FicWad

DISCLAIMER: I don't Harry Potter, etc.; J.K. Rowling and a bunch of other people do.

SUMMARY: I've seen SO many fics where Dumbledore screws up and sends Harry to Azkaban (including a couple where he was not in his right state of mind when it happened, not necessarily making it his fault). Here, this is a one-shot of your typical Betrayed!Harry story, except this is after Harry is proven innocent and kills Voldemort... and Dumbledore believed him this whole time. Consider this my way of trying to balance out the universe. Enjoy!



/"Mentor and Protégé,"/

By Quillian



Dedicated to Marietsy for inspiring me with her two big betrayal stories, "Lack of Faith" and "Flames of Betrayal," along with her other works.

Also dedicated to Dragongirl16, for REALLY getting me into betrayal fics in the first place.

Similar thank-you's go out to those writers who have written fics where Harry's stuff (or most of it) gets destroyed, such as Sheyda, drunkendevil87, Corwalch, YamiPaladinofChaos, Medabart, and Fangalla Marie, because that connects to a certain twist in this story never seen elsewhere (or at least not to my knowledge).

Also thanks to Duos Gurl1 for beta-reading this story.



The Wizarding World was currently in a state of very hectic chaos.

On one hand, Voldemort was now dead and the last of his Death Eaters were being rounded up.

On the other hand... they had betrayed the one who had come through to save them all nonetheless.

At the beginning of his sixth year at Hogwarts, Harry was accused for the murder of Remus Lupin, who was teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts until another professor could be found. With a pathetic farce of a trial, Harry was found guilty by a gleeful Fudge and a corrupt Wizengamot, all his possessions were burned in front of his eyes, and he was thrown into Azkaban with two life sentences.

Only Dumbledore and Hagrid believed in him while everyone else turned on Harry like rabid dogs.

Except now Hagrid was dead (he died in a skirmish against giants who had allied themselves with Voldemort), so now Dumbledore was left as the only one who had any faith in his beloved student.

Now it was all over. Voldemort was dead and Harry was now sleeping in a hidden room that was attached to Dumbledore's office, where the Headmaster moved him after they both took down Voldemort in a joint effort.

Since Dumbledore and Hagrid alone believed in him, they were barred from the trial by Fudge because of a so-called "conflict of interests." They were also unable to save Harry's possessions; Ron, Hermione and the other Weasleys had purposely waited until Harry was being dragged away before evilly burning all of his possessions.

Dumbledore and Hagrid only found out about it after the fact...

In the courtroom, Fudge and Umbridge gleefully made Harry out to be the bad guy after Ron had testified, making himself sound like a hero; apparently, he and "Harry" had gone to see Lupin one night when Harry suddenly used the Killing Curse on the professor and Stunned Ron. The others whom Harry once trusted all glared and hissed at him

But that wasn't the end of it, oh no; drunk with attention and fame, his supposed best friends misconstrued everything that had happened between the three of them so Harry was made out to be the villain rather than the hero.

Other classmates joined in this smear campaign, with some allegations going as far as Cho Chang saying that she and Harry were lovers and he had been cruel to her.

Even Petunia Dursley was there, making him out to be the spoiled brat which too many people already perceived him as.

After the entire Wizengamot had pronounced him guilty, Harry's so-called "friends" took much satisfaction in maliciously burning his possessions before he was marched out. They also shouted terrible, cruel, unthinkable things at him.

The whole mockery of justice took just under half an hour.

And that was only the beginning of what other malicious deeds Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger would commit.

Drunk with power and ill-gotten fame (they got lots of letters every day from people congratulating them for putting up with the evil Harry Potter), their thirst for it only grew. They ruled Gryffindor Tower so tyrannically that they could have given Draco Malfoy a run for his money. A few first years had questioned Harry's innocence, only to be scared into silence by them. Soon they ruled with fear almost as effectively as Umbridge had. Even worse were Ginny and Colin, now also prefects, following in their footsteps.

They were also encouraging other kinds of horrible things, such as blaming Harry for everything that went wrong in Gryffindor House (from bad grades on homework to losses at Quidditch), and the prefects themselves had even started running a book as to what would happen with Harry, such as like whether or not he would die or kill himself while in prison.

Dumbledore tried to peacefully talk the Gryffindor prefects out of their behavior, but they had written to the Daily Prophet about it, and backed with public support, the wise old Headmaster had no choice but to back down while Fudge told him off like a child.

Dumbledore was a very wise, patient and powerful man, but boy, did that school year really try his patience.

