Harry's head pounded with a murderous rage when he next awoke, thick shackles cling to his wrists to nearly halfway up his forearms pinning his arms to the ground. He groaned trying to lift his head up even partially but wasn't able to manage it. He was in a cell of some sort, he realized, seeing the bars in the corner of his vision. Words blurred in and out of focus and he tried to focus in on what was being said.
"Due to the exceptionally dangerous nature of the prisoner..." something something something... he scrunched his face up and groaned quietly in agony as the booming, pompous sounding voice faded back into practically white noise as the nausea redoubled with the irksome sound. He gagged, fighting not to throw up, unable to move, the last thing he needed or wanted was to be partially submerged in his own throw up on top of the rolling headache and chains.
It wasn't long before he slipped back away and into nothingness, except the constant, dull, rolling pain that stuck to him like tar even there, not allowing him the slightest bit of relief. He couldn't think straight. He couldn't even move, his every limb and muscle feeling like it weighed innumerably more than it should have.
All he wanted was relief from the throbbing, torturous pain, for the pain to leave him alone. But it was inescapable.
Theo wondered what he should do, as he watched the trial proceed, for once in his life he didn't just want to be a passive observer and yet there was nothing he could do.
Bulstrode had been the passionate one, filed with pep and snark, with a sarcastic comment for everything, even if it wasn't necessarily to one's face. And Draco had always spoken his mind, making his demands loud and clear and daring any of them to oppose him. Phineas had been the most boisterous of their circle, always saying or doing something, and while they'd never really learned where he had stood until he had died, that wasn't to say he had been reclusive either. Even Greengrass, in her own cool way, had made a habit of letting her displeasure or agreement known.
Theo had never felt that urge like they had, to make his opinions known, nor had he wished to be like the other part of their circle, mere back up, a stalwart support to fall back on, always agreeing like Goyle or Boyd or any number of the others had been. Instead he had been an observer, not neutral but also not not-neutral, if that made any sense. He had his opinions, and they knew he had them, they just never could be sure which side, if any, his would fall on.
But now he felt the urge to stand up and scream his frustration to the assembled crowds like never before. This wasn't fair! Oh sure, Harry had killed people, probably more than even Theo knew, but he hadn't been caught, and they'd deserved it anyway. Those older Gryffindors hadn't been planning to just rough them up and let them go.
The Gryffindors had wanted answers, they wanted names, and most of all they wanted revenge for the troll incident they were firmly under the impression Slytherins had orchestrated. One way or the other, once they had gotten what they needed to know, they were going to even out the first years numbers, it was only Harry's lingering status as boy-who-lived which some still clung to which had them waiting for him to leave.
Theo didn't feel a shred of guilt in assisting in their cover up. He would do it again in a heartbeat, his only regret is the sheer cowardice of those Gryffindors' actions wouldn't stain their names forever instead being overshadowed by the mystery surrounding their deaths.
They hadn't been caught. None of the adults even suspected them, not aside the particularly superstitious ones; they were first years they were learning to make fruit dance and hearing about vampires in defense.
And yet there Harry was, trussed up like an animal, no, like less than an animal, in front of the many prying eyes of the court, seemingly unable to even move. He barely even seemed aware despite his usually bright green eyes, rolling fully about in his sockets.
Theo had felt his heart plunge all the way to his toes when he first saw the sight, only his grandfather's restraining hand had kept him from leaping down there that very second to try his very best to free his first and closest friend. His grandfather had been there for him a lot, always reminding him that they were working on it, that they had pulled some favors to prevent a death sentence and contacting people, always reminding him not to do anything rash, to rush in like one of that batty Phoenix lover's Gryffindors, that when a Slytherin truly set a goal, so long as they kept their wits about them and thought logically about what they wanted, nothing could possibly stop them.
And He... he didn't want to lose Harry, he knew friendships were tenuous in Slytherin and betrayal almost expected, he'd mentally braced himself to be thrown away when it suited Harry's plans already. For once he almost felt as if he understood Greengrass's shadow, Boyd, he didn't think he'd even care if it turned out Harry only saw him as another tool to use, he'd just try to make himself the most useful one he could for as long as possible before he was thrown away, but... he couldn't lose them.
Not now. Not like this. Not... not when he had finally found a friend.
... Perhaps the hat had wanted to sort him into Hufflepuff for a reason other than his weak magic after all. He hadn't once doubted before that he had a Slytherin mind and yet here he was.
But hoping wouldn't do anything, and even if he did leap down there it would only end with his own capture and removal from the court room at best. He didn't have the power or even the know how to undo the complex spells that trapped Harry there himself. He couldn't even speak.
Couldn't even... he couldn't even testify, he was Harry's alibi, and he wasn't even allowed to speak his part. He'd tried to find out when in the trial he would be able to testify but it had immediately been made clear to him; he was under the effect of unknown magics which limited his ability to communicate in such a way that anything he took could be taken skeptically.
He wouldn't be allowed to testify at all and even though it would appear damning as all else that he would suddenly be able to speak, he'd been ready to remove the effects. Except he wasn't even able to remove the effects for the potion because there had never been an antidote created. It would release itself automatically after a full moon cycle... horror was slowly dawning. The moon cycle wouldn't end until the night after the latest date of Harry's sentencing. It was almost as if it was all planned out... it was almost as if this...
