Disclaimer: I own only the theme and a few other odds and ends. I'm not trying to steal anything, so if I do, just warn me and I'll so something about it. Once again. I don't own it. Bye.
Summary: The wizarding world has abandoned Harry, and he is given every reason to nurture a hatred for them all. When, eventually, he breaks out of the mind and physical prisons he has been detained in, what will he do? Will he help or will he be a little less willing? NO-SLASH!
A/N: Sorry this took so long, things have been getting… Complicated.
Betraying Serendipity
"I do not believe that friends are necessarily the people you like best, they are merely the people who got there first" – Peter Ustinov
Chapter 4 – Rent in three
"Hello sir, can I help you at all?" the clerk smiled at the man, flicking blond hair over her shoulder expertly and fluttering her eyelashes. Harry had to fight hard not to raise an eyebrow.
"Yes, thankyou, I'd like to enrol in the arts-law degree for this year" her eyes flickered in a barley perceptible way, before the fake smile, once again replaced any doubt that might have clouded her face.
"Do you have your HSC score or any other recommendations?" He smiled, making sure that his own look of annoyance was well hidden. His nod was short and jerky. If the girl across the desk noticed, she ignored it. He handed over the papers.
"Thankyou sir! That's very helpful, I'll see what I can do for you" her brightly painted fingertips flashed over they keyboard in front of her as she typed in the information the sheet contained. Silence reigned. Suddenly she looked up, twirling a sparkly earring with one hand, he gritted his teeth in annoyance.
"Sir, you haven't put your name down here" he barely even looked at the paper, shaded eyes rested piercingly on the clerk. He smirked, something that seemed to hold very little humour. The smile on her face faltered.
"Why of course. So silly of me" he grabbed the paper and provided pen before scribbling down Harry Potter in no uncertain lettering. This time the grin that flashed on his lips was genuine, although not entirely innocent, far more… malicious.
The secretary smiled another false smile at him, before glancing down at the paper. And screaming. Loudly. He almost rolled his eyes, but resister the erg, barely, such things were not expected from evil dark lords, and while he didn't particularly consider himself the 'evil dark lord' he was neither the epitome of all things good and wonderful.
He sniggered at the thought.
Images of what Voldemort would do in his position began to flood the gates to his mind, in fact, imaged of Voldemort doing some very odd things, completely unrelated to the fact the secretary seemed to have temporarily died flashed through his mind, but he repressed them; quickly deciding that seeing in ones mind eye a picture of Voldemort running around in a chicken costume with no head would not be appreciated here, although if he could somehow manage it…
He leaned forward towards the blond, effectively cutting off any view of the outside world the lady might once have had.
"Is there a problem miss?" Oh, there was a problem right. The girl in front of him was just about to sign an escaped convict into the college.
But no, apparently, there was no problem.
Silently he smirked.
No problem at all.
_-'*'-_
There was a short pause, in fact, it might have even be a long one, no one much noticed. Silence stretched like taunt silk, smooth and deceptive, dying as soon as it was touched.
Suddenly a small hiccoughing cough could be heard, and instantly the illusory silence that he had been contemplating vanished like snowflakes in summer, it was a miracle it had existed at all. Laud voices could be heard, each trying to voice their own opinion. Silence was a thing of the past.
He sighed, but none of them noticed, strictly speaking, they didn't know he was there.
In this particular case, what they didn't know couldn't hurt them. Strictly speaking. After a few moments of shouting and general all round confusion there was another silence, but not nearly so complete as it had been before. He turned his head, waiting for the speech he knew was coming, he even knew what it would likely discuss, but that wasn't saying much.
"Members, we must first remember that we are here to find a solution to the problem" he had to stop the choked laughter that was bubbling up inside him before he was thrown out. It seemed, however, that he was the only one close to laughing; the others were all watching the white bearded man seriously.
He had nothing but scorn for them. But he wasn't going to test this feeling, emotions, he had found, were fickle things; the smallest change in things and… well, bye-bye cover.
"While the discussions about how dangerous the escapee's are, might be interesting, the have no real purpose except, perhaps, to lower our defence and stop our attacks. Please, we must, instead of focussing on the problem, as I said before, focus on the solution. What can we do to get Potter and Black back into Azkaban? And, even more importantly, do we really want to put them back in?" the silence stretched again, this time much more brittle than it had been the two previous times. He knew what was going on in there heads; questions, questions and questions.
After all, why, they were all wondering, wouldn't they want to put the two convicts back into prison. After all they had done.
A silent snarl issued from his lips, and he was moderately surprised to note the old headmasters head jerked in his direction. He shut up, returning his attention to the order members. He took note that it looked like one of them was about to speak.
"Headmaster, I don't quite understand what you said about not wanting to put Potter and Black back into Azkaban, it's only what they deserve" Harry noticed, with almost unrealistic fascination, that the speaker was none other than Remus Lupin. He hunkered forward, waiting to hear the reply Dumbledore made.
