Title: Signore Delle Ombre
Author: The-Writer-Formerly-Known-As
Summary: The Summer before sixth year, Harry finds himself abandoned by those that call themselves the light. Sent to Azkaban for a crime he did not commit, he is forced to explore his growing and unusual powers, make new alliances, and form a new inner circle with those whose loyalties did not waver- although they are few, far between, and those that Harry would not have turned to before. Let the Battle Begin.
Character Types: Betrayed! Superpowered! Harry, Evil! Dumbledore, Stupid! Blind! Order of the Chicken, various others you will have to find throughout
SHIPs: Not sure if I'll even have any!
Disclaimer: I am not blond, I do not have a British accent, and I am not one of the richest women on earth.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain - and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
-Acquainted With the Night by Robert Frost
Chapter Four: Heroes and Zeros
Ron Weasley strode through the crowd at Diagon Alley, one arm wrapped possessively around his girlfriend, Hermione Granger. The swarm of witches and wizards who had descended on Wizarding England's most prominent structure parted in awe, glad to see the two instrumental in the discovery and imprisonment of one of the darkest wizards of the time- Harry Potter.
Already without his influence, Ron was feeling better- less heavy. No longer did he hold Ron back from what Ron was entitled to. Ron had a girlfriend, the Head Boy position, and the Gryffindor Quidditch Captaincy. Ron had no doubt that when he went back to Hogwarts, he would rule the school. This year, I am the king! The red head thought triumphantly to himself. Ron was sure that without his influence and under Ron's continued, careful surveillance and guidance, the school could gradually rid itself of the taint it had accumulated. Ron already knew, however, that there would be people to watch.
The Slytherins, of course- although Ron had advocated, rightly so, for the expulsion of all current members of the House and the abolishment of their slimy establishment, Dumbledore, being the soft man he was, had refused.
The there were the ones the executives of the Order had deemed the Lost- the ones who Potter had corrupted so much, obliviation was the only option. People like the spineless, toad-loving Longbottom, the greasy git Snape, and the ever clumsy Tonks. Longbottom and Tonks, of course, being so weak and open to influences, were not beyond saving, however, Ron knew it would probably take Potter's death for his influence to be shaken off and replaced by something more beneficial for the two.
Most of the other Lost, too, he was sure would eventually come around- although they might take a little more convincing if they were ever to recover their memories.
Snape, on the other hand…Ron sneered. No matter how he and Hermione had tried to convince Dumbledore that the slimy Potions Professor was a real Deatheater, not a spy- after all, he had supported Potter, most likely on his Master's orders- the senile, lemon-eating Headmaster still claimed that Snape only supported Potter because of the obligation of the Life Debt Snape owed Potter's Father.
Snape had, of course, still been part of the obliviation, in part so he would not remember what extra information he had been told- a fact that was not released to the general public, one that had caused all the Lost to object to Potter's incarceration. Ron mentally rolled his eyes. How they had managed to think that Potter might be innocent, and that Ron, Dumbledore, and the Ministry hadn't done the right thing was beyond him.
Ron had his doubts about Dumbledore's theory of Snape's innocence. After all, Snape had refused to let him into NEWT Potions, although Ron had gotten an Acceptable and single-handedly- well, with a little help from Hermione- saved the world from the corrupt influences of Potter. No one deserved to get into that class more than Ron- although Ron was well aware that, with the capture of Potter already under his belt, the Auror division would welcome him with open arms.
"Ron?" Hermione looked questionably at him, and he smiled at her in order to reassure her.
"Come on, Hermione. Let's go get our school supplies." He said, sauntering down the street toward Madame Malkin's, Hermione on his arm, secure in his position as hero of the Wizarding World.
Susan Bones sighed and shifted slightly in her seat when she heard steps on the gravel path, but she didn't look up, but instead continued to focus on her book.
Probably a reporter. She thought.
For the last week, her home had been constantly surrounded by reporters, her family hounded by the over zealous information seeks. Her Aunt, after all, had been one of the primary players to convict Harry Potter, the already infamous (so-called Susan amended silently) Deatheater.
Although the media circus was mostly centered around the former Gryffindor's ex-best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, the public wanted its daily assurances that the (accused) murderer was locked up and would never escape. And while Weasley and Granger certainly seemed to be enjoying the attention focused on them, Susan was not grateful in the least for it.
"Susan?" A familiar sounding voice asked. Her head jerked up, and she found herself looking into a pair of warm brown eyes.
"Neville!" She exclaimed, surprised. "What are you doing here?"
He shifted slightly. "Well…" he began slowly. "You're taking NEWT Potions and Herbology, right?"
"Of course." She said, shutting her book and holding it up for him to inspect. Currently she was reading a book called Potions and Herbology: An Essential Guide to the Two Fields.
He managed a grin. "Oh good. Look- Professor Snape is offering a summer class for us. To get us ready for NEWTs, you know? Do you want to go?" He finished in a rush.
Susan frowned. "Snape volunteered?"
"Yeah." Neville said, grinning. "How about it, then?"
She nodded slowly. "Yeah. Just let me check. When does it start?"
"Next Week." Neville beamed. "Bring all your Hogwarts stuff. They're going to open a set of forms for all of us to stay in until school starts."
"Okay. That sounds great. Just stay here." She waved a hand in front of his face to emphasize the point, and quickly ran into the house. "Mum!"
"Susan?" Her mother asked, poking her head around the door to the kitchen. "Are those reporters bothering you again?"
