In Every Darkness
Chapter Fifty Three: Court House Conflict
19.9.1996
"On your feet boy," Moody said gruffly to Harry, offering the boy a hand. Harry took it gratefully, a little red in the face. He'd tripped on the uneven ground of the place they'd landed.
"Alastor, this doesn't appear to Little Whining," Dumbledore said mildly, looking around. "Unless I miss my guess, I would think that isn't even a settlement."
Harry looked around, and almost immediately agreed with Dumbledore. From what he could work out, they were in the middle of a forest.
"Can't be too careful, Albus," Moody replied, looking around, scanning the area with his magical eye. "Good, there's no one here. There's brooms over there, we'll all have to go to Tatsu's house and leave the brooms there."
"Why are we here?" Tatsu asked, looking around.
"I told you boy," Moody replied, "can't be too careful. I set up the Portkey myself, made sure that we wouldn't be going anywhere that Death Eaters might trap us."
"We don't seem to be anywhere else much," Tatsu remarked dryly.
"We're only twenty miles away from Surrey," Moody replied impatiently. "It should only take a few minutes to fly there from here."
"Twenty miles? Why Alastor, I do believe that you become less paranoid in your old age. Time was, you wouldn't go anywhere without a hundred mile detour," Dumbledore smiled gently at his old friend.
"I still do, where I can," Moody said testily. "But you said that we didn't have much time, so I was forced to restrict myself."
Harry fought hard not to laugh, and mounted one of the brooms that Moody had provided – Nimbus Two Thousands.
"Mount up, use evasive flying techniques, disguise yourselves – wait, boy, I'd best to that for you!" Moody rapped Harry sharply on the head, and Harry felt the same sensation as the last time this had happened, just over a year before.
Looking down at himself, Harry smiled faintly, seeing his now chameleon body shift and change to blend in with the background whenever he moved.
He looked over, just as Dumbledore did the same thing for Tatsu, and the two 'chameleons' grinned at each other.
Grypis shifted form, becoming an eagle and taking off into the night. "I will meet you there," he mind-spoke Harry. "Don't get yourself killed."
"You sound like Moody," Harry replied silently, laughing silently as he mounted the broom and kicked off, feeling the others around him without really needing to look.
"I'm not quite that paranoid, thank you very much," Grypis responded.
"I never said you were, but you are sounding as pessimistic as Moody does," Harry replied.
"Rise to three thousand feet!" Moody called out, and Harry obeyed quickly as Tatsu flew up beside him.
"That old man gets more paranoid every time I meet him," Tatsu muttered in Harry's direction.
Harry laughed, but quietly. "I know what you mean … I think. He's not as bad as he was when he came to pick up to take me to Head Quarters for the first time …"
"Well that's something," Tatsu grinned back. "Oh, we're going down now," he added, watching as Moody started a sharp descent.
Harry looked around to see how Dumbledore was going, and smiled to see the old wizard riding his broomstick with the expression of one going a rollercoaster for the second time – one of upmost glee.
Harry rolled neatly into a dive, shooting downwards, enjoying the sensation of the wind flying wildly through his hair.
He saw Privet Drive from the air, as he'd seen it only once before, a year before. He picked out Tatsu's house and raced for the ground, building up speed until neatly pulling out of the dive a few feet from the ground and landing perfectly.
"Well done!" Tatsu said, with the air of one who'd seen similar manoeuvres on more than one occasion. Dumbledore nodded in agreement, but Moody looked at Harry with both eyes for a moment.
"Nice dive, Potter. If you were anyone else, I'd tell you to be careful about landings, but I know that you can control your broom. Just don't try that on a broom you haven't used before," he told the boy, who smiled back at him.
"I wont," Harry replied, not sure if he was being honest or not.
"Good," Moody replied, examining their surroundings with both his magical eye and his normal one. "Come on, let's go to this Court House place then."
Harry sighed. He would much rather that he didn't have to do this, but he knew that he had to put in an appearance. Besides, he might be able to help – if everyone else would let him.
Tatsu led the way into the house, where they left the brooms, then out the front to his car, which they all piled into.
Soon enough they arrived at the court room, Harry was preparing himself for two battles: the battle to stay awake, and the battle to fight back rising panic at the thought of the attack.
You lived through one Death Eater attack, didn't you? He asked himself. Yeah, but I wasn't expecting that one, and therefore didn't have time to be nervous. I was also inside Hogwarts with lots of my friends and there were teachers outside, he replied.
And now I'm speaking to myself. Yay, he added.
"Then speak to me instead," Grypis advised, settling on Harry's lap when the boy sat down.
"Alright Grypis. When I don't need to pay attention here, I'll talk to you," Harry agreed.
"How many wizards are here?" Harry asked Tatsu. Moody had disappeared into the crowd the moment that they'd arrived, presumably to sniff out trouble.
"Quite a few," Tatsu replied. "A lot more than yesterday, in any case."
Harry nodded and quietened. How many of those wizards would be alive after today? How many of them would die because of him?
