Okay, I would like to now point out that I wrote this chapter before chapter one was published so hopefully it has been posted fairly soon after chapter one (but I may get distracted again… I tend to do that. I think it has something to do with my cordial intake). I hope you all liked it… I was getting sick of Azkaban stories wherein Harry just feels sorry for himself for most of the story and becomes a hermit. My reason being that while he would have due reason to do both of these things, let's face it… a self pitying hermit does not really do much worth writing about. As always, my Harry has attitude (despite the fact that he is yet to say a word in the story… I'm building up background info).
Added note: Thanks for the huge number of reviews! Well... nine is huge for me. Stop looking at me(Sobs)! I'm so lonely.
Warning: This story is rated M. It contains strong violence, adult themes, and sexual references.
Summary: First let's pretend Harry is sent to Azkaban. Now let's pretend he doesn't like it much. Then let's pretend the ministry says OOPS and releases him. But finally, let's pretend Harry does not easily forgive and forget. Dear wizarding world… this means war.
Disclaimer: See chapter one.
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Chapter 2- Cries of Outrage
Our Innocent Sacrifice!
In the wake of our young secondary saviors triumph, we must feel relaxed and joyful, both for ourselves and for the new safety of our world. However, before you begin your celebrations, please take a moment to read this article and understand what our community has done to one who gave us so much.
In his last battle, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named felt himself to be the victor, having bested our Neville before. We all now know he was wrong, but his confidence at the time caused him to reveal something to his would be defeater. Feeling there was no way his opposition could win; He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named began gloating about one of his greatest but easiest victories. Harry Potter.
Now before thinking in disgust of this young man, allow yourself to set aside your preset views and find out what exactly He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was referring to. The self proclaimed Lord gloated to our Neville that he had fooled the world into thinking the Boy-Who-Lived was a murderer. He stated quite clearly under no coercion that he had personally organized the murder of young Justin Finch-Fletchly and Seamus Finnegan and that Harry Potter had been framed. The Minister, being present when our Neville gave this announcement, is doubtlessly even now trying to find a way to make a clear political recovery from this.
I ask you as the public to make sure that justice comes to this young man that we all forgot. Show your regret fro what others forced upon him for; although we ourselves could not have known of the situation, it is clear to see that any number of people could have prevented this. Minister Fudge, by allowing a fair trial rather then bowing down to pressure, Head Auror Moody by doing a more thorough and complete investigation. Headmaster Dumbledore who knew the boy so well should have taken the time to think through what he knew of his character and ask himself if he truly thought the boy capable of such a monstrous act, and Harry's friends, who chose to testify against him when they would have doubtlessly been lying about his supposed misdoings.
Open your hearts to the boy who first succeeded where so many had failed. Do not let this injustice be buried under history. Keep it fresh in your minds and show the minis-
"Oh what a load of crock!" Minister Fudge cried, lobbing the newspaper across his office in anger, before even finishing Skeeter's second article.
He'd been relatively pleased with the front page story which depicted the Longbottom boy's heroic battle. The page two spread however was not quite so capable of creating feelings of warmth and security inside him. Him to blame for the boy's imprisonment? Hah!
He got up and stomped towards his liquor cabinet to pour himself a glass of scotch. Gulping it down far quicker then normal, he wandered over to the window to look out at the fake view of the Stonehenge which he had asked to have on his window rather then the realism of Wizarding London. The peaceful and somewhat spiritual image however did nothing to block the noise that was leaking through the silencing charms he usually had up. What he was hearing as a dull murmur must surely be deafening for those outside since these were no weak wards.
With a sigh he tossed his now empty glass back towards the cabinet which shot an arm out at the approaching item, caught it, and sat it down next to the bottle of scotch the Minister had started.
Fudge took a deep breath before tugging on the blinds cord thereby disrupting the false image and the silencing spells. Instantly he was surrounded by screams. Below him, gathered between the shops on Diagon Alley and other nearby streets were several hundred people with more apparating in with every passing second. It was almost impossible to define what was being cried but Fudge was fairly certain the word Harry was being repeated a lot. Grabbing his bowler hat for comfort, he looked once more at the gathering people.
"Bloody hell Rita." He sighed before heading out of his office and down the stairs to try and talk to the crowd below.
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"What are we going to do Albus?" Sirius' tone was almost pleading as he looked towards the man who had always tried to do well by them, "He blames us for what happened to him. How the hell are we going to make him understand?"
The Hogwarts teachers were all sitting inside Dumbledore's office with as many privacy charms and wards as they could manage so that hopefully "Big Brother and Big Sister" would not be watching them.
"I'm not sure Sirius my boy. I don't exactly know how to fix this except to keep trying."
"Albus, if he truly blames you all, he's going to make your lives hell if you keep trying to interact with him." Severus reminded them. He had had a big cheesy grin plastered on his face ever since Dumbledore had showed the other Hogwarts teachers the note. "I personally recommend leaving him alone until he calms down a little but I guess it's your decision."
"We can't just leave him alone!" Sirius cried, "That's what has happened for the past year! Why would he want more time in isolation?"
