This fic will be a bit slow since, Harry's past is explored bit by bit.
And all the characters in the story belong to JKR.
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Harry Potter And The Broken Wizard | ||||||
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Category: Pre-OotP, Post-OotP, Alternate Universe Characters:Albus Dumbledore, Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Minerva McGonagall, Neville Longbottom, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Ron Weasley, Severus Snape Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, General, Tragedy Warnings: Death, Mental Abuse, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Negative Alcohol Use, Spouse/Adult/Child Abuse, Violence Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 14 Summary: Harry's past is slowly breaking him, with the resurrection of Voldemort the future looks even more dark. Will Harry succumb or will help come from friends he never expected to have? Sirius dead in third year. Neville is the BWL. Voldemort didn't keep all his hopes on just Horcruxes. How will our heroes solve this new mystery? h/g r/hr Hitcount: Story Total: 4375; Chapter Total: 689 Author's Notes: |
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Author's note: I am not making any money from this story and the characters solely belong to JKR. A great thanks to FGHermione, for her wonderful beta work, and advice. _______________________________ ______ It was yet another hot summer day at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London. A large dark and gloomy mansion, it was the polar opposite to the bright, sunny day surrounding the rest of the district; and if you could see it, you would declare that the location belonged in a fantasy world in which dark wizards would inhabit it. However, you could not see this abode, as it just so happened that some of the occupants, all of which were magical, had hidden the residence from the peering eyes of all those who had not been informed of the secret location. That day of Ginny Weasley's life couldn't have been more miserable. She was helping with the cleaning of this- whatever you’d want to call it; as she refused to call this manor with house-elf heads mounted to the walls and cursed objects and other sinister things, a house, and on top of that, she had to endure the incessant bickering of her prat of a brother (who also happened to be her twin) and her best friend. Ron Weasley, who was long and gangly with freckles splattered across his face, and Hermione Granger, whose bushy hair was tied in a ponytail, were bickering again over SPEW, an organization that Hermione had started in their fourth year. Impatiently tucking an errant red hair out of her eyes, she shouted at them. “Shut the bloody hell up!” They both shut up instantly, turning their faces the other way as they started ignoring each other. Something which Ginny knew wouldn't last long. "Dinner is ready, come down you lot,” her mother bellowed from downstairs. It looked like the Order meeting had finally gotten over downstairs. They had been trying to listen in on them numerous times, but their mother had caught them at it. And they had had to endure her scolding for half an hour, which had felt like half a lifetime. The group went downstairs to the kitchen basement after washing themselves. It was slightly less gloomy than the hall above; a cavernous room with rough stone walls. Most of the light was coming from a large fire at the far end of the room. A haze of pipe smoke hung in the air like battle fumes, through which loomed the menacing shapes of heavy iron pots and pans hanging from the dark ceiling. Many chairs had been crammed into the room for the meeting, and a long wooden table stood in the middle of the room, littered with rolls of parchment, goblets, empty wine bottles, and a heap of what appeared to be rags. Ginny’s dad, Arthur Weasley, and her eldest brother, Bill, were talking quietly with their heads together at the end of the table. Tonks, in her favorite bubblegum pink hair was chatting with Professor Lupin, who looked older than his age; his mousy brown hair graying and prominent lines across his face, Mad-Eye Moody looking creepy as always with his gnarled face and finally Molly Weasley, her mother, who had lost some of her weight, worrying over her children since the return of You-Know-Who and the leaving of her… not anymore brother, Percy. As she was about to sit in a chair around the large dining table, she caught the tail end of Lupin's conversation. "I'm worried about him..." Remus was saying to Tonks. He was interrupted by two loud cracks indicating the arrival of her other set of twin brothers, Fred and George; looking identical from head to toe, unlike her and Ron. They had been Apparating around the house ever since they had passed their Apparition test, and had taken to irritating everyone they could; which they always did, trying to create a laugh wherever they could, even in this gloomy atmosphere. She understood what, or rather whom Lupin was talking about- the enigma that was Harry Potter. Harry Potter was a classmate and fellow Gryffindor of Ginny’s. He was quite a loner. She remembered talking to him in her first year, when they had even come close enough to becoming good