Chapter Text
Title: Dementor’s Kiss
Author: Kades
Chapter: The Kiss
Word Count: 1,779
A/N: Dumbledore is still alive after the final battle and there were only two horcruxes; the diary and Harry himself.
The so-called final battle between the Order of the Phoenix and Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters had been a brutal and bloody affair. The battle had later been rather unimaginatively named, the Battle of Hogwarts, as this is where the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore’s Army had made their final stand and the dark side had completed their last attack before the death of their lord.
Many people had died on both sides, even more had been injured during the battle, and thousands more were left to mourn the losses of their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and children. Despite this terrible loss of life in the days following Lord Voldemort’s defeat most of the wizarding world celebrated. They celebrated the murder of a man and the destruction of his forces and their way of life, they celebrated the end of a war that had threatened to tear apart their world and reveal wizarding kind to the muggle population.
However one person was not celebrating the end of the second wizarding war, Harry James Potter the Boy-Who-Lived-Again had been sitting in a dark, dank cell deep within the bowels of the British Ministry of Magic since the end of the final battle when he had been arrested by the ministry.
But how did the savior of the wizarding world find himself imprisoned by those he had fought and sacrificed everything, even his life to save? For over seven years Harry Potter had believed that Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, were his best friends - his only friends really - they had been on many adventures over the years that had threatened not only serious injury but even their very lives to protect the students of Hogwarts and the wizarding world at large. However, Ron and Hermione now claimed that they had defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and as no-one had seen Harry’s defeat of Lord Voldemort they were believed and proclaimed saviors and champions to the Wizarding World.
It was after this betrayal that Harry began to realize just how alone he truly was in the world. His godfather, Sirius Black was dead, killed in the final weeks of Harry’s fifth year, as too was Remus Lupin, the last of the Marauders and his new wife Nymphadora Tonks. Their fifteen month old son, Teddy, Harry’s godson was now in the custody of his grandmother, Andromeda. Andromeda was one of the few people to stand by Harry since his arrest. Though the loss of her husband, daughter and son-in-law during the war had taken its toll on her, she now looked much older than when Harry had first met her, the loss of her loved ones had truly aged her well before her time.
Harry had begun to wonder if others had betrayed him. He began to examine his life and Harry soon realized that his entire life had been manipulated by others until he had killed Voldemort, the Philosopher’s Stone, Slytherin’s Chamber of Secrets and the Goblet of Fire had all been tests. The Battle in the Department of Mysteries, the battle in which Sirius lost his life, would never have happened if Dumbledore had not insisted in keeping Harry in the dark about the war.
Of course Harry was never supposed to live to see the end of the war, Dumbledore had never intended for Harry to survive into adulthood, he was meant to die fighting and when he died the last tie holding Lord Voldemort to the realm of the living would be broken. During his captivity, Harry had plenty of time to wonder exactly how many people had betrayed him and how he had been manipulated and lied to by so many of his so-called friends and family while he awaited his trial. Apparently Harry was too powerful, too unstable, read uncontrollable, to be allowed to go free and many believed he was turning dark; they claimed “power corrupts” and cited many of his actions as proof of his leanings to the dark side. ‘He speaks Parseltongue,’ they claimed ‘He was the Dark Lord’s equal’ ‘he has used the unforgiveables’ on and on they continued proclaiming him dark, evil and enemy to witches and wizards everywhere. While they let their fear talk Harry began to imagine his revenge on those who betrayed him, the changes he would have made if he had known eight years ago where his future would lead to.
Harry had tried hard to escape, however he was trapped behind dozens of wards and by the rune bands they had placed on him during his arrest to suppress his magic, he could not even transform into his animagus form and the ministry ensured he was always guarded by a dementor which brought forth his darkest memories and emotions. However Harry had noticed that the dementor’s no longer affected him as they once had, true the still raised his dark memories, but he now had so many and had lived with these dark memories for so long that while not unaffected, his mind was still able to function in the presence of the dementors, they were no longer his biggest weakness.
