Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Reap What You Sow

The Greatest Injustice

by Quillian 2 reviews

My first ever betrayal fic! Harry is framed and sent to Azkaban for using Unforgivable Curses, but after he kills Voldemort and his proven innocent, what will he do from there?

Category: Harry Potter - Rating: R - Genres: Angst, Parody - Characters: Harry - Published: 2005-05-16 - Updated: 2005-05-16 - 2601 words

5Moving
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, etc. (That should be obvious.)

SUMMARY: This is another one of those "Harry gets unjustly sent to Azkaban" fics. At first glance, the settings will have a lot in common with the start of a lot of other fics of the same plot; it's where everyone goes from there that makes it different from the rest. I only ask that you all sit tight until it becomes that much different (and you might not believe some of the kickers I have in store!). (And YES, I have read the stuff on FFN by kateydidnt, krtshadow, YamiPaladinOfChaos, Sheyda, and others, and believe me, they're all quite excellent.)

This was also co-written with one of my beta-readers, Bianca (SnowyBlackOwl, a.k.a. Duchess Carlyle). Thanks, Bianca!

Also, please note that this fanfic is NOT COMPLIANT WITH THE CANON BOOK 6.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THE RATING: This story is mainly rated R (or M) because of the battle scene in chapter 3, but apart from that, I'd say it's either PG (or K+) or PG-13 (or T).



/REAP WHAT YOU SOW/

(originally titled THE GRIEF I SUFFERED)

By Quillian

(originally named Kraeg001)



Respects to Kateydidnt and Krtshadow, whose respective stories "Betrayed" and "Redemption" inspired some concepts here.



Chapter 1: The Greatest Injustice

"Harry James Potter, the charges have been made, and the witnesses have testified against you. You have been charged with the following against one Percival Ignatius Weasley: A successful Cruciatus Curse, a successful Imperius Curse, and an attempted Killing Curse. You have also been charged with treason against the magical community of Great Britain. Do you have anything to say in your defense before we pass judgment on you?" The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, asked this with a hint of glee in his voice, while his Senior Undersecretary, Dolores Umbridge, had the widest smile ever on her toad-like face. Next to them, Percy Weasley wore a smirk so haughty that it was almost scary.

Harry scowled at them all from his chained chair, his eyes almost glowing with hatred. He found no solace in the familiar faces all scowling back at him as he glanced in their direction. Ron glared at him with murder in his eyes, and Hermione had her arms crossed, looking all high-and-mighty. Each of the other Weasleys in the stands (Percy was the Scribe for this case) also looked as though nothing would satisfy them more than for Harry to be Kissed by a Dementor at that very moment.

The other adults were no help either. Hagrid looked hurt and betrayed, and Lupin looked ready to transform without the full moon present. Worst of all was Dumbledore: His stern face framed two burning blue eyes, fixed with a glare that would have made Harry wither and squirm if he was guilty.

But he wasn't guilty, which was, of course, the point he had tried to prove to all these fools.

Harry's attention shifted back to the corrupt Ministry officials in front of him.

"Anything you think you're sure of, Potter?" Fudge chided him, trying to bait his hated opponent.

"There's one thing I am sure of," Harry replied icily. "One of these days, Fudge, you're going to mess up and get caught. One day, this mockery of a trial and this travesty of justice will come back to haunt you. And believe me, when that happens, no force in heaven, on earth, or in hell will be able to stop me from being there when it happens and seeing to it that you pay for what you've done." He then surveyed those who betrayed him, on the sides, before adding, "For what all of you have done."

"Rest assured, Potter," the inept Minister darkly chuckled, "That trying to serve a wizard as dark and foul as the Devil himself will not help your gain."

"Of course, only you would be an expert on deals with the Devil," Harry countered.

For a split-second, Fudge's face showed shock, but that was quickly covered up (although Harry certainly caught it). "Mr. Potter, you are hereby remanded to Azkaban for three consecutive life sentences. Case dismissed."

Savage cheers arose from nearly every occupant in the room as Aurors came over and dragged Harry away. He didn't bother trying to resist, since it would do him no good anyway.

For a few seconds before he was led out, he caught the face of Cho Chang in the crowd. During the last second, an uncharacteristic smirk formed on her face.

'Hey, wait a damn minute...' Harry thought.

But the next moment, the jerk of a Portkey interrupted his suspicions.

Several hours later...

