A/N Sorry for the long delay. Work and vacation got in the way. In case you were confused, I am not J.K. Rowling nor do I own Harry Potter in any way shaper or form.

CH. 14

Vernon Dursley was not happy. For the last five months he was a guest of Her Majesty in Coldingley Prison in Bisley. Vernon was used to being the biggest bully in the yard and he was having trouble adjusting. From his days at Smelting to his dealings at Grunnings, Vernon had always been able to intimidate and bully anyone into doing what he wanted. It was quite a shock then when he arrived at the prison and was surrounded by people far more dangerous and intimidating than him. His first month in prison passed uneventfully. He tried to keep his head down and fly under the radar. Vernon was able to hold his temper and not shout at any of the hooligans that he was surrounded by. Meals were a particular challenge for him to hold his temper with the constant insults from his fellow prisoners about his weight, his complexion changes, and his mustache.

Vernon was not one to take insults sitting down but he had enough sense in his head to not start a fight with the other prisoners. His resolve lasted until his fifth month in prison. Vernon was sitting in the mess hall trying to eat his meager lunch grumbling to himself about the portion size and quality of the food. He had lost almost 30 pounds since he had started his sentence and he was not happy about it.

"Lousy food how do they expect us to live on this stuff" Vernon grumbled to himself. "This is all the freaks fault. I knew I should have gotten rid of him a long time ago. At least he could cook decent bacon once I got him trained up enough."

While Vernon was grumbling about his food a group of the inmates had sat at his table. "Talking to yourself walrus man?" the leader of the group quipped. "Best watch out or they will put you in the loony bin with all the freaks." The group snickered as Vernon's face started to change color. "Hey boys, what color do you think that is?"

One of the other convicts looked closely at Vernon's face. "Well, Mickey, I used to run with this artist bird, and I think she would call that puce." The group once again burst out in laughter.

"You know Johnny, when I choked that pikey that got me thrown in here his face looked like that."

"Ha your right Mickey, but I would be more worried about that vane that seems to be popping out of his head. Combine his color changing abilities and his giant vane with his talking to himself it won't be long before he is sent with all the other freaks and weirdoes. I sure you would enjoy a nice padded room with a snug white coat."

Vernon had finally had enough. It wasn't bad enough that the food was horrible, or the small lumpy bed that was too small for his girth with the almost nightly visits from his cell mate, but now these pieces of scum thought he was a freak. These low lives had the nerve to group him with the boy. He knew he didn't belong in here. All he had done was try to beat the freakishness out of that ungrateful little shite. He should have gotten a medal, not sent to prison. If only they knew the freak like he did.

Vernon finally lost his temper and turned to face Mickey. "Now you listen hear you piece of trash, I am not a freak. I am a respected member of society and perfectly normal thank you very much. I don't belong in here with rift-raft and ruffians like you."

"Oh perfectly normal you say, nice and respected are you? Well word in the yard is you got sent here for beating a small boy, such a big man hitting a defenseless kid." Mickey glared at Vernon. Growing up Mickey had lived in an abusive household and he hated anyone who would hit a child. He knew he wasn't a good person and had done some bad things in his life, but children were stickily off limits. "How about you try that on someone closer to your size tubby sense there is no one your size here."

"The boy was a freak and got what he deserved." Vernon shouted razing his fists in anger.

"Really, you beat up a kid and you call him the freak. I think you're the freak Walrus man."

Vernon had had enough, bellowed in rage as he swung his fist at the trash that dared compare him to the freak boy. His fist came in contact with Mickey and sent him tumbling from his seat. All of a sudden all hell broke loose and the other members of Mickey's gang were on their feet and trying to get at Vernon. The guards rushed in and quickly broke up the fight. They tackled Vernon and handcuffed him. As he was lying on the floor his face was an inch from Mickey. "You just made your last mistake Walrus Man." With a final glare at Vernon, Mickey was dragged away. Vernon was tossed into Solitary to cool off.

After a few days Vernon was released from Solitary and returned to the general population. He tried to avoid Mickey and his gang but was unable to stay clear of them completely. It was two weeks later that found Vernon walking into the showers with the other prisoners on his block. Vernon learned early on to get in and get out quick from the showers and try to mind is own business. As Vernon was washing up the steam was billowing around more than normal in the shower when he felt a hand come around his mouth and felt a big burly arm come around his neck.

