Strega - Dearest Strega, I seriously love you. I too hold no sympathy for the wizarding world or "Dumb-le" and his cronies. I quite agree that he has given too much and received too little in return. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised though so keep reading!
coon2010 – coon2010 I feel so appreciated. :D Me likies the major worshipping you're doing.
SeulWolfe – Wolfe I'm so glad you're still interested in the story. It makes me feel really fuzzy (in a good way) that you came back to check on it. Once again, I apologize that it took so long.
manx – I had it up to 7 chapters before but I wasn't happy with it and I left the story for a long while. I plan on continuing the story but for now I'm completely rewriting what I had before.
S – Mr? or Ms? Your name intrigues me…or rather your one letter. Thank you, thank you, thank you! There can never be too much worshipping and my ego is quite thoroughly fed. 3 3
tumshie – Thankies for the review tumshie. Your name sounds like tushie. giggles I will indeed keep it coming.
eyeinthesky – Gosh you'd one hard to poke eye. :P Thank you for your comment. I'm glad you like it. I hope you enjoy the rest.
TexasRose – Indeed I am alive!…or am I? looks very suspicious Ms. Texas I'm so glad you came back to read this story. I didn't realize that it left such an impression before. But now I'm much happier with it and yes I do plan to completely rewrite it, however the plot line will be the same. Shhh! Don't give it away for the new readers. :P Hope you like it. 3
Jzeylyn – Wow! What a name! It took me four tries to get it right. Haha. But I must say it is lovely and original. I'm glad you're liking it so far and I hope to keep you intrigued with the story. Aren't we all a little fascinated by blonde, tanned rock stars with a construction workers muscles? heh.
Angels Whisper – Lovely Angels, thanks so much for coming back to read it a second time. This time I'll be sure to vastly improve it and to continue onto the end! Yeah you doubt me now but you'll see… hugs (normally I don't participate in those but I noticed people like them :P )
Weirkat – The next chapter is here! huzzah! I'm so very glad you enjoyed it and I hope I'll keep you satisfied with it.
FroBoy – Aww I bet you're adorable. Fros are cute. That is…assuming you are a boy with a fro. Hah. Don't mind me. So very glad you enjoyed it, please keep checking in for more updates. I live to write entertain the public!
NOW WITHOUT FURTHER ADO...
Chapter 1: Saved By the Enemy I
Journal of D.A.M
"Harry Potter, we the Wizengamot find you guilty on all accounts. For the murder of three muggles through the use of the Killing Curse, we hereby sentence you to the Dementor's Kiss."
I suppose I should have been outraged. I suppose I should have cried and pleaded my innocence. I should have done anything but sit passively awaiting my executioners.
The day of my trial I felt strangely detached from the world. I felt cold, my skin clammy, like I did in my third year when the Dementors had Sirius and I surrounded. I had this notion that they were already circling me, waiting for the opportunity to get their vice-like grip on my face and do the deed. I cannot call it anything but, a punishment worthy of a murderer.
I kept wishing that the whole horrible ordeal was just another nightmare that I'd wake up from in a few short moments. I'd sit up in a sweat and pant for air before pushing my glasses back on my face to see the familiar surroundings of my room at 4 Privet Drive. The weight of the cool steel manacles over my wrists forbade from having any such delusions.
This was reality. I, Harry James Potter, son of Lily and James Potter was being convicted of the murder of my muggle family. I, the Boy-Who-Lived, was going to have my wand snapped and my soul sucked out by a Dementor while the people who should have loved me watched the proceedings with a measure of satisfaction etched into their expressions.
It was only when my sentence was issued and the guards roughly pulled me up and out of the room did I pull out of my detached state of mind.
I started laughing, laughing so hard I had difficulty catching my breath. Until this day I cannot fully comprehend what I found so funny about the situation. I suppose it was a moment of madness that urged me into such an outburst. The utter absurdity and hopelessness of the situation was just so fucking funny. I'd have one last grand laugh to spite them all. Kissed at the age of 15. A punishment that would go down in history, I was and still am the Boy-Who-Lived after all.
Sometimes I can't help but chuckle now when I think about it. It's moments like these that have me questioning my own sanity. But I guess I should let you all in on the joke. If as the victim I found it so hilarious then maybe you, my adoring public will also find some humor in the situation.
I recall as they were dragging me out of the court room I began to struggle and the guards actually struck me a few times. What was a fist to the gut when my entire being was numb? What was a split lip or a torn shirt when I was going to die?