His own staff was also suspicious of him, and the Weasleys, who had once been Harry's surrogate family, now transformed before Dumbledore's very eyes from noble to dishonorable. They used the whole incident to make themselves look good, and before long, even Arthur Weasley had a position next to the Minister, along with his pompous son, Percy.

In short, it got to the point where Dumbledore regularly got angry enough to want to bring the whole castle crashing down on everyone's heads. How dare they slander Harry like that and not let him defend himself! Someone should do something about them!

But of course he knew better than that.

Besides, they needed to be alive for if and when he proved them all wrong.

That eventually happened when Voldemort attacked Hogwarts...

Voldemort and his Death Eaters had invaded Hogwarts too easily, in a lot of people's opinions.

And now, the entire student body and staff were being held hostage in the Quidditch area. Even the Minister and the entire Wizengamot somehow found themselves being held captive along with the castle's residents.

At the center of the pitch was Voldemort, laughing maniacally.

"And here you all are at last, ready to reap your rewards for betraying your only hope of vanquishing me!"

"What are you talking about!?" Ron Weasley shouted, jumping out of his seat with anger. "That bastard Potter betrayed us!"

Voldemort's crazed, maniacal laughing that followed was so terrible that it even scared the animals in the Forbidden Forest. "Ah, Weasley, so brave yet so naïve... Why would I have to get rid of Potter when you and your fellow so-called 'Gryffindors' were all so eager to do it for me? Oh, don't deny it, you /enjoyed /denouncing the boy who considered you his best friend. I still have all the newspaper articles that quote you, and believe me, there are quite a few of them. If only a few things had gone differently, Weasley, you and your entire family could have been as loyal to me as the Malfoys; you certainly have the aptitude for it. All you were missing was the Dark Mark and the Death Eater garb. And you call me cruel and evil? Well, what you did was not /quite /up to my par, but still rather evil."

Ron Weasley seemed to shrink in his seat.

"Now since you're all wondering about what I just said," Voldemort said, announcing the crowd at large once again, "let me explain it all to you, since you were all obviously too foolish to figure it out on your own. Wormtail here, or should I say, /Peter Pettigrew, /impersonated Potter himself. It also turned out that his wand was compatible with my rat Animagus Death Eater. He also made a forgery of the Marauder's Map, which you burned along with all of Potter's other possessions, instead of the real one. I knew some people would obviously lose faith in Potter, like they so often do, but you know what the really best part was? How his best friends and surrogate family turn on him so quickly to make themselves look good. Oh, that really helped."

Allowing a moment for all this news to sink in so everyone could feel properly guilty (and show off an Imperius-controlled Pettigrew, just to really rankle them further), Voldemort's eyes stopped on Dumbledore, standing fearlessly in the crowd. Ironically, the normally benevolent Headmaster took a sort of vindictive pleasure in letting all these fools finally get what they so richly deserved.

"Ah, Dumbledore, old man, how have you been doing? Putting up well with your bloodthirsty, backstabbing students? Nothing a few Unforgivable curses couldn't solve, I'm sure. I don't see why you never simply stood back and let me take over... This society always has listened to me most, anyway..."

"Sometimes, Tom," Dumbledore said, walking down onto the pitch towards Voldemort like he didn't have a fear in the world, "one must do what is right, even if they are alone in their endeavor."

Voldemort laughed again. "Aren't we forgetting something, Dumbledore? Your precious prince and savior? The only one with the power to defeat me?"

"You mean the same one whom Fawkes rescued from Azkaban just now while you put everyone on their guilt trip?" Dumbledore said pleasantly.

Voldemort's laughing stopped.

"So what will happen now, you fool?" Voldemort sneered. "You're still forgetting he's been in Azkaban for nearly a year, reliving his worst memories... not to mention witnessing what me and my minions have accomplished. I rather doubt he's even in any condition to stand on his own two feet at the moment."

"For someone who's so obsessed with fate, Tom, especially the prophecy," Dumbledore stated with that twinkle in his eye, "you always forget that the outcome of the future is always, shall we say... /up in the air/."

Dumbledore's witty /double entendre evoked Voldemort to look up.../

...Just in time to see Fawkes swoop in with Harry Potter in his talons, with Gryffindor's sword in his hands and a determined glint in his eyes.

In the ensuing battle, Dumbledore and Harry worked together, as mentor and protégée, fighting their way through the ranks of Death Eaters to Voldemort himself.

As they finally got to Voldemort himself, Dumbledore blocked all off the Dark wizard's attacks effectively enough to allow Harry time to strike. As Gryffindor's sword began to glow, Harry moved in and struck as though he had been perfecting the move for years. With a shrill scream and a flash of light, Voldemort fell to the ground, dead.

A moment later, so did Harry, from exhaustion.

