When he arrived he found that Ginny, cradling Laura, had entered the room and was sitting by the fire. Malfoy was standing at the window, Hermione was perched on the corner of Dumbledore's desk, biting her nails, Dumbledore himself was using the pensive and Claire and Ron still stood awkwardly by the door.
"Oh Harry!" Hermione jumped up when she saw him. "Fudge just arrived. He has four aurors with him!"
"Did you find out anything?" Dumbledore asked, putting the pensive away and striding around his desk. Harry shook his head, his eyes intent on Ginny.
"Can I hold her?" he asked, suddenly realising that when the minister got upstairs he would be dead. Ginny didn't hesitate to hand the baby over and Harry stood in the centre of the room, staring at his godchild's pretty blue eyes and breathing in her peaches and cream aroma.
Footsteps came pounding up the stairs and everyone, except Harry, moved to the walls of the room. Harry could feel all his emotions building up inside him as he came to terms with the fact that he would never see Laura again, never watch her grow up, never have her over to him house when Ginny and Dean were fighting, never being able to protect her like he had done with Ginny…
The door burst open and Fudge and his four aurors came racing into the room, wands held high, as they scanned the room. Kingsley and Tonks were two of the aurors along with a stocky, strawberry blonde man called Brooklyn and a grey haired, extremely skinny wizard known as Peterson.
"Get him!" Fudge screeched in a wild frenzy. His Aurors advanced slowly.
"Wait, he's got an infant!" Brooklyn said, lowering his wand slightly when he noticed the baby in Harry's arms. Harry was still staring at her, trying with all his heart not to explode and kill all these people.
"Put the baby down, Potter" Kingsley said in his slow, soothing voice. Harry glanced at him and saw that the wizard had a ghost of a smile spread across his face. Harry was a little disturbed to see that he and Tonks found this who situation quite amusing.
"Dumbledore!" Fudge barked, turning the wizard lurking in the shadows beside Ginny. "What is the meaning of this? You know full well that he's dangerous and you put a child's life at risk!"
"No he didn't" Harry spoke for the first time and he was surprised to see that his voice was as cold as ice. He held the baby out and Ginny ran forward to collect her.
"You can do what you want now," Harry said, trying to keep his voice steady as he gave these ministry men and women the invitation to destroy him. Fudge looked at Tonks then Kingsley.
"Get him downstairs to the portal. Oh, and snap his wand"
The two order members started forward and Harry held up his hands in warning.
"You can take me wherever you want but you will not touch my wand." Tonks looked back at Fudge for more orders while Kingsley rolled his eyes and it was then that Harry realised Kingsley and Tonks were still loyal to him. Fudge laughed out loud.
"Do you even know who your talking to, Potter?"
"Do you even remember why your hear?" Harry retorted, reverting back to childhood. "I think you'd be much better off playing by my rules, minister."
"Get him" Fudge growled and Brooklyn and Peterson launched surprise attacks from the sides. They grabbed his wrists and forced him brutally towards the door.
"Wait!" Claire suddenly stepped out of the shadows. Harry broke free of his captives and turned to face the French girl that had been his girlfriend for almost half a year now. She bit her lip in hesitation as she surveyed Harry: a broken man with an even more broken life.
All throughout her teenage life in France, Claire had dated around twenty boys in her desperate search for love. The majority of them took her for granted and cheated on her. After she had dumped them they would beg with her to take them back. Some of the better ones used their eyes to plead but Harry was different. He merely stared at her, his face neither cold nor inviting. He was completely emotionless. His eyes had lost their bright green flame and his cheeks where pale. His shoulders were slightly hunched as the Aurors held him by the upper arms. He was a dead man and he had accepted his death as something for the better.
He let his eyes meet hers and he just stared. She seemed to be running things over in her mind. Suddenly she lunged at him and slammed into his with such force that it left him gasping for air. For a moment Harry had suspected that she was going to kill him herself but her arms closed gently around him neck in a hug and she rested her head on his chest. Harry hesitated a moment before putting his own arms around her shoulders and burying his face in her hair. She smelt of tropical fruits and sea breeze.
