Disclaimer: This fanfiction is based on the Harry Potter universe created by
J.K. Rowling Not mine.
Rating: PG13 mild language
Spoilers: All five books (SS/PS; CoS; PoA; GoF; OotP)
A/N: Okay, this is an Harry in Azkaban fic. Hope you like it. Mention of violence but nothing
graphic.
The trial
"Harry James Potter", the voice of the judge or should I say Minister Fudge, bungler extraordinaire, rang out silencing the whispers
flowing through courtroom ten and bringing my disoriented thoughts back to reality. Or as far back to reality as my beaten body,
courtesy to the aurors, would allow me. The trial of the century or the biggest farce depending on your point of view was about to come
to an end. Soon to be known as the bleakest day in recent wizarding history and incidentally also the bleakest day in my short miserable
life but listen to Fudge. Listen what he says, "You stand accused before this committee of good and true witches and wizards, for the
vilest, the most heinous crime possible, murder." Drawing a theatrical breath he continued, "The murder of your only remaining blood
relatives." Really a career change would do that man a world of good. As an actor perhaps or do a Lockhart and write books no one
needs. Oh wait even Lockhart had more talent as a wizard than Fudge. At least Lockhart could do an effective obliviate. I doubt that
Fudge could pull off even a levitation charm and those are first year material at Hogwarts. Well I am slightly predjudiced, but I digress.
His theatralics would have been funny if my freedom wasn't on the stake.
His narrative of how I supposedly killed the Dursley's was sickening. I could have screamed myself hoarse at the injustice of it all if I
could. Afterall its slightly difficult if some bastard had planted a silencio on you, a silencing charm if you please. "…Waiting until his
relatives were deep asleep he snuck up in his cousins bedroom first, killing him with a Dark cutting curse." Well I really could hit myself
over the head Dobby style for trying to use that one on the Death Eater who had incidentally entered my home rather my relative's
home. It never felt like home to me. To cut through the heart, that masked bootlicker disarmed me and hit me with a stunning spell. I
surmise that he proceeded to take my wand and killed the Dursleys afterwards. Suffice to say they were neither quick nor clean deaths.
Aurors told me this in not so many words, taunting me as they would succumb to their darker nature, frustrated that I wouldn't yield any
information, not even under veritaserum imagine that, increasing the dose until I nearly died on a body lock down. While at the
authorities tender mercies I never was able to feel sorry for my relatives. It is rather hard if every bone in your body is hurting
like hell while your stomach is rebelling because of several healing potions which had been forced down my throat on a regular basis to
keep me alive and sound enough to repeat the procedure the next day.
Surprising really, that they even bothered to get me back to health considering that I was a Death Eater to them, never mind that they
couldn't ever found me marked. They checked on a daily basis, as if such a thing would simply appear. Don't get me wrong I never
bore the Dark Mark nor would I ever in my darkest moment consider it. Hello, big evil Dark Lord had killed my parents. One of these
intellectually challenged should have noticed that one. But back to the crime as Fudge got into detail of how the scene of crime had been
discovered. Funny thing is that Blood wards, errected by Dumbledor, should have prevented the Death Eater to enterat all making this
stunt impossible; well it wasn't the first time old Dumbles had miscalculated. And as this trial and the following events showed it sadly
wasn't his last or most grave mistake. But enough of this now I might tell you some at a later point of time. The blood wards
were the only reason which made it necessary for me to live with my despicable blood relatives. Our relationship had been very clear
defined. They hated everything to do with magic, that included obviously me, and I learned to ignore them over time; the neglect and
the verbal abuse. As a child I was hurt by their behaviour however over time that changed into pure contempt, I figured that these poor
excuses of parental role models were not to be taken serious, especially after I was "rescued" by my Hogwarts letter. Over the years I
went to Hogwarts it changed further to the point were I didn't care anymore how they treated me or what happened to them. But please
understand I never wanted them dead. What did it matter that I had to return every summer when in a few years when I would turn
seventeen, I would be finally free of them forever.
Well one could say that actually happened just not in the way I anticipated it. I was relieved of their presence permanently.
Note the sarcasm here. Well obviously Voldemort thought it would be rather altruistic of him to send a Death Eater to attack my last
living relatives and killing them off and most importantly framing me for the murders. Well what do you expect he is after all a
shizophrenic. Ruining my life forever is the pinnacle of his success, his purpose in life though t o speak. Don't get me wrong this doesn't
change the fact that as a good Dark Lord he wanted me dead in the end. However, I have no doubt the knowledge of the wizarding
world digging its own grave pleased his sense of sadism very much. I wasn't going to escape him, afterall Azkaban is a pretty well
known location which wasn't as impregnable as it once was thought to be. Several prison breaks in recent years have seen to that.