With much speed for a man as old as Dumbledore who had just been in such a battle, he was able to speedily place wards on Voldemort's crumpled body to prevent his spirit from escaping again before tending to Harry, who was currently unconscious and looked exceedingly ill.

The school and other people rushed onto the grounds, trying to get to their once-again Savior, but Dumbledore would have none of that. His magically amplified voice rang out, "Sorry, everyone, but please, stay back. Harry is not in any condition for this right now."

Unfortunately for Dumbledore, the people in the lead were the last people he wanted to see: Harry's former friends and surrogate family.

Under his breath, Dumbledore muttered a few words expressing his extreme dissatisfaction with the universe. Was it not bad enough that he just had to assist his student in vanquishing Voldemort, but now had to put up with these other people as well?

"Wait, please, let us see him!" Hermione protested, tears running down her face, with Ron right behind her, who also pleading for the same thing.

With an extremely cold look, Dumbledore said, "I think you have all done enough this past year."

As they flinched in guilt and shame, Dumbledore turned around and began to walk away with Harry. Ron just lunged, trying to get to Harry, and instantly regretted it.

Dumbledore whipped around, his wand pointed right at Ron's head. Everyone who could see it took in Dumbledore's angry features, his anger practically radiating off of him and his eyes glowing like two blue suns. The look of anger on Dumbledore's face was so terrible that words didn't do it justice, and it managed to accomplish what a nice long rant could not. They could all even /feel his anger in the air, about ready to be unleashed if pushed far enough./

Dumbledore himself briefly entertained the thought of at least marking up Ron's head somehow so he would get a special scar of his very own, but after a moment in which he calmed down, he decided against it. No, it would not do to blast young Weasley all over the pitch.

Without a word, Fawkes swooped in, and the bird, boy and man all disappeared in a flash.

Now, Harry was currently sleeping on a bed that Dumbledore set up in his own private quarters, after the Headmaster cared for the boy as though he was his own grandson, by magically cleaning him and transfiguring his ragged Azkaban robes into decent clothes.

Sitting off to one side, Dumbledore was deep in thought, contemplating how everything had gone so... /wrong/.

Oh Harry, my boy, I've failed you on so many levels... I've failed to sufficiently protect you from Dark wizards, foolish and corrupt politicians, and traitors who were once friends and family. Do you know how I believed in you this whole time? Do you know how much grief I have suffered? Do you know how much I wished that /none /of this had ever happened?

Dumbledore's thoughts drifted back to the summer after Harry's fifth year... After Harry spent the absolute minimal amount of time at the Dursleys' residence, he was moved to Grimmauld Place and spent time between there and Hogwarts. Dumbledore did something he should have done after Cedric Diggory's death: He gave Harry someone to talk to. In this case, Dumbledore took it on himself to help Harry heal. Whenever the Headmaster had the chance, between running a school and the Order of the Phoenix, he would go out of his way to help Harry.

In the end, considerable progress was made. While Harry wasn't able to forgive Dumbledore entirely, both came to realize and accept the fact that all of the previous year's disasters were many peoples' faults and failings. Both of them promised the other to work as hard as they could to try and get along again...

Dumbledore was jolted out of his thoughts by a stirring from the bed; Harry was waking up.

With a yawn and a groan, Harry opened his eyes and sat upright. "Where am I?" he asked groggily.

"Someplace safe where no one is going to harm you, my boy," Dumbledore's gentle voice said from the side.

Harry turned to see Dumbledore there, with a small yet pensive smile on his face. "Hello, Professor," Harry said wearily.

"You definitely deserved the rest, especially after being able to vanquish Voldemort yesterday."

Harry blinked, then remembered as it all came back to him. "He's... /gone/? It's all over?"

"Yes. Voldemort is dead, and the prophecy has been fulfilled. You will never have to fear from him again."

A small smile began to form on Harry's face. "It's finally over... I was able to beat him... even after everyone..."

He couldn't say anymore as the smile dropped off his face and he remembered all the cruel and terrible things everyone did to him. His bottled-up grief and rage finally poured out as he choked and sobbed over the horrible things everyone did to him.

Feeling grief well up inside himself as well, Dumbledore came over to Harry and pulled him into a grandfatherly hug. The old man hadn't held Harry in any way since he was an infant, and it bought back so many memories of terrible things...

After several minutes, Harry seemed to calm himself down after he had run out of tears. "I-I'm sorry," he choked out. "I just can't believe them... how could they, after all I've done for them..."

"I know," Dumbledore said sadly. "This year was horrible for me, too. It was like the lunatics taking over the asylum. It took every last ounce of patience I had not to do something truly stupid."

