Chapter ten

Remus had spoken with the lawyer that Kingsley recommended, he decided to take Harry's case. The first thing he did was speak with the head auror. The following day Remus snuck Harry out of the house and down to muggle London. Harry, Remus and the lawyer spoke for a few hours, Harry even showed the scarring on his hand. He offered his lawyer his memories of what had taken place with Umbridge and in the hospital. Since he couldn't have veritaserum and he didn't want to lower his shields around his mind, even for his lawyer to look. Voldemort would slip in, and Harry didn't want to feel that pain in his scar again.

'So how did it go?' Sirius asked the moment Remus and Harry arrived back at the house.

'Good,' Harry sat beside Sirius.

'The head auror gave him the information on Dawlish who he questioned under veritaserum, Fudge ordered Dawlish to charm the letter. They wanted Harry away from all adults who would interfere with their questioning. I wouldn't have put it past one of them to use veritaserum on Harry, for them the problem was solved. Ever since all this got out, Fudge, Umbridge and the blood quill, more people are beginning to believe Fudge lied and Harry and Dumbledore are telling the truth.'

'So what's the lawyer going to do?'

'He plans to have Fudge and Dawlish arrested for their attempted kidnapping of Harry. Fudge will also be charged with an accessory for the torture of Harry with the use of a banned dark artifact. He's going to find out if any other students were made to use it,' Remus nodded to Harry.

'I offered him my memories of my times in the hospital and with Umbridge, she mentions Fudge and how he told her to control the students with any means necessary. The aurors searched Umbridge's office, found more blood quills, her home also had more. But they also found pictures of me, that she cut up or scratched up with red ink, with the words he must die, written below.'

'She's gone now Harry, she can't hurt you anymore.'

'I know, I was hoping they found out she was a death eater or proof she's in with Voldemort. How can anyone do what she did and not be classed as dark or evil? How many dark people are inside the ministry that could be hurting or killing innocent people?'

'We know there are dark witches and wizards in the ministry, it's proving it,' Sirius said.

'Once Fudge is gone, there are three people that would have the most support to be the next minister. The head auror is one, Madam Bones is another and Amos Diggory is the third. If Scrimgeour or Bones ends up as minister I can see them working on proof, like every arm gets inspected for the dark mark, or questioned under veritaserum. They believed even last time that the truth potion should have been used and people should have been visually inspected for the dark mark. Sirius wasn't allowed to speak when he was arrested yet they didn't pull up his sleeve to see if he was a death eater, that's all they needed to do. I admit that since Sirius always wore long sleeves that I thought he might have been even if I still found it hard to believe he would betray James, Lily and you.'

'You've apologises Moony, it's fine, but I said I suspected you as being the spy at one time. All of us were cautious and all of us were acting off or strange. We were stressed and scared.'

'I know, but I still feel guilty for believing it, you were in that place for twelve years.'

'I didn't realise how long it was, my mind just didn't register time or days, nothing. It just blended together, the dementors make it impossible to think. If they stay near you long enough you pass out and there were times I was out for days, the longest was about two weeks. I'm not sure exactly how long I was out for.'

'So you didn't realise how long you'd be there?' Harry asked.

'No, the first few months I did, but I kept thinking that I would eventually get a trial. After that though, no, time meant nothing, then all you want to do is curl up and die to get rid of the nightmarish memories.'

'I know how that feels,' Harry swallowed, 'I have to apologise Sirius, I thought you just sat there for twelve years without thinking about me. You saw the picture of Pettigrew then you escaped. I figured you just wanted revenge for him being part of your best friend's death, and that I meant nothing.'

'Oh pup, no,' Sirius put his arm around Harry, 'You're all I thought of when I first arrived, but the longer you are in the presence of a dementor and constantly in their presence, the more you sink into your nightmares. When I was Padfoot it helped me keep my magic and sanity, but a dog's mind doesn't work like a human mind, time works differently as Padfoot.'

'I hate being around them but they weren't near me very often.'

'Harry,' Remus said then waited until the boy looked up, 'tell me the truth, did you believe I didn't want anything to do with you while you were young?'