friends (If only she wasn't stupid enough to trust a diary that wrote back). She thought at the time that it was because of what had happened, or rather what she had done in her first year, but it didn't make sense, since he had given her his support in the aftermath by challenging her to a round of Exploding Snap when everyone was acting as though they didn't know how to act around her. She was grateful to him for that to this day; for treating her normally even when everyone was wondering, whispering and pointing. She didn't want to impose on him when he started to withdraw into himself in their second year. Besides, she also had other things on her mind that year, so she let him be as he wished. But now, outside of school, with not much to keep her occupied, she observed him. He was different here. He would sometimes not come to the place they are living at present(she refused to call it a house) for days, and when he did stay, he spent it mostly with Lupin or with the rest of them cleaning the ghastly building. He didn't talk much with them, but sometimes, he sort of exploded with such a terrible rage, something which she admitted to herself was a bit frightening. He never shouted at Ginny, Ron, or Hermione, though. It was mostly Remus or Tonks (whom he appeared to talk to sometimes.) his ire was directed at. She could still remember him threatening the portrait of Walburga Black (the hag of the house, shouting obscenities at everyone whenever she could.) of what he would do if she even dared to open her mouth again. "FILTHY SCUM, TREACHEROUS BLOOD TRAITORS, HALF BREEDS AND MUDBLOODS BEGONE FROM MY HOUSE! THAT TRAITOROUS PIECE OF SCUM COULDN'T LEAVE US IN PEACE EVEN AFTER HIS DEATH..." And the troll leg stand, the one Tonks always tripped over, had been thrown at her portrait with such a force which would have broken it, if it wasn't for the magical nature of the portrait. "You better keep that stink hole you call a mouth shut and never talk about Sirius again if you want your Noble and Ancient House of Black in all its glory," Harry had said with a calm voice that didn't hide his fury much. "I swear I wouldn't mind watching it burnt down." Everyone could tell he meant it and the portrait had kept its mouth shut till today. Lupin had dragged Harry out of the room, not before he called the bitch… well, bitch. He had disappeared again for a few days, and had become his usual self again, though he was a bit cheery now (must have been threatening the portrait into silence.). "It must be hard for him to be here, where Sirius must have hated all his childhood." Hermione had said one day while we were discussing him. "Not to mention he must have had a rough life, a bit more than rough if you ask me. And Sirius must have given him something he always wanted or something," Ron had said with an unusual insight. She was sure he could see the surprise on their faces. "Yeah he was skin and bones, wasn't he? When he first arrived at Hogwarts, he always stayed at the castle during the holidays." Ginny had added. There was something about him, that dark aura; not malevolent, but dark nonetheless; the way he talked, as though he had seen things that no one should have had to see, as though he was holding his whole world with a thin string which would break at a slight disturbance. She believed that Lupin and Hagrid (with whom Harry was very close, just like with Remus) were the only ones holding him together, and preventing him from falling apart. And he had lost his Godfather two years ago. We didn't talk much about that topic; the summer holidays started the day after his death. We had tried to offer our condolences when it had happened. It was painful to know that an innocent man, someone who had been betrayed and had suffered as no one should, had died. The story of what really happened on that Halloween had finally been revealed. They had been there when Pettigrew was forced out of his Animagus form, which was none other than Ron's former rat, Scabbers. Ginny could only imagine what Harry had gone through, with everyone one feeling relieved that Sirius Black died not knowing the truth. But by the start of the new year, it went back to the past, not forgotten, but not constantly at the forefront of the mind either. Harry had isolated himself even more. Dinner started, and Ginny was jolted out of her reverie. Mum had made stew, which was delicious as always; and everyone was chatting quietly, enjoying their meal. Tonks was entertaining Ginny and Hermione by transforming her nose between mouthfuls. Screwing up her eyes, each time with the same pained expression as always, her nose swelled to a beak like protuberance like Snape's (her greasy git of a professor), shrank into something resembling a button mushroom, and then sprouted a great deal of hair from each nostril. This was a regular mealtime entertainment for them, and after a while, Hermione and Ginny started requesting their favorite noses. "Do that one like a pig snout, Tonks . . ." After everyone had finished dinner, Lupin announced, "Dumbledore thinks you lot should know a bit of what is going on, so you don't believe some half stories you heard and do something you shouldn't.” The teens were astonished to hear that the adults were willing to provide the information