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Summary - Imprisoned in Azkaban for murder despite obvious questions about why he would join the Dark Lord, Harry Potter languishes in prison while the Blood War goes on. Two years after the war, the truth is revealed.

Xxxx

"Harry James Potter; you have been found guilty of the crimes you have been accused of, and we have heard the witnesses who saw the crimes you have committed. You have been charged with joining the Death Eaters, a known dark wizards' terrorist organisation under the command of Lord…Thingy. You have been witnessed casting the Killing Curse and the Torture curses against 8 people during a Hogsmeade weekend, this May. You have been charged and have been found guilty of treason against the magical community of Great Britain. Do you have anything to…say before we pass judgement on you?" Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge was grinning maliciously down at him.

To his side, her face split in a wide, equally hideous grin, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, Dolores Umbridge was also looking down in delight. The pair of them were overjoyed to finally get rid of him, especially after the way they'd conspired to get rid of him the year before; using Dementors of all things to try to silence him and endangering the Statute of Secrecy, using Blood Quills… Next to them, Percy Weasley was wearing a smirk that was so pompous and haughty that it was strange to see it there.

Harry was sitting quietly. He was trying to fight off the effects of the Dementors that had been guarding him during the breaks; his occlumency skill was quite good and he was able to keep his innermost secrets and knowledge safe from harm, but the Dementors had still affected his ability to focus, to concentrate on everything happening around him.

Somehow he wasn't surprised Fudge, petty, stupid Fudge, had used Dementors; Fudge and Umbridge had heard of how badly he was affected by the foul wraiths, but fighting them off had been a chore and a half. It was a surprise when the Daily Prophet had said over the summer holidays the pompous little man would be ousted from power, only for him to remain in power. Even now Harry had some pretty good ideas about how it happened and the presence of the Dementors who'd been recovered made it increasingly clear of Fudge's true allegiances. Ever since he had returned to Hogwarts, briefly for what would have been his sixth year, Harry had had a lot of time to think, even with the Order's suspicions and concerns when the corpses of the Lestrange brothers had been dropped so close to Privet Drive.

The sight of the corpses had been horrifying; the muggles were horrified and bemused by the fact two men had been dropped so close to Privet Drive, but the moment he had seen them, Harry had been stunned by the Death Eaters' senseless murders. At the time he had wondered why they were even there.

Was it some kind of sick warning, to him, to Dumbledore, and to his followers? That would have made some sense since Voldemort did not tolerate failure and after the mess at the Ministry, the Dark Lord was furious when his Inner Circle failed to recover the prophecy.

But….why?

Why would Voldemort kill two of his more fanatical followers?

At the same time, it was a warning to Harry, at least that was how he'd seen it at the time. And at the time he had seen the corpses for himself, especially since they had his name scrawled in blood, which the police had interrogated him for, Harry had been genuinely shaken and frightened.

But even then, Harry had run through everything he had done wrong over the last 5 years at Hogwarts and he realised he had squandered so many chances to protect himself even though he had kept his true activities a secret; Dumbledore had said he had hoped Harry would live to enjoy his childhood, but ever since his arrival at the school, he had been attacked by students, possessed teachers, frauds, giant spiders, trolls, dragons, Dementors, Ministry officials, and Dark Lords.

Some childhood.

Harry had decided when he got back to the school, he would use the books he had found in the library of the Chamber of Secrets to becoming a better wizard and when he'd gotten back to the castle, Dumbledore had finally decided to train him, but he hadn't realised Harry was sneaking down to the Chamber of Secrets and was using the library down there.

Harry had been exploring the Chamber since the last days of his second year at school, and he had discovered a treasure trove of books, scrolls, tablets and other magical artefacts, but he had not been able to fully make use of it because, in his third year, it had been increasingly hard for him to escape from his minders when Sirius was believed to be after him. The last two years however were a different story.

That business with the Triwizard Tournament had made him make full use of the Chamber's library as well as the main library of the castle to stop anyone from becoming too suspicious, but with Rita Skeeter making full use of her animagus form he had stopped and he hadn't gone back. But in the belief time he'd made use of the Chamber, Harry's knowledge of ancient magic had shot up by a third; regretfully because of Skeeter, Harry had needed to avoid the Chamber so then she wouldn't make him out to be the Heir of Slytherin. That was the last thing he'd needed at the time, especially since Draco Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy's parasite of a son, revealed his parseltongue ability.

But sixth year, what little of it he'd experienced, had provided Harry with the perfect time to explore the library, and the last-minute lessons provided to him by Dumbledore which revealed the truth of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes had made him look through the library in the Chamber, while he also took a look at Voldemort's past and how he acted during his rise to power so he had a good idea of where the Horcruxes were.

Harry just didn't understand Dumbledore; the old wizard knew only too well the war was heating up and was becoming worse and worse, and yet instead of seeing the need to be quick about it, he was only showing memories and expressing his opinions about Tom Riddle's life and background. He could have given Harry the memories in one night and then they could have talked about them another night, but no; Albus Dumbledore simply did not work like that.

Was it any wonder he had gone to the Chamber and used the Room of Requirement's resources, hitting them harder once his sixth year began?

Once he had seen two memories, it had become increasingly obvious to him that Dumbledore truly seemed to think the war was a massive chessboard, a game for him to enjoy, instead of seeing it more realistically. Too bad for him Harry was not interested in playing, so he decided to jump ahead of the curve and learn more about Voldemort's past, and from there, the Room of Requirement became like a time machine that allowed Harry to see where he had placed his Horcruxes. But he had discovered Dumbledore had made a big, fatal mistake.

The Horcruxes were not Voldemort's key method of immortality. He had two methods. The first was obviously the Horcruxes, but the second was the Dark Mark.

