I realize most people didn't like the last chapter, I was trying to see what kind of audience read my story, obviously not the angsty kind. And sorry for dieing and leaving you all without an update for so long.
Chapter 7
Phoenix lost and found.
He had been up on this mountain for a week. He had received a letter from Dumbledore and had responded that he didn't need help and would not like his presence, even if it weren't in those exact words. The pain and angst had past, with his new goal in mind. It had been three weeks since school started; he idly wondered what was happening.
The phoenix didn't seem to like him much. It didn't seem to hate him either. It would disappear when he tried to touch it, but would stay until then. Harry had sat beside that nest just watching the creature. He sometimes got the urge to just entrap its soul, but he doubted it would like black magic being worked on it.
He kept up his reading up here, he had summoned his books, and practiced magic against the dummies he would conjure. They were normal level opponents, about the strength of a mid-rank Auror, perhaps a death eater in training. It looked like a death eater for sure, no real features, all hidden behind a cloak. He would often battle three or four at a time, then heal himself when he got his ass handed to him. The healing spells didn't seem to work well when used on yourself, it left mild scars. He was used to having Tonks use healing spells on him.
At this moment he was just watching the phoenix, he spent most of his day like this. Just watching it, sometimes talking to it. It seemed to understand him to an extent, kind of like Hedwig. It would just look him in the eyes, wisdom like no other shown in then, a fierceness he had seen in few. He asked it, for what seemed the millionth, "Will you come with me?" he just cocked its head to the side. He growled at it, but it seemed unperturbed.
He stood and walked to his 'bed' a little platform he had conjured a tent around, unfortunately he couldn't make it big on the inside, so he just made it a large tent. Sleep came to him quickly when he dreamt of the future, what he hoped would be the future anyway.
The morning sun swept over him, waking him. He stood and used a couple of charms to make breakfast. After that he went outside to practice his magic. The phoenix was asleep with its head under its wing.
Harry conjured four normal level opponents. They stood motionless where they had been summoned. He pulled his wand out, took his place before them, and breathed. "Start." Came his command. They hesitated one second. Then began to advance in a staggered line.
He looked for options, the rocks were few and far between, and the scrub bushes were worthless, he had used up most of the natural resources over the course of the week. He started the duel with the lightening spell he had used at the Train station. It struck one, it fell, twitching, to the ground, he doubted it was dead, but he wouldn't have to worry about it for about ten minutes. The other three, quickly started spewing spells at him. Forcing him to the defensive, he made shield after shield only to have them broken by well placed curses. He apperated behind the dummies, conjured a brick wall and apperated back to his original spot. Unfortunately he was just in time for one of the dummies spells. His arm suddenly started to bleed from a cutting hex. He gasped but kept with his plan. The dummies had just turned to the wall behind them, the spell he had been hit with was a stray, he cast a earthquake curse at the ground under the wall, it fell on them, two of them managed to get shields up. The other was crushed and buried.
The other two started warding themselves while Harry caught his breath. Harry started to store energy into a rock by his feet. He threw a bit of fire at them to distract them from his energy storing. They renewed their attack, but this time it was about even, each side throwing offensive and defensive. He led them to the place were he had stored energy in a rock. With a word he released it, it spewed forth around in a wide arc. They were blown back several feet, they regained their footing but not before Harry was upon them, using many strong curses.
It looked like the first time he would have the advantage, maybe even a win. Then pain spread across his back. He apperated out of the cross fire. He looked to see the first dummy to go down had got back up. He cast a killing curse at it, it hit. It dropped dead. And he dropped to the ground, dodging several curses, he swore. Then he was under a barrage of spells. He screamed "Stop!" the dummies vanished. He lay on the ground, bleeding from open wounds, and smoking from several burns.
The healing charms were challenging to get on his back, and he had several new scars to add to his collection. After reading as much as his mind could handle. About an hour these days, always having that phoenix on his mind.
