Disclaimer: I don't own anything Harry Potter. If I did, I would be really freaking rich! (Plot and any Characters you don't recognize are mine! ALL MINE!!!)
The Dawn's Betrayal
Chapter Two
The Release and the Broken Family
Dumbledore collapsed at his desk, once again wondering where he went wrong. How could he have done such a thing, without even thinking about the consequences? He was completely horrible. The evidence was hardly even circumstantial, let alone solid. How could he have been so… stupid? So horrible?
Crouch Jr. had been right. He was too trusting. He allowed the fake Alastor to lead him into a trap. He had gone along like a sheep to the slaughter!
Dumbledore vowed to himself then and there to find out what he could do to make Harry forgive him, and to do it as quickly as possible. He felt horrible about everything that the boy had to endure because of him.
Dumbledore had been the one to place Harry at the Dursley's because he believed that family love could overcome any of the past arguments between Petunia and Lily Evans. Dumbledore didn't know it then, and he didn't find out that Harry had been being abused by them, until he looked of Harry's file.
Harry had a file that kept record of all of his physical conditions and the reasons for them. Dumbledore had it made so that he could keep track of Harry's condition while at the Dursleys'. He had completely forgotten about it until four months after Harry had been incarcerated in Azkaban.
Once he had looked into Harry's file, he felt sickened.
Dumbledore had never told anyone about the abuse he found to be heaped on the boy. The Dursleys' had treated Harry like a slave. He had cooked all of their meals, and stayed in the cupboard under the stairs. He had a broken bone at least once a week, and it was never taken care of. Harry's magic had cured him more times than Dumbledore could count.
Not that Dumbledore had cared at the time. Dumbledore just wondered if that was Harry's reason for killing Cedric. Maybe he had too much built up anger.
Dumbledore realized that Harry would feel terrible after his ordeal at Azkaban, if he wasn't completely insane by then. He would need some sort of guard, someone he could trust. Nearly everyone had betrayed him, so who could be prepared?
Dumbledore sat, and contemplated that.
One Month Later
Albus sat at his desk once again contemplating the world. Harry was due out to be released today, and somehow the Daily Prophet had gotten a hold of this information. They had a field day with so many articles, all about Harry. They had articles about his life with the Dursleys, his life at Hogwarts, how he was framed. There was one completely about "How Great Harry Potter Really Is!" It was complete insanity for all this to be about one person.
Harry Potter, Innocent of All Charges?
It seems, a few months ago, terrible information was given about one Harry Potter. This information came from the mouth of You-Know-Who himself, stating that Harry had never killed Cedric Diggory at the end of the TriWizard Tournament. According to the testimony of both Headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore and Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, You-Know-Who told them directly that Harry had no connection to the death of Cedric. It seems You-Know-Who himself did the work. This information seems to have been hidden away since it was received.
This means that Harry Potter will be free. Harry is in fact being released today, by order of the Minister of Magic himself. Minister Fudge states that he will be stepping down from the Minister post this afternoon.
Dumbledore stared at the page, not really taking it in. Harry is being released today, and Fudge is stepping down. Why is Fudge stepping down?
Dumbledore looked up at the door and called, "Come in, Mr. Weasley."
The door opened, and Ron walked in.
"Is it… is it true?"
"I'm afraid so, Mr. Weasley."
"Oh, great! What am I supposed to do now? He'll hunt me down!"
Ron started pacing up and down room.
Dumbledore sat still, letting him rant for a little while before breaking in. "Mr. Weasley, please, sit down. I wouldn't want to have to repair a hole in my rug."
"How can you be so calm, Professor? How can you not be scared? Harry's going to come after all of us!"
"No, Mr. Weasley, Harry will not be coming after all of us. He will be coming after most of us. Remember, there is a few who believed in his innocence."
Ron's already wide eyes widened a little bit more. "Oh no. My sister and Hermione. They were right. Damn it, they were right all along! And I was persecuting them, the whole time for believing him! What sort of a brother am I?"
