FIC: Broken -- Chapter Six -- LVHP -- PG-13

[batsutousai]

Title: Broken
Author: batsutousai
Beta: tsuki_no_suzu & magickmaker17
Rating: T
Pairings: HPLV, others
Warnings: Dumbledore bashing
Summary: Dumbledore knew before Harry Potter came to Hogwarts what he needed the boy to do, and he knew exactly how to make him do it. A twist on the normal manipulative!Dumbledore story.

Disclaim Her: Hmmmm... Kinda forgot about this yesterday. Sorry.


-~/\~-
Chapter Six - The Light
-~\/~-

Harry liked staying with the Weasleys. After the wedding, none of them bothered him about his chosen neutrality. Remus and Tonks, who visited occasionally when the Order wasn't meeting, also left him alone about it, choosing, instead, to talk of better times, times without Voldemort. Harry appreciated all their attempts to make the Order's demands better.

Fawkes did go to Voldemort at the start of the next Order meeting. From the insane pleasure coming through their bond, Harry deduced Voldemort had taken Hogwarts with ease. He also realised that, if he was feeling the man's emotions again, their bond was either getting deeper or Harry needed to work on his Occlumency again.

Consequently, as the Weasley household was sitting down to dinner that night, a Hogwarts owl sped through the window with a hastily scrawled note from McGonagall about the school having been taken over. Once Mr Weasley had read it, everyone turned to Harry.

Harry shrugged. "Would you have rather he attacked when there were people in the school and killed a bunch of them? Or worse, when school was in session. It's what he was originally planning, I think."

"You're helping him now," Ron said, voice dull. "Harry, you're helping him take over our world. You do know that, right?"

Harry swallowed. "I prefer to think of it as saving lives, myself."

"How much more will you do for him? Under the banner of neutrality?" Ron demanded. "Will you give him my family next? Or perhaps Hermione's?"

"Ronald!" Ginny snapped, the only member of the table moving to defend Harry.

Harry stared at his best friend. "Do you truly think me capable of such?" he asked, not wanting to know the answer, but equally needing to hear it.

Ron met his eyes and said, "The way things are going lately, yeah. I think you are."

Harry stood and walked calmly from the kitchen and up to the room he was borrowing. There, he spelled his things into the bag he'd brought them in, then turned to Fawkes, who was watching him worriedly. "Can you take me some place away from here? Some place I can be alone?"

Fawkes cocked his head to one side curiously. After a moment, he chirped an agreement and flew over to Harry.

Seconds after they'd left, Ginny ran into the room, furious with her family and hoping she could keep Harry from leaving.

-0-0-0-

They appeared in a graveyard. "Morbid, yet oddly fitting," Harry commented drily to the fire-bird on his shoulder.

Fawkes launched himself into the air and flew a bit further into the graveyard, stopping atop a grave Harry could barely see from his distance. When Fawkes chirped hopefully, Harry sighed and started making his way to the bird.

Part-way there, he stopped when he saw a familiar name. "Dumbledore?"

Fawkes chirped in surprise and flew over to join him. He peered down at the stones and let out a sad cry.

"I take it it's not a happy story, then?" he asked the bird.

Fawkes shook his head and let a single drop fall on the stone of Ariana.

Harry swallowed and shook his head, desperate to think of things other than what pain the man who betrayed his family may have faced in his own life. "Come. What were you trying to show me, then?"

Fawkes led the way back to the two proud graves he'd stood on before. When Harry saw the names, he felt his breath catch in his throat and wondered if he might cry.

Fawkes trilled in sorrow.

Harry reached out and touched his father's name, blinking away tears. "I never even knew where... Thanks, Fawkes."

Fawkes cooed softly.

Harry took a seat in front of the graves, wishing desperately that they could have been there. That they could tell him what to do; that they were there to support him when even his best friend thought him a monster.

