Repost date: 6/10/05

Chapter 1: Condemn

After his courageous part in locking away the most wanted man on the planet, he had become an instant hero. Hogwarts worshipped him; he had received the Quidditch captaincy, countless points for Gryffindor and was even given leeway on marks, got O’s when he clearly deserved A’s… he obviously lacked the intelligence; however in the world today, Ron Weasley could do no wrong. Although Ron was technically entering 6th year on September the 1st, he was receiving special training and had, of course, immediately been re-granted the Prefect status.

The Aurors had recruited him and started him on basic training, so that as soon as he was out of Hogwarts he could join. He had even been given an Order of Merlin, 1st class, for his brave efforts.

Hermione Granger didn’t have it bad either. Everyone knew about how she had exploded at the thin, black haired boy. She too had her own Order of Merlin. Ron had decided to simply become Hermione’s boyfriend. He had persuaded her that they belonged together, that they were the heroes now. And Hermione was too distraught to argue at the time. She was working towards being a Professor, and had also been receiving special training, although she unlike Ron, had no trouble with the work. She was the Gryffindor prefect, of course, and was top of the list for Head Girl-ship.

Ginny Weasley was the one that had equally gained most and lost most in that day. She too had gotten the Order of Merlin 1st class, the glory and fame. But the rest was revealed on the day of the ‘trial’. Something that no one would ever forget…

Fudge had demanded that Potter receive no trial, as he was ‘unworthy’ to be in the presence of respected people. Just like Sirius Black, they were condemning him, innocent and without a fair shot to prove said innocence. Instead of a trial, there was a bit of a ‘gathering’ just as he was about to be shipped off to Azkaban. It had gone a bit like:

“You tortured him, Potter. You tortured Percy Weasley to almost the brink of insanity. It’s a miracle he is alive today! For this, you will be EXECUTED!” Fudge had never looked as gleeful as he did right now.

Harry Potter was going to be executed at the age of 15. How fucking delightful.

Percy, who had been looking extremely smug up to this point, now suddenly looked nervous. He leaned over and muttered something in Fudge’s ear, as inconspicuous as possible.

“That is to say, execution is what you deserve. Unfortunately for me and the rest of the world, minors such as yourself are protected from execution. Therefore I herby declare that Harry James Potter, just short of 16, will be sent to death row in Azkaban,” Fudge declared, covering his blunder up quickly.

Percy must have had orders form Voldemort to keep him alive for the time being. And of course, if Fudge had executed him, he would have been expelled from his seat as Minister.

“I’M INNOCENT! IT’S HIM! HE’S A DEATH EATER!” Harry yelled desperately, pointing at Percy.

“HOW DARE YOU, YOU INTOLERABLE SCUM! YOU STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM MY FAMILY! TO THINK THAT I LET MY DEAR RON BEFRIEND YOU, I SHOULD HAVE FORBIDDEN HIM FROM YOU, DEATH EATER! HOW DARE YOU ENTER OUR LFIE AND FAMILY, TREATING YOURSELF AS AN EQUAL MEMBER!” Molly went on, expelling him from the Weasley family, which he had practically become a member of prior to his arrest.

Then Ron began. Fudge was enjoying the show way too much as Ron, at the top of his lungs, described how dark and evil Harry was and how he deserved to die. Pretty standard stuff which hurt Harry, but he refused to show it.

The final straw however, was when Ron said that it was Harry’s fault that Sirius died.

“THAT’S TOTAL BULLSHIT, YOU BASTARD. I TRUSTED YOU RON, I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY BEST FRIEND; YOU FUCKING JERK, I HATE YOU. ARE YOU GOING TO LET YOUR PETTY JEALOUSY GET ME LOCKED UP FOR A CRIME I DID NOT COMMIT? HUH? HUH?” Harry totally split and after this lot of phrases, carried on, cursing Ron’s name to eternal hell, and so forth.