"I love you," he whispered without thinking but he knew he meant it. He'd known since the fateful night that he had plunged from the cliff.
Claire pulled back from him slightly so she could meet his eyes and see if he was being truthful.
"I love you, too" she whispered back, taking a tighter hold on him.
Harry felt as if new life had breathed into him. Those four little words had given him the will to live again.
"Don't go, Harry, I saw what you can do. You don't have to leave…"
"Get her away from him" Fudge growled and Kingsley placed a gentle hand on Claire's shoulder and pulled her back. Peterson yanked heavily on Harry's arm and he was lugged out of the room more forcibly than before.
"Someone's got to be the hero," he stated before disappearing through the door.
Claire had given him new hope and as they reached the entrance hall, Harry managed to tug free of his captives and advance on Fudge who was leading the group from the castle.
"Don't come near me, Potter, we've been far too lenient with you and its time you were dealt with" the Minister trained his wand on Harry's heart and the Gryffindor boy raised his arms in a truce.
"Yeah whatever. Listen err…Mr Fudge, I'm not evil…"
Fudge laughed loudly and Harry drew away from him a little, guessing that Fudge had finally gone mad.
"Nice to see you've finally come to your senses and joined us, Potter" the sneering voice of Goyle came from his right. Harry glanced at him and saw that he had a hand extended, ready for shaking.
Harry clenched his left fist and brought it around, surprising Goyle with a heavy uppercut. Goyle fell backwards with shock and Harry took the opportunity to spit on him.
"I wouldn't join you even if you were the queen!" he hissed menacingly as Brooklyn, deciding that Harry had reached h\the last straw, conjured up a pair of cuffs and restricted Harry's hands behind his back. "I work for no one," he added as Tonks forced him out the front door and over to a group of waiting ministry representatives.
"HEY POTTER!" Harry looked up and saw Malfoy hanging out of Dumbledore's window. The Blonde boy tapped his head and Harry inclined his head ever so slightly.
"Get him out of here before he and his little mates begin a mutiny!"
Kingsley forced Harry's hand onto an odd metal object and the two of them were jerked through time as the portkey took effect.
Harry and Kingsley landed with an ever-soft thud at the entrance end of the auditorium. Down the other end, near the lifts, over twenty wizards were waiting for him, wands poised for attack.
"Do you have any idea how we're going to get out of this, Harry? 'Cause I'm stumped" Kingsley whispered, holding Harry by the handcuffs and leading him across the room very slowly.
"No. I don't even know why I'm here" Harry glanced at the renewed fountain as they moved past it.
"Well they're going to put you to trial first but you will most likely get the death sentence by either wand point or dementor. At the very least you'll get life time in Azkaban"
"Well thanks for that welcoming piece of information…" Harry's steps faltered slightly as Malfoy's voice came lightly into his mind.
"Ginny just had this great idea…just remind them who is supposed to kill…V-Voldemort. And whose going to do it when you're dead"
"You said his name" Harry replied stupidly. "But thanks."
"Dumbledore's on his way there" Malfoy faded away as if he had been a dream and Harry realised that they were almost at the other end of the auditorium.
"Brilliant!" Harry whispered as he let Malfoy's, or Ginny's, idea run through his head.
"What?" Kingsley asked quickly, walking slower to give Harry time.
"I remind them that Voldemort is still at large. Who's going to kill him if I'm dead?"
Kingsley almost slapped himself. "Of course! Why didn't we think of that? You-know-who will buy us some time…" his words trailed off as the group of waiting witches and wizards came into earshot.
Fudge, Brooklyn, Peterson, Tonks, the other small group of Aurors and Dumbledore apperated by the fountain.
"Bring him along, Kingsley!" a wizard at the back of the group said. Harry distinctly recognised his voice to be that of Arthur Weasley. "We don't have all night. He needs to be secured in the chambers"
"Fair go, Weasley" Kingsley growled, shoving Harry towards elevators. It was Harry's presence alone that parted the group of trained witches and wizards, just as Moses had parted the Red sea.