Before Harry even realised it, he was telling the two gravestones everything. He told them about Voldemort and Dumbledore. He told them about the Dursleys and the Weasleys. He told them about his two best friends and how Ron had practically called him the next Voldemort. How he wanted to just up and leave for America or somewhere and leave the stupid wizarding world to solve their own damn problems.

And then he confided in the stones about how much of a child he felt. How scared he was, being expected to fight a war on the front lines. How he would have to die for the Light to win. How he didn't want to chance losing his friends, and didn't that make him selfish?

The headstones stayed silent through it all, but Fawkes crooned softly throughout Harry's monologue and, by the end, Harry felt as if a horrible burden had been lifted.

In the end, Harry conjured two small red roses and placed them in front of the graves. "Thanks for listening," he told the stones. "It helped. A lot." Then he turned and made his way out of the graveyard, asking Fawkes, "Will you show me the house? And maybe a place to stay in town? I don't really want to go back to the Burrow right now."

Fawkes chirped in reply, then led Harry to the place where his parents died and Voldemort marked him, sealing his fate.

-0-0-0-

That night, comfy in a bed at the local muggle hotel – it turned out muggles couldn't see Fawkes, a magical protection of all phoenixes – Harry dreamed.

He opened his eyes to find his mental sitting room. But, rather than finding it empty, or with Voldemort, he found it crowded with his parents and Sirius. He simply stared at them for a long moment, unable to comprehend their existence.

Sirius grinned at him and said, "Mind pulling up a few chairs, Harry? Maybe even expand a bit?"

Harry swallowed, then did as asked, conjuring up three more red chairs to fit into the enlarged room. He mentally pushed Voldemort's chair out of the way, bringing the new chairs to face his. "Please. Sit," he offered, wincing as his voice caught.

The three dead sat. Sirius again broke the silence, this time asking, "What's with the extra chair? And Slytherin green, at that."

Harry shrugged. "It's Voldemort's."

"Sweetie, why do you have a chair for Voldemort in your head?" Lily asked gently.

Harry shrugged again, then pointed at the Slytherin pennant on the wall behind them. "Because that's the link between our minds, and he occasionally likes to visit. Seemed only fair, since I've got a chair in his mind."

"Complicated, he said," James muttered to the air. Lily hit him.

Harry smiled at them. "What brings you here? Oh, that sounds funny. Why would I dream my parents and Sirius up?"

"Perhaps you just needed someone to talk to," Lily suggested. "And that's why we're here. Because you need us."

Harry swallowed. "Ah, perhaps. But I already talked to..."

"Our graves?" James suggested ironically. "I'm sure it helped, but just talking to stones is never enough."

"James knows," Lily said in a stage whisper. "After his parents died and the war escalated, he kept going to their graves to talk to them."

James huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Did not."

Lily just smiled knowingly at them.

"Yeah, well, seeing as how it's the first time I've even seen your graves," Harry muttered angrily.

"If I'd known..." Sirius mumbled, then reached over and ruffled Harry's hair. "I'm sorry, Prongslet."

Harry shrugged. "Honestly, I wasn't even sure you had graves. For all I knew, no one bothered."

"Oh, sweetie..." Lily whispered, reaching out to touch Harry's face. At the gentle touch, Harry closed his eyes and leaned into the hand, somehow both surprised and unsurprised to find it solid. "If only we'd been with you–"

"It's not your fault!" Harry snapped, eyeing the sorrow-filled gazes of his family. "It's not–"

"Then who do we blame?" James demanded, voice sharp. "Snape, for giving the prophecy to Voldemort? Voldemort for acting on it? Perhaps Peter, for turning traitor?"

"All of them? None of them?" Harry replied, shaking his head. "Perhaps we should blame Voldemort's mother, for falling in love with a muggle. Or even for believing the muggle wouldn't leave her once she was with child."

"We may as well blame the sun for shining on the moon," Lily whispered. "Perhaps it isn't anyone's fault. Well, not any one person's," she amended when James opened his mouth to argue. "We all make our own choices, and sometimes they're for the worse, sometimes for the better. We can't know until after they've been made, and the consequences have been seen."