"FOOLS!" I shouted at them between my insane cackling. "COWARDS! The Dark Lord will prevail and then where will you be! GREAT WIZARDS! HAH! Only I can destroy him!" I spat viciously at their feet. I laughed as the wizards and witches in the stands shifted around nervously. "This is not the last time will laugh at you! I will revel in the afterlife when you come crying to my cold soulless body!" Some had shock written all over their faces, some went deathly pale. There were some that lost consciousness. I didn't care. I gained no real satisfaction from their reactions at the time. The situation was far too overwhelming and I remember trying to fight the guards that attempted to drag me away. It was only when I was able to view the memory in a pensieve did I make any such observations. It would be my last chance to return their acts of kindness towards me. I still have to uphold my promise, I have to laugh at the wizarding world one last time. I have to revel in their misery. Just before I lost consciousness as one of my captors managed to cuff me in the temple I shouted one last time and turned hearts of all those present into ice.
"I will have my vengeance for this betrayal! I will have it in this life or the next!"
If I close my eyes I can remember the day just as if it was yesterday. The three years that have melted away and once again I'm the naïve 15-year-old boy venturing out of my home for a midnight stroll. I still don't remember how I managed to leave my wand in my room…
FLASHBACKThe house was quiet save for the sounds coming from Dudley's room and his aunt and uncle's. Harry was so plagued with nightmares that he couldn't find it in himself to be amused by the bear-like snorts escaping both Dursley males as they slept that night. There was no snicker that he'd have to struggle to restrain when his aunt whinnied in her sleep like a horse. All there was were those damning words and his vision fading into green before the thud of a dead body falling to the ground rang clearly in his ears.
"Kill the spare."
The spare. No name, no acknowledgement of humanity. Cedric was just a spare. He was the equivalent of a spare tire on a car, or a spare carrot that wouldn't be needed for that afternoon's soup. Voldemort only wanted me.
Harry blinked harshly refusing to let the tears gathering in his eyes to roll down his face. He promised himself that he wouldn't cry. Men don't cry.
And there was no way he could be considered a child anymore. Best to stop acting like one.
That's what he kept telling himself. And each night he escaped the confines of his room and the visions that would invariably come had he closed his eyes for longer than a few short hours.
Only me. He repeated to himself. And he will have me…
Tip-toeing past the other bedrooms on the second floor he avoided the step that creaked and silently slipped out the back door. Despite it being summer the night air held a slight chill devoid of any humidity. He shivered, wishing that he had the foresight to bring a jumper with him.
Men don't complain of a chill either. Stay impassive. Blank as a wiped slate and cold as ice.
And cold as ice he stayed throughout the duration of his gamble around the neighborhood. His footsteps that night were silent; a feat he mastered through the many years of practice under his invisibility cloak. The moon was only a sliver in the sky that night barely lighting his path, the visible brightening of the sky a moment later didn't escape his notice as he stood a good block away from his relatives' house.
With a sinking feeling in his stomach Harry looked up to see a bright green skull positioned in the inky sky a block away. The Dark Mark was over 4 Privet Drive.
"Merlin…" His voice cracked with raw emotion and before another word could be uttered he ran down Magnolia Crescent like hells hounds were on his heels back to his summer residence. Harry ran up to the front door forgetting that it wasn't his original means of escape and therefore locked. Somewhere in his frantic jiggling of the doorknob he realized his wand wasn't in his possession. But the unnerving silence from the inside set him into a blind panic.
Oh Merlin, be there. Please still be there you bastards.
Without any trepidation he bolted through the back door uncaring of the enemy's location.
And when he stepped inside all was deathly still. Not a picture frame on the wall out of its place. Not a broken piece of glass. There was nothing out of place.
Except the three bodies littering the front hall and a slender piece of wood lying not half a meter from his feet. He stooped to pick it up while casting his eyes around the room nervously. The silence in the house was deafening. Not even a tick of a clock could be heard as the world froze and even the three bodies on the floor remained still as if by their own decision, afraid of disturbing the tense peace.
Death lingered in the very atmosphere of the house. Darkness pulsed in the core of the Holly wand in his hands. And Harry breathed in the scent of momentary freedom. When he next opened his eyes to gaze on the dead bodies of his relatives he did so without remorse.
Cold as ice Harry. Cold as ice. He told himself and kneeled down by each of the figures to determine that there was indeed no pulse. Each body, as he now taught himself to think of them, was just as cold as his resolve. He looked at the shocked look on the horse-face of his aunt and touched her cold face almost reverently.
"Blood of my blood." He scoffed aloud. "You are not."
What sort of blood protection would let Death Eaters onto his doorstep and inside his home? What was Dumbledore playing at, forcing him to stay there when Death Eaters were able to gain access to his 'family' at their convenience?
Someone's been awfully naughty and lying to me.
His being turned frigid when anger exploded through every cell in his body. He gave up his happiness for this so-called protection. His childhood was stolen from him, his dignity, and his health. His parents' memory was desecrated when he was put on the doorstep of these monsters.
