The Count of Azkaban
Chapter 2
Lord Voldemort was the crowned ruler of the Wizarding world. His dominion not only included the British Isles but several smaller countries as well. His riches and his power gave him the luxury of doing as he pleased. But he was not happy. He was finding out that sometimes, it is better to want than to have.
If someone was to look at the dark lord now, he would be amazed. Gone was the tall and energetic wizard whose name was so feared that most wizards could not bear to take it. In its stead was a slightly overweight man who was used to the comforts of his life. The wars and battles for the king were now political in nature.
When he had been looking for world domination, he had felt alive. There had been plans to be made, things to be done and the excitement which made it all worthwhile. Now that he had everything, he wasn't too sure if he had wanted the right thing. His wish was a command. If he wanted something, it was done; if he wished for something, it was obtained lest he wanted it. There was no more planning, no more challenge. It was a boring life.
He needed challenges. Harry Potter had disappeared long time back. He had been a worthy opponent. Looking back, he missed those days. He had never felt that alive. Even Dumbledore had been worthwhile. Now all day, he looked after the boring nuts and bolts of running a country. Although, Lucius was taking care of the ministry, he was not completely trustworthy or rather, he never trusted anybody completely.
The desertion of the goblins had hit the economy hard. So much gold, which had been in the Wizarding economy, had vanished overnight. That had been a hard few years. It was only through the fear he had ingrained in the Wizarding world and later, some foreign capital, had the economy survived. Still, the five years in between were pure hell for the dark lord.
Sometimes he wished for his older life.
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As Harry walked out of the prison, he could smell the sea. The salty water had a pungent smell of its own. But the atmosphere was quite better than what was inside.
He looked around the water all about the small island and smiled. It was a strange smile. It was not a smile of person who was glad to be home. Rather, it was smile of a person who seemed to be laughing at destiny and smiling, almost cynically.
He kept standing at the water front for a few minutes, as if expecting someone. He was right of course. A couple of minutes later, three people apparated with a very slight pop. They were similar in the sense that after disapparating in, none of them moved and dissimilar in the sense that they were as unique from each other as possible.
One was a white Caucasian male, around 5'11'. He was built strongly and had a clear air of competitiveness around him. His name was not known to many. Instead, he went around under the name of Blade.
The second person was one of African descent. He was as dark as Blade was white. He was a bit shorter bit a lot stouter. His arms were thick and one could easily see that he was quite powerful physically. He too, went under an assumed name and preferred a pseudonym, which was Nkola.
The last person was the strangest of all. He was rather unique. Standing less than 4'10', he had greenish skin and elvish ears. Had it not been for his height, people could have mistaken him for a house elf. As a rule, house elves were never taller than 3 feet and a few inches and obviously, they would never dream of wearing any armor, or having numerous weapons at their disposal around their belt. He was known as Stout. His race could not be identified.
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It was either a mark of request towards the person standing ahead of them or extreme fear that no one made the slightest sound as to announce their presence. It almost felt like either Harry knew about their presence or they were ready to wait till he turned around at his leisure. Both were a mark of extreme respect.
Harry knew as soon as they had come in behind him. He knew they would be here. His Magical senses were attuned to what was happening around him. But at the moment, he was remembering all the ones he had loved and all those who had betrayed him. That had hurt him far more than what his enemies had had done. He had expected the behavior from his enemies but never from his best friend.
Controlling the emotions he was now under, he suppressed them. He squeezed his eyes, which were threatening to wet up. A few seconds later, he turned around and faced the three men. His eyes turned first to Nkola. Nkola, stepped up half a step and without any further delay, took out a scroll from under his cloak and handed it over to Harry.
He said, "As you requested, this parchment transfers to you this entire title of Azkaban. This island was sold to the French government some years ago as legitimization of the ransom the French paid for their independence. The French paid approximately 500 million galleons for this island which is not worth more than half a million. The strange thing is, only 400 million galleons were deposited in the kings coffers as per the deed attached."
"As we have bought the island for a lot more than its worth, the French ministry has made you a count under their laws. The minor change in their constitution was not a problem. As you requested, you may now be known by your title, the Count of Azkaban."
No emotion could be seen anywhere on Harry's face. It was just the fact that a plan well made was executed well enough, made him nod to Nkola. The simple nod must have meant a lot to Nkola because he smiled as if he was the new count rather than Harry.
Nkola stepped back as Harry turned to look at Blade. He had been charged with finding out the present status of several key persons in his life. He was far more apprehensive of finding out about this than mere money that had been expended.
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Blade stepped up and took out what looked like a tablet PC from his pocket and expanded it. Harry could not help but smile. Both of them were pretty fond of muggle devices. But Blade's enthusiasm for them far surpassed his own.
A smile escaped his lips and all three of them were smiling as well. Harry laughed so little that every time he did, they were very happy for him.
Blade took the PC and opened a file. He started to read out.
Tom Marvolo Riddle: The King of British Monarchy.
Made a king after a special unanimous vote of all the Wizengamot on the 1st of August 1997. The plan for introduction of monarchy was presented by the then minister Cornelius Fudge. It was seconded by Lucius Malfoy and was accepted unanimously. All the families of the Wizengamot members had been under the wand of Voldemort may have something to do with it.
Presently, he lives in the new palace he created on the grounds of the previous ministry. The whole governing apparatus is controlled by the minister of magic, Lucius Malfoy, under his orders.
Lucius Malfoy, the Minister of Magic.