Harry nodded. "Yeah? And what about my being neutral? What sort of choice was that?"

"It was your choice," Sirius cut in, blue eyes burning. "Harry, no one has the right to tell you what you should or shouldn't do; only you can make that choice. If your choice is to sit this one out, then that's it."

"Sometimes," Lily whispered, "it's in attempting to avoid the supposed future that we accomplish what was set out for us. Perhaps, this 'power he knows not' is really your refusal to fight him."

"War is just that, war," James agreed as hope filled Harry's face. "There is no real beginning, and there is no real end. It is never ending, and started long before we were born. You may not be able to end it forever, but perhaps by refusing to fight, you can put this war on pause, show people a different route."

"And for that, my son, we are proud of you," Lily said, smiling.

"Thank you," Harry whispered, throat tight. He closed his eyes to ward off tears...

...and opened them to the ceiling of his hotel room. He glanced over at Fawkes, who was watching him from his perch. "Thanks," he said to the bird.

Fawkes inclined his head, then turned to look out the window, where the sun was rising.

Stretching, Harry climbed out of bed and walked over to the phoenix and gently stroked his feathers. "Do you think Ron'll still be a prat when school starts back up?"

Fawkes trilled neutrally.

Harry grinned. "Yeah, I think so too."

Fawkes just huffed and preened his feathers a bit.

-0-0-0-

Harry spent the rest of his time until school was to start visiting Godric's Hollow. He saw the statue in the middle of the square and visited his old house. He visited Dumbledore's old house, too, though it seemed just as dead as his own. Watching Fawkes mourn on the gate to the house, Harry wished he could speak to the bird. He wished Fawkes could tell him why he cried so much in this town. He wondered if Dumbledore ever wished the same thing; if only so there was someone he could confide in, without facing the rest of the fickle public.

On the first of September, Harry made his way to the train and found an empty compartment. When students walked by, they would sometimes shoot him a disgusted look, others would look pleading or hopeless. Harry tried his best to ignore the looks, feeling much better since he'd made his peace with his parents, even if it was only a dream.

Shortly before the train was to leave, Harry's compartment door slammed open and Ginny stalked in, eyes flaring angrily. Harry barely had time to blink before she was shoving a finger in his chest and demanding, "What did you think you were doing, leaving like that?!"

Harry blinked again, then shrugged. "I thought I wasn't welcome."

"Of course you were welcome, you prat! You're always welcome!" Ginny snapped, jabbing him in the chest with each word.

Harry shook his head. "Yeah? Ron says so too, then? 'Cause it's as much his home as it is yours."

That finally silenced Ginny. She leaned back and looked at him in surprise. "I don't know."

Harry nodded. "I wasn't welcome, then. It was fine. Fawkes took me to see my parents' graves. Cleared a lot up."

Ginny sighed and fell into the seat across from Harry. "Yeah?"

Harry smiled. "Yeah."

"You going to stop listening to my brother then? When he acts all stupid about this?" Ginny demanded. " 'Cause if not, I don't know if talking to stones did much good."

Harry shook his head, still smiling. "I know I did fine. I'm sure Mum and Dad are proud of me, no matter what I decide, and that's all that matters. It..." Harry turned and looked out the window. "It hurts," he continued in a small voice, "when Ron treats me like I'm turning into Voldemort, but I know I'm right. And that's really all that matters, right?"

"How sweet, Potter," a voice sneered from the doorway.

Harry and Ginny both looked up in surprise. Ginny jumped to her feet, wand out, and demanded, "What are you doing here, Malfoy?"

Malfoy smirked, looking pleased with himself. "I'm here to keep you Gryffindors under control. By order of My Lord."

"You mean he wanted you out of his hair," Ginny hissed.

Harry stood and gently pushed Ginny's hand down. "If you're going to cause trouble, then leave, Malfoy."

Malfoy sneered at him, then turned and stalked off.

Ginny huffed and threw herself back in the seat. "Damnit, Harry! I wanted to curse him!"