"Filthy scum. Animals that didn't deserve this quiet death." He hissed and spat at them, fisting the hair on the dead woman's head until he was tearing it out of her scalp in chunks. "You had no right! VERMIN! You deserved to suffer!" He stood and kicked the body of Vernon Dursley several times before he spent himself and leaned back against the wall panting.
"You were supposed to suffer like I did." He whispered brokenly.
That's how eight order members and half a dozen ministry aurors found him when they arrived at the scene. Standing over the dead muggles with his wand in hand and a stony expression on his face. There was hardly any room to argue, and when the first stunner flew his way he had only narrowly avoided it by stepping on Vernon Dursley's leg and falling on Dudley's body now stiff with the rigor mortis setting in.
He rolled out of the way of another spell and became wedged in the valley between his uncle's body and his cousin's.
There was a commotion and with nowhere to run squeezed in between dead bodies the last thing Harry saw was the look on Dumbledore's face before five stunners hit him simultaneously. Grim was the only way to describe it.
Harry groaned painfully and reached up to clutch his pounding head. For a few minutes he could do nothing but concentrate on the hammering feeling inside his skull and the stinging of his scar. He found it quite odd that it didn't so much as give a twinge up until now. Voldemort was either very happy about something or extremely angry.
Considering he woke up to find himself in complete darkness he guessed it was the former. Standing up and putting his hands in front of him he felt the walls around him and discovered he was in some type of cell. The walls were made of damp stone and encompassed a space of 2 x 2 meters. It almost felt like the cupboard under the stairs all over again, except this time there was no visible door. All the walls were exactly the same and everything was shrouded in black.
After mapping the walls with his hands and searching for any significant cracks that might indicate a hidden door Harry felt the familiar hunger pains in his stomach and realized he must have been in the cell for more than a day, maybe even two.
There was nothing left to do at that point but wait. And wait he did.
It was hours later that a panel of the stone wall slid open and Harry winced when the bright lights from the outside assaulted his eyes. Before he could even get up he was immediately bound with a spell and shackles placed on his wrists and ankles connected them with a longer chain.
The-Boy-Who-Lived-To-Be-A-Murderer. He thought wryly and let the four men that came to collect him haul him out of the cell like a dangerous animal.
He tried to comment on their treatment of an underage child when he realized no sound came out of his mouth.
Wonderful, a silencing spell. Just what I always wanted. He rolled his eyes but was contented with the fact that he'd make them pay sorely for this when he was released. With luck like his what could possibly happen? He was the-boy-who-lived. It was time he put some weight on that title.
Fifteen minutes later Harry was dragged inside a courtroom surrounded on all sides by stands filled up completely by people. Many of which he'd never seen in his life. He was released from his binding spell only after he was chained to a chair in the center of the room.
Suddenly he wasn't so sure of himself. Casting his eyes about he noticed that all the Weasleys were in attendance. Hermione, Remus Lupin, half of the Hogwarts staff, and about six people he recognized to be Death Eaters. He could even see the yellow eyes of Padfoot peering out from under a black mop of hair. As soon as he turned to look at the usually friendly animagus the dog pulled its lips back and snarled with a full set of white pointy teeth.
Harry screwed his eyes shut in emotional agony. Not Sirius too. Please God not Sirius. When he opened his eyes again to look at the large black dog. Padfoot was growling savagely.
This has to be a nightmare. He thought as the trial went into full swing.
Harry stared at his friends, professors, loved ones, and the Aurors guarding him, with betrayal burning in his bright green eyes. In the middle of the summer right before his fifth year Harry stood in a large courtroom full of witnesses and faces he had never seen before alongside many familiar ones looking down at him with the utmost disgust upon their faces.
I'll be waking up any minute now. And then I'll go and kiss the Dursleys for being alive. He thought and wished desperately for that moment to come. Harry was sure that if this was just a twisted dream not only would he kiss the Dursleys, but he'd also snog Lucius Malfoy out of sheer joy. His chances of living after doing something like that were undoubtedly slim though.
Luckily, or unluckily depending on which point of view one had about the situation, his trial commenced and with each witness that the prosecution called forth Harry's mood grew worse and his spirit dampened farther.
By the time the Prior Incantato spell was used on his confiscated wand Harry was in a state of numbness, completely uncaring of anything that occurred. It wasn't the fact that he was being accused of doing the deed. Hell, if it was anyone else he might have thought they were guilty as well. What pulled him into his mood or lack of mood was the fact that the one's that were supposed to defend him testified against him every step of the way.
Ron and Hermione were led to the stand and each confirmed his new, darker attitude since the end of the school year. Each leaned into the opinion that not only did he kill his much hated relatives but he was also responsible for the death of Cedric Diggory.
Molly Weasley bawled her eyes out the whole time she was on the stand but was able to gasp out between her alligator tears that she had always felt a certain hostility coming from him towards his relatives.