The crying seemed to cease on Harry's part. "Those, those /idiots/... ooh, when I get my hands on them..."

"No." Dumbledore's voice went from soft to firm. "Don't do that, Harry. It's not worth it. If you were to take revenge on every last person who's ever wronged you, even if you took revenge on all of them, you'd never be satisfied. That was one major mistake Riddle made. It is perfectly acceptable for a person to feel however they do, but it is not acceptable to use that to take matters in to his or her own hands."

"I thought we established already that I'm not him or like him. Are you now saying that I may end up like him?"

Dumbledore let out a sigh. "I said no such thing, Harry. I'm just saying no good will come out of taking matters and justice into your own hands and taking it upon yourself to punish them for their wrongdoings. You need to move on."

"So I should just forgive them?" Harry said quietly but with venom in his voice.

"I didn't say that either. Quite frankly, I have to agree with you that what they did was unforgivable. I personally believe that the saying 'forgive and forget' only applies to misdemeanors and other little things. What I meant to say is... you don't have to forgive them, but you shouldn't take revenge on them, either. You still have a nice long life ahead of you... and I can honestly and truthfully say that James, Lily, Sirius, Remus and Hagrid would not have wanted you to waste it on such negative emotions and thoughts."

After a moment of silence, Harry finally spoke. "I think I understand what you're saying."

"Good. Besides, I know of another good reason you should not go after those who destroyed your property."

"And why's that?" Harry asked as Dumbledore finally let go and got up.

"Because I managed to find... /replacements/," Dumbledore said walking out, a twinkle in his eye.

Harry was a little confused until Dumbledore got out a trunk and opened it.

In it Harry saw things he thought he'd never see again, which he knew his so-called 'friends' burned and destroyed.

"How...?"

"After your parents were murdered, I was placed in charge of managing your finances. Your family is one of the richest in the wizarding world, possibly rich enough to rival even the Malfoys. Every so often, as the one in charge of your finances, I need to meet with the goblins at Gringotts, and during one such trip, I found some interesting things in your vault..."

Dumbledore pulled out and showed Harry a big book. "Your parents kept a very special photo album in that vault, just for safekeeping. This is even larger than the one which Hagrid gave you at the end of your first year."

Next, the Headmaster pulled out a silvery article of clothing. "It also turns out your father kept another Invisibility Cloak, other than the one he left in my care."

Next came the Marauder's Map. "They burned the fake Marauder's Map which was used to frame you, and I happened to find the real one quite by chance. I must say, it has been very useful for the security of this castle."

What really caught Harry's attention next was a Firebolt. "Wait a minute," Harry exclaimed. "How could you have found one of those in my family's vault? Those things are relatively new."

"Actually, this was from Sirius." Chuckling at Harry's confused expression, he elaborated, "Allow me to explain. After Sirius caught wind of your Quidditch ban in your fifth year, he secretly purchased another Firebolt, and was planning to smuggle it in right under Umbridge's nose. However, things escalated ever since Arthur Weasley was attacked by that snake before Christmas, and with all the new activity going on, those plans were shelved."

Then Dumbledore took out a small, metallic object. "It seems he also had a spare penknife as well which can help open locked doors."

Harry shook his head. Sirius, you always were a sneak when you felt like it. Thanks again, Padfoot.

"Actually, I just remembered something... Where's Hedwig?"

Dumbledore frowned as he put everything back in the trunk.

"I'm afraid she... passed away during your incarceration, Harry," he said, putting a hand on his student's shoulder. As Harry let a single tear roll down his face at the news, Dumbledore continued, "However, there is something I think you should see..."

As Harry followed him into the main office, Fawkes sang joyously as he flew over to Harry, comforting the Boy Who Lived. The portraits on the walls also gave their accolades as well.

After Dumbledore opened a window, a giant great gray owl flew in and sat on the windowsill, looking at Harry both innocently and intently.

"Harry, this is an owl I recently acquired from a fellow professor of mine in Canada, who also breeds great grey owls," Dumbledore explained. "I have called him Magnus, because he is such a great owl, and in more ways than one."

Magnus then flew over to Harry, hooting softly and Harry stroked his feathers.

"Okay... so how does this relate to Hedwig?"

"Well, you see, Harry..." Dumbledore trailed off, thinking of how to best put it. "Magnus and Hedwig had I guess what you could call a relationship before she unfortunately died. Which leads me to my next point..."

Walking over to a cabinet, Dumbledore opened it with his wand after a few muttered spell words. He took out a makeshift nest, and Harry could hear...

...Chirping?