He went to watch it again, trying to figure out its mystery, what did it want from him? What did he want from it? He sighed watching it night slowly came to the mountain, he asked the question again "Will you come with me?" same question, same response.
He decided, after cleaning himself up after losing again to the dummies, that routine was overrated. Night fell upon him, asleep in his tent.
The phoenix seemed agitated today, when he asked the question, it sang a note to him. He stared at it for a while.
"Why won't you come with me?" the bird sang again. It spread its wings and flew around Harry's head, smacking its wings into him, hard. He grabbed it out of the air. Its beak came close to his head, but he managed to snag it. The phoenix calmed down, he stroked it, rubbed its beak, soon went limp, nuzzling into Harry. Harry nearly jumped up and down.
He looked at it, but amazingly it was asleep. He was frankly amazed, he expected some magic ritual, maybe binding, telepathy, something of that nature, the lore around the birds was such that he wouldn't have been surprised if it was some ancient wizard. It was none of those, he realized it was simple trust that the bird needed. It was a bird. An intelligent bird with some cool powers to be sure, but in the end it was just a bird.
He got rid of all the stuff he had made up there; it was almost like home by now. His hike back to Hogwarts seemed almost boring compared to the trails of the hike up, the unicorn's grave he avoided like the plague, and the centaurs ran when they saw him.
Back on the grounds of Hogwarts, twilight was coming, and a quidditch team was practicing out on the field. He emerged from the forest and continued his stroll to the castle, his hood of his cloak up to give him some form of warmth. Someone must have spotted him because there was a welcoming committee at the front door.
"Professor." He nodded curtly at the old man in front of him. Harry remembered him trying to make amends before he had left Harry had refused. It felt like a different life. Dumbledore's eyebrows rose when he recognized the voice. The bulge that was his phoenix shuffled and all the wands of the group rose. Sighing Harry lowered his hood and drew it back to reveal the phoenix in his arms. Beside Dumbledore several teachers gasped, in the back someone shouted,
"Let me through, what is going on here?" Cornelius Fudge shoved his way to the front.
"Ah, Mr. Potter," he snarled, "Delightful, now that you are here you can be arrested." He spat. "Aurors! Arrest him!" several Aurors pushed their way to the front. Harry drew the cloak around his phoenix, hiding it from view.
"What for?" he nearly shouted, his control was about to slip.
"Use of dark magic." Fudge smiled.
"You are kidding me right? You think I don't know that you can't detect dark magic?" Harry laughed at the Ministers pathetic excuse for a reason. Fudge seemed to lose composure for a moment, but regained it.
"It doesn't matter, I have a witness." The smugness was back.
"Yeah right. Who?"
"Draco Malfoy, claims you used a mind control spell on him, and you should know that all mind control spells are illegal and therefore dark magic."
"Sounds like lies to me, but I have a good Lawyer." Harry smirked as a plan formed in his mind. He told his phoenix to wait in the mountains for his return before the Aurors took him by portkey to a holding cell in the Ministry. The last thing he saw was the bird flapping gracefully off towards were Harry had just come from.
It took four days for the Wizenmagot to convene for him. Again he suspected that they didn't usually have a full convention just for some minor dark arts.
He conjured a chair to sit in seeing as he didn't much like the look of the one they had ready for him, the chains on it were rattling menacingly. Sitting comfortably in his dark blood red dress robes in his cushy chair. He sat still until a cough echoed through the chamber; he looked up to see the head of the Wizenmagot, The Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge standing above him.
They continued through the preliminaries, and they brought in Draco Malfoy to present evidence, the boy had a resentful look in his eyes and a smirk on his face, a strange combination to be sure.
"Mr. Malfoy, you are here to give testimony of the happenings on September the first, please proceed."
"On the way inside the school, I heard a commotion behind me on the steps, I turned to see Potter coming along, upon seeing me he pulled a wand and made an unfamiliar wand motion, I blacked out. When I woke from it, I remembered what had happened, he had forced me to kneel and kiss the hem of his robes."