McGonagall only told what she saw when arriving at the scene of the murder.
Lupin refused to testify at all but the look on his face was enough to make a man wet his pants.
Snape, to his surprise did not testify against him. Snape in fact didn't do much of anything but stare at him with his unnerving black eyes. But that would make sense, the man after all did know the truth. Harry had no doubt in his mind that the man had associations with Voldemort.
Hagrid bawled louder than Mrs. Weasley and Albus Dumbledore was the one that performed the Prior Incantatem before giving a short speech proclaiming his disappointment in the young wizard gone astray.
But it was with Sirius that he was the most disgusted with. Sirius who knew what it felt like to incriminated for something that he didn't do. Sirius who knew what it felt like. The man who went to Azkaban based on a lack of faith wasn't coming forth with any of his own.
Hypocrite.
It was all terribly disgusting and heart breaking. Harry was glad he tuned out most of the proceedings.
When they finally sentenced him and managed to force him out of the courtroom they deposited him roughly in a different cell. This one was a little bigger and had a barred door as well as a small cot to sit on.
Excited after his outburst and with adrenaline and fear still pumping through his veins Harry jumped from the floor where he had been thrown down and began pacing. Looking out through the bars and making sure no one was in the hall leading to his cell he concentrated on bringing forth some of his magic.
Thinking about the betrayal he suffered, about the way he was set up, about the tiny cell they put him in Harry began to draw on his anger and slowly spurred his raw magic into action. When a burst of white light came from his hands it was effectively countered by an equally bright and quite painful blast of blue energy that made him give a short shriek and let go.
Since he couldn't use magic inside the cell he decided to wait until someone arrived and do his best to catch them off guard. He'd wait for the one moment that the door was opened and before anyone had the chance to send the first spell, he'd act immediately.
Harry bolted out of his reverie and sat up right when the sound of hurried footsteps and the swirling of a cloak indicated that someone was moving toward his cell. If he acted at the right time he'd be well on his way to escape.
He immediately began to draw on his anger and pain. He let it fester in his being until the impassive face of Lucius Malfoy stared at him through the bars. There was a queer look in the man's gray-blue eyes. Behind those twin icebergs there was an emotion he couldn't quite put his finger on. Not that he really cared to, his was after all one of the men that orchestrated the death of the Dursleys and consequently Harry's capture. He had no doubt about that. But perhaps…he could strike a deal with him.
"What are you doing here Malfoy? Come to gloat?" He glared into the iceberg eyes of the other with his own startling green ones. The hate that normally reflected Malfoy's eyes was strangely missing.
"You seem to have mistaken me for my son Potter. I have no intention to gloat. In fact, have a proposition for you."
Harry quirked an eyebrow at him. "Come to take me to your Lord then?"
"Not at this moment in time Potter."
"What do you want then? What do I have to do for you to take me to Voldemort?"
At this point Malfoy let his impassive expression slip into one of curiosity. "And I suppose that you think torture and death are better alternatives to the Dementor's Kiss?"
"Lets just say I have my own proposition for the Dark Lord." He stood from his cot and leaned against the wall instead, trying to mask his anxiety.
"What a shame Potter." Malfoy sneered with an open look of contempt. "The Dark Lord isn't expecting any visitors for tea and biscuits today. Perhaps another day then, but for now let's play a game of Quidditch."
"What? Have you lost your mind Malfoy?" Harry asked incredulously and began motioning with his hands finally portraying his angst. "I'm about to be KISSED by a DEMENTOR!" He ranted.
"Come now Potter, there's really no need for these dramatics…"
"I'm about to have my soul sucked unmercifully out of my body!"
"Potter--"
"And all you can do is stand there and prattle on about Voldemort's biscuits! You know what Malfoy? I really think you're a few biscuits short of your own tea party!"
"Potter!"
"And now you want to play Quidditch! Please excuse me if I'm not in a playful moo--"
"POTTER!" The older man shouted angrily.
"WHAT MALFOY?"
The two were at a stand still until the older man took his hand out of his pocket and threw a golden ball through the bars in Harry's direction.
"Catch." He said and Harry's reflexes did the rest when his right hand, which he had been madly motioning with, caught the small golden object sailing his way. He felt the coolness of the little golden ball and then the nauseating tugging behind his navel that meant a portkey had been activated.
Oh hell, not again. Was his last thought before the world spun away and he fell hard on his tailbone in the middle of a dingy room.
TBC……
-----------------------AUTHOR'S NOTE----------------------
Oh my gosh I finished it. I thought I never would. But I was determined and those reviews really helped. I love you guys so much. Please let me know what you think!
Oh! And before I forgot does anyone know where I can get a beta reader? I think it would help if I had someone check over my work.