Harry nodded, 'I never knew who you were, I never even got a letter.'

'Petunia wrote to Albus, she agreed to keep you as long as none of us turned up or interfered. None of us were allowed anywhere near the house.'

Harry's face grew harder, the two men noticed, 'Harry, tell us what they did to you, we can tell by your face that something happened.'

'It doesn't matter anymore, he killed them, not that I care.'

'That statement tells us more than we would like. So even though they are dead we would still like to know.'

Harry sighed but looked down at the table, 'I never had a room, they kept me in the cupboard. When I got my first Hogwarts letter they kept taking them, destroying them. Vernon turned around one day and gave me Dudley's second bedroom, all I wanted was my letter, the first one I ever had. More kept coming so they tried to outrun them, but they couldn't, then Hagrid found us. I was basically a human version of a house elf, I began work in the morning, cooking them breakfast, I would only get one piece of toast and water. If I didn't finish the list of chores then I wasn't allowed dinner, sometimes I wasn't allowed any food for days. During the holidays after my first year, a house elf turned up to warn me about danger at Hogwarts and didn't want me to return. I was going to but the elf took my mail, wouldn't give them back unless I promised to stay away, I refused. They had visitors that night for dinner, some important client. I was told to stay in my room and pretend I didn't exist. Dobby ended up levitating a pudding onto the woman, then a letter arrived saying I would be expelled if did any more magic. Well uncle Vernon realised I couldn't turn them into toads so he put bars on my window and locks on the door, he even locked Hedwig in her cage so I couldn't send any letters. After a while they stopped feeding me altogether. Ron, Fred and George rescued me and took me to their place where Mrs. Weasley kept feeding me.'

Both Sirius and Remus growled angrily, both hand their hands on Harry's arms, 'Did he ever get violent?' Remus asked in almost a whisper.

Harry nodded, 'He wanted to beat the magic out of me. Dudley and his gang used to beat me as well. Aunt Petunia would occasionally wack me across the face or pull my hair,' Harry figured since he was telling Sirius and Remus he would tell them everything, he would show them as well. He stood up, turned his back to Sirius then pulled up his shirt, 'Vernon liked to use a whip he had specially made for me,' Harry pulled his shirt back down but before he could sit Sirius wrapped his arms around him.

'If they weren't dead I would kill them, at least I would have deserved to be in Azkaban.'

'Why didn't you ever tell anyone?' Remus asked.

'They made sure no one would like me or listen to me. They told everyone I was a delinquent, then they said I went to St Brutus school for criminal boys. Everyone in the neighbourhood was scared of me.'

'What about when you started at Hogwarts?' Sirius asked.

'I told Dumbledore they hated me and didn't really look after me, he said I had to stay because of the protection.'

'That's why you don't trust him, he was like all other adults, ignoring the obvious abuse.'

Harry flinched at the word before he sat down again, 'I was smaller than everyone else, I was really skinny, I wore oversized clothes, had holes in my shoes. I always returned to Hogwarts looking worse and usually had bruises or something showing. I tried to heal everything, most times I could heal the marks on my back but it drained me so I couldn't do the bruises,' Harry looked up at Sirius who was really angry, 'I hate Dumbledore, I don't trust him in anyway and I will not follow his rules. He can have his order but I want no part of it or anything he controls.'

'Even though he should have put you with a magical family, he should have removed you the moment he saw the state you were in. We will remain in the order but we will slip you information. If you can get some of the students trained then they can help but with you leading them,' Remus said.

'The twins don't really like Dumbledore either, they just don't let anyone know since their parent's follow him blindly. But why would they follow my lead, I'm not powerful.'

'You are the-boy-who-lived and once everyone knows the truth they will look to you to finish him for good. You're their beacon of hope Harry, it's just the way it's been since that night. They will follow you, some will rather follow you then Albus. So we train you, then you train them. I think we will start first thing tomorrow. Let's get dinner going and talk over what you need to know,' Sirius said then hugged his godson again. It was time to train Harry, to get him ready and hopefully he can bring out that leadership so he can train others.