Harry cocked his head to one side. "So did I. But if Voldemort Marked him, that could constitute joining the fight, and then you're no longer safe."

Ginny sighed and put her wand away. "Nothing's ever easy with that bastard, is it?"

Harry chuckled. "Alas, no."

The door slid open again and both turned to see Neville and Luna. "Malfoy wasn't difficult, was he?" Neville asked.

"Harry scared him off," Ginny replied, smiling. "I almost cursed him."

"Please, come in," Harry offered, ignoring Ginny. When the other two slipped in, Harry returned to his earlier seat and smiled when Neville sat next to him, while Luna took the seat next to Ginny. "So, how were your summers?" he asked.

The rest of the trip was spent trading stories about their summers and discussing Voldemort's hold over the school.

-0-0-0-

The Slytherins were practically unbearable once the train got to the school. They were gleefully ordering the other students around, shuffling them into carriages and bullying those they felt they could.

Once he'd realised what was happening, Harry walked up to Malfoy, who seemed to be the head of this operation, and punched him in the nose. Then he turned to help a second-year the blond had just shoved down because his hair wasn't quite right.

When Malfoy drew his wand on Harry's turned back, he found three wands pointed at him. Ginny hissed, "Oh, just give me a reason."

"I was under the impression," Harry said loud enough for most people to hear, "that Voldemort took over the school during the summer so the students didn't have to deal with the pain that came with the switch." He turned to look at Malfoy, eyes narrowed warningly. "Tell me, Malfoy, who, exactly, gave you the thumbs up to bully the younger students on their way to the school?"

Malfoy looked dreadfully pale under the waning sunlight. "Shut your trap, Potter!"

Harry smiled coldly. "No one, I take it? Does Voldemort know you're enjoying tormenting smaller children? Perhaps I should let him know?"

Malfoy sneered and shoved past Harry, jumping into the nearest carriage to take it to the castle.

Harry smiled nastily at the other Slytherins who had been bullying the younger students. "I'd suggest you follow him."

The Slytherin presence quickly vacated and the older students who had refused to let themselves be pushed around helped the younger students up, checking them over for any damage and fixing any hexes they could.

"That was almost more satisfying than cursing him," Ginny commented as she put away her wand. Next to her, Neville was checking over the second year Harry had helped while Luna was helping another student up.

Harry shrugged. "I acted on a hunch, that's all."

"It was a brilliant hunch," Ginny replied.

Harry shook his head and hurried over to where the group of first years had huddled together, looking confused. "Hey, you lot okay?"

"Y-yeah," one said. "But we don't know where to go."

Harry blinked. "I wonder where... Fawkes!"

The phoenix appeared in a blaze of fire and settled on Harry's outstretched arm.

Harry smiled at the awed looks on the first years' faces. "Can you go to the castle and find out what happened to the first years' welcoming committee?"

Fawkes chirped a question and mimed writing with one talon.

"Write a letter with the question?" Harry asked. When Fawkes nodded, Harry carefully went through his pockets, scowling when he came up blank. "I don't have anything to write on or with."

Fawkes let out an annoyed sound and ducked his head down to grab Harry's wand from his robe pocket.

Harry blinked at the wand for a second, then blinked and said, "Oh. Right." He quickly conjured a piece of parchment and a shabby quill. He wrote a quick, 'Who was supposed to meet the first years? They're standing here alone and everyone else is heading up to the castle. I can bring them up if you want.' Then he handed it to Fawkes and said, "Hand it to whoever he's set as Headmaster, yeah?"

Fawkes chirped an affirmative and disappeared in a burst of flame with the note.

"What was that?" One of the first years asked, awed.

"A phoenix," another kid said, looking proud of his knowledge.

Harry smiled at them. "That was Fawkes. He was Dumbledore's phoenix, but he came to me after Dumbledore died last year. I suppose you'd say he's my familiar, though we fight a lot."

"How can you fight with something so pretty?" a small girl asked.