The hand holding his mouth kept in the cries and yells for help as he struggled to get free of the arm around his neck. His struggling became less and soon his body went limp. The person released him and walked away and made sure he cleaned off and left no evidence behind. Mickey was explicit this not get traced back to him, and he owed Mickey. No one noticed that Vernon was missing until the prisoners were escorted back to their cells and when the guards found him he was already dead from strangulation. The investigation would not yield any results and would go down as unsolved.

Back in Scotland Amelia was sitting next to Harry's bed reading a report on the search for Dumbledore. It had been almost three days since the man had escaped. In that time, Amelia had issued a warrant for his arrest and one of the largest man hunts in Magical Britain had started. When the news that Dumbledore had knowingly allowed You-Know-Who to teach in the school for the whole year broke, the public turned against him and demanded his quick arrest. How the Daily Profit got the story so quickly amazed her. She was sitting with Harry in the Hospital Wing the evening after Harry was attacked when the owl flew in with a special edition of the paper. Augusta had only closed the emergency session of the Wizengamot an hour ago but there on the front page was the breaking headline.

Dumbledore on the Run allows Dark Lord to teach our kids

By: Rita Skeeter

It has come out that the great Albus Dumbledore former Headmaster of Hogwarts, is currently on the run from the Aurors. Dumbledore is accused of endangering the children of Hogwarts and is facing charges of gross child endangerment. In an emergency session of the Wizengamot Chief Witch Augusta Longbottom presented dispositions from herself, Amelia Bones, and Nicholas Flamel along with pensive memories of the events earlier that day. It appears that Dumbledore was holding Flamel's Philosophers Stone and using it as bait for the Dark Lord. Many of my readers will remember the story in September about the break in at Gringotts and it was revealed that the stone was the target of the attempted break in. The stone was moved to Hogwarts where the Headmaster assured Flamel it would be safe but You-Know-Who would not be deterred. It was shown in a pensive memory that the Dark Lord was possessing one of the Professors the entire year. That's right my readers, not only is You-Know-Who not dead, but he was at Hogwarts for the better part of the year, and the evidence points to Dumbledore being aware of this. When Nicholas Flamel decided he needed to remove the stone from the Headmaster's hands, You-Know-Who saw his chance at acquiring the stone slip away. He decided instead to settle a score and tried to kill Harry Potter once again. The Boy-Who- Lived was again able to thwart You-Know-Who and banish him again from the body of the Professor while suffering magical exhaustion from the fight. We at the Daily Profit send our best wishes to Mr. Potter and hope for a quick recovery. Meanwhile, the search for Dumbledore led by Mr. Potter's new guardian Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is underway and we will bring you all the updates as they become available.

Harry Potter's first defeat of You-Know-Who page 3;

Amelia Bones career highlights page 5;

Dumbledore's history page 7;

So the story was out and everyone knew the Dark Lord wasn't gone for good. Amelia knew that there would be lots of questions for her from the Wizengamot about this but she was able to delay them until Harry was back on his feet. They would still need a pensive memory to show what had occurred before they had arrived. With the story out Dumbledore's support had dried up. With so many parents having children in Hogwarts put in danger by him the public was crying for blood.

Amelia was also waiting for the fallout with the revelation of the Dark Lord not being completely dead. Amelia was broken from her musings from a soft moan coming from the bed beside her. She leaned forward and started to run her fingers through Harry's hair as he began to stir.

Harry felt fingers running through his hair. It was the most comforting feeling he had ever experienced. As he opened his eyes he was greatest by the smiling face of Amelia. "Welcome back Harry, you've been out for a while"

Harry let out a grown as his eyes adjusted to the light. Looking around Harry recognized that he was in the Hospital Wing. "What happened, and why do I feel like a lorry ran over my head?"

"We were hoping you could tell us Harry." Hearing Harry wake up, Madam Pomfrey came out of her office. "Amelia and Master Flamel found you just as you passed out with You-Know-Who in wraith form exiting the window with Quirrell's body turning to ash."

Harry thought for amount trying to remember. Finally the whole confrontation with Quirrell came back. Harry started to tell what had happened only to be stopped quickly by Amelia. "Harry, I think it will be easier for everyone if we just view the memory." Harry couldn't agree more and Amelia conjured a glass vial and extracted the memory. Amelia calendar Puck and asked the small elf to retrieve the Pensive from the manor. Together Poppy and Amelia dipped their heads into the silvery liquid. While they were there Harry looked around and his eyes fell on the pile of sweets and cards sitting on his bedside table. He smiled as he worked his way through all the get well cards from his friends and munched on the candy. Its till amazed him that he had so many friends. Every first year Hufflepuff left him card, plus a few from older Puffs like Cedric and Tonks. There were a few cards from his study group and his friends from the Charms club and the Gardeners had left him a cutting of one of the magical flowers they had been cultivating.