that they had been trying to hide from them for so many days. They instinctively looked at Mrs Weasley, who didn't look happy. "Only what you need to know and nothing more," she said in a resigned voice. "Yes, nothing more,” agreed her dad, mostly to mollify her misgivings. Just then, the front door opened and Harry arrived, his hair looking as messy as always, and his eyes the emerald colour which most girls would swoon at. (Not her, though. She just found them attractive.) "Harry," greeted Lupin. "Oh! Hello Remus, don't let me disturb you. Carry on, I will just make myself some hot chocolate and go to bed," he replied, and he did look tired with dark circles under his eyes. Ginny wondered whether Remus would include Harry in the conversation or wait until he went to his room. He chose the first option. "Okay... what do you want to know?" asked Lupin finally. "Where's you-know-who? What's he doing? I've been watching the Muggle news,” Hermione asked, never one to stop herself from gaining knowledge, "and there hasn't been any suspicious activity. Everything is quiet as it is". "That's because there haven't been any suspicious deaths yet," said Moody, "not as far as we know, anyway.... And we know quite a lot." "More than he thinks we do, anyway, said Lupin. "How come he's stopped killing people?" Ron asked. They knew that he had murdered more than once in the last year alone. "Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself at the moment," said Dad. "It would be dangerous for him. His comeback didn't come off quite the way he wanted it to, you see. He messed it up." "Or rather, Neville messed it up for him," said Lupin with a satisfied smile. "How?" Ginny asked perplexedly. "Neville wasn't supposed to survive!" said Bill. "Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But he survived to bear witness." "And the very last person he wanted alerted to his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore," said Lupin. "And Neville made sure Dumbledore knew at once." "Shouldn't Neville deserve to know all this information, though," interrupted Ron. "Dumbledore wanted him to have some peace. Rest assured that he will be informed of this by his grandmother and uncle." "So how has that helped?" Fred asked, bringing the discussion to the main track. "Are you kidding?" said Bill incredulously. "Dumbledore was the only one You-Know-Who was ever scared of!" "Thanks to Neville, Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix about an hour after Voldemort returned," said Bill. "So what's the Order been doing?" said Fred, looking around at them all. "Working as hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans," said Moody in his gruff voice. "How d'you know what his plans are?" George asked quickly. "Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea," said Lupin, "and Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate." "So what does Dumbledore reckon he's planning?" "Well, firstly, he wants to build up his army again," said Lupin. "In the old days he had huge numbers at his command; witches and wizards he'd bullied or bewitched into following him, his faithful Death Eaters, a great variety of Dark creatures. You all know him planning to recruit the giants; well, they'll be just one group he's after. He's certainly not going to try and take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters." "So you're trying to stop him from getting more followers?" "We're doing our best," said Lupin. "How?" "Well, the main thing is to try and convince as many people as possible that You-Know-Who really has returned and to put them on their guard," said Bill. "It's proving tricky, though." "Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore's much cleverer than he is and is a much more powerful wizard. In the early days of his Ministry, he was forever asking Dumbledore for help and advice," said Lupin. "But it seems that he's become fond of power now, and much more confident. He loves being Minister of Magic, and he's managed to convince himself that he's the clever one, and Dumbledore's simply stirring up trouble for the sake of it." "How can he think that?" said Ron angrily. "How can he think Dumbledore would just make it all up ” that Neville would make it all up?" "Because accepting that Voldemort's back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn't had to cope with for nearly fourteen years," said Moody bitterly. "Fudge just can't bring himself to face it. It's so much more comfortable to convince himself Dumbledore's lying to destabilize him." Ginny could observe Harry watching everyone with an amused smile playing on his lips, but he was not looking Moody, whom he always tried to avoid, which she along with Ron and Hermione found odd. "You see, the problem is," continued Lupin. "While the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort, it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place." "What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumor mongering, so most of the Wizarding community are completely unaware anything's happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperius Curse." "But you're telling people, aren't you?" Ginny asked, looking around at Dad, Moody, Bill, Mundungus, Lupin and Tonks. "You're letting people know