“See what I mean? Violent and dark,” Ron motioned to Harry carelessly, a glint in his eyes. Harry couldn’t believe he was seeing this. Enough was enough.

He finished, only to be replaced by Hermione and her equally full-of-total-bullshit speech. She was about to step down, but suddenly it seemed like a light went off above her head and she struck him where it hurt the most, as proven after his fit at Ron.

“Harry James POTTER, HOW COULD YOU RUIN THE LIVES OF THOSE INNOCENTS? HOW COULD YOU, I HATE YOU! YOU-YOU… YOU’RE SICK! YOU’RE AS BAD AS VOLDEMORT HIMSELF. POTTER, IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT THAT SIRIUS DIED TOO! DIDN’T HE MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU? YOUR FATHER’S BEST FRIEND? HOW COULD YOU JUST JOIN THE MAN THAT KILLED OFF YOUR PARENTS?” Hermione screeched.

Although her words hurt him, Harry couldn’t help but hope Hermione would figure it out; Harry wouldn’t join the sick bastard that killed his parents.

However, Hermione was subsided and said no more. But it was not the end of this silence, as Ginny Weasley’s high pitched and bloody annoying voice cut in, throwing accusations left, right and centre.

“Harry, I-” she wasn’t screaming, like the rest. Well, not to start off with; to start off with, she was sobbing, which was just as annoying.

“I loved you Harry Potter, we could have had a future together. We could have- we… I hate you. I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU; we trusted you-”

And so it went. Harry tuned out after the first half minute. Contrary to what the audience seemed to think, he didn’t actually enjoy being verbally abused with total bullshit coming from the mouths of his former friends.

It seemed as though the whole audience wanted a go at him. Molly Weasley had another turn, as did Dumbledore, and of course Remus Lupin, whose words hurt the most.

“You’re an embarrassment to your parents, and an embarrassment to Sirius,” Remus had said. Well, obviously, in much harsher terms, but it was all the same.

However, the sight he saw next shattered Harry.

Ron and Hermione were holding his most valued possessions; the photo album of his parents, his owl and the broom he had received from Sirius. In one fluid motion, they simultaneously said the spell and flames shot out of their wands. The photo album burned to ashes in a matter of seconds, as did his Firebolt.

It was Ginny that mercilessly snapped Hedwig’s neck, even as Harry cried out no.

“If I had my hands on your father’s cloak and that map, they’d be joining the ashes,” Ron bellowed. Harry felt the tears well up in his eyes; the last memories he had, especially of his parents and of Sirius, were gone.

Harry collapsed, then and there. He simply could not take it anymore. Ignoring the flames, he reached into the fire furiously, feeling his skin burn and melt at the contact, but intent on rescuing at least one photo. The only one he grasped was one that was half ripped and burnt around the edges. He grabbed it before Weasley could have another Incendio fit at it and held it to his heart in a death grip.

“YOU CAN’T TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME!” he yelled insanely, clutching it so tightly that his fingers were turning white.

The rest was a blur to Harry. He briefly remembered Dementors coming in to take him away.

“I hope you will all remember this day. You idiots just condemned yourself; I am innocent. You will realize this eventually, probably about the time when Voldemort is ruling your pathetic world. Then you’ll come crawling back… and I won’t be there,” Harry announced, holding his head up as much as he could with Dementors on his arms. He had been mostly silent up to there, knowing that it would piss them off that much more if he didn’t retaliate. But this had to be said.

The disbelief, shock and anger in him were overflowing, but he forced them all down.

“Do you have any last wishes before your death?” Fudge sneered nastily, totally ignoring Harry’s little speech and instead just throwing him looks of intense distaste.

“Yes, I do. I wish to be exempt from this world of yours; Magical Britain. I declare myself no longer part of your community or your way of life,” Harry proclaimed. There was a hush. The fact that Harry expressed a wish to be denounced as a wizard of Britain’s Magic community was quite a big deal.

“Is that all, Potter? Because let me assure you, we couldn’t be more glad to be rid of you!” Fudge cackled.