Harry was well aware of the fact that his trial would be a farce, too many people in positions of power felt threatened by him and his power, both magical and political, while others were just lemmings following the will of the Ministry of Magic, he would most likely, if he was lucky, spend the rest of his life in Azkaban and unlike his godfather, Harry had been forced to register his animagus form and not even the British Ministry of Magic was stupid enough to forget the anti-animagus wards on the cell of a registered animagus. Even that small freedom would be denied him.
Strangely enough Harry’s only welcome visitors, beside Andromeda, had been the Malfoy family; they were among his only supporters and Harry had begun to wonder if he should not have just left the wizarding world to Voldemort and fled to some foreign country on the other side of the world to spend the rest of his life perfecting his tan on a beautiful beach, away from wizarding Britain and the liars, traitors, manipulative bastards, and the thousands of mindless sheeple who filled its population.
The days passed as Harry contemplated what he could have done differently, and as his trial grew closer, he received less favorable visitors in the form of Weasley and Granger, as Harry now thought of them, however these people were strangers and nothing like the friends he thought he had shared his years with at Hogwarts. The youngest Weasley son was a cruel and self-absorbed jerk although no more intelligent than before, while Hermione was a blood-thirsty know-it-all with a jealous-streak a mile wide. Harry had known since fourth year and the Tri-Wizard tournament that Ron was jealous of his fame and desired to be famous in his own right, but Harry had no idea that Hermione also desired the attention of being renowned for her knowledge and power.
“Famous Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived-Once” Weasley sneered, “this is your end you know? The minister has kindly promised us that you'll never see the light of day again. After all you are dark and evil, if we let you be you would be a worse threat than You-Know-Who.”
“Do you know what the worst part was; it was pretending to be your friend for all these years, you constantly put us in danger, nearly killing us, and even though we were compensated each and every time, we hated it, we hated you.” Granger's voice had a cruel undertone that Harry had never heard in it before. Their taunting continued for several minutes before they left, laughing and discussing their plans for what remained of Harry’s inheritance.
Even Dumbledore had visited and when Harry asked why he had refused to speak on his behalf Dumbledore had merely smiled at him and said that Harry’s destruction was for the 'Greater Good'. But it was what Harry heard him mumble as he left that sealed Harry’s hate of the light-side, Dumbledore seemed to be oblivious to Harry and the rest of the prisoners as he reminisced about how well his plans had come to fruition. Harry had arrived at Hogwarts as the small abused child and had almost immediately fallen into the fold of the Weasley’s one of his most ardent follower’s, yes Sirius’ escape from Azkaban had put a crimp in the plans, but soon he was dealt with. Other plans had been revealed during his self-congratulating, including the binds that he had placed on Harry’s magic. Harry was absolutely furious.
In the days Harry spent as a prisoner of the Ministry his view of the world had started to change, perhaps Voldemort had been the lesser evil as this train of thoughts continued he came to, what was good and what was evil? Who determined which was which? As his trial drew closer Harry began to feel hopeless knowing that there was no future for him in the wizarding world. The leaders of the light would see to that and he, in his naivety and misplaced loyalty had destroyed the leaders of the dark.
Finally it was the morning of his trial, by this time Harry was near despondent, knowing his life and future was in the hands of a corrupt and fearful ministry. He was brought before the entire Wizengamot for his trial; many had family members who had followed either Voldemort or the Order. Harry barely listened as the charges against him were read, nor to the persecution as they blatantly painted him as dark, and at one point even suggested he was Lord Voldemort’s heir and apprentice. Lucius Malfoy was acting in his defense; Harry tried to ignore the irony of Lucius Malfoy trying to save his life while those of the light aimed to condemn him to hell on earth.
Mere hours later the trial was over and the Wizengamot reconvened to announce their verdict. The minister for magic stood proud as he announced Harry’s sentence,
“Harry Potter, you have been found guilty of conspiracy against the Wizarding World, Sedition, the use of Dark Magic and murder. You are here by sentenced immediately to the Dementor's Kiss.”
The last thing Harry saw before he was faced with the soul-sucking monster that was a dementor was the stoic faces of the Malfoy family, Harry could even swear he saw tears glistening in their eyes. As the Dementor closed in on Harry, its hood lowered and skeletal face revealed as it reached for him, his last thought was why would the Malfoy family cry at his death?