Harry shrugged. "Bad blood," he said, then shook the comment off. "Right, how about you introduce yourselves while we wait for Fawkes."

The first years introduced themselves with some added hopes for Houses. Luna, Ginny and Neville came over to join them just as Fawkes reappeared with a note. Harry took the note with a quick, "Thanks, Fawkes," and read, 'No one was told to get the first years – an oversight. If you'd bring them up, we'll have someone meet you at the doors.'

"Right! Let's see how many first years can fit in a carriage, yeah?" Harry said, waving them towards the waiting carriages.

There was a bit of a crush as the first years all tried to pile into the first carriage, but between the four left-over friends, they managed to sort everyone out, and they had few enough kids that they fit in only four carriages. There wasn't quite enough room for the upper years, so they all hitched rides on the thestrals, who didn't really seem to care about the added weight.

Professor McGonagall met them at the front doors. She shot Harry a neutral look that the boy felt was hiding a disgusted frown and said, "You four, go on in. First years, follow me."

Harry and his friends made their way inside and separated to sit at their tables. Ginny and Neville calmly sat on either side of Harry, and the green-eyed teen felt all the better for their support, especially when he caught Ron's frown from where he sat half-way down the table.

While they were waiting for the first years, Harry glanced up at the Head table. Snape sat in the Headmaster's seat, looking rather displeased at being there. Most of the former staff had remained on, though Hagrid and the Muggle Studies teacher had both been replaced by Death Eaters. There was also a Death Eater that Harry assumed would be covering Defence Against the Dark Arts, assuming they hadn't decided to change the class to just learning the Dark Arts.

McGonagall led the first years in and quickly led them through the Sorting. Unsurprisingly, most of the first years chose to sit near Harry's party or Luna, depending on their House. The Slytherin first years looked dreadfully out of place, and eyed the upper years like they might eat them. The Hufflepuff first years looked lost sitting all by their own until a few of the sixth and seventh years scooted down the table until they could sit with the kids.

Really, Harry considered, having Death Eaters at the school and the Slytherins bullying the younger kids did wonders for House unity.

Dinner was a silent affair, with everyone – even the Slytherins – afraid to talk and bring down the wrath of the Death Eaters at the Head table. Even Harry, who had less to fear than his fellow students with his immunity, was quiet, choosing to mime a request for the mashed potatoes, rather than ask for them aloud.

At the end of the meal, Snape stood and said, "As many of you will have heard, the Dark Lord now has control of Hogwarts. You will have Death Eaters as professors, and you will be expected to respect them as you would the rest of the staff." He looked straight at Harry, and the boy nodded his understanding; the warning was as much for him and his friends as it was for the rest of the students. "If anyone acts out inappropriately, they will face the consequences. And trust me when I say you don't want to know what those are." He smiled nastily.

"Now then, off to your dorms. Prefects, take care of the first years. Potter, come here," Snape finished, eyeing Harry with disgust.

"Go on," Harry said to his friends as Ron and Hermione came to collect the first years with the other prefects. "I'll be fine."

Ginny and Neville moved off, looking unsure. Before he started up towards the Head table, Hermione said, "Harry?"

Harry turned to her, face blank. "Yes, Hermione?"

Hermione flinched at the empty tone. "Th-the password," she said, handing him a slip of parchment.

Harry nodded to her and turned away. He walked quickly up to the Head table, where some of the professors were clearing out. Snape sat waiting for him, and Harry paused before the dais and asked, "Sir?"

Snape sneered and stood. "Finished chattering with your little friends?"

Harry bit his tongue to keep his first three responses in, finally settling on, "Yes, sir."

Snape narrowed his eyes, but motioned for Harry to follow him from the Hall. They walked in silence to the Head's office, where they stopped and Snape whispered something to the gargoyle. The man led the way upstairs and motioned Harry to a seat, taking his own. After a moment of watching each other, Snape said, "What happened at the station?"