he's back?" They all smiled humorlessly. "Well, as everyone thinks I'm a mad old paranoid bat who has lost his marbles, I don't think many would believe me". "And I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community," said Lupin. "It's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf." "Tonks and Arthur would lose their jobs at the Ministry if they started shooting their mouths off," said Lupin, "and it's very important for us to have spies inside the Ministry, because you can bet Voldemort will have them." "We've managed to convince a couple of people, though," said dad. "Tonks here, for one ” she was too young to have been in the Order of the Phoenix the last time, and having Aurors on our side is a huge advantage ” Kingsley Shacklebolt's been a real asset too." "But if none of you's putting the news out that You-Know-Who's back ”" Hermione began. "Who said none of us was putting the news out in?" said Moody. "Why d'you think Dumbledore's in such trouble?" "They're trying to discredit him," said Lupin. "Didn't you see the Daily Prophet last week? They reported that he'd been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards because he's getting old and losing his grip; but it's not true, he was voted out by Ministry wizards after he made a speech announcing Voldemort's return. They've demoted him from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot ” that's the Wizard High Court ” and they're talking about taking away his Order of Merlin, First Class, too." "But Dumbledore says he doesn't care what they do as long as they don't take him off the Chocolate Frog cards," said Bill, grinning. "It's no laughing matter," said Mr. Weasley shortly. "If he carries on defying the Ministry like this, he could end up in Azkaban; and the last thing we want is Dumbledore getting locked up. While You-Know-Who knows Dumbledore's out there and wise to what he's up to, he's going to go cautiously for a while. If Dumbledore's out of the way ” well, You-Know-Who will have a clear field." "But if You-Know-Who's trying to recruit more Death Eaters, it's bound to get out that he's come back, isn't it?" Ginny asked desperately. "Voldemort doesn't march up to people's houses and bang on their front doors, Ginny," said Lupin. "He tricks, jinxes, and blackmails them. He's well-practiced at operating in secrecy. In any case, gathering followers is only one thing he's interested in, he's got other plans too, plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed, and he's concentrating on them at the moment." "What's he after apart from followers?" Ron asked swiftly. She thought she saw Moody and Lupin exchange the most fleeting of looks before Moody said, "Stuff he can only get by stealth." When they all continued to look puzzled, Lupin said, "Like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time." "When he was powerful before?" "Yes." "Like what kind of weapon?" said Hermione. "Something worse than the Avada Kedavra ” ?" "That's enough." Mum's voice came from the shadows beside the door. Ginny had forgotten she was there. Her arms were crossed and she looked furious. "I want you in bed, now. All of you," she added, looking around at Fred, George, Ron, and Hermione and Ginny. "You can't boss us ”" Fred began. "Watch me," snarled mum. She was trembling slightly as she looked at Lupin. "You've given them plenty of information. Any more and you might just as well induct them into the Order straightaway." "Why not?" said Ron quickly. "I'll join, I want to join, I want to fight ”" "No." It was not Mum who spoke this time, but Lupin. "The Order is comprised only of overage wizards," he said. "Wizards who have left school," he added, as Fred and George opened their mouths. "There are dangers involved of which you can have no idea, any of you . . . I think Molly's right. We've said enough." From the back, there was a snort and I remembered Harry was there. He was drinking his hot cocoa. "What's funny, boy?" asked Moody, "think this is all some game, do you?" Harry avoided eye contact with Moody as he replied, "Oh, I was laughing about how you're playing them. Did Dumbledore give you the script or have you all crafted it yourself? If you have, then I should've given you a lot more credit than I gave you". Moody was watching him calculatingly, not taking any offence, while Tonks watched the scene unfold with amusement. Ginny couldn't understand what Harry was implying, and took offence that he thought them naive. Fred must've thought the same because he demanded, "What do you mean?". "Just that they didn't really give you any information that you already don't know" he replied. "Aren't I correct, Moody?" And at last, he looked Moody in the eye, as though he knew everyone thought he was avoiding Moody's eye, and want to declare that he wasn’t afraid of his eye in the slightest, nor was he ignoring it. "Gathered enough nerve to look me in the eye now, have you?" retorted Moody. "Sorry if I didn't want to look in at your beautiful face before, Mad-eye,” he said smoothly. Something flickered in his eyes, but it was gone in a moment and his eyes only gave away amusement. "What do you mean, they're giving us information we already know?" asked Hermione. "Harry…" Lupin warned, though half-hearted; he too looked as