Silent Suffering

Chapter One - Choices

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwart School of Witchcraft and Wizardry waited anxiously for the report on perhaps the most infamous Azkaban prisoner in history to arrive. It was the bi-annual sheet that gave a full report on the inmate's behavior, as well as their physical and mental condition. Basically, whether they were insane yet or not.

Albus was particularly interested in this criminal because he was once one of his most prized students since the illustrious Tom Riddle, not to mention the ultimate hero of the entire wizarding world.

It had hurt Albus profoundly when Harry Potter turned to the Dark side, betraying everything that everyone believed in.

He was startled suddenly out of his reverie when a large owl rapped against the window. Albus eagerly opened it up and took the letter attached to the owl's leg. He thanked the owl and unrolled the scroll. It read,

Name of Inmate: Harold (Harry) James Potter

Date of Imprisonment: September 22, 2003

Current Age: 23

Crime: Murder, Use of Unforgivables

Recent Behavior: Shows no resistance to anything, very submissive.

Physical State: Is underweight, malnutritioned

Mental Condition: Unknown. Prisoner has not spoken except sometimes spasms and yells out in apparent pain.

Other: Nothing else to report.

Albus sighed, thinking of that fateful night when Potter had revealed his true self to the world.

* Flashback *

It was a starless night. The air seemed heavy with forbidding, yet Albus Dumbledore could not understand why. As far as he knew, Voldemort was not foolish enough to try and attack the castle when he could not possibly have anything to gain from it; the wards were as strong as ever. After the events in the past year, the Dark Lord was even more determined to get his hands on Harry Potter. Albus shut his eyes in sympathy for the boy. The death of his godfather Sirius had affected him profoundly. Harry had become very withdrawn and prone to anger, often enfuriating Ron and sometimes even reducing Hermione to tears. Albus, for once in his long life, did not know how to help Harry. He had, of course, tried, but that only resulted in him having his office trashed even worse than he had done in the previous year. (A/N Reference to OotP)

Suddenly Albus was lifted from his chair and thrown against the wall behind him, knocking down the portrait of the previous Hogwarts Headmaster. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Albus noticed drops of blood flying everywhere, coming from his own mouth and nose.

It had been a wave of pure, terrifyingly powerful magic that had ravaged the castle. Many of the teachers and students, who had also felt its effects, were panicking, thinking they were under Voldemort's attack. Meanwhile, Albus Dumbledore knew otherwise. The wave had been far more powerful than anything Voldemort could procure, and it was not full of evil malice. The old Headmaster was sure that he had a pretty good idea of whose magic he had felt. "I have to find Harry." He muttered before sweeping out of his office, robes billowing in a not-unlike Snape manner.

Upon exiting his office, Albus went straight to Gryffindor Tower. When he entered the Common Room, stepping through the portrait of the Fat Lady, he saw many people just lifting themselves off the ground in a state of worried shock. Several had suffered the same fate as their Headmaster, small puddles of blood had already seeped into the carpet. He observed, even under the circumstances, with an amount of humour, that Hermione Granger already had her nose in a book, pinching her nose to stop the flow of blood and no doubt searching for an explanation on what just happened. She looked up with relief when Albus cleared his throat loudly, "Where is Harry?" A worried look immediately crossed her face again. "He had a detention with Professer Snape!" she breathed. "Sir, what was that?" Albus turned slowly to look at Hermione. "I believe that Harry has just started developing some of hismore potent magic." "You mean do say that Harry did that?" She asked, wide-eyed. Albus nodded, "I believe so. You and Ron may accompany me to go find Harry." Ron, who had been listening the whole time jumped up and scrambled out the portrait, where the Headmaster and Hermione had already exited.

As they approached Snape's office, they noticed a shimmering light that hovered in front of the door disappear. Hermione and Ron looked up at Dumbledore for an explanation, but he was not paying them any attention, his age showing in the deep lines of worry on his face. When they reached the door, Albus spoke. "I must ask you to wait here. I do not know what to expect in there, so I might be a while. Perhaps you would rather return to the Tower?" He said this as more of a question but saw even before he had finished speaking their answers. Determination was hard set in their faces. "Very well." He sighed, and proceeded to gently push open the heavy dungeon door.

A/N Please review and tell me what you think! If you actually like the story so far, sorry for the cliffie at the end!