The Count of Azkaban

Chapter 4

Next morning, as the sun rose, a new sight awaited the people of the British isle. In the center of what used to be one of the most dreaded island, the home to dementors and the castle that used to be the prison of Azkaban, now stood the most magnificent castle ever built. It was made of pure white marble and the sun rise reflected off the stones. It almost felt like a new sun had descended the earth.

It had a grand entrance with a thirty foot tall gate. There were two angels engraved on the pillars which almost looked like divine guardians. There was a plain light blue energy which was encompassing the entire entrance. No-one had ever seen such a powerful shield. Although one could see through it into the magnificent interiors, it left no doubt as to the security the shield provided to the solitary visible entrance.

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As one looked through it, the castle looked the most beautiful. There was a long pathway made of marble, mirrors and an elongated body of water, rectangular in shape, forming the boundaries of the pathway. There was no marble or stone etc which seemed to have been used to separate the body of water from the pathway. It just stayed separate, almost like magic. The water was crystal clear, and it looked as if millions of diamonds were scattered at the bottom. It was sparkling that much.

This lane was in the middle of a huge circular garden which was landscaped to perfection. On both the sides, almost identically on each side, there were small gardens where beautiful flowers graced there presence. Several trees, which should have been at least five hundred years old, could also be seen. Several trees were so rare that they were thought to extinct and several were of unknown variety to the population in general. There were several small mazes as well as a few gazebos scattered across. In between all this, there were several plains adorned by natural grass. The fresh morning dew emitted such a sweet scent that it felt heavenly.

After approximately five hundred meters of straight pathway, there were nearly a hundred steps which rose to the main entrance of the castle.

Alternately, a circular path could be seen going around the spectacular landscaping. There were innumerous statues placed on both the sides of the road which looked as if greeting the visitor. The path was big enough for a chaise to pass and led to the entrance of the castle. The entrance itself was huge and dominating. There were too doors which looked very thick and old. There was a huge brass knocker on it. There were several hand sculpted images on the door which, if looked from afar, were like exactly like the shape of a hippogriff.

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Inside the main door, was a huge hall which was also the most beautiful hall one might have seen? There were several columns and the space seemed to flow. There were several hallways all around the hall. In the middle of the hall was a beautiful fountain where water was sprouting off a phoenix's beak and falling back into the pond. Strangely enough, the fountain's perimeter was designed as if a basilik had circled around it and was giving it protection. It was a most breathtaking sight full of contradictions. It would fill natural awe in the minds of the beholder towards the owner of such a beautiful piece of sculpture. All the magnificent pieces looked almost life like. They were so realistic that if seen in the shadows of the night, one might perceive them to be real.

But let us pass all these glorious designing which was this castle and proceed through a small hallway. It was made in such a way that, if they didn't know it was there anyone would surely miss it. The pathway was filled with paintings of several historical heroes. As they were moving, we can be sure that they were in fact magical.

After a long walk, the pathway turned and proceeded into the entrance of the back gardens. It is not the gardens we are interested in at the moment but the turn itself. So artistically done is the whole designing that we over look a grand painting of the most powerful mage of all times, Merlin. If we look closely enough, we would see that the portrait is not like others which were just hopping around and enjoying the companies of each other. As a matter of fact, he looked quite serious and had an aura of power and responsibility flowing off him in waves. This was in fact, the entrance to the private chambers of Harry Potter, the Count of Azkaban.

(((o)))

Draco entered his office and found Scattermigger waiting for him. There was a small file in his hands which had the emblem of the Malfoy Bank on it. Draco crossed over to his chair and sat in it. Scattermigger came forward and put the file in front of him. Silently, he opened the magical file and read through the information as it appeared in front of him.

"John Edward Smith, or the Count of Azkaban as he has bought the county of the French estate of Azkaban, is acknowledged as one of the richest men of the world.

Financial Details: He appeared on the business screen of the Europe approximately ten years ago and started a small company which specialized in innovation. Over the period of next three years, several important break-throughs were seen as important products were launched in the market.

The entire business was run under the aegis of smith enterprises. Now, nearly thirteen years later, the reclusive owner of the company is acknowledged as the richest man in the world. However, the fact is not known outside the very exclusive circle of the elite. There are no verified estimates as his wealth. By the time an estimate is prepared, the net worth is changed astronomically. Also, as the entire business is held privately and exclusively, there are no financial statements available as to the exact net worth of separate components. There is rumored to be zero liability in all the businesses. Several small countries are surviving just because of the business of the smith enterprises.

His net worth is rumored to be in excess of 1 trillion galleons."