though he wanted to see what Harry was going on about. Harry ignored him and grinned at Hermione as though he knew she hated not knowing something. "Oh, like you knew what you needed, but in your eagerness to find something from their meetings you didn't try to think about what you know" he said. “Can't you really think why Voldemort-“ everyone flinched and gasped, with the exception of Moody and Lupin “-would want to lie low and what would he do lying low, definitely not playing gobstones, I guess." This brought out a laugh from many, the idea of You-know-who playing gobstones was absurd, and that in itself was an understatement. "And if you think about it, you can tell why gathering more people to believe us is hard. People like to live in their blissful oblivion, the fools,” he said in a matter-of-fact way. "So yeah, they didn't really give you any information except about Voldemort““ everyone flinched again ““seeking something he didn't have last time,” Harry said. It was true; the adults hadn’t really said anything new which they couldn't grasp. "So why don't you enlighten us with your great deduction skill about what we didn't say," asked Moody hotly, but there was a faint edge of anticipation or eagerness, as though he couldn't wait to see some detective work done by a teenage boy. "Do we really have to, Alastor“" began Mum, but Harry cut her off, evidently not wanting to back off from a challenge; though he gave her an apologetic look which seemed to mollify her a bit. Ginny could see that her mum too was waiting for what he had to say. "Voldemort would most probably look for information, and his first priority would be finishing off Neville, which he is finding difficult to do, and making him look like a fool who claims to be the most powerful wizard, but can’t even finish off a toddler or a teenager.” Ginny felt a bit nauseated about how he talked about his classmate’s death in such a matter-of-fact way. "So first, he went to Neville's house, but why would he want to kill him in the first place? Something must be there about Neville that he feared, something so important that he himself went to finish off the business. Dear old Riddle-” this struck Ginny odd, since he spoke as though he had met Tom Riddle before and many don't know his real name. ““fears death above everything. He must have gotten the information that Neville could defeat him, but why would he believe a toddler could kill him when so many skilled witches and wizards couldn't?" "The information must have been solid, or it’s a major possibility that the one who gave the information could be wrong,” Ron said. He had always wanted to become an Auror. Harry smiled, as though enjoying how everyone was joining the dots. George said, "Maybe like a prophecy." One look at dad's face was enough to know that was the answer. "Prophecy..." Hermione said skeptically. Her disbelief in divination was showing clearly. "Muggles don't believe in magic either, and just because we don't like something or don't want it to be true doesn't mean it isn’t,” Harry said. "But professor McGonagall doesn't“ “ "Dumbledore believes them and everyone has their own flaws and that doesn't make them any less genius, it makes them human!” She could remember it perfectly, the quotation similar to that one. Someone had given her a note in the hospital wing after her disastrous first year. A letter which contained something similar to that. Something that had helped her enormously over the years, though she still didn’t know who had given it to her. Hermione had no retort to that answer. "So, they must be guarding this prophecy, but why guard it if he already knows it's content?" "Maybe he doesn't know the whole prophecy, so he wants to learn the full prophecy, to know whether he missed something." Harry beamed at Ginny like a proud teacher, and she couldn't help but smile back at him. "But how does he only know half of it and not full?" asked Ron. At this point, Harry seemed to be deep in thought, as though chasing a thought that was eluding him. But Mum had had enough. She must not have anticipated them coming this far on their own, or Ginny was sure her mum would never have let them have even the tiny information the Order had given them. Her mum was shouting for everyone to get to bed; and they could see it was best to obey. Her mum's shouting served to have snapped everybody, and it was clear that the order hadn't expected them to learn this much either. Moody, who was staring at Harry with shrewdness and appraisal,barked, "Don't tell anyone this information, you can never know who is on which side. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Lupin was smiling slightly in half-exasperation and half-nostalgia, most likely reliving his fond memories, and Tonks was watching him with a wistful look. ”””””””””” ”””””””” AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to Harbinger AU, who pointed out my mistakes and edited the first para of the story. And thanks again to FGHermione for your amazing work. Author's note: I am not making any money from this story and the characters solely belong to JKR. A great thanks to FGHermione, for her wonderful beta work, and advice. _______________________________ _____ |
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