"I fear Remus, that the time had come to supply the dementors with a little extra encouragement" the simple sentence had eyes widening all around the table, all eyes except for Serverus Snape's, his did exactly the opposite, and narrowed.
He stood up, without even bothering to ask permission and began to speak.
"What the headmaster is leaving out, however, is the fact that we might be able to reform Potter, although Black might be a little less easy" from his hideaway Harry snorted. Reform? Reform what? He had nothing to reform!
Again Dumbledore's slight shift in position as Harry again fought giggles, was noted by few, but nonetheless, noted. Severus Snape had the delicacy to run his eyes over the room before returning to Dumbledore and Harry just stayed where he was, enjoying the multiple threads of intellect and intrigue that were running around the room.
"You mean, he might go back to being… the same old Harry?" Mrs Weasley's voice was soft and held so much emotion it was foreign to Harry, but this time, as much as he tried, he was unable to contain the snort of laughter that erupted from him. No one heard it of course, except for himself and three others.
In less than two seconds Harry was being attacked, one of the people attacking him had no idea where he was, but the other two were well aware, and the third followed their lead.
He flipped into the air until he had landed in the seat Dumbledore, only moments before, had vacated in favour of shooting him down with several nasty curses. In a second he was visible, messy hair, vivid green eyes and all. Silence, he noted, again stretched across the room; Dumbledore, Snape and Moody had all stoped trying to kill him for the time being at least.
He waved to them, and was moderately surprised when a middle-aged lady with greying hair waved back at him cheerily. For a moment her blinked at her, processing the information that her eyes were different colours (Fluoro blue and striped black and pink) before he realised that she must be Tonks.
"Wotcha Tonks! How've ya been?" if she was surprised by the statement she didn't show it.
"Worried sick about you Harry! Running away from Private Drive like that! Despicable!" she was grinning wildly, and he noted that the old lady was quickly turning into a young one about his own age, he arched an eyebrow at the assembly, wondering why Tonks was doing as she was.
"Well, things to do, people to see, (A/N: Oh how I was tempted to put in 'people to kill' but that just wouldn't do!) you lot know the drill, busy, busy, busy!" Tonks's hair was now a lustrous auburn, giving the impression that her hair was coated in red gold. She nodded solemnly as he reclined in the great chair, propping his feet up onto the table, which gave a little squawk of indignation. He brought his foot up a few inches and then slammed it back down, not even looking back down to pay attention to the table's snivels.
"Know whatcha mean. What with all these dark lords running around…" she trailed off, not looking remotely uncertain, the threat, if it could be called that, was evident in her tone. He shrugged in reply.
"Sure, sure, they do seen to have some bad tendencies to go and do things you'd rather they didn't, but then, that's life" he said in a fake sad tone, before he pretended to wipe a tear from his eye with an exaggerated sniff. Tonks nodded again, but her eyes, he noted with a mental laugh, were narrowed on him with something akin to confusion.
"Like killing and torturing people for fun?" she asked her voice surprisingly still light and cheerful. He grinned viciously, showing his canines in a cruel imitation of a smile.
"Yes, things like that" he paused for a moment, head cocked to the side as he very obviously looked her up and down, his eyes lingering so the rest of the order had a very clear idea of what he was thinking. He stood up and stretched, automatically dodging the spell that came towards him from a very irate Snape.
He yawned, showing his contempt.
"I can see you've already started on the 'reform' but I'd like to ask exactly, what you will be reforming?" he turned so he was eye to eye with his old headmaster, turning his back on Snape, to show he didn't find the greasy haired potions master a threat. A low growl behind him, alerted the rest of the room that Snape was not pleased. Harry couldn't keep the radiant smile off his face.
"Dumbledore"
"Harry"
"It's Potter, but I guess Harry'll do. I have come to discuss the matter of Sirius Black with you" the headmaster nodded, eyes still locked with the young boy before him.
"Give up the search" Of all the things the order had expected, they had not expected this. Dumbledore seemed to be considering it.
"I am sorry Harry, but giving up the search for Sirius Black is not an option. It's just something that can't be done. The search for him, is of course nothing like the search for you, and if I were to pull it off then people might become suspicious, stricktly speaking there should be more wizards out searching for him than there are. I cannot agree to your request" Harry stayed silent for a while, but his eyes, Albus noted, had hardened.
"It was not a request, Dumbledore. It was an order; Pull. Off. The. Search" Listening to the silence this time, Harry was again struck at how different the silence was; it was an echoing one. No one was going to break this unless they had to. Thinking about that made him think of the other silences he had been cataloguing throughout his life, for a moment his mind barriers weakened enough for the two master legitims (Sp?) in the room to dive in quickly.
The scared silence before the spell was spoke, and the deadly one after. The silence of hope and the silence of reaction. The silence of truth and the silence of knowing truth. The silence of life; and the silence that one could only hear when confronted with death. The silence that came after. His mind was filled with that cold silence.