"Not because of you, because of Voldemort. Voldemort ordered this attack, and those who have set themselves against him choose now to fight him. You are innocent of any involvement here," Grypis told him.
"But Voldemort would not have ordered this attack if it had not been for me," Harry pointed out.
"How can you know that? Besides, you did not ask for me to chose you as his greatest rival. You did not chose for him to kill your parents, nor did you chose for him to be cast from his body when he tried to kill you. You did not ask for any of this, as you have said often. Stop feeling bad for things that are not your fault. All of your troubles lead back to Voldemort, if you look back far enough."
"Can't argue with griffin logic," Harry told Grypis, smiling from beneath his hair at the creature, before looking back up, adjusting his face to look sad, helpless and bewildered.
"Now just remember to keep up the act," Grypis told him. "You are getting better at acting, but don't blow your career just yet."
"I'll try not to, believe me I will," was the reply. "I think I'm supposed to be paying attention now though," Harry added, regretfully, breaking off his conversation with the griffin.
"Mr. Harry J. Potter," the judge called out as the court fell silent.
"Here, sir," Harry replied, at a nod from Dumbledore.
"You were in your aunt and uncles house on the day of their deaths, were you not?" The judge asked.
"Yes, sir," Harry replied.
"Can you describe the events for us, Mr. Potter?"
"It was my birthday," Harry replied, and noted the immediate expressions of sympathy on the faces of the jury, and the sympathetic sounds from behind him. "I'd had a bit of a row with my uncle, I was going out with some friends for the day. My uncle hadn't wanted me to, he wanted me to stay home.
"I heard noises from downstairs, for a moment, I thought it was my uncle, yelling at my friends cousin, Remus, who was picking me up. Then Tatsu," he indicated Tatsu with a wave of his hand, "climbed up through the window to say that he'd seen masked strangers in the house, and to tell me that I should get out.
"I wanted to go and help. I don't know what I thought I could do – I didn't have a weapon and there would have been more of them than there were of me … But Tatsu persuaded me that I should leave. I jumped out of the window, and there was a bang from behind me. The bottom levels of the house had exploded, or something.
"When we went around the front, we saw the black clothed strangers running away, and there was a fire in the house. My aunt, uncle, cousin, and my friends cousin, were all dead …"
Harry let tears fall from his eyes, thinking of Remus rather than his blood relatives. He felt a little guilty for this, it was like saying that his 'family' didn't matter … But he squashed those feelings firmly. It was the act that he had to concentrate on now.
"Does this statement coincide with your own version of events, Mr. Kendo?" The judge asked, now looking to Tatsu.
"It does, those bits of it that concern me," Tatsu replied. "I've no idea what went on in the house before I saw the black robed strangers turn up."
"Thank you, Mr. Kendo, Mr. Potter," the judge replied.
"I do not see that you can trust these statements," Marge suddenly said, loudly. "They are friends, the man, Kendo, has become Potter's guardian! How can you simply believe this story?!"
There were mutters of annoyance from the Jury, and Harry knew that they all liked him better, rather than his loud-voiced aunt.
"You've got them, kid," Tatsu murmured. "Marge has just lost any support that she might have had, I think."
Harry gave a faint, tight smile. He was getting worried, as he checked his watch. It was ten o'clock – two hours till the Death Eaters arrived.
Harry drifted into something of a stupor for the rest of the morning, as the court wheedled its way through long procedures.
Finally, the Judge stood up to close the proceedings. Harry looked down at his watch and cursed silently – two minutes to twelve. Snape would be attacking with the Death Eaters in two minutes time.
"This court is adjourned," the judge finished formerly. Just as he said these words, there was a loud crash, and the doors flew open. Harry didn't scream. He forced his face to assume a surprised expression.
There were Death Eaters at the door. Robed in black, wearing blank, silver masks. The court house was thrown into instant havoc.
"The Ministry is going to have a bit of a job clearing this up," Tatsu murmured. "Those Death Eaters really don't look happy …"
Suddenly spells were shooting from the Death Eaters wands. Harry felt something heavy strike his side and tumbled over, moving his body so he'd be ready to attack the moment he hit the ground … Until he realised that the 'thing' was Tatsu.
"Stay down for the moment," Tatsu whispered. "There are enough Phoenix Agents fighting to keep the Death Eaters back for a moment. Wait here – I'll go and help. Don't involve yourself just yet, Harry."
Harry opened his mouth to speak, but Tatsu was gone. "Doesn't anyone understand?" He asked Grypis, keeping his voice soundless. "I can't just stay back, can't just leave this. I need to help! I need to do something!"
"Then do something. Don't tell me about it. Tatsu will understand. He won't like it, but he'll understand," Grypis replied. "He knows what it feels like, I'm sure he does."
"Thanks Grypis. Do you want to help?"
"No, Gryfas, but my thanks for asking," Grypis replied.
Harry gave his friend a smile, then moved slowly forward, his wand slipping easily into his hand.