A voice from the door answered, "Not one, any more."
Ron whipped around to face the voice. Ginny sat, leaning against the doorframe. Hermione was behind her.
Hermione looked directly at the Headmaster. "Is it true?"
Dumbledore looked down at his desk, and answered quietly, "Yes, yes it is."
"I am going to collect Mr. Potter right now, would any of you like to come with me?"
Ron spoke up, hoping to get a chance at salvation from Harry's anger. "I'll come."
Hermione and Ginny decided that they could see Harry when he got here.
"Well then Mr. Weasley, come along." He walked to the fireplace, and pulled out a package of the special floo powder. Ron took some and threw it in the fire, shouted Ministry of Magic, and jumped in. Dumbledore went next.
Dumbledore stood up, and dusted himself off. Ron was standing off to his right, waiting for Dumbledore to speak.
"Mr. Weasley, do you know the reason why you were being trained?"
"So I could become an Auror, sir?"
"No, Mr. Weasley, this is why you are being trained. You must protect Harry, because he will not be able to do so for himself. He has been in Azkaban for a year, after all."
"I'm sorry sir, but do you really think that Harry will even let me stay close to him?"
"Yes, he will, because he has no other choice."
"Alright, but if it doesn't work…"
"I understand Mr. Weasley."
They walked down the corridors, until they came to the Prisoner Release Area.
Minister Fudge was already there waiting for them. Fudge pulled Dumbledore aside for a moment, and Ron looked around the room. There was only one desk, testament to the number of people who were released from prison in the Wizarding world.
Fudge and Dumbledore spoke for a while, before going to the floo again. The only way to floo to Azkaban was through this room.
All three of them flooed to Azkaban, and a few of the Minister's Guard followed them. Azkaban's manager came up to them. "Who are ye' 'ere for?"
"Harry Potter, high class security prisoner." Fudge answered.
"Very well, follow me."
The manager led them through a maze of tunnels to an outcropping in the wall, far away from all of the other prisoners. There were two dementors sitting on either side of the outcropping, and there were no bars or anything to hold in the prisoners.
"Sir, if you don't mind me asking, why is there no bars in front of the cell? Couldn't the prisoner just run away?" Ron asked, bewildered.
"Nah, them wards are the strongest thing on this here island. Nobody gets out of these type o' cells. It taunts the prisoners with the knowledge that freedom is a few feet away, and only an invisible wall gets in the way."
The manager walked over to the wall, and put his hand on a metal plate there.
The metal plate glowed, and everyone felt the wards fall.
They all gasped, when they got a look at Harry.
Harry was withered. His whole body seemed to be skin that hung off of his bones. His normally raven hair was nearly solid grey with a few black streaks. The robes he was wearing were ripped and torn to shreds. He was staring blankly at the gateway to his "cell," and didn't seem to notice them. Then he moved his head slightly, and they caught sight of his eyes. They were almost entirely blank, and empty of thought and emotion.
Harry saw them then, and looked at them. His stare was much harder, now that he didn't have his glasses in the way.
Dumbledore walked slowly over to him. "Harry, can you hear me?" he spoke in a soft whisper.
Harry stared blankly at him.
"Harry, we're here to take you out of here. Can you stand?"
Harry looked curiously over Dumbledore's shoulder at Ron and the Minister. Both were standing there, quiet and reserved. Ron had his hand over his mouth, and Fudge was leaning against the wall.
Harry wheezed slightly, and stood up, very slowly. The bones of his back creaked as he stood, as if he had not used them in a long time. All of them winced at the sound, besides Harry.
"Well, at least he has some ability to respond. There's a chance he might come back. Dumbledore, take him to Hogwarts, see if familiar surroundings help him recover. I need to go and give my final speech." Fudge spoke, before turning and leaving.
Dumbledore turned back to Harry, and asked another question. "Can you follow me, Harry? I'm taking you out of this horrible place."
Dumbledore turned and started walking away. Ron followed him down the hallway.