Harry was in his dark and damp cell in Azkaban, with the dementors wandering down the corridor, leaving only minutes for Harry to collect his thoughts again.

Of course Fudge and Umbridge didn't care about justice: Ever since he reported Voldemort's rebirth, they hated him with a passion. The summer after Harry's fifth year, they were on the verge of being booted out of office, but at the last moment, by some satanic miracle, they got a lucky break: They somehow managed to regain control of the dementors and move them back to Azkaban. The public seemed to overlook the fact that the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries escaped before that. The chance to imprison "The Boy Who Lived To Betray" was just the popularity boost they needed.

Then, one day in July while Harry and his friends were hiding at Hogwarts for their own safety, something happened. On that day, Percy was scheduled to come to Hogwarts to try and reach reconciliation with his parents and everyone else, even Harry, much to everyone's surprise.

That morning, a black-robed figure Stunned Harry. When he later regained consciousness, he was lying near the edge of the Forbidden Forest, with Aurors using magical restraints on him.

From bits of pieces and information Harry had overheard, he deduced that someone (he had no idea who) had impersonated him and used the Unforgivable Curses on Percy. First the Imperious, then the Cruciatus; the Killing Curse would have been used, had not Dumbledore interfered at the last moment and the imposter ran away.

He had hoped that his friends and mentors would listen to him, knowing that people had been framed before, but they didn't believe him. It all started when Dumbledore inspected Harry's room and found lots of Dark artifacts and books that made for incriminating evidence.

It all went downhill from there. Ron's jealousy had finally reared its ugly head, and with Hermione using her astounding intelligence and memory for all the wrong reasons, they doomed Harry. They did so by reinventing their entire history with him to make it look as though was going evil the whole time. Those words still stung at Harry as they echoed in his head...

Potter led his friends on a suicide trip to get the Sorcerer's Stone for himself. He was a Parseltongue who had the ability to open and seal the Chamber of Secrets. He went psychotic when he encountered Sirius Black. He entered himself into the Triwizard Tournament to look good. He led Cedric Diggory to his death. He defied Umbridge a lot, who was a great teacher, and even lured her into the forest so the centaurs could abduct her after he started a student rebellion against her under her nose. He had a pronounced ability for fighting, especially with spells and curses. He had the audacity to try and date Diggory's girlfriend, Cho Chang. He led five other students into a death trap in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic, and he somehow got out unhurt while everyone else was severely hurt. He supposedly used the Cruciatus Curse on the Death Eaters there. He gets visions of Voldemort in his head. He's a sneaky, deadly, attention-seeking liar. He should be put in Azkaban for life, he should be given the Dementor's Kiss, underage or not, he should be executed as soon as possible...

The testimony was so vile, it made Harry wish that the earth had simply swallowed him whole. His "friends" actually backed up the people who tried to manipulate, ruin, or end his life. Harry would have been less surprised if the Earth had suddenly swung loose from its axis.

Between the evidence of Dumbledore, renowned for his intelligence and wisdom, and his "friends," who had known him the most for five years, who was to argue with them?

And yet something didn't seem quite right... why would Dumbledore shut him away in Azkaban when he was the only one who could defeat Voldemort, according to the prophecy? It made no sense... at least not to Harry at that point, anyway.

Ironically, one person believed him: Professor Severus Snape, Death Eater-turned-Spy for the Order of the Phoenix.

During the first Occlumency lesson that summer, Snape overdid one Legilimency spell and went through all of Harry's childhood memories. Harry felt ashamed, knowing that one of his enemies had garnered that information and could use it against him. But to his immense surprise, Snape did not look gleeful; on the contrary, he looked positively revolted.

For one brief moment, Harry could see something in Snape's eyes: Disbelief. Obviously, Snape had assumed that Harry had been spoiled rotten and was made arrogant; now those illusions had been shattered, and Snape could see that there was nothing good about Harry's upbringing, apart from the fact that he had learned to trust himself on things like the concept of right and wrong.

While Snape never apologized for those misconceptions, Harry could tell from the slight leniency Snape developed to the lack of barb in his voice that the Potions Master knew the truth now. Harry and Snape came to an unspoken agreement to try and cooperate more from that point on.

Before the trial, Snape suggested questioning Harry under Veritaserum, much to the teenager's surprise. Fudge turned it down, babbling about some law, when in truth, he wanted Harry incarcerated all the more expediously. Snape was forced to leave the room, but on his way out, he gave Harry a look that said, "I'm afraid I couldn't be of more help." Harry only replied with a nod and look that said, "You did what you could."