Across the isle from him, he saw Marge, the Judge, the jury and Marge's lawyer, all of whom looked frankly terrified. Harry also noted that a Death Eater was coming towards them, wand raised.
Harry threw himself from his position on the floor, wand coming up, his mind sinking easily into the Centre. He whispered the words to a spell, freezing the Death Eater in place, before stunning him and placing a full body bind on him.
"Are you alright?" he asked, coming to a halt just beside the judge.
"Who are these people? What are they? What are you?" The judge asked, gibbering almost mindlessly.
"I'm a student in a school that teaches magic. I'm going to be a wizard when I graduate at the end of next year," Harry thought the best thing to do might be to explain the situation. He kept an eye on the fight as he did so.
"The man who is my lawyer, Albus Dumbledore, is the headmaster of my school. My parents were killed by a dark wizard when I was young – he tried to kill me, but it didn't work. It nearly killed him instead.
"He's come back to life now. The men in black robes are his followers, the other people with wands are on my side, against him. He doesn't think that Muggles – what we call non-magic people – should be allowed to life. He thinks that you are the scum of the earth … But the people against him, while they don't all necessarily like Muggles, Professor Dumbledore and the people here do. That's why they are here, protecting you guys… Also protecting me."
"And why are you even worth protecting?" Marge snarled at him, her face very red.
"Because I'm the only one that kill Voldemort – the bad wizard. One of us has to kill the other. The Death Eaters – Voldemort's followers – are most likely here to catch me and take me to him, so that he can kill me," Harry replied.
"You're lying," Marge told him.
"No, I'm not," Harry replied, matter of factly, at the same moment raising his wand and stunning another Death Eater.
"Mobilicorpus," he whispered, floating the Death Eater towards them, and placing him in a full body bind beside the other. "If I was lying, I wouldn't be able to do that."
Now he looked properly at the fight. The Muggles would probably be alright. They knew what they were up against, at any rate. "Stay here, don't move, try and keep out of the way of spells. You can't do anything against them," he said rapidly.
"Where are you going?" one of the women from the Jury asked.
"To help fight," Harry replied. "Those people, or ones like them, helped kill my parents, killed my only remaining family, and my godfather and other friends of mine. They put me in danger, and my friends in danger because of me. I'm not going to sit back and let them attack people I care about."
"You're very brave," the woman said.
"I know more than one person who'd say I just lacked the sense to keep from getting killed," Harry replied dryly, leaping away before any one else could speak.
Two Death Eaters were coming in his direction, wands raised. "Stupefy," Harry muttered, wand pointed at one, at the same time kicking out and up.
Surprised by the physical attack, the first Death Eater didn't even notice the stunning spell hitting him, knocking him unconscious.
The second Death Eater smiled cruelly. "Well well well, if it isn't the Potter boy. Do you really think you can do anything here? Besides getting your friends killed?" he asked.
"No, I don't think I can, I know I can," Harry replied, before murmuring, "expelliarmus."
"Do you expect me to fall for something that simple?" The Death Eater demanded, blocking Harry's spell. He hadn't heard Harry's murmured, "petrificus totalus," and therefore the full body bind curse caught him before he could do anything.
"Well, you've just proven you can," Harry told his frozen foe, glancing around.
The fight seemed to be turning against Harry's friends. The Death Eaters had not had the element of surprise, but had recovered quickly from this.
Moody was attempting to duel with five Death Eaters at once, and his foes were slowly pushing him into a corner. Dumbledore, Arthur Weasley and Katharine, the woman who'd joined over the summer, who'd been with Harry when he first met Tatsu, had formed a triangle, and were trying to keep seven or eight Death Eaters away from themselves.
Other Order of the Phoenix members were trying to band together, get back to back so they'd be better off.
In the middle of everything was Tatsu. Harry was sure that the man was modifying half the spells that were being sent in any direction, even as he fought with hands and feet to do his best against the Death Eaters.
Harry quickly decided it was Moody who was in the most need of his aid, and, decision made, hurled himself forward.
He did not stop to think about the consequences of his actions, he did not stop to think that he could get caught, or killed, here. He only knew that the Death Eaters were his enemies, that they'd killed his friends, killed people Harry did not know by name or face, but who were linked to him in their hatred of Lord Voldemort.
His mind was solely focused on one idea – the Death Eaters, his enemies, must die.
***
Sorry about the lack of update. Had a bit of a busy week – two tests, I've been sick, and I haven't had much time to use the computer any way. Also, my teachers seem to have remembered what 'homework' is.
Anyway, to make up for this, I've made the chapter longer than usual- 2900 words!
I've been working on two other stories – the Alternate Universe fic, and an original fiction that I'm writing for an art project. The AU fic will be out in a week or so, still. I haven't had much time, as I said.
I'm going absailing tomorrow, so I probably won't be able to update. I'll try and get a long chapter out on Sunday (or what is Sunday for me, in Australia, anyway).
Alright, enough with the notes. I'll let you go and read the thanks chapter now! REVIEW PLEASE!
~WolfMoon~