What made him feel the best though was when he found a card from Susan that was hand made with glitter and charmed to tell him to get better soon in her voice. He didn't understand the feeling in his stomach as he looked at the card but it made him smile none the less. After a few minutes and a few of the chocolates Amelia and Poppy emerged from the Pensive with concerned looks on their faces. Immediately, Amelia moved to his bed and engulfed him in a hug. "I am so proud of you. You stood up to him and didn't back down an inch. You kept your head about you and did wonderful. Your parents would be so proud of you Harry."

Harry blushed at the praise but managed to smile at the praise from his guardian. "Thanks Auntie. But what happened? Why could Quirrell not touch me?"

It was Poppy who answered his questions. "When your mother died to protect you, she must have done something else before to prepare for the worst. Your mother was one of the brightest witches I have ever known. Somehow, her sacrifice enabled some sort of protection to penetrate your skin. The best I could determine is that this protection was old magic based on love, so that someone so full of hate and evil could never touch you without causing themselves serious harm."

Harry nodded at the explanation. "So thats why Quirrell was unable to touch me. He was possessed by Voldemort and full of hate." Harry though for a minute and then it hit him. He had killed a person. He paled at the realization and felt sick to his stomach. Amelia well versed in the after effects of someone having to kill someone recognized the signs and knew what was going through Harry's mind. "Suzy and Hannah will think I'm a murder. They probably won't want to be my friend anymore and you won't want to be my family either." Harry couldn't look up at Amelia. He just stared into his lap fearing the look on her face. She would probably want to send him back to the Dursleys. She wouldn't want a murder around her and her niece.

"Harry, you did nothing wrong. Quirrell left you no choice. He made his choice when he allowed Voldemort to enter his mind and soul. You are not a bad person just because you killed Quirrell." Amelia sat down on the bed next to Harry and pulled him into a comforting hug. He still stiffened at the contact but it quickly passed as he settled into the hug. "Suzy will think nothing of the sort, I guarantee that she probably only thinks better of you. You faced the danger and overcame it. You did something that few fully grown wizards have accomplished. I'm going to tell you what I tell all my Aurors. 'Do what it takes to finish your shift and get home safe.' That's what you did. You did what you had to in order to survive and there is the evidence that shows that people are glad you did." She pointed to the stack of cards sitting on the bedside table with Susan's right in front sitting upright.

Harry nodded a felt a little better and settled back into bed. Poppy was still standing next to the bed and made a mental note to talk some more with Harry about this when they continued their weekly sessions. Just as Harry was settling back in bed the door opened and a squeal of excitement followed by a pair of girls that rushed to the bed. Amelia was able to just get out of the way as a strawberry blonde missile collided with Harry and wrapped him in a bone crushing hug.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER DON'T YOU EVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN." Susan cried into his shoulder. "I was so scared when the door was closed and locked." Harry could only wrap his arms around his best friend and try to calm her down. He caught Amelia's eye and she had an "I told you so" look on her face that made Harry smile.

"I'm ok Suzy. How long have I been out for?"

"Three days. We barely left your bed but Auntie and Madam Pomfrey made us go to class."

Hannah entered the conversation on the other side of his bed. "We got all your assignments for you and will help you catch up. You didn't miss much though."

Harry smiled at his friends. Suzy had now taken a seat on the side of his bed but held on to his hand if only to reassure herself that he was still their and well. Harry couldn't help but feel that feeling again in his stomach as Susan held his hand. "So what all did I miss?" Harry asked the two girls. They then filled him in on all that has happened while he was out. Dumbledore was sacked and on the run while McGonagall has taken over as Temporary Headmistress until the board could meet. Hannah showed Harry the article in the prophet about the attack and Dumbledore's run from the law.

After an hour Amelia got up to leave. Before leaving she gave both Harry and Susan a kiss on the head and Hannah a hug. "We have a lot to discuss when you get back at the end of the term. A lot has come out that Albus has kept hidden for too long but it will have to wait till the summer. I have to head back into the office and check how the search is going. You three be good and write me for anything." With that, Amelia walked to the fireplace and took the floo back to her office.

A/N Please Rate and review. Let me know what you think of Vernon's end.