Throughout the entire trial, Snape stood aloof from those Harry had once counted on, his dark gaze alternating between them and the Wizengamot (most noticeably Fudge and Umbridge). Snape's reconciliation and faith had been some consolation to Harry.

The dementors were returning now. But he wasn't listening to the deaths of his parents, Cedric or Sirius now; he was now hearing something new instead...

"I always knew Potter would go evil..."

"Such a manipulative liar..."

"His parents must be spinning in their graves..."

"Destroyed hope for so many people..."

"He's not worthy to be James and Lily's son..."

"You were like a son to me, and yet you always ended up getting my children nearly killed..."

"I hope you die, and I hope that day comes soon..."

They just kept coming and they wouldn't stop coming. Not for a long time...

Several months later...

It was now around mid-June, as Harry now calculated from the longer days and the constellations in the sky. He had just spent what would have been his 6th year at Hogwarts in Azkaban instead, learning about what Voldemort did to all the people he had attacked over the course of the past year. Those images of murder, torture, control, rape and arson... he would never forget them for as long as he lived.

If Harry had looked at himself in a mirror, he probably wouldn't have been able to recognize himself. He knew he'd changed. His hair had grown long enough to fall to the base of his neck, and if he rubbed his jaw line, he could feel the stubs of whiskers. He was incredibly weak, and had lost a lot of weight. Harry's glasses always remained on the side, as he really wouldn't need them within his jail cell.

He tried Sirius' tactic of reminding himself of his innocence. It seemed to work, somewhat. Ironically, the bitterness, anger, and resentment he held towards those who betrayed them also seemed to work.

Oh gods, how he missed Sirius...

He remembered his vow towards Fudge, and he had every intention of keeping it.

"...And when that happens, no force in heaven, on earth, or in hell will be able to stop me..."

Later that night, as he was falling asleep, he thought he heard a voice whispering to him. He shrugged it off and dozed off anyway.

Suddenly, he heard it again.

"Harry Potter," the voice whispered.

"Who are you?" he whispered back.

"That is irrelevant as of now," the voice whispered back seriously. "You need to trust me. It is the only way to defeat Voldemort."

Harry felt compelled to believe this voice and listen more. Besides, after learning of Voldemort's true skills of lies and deception through the horrible visions he endured, he could tell the difference.

"What must I do?" Harry whispered back.


(End of Chapter 1.)

A/N: Good start, huh?

Note about Percy: ONE BIG DIFFERENCE right here: Harry's not accused of MURDERING anyone. (That just might be a first with "Harry-in-Azkaban" fics.)

Actually, I kind of loathe having to kill non-evil canon characters, so maybe that's why I did this.

Note about how Harry was framed: I'm not going into details about this was staged, and (at least in my opinion) it's hardly relevant to the story line anyway.

FUTURE CHAPTERS: Next chapter is Harry's last encounter with Voldemort, and the chapter after that is where retribution towards other people is finally delivered.


VERY IMPORTANT NOTE FOR THE READERS

It has been a few years since I started writing this fanfic (I estimate that I started writing it sometime in the late summer of 2004), and now, as I go back over it and fix it up a little, I feel that I should point something out to the readers.

When I started writing this fic (and all my other fanfics like I did back then), I wrote it as I went along, not giving much forethought to things like coherence and consistency from chapter to chapter. I wrote this fanfic for the fun of it, wanting to try my hand at betrayal stories like those typically seen in the Harry Potter fandom. All three stories in what I call my Azkaban cycle - "Reap What You Sow" (RWYS), "The Number of Fools" (NoF), and "Harry Potter, Prisoner of Hogwarts" (HPPoH) - are not my most serious efforts in writing, but are meant to be fun as I go along writing them (and hopefully as you go along reading them). HOWEVER, I am determined to finish what I started with this fic, and so I will see it through to the end.

As a matter of fact, even I, the writer, don't consider ay of these three betrayal fics to be serious betrayal fics. In fact, I almost consider them to be like parodies, in a sense, because they're not that serious. They're simply my take on these HP-style betrayal fanfics.

I wrote this fic (RWYS) because I never saw Harry simply lash out at his traitors and lay into them the way he would have if I were the one writing the story. So, I finally sat down one day and started writing the fic where he did.

I just felt inclined to point that out.

Thank you for your time and understanding.

-Quillian, 1/24/07
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