Harry caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirrored doors of the elevator and he suddenly realised that all the hard work and effort that he'd put into his martial arts training had paid off; he was no longer the skinny, undernourished boy who had spent his life being taunted by Voldemort. He had now filled out around the chest, grown a few inches and had very recently been claimed the most powerful wizard in the world. No one could stop him now: he was invincible.
Harry rode down, lower under the ground in the elevator with Kingsley, Arthur and a witch that he had seen at a few order meetings.
"They want to observe you first, Harry" the Witch, Beth Lordman, explained. "You'll be sitting in a dark room with a table, a candle and a few objects. You wont be able to see anything else but the walls will be lined with Aurors and the whole of the Wizengamot will be observing from the far wall. You should remember their positions from last year's trials. When they get sick of that, they will send a magical phycologist in. hopefully we'll be able to get Tonks in there at this point…"
"Then they'll put you on trial. And believe me, Harry" Arthur met his eye very seriously. "They will not go easy on you."
"Make yourself be heard. And try to refrain from using you magic. I know you still have your wand so refrain from using that as well." Kingsley finished as the elevator rattled to a halt and the four of them set off down the windowless hall to courtroom ten.
A security guard was waiting by the door and Harry stood quite still while the burly man patted him down. When he reached Harry's side, he yanked his wand out of his pocket.
"Ah ha!" he shouted triumphantly, seizing the wand with two hands and bending it.
"Stop!" Harry flicked his hand at the man and he became frozen solid, still holding Harry's wand, which was on snapping point. Harry glanced around hurriedly and was relieve to find that there was nobody about, but he could hear voices and footsteps coming from the elevators and he snatched his wand back and tucked it into his shoe. He then entered the old courtroom as Kingsley preformed a mind-altering spell and an anti-curse charm on the security guard before following Harry into the room.
The room was set out just as Beth had suggested; the dungeon was pitch black except for a table and chair in the centre of the room surrounded by a soft pool of light being emitted by a candle sitting in the centre of the table.
Harry could hear a little bit of shuffling around the room as he strode across to the chair and sat down.
He waited hesitantly for a while before examining the objects scattered across the table. Including the candle, there was two rolls of parchment, a quill, an inkpot, a spell book, a pack of exploding snap cards, an apple, four gallons and shiny object that Harry did not recognise. He reached for this first but stopped just short of it, wondering mildly if it was dangerous. He smiled in a maniac kind of way and reached instead for the quill. He dipped it in the inkpot and smoothed out a sheet of parchment.
For a while he simply scribbled on the paper until it was so black that the ink practically dripped from it. He tossed it aside and reached for the next roll of parchment. This time he decided to use it wisely and he began to write, very slowly, the words of the prophecy that Voldemort's men had discovered. When he'd finished he tilted his head to the side and tried to decipher it.
What Harry guessed to be an hour had passed and he found himself building a pyramid out of the exploding snap cards. He had not yet touched the metal thing for fear it might be dangerous, or the apple in case it was poisoned and he was currently using the age-old spell book as a base for his card tower.
The door at the side of the room opened and light from outside spilled in as a woman dressed in ruby red robes and carrying a clipboard entered the room.
She took a seat opposite Harry and smiled gently through big round glasses. Her Mousy brown hair fell in flimsy waves to her shoulders and she took a moment to time it back.
"Wotcher, Harry" the phycologist whispered, pretending to sort through her papers. Harry gave Tonks a tiny smile.
"How have you been, Harry? With the return of you-know-who and all?" Tonks must have gotten the questions from Fudge because she sounded utterly ridiculous and she seemed to be fighting the urge to roll her eyes.
"Fine, I guess…" he answered with a flickering glance at where the Wizengamot would be seated.
"And have you spoken to him of recent?"
Harry met Tonks' eyes and she nodded slightly, inclining that he tell her the truth.
"Yes"
"And when was that?"
"This afternoon. I wanted to know why his blood was falling from the sky"
"And what is this?" she picked up the sheet of parchment that he had written on. It was now decorated with snitches and little love hearts with 'Claire' written in them.
"It's a prophecy"
"A prophecy? What prophecy?" Fudge's voice boomed into Harry's ears and the torches along the walls flickered into life, revealing what seemed to be every single Auror in Britain lined up against the walls, wands pointed offensively at Harry. The stands where the Wizengamot were seated came into view last and Harry saw that Dumbledore was seated beside Fudge, his blue eyes transfixed on Harry.