"Nah, mom. That was Neville, Neville Longbottom- from school?- outside, and he just wanted to know if I wanted to go to a special NEWT preparation course at school starting next week."
"Do you want to go?"
Susan nodded vigorously.
"Fine, then. Go and tell your boyfriend you can go."
Susan blushed. "Mom!"
Neville smiled as he waved goodbye to Susan and walked back down the path away from her house. One down, four to go. He thought, giving the thumbs up to Professor Snape, who had brought him here by portkey. The dark man acknowledged his signal by preparing the portkey for the next destination.
Susan thoughtfully tapped a finger on her lip as she watched Neville from inside the house. As he neared a section of brush on the outskirts of her property, she could have sworn she had spotted a dark figure reminiscent of her ominous Potions Master approach him. She shook her head to herself.
She knew Neville was up to something, but she highly doubted that Snape was in on the conspiracy. Get a hold of yourself, Susan! She scolded herself. It was ridiculous- and at the same time, it was hard to doubt what she had seen with her own eyes.
Well, at any rate- I'll see what's up in a week. Better get packing! The Hufflepuff quickly scrambled into her house to begin packing. She knew without a doubt that there was going to be something going on at Hogwarts this year, and she, for one, intended to be in the thick of it!
Excerpt from The Daily Prophet- Your Source for the Wizarding World's News
Special Hogwarts (OWLs and NEWTs) Edition
Students Sue to Take Convicts Name Off List
By Rita Skeeter, staff reporter
This past week, Miss Hermione Granger and Mr. Ronald Weasley, best known for being the former best friends of the murderer, Deatheater Harold James Potter (see our special Deatheaters and Justice edition, in stores now!), descended upon our courts with a petition demanding that the Ministry Testing Commission take Potter's name off the Top Ten list for their year. The Testing Commission firmly defended their stand in a courtroom battle that lasted several days. In the end, the courts upheld The Testing Commission's argument was that as Mr. Potter had not been expelled before his conviction, he was still a student that had to be listed with their results to make it fair to all students at Hogwarts.
"We would like it to be known," Mrs. Jackie Turner, of the Testing Commission's Public Relations Department firmly stated earlier this day, "that we in no way, shape, or form support either Potter or the rest of his Death Eater cronies. Credit must, however, be given where credit is due. We would also like to point out that Miss Hermione Granger, one of the accusers in this case, would stand to gain the most if we were to remove Potter's name from the list- as she would become the number one student."
Could the Ministry be implying that one of our most precious heroes, Hermione Granger, who stood up and pointed out the point that we were all ignorant of- that Potter had turned to the dark side- is doing this for any other reason than the public good? This reporter, for one, refuses to believe it.
Severus Snape surveyed the assembled students gathered in his classroom. Neville Longbottom, the unexpected mastermind behind the plan Severus was setting into motion sat in the front row giving him a discreet thumbs-up sign. Severus restrained himself from rolling his eyes. Gryffindors and their hand signals… honestly, I don't know what they'd do without them!
Susan Bones, Lisa Turpin, and Padma Patil sat in the second row, shifting uncomfortably but still curious to know what he would teach them…they knew something was up- Longbottom was a horrid liar- but they weren't quite sure what it was, or how he, Severus Snape, their feared and loathed Potions Professor, was involved.
He turned his eyes to the back lastly, seeing the sole Slytherin and only other male, Blaise Zabini, leaning against the wall, arms folded, expressionless mask concealing the curiosity Severus knew was there.
These students had many things in common- some of which they knew, and some of which they used to know… but just could… not… remember…
They were all in the top twenty of their class (both in OWL scores and grades)- Bones, #19, Turpin, #12, Longbottom, #7, Zabini, #6, and Patil, #5. They, of course, knew that, considering that the lists for both had been published in The Daily Prophet, last week, including, to many people's displeasure (read: Granger), Harry Potter's name as #1 overall. To Severus, that had been quite a surprise- if Potter had not been framed- he's innocent, he's innocent…- Potter would have been eligible for all the OWL courses, considering he had received almost all O's- with the obvious exception of Astronomy, for which no one got an 'O' out of those taking the exam at the time.
The students assembled were also all taking both NEWT Potions and Herbology- something Neville had looked into before suggesting the idea. Severus had known they had wanted these students since the clumsy Gryffindor had first made the problem know. However, he had not known how to bring them all together without making others suspicious. Until Neville had pointed out that Granger had not done so well on her OWL for Herbology, that is. After checking the lists they had concurred that that was the best front for their actual crusade.
The third reason that these students were all similar was something that they didn't know. They should've known. Severus corrected to himself. And they would have known that they supported Harry Potter without a doubt if it wasn't for the meddling of Dumbledore... which brought them to the fourth, and last, reason Severus and Longbottom had brought this unlikely group together.
They had all been obliviated.
A/N Please Read! I apologize for not updating as soon as I said I would- it was a miscalculation on my part, I admit. I thought I'd be able to handle all my summer volunteer work, my job, my schoolwork, and still have time to type this up and post it. Sadly, this had been sitting, handwritten, in my notebook for about two months. I just have not had time to type it up to post it. I hope you guys can forgive me! I'll try and get another Chapter up before Christmas. I'm so glad all of you reviewed- I appreciate every single one of them. I'd appreciate you doing that again.
Just one question- Does anyone find my shifts in POV confusing? If so, why? Just wanted to make sure there wasn't a problem with it- I'm always working to improve my writing. So if there is any suggestions you can make for me, or any problems you can point out, I'd appreciate them. Thanks!