In the nest were what looked like at least half a dozen white-grey balls of fuzz, but as Harry moved closer, he could see they were small owlets, and still very young from the looks of it.

Turning to Magnus, Harry said, "They're yours and Hedwig's, aren't they?"

Magnus hooted, looking rather proud of himself.

As Harry got closer to the owlets, they all turned around to look at him with their little amber eyes. Harry had to admit, they were all extremely cute.

"I think they like you, Harry," Dumbledore said with that twinkle in his eye.

The closest owlet wobbled up to Harry and began to nip at his fingers. It chirped happily as Harry stroked its little feathers.

I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you Hedwig, old girl, Harry thought, but I promise I'll look after your kids. I promise.

Just then, Dumbledore cleared his throat. Harry turned around, and saw Magnus on Dumbledore's desk with the Headmaster looking a little stern. "I thought we had a little discussion once about having one too many lemon drops, Magnus," Dumbledore said.

Magnus hooted and gave a look which said, "Who, me?"

Harry laughed softly. "Somehow, I'm not surprised."

Harry wandered over towards the glass case where Gryffindor's sword was housed, but when he got within a couple of feet of it, it began to glow and hum for a few moments before it stopped.

"Oh yes, I knew I forgot to explain something," Dumbledore said from the other side of the room. "After you were taken to Azkaban... I began to get what I guess you could call a hunch about something. I told you at the end of your second year that only a true Gryffindor could pull that sword out of the Sorting Hat."

Harry nodded, but was thinking at the same time. He's not implying what I think he is, is he?

Dumbledore continued, "I also noticed little 'coincidences.' Astrologically speaking, you're a Leo, and the lion in Gryffindor's mascot. I've also sensed before that you have the potential to be a fire elemental, and Gryffindor House has a connection to the Fire signs."

"What are you saying?"

"You're the Heir of Gryffindor, Harry."

Harry took all this in, and then sighed. "Ah, I see..." Looking seriously at Dumbledore, he said, "I'd rather keep that a secret... I don't want or need another title..."

"I understand perfectly, Harry."

Just then, there was a chime that sounded in the office. "Ah, I see the press and everyone are gathering outside the gargoyle... Good thing I changed the password last night, or they would all be storming our office even as we speak," Dumbledore commented.

'So what should I do now?" Harry asked him.

"I think you may want to leave if you want to avoid any problems with them," Dumbledore suggested as he Summoned the trunk from the room.

"But what should I do?" Harry asked him. "Where should I go from here?"

"I think Beauxbatons may be a good place to stay for now until you sort everything out, Harry," Dumbledore advised. "Headmistress Maxime has been quite a friend and ally to me this past year."

There was a few seconds of silence as Harry was thinking about something. "I'm sorry, Dumbledore... I thought you'd want me to stay here and finish my education."

Dumbledore sighed and shook his head. "While it would have been nice for you to finish your education here, I can see that forcing you to cooperate with your former friends and classmates would just be a disaster waiting to happen. Besides, I'm still recovering from last year." Looking up at Harry, he continued, "In addition to that, this isn't the only magical school in the world, nor does one have to go to school to become wise in the ways of the world, although that is the most generally accepted way to do so. Also, if you think about it, the Four Founders themselves couldn't have gone to school if they had to create this one."

Harry laughed at that.

Dumbledore came over and swept Harry into a hug, which Harry didn't resist against. "I couldn't be more proud of you, Harry."

"And I can't thank you enough for all you've done for me," Harry responded.

There was so much damage done to both mentor and protégé, but they were both slowly recovering from it, and this was the first step.

As they separated, Harry got his trunk while Dumbledore put Magnus and the owlets in a special cage to hold all of them. As the cage was strapped to the top of the trunk, Fawkes flew over to Harry's new possessions and companions. "I'll try to visit you when I get the chance, Harry," Dumbledore told them. "In the meantime, take care of yourself."

"You too," Harry told him in return. "See you soon."

With that, Fawkes took Harry and all of his belongings, and they all disappeared in a flash of fire.

Surveying the now empty space in his office, Dumbledore thought to himself as he went down to the gargoyle to deal with the hordes of people seeking to praise Harry Potter and beg him for forgiveness. Hmm, now what shall I tell them? That Harry Potter just flew right out of here? Disappeared in a flash? And here I thought all the problems would end once Voldemort was vanquished and I helped Harry get back on his feet. Oh well...



A/N: So, what did you guys think? This is certainly different from the majority of Azkaban fics, isn't it?

Note regarding Harry's new possessions and Hedwig's offspring: How did you guys like this idea?

Note regarding the whole "Heir of Gryffindor" thing all over again: Somehow, I just felt like it. (Shrugs.)