and where I had gone after my release. People speculated about why I had fainted and whether I was still alive even. The Ministry was apparently reprimanded for allowing Azkaban to treat their prisoners so poorly though beyond complaints, nothing was done about it.

Though I never saw my mail, apparently there were a constant slew of requests for interviews and photo shoots. A few Ministry letters came attempting to set up a meeting between the Minister and himself in order to apologies for their mistake and a press conference to make their apology public. Those letters were promptly burned and no reply was sent.

During the time that I spent recovering, I had some one-on-one time with Sirius to talk about Azkaban. I think it served as closure for both of us. Sirius never had anyone to talk to about what he experienced as no one ever understood the true experience, but now we both had someone who understood and it made our relationship that much closer.

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Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. I feel so proud of myself for updating relatively quickly. I did try to get this up in a timely fashion. This chapter really just served as a transfer from Harry's time in Azkaban to the real world, so next time the real actions will begin. So, hopefully you enjoyed it and please review.