"One of Voldemort's men heard it in the middle-east" Harry explained, fixing Fudge with his deathly stare, making the minister of magic wilt. A fair few of the people in the room hissed as Harry said the ex dark lords name, proving to him that they were still scared.
"Show me" Fudge held out his hand and Tonks took the parchment to him. His eyes scanned over the paper very quickly and Dumbledore peered at it over his shoulder, a bemused expression came to his face when he noticed Harry's doodling.
Harry took this moment to scan all the witches and wizards of the Wizengamot. Most of them were trying to see the parchment but there were still a staring at him with looks of disgust. One of these happened to be Dolores Umbridge. Harry gave her a sardonic smile and she quickly looked away.
"What does this mean, Potter?" Fudge waved the paper in the air and Harry turned his attention back to the squat man.
"I don't know…some thing evil is coming?"
"And what does…he…make of it?"
Harry guessed that Fudge was referring to Voldemort.
"He doesn't know either"
"And this meeting you had with him, did you duel?"
"No"
"Why?"
"We're having a cease-fire" Harry sent continuous glances at Dumbledore after each of Fudge's questions to get permission to answer.
"When did this come about?"
"Just after Christmas. I gave him some…valued information in exchange for a cease-fire until the end of summer"
"Why did he bargain for so long?"
"He wanted to research that" Harry gestured to the prophecy still clutched tightly in Fudge's hand.
"And is the prophecy about you?"
"Could be" Harry shrugged. "Could be about anyone…but I sure as hell have never been to Egypt so I'm not the evil one"
The table next to Harry suddenly disappeared with a slight pop and his chair began to morph around him. It turned from the stiff wooden one to the metal chair that usually stood there. The many chains on the arms of the chair sprang to life and strapped Harry down by the arms, legs and chest. He gasped for air as the chains became steadily tighter. Dumbledore's bemused expression had been replaced with that of outrage but he did nothing.
"What were you doing at the time the storm started, Potter?" Fudge's voice rang out in a superior way as he stared gleefully at his captive.
"Magic" Harry gasped. The chains were cutting off the circulation to his wrists. He guessed that this was a mild form of torture.
"Dark magic?"
"No. I was healing myself"
"Healing yourself?" Fudge's eyebrows shot to his hairline and he smirked. "Why would you need to heal yourself at school?"
"I was pushed into the lake by a friend as a joke and I hit a rock"
"And why didn't you go to the school nurse?"
"I wanted to see if I could do it myself" Harry closed his eyes as claustrophobia took hold of him.
"Who was present while you were…healing yourself?"
"Hermione Granger, Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore" Harry spoke quickly as the chains, still drawing tighter, began to heat up and burn his skin.
"Dumbledore?" Fudge looked at the man beside him with surprise. He seemed to be oblivious to Harry's suffering. Fudge turned back to him, a slight smile on his face"
"Tell me, Potter, why shouldn't I let all these wizards and witches kill you right now"
"Because…no one will…argh…keep Voldemort…in…check…he'll destroy you…all if I…die"
The chains suddenly let go of their murderous hold and Harry fell forward onto his hands and knees, gasping for air.
"What do you mean he'll destroy us?" Fudge's eyes narrowed considerably.
"Well…"Harry gulped, forcing himself not to pass out as the pain of the burns on his arms, legs and chest came into action. "I'm hiss project for the moment. He has to kill me or I kill him. If you kill me then he'll get mad because I'm his hunt, not yours, and he'll come and destroy you all then go back to killing muggles for fun." Harry raised his head slightly and looked at Fudge. "Is it worth taking an innocent mans life for more then one hundred other innocent men's lives? Because that's what your doing" his hands collapsed and he fell forward. A few witches and wizards started forward to help him but Fudge held them back.
"He could be trying to trap you"
Harry laughed insanely and rolled onto his back.
"You are a very paranoid man, Fudge, very, very paranoid"
I think there may only be one or two more chapters after this! Yay! The first story I've ever finished!
Review please!
Hermione is almost raped