Both Dumbledore and Snape went a rather ashen colour as he powerfully threw them from his mind. All they had seen was silence, but it had been far too laud for either of them to bear. His eyes, a moment before, flat and lifeless suddenly blazed with spirit and righteous anger as he almost screamed…
"STAY OUT OF MY MIND!" It had ripped from him, full of passion and fairness that it momentarily shocked everyone in the room, including himself.
"You may not like what you see" And again. Silence was absolute. He turned to Dumbledore, his composure, once again showing only arrogant distaste.
"You will halt the search or face the consequences of every single person you put on his trail, being put straight onto another" for a few in the room, this was not that bad a threat at all, so Potter would interfere and make false tracks, they'd get the right ones eventually! For the others, there was a rush of murmurs, before silence once again reigned.
"After you have done that, you will call off the search for me" he paused, eyes glittering with malevolent hate.
"Quiet frankly Dumbledore, if it's you arse or mine… Well, I promise I will attend the funeral, but I'll decline on actually saying anything, something might just slip out that really shouldn't have. I mean, it might be similar to the fact that you were the one who created the… well we all know what we're talking about don't we? Or a bit more damaging, perhaps something about the summer of 1912?" Dumbledore's eyes, surprisingly enough were twinkling at the threats. Harry had to fight to not grind his teeth together in frustration.
"It's nice to know you still have your old spirit Harry" Shadowed eyes darkened. Tone grew chilled. Posture changed. Hands stoped moving. Muscles tensed.
"Nice? Yes. Nice indeed" for a moment the eye contact was kept between the old headmaster and the young convict, before a smile tugged up the lips of the raven haired man and he laughed, quite genuinely, with an odd amount of hysteria lacing the sound. At large, the room flinched away from the unnatural sound.
"Oh Dumbledore, never change" the smile faded and the eyes, still protected by dark tinted sunglasses seemed saddened. He paused and glanced at the floor.
"Sir? I was just thinking, I mean, a guy's gotta have something to do while reclining in Azkaban, but I was just thinking, do you know if either Ron or Hermione ever got married, or even, if they're still alive? As you may be aware, we have had very little contact and I'm beginning to regret it… I mean, not knowing if your best mates are married or not is pretty traumatizing" he smiled charmingly, cocking his head to the side in an absolutely adorable way (A/N: Don't you just love guy's who look all innocent and sweet while also absolutely hot? They look like puppy dogs who've learned how to prank).
"Yes, quite, they happen to be married Harry. Both of them, to each other" Harry's face instantly broke up into a grin and he shouted a 'yes' while thrusting his fist into the air.
"Hell yeah! Woohoo! Woohoo! Woohoo! Go mee! Go mee! Go mee! Uh huh! Uh huh! Uh huh! YES! YES! YES! YAY!" everyone of the order members were painfully reminded that the person before them was indeed a Azkaban escapee. Several of them turned away, discreetly trying to hide their laughs.
"Ok, ok, ok, ok, well in that case… Bill, Snape, Neville and Luna all owe me a galleon! I told them they'd get married! I told them!" he was grinning and his eyes, for the first time in an age, seemed to loose the silence that came after. Suddenly he seemed to remember where he was, and straightened up; pushing the sunglasses up the bridge of his nose as he forced his face into a calm and neutral expression.
"Well, that's all I came for, so I'll be off now! Good to see you all! Hope I have the pleasure again soon" he smiled and held out his hand to the silver bearded man opposite him.
"Yes, I am sure. I do, however, have one question for you before you leave, Harry" the dark man paused, waiting.
"Do you know where Bellatrix Lestrange is?" He noticed, with confusion that Harry had clenched his fist so tight that his nails were digging into the skin of his hand. Blood dripped onto the floor. Harry, meanwhile, simply smirked.
"Oh I know where she is alright, most certainly" he said nothing more, and nobody was brave enough to question him further.
"Well, thankyou for your hospitality, but like I said, I really must be going now" he mock saluted, and apparated the hell out.
Do I know where Bellatrix is? He grinned. Oh he knew where Bellatrix was.
Six fucking feet under.
He smiled, banishing his problems. Things were finally getting better, slowly, but surely things were getting better. For once in his life, they were going his way.
Oh yes, wether it was getting into University of calling of an international search for a murderer. Harry Potter got whatever he wanted it, whenever he wanted it.
He grinned.
Much better.
_-'*'-_
A/N: Thankyou for being so patient with me. As you will find out in later chapters of 'the breaking of the rules', IT, better known as my father, deleted the next three chapters I had of this story by re-imaging the computer I was using at the time (his laptop) cose mine was in IT. So, you see, I can trace all of this back to my school computer technicians.
I also lost some other chapters in a story I haven't posted yet but planed too (Oh Touché). All in all I lost a lot of stuff and I'm pretty pissed off about it, but I cooled down somewhat, so I've finally bought myself to start and finish this chapter.
It wasn't as good as the original.
Screw it all.
Imaginable ~^.^~