Draco's mouth was agape and he was flushed to the roots. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined the chance the fates had given him. If he could somehow get close to the count, he could make it to the biggies where he was still considered as nothing but a young upstart. Scattermigger carefully noted the reactions projecting on Draco's face as Draco seemed to be in deep thought.

Bending his head once again, Draco looked at the report. On one side of it, he saw a face of powerful looking man. He looked down the file as the personal details of the count started to appear on the parchment. He read.

"Name John Edward Smith aka the Count of Azkaban.

"Nationality Birth of unknown origin. Presently a French subject.

"Age around twenty five. Exact details are not known.

"Height 6'2". Photograph attached.

"Family Unknown.

"Residence No fixed residence though rumored to have several houses all over the world

"Wealth Accurate estimates not available.

The report gave some further facts and/or fiction about the exclusive billionaire. A small bit of information caught his eye and he read through it once again.

"The count of Azkaban has bought the island of Azkaban from the French government for an undisclosed amount. It is rumored that this reclusive billionaire might send a few months of his time in the British Isles. Looking into the opulence of his houses he hasn't even visited, it is sure that the count would need to renovate his new house which would sure amaze the English wizards. Geographically, the island is in the British Isles but is a French dominion due to…." Draco didn't read further as he was already aware of the ransom deal. He had brokered it himself. At that time, the money had been like an intake of vital potion to the dying economy. He remembered the other details and smiled.

Taking a sudden decision, he decided to try and meet the elusive count today. Summoning Scattermigger, he dictated a formal letter asking for an appointment and owled it. Now, with a nervousness he was not used to feeling anymore, he waited eagerly for the reply and dismissed Scattermigger.

He never knew that two owls were dispatched instead of one and the destination of the second owl was nit exactly what he would see as official.

(((o)))

Once again, Ginny had woken up after her nightmare. As usual, she saw that Harry was being tortured in some hellhole crying out for help. But nobody seemed to help him. There were many people their. Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, Mad-eye, Lupin etal, but nobody seemed to as much as lift a finger to help him.

She saw herself as trying her best to claw her hands through the wall, but she wasn't able to do anything. There was blood all over her hands with a few nails missing as well. Most of the nights, she had this nightmare, she woke up completely tired. She had this nightmare pretty often. Earlier, just after Harry's trial, she had slept a wink for several weeks. Later, after giving birth to Artie, she had gotten over the nightmare a bit. But in the last few months, the nightmare was getting bad once again. As a matter of fact, she had not slept for more than a few hours for several weeks.

As she saw the woman looking back at her in the mirror, she looked quite haggard. She wasn't aware why, but her body seemed to survive such fierce torture but her face was starting show the signs of fatigue. She had not used any glamour spell ever and she was not going to start now. She was a survivor and she was going to be a winner. She had a fierce determination to eat into the very foundations of those who had imprisoned her Harry so many years ago. She might not have been able to save him, but she was determined to make the best of what she had. She might have started the war alone, but she was sure that she would do her part.

She had started to initiate her plan a long time ago. All her charity work and donations were made out of Draco's money. To Draco, these expenses were insignificant. But to many people all around, they were the life blood and salve they all needed. Hidden behind her charity work, she was also a part of secret society which was trying to fight back the new laws. Since the takeover of the Wizarding world by the dark lord, many Wizarding families were unable to contact their muggleborn friends. So many divorces had been forced between mixed marriages. So many unilateral actions had been enforced. So many lives had been shattered that and out of a few million of population, a few hundred populations had gotten together and started a resistance.

When she had found about them, she had joined them and started all the fronts of her charity work. These places not only helped the needy, but also provided cover for some questionable activities of the society. Several pieces of intelligence had come in. It included the fact that Snape had been killed; Not by death eaters, but by professor Dumbledore himself. The location of Dumbledore was still unknown but the rumor was that he was dead. He had died of torture several years ago. Neville had never been seen since the day of attack on her aunt and Mad-Eye and Tonks were not seen also. She had never even seen the bodies of her brothers Fred and George, or Gred and Forge. She smiled a bit as a few happy memories flew out of her past. There were so few now that she cherished them now.

And she hated Percy and Ron, her so called brothers. Those two might have been her blood, but where the heart was concerned, they were two of her enemies. Their betrayal seemed so much more because of them being her brothers. Percy had been blinded with ambition and Ron with jealousy. But the reasons only infuriated her more. Both of them had tried to approach her several times, but she had shirked them off. Despite their success, they knew that being Draco Malfoy's brother in law, was a distinction in its own. She was sure that they had used her name, but there was little she could do about it openly.