“Yeah, just one more thing,” Harry took a deep breath; if he was going to be locked up and put on death row, he may as well have his last moment of fun.

He spat right in the centre of Fudge’s pompous face, “Fuck you.”

Fudge was so shocked that he didn’t move for a moment, which gave Harry the opportunity to punch Dumbledore’s senile face right in the centre, breaking his overly large and disfigured nose and also removing that insufferable twinkle in his eyes.

It was probably Harry’s finest moment, should he reflect on his , Fudge had regained what the idiot thought of as ‘control’, and demanded that Harry be taken away immediately.

So he was. Harry Potter, hero of the light, the Boy-who-lived, and ultimately, traitor of the light, convicted of a crime he did not do, sentenced to death row on Azkaban. The trip to Azkaban was pure hell. Harry didn’t bother struggling; he didn’t have the energy. The recent events had totally drained him and basically broken his spirit. Harry just didn’t feel he had anything to live for anymore. So why bother trying to resist the shadows of death?

It just didn’t seem to register; the jeering faces of his so called friends as four Ministry Personnel accompanied by three Dementors dragged him away after he made his last wish. Spitting on Fudge was definitely a highlight, as well as punching Dumbledore, but in reality didn’t do much to cheer Harry up.

No, he stowed that away for later on, when he would be declared innocent. Then he’d put said memory in a Pensieve and use it to warm up on cold, winter nights.

Coming soon, Chapter 2: Visions, in which Harry sees stuff and spirals into depression

This chapter is intentionally a subtle mockery of betrayed!Harry stories all around this site. Everyone has the same ideas (destroying Harry’s possessions, etc.), making his trial nonexistent or so ludicrously unfair that it would never happen. But hey, it’s fan fiction. What are we to do? Anyway, a tribute to all great betrayed!Harry writers who used these ideas and pulled it off better than I did. I salute you.

Time line: approximation
- Department of Mysteries battle: 21st of June, 1995.
- Harry is framed: 22nd of June, 1995.
- The last day of term in Hogwarts: 24th of June, 1995
- Trial date: 26th of June, 1995.
- Harry is carted off to Azkaban the same day. That may clear up confusion; Harry is 15 when he goes on death row, hence the title.

I have a long time grudge against this site (long story), however I will continue posting here for as long as I feel like it. I will also start posting (most likely) at the Unknowable Room, which can be found at unknowableroom (dot) org (without spaces), when the site is up and running. Thanks for suggestions of other places to post, I do have an account in a few other sites, but will most likely not bother. Too much work for me, not enough time.

Thank you very much to everyone who reviewed, I was really quite devastated when this story was deleted because it was the most popular I had written. Thanks extra to everyone who encouraged me not to give up (Goldilocks31890... hehehe). Anyway, obviously, I can’t do personal replies, but thanks to everyone. Important questions or comments will of course, be covered so…

Why would Harry be let free to stumble the streets of Hogsmeade and such when they had just caught him red handed? (Ishtar1958)

This problem was covered in the plot outline, but slipped my mind when I was writing. Harry was taken into holding of sorts by the Order, but in a blind moment, made a run for it. They knew he couldn’t go very far because by then, news had spread of Harry’s ‘betrayal’. He stumbled down Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, was shunned, spent the night at Diagon Alley and was found there by the Order and taken away again. Simple as that. Thanks.

Have you thought about making a Yahoo!Group? (cucullen)

I had briefly indulged in the idea, but to be honest, I don’t have the time to keep up a Yahoo! Group, nor am I that knowledgeable on the matter. It’s a good thought, but I’m stressed out as it is. Thanks.

It says FIN at the start of the summary... is your story complete? (yvonne)

Oops, that’s gone now, it was an error. No, it’s not complete. When I’m planning out my summary, I put FIN at the start so that I include it in the word count of 225 characters, or whatever it is. Just makes it easier when it is finished, I don’t have to redo the summary to fit it in. Thanks