"Do know have speculation as to why he would force you to do this?"
"No I haven't the faintest idea, except maybe as some sort of twisted sign of respect he wanted from me."
"Thank you Mr. Malfoy." Draco left.
"Not a very good witness Fudge." Harry said.
"I don't see why. He condemned you to a few years in azkaban." Fudge almost laughed.
"Actually, he helped me, seeing as he couldn't even give a good description of a mind controlling curse." Muttering rose from court.
"It doesn't matter, it's obvious his mind was controlled." Fudge spat.
"Well its not actually, seeing as the imperious curse is the only mind controlling curse that doesn't require physical contact."
"Then you must have used that on him! Is that what you are saying!"
"He could recognize the imperious curse, we had training in it in our fourth year, so seeing as he didn't recognize the curse, it was not that." Fudge sputtered for moment.
"You clearly attacked the boy using dark magic, so that really doesn't matter!"
"It does seeing as how I used a body controlling curse which is legal."
"It cannot be! All control curses are illegal!" shouted someone from the back of the court.
"It is legal because in the law it names the curses that are illegal, I used a foreign curse not in the law." Silence greeted his words.
"Technicality." Fudge shouted.
"Yes it is, but that does not matter."
"So it seems Mr. Potter, you must forgive us again, for this grievous error." Spoke the one voice of reason in the chaos, Madame Bones.
"I must do nothing of the sort, I'll have your jobs is what I'll do."
"You have no power here Potter, even your name isn't enough for that."
"Maybe, but the law states that three heirs of old pureblood families, can change three people of this court. And sometimes the government cant control its people" Again his words shocked them, he turned and headed out the door.
Making his way up towards the surface, he heard running from behind him. Turning around he saw a man unfamiliar to him, "Mr. Potter!" he shouted. Harry waited for him to catch up. "Mr. Potter, I heard you were here, I wondered if I could get a word?" Harry stared at him then blinked.
"Oh, for an interview, of course. What paper do you work for?" he studied the man, tall, stringy, and sort of sickly looking.
"The London Wand. So you'll be willing to give me a word?"
"Actually," the mans face fell, "if you go and call a press conference for me I'll let you have first question. Deal?" The man nodded excitedly, not even saying good-bye before rushing off, like a messenger pigeon. He wandered the lobby talking with a few people here and there, they all seemed surprised to see him, when he thought about it, it was obvious why .It was the school year.
He found the formal exit of the Ministry, a very large set of marble steps, lined with columns made of glass. It made for quite the impression. People with cameras, notebooks, and pads of parchment lined up at the bottom of the steps. He waited in the shadows by the door, regular people were starting to show, word spread fast from the Ministry. He saw the podium up front a table in front had dozens upon dozens of pieces of parchment with quills set upon them. When everyone that was going to be there was there he straightened his robes, and strode to the podium.
The crowd fell silent, he looked out over them.
"Welcome. Thank you for coming. I called you here because today the ministry has proved itself, beyond a doubt, that it is corrupt and unbalanced. For the second time I have been not only prosecuted but persecuted by the administration." He let this sink in before continuing, " The first time I was charged for the use of a patronus charm, against dementors that were sent by the ministry itself," he let his voice rise towards the end, coming to a shout on the last word, shock spread throughout the crowd. "The second time, today, I was charged for a charm which is not even illegal, on the word of the son of a death eater. Who is known for his childish grudge against me for over 5 years." The crowd was fast turning into a mob, a very angry mob, it seemed that the mob was harboring its own negative feelings for the government; his own just set them off. "For a government that is supposed to be protecting us from death eaters, Fudge trying to kill innocents and prosecuting them for defending themselves does not sound like a very good way of going about it." The mob was staring to shout; riling itself up even further. A full squad of Aurors spilled forth from the doors of the ministry. They quickly surrounded the mob, wands out and shields up.
"Ah I see my points proven for me." Harry continued to the audience as if he didn't have dozens of wands trained on him. "Seeing as our visitors cannot stop us, shall we continue? Questions." The mob was reduced to a crowd once again, and the reporters stood and started shouting for their question to be heard.