Harry blinked, then sighed. "Hogsmeade?" he clarified. When Snape nodded, Harry said, "A group of Slytherins were harassing the younger years – third and below, I believe – and I told them to stop. They left. Since I saw the first years alone, I asked them what was wrong. When I found out there wasn't anyone to meet them, I sent Fawkes. Neville, Luna and Ginny helped me get them into the carriages and up to the castle."

Snape nodded. "Who were the Slytherins?"

Harry shook his head. "With all due respect, sir, I'd rather not say."

"Potter–"

"If you knew their names, what would you do to them?" Harry asked quickly, wincing a bit as he spoke over Snape. "Will you curse them bloody and hope they learn their lesson?"

Snape eyed him for a long moment before saying, "Are you done?"

Harry swallowed and nodded.

"I wish to know their names so I can keep an eye on them, Potter. Actions will be taken only if they act out again."

Harry glanced up at the sleeping portrait of Dumbledore and felt bile rise in his throat. He quickly looked back at Snape's desk and recited the names of the Slytherins who he'd seen attacking the younger years, finishing with, "There may have been more; those are just the ones I saw."

Snape nodded. After he finished writing the names down, he looked back at Harry and said, "Your friends are protected so long as they act with respect towards their professors. My Lord has said that you are to be left alone so long as you remain respectful – unless given cause otherwise – and if you act out without reason, we are to report to the Dark Lord and let him handle you. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded, having expected something like that in a school run by Voldemort's people. It only made sense that, given their current situation, rules had to be set out ahead of time, so there were no questions later. "Yes, sir."

Snape nodded again and looked down at his desk. "You are dismissed."

"Thank you, sir," Harry replied, getting up to leave.

Just as Harry reached the door, Snape said, "And Potter?"

"Sir?"

"Twenty points to Gryffindor, for your quick thinking at diffusing the situation at the station and helping with the first years."

Harry swallowed. "Thank you, sir," he said softly, then left the man to his work.

Once the door had closed behind the boy, Snape whispered, "That was for you, Lily."

-0-0-0-0-0-

A/N: What to say? What to say?
Next update in December, I guess. If I miraculously finish NaNo before the end of November, you might get it sooner. But don't hold your breath. *sweat*

Oh! I'm leaving it to you to decide whether or not Harry's talk with his parents was a dream or not. (I decided not to decide one way or the other, personally. If you'd rather it was real, it was real. If you liked it as Harry's subconscious, that's all it was. *wink* )

~Bats ^.^x

Chapters:
Pro - The Real Prophecy / 1 - The Summer of Change
2 - A New Term ||| 3 - Confrontation ||| 4 - Betrayal
5 - The Wedding ||| 6 - The Light ||| 7 - The Dark
8 - Magic's Story ||| 9 - Ghosts ||| 10 - A Lifetime Mended

.

Comments

[larawander5.livejournal.com]

pst...where is your lj cut? it is really overpowering my friends page

but YAY I have something to read from bats \o/

I will read it very soon...just got home from work so yeah it will be a bit.

[larawander5.livejournal.com]

WOW you actually had Voldie take over the school! That is awesome, I can not wait to see what happens next.

Thank you for sharing!

[batsutousai]

Aw, come on, what else was I going to do. It's not like there anyone to stop him, ya know? XD
^.~

[batsutousai]

Ahahah! *sweat*
I accidently hit post before I added the cut. *headkeyboard* Realised almost as soon as I posted it an immediately fixed it. (Somehow, I knew someone would catch the blooper... ^.^")

[larawander5.livejournal.com]

Thats fine! I got to read it that much sooner XD

[ladyorochimaru.livejournal.com]

OMG!! I was waiting for this chapter!! jejejeje...I love the way Harry is acting, so mature ^^

I love the fic...

I will wait for the next chapter.

Kisses!

[bumpkin-is.livejournal.com]

I am loving this twist to the HP-verse.. can't wait to see what happens next. :)

keep penning,
Marns
~pobody's Nerfect

ps- Good Luck with your Nano!