The Dark Mark formed a connection between all of the Death Eaters and created a bridge for Voldemort to draw off some of their magic and because of that, Voldemort was able to survive that night he had killed his parents. Harry had studied both the Horcruxes and the Dark Mark, and he had learnt how to deal with both, but he had been arrested before he could do anything.

Harry was still unsure of how it had happened, so he wasn't sure what to say; from what he had picked up since there had been a devastating Death Eater attack, and he had been with the Death Eaters, in full regalia except without the stupid mask and hood, and he had used two of the Unforgiveable curses and many other dark curses. But at the same time, Harry had been unconscious in the school; when he had been found and the accusations made with a furious Dumbledore and McGonagall standing over him and the students who'd found him, Harry had been confused when he heard what was going on.

Strangely enough, the idea someone had taken his form and appearance had been looked into and rejected since the magical scans made it clear the Harry Potter who'd attacked Hogsmeade was the real one, so as far as they were concerned, he was guilty.

He had told them he had been staying inside the castle because he had wanted to just be left alone to study, but they hadn't listened.

They never had.

Because he was so deep in thought for a moment while he glared at the Ministry trio with pure, unrestrained hatred and disgust, Harry didn't bother looking at his so-called friends and teachers and other members of the Order. He had seen the disappointment, the hatred from them all.

Hagrid looked horrified and disappointed. Lupin had tried to attack him, calling him a disgrace to his family's memory and to Sirius, even condemning him for Sirius's death. Dumbledore was looking at him with a stern glare, his burning blue eyes threatening to burn him right there.

The D.A was also glaring at him with loathing, with Ron, Hermione and Ginny also sitting there; Ron was glaring at him with loathing, Hermione was sitting with her arms folded, glaring down at him with a haughty high-and-mighty expression that suited her so well, and everyone seemed to wish a Dementor were around to suck his soul out, but Harry knew they wouldn't go that far.

Dumbledore would never allow such a thing to happen; just because he was furious with him now didn't mean he was just going to ignore the prophecy, although Harry knew he would look for another way to make the stupid thing work.

"I said, do you have anything to say before your sentence is passed, Potter?" Fudge's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and plans.

Harry blinked and realised he'd been quiet for a few minutes.

"Nothing special," Harry replied icily as he levelled a glare at the morons in front of him. "I'm innocent. I've told you what happened, what I remember. Instead of listening, you've decided to not listen. One day you are going to mess everything up and you will get caught out and exposed as the pathetic, stupid, ignorant ignorant little fuck you are. One day this mess is going to come back, and I'll be there, laughing at you," Harry jabbed his chin towards Fudge, "and you," he spat at Umbridge, "and lastly you, you pompous shit, " he spat at the surprised but still smug Percy Weasley.

Harry closed his eyes as the crowd began arguing and booing and jeering him at once. His head was throbbing with agony, partly from the noise but also because of the aftereffects of the Dementors.

"Are you sure of that, Potter?" Fudge smirked after he had gotten over his surprise at the promise and the threat.

"Oh yes," Harry replied coldly.

"Well, let me assure you, Mr Potter," Fudge smirked as he mocked Harry's name, "you will be the one to pay for your actions of treason, not me."

"You can talk about treason, especially recently, can't you? After all, how did you get the Dementors back?" Harry shot back.

For a moment Fudge looked stunned and even worried, and so did Umbridge. It was only there for a split second, but Harry noticed it. His suspicions were confirmed.

Fudge recovered quickly. "You have been condemned to the Dementor's Kiss, Potter, but alas the sentence was overruled," Fudge glared over at Dumbledore, who met his gaze unflinchingly. The Minister recoiled slightly at the intense glare the elderly wizard was sending him. "Therefore, you shall spend the rest of your misspent years in Azkaban prison."

While he was relieved Dumbledore had stepped in behind the scenes and made sure he hadn't gotten the kiss, although it was down to the prophecy the old wizard had quickly stepped in and stopped Fudge from making such a huge mistake although Harry knew now the stupid little Minister was doing it to curry favour with someone else, Harry still shuddered at the thought of being in prison, especially one like Azkaban.

The jury and audience were disappointed by the verdict if the sounds they were making were any indication, but as he was roughly escorted out of the courtroom, Harry didn't bother trying to resist. As he was led out, his eyes caught sight of Neville and Luna. They hadn't testified against him, in fact, they were both convinced he was innocent. Luna had even used her Ravenclaw intelligence to bring up several important questions.

Why would Harry kill people with no mask on so openly?

Why would Harry allow himself to be caught?

Why was Harry unconscious, in the middle of Hogwarts instead of running away with the other Death Eaters?

What if he was telling the truth about a black-robed figure taking him by surprise and knocking him unconscious?

What if somebody found a way of disguising themselves so well that everything, every possibility was expected?

But the biggest question of all was, why would Harry even join the Dark Lord who'd hunted him down and murdered his family? It made no sense, but Luna's arguments were drowned out by the crowd who hadn't even thought of the possibility that a witness should be given the right to speak, so she was overruled and dismissed as a witness. Harry had felt nothing but love and affection for the spacey blonde girl, who proved she had more intelligence in her brain than Hermione Granger, who believed in facts and figures more than common sense.

Xxxx

Azkaban was hell on Earth.

As he shivered in the cold in his new dingy Azkaban robes that the aurors had given him, mocking him all the time, calling him the Boy Who Betrayed, Harry looked around his cell. The place was disgusting and with the Dementors floating nearby, it was hard for him to concentrate. But he had no intention of staying here forever, and he knew sooner or later Voldemort would come to finish the job. His new wand was hidden and waiting to be used, but he decided to give it a week before he left…