DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.

CHAPTER 48

Standing by the lake Harry waited nervously. Today he was going to make a stand against Toby Baddock and his chums. They had effectively made his life a living hell since the first day of meeting them, and the last night had been the last straw. They had called him to their rooms at night and had made him clean every single one of their bathrooms after dismissing the house-elves all the while taunting him for his cowardice.

Finding himself in such a miserable position of servitude, Harry felt his blood boil and anger overcome fear. He had decided to call them to the lake today and finish this ongoing battle once and for all.

Thinking about what he wanted to say and how he wanted to avoid a fight, Harry found him-self on tenterhooks as he waited for judgment time. Turning to face the castle he saw the gang of miscreants emerge from its doors and swallowed; now was not the time to show fear.

As they slowly advanced towards him wearing looks of superiority, Toby invaded his personal space and said his face close to Harry's, smelling strongly of cigarette smoke, "What's up newbie, Ready to give up and grovel?"

Harry drew himself up to his full height almost standing eye to eye with Toby and staring at the bastard before him he said "I…I no longer agree to your demands anymore as I have done nothing wrong, Voldemort was a murderer and there was no honor in the crimes that he committed, he fully deserved the ending that he got."

"You dare…you dare to use his name?" toby said pale and sputtering with anger "You, a spineless little boy who feeds of his brother's fame, you dare to defile the strongest wizard in the world?"

He drew his wand out with lightening reflexes and aimed it at Harry's chest "Today you must be punished."

He uttered a spell and a beam of yellow light shot out at the end of his wand heading straight for Harry's heart when it stopped mid-air and dissipated. Shocked and confused Toby stood gawking at Harry who had drawn out his own wand and had produced a stunningly powerful, impenetrable shield before him.

"I said I won't follow you to hurt me anymore" he said flicking his wand to shoot another spell in retaliation to the attack.

Toby smiled grimly jumping out of the way to avoid the spell and cried out "Danny!" suddenly disrupting Harry's focus.

Looking out of the corner of his eye Harry saw another boy appear next to him and he felt the impact of a powerful fist to his face knocking him over to the ground.

Danny was only muscle, a huge and scary man whose magical skill was secondary to the use of his fists. He caught the fallen boy with his collar and dragged him up while Harry fought to stay conscious.

Holding onto the back of the weakened boy's head, he suddenly pushed Harry headlong into the water of the lake and held him under till he felt the boy's struggle weaken, all the while laughing and winking at the others.

Pulling him out, he threw him bodily on to the ground and watched dispassionately as the boy pulled in deep breaths, fighting against the threatening blackness.

Toby placed his foot on Harry's stomach making the boy reach out blindly to fend off his assailant while thrashing desperately on the floor.

"Try running once more little boy," Toby said his foot grinding slowly into his abdomen "And you'll find yourself standing at the gates of hell itself."

With one last kick to his side they walked away from Harry who had curled up into a whimpering ball looking completely unperturbed by their own cruelty.

Harry stayed of the ground for a long time unable to push himself up thinking about the fight that had just happened. A tendril of some new feeling crept into his chest, a pride, that he had never felt before in his life, not even when he had thwarted Voldemort made it-self known to him.

Sure he had lost the battle, but the fact that he tried fighting against the odds was making him feel better and better about himself. The injuries he had taken, now served as a reminder of his obstinacy, he would not heal them this time as they would be his medals of honor for having stood up against a strong opposition.

He felt emotions that he had never felt before engulfing his mind, anger, bone deep hatred and an empowering thirst to see those boys destroyed. It made his green eyes glow with a deep strength and fiery passion. The next time they faced off it would be his victory.

Almost crawling up to his room not meeting anyone on the way thankfully, as it was already late in the night, he crept into the covers of his bed his clothes still wet from the altercation and fell into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning groaning with pain and feeling a strange stiffness Harry tried to get up and on opening his eyes he saw Draco's worried face hovering over his own. "Harry!" his voice came urgently as if from far away "Harry!"