When the alarm sounded and aurors started to appear I was quickly enervated by said Death Eater. Disoriented I grabbed for my
wand he so generously offered me before he apparated away. I made the most stupid mistake. Befuddled as I was I stood up and
moved my tired body towards Dudleys bedroom, my head must have connected rather hard with the wall because I felt dizzy and every
bone in my body hurt. I lit my wand wit a lumos and what I saw made my breath catch in my throat as the pungent stench of fresh blood
and emptied bowels hit my nostrils. My sight might have been blurry though I could still caught enough details for my overimaginative
mind to draw the picture. Through a haze, I heard voices downstairs drawing nearer as the aurors run up the staircase. I couldn't react,
could only stare at my cousins mangled body. I didn't react as the aurors finally reached me and I was being hit by a stunner for the
second time this night. The rest is history though to speak. I woke up in a small holding cell complete with a mattress of straw and a
sanitary arrangement consisting of a bucket in a corner charmed to empty once used. Unfortunately the room would still smell of a rather
unsavoury privy. But what luxury, at least it got the illusion of a window. At least I could see the sun. I found out it was illusionary when I
was desperate enough and try to escape right after Dumbledore's fatefull visit. Suffice to say the outcome was rather humiliating. The
aurors had a good laugh.
Those had been convinced of my guilt from the start and never looked any further, nevermind that veritaserum didn't quite point in that
direction. In their opinion I had a motive, my blood relatives abuse and neglect for instance, and the opportunity, namely my wand.
When I pointed out to them that I was in possession of my wand for almost exactly six years and therefore their reasoning had a few
holes it earned me the first hand experience of the meaning of "police brutality".
If I had any hope in the beginning that Albus Dumbledore would get me out I was brutally disabused of that notion when one day before
my trial he suddenly swept in to the interrogation room a stern Madame Bones in tow, the Head of Magical Law Enforcement, looking
grim. The usual annoying twinkle in Dumbledores eyes was missing. I felt dread flooding my stomach and sour bile rise as the realization
hit me. Dumbledore is convinced of my guilt. It was as if an abyss would appear out of nowhere and swallow me whole. Dumbledore
wouldn't save me this time. I was alone. I didn't react as he gave me the whole song and dance of how I disappointed him, how I had
let down my parents, my friends, my deceased godfather Sirius Black and the Rest of the wizarding world.
He ended it with the words may god have mercy on your soul. With those words, the last ones he ever spoke to me he broke my wand
and I suddenly felt the urge to laugh. Not in joy you understand, but as in completly hysterical as all the implications of this single act hit
home. I laughed till tears started to pour out my eyes and I ended in hacking painful sobbing. My minders must have thought I finally lost
it as they escorted me back to my cosy cell. How could Dumbledore do something like this? Why didn't he believe me? Why didn't he
even try to speak with me? For all his supposed wisdom his susceptibility in this case never ceases to amaze me. I doubt I will find out
his reasons ever. I couldn't care less now. But than and there I felt as if my heart was ripped out. I knew what this meant. I was going to
be tried and found guilty of the triple murder of my own relatives, I would be convicted and sentenced for life to Azkaban. I would never
see Elena again, my muggle girlfriend, my lifeline and the only reason why I didn't fall into depression after Sirius dead. She would never
find out what happened to me.
But back to the trial, I was sitting again on that strange chair in courtroom ten though the chains wouldn't bind me of their own. However
four aurors actually remedied that slight problem giving me a friendly cuff over my head which made flashes of light appear behind my
eye lids and as a bonus they put a silencio on me.
Despair held my heart as I knew that the head of the Wizengamot would stand against me and of whatever the opinion of most wizards
and witches on the council might be, I doubt that even one would stand for me when the great Albus Dumbledor threw his protégé to the
wolfs. However I wouldn't let this despair rule me. I swore that I wouldn't give them the satisfaction to see me crumble. After all I
wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing. I would look them proudly into the eye showing that I won't be cowed when they would lead me to my
final destination. Such was my conviction. What I didn't expect however was that the trial was public. Almost all my school mates with
there families had come. They had to enlarge the courtroom for that one. Hope rose again. As I listened to Fudge expound on why I
should be put away for murder. "Look at him, how he is sitting in this chair proud and unrepentant…"
Even if I had been able to respond I wouldn't have dignified that with any comment. Even so a silent snort escaped me and a smirk crept
over my face while I tried to focus on Fudge.
Which was rather hard considering that I didn't weare my glasses. I hadn't since the day before my relatives were killed. I had left them
on my bedstead when I headed for the bathroom though my wand is always on my person. Though when I encountered that Death
Eater I might have had my wand but without my glasses I failed to aim properly. Another point my dear interrogators didn't pick up on.
Really, how could a blind bat like me supposedly have been able to kill the Dursleys in such a precise manner? They didn't like it either
when I helpfully pointed that one out. Tenacity is a valuable trait in an auror I'm sure. However if it isn't coupled with at least the brain
power of a bacterium, it is miht be a tad bit unreliable. As the trial continued the hope that at least my friends would stand by me
dwindled to nothing. I sat ramrod straight, my face set in stone, as one after another of my friends gave testimony on my character. " He
is an attention seeker who puts everyone around him in danger." (Ron)
"He almost led us to our doom when he broke into the ministry." (Neville)
The string went on and on Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnegan, Mrs Weasley my surrogate mother even Mrs Figg the old squib who
babysat me when I was a child.