Coming out of her muses, she started to think about the information she had been given yesterday. Several members had come about rumors of several skirmishes which had taken place in the past few weeks. Every time, they had hit some vital government installations. They had all decided to find out more about this group and see if both of them could work together. They seemed to have a similar goal but different assets. Her network had intelligence and not the muscle to do mucg about anything. The other group seemed to have the muscle. Maybe both of them could join.

Still thinking about this, she started to get ready for her daily training sessions. As she approached the training center, and opened the door, she didn't see Artie. Usually, he would be there first. She decided to wait for a few seconds for him. When he did not arrive for a few minutes, she knew who would know?

"Blinky!" she said slowly. As if waiting her summons, Blinky appeared in front of her and waited for further instructions. She knew that the young mistress sometimes did not feel well in the morning. She also knew that today was one of those mornings.

"Where is Artie?" Ginny asked of Blinky. Despite all the feigned annoyance that Blinky showed towards Artie, she was sure that she liked him. sometimes, she almost felt as if Blinky had adopted Artie. If someone knew where her son was, it would be Blinky.

"The young master woke quite early today and is riding the broom." The Artie-expert informed her.

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Ginny walked to the window from where she could see the pitch. She saw him flying beautifully albeit doing very dangerous maneuvers on the broom. She decided to join her son and let go of the training for the day. An instant later, she apparated on the Quidditch pitch.

Artie was in the middle of a very dangerous Wornsky Feint when he heard a pop nearby. Slightly disoriented, he turned his head instinctively towards the source of the sound. In his pleasure at seeing his mother join him, he forgot about the ground which was just about sixty feet under him, and he started to wave at his mother.

He was startled to see his mother waving like mad and he turned his head again to see what was wrong.

He saw the ground no more than fifteen feet under him and he was flying at high speed.

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As Ginny disapparated to the pitch, she saw Artie in middle of the feint. It was so much like Harry's. Suddenly, Artie turned in middle of the faint towards her and started to wave at her. She was horrified and started to wave at her son to see ahead at the ground while at the same time tried to take out her wand and stop the descent. But, in her heart, she knew it was too late as she saw her son coming down at full speed, not more than fifteen feet from the ground. She was terrified and unable to move a muscle.

(((o)))

Inside the castle of Azkaban, we see inside the room guarded by Merlin and find an apartment totally different from the rest of the castle. It was a huge apartment and was built like a muggle pent house. In here, the utilities were more of steel, glass and graphite. Instead of the virgin white marble, the apartment was made of black granite. It gleamed.

As we enter, we see the huge hall filled of several comfort chairs surrounding a huge fire place. The sofas were of black leather and several muggle appliances like a plasma TV, DVD player, stereo system and a laptop computer were sitting at proper places all around. There were a few photos of Harry with people we know as Blade, Nkola and Stout.

There was a hallway which led to many places including one from where the sounds of ragged breathing were coming. As is obvious, it was where Harry was sleeping after the long day yesterday.

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Harry had had a gruesome day yesterday. He was so close to coming to the final stages of his revenge that his nervous energy was driving him. It was only a few hours ago that he had come in to rest a bit. However, because of his fatigue, he fell asleep without erecting his special shields that protected him from his own nightmares and once more, he saw the same nightmare that had plagued him for so often and still did every now and then.

He was in a cell crying for help and Ginny was on the outside trying to come in. she was crying and ragged as hell. Her fingers were all bloodied due to trying to break down the wall. He could see several shadows around Ginny, but they never came into focus. It was as if all his being was entrenched in with Ginny. But both of them could do nothing and were in the same hell forever.

An instant later, he woke up, breathing heavily and totally drenched in sweat.

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Waking up, he sat in lotus position and tried to meditate and find his center. He went in deep and slowly his breathing returned to normal. His mind started to get in tune with his soul and fell into deep meditation. Falling into trance, he saw a red haired child who looked very familiar riding his broom. He seemed to be enjoying it tremendously. Harry smiled as he saw the look of exhilaration on his face. In his trance, he could almost feel the feelings of bliss the young boy was feeling.

An instant later, he saw the boy turn and wave at someone. Had he looked more closely, he surely would have recognized the young woman as Ginny. But he was more worried about the child. He could feel in his guts that something was wrong. Without even thinking about it, he apparated through all the shields and charms, and reappeared in a Quidditch field. He didn't see anybody but the face of the child who was looking in horror at the ground and was not more than a split second away from him.

An instant later, there was a huge crack.

Author's Notes:

So how did you like this? Let me know.

I am deviating from the original novel in the interests of the merging worlds as well as to account for the presence of magic.

Shadowed Rains: its 2010, so Harry is nearly 29.

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