"I call to the stand Severus Snape, the honorable potions master of Hogwarts." The prosecutor smugly called.
He felt his heart stop and he fell weakly down onto his chair, world spinning before his eyes, he recognized the notebook in their hands, he had been too foolish, too overconfident; there had been a spy in their midst after all.
He should have known better. His grandfather had told him to be careful when he left to Hogwarts, that Snape was a sneaking one, bo one ever really knew his true allegiance, that at the end of the war somehow all the powerful players had thought he worked for them, but he had expected that at least when it came to fulfilling his duties of protecting the Slytherin students from unjust behavior he could be trusted.
Theo's eyes briefly met the twinkling blue ones of Albus Dumbeldore, the grandfatherly, trusting, elderly man who had merely taken the boy who lived at his word, figuring they would know better than anyone, and been drawn into his twisted lies of fame maddened deception- or at least that's what the papers now claimed.
Theo could have sworn the eyes stared directly back at him. And then they winked at him.
Theo felt his blood boil with rage, another unfamiliar feeling he could have gone a lifetime without, and it was only his grandfather's hand firmly tugging him back that kept him in place. Several deep, calming breaths later and he could think straight again. And
Snape was now talking about how Potter, always Potter, had always seemed a little off, how he had been quick to push and shove the other first years into line. Overconfident, incompetent, and frequently bordering on cruel in the treatment of his peers.
About the drastic shift in Draco's behavior- the fact that said boy was nearly mauled by a dog to cause it never came up of course, and when the incident was mentioned, Snape said the wolf atttack had seemed almost planned by Potter from the start. He never looked at Harry, where he lay in a cage on the courtroom floor. He hadn't looked anywhere except towards where Dumbledore and Dumbledore's cronies sat, not since Arthur Weasley had carefully led him from the witness room, after stopping in for a brief chat, no one cared about the breach in edict. Everyone already knew the verdict.
Ron's father had taken a seat to the right of Dumbeldore, exchanging a few whispered words. The ex-headmaster, probably soon to be again, nodded regally in response.
Snape did not look at the boy as he spoke cooly about his antisocial personality and how over break he would try to disappear at all hours, something he'd at first simply chalked up as being stir crazy from being stuck inside the Slytherin dorms all break rather than somewhere more exciting. But even then had seemed a little sinister and so he had tried to keep a closer eye on him.
Theo felt sick.
It had all happened so fast, as if on cue, after Harry had been arrested, as if there was a force behind it orchestrating the right pieces into the right places to make sure the transition went smoothly. Not even a week had passed, and in a whirlwind of activity a trial had been arranged for.
The papers shouted all about it and the five or so surviving Hufflepuffs from the massacre quickly learned to keep quiet or fall in line.
The Aurors closed ranks with Hogwarts and gave a public statement about how first year Harry Potter acting under the delusion that he was Voldemort, grown from his early introduction to fame and an accidental discovery of a book on dark magic which took root in his growing mind twisting his psyche, had incited the incidents at Hogwarts.
Now that he had been captured safety and order therefore would naturally be restored, the ministry would crack down on dark artifacts and black magicks to ensure nothing of this sort would happen again.
It all fit too perfectly into the ministry's line, as if planned and directed, because of course it was. Theo wasn't that stupid. It was a show trial for the sacrificial lamb, and although he wasn't sure how Dumbeldore had benefitted in losing What half the magical world thought was his prime chess piece, there was no way the old man hadn't anticipated this sort of response when bringing Harry's name into it. That Snape was playing such a role pretty much cemented it.
Said Professor now talked about how Potter never took much interest in reading but had seemed rather thrilled one day when he had returned to the common room one day with the book, the prosecutor once again gestured dramatically to said thin black book, the very same Snape himself had given to Harry, in hand. Theo hadn't gotten a glimpse at the contents. He cursed himself for not even looking now.
"This is just the latest of these books, there were more found throughout his belongings, doubtlessly precious to him since they were the only thing he brought that wasn't specifically listed on the Hogwarts list. Mind arts, secrecy spells, attack spells, deadly potions, and now this; dark arts! It is very clear exactly what Mr. Potter had in mind. Now while none of the other books were strictly illegal, they definitely walked the border much more callously than any respectable witch or wizard would ever care to do."
Theo wasn't sure if he wanted to stop watching or if he was even capable of looking away. He felt sick.
Harry wouldn't have even been allowed his own defense if it wasn't for his grandfather, but while his family was powerful, with the Malfoy's directly opposing them, the effect they had was limited, his grandfather had mournfully told him the night before to brace for the worse. Now here he was, an auror stood in for Harry's defense team, they didn't seem to have much to say on the matter of Harry's sentencing at all which spoke volumes.
His grandfather was a powerful and well respected researcher and renowned in the scholarly fields, but he had left the political world to his son decades earlier, before even Theo's birth, and hadn't returned. There was only so much they could do. But... a shred of doubt entered Theo's mind as he watched. They had to have been able to do more than this, not even an actual trial witch or wizard? An auror?
