Disclaimer: No claim to Harry Potter! No claim! No claim! &has dragonsbreath& Be gone evil Lawyers!

Another Inspiration

Chapter 3: Meeting

Nightmares of Sirius' death plagued Harry's mind in the Ministry holding cell. Kingsley Shacklebolt offered to take the boy's meal to him and found him curled in a ball, whimpering with cries of his godfather's name. Shacklebolt never knew how much Harry suffered from the man's death until now. Shacklebolt was now overcome with a feeling of intense sadness for Harry and regret for the failings of the wizarding world. Carefully setting down the bowl of broth on the floor he gently shook Harry awake until haunted green eyes stared into his own.

"Harry, I brought you some breakfast. You need your strength" Kingsley gently prodded.

Harry seemed to be in a land of his own and just stared into the open darkness of the cell. Kingsley tried again to get a response.

"I'm sorry…but I had no choice. If I didn't, another Auror would…We are bound to uphold the law and sometimes Justice cannot be served. Please try to understand—"

"I understand perfectly Shacklebolt. I broke the law, so I pay. As long as she goes down with me I could give a shit less about the Ministry's sense of Justice. You have done your task. Get out." Harry spat.

"As you wish Mr. Potter" Kingsley replied in defeat and added "Your trial is in two days".

Harry watched the man disappear through the darkness and prodded at his food. For once, Harry was not hungry and ended up pushing his bowl far away from him. He really didn't know why he yelled at Shacklebolt, but the wave of anger could not be dissuaded. At this point, Harry only wished he could not feel at all and was sorely reminded of it as his scar prickled uncomfortably. He was tired of pain, tired of anger, and most of all tired of love. None of it was worth having if it only got him here. Harry brought up a wall of indifference and hoped it held.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Mrs. Lestrange, You will have no trial, but you will be presented at Mr. Potter's trial and be taken to Azkaban along with him at its end." said the emotionless Auror.

"Why do I need to be present at Potter's trial? I'm sure you can easily convict him, even without valid evidence."

"Mrs. Lestrange, You are going to the trial in case Mr. Potter decides to plead 'not guilty' and to present yourself as the victim." he replied.

The Auror set her breakfast on the floor harshly, spilling it a bit, and stormed out, theatrically slamming the cell door as anger overtook him at last.

Bellatrix looked at the slop with disdain and pushed it away. She smiled briefly at the thought of being the victim for once and was surprised to feel a pleasant pulse from her mark. Voldemort was obviously pleased with the turn of events and she wondered what he was planning.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Dumbledore was once again in a nasty situation. There really wasn't much to help his case. All they could really come up with was that Death Eaters don't deserve humane treatment, that Harry was distraught over Sirius' death, and to have him plead guilty in hopes of showing enough remorse to make the Wizengamot sympathetic towards him. Dumbledore had scheduled a meeting for Remus to talk to Harry later this afternoon, since he would not be able to represent him himself due to his reinstatement to the Wizengamot. Dumbledore wondered if Remus could handle seeing Harry convicted like this and sent to Azkaban like Sirius. A man could only take so much pain before he cracked and Remus was cracking. Dumbledore tried to be around the man more often to comfort him, but he would not open up and pushed away all attempts.

Dumbledore felt saddened about how the war caused people so much pain, but he felt the worst was how people had to be pawns while the kings fought with mind and power while everyone else suffered. Both sides could not afford to care about their pawns' emotions and that was what made war. Complete indifference to ones own people and their well being. Simply a game of chess with pieces to sacrifice. Both Voldemort and Dumbledore were guilty of this and they both know it, but in the game of war, the king must be the king, and the pawn must be the pawn.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Later that afternoon…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Remus Lupin was depressed. No way around it. Harry was going to Azkaban and there was nothing he could do. Waiting for an Auror to escort him down to Harry's cell, he simply sat, glum and full of hopelessness. He tried to tell himself to be strong, to be there for Harry, but it is difficult to be there for others when you can't even keep yourself together. A few minutes went by when Tonks entered the room, in a more serious mood than usual and simply stated for Remus to follow. Remus felt all the worse.

Traveling to some of the darkest parts of the ministry they arrived at the holding cells and followed down a corridor and stopped in front of Harry's cell.

"I'm afraid I must take your wand—Ministry regulations."

Without a word, Remus handed over his wand and Tonks opened the cell door, tapped the side brick three times, and the cell was flooded with light.

Harry covered his face in his knees when the lights came on. He didn't look up to see who it was, nor did he really care. He just wanted to be left alone. If he looked, everything would be real, and it would all come crashing down against his wall, breaking it for sure.

"Harry" Remus softly said, almost a whisper.

This was too much for Harry to take and the wall swiftly crumbled under the pressure. Not lifting up his head, he tried to hide his tears. He didn't want to burden Remus with his problems or make him feel any worse than he already was. Harry felt he had already taken Sirius away from the man.

"Please Harry, please just look at me."

The pleading of Remus destroyed any rubble that was left. As soft sobs escaped the boy's lips Remus crawled over and held him, while tears of his own fell. They both sat there in each others comfort for all words were unspoken. They both missed Sirius deeply. Remus was supposed to be here to keep them together, but yet he was falling apart right along with Harry. Neither one had let go of the fact that Sirius was gone and they were drowning in the pain of the loss. It was Harry who spoke first.

"Remus…do you hate me? Do you hate me because it's my fault Sirius is gone?"

Shock went through Remus as he saw what Harry believed. How did I let it all come to this?

"Harry, I could never hate you! How can you blame yourself for what she did?" Remus replied, anger showing slightly.

"But I should have listened! I should have opened the gift! I should have learned Occlumency! I—" Harry desperately defended.

"IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT!" Remus yelled, and then calmly continued "Harry, you can't blame yourself for every person that dies. You're just killing yourself this way."

"I don't want to talk about this any more Remus."

Harry hardened his face, wiped his tears, and shoved all emotion away behind the new wall.

"Harry…"

"Remus, how is the trial going to work? Do we have a plan of sorts?" Harry casually interrupted for the sake of holding the wall up.

Gathering his composure Remus replied, "The trial is in two mornings. We are trying to get your sentenced reduced as much as we can. We are going to mention the fact that she is a death eater, you are emotionally distraught, possibly insane, and you are going to plead guilty."

The wall became more reinforced as each second went by and a look of emotionless mirth came upon his eyes. Remus was too overcome by his own pain to help Harry and only hoped that he had more strength than he did.

"Sounds simple enough. Well, Azkaban, here I come." Harry replied, smirking.

On that note, Remus knew that something was lost in the boy and the next time he saw him, the boy would no longer be a boy, but something else. Something…different.

AN: I believe we are loosing him…heh! Please Review.

Re-done on June, 18, 2006.