"uuumhhh…"

"Hey kid, you've got bruises on your face and your clothes are damp, what the hell happened last night?" Draco said gently while pushing Harry's hair out of his eyes and pulling back when Harry winced at the gentle touch.

"Who did this? Please tell me Harry" Draco urged looking angry at the thought of someone inflicting pain on his friend.

"Idontwanna" Harry said mumbling through the haze of pain, "I can't," he said trying to sit up "I won't let them win ever again."

Draco wanted to ask him more but decided that first he would tend to the wounds and at least give the poor boy a pain relieving draught before he continued the interrogation.

Later on when Harry had recovered and had been returned to his almost normal state still stubbornly refusing to heal the purpling bruise on his face, instead hiding it with glamor, he avoided Draco's insistent questioning and told him that if he ever needed help in the future he'd let him know.

There was no way he could tell Draco the truth, not now. Draco himself had been having a tough time with the overload of work and nightmares and visions haunting him every night which made Harry wake up to bloodcurdling cry's and tears. Also he didn't want to further jeopardize Draco's safety by dragging him into the rotten affair.

Sitting down with a letter in his hands that he had just received from his brother, he opened it smiling faintly and read the contents of it,

Dear harry,

I need to talk to someone about some stuff that I've been going through lately and the fact that I can't see you face to face right now makes you the best sounding board that I can ask for.

Have you ever thought about my being the 'Chosen one' Harry? What does it make you feel? You know that before this year I felt proud, happy and honestly I thought I was a bit better than others. I accepted my fame willingly and grew used to it with time.

But now I have gotten to know some truths this year and though I've been forbidden to speak about it I will tell you when you come home about everything changing around us. I have started to truly understand the burden, the price that comes with being 'Chosen.'

There are too many expectations of me, expectations that I'm not ready to face up to and all I want to do is run away from them. Mum tells me that I will find my courage when the time is right, but I don't feel very adequate and it's been driving me nuts and frankly I'm scared.

It's weird but there's only one other person who suspects that something is wrong with how I've been acting lately and that's Ginny, she doesn't crowd me or baby me like Hermione or Ron but there is this strength that I feel coming from her that I've never felt before.

It sucks to grow up before your time Harry, it really does and I hope that you at least will be spared of all this sudden change. Take care of yourself kiddo and write back, your letters really help.

Love Darren

Harry's hands clenched over the letter in front of him and he closed his eyes tightly, crying silently for His, Darren's, Draco's and Ginny's lost innocence and the unknown future ahead of them.

A week later while sitting at the breakfast table Draco caught the daily prophet his owl had dropped onto his lap and opened it to read it, when he gasped and let it fall from his hands which were trembling with fear.

Snatching the paper from him, Harry scanned the front page and turned pale. Staring at him with mad, fathomless black eyes was a picture of Bellatrix Lestrange laughing hysterically under the frightening headlines that read, 'SIX ESCAPE AZKABAN.'

Reading further he found out that during last night's periodical rounds of Azkaban's prison cells two Aurors had discovered six empty cells that had imprisoned the most deadly and ruthless of Voldemort's followers, Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange, the Carrow brothers, Mulciber Jr. and Augustus Rookwood.

They had been found missing but had left a trail of death blazing in their wake, almost wiping out an entire village near the prison and then had suddenly vanished into thin air.

Again the Prophet sermonized on ways to keep the families safe and to report if any of these murderers were sighted in and around the area.

"I saw it happen, Harry" Draco whispered biting his lip "I saw it in my vision weeks ago and I didn't understand what it meant, shit! Shit! Shit!" he said dropping his head into his hands and falling silent.

Harry re-read the article for any other clues and found it as elusive as the first one about Peter Pettigrew. He left Draco alone to wallow for some time knowing that he would prefer the solitude over the comforting words, 'that there was nothing he could have done.'

His mind was now drawn to something very strange about the article, and he felt a growing excitement, it was too similar to the one that had been written about Peter the traitor and what that meant he would have to try figure it out now.