Harry let a smirk fall on his face for a moment, before returning to his blank stare. He walked quickly to them, and followed them as they led him away.
They reached the Manager's room after a while, and took Harry to the fireplace.
"Do you remember how to floo, Harry?"
Harry made no motion of understanding, and just stood there.
"Mr. Weasley, would you be so kind as to take Mr. Potter through the floo for me. Take him to my office; I have some papers to fill out here."
Ron nodded, and put Harry into the fireplace. He took out some floo powder, and threw it on the ground for Harry. He shouted "Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office" and Harry was whisked away. Ron followed quickly.
Harry fell out of the fireplace in the Headmaster's office. There was silence for a moment before Ron flooed in as well. Hermione and Ginny jumped when Harry flooed in, but didn't recognize him. When Ron flooed in, they both just walked back to their chairs and sat back down.
Harry was careful to keep the blank stare, but when he looked at Ginny and Hermione, he saw no recognition in their eyes. They didn't know he was Harry. Did he really look that different?
Harry stood by the fireplace for a while, waiting for the Headmaster to come. After a few minutes, the floo started up again, and the Headmaster walked out gracefully.
Dumbledore looked around, seeing Ron, Hermione, and Ginny in a seat, but not one with Harry in it. He looked around his office for a while, not finding him. He started to panic for a moment, before turning around.
Harry was looming behind him. His height now almost matched Dumbledore's so he was looking directly into Harry's eyes. Dumbledore jumped back with a cry. He quickly composed himself though, and sat down in his chair.
"Harry, please, have a seat."
Ginny and Hermione were startled a moment, before realizing this stranger was Harry. He had Harry's green eyes, even if they were dead looking.
Harry sat down, and the girl's jumped at him. They both started hugging him, crying about how they couldn't help him more, how they couldn't get him out of prison. Harry looked down at them, and ever so slowly, wrapped one arm around each of them, and pulled them closer to him.
Dumbledore recovered some of his sorely missed twinkle when he saw that. At least Harry wasn't completely unresponsive.
Dumbledore looked again, and noticed a small tear coming down Harry's cheek.
Ron stood on the side of this reunion, watching sadly as Harry held his friends. He had been so cruel to them, just because they believed that Harry was innocent. He had insulted them, even hated them, just because they believed in Harry. His sister, his oldest brother, and the twins had all been disowned because they had all believed in Harry. And now, Harry was free, and he had to find some way to get him to forgive them.
The whole Weasley family had hated the four that believed in Harry. They treated them worse than dirt. And to the Weasley's family was supposed to be important. They had all considered Harry to be a son or a brother, but then this happened. Half of the family turned on him, half of them stayed with him. Percy was welcomed back into the fold, and Ginny, Bill, Fred and George, were all removed from it. They no longer held the name Weasley. They all had no family name anymore; they were just called by their first names.
Anything that they owned at the Burrow was taken away. Some of it was burned; others were kept by the five who stayed there now. They all had been ripped off of the Weasley Tapestry, which was hidden away upstairs. Ginny had been locked in her room, not to be let out until she believed that Harry was guilty.
Bill had come home again, while Ginny was locked in, and immediately broke the locks on Ginny's room, grabbed Ginny and ran outside. He, being the fastest of all of them on foot, ran past the Anti-Apparition wards, and disapparated.
Mrs. Weasley had been furious. She kept trying to contact Bill, but everything she sent out came back unopened. Even the howlers she sent came back and blew up in her face. She couldn't floo Bill's house. There had been no way to contact him. Fred and George never turned up after that day, either.
All of that had happened because Harry had been imprisoned. Now that he was free, there had to be someway to close the rift in the family.
Dumbledore watched as Ron stared at Harry and the two girls. He could tell that Ron was upset, most likely over what happened to his family. Dumbledore looked back at Harry to see the spark of intelligence behind his eyes again. Dumbledore's smile lit up, happy that Harry had returned.
"Hello, Harry."