As he had dreamt, Lucius has been made the minister of magic. He is regretting a bit too late. No decisions of importance may be made by him. That should be read as no decisions are made by him. He is nothing more than a glorified administrator. His only success was getting the new bank opened under the control of his son. The entire bank is owned by three people. 51 percent by the king personally, 39 by Draco Malfoy and the balance 10 by Lucius Malfoy himself under the name of his wife, Narcissa Malfoy. The kings ownership of the bank is a fact known by the very few. In general, people believe that the Malfoy family owns all of it.
He lives in the Malfoy Manor, which has been entirely rebuilt as a castle of even more opulence than before.
Draco Malfoy, Chairman, the Malfoy Bank.
Draco Malfoy is presently one of the richest people of the British Wizarding World bar just one, the King himself. He is handling money and makes profit as if he was born to do this. However, how much of it is because of his foreknowledge of the administrational changes is not known.
What is a fact is that his fortune is growing like a field of mushrooms. He had started on an investment by his father and his trust fund. From a minor capital of 2 million galleons, he is a billionaire now. He is even more powerful than his father, the minister of magic is. His father looks after the domestic administration. In the present era of globalization, his money and influence were the real ambassadors of the dark lord.
He has a beautiful wife who was a graceful host and a cordon bleu chef. He has a ten year old son, who will join the Hogwarts next year. His reputation as a playboy is well known and deserved. His ever ready string of girlfriends and the power play he had grown adept into, had given him power that he had always wanted. He was happy with his life.
Ronald Bilius Weasley, Owner, the Chuddley Canons.
Ron is one of the very rich of the Wizarding society. He was known as the son of the pure blood and scion of the ever Gryffindor, the Weasleys. He is also well known as your best friend. He was one of the primary reasons that a civil war did not break out. He ratted the name of all the resistance members and none of them are to be found today.
He has sold his soul for the wealth and has never regretted it. As you are aware, most of his family is dead and the ones that are alive either, have no love for him or he doesn't have any love for them.
He is married to the Hogwarts graduate and your ex-girlfriend, Cho Chang. Their married life is known to be business like. Cho had grown up to be an even more beautiful person. They have just one daughter, Emily. They have been drifting apart for years.
First when he played as a keeper and then later when he managed the team. He was away nearly ten months of the year. He could have traveled to and fro from his job but he was rather partial to the groupies. He also had a friend in residence at one of his other homes. He was sure that Cho knew about it but the matter never came up. He was sure that she had some side arrangement as well. As long as he didn't have a visible adversary, he did not care.
Percy Ignatius Weasley, Ambassador to the JamaicanIslands
Percy is a glorified administrator. He is an ambassador to the small island country of Jamaican islands. But all real negotiations were handled by Draco. He was just a pencil pusher. He had dreams of making it big. It never happened. Being a Weasley still had its disadvantages, it seems.
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Blade faltered a bit and stopped. He knew the next item would hurt Harry the most. But the burning glaze that Harry had just put on him made him speak up, though with a bit of difficulty.
Virginia Weasley-Malfoy.
All the blood of Harry's face drained and it grew proverbially as white as sheet. He had feared the worst and expected to find Ginny dead. Ron had turned dark and he knew in his heart that Ginny could never turn evil. Taking control once again, he motioned Blade to continue.
"Virginia Malfoy," Harry did not miss the formalization of the name he had once loved so much. Seeing Harry was fine, Blade continued, "is from a long line of purebloods. Post taking control of the British Government, Draco Malfoy married Ginny Weasley in a private and exclusive affair. Not much is known about the ceremony or her reaction to her husband's indiscretions.
They have a son. As already mentioned, he is ten. His devotion to his mother is well known. She had named him after her father, Arthur. But the apparence of misogyny was seen here once more. The family had chosen to name him as Draco Lucius Malfoy, IInd. She had never liked the name and always called her son Arthur.
He is a precocious child, full of life and vigor. He is a splitting image of his mother. He has the same freckled face with bright red hair."
With this, Blade took out a file. It showed Ginny, looking a bit older and much more beautiful than he remembered. She was holding hand of a sunny child with flaming hair. They were walking in a garden. It was beautiful.
Harry lost control and a few tears went past his eyes. Nobody knew, but both of them had started dating at the end of fifth year. It was only because of Voldemort's keen interest in his affairs. He had never expected a single discretionary bone in Ron. He had been proven right. Ginny had fibbed about her dating Dean. She had gone out on a date with him once to keep up appearances. They had snogged each other senseless after that.
He remembered those days. They had been the best few days of his life.
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Seeing that Harry was going off the deep end, Blade interfered. "There is no news of the whereabouts of several key persons which could have been the resistance leaders. Snape and Dumbledore disappeared during there battle at Hogwarts. Poppy was killed there. All the rest of Weasleys are scattered. The twins are dead after the explosion at their shop. Bill was never heard from after the disappearance of goblins and Charlie has been exiled.
Tonks and Mad-eye are also missing. Amelia Bones was killed because she dissented while everybody else wanted to give you the kiss. Mundungus had joined the dark lord. He was later driven to madness when he was found stealing silverware from the palace. Neville Longbottom has not been seen since the day his grandmother was killed. It happened the same day that all the other attacks happened.
Blade continued to give reports and Harry continued to hear them. For the last so many years, he had thought about this day, the days he would seek revenge. And fates, in all their goodness had equipped him well. They had given him every benefit to fight a good fight. They had just missed out on giving him the most important thing of all.
Who was he fighting for?
Author's Notes:
I am usually not so late in putting up an update. This time though, I was in a fix. I wrote the second chapter six times. I wasn't satisfied till now. I hope you all like it.
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