After some time everything blurred. I only wanted them to stop. Suddenly a stiff breeze wafted through courtroom ten making hats fly
through the room and pulling on robes. I didn't know were this wind was coming from at the moment. I welcomed it unconsciously as it
expressed what I couldn't; anger, despair, betrayal. However, only moments later old Dumbledore had saved the day once more and
with a wave of his wand stopped the wind, considering his slumped shoulders it might not have been as easy as it seemed. Suddenly I
too felt very tired finally slumping in my seat only being held up by its chains.
Finally Fudge asked the Wizengamot for their verdict. "We have come here to pass justice for a crime so heinous that there could be but
one answer. Incarceration for live. However, considering the age of the defendant and the service he did us when he vanquished You-
know-who as a child we should show some leniency. Therefore the degree of sentence should be reduced to sixty years imprisonment
on the isle of Azkaban instead of a live sentence. Members of the Wizengamot, who are in favour of imprisonment on the isle of
Azkaban for sixty years, please raise your hands." Fudges sanctimonious voice cut through the whispers he didn't even ask if someone
believed in my innocence.
Depressingly every member raised her or his hand at least as far as I could surmise without glasses. I didn't have to see Fudges face
clearly his voice conveyed enough of the glee which must have shown on his face. "Harry James Potter, for the murder on your blood
relatives, the Wizengamot sees fit to show you some leniency for past services towards the wizarding world and sentence you to only
sixty years imprisonment on the isle of Azkaban instead of the well deserved live sentence. Convicted do you have anything to say to the
high court?" As the silencio hadn't been lifted yet I could only glare until a imperceptible nod prompted one of the aurors to lift the curse.
I collected myself before I spoke, "Fudge, you think this a great political move to stay in office. However, mark my words you will come
to regret that you ever had put an innocent in prison." I pointedly ignored the screams of outrage which suddenly filled the air and
Fudges hysterical "Guards, take the prisoner away." However, before the guards were able to do more than grab my arms and loosen
the chains something else happing, making me weep for my last remaining friend.
Suddenly, using the commotion to her advantage a slightly blurry figure made her way down from the stands directly to a point between
myself and Fudge. It was Hermione Granger, I only could recognize her from the way she moved, well and that bushy hair of hers.
She moved very close to me so that I could see the mingling trust and sadness in her eyes mixed with the same sense of betrayal for our
former friends I felt but above all an assurance which I couldn't trust, not than anyways, everything would be fine in the end. Nothing will
ever come between our friendship. Surprising me and my minders she flung herself at me crushing me in a desperate hug slipping
something small in my hand.
Suddenly I knew what she wanted to do as she stepped away from me again. I wanted to scream, telling her that this wasn't worth the
sacrifice she was going to make, However I was silenced once again. Before another concerned auror could touch her and drag her
away from me she turned around facing Fudge in his high-seat five paces in front of her eyes ablaze. She had to crane
her neck to look at him. The words that followed would burn themselves into my brain forever. Holding her wand out for everyone to
see she pointed it at her temple her eyes glaring hatefully at Dumbledore and Fudge softly she begun to speak, yet her words carried
through the court reaching everyone, freezing them into place. "I Hermione Granger, true friend of the betrayed renounce henceforth the
wizarding world. May your actions haunt you forever, traitors. Obliviate" Her wand clattered to the floor as her face turned
expressionless her eyes vacant. For a second everyone was to shocked to move. Until one auror had the presence of mind to portkey
her toward an abandoned alley somewhere in London.
They couldn't chance for her to come to her senses after she had purposefully erased her memory of the past seven years. She wasn't a
witch anymore, not in their eyes anyway. I heard the outcry of my exfriends and surrogate family, screaming at me, blaming me. I
however was far to shocked to take any more notice of my surroundings. I hardly noticed as a special authorized portkey was pressed
into my hand and I was whisked away to my new home; the Fortress of Azkaban, the deepest hole, in the middle of nowhere. Having
been force-fed the magic suppressing potion, not that I could much without a wand at that point, I was thrown in to a dark, windowless
cell containing the obligatory bucket for my sanitary needs and a rather flimsy mattress with no hope of ever seeing the light of day again
as this cell didn't have a window; after all we are talking about solitary confinement for sixty years.
There wouldn't be much left of my personality if I ever got out, even the most antisocial person would go mad here. However Hermione
had given me some hope again or should I say a determination to pull through it all, to stay sane for my last friend. I held tight to the small
piece of paper she had slipped me. Hermione had scribbled something on it.
My glasses still gone and fluorescing mould does in no way constitute to a reading lamp I still could decipher it with difficulty when
holding it close to my eyes and the wall were my light source grew. Two simple words I could found their "FRINDSHIP FOREVER".
Than it burned. I started laughing as the last bit of physical warmth I would feel for a long time to come vanished. However the message
left a warm feeling behind and the strong sense that Hermione wasn't as much out of the world as I might have thought.
I can't imagine for the smartest witch to drop out of the Wizarding world forever.
Wizarding world beware, here be monsters.