"You claimed that the ministry sent dementors after you? How did you come to this conclusion?" The man he had promised first question asked, once Harry had found him and called for him.
"The Undersecretary of the Minister, Umbridge, told me she had authorized the attack, right before she threatened me with the cruciotus, at school, when she was Headmaster of Hogwarts." Stunned silence. Reporters called for questions again. Picking a random one.
"Why wasn't this ever known to the public? How were you charged without the media getting in on it?"
"I was tried under a full Wizengamot, in old courtroom ten, I believe it was a closed session."
"A full Wizenmagot?!" the same reporter burst in.
"Yes, I was represented by Albus Dumbledore." The hands shot in the air again. "Yes." He said pointing to a woman in the back.
"You say the Undersecretary of the Ministry, while she was the Headmistress of Hogwarts, threatened you with cruciotus?"
"Along with detentions were a quill cut the lines you wrote into the back of your hand." Gasps.
"You were forced to cut words into the back of your hand? Were you the only one?"
"No, there was another in my house, I have no idea who else in the other houses. She also authorized the flogging of students, fortunately she was expelled from the school before she could put it to use." He held his hand up to them, the words I must not tell lies stood out from his hand.
"Do the words have any significance?"
"I was given the detentions because I told my classmates about the return of Lord Voldemort. Also when I contradicted her when she got her facts wrong."
"What facts did she have wrong?"
"She claimed my first year teacher was a good one. I am hear to tell you he was possessed by Voldemort, he died after trying to steal the Sorcerers Stone, when Lord Voldemort left him." The questions were flying thick now.
"Is this the only information kept hidden about the happenings at the school?"
"I doubt it, you probably don't know that in my second year the Chamber of Secrets was opened, and that I discovered I was a parslemouth that year as well. Third year a man who was pretending to be dead was hiding at the school." He stopped here knowing the question that was coming.
"Who?" Came from too many directions.
"Peter Pettigrew. He was hiding in his illegal animagus form of a rat. They also had captured Sirius Black again, and tried to execute him, he escaped. Forth year during the whole year, Barty Crouch Jr. used polyjuice to impersonate Alastor Moody. His father was being held under imperious and was killed by the son. Crouch Jr. was given The Dementor's Kiss by Fudge when he realized the implications." All around him was chaos, everyone's lives were turned upside-down, and they believed him. They were looking at him as if he was the one person they could trust.
And he was. This was his following, the people. They knew the truth when he told them; they supported him. But the Aurors were still standing there, even if most of them looked like they wanted to join the throng.
"Go home. Tell others the truth. Let the world know the corruption of this government." With that he stepped away from the podium, people started dis-aperating, back home, back to the office, or back to the papers. He was soon left with a bunch of Aurors. They went back inside, to write up the reports for their bosses.
"You caused a lot of trouble today, Harry."
"I just told the people the truth." He turned and saw Dumbledore standing there. The old man sighed.
"Truth is a double-edged sword. Now that the people know what was hidden, what do you think will happen?"
"Exactly what should, there will be revolution in Britain. It may take years but the seed is planted, and hopefully a new, stronger, and more just government will be put forth."
"That is not what we need with Voldemort on the war path."
"Voldemort will not last long, and there are always going to be dark lords, it is a fact of nature, as sure as there will always be night. The dark lords of the other nations will not let him keep going, and I will be there to finished him off."
"You think other dark lords will take an interest in him and help destroy him?"
"No but if I have something they want they may be persuaded to help me."
"Dealing with the devil is dangerous business, Harry."
"They may be more help than you think." Dumbledore took out a small gem.
"Touch this." Harry eyed it suspiciously, "Come Harry even in your mind, I wont harm a pawn, as you put it." Harry looked less then comforted by these words, it sounded to him like the headmaster was using his words so he wouldn't have to use his own.
"Alright. Hogwarts."