With the restraining hand not once leaving his shoulder, the hand of the very man who had raised him for almost twelve years, Theo began to get the dark, creeping feeling that he had been led on this whole time. As everything came together against Harry, Theo began to wonder if he had been betrayed by the one person he'd always thought he could rely on in this cruel, cunning world.
Snape, the star witness of this overdone performance, began about his shocking discovery about Potter being one of the unstable sorts who possessed an animagus form once the prosecutor finished his talk about Harry's unfortunately, cruelly, tragically, twisted mind. A perfect lead up.
Everybody knew how the trial would end.
He dragged his eyes away from Harry's crumpled form as the verdict was read out, he needed to make the most of it. He needed to see everybody's reactions.
He found it hard to focus on anything. He felt sick.
He watched the Weasley's faces stern and unapproving, not at the sentencing, at Harry, the twins' were grave for once, not a trace of laughter on their nearly blank expressions. Sat between them, a trembling hand clutching to each sleeve was Granger, uncertain and scared. To the three's other side Ron's eyes burned with fire and fury and... shame. Not far away Malfoy sat, he had testified in court, against Harry of course, and his face was a smug sort of serene mask, Draco sat stiffly at his side, his eyes blank and watery, his movements stiff in a way Theo knew suggested a puppeteering spell, he did not watch as Harry, cage and all, was dragged away.
Faces and names blurred together. Mcgonagall dabbed at her eyes. Sprout had long since stormed from the courtroom. Flitwick stood next to an unknown woman, her face perhaps sorrowful, sort of bored even, his face was twisted in shame and frustration though, a sharp contrast. Fudge was smugly triumphant, shaking hands left and right next to his frog of a secretary who was trying to speak to everyone Fudge was and more frequently than not getting cut off. A party of Gryffindors tastelessly let out a loud cheer, clapping each other on the back with grim looks of victory or outright happiness.
Carefully, Theo was led out of the courtroom and towards the floo by his grandfather. The hand never left his shoulder.
"I just- he really is a good kid. He didn't deserve this. I..." Flitwick choked on his own words, throwing back another shot of liquor when more wouldn't come. "He just wasn't ready for this. He didn't know what to expect." He finally said.
"That kid..." the brunette woman mused, twirling her own drink about, "He's going to change the world I believe."
"I'm glad you think so highly of him," Flitwick bitterly replied, "If only I'd had the thought to let you meet him sooner... It's too late for all that now."
"I didn't mean that in a specifically good way." The woman replied, ignoring the outraged, warning noise Flitwick made. She snorted, "and I don't think Azkaban will particularly stop it either, he's only sentenced for fifty years anyway. Somewhere deep inside of him, there's a monster ready to reawaken and act. Whatever he did or didn't do before, I believe we can expect more of once his time is up."
She sipped thoughtfully from her glass, but Flitwick scowled, "I expected better from you; you're one of the few people who advocate that one's forms are not what define them."
"This has nothing to do with him being an animagus," She waved him off, "although those experiences that possibly could have triggered it might have an effect. Either way, I do not envy you."
"I did nothing. An innocent student was sentenced to Azkaban and I did nothing." Flitwick said, downing another shot. "I do not envy me either. This will forever weigh on my eternal soul."
"It wouldn't have mattered anyway, the ministry has never been kind to half breeds or goblins, and you are both, if anything you would have dragged talk of another goblin rebellion into the mix."
"That doesn't mean anything. I should have done something a that damn phony trial. I still should have done something." It was at times like this it showed that Flitwick was human raised.
"And been committed right alongside him? You did what you could before, but the result was never going to change, not if Merlin himself had come down to reign over it."
"I still should have done something." Flitwick's squeaky voice broke, his hands clutching at his ears as he twisted his head about in his hands, "I still should have done something."
The woman didn't say anything, just took another contemplative sip of her drink.
(an:
If you're wondering RaineTopia this is why I found your comment so hilarious, you hit on two critical plot points- Snape's sudden mentor status and returning second year- and yet you were so right about not returning second year without even suspecting it and yet so wrong about which direction Snape was going to take. Also why I wasn't worried about my comment giving away what would happen, didn't expect anyone to jump to the Azkaban assumption, hopefully I was right not to worry?
...no one still thought he was returning next year... right...?
For the rest of you, if you're wondering about the woman next to Flitwick and if she'll play a role in the coming story. Nope, this is just my way of letting Flitwick's thoughts on the matter be seen and a not-so-subtle reference to my other book which gave me the idea for this one. Basically this is the what if he doesn't meet her version where things are drastically more violent, but I figured I'd add the small reference in just because. This is one of the animagus friends Flitwick mentions and her first and last scene here basically.
* everyone getting excited with the ramping up of Harry vs. basilisk fight*
Ministry: Uhh, no. There is no basilisk, fame and dark magic drove him insane. Azkaban.
Anyway, this is not the end, I think around one or two chapters from here is where I was debating whether or not to end it though, fun fact. I'm currently like four chapters ahead of you in my writing process though, editing sucks.
Always,
-A. )