"Black, he's hardly been alone." Severus rolled his eyes at his childhood nemesis, "He's had the company of several death eaters, a few other random murderers and rapists, some people whom I have no idea why they are locked up, several dementors, plus Miss Greengrass. Not to mention some random less then pleasant visits from some of his ex-friends. From the records the Weasley boy dropped of," Here he flicked open the folder in front of him, "it appears that near the start of his visit he received visits from you, several Weasleys, the Granger girl, Lupin here, your cousin Nymphadora and some of her Auror friends, a few other Order members he probably didn't even recognize, and… oh this is odd." He frowned and flicked a page back and forth, "It appears he received four visits in his first month from the younger Mister Malfoy and at least one visit for every month since then. Either way, going on his current opinion towards most of you I doubt the visits were friendly tea parties in which you all clasped hands and talked about your 'feelings' while in the background a deep voiced man stated like sands through the hour glass, so are the days of our lives."
"Severus, does it say what his visits with Draco Malfoy were about?" Minerva McGonagall asked, looking startled.
"No, it just states the length of each visit and from what it says here, each visit bar one was at least an hour long… sometimes two. The short one was fifty eight minutes." The school's potion master looked up at the table's occupants, "Does anyone here actually know what's been happening with Mister Malfoy since his mother pulled him out of Hogwarts last November?"
"No actually." Dumbledore frowned, "He's barely been seen in public. The Ministry brought him in for questioning in March but he denied being a Death Eater and did not have the Dark Mark so he was released again. I do not think anyone recognized him at the final battle and Alastor would have told me if an underage person had been one to fall comatose. He will be seventeen on the fourth of August if memory serves. Of course, he could have fallen unconscious elsewhere and is yet to be found but we will know soon enough. The Department of Mysteries is even now working on a spell to summon all bodies possessing the dark mark. His father is now dead, having been in the inner circle but I'm not sure where his mother is."
"Downstairs actually," Madam Pomfrey informed them as she walked in the door, "That's what I came to tell you. She's come to you for help since apparently at roughly the same time as Harry vanished from Azkaban, Mister Malfoy suddenly swore loudly and literally vanished in a puff of smoke right in the middle of the fancy 'Yay my husband is DEAD!' dinner Lady Malfoy was holding."
"How on earth did you get in here Poppy?" Dumbledore asked, completely astounded that his school nurse managed to get through the charms he'd laid.
"The door was unlocked," She shrugged, "Plus there was an amplifying charm loud enough that the centaurs in the forest probably heard every word you all just uttered."
"… I guess that puts a dampener on your earlier gloating session about how no one could destroy your wards 'ey Albus?" Severus finally broke the silence (although privately impressed that Harry and Daphne could manipulate the wards 'long distance').
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"Lady Malfoy, I am so sorry for your loss." Dumbledore began, only just remembering in time that this woman had recently lost her husband.
It was easy to get distracted considering Lady Malfoy was wearing a fluorescent pink skirt and a white, low cut, slightly damp tank top. It was clear that her 'Yay my husband is DEAD' party had not been in formal settings.
"Don't be. He was an idiot." She brushed off the comment before getting down to business, "Draco has been keeping in constant contact with both Mister Potter and Miss Greengrass. He was good friends with the girl while they were both still here at Hogwarts but I am not certain of his motivation for continuing to associate with Mister Potter." She leant forward a little causing the headmasters gaze to travel slightly lower then her face to her now almost entirely revealed assets, "I want you to find my son Headmaster Dumbledore."
Dumbledore blinked twice and shook himself a little.
"I'm afraid I really don't have the time or resources to do that Lady Malfoy." He informed her in his best 'saddened tone', "Mister Malfoy is no longer a student here, nor was he ever on the same side as myself and my associates during the recent war which means I cannot justify to either financial backers, the workers who would be needed to look for him, or even myself a good reason to begin this search."
Narcissa smirked dangerously and rose elegantly to her feet.
"How about the fact that my son kept a magical recording of all his meetings with both of your incarcerated youths and if you would be so kind as to sign a binding contract stating that you will do your best to find my son, I would thus decide that such delicate merchandise would be far safer here at Hogwarts then in my manner." She sighed, "Now, I haven't watched them myself… I just don't have the time in between everything these days but I'm sure there would be some information you and your colleagues would find very useful in the search you are currently conducting for Mister Potter."
"How did you know that?"
"What, that the boy is also missing or that you are searching for him?" She laughed almost mockingly, "I did not have a happy marriage Headmaster and as such I found it necessary to look outside my home for… entertainment. I found such entertainment with a young Auror… only twenty eight, who made a few mistakes and as such now holds a job as one of the guards in Azkaban… from memory he accidentally blew up Minister Fudge's pet Billywig. He firecalled me about forty minutes ago with the news." She grinned almost childishly, "Now, Ms Skeeter has been so kind as to inform the world of Mister Potter's innocence and as such I'm sure you and your friends here are feeling mighty guilty about the whole thing and as such are certainly searching for him even as we speak."
"Damn she's good." Severus whispered to Poppy from where they were both eavesdropping.
"Quiet Mister" Poppy hissed back before returning her attention to the battle before them.
"Alright Lady Malfoy, I assume you have a copy of that contract here?" Dumbledore sighed out and took the offered document, "I will have it returned to you by the end of the day."
"Why thank you Headmaster Dumbledore," She gushed smoothly and then turned her head to the side, "Severus," she called, "It is really not polite to eavesdrop and… why Poppy, I expected so much more from you."
Far away from the scene a black haired boy laughed aloud and turned to his blonde companion.
"Draco, your mother is awesome."
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That is all for this installment folks. I apologize but the first chapter was longer then average anyway. They'll be both longer and shorter in future. Next chapter: Harry, Daphne, and Draco's big number. Well... not big number because they won't be singing but at least they'll have an actual part longer then one line or a letter.
Reviews make my hands nimble and speedy which makes typing a hell of a lot easier. Just something to think about there.