Current music:	Forgiven Not Forgotten ~ The Corrs
Entry tags:	fic, harry potter, what it means

FIC: What It Means.... ~ ...To Know Death ~ PG-13
Title: What It Means...
Author: batsutousai
Beta: magickmaker17
Rating: PG-13/T
Pairings: None
Warnings: Harry-in-Azkaban, betrayal, angst, Dark-but-not-Evil!Harry, Slightly-Too-Powerful-To-Be-Realistic!Harry, character death
Summary: At the end of Fifth Year, things go as planned for some and not for others. When Harry is sent to Azkaban for killing his best friends, who will stand at his side and who will turn their back?

A/N: What to say..... I don't really like this chapter's title, but the only other things I could come up with fit later chapters better. *heavy sigh*

-~/\~-
Chapter Four ~ ...To Know Death
Written: 18/03/08
-~\/~-

The two Aurors weren't quite sure what to do with the scene of a fully aware Harry Potter sharing a cell with the laughing ghost of Ginevra Weasley. They probably would have continued to simply stare, but Ginny had different plans. She went right up to the bars of the cage and said, "Harry's innocent of the crimes laid against him. I was under the Imperius Curse when I testified and Harry was being possessed. His case needs to be reopened immediately," she demanded in her best adult voice.

One of the Aurors turned to the other and said, "Can ghosts testify?"

The Bloody Baron chose that moment to float into the cell. "Of course they can, though it's a rare thing. Ghosts are the best witnesses, since wizards among the living can't mess with their minds." He paused to stare at the two men while they stared back at him, mouths open. "Why aren't you contacting the Minister?" the Baron demanded when the two didn't move for almost a minute.

As one, the two Aurors fled.

Harry gave the three ghosts and the poltergeist a measuring look. "How long did you have this planned?"

"We didn't," the Baron replied coolly. "Peeves saw a chance to create mass chaos and went for it. I'm just here to make sure he doesn't go too overboard." Ginny and Luna nodded while Peeves cackled madly and spun around in the air.

Harry groaned and knocked his head back against the wall. "What am I going to do with you, Peeves?"

"Peevesy too much fun to pass on," Peeves offered, then cackled again and zoomed away.

Harry muttered some choice words under his breath.

Luna smiled. "Your mother says you need to watch your mouth. Ronald says you should probably go along with this for now and see where it goes. Hermione agrees and adds that if they turn on you again, you can just go have a vacation in America or Africa."

Harry sighed in defeat. "Alright, alright. I'll see this through."

Luna smiled while Ginny ran forward and gave Harry a chilly hug, which he didn't really mind.

The Baron drifted closer. "I lied a bit, by the way."

"Oh?" Harry cocked an eyebrow at the ghost who'd become something of a mentor in the past few months.

The Baron nodded. "Voldemort can still silence Ginevra if he has a Necromancer on his side who would be willing to exorcise her or order her to do their bidding."

Harry narrowed his eyes. Voldemort had dabbled in Necromancy, he knew, but the man didn't know much about ghosts, nor, really, did he care for them. He wouldn't put it past the snake-bastard to have learned how to exorcise ghosts just so he didn't have to deal with them in the older manors he stayed at. "Is there any way I, as a Necromancer, can keep that from happening?" he asked of the Baron, then turned to Luna to include her in the question. Luna's connection to death had been nowhere as impressive as Harry's when she'd been alive, but he usually trusted her to know more than she could have used.

The Baron shrugged – he had no clue – but Luna smiled. "You have to make her yours. It's a quick ritual that, using your magic and blood, binds her spirit to you until such a time as you deem fit to let her go."

Harry nodded. "Baron, can you play look-out? Maybe get Peeves involved? I want this done now."

The Baron nodded. "I will watch for them and use Peeves as a distraction if needed. How long will you require?"

Luna frowned thoughtfully. "Give us seven minutes. The ritual should only take five, but..."

The Baron smiled coldly. "I understand. You have seven minutes." Then he floated from the cell.

Harry turned to Luna. "Tell me what to do."

Luna swallowed and glanced at Ginny. The corporeal ghost looked just as determined as Harry did. "Right. Harry, conjure a knife or find something sharp and outline a quick circle in your blood. Ginny, you need to stand inside that circle." Harry and Ginny both moved quickly to do as the dead Necromancer said. Once done with the circle, Harry turned back to Luna. The girl took a deep breath, then said, "We don't have time to teach you the runes you need to add to the circle or the words you need to chant. May I join with you to help you? It's kind of a form of possession..."

Harry looked at Ginny, who floated nervously in the circle. Taking a fortifying breath, he nodded to Luna. "Do it."

Luna floated over and lined her body up with Harry's. After a moment, Harry felt her reaching for the control of his body and, with a mental grimace, handed it over. If anyone other than Luna had asked this of him, he probably would have turned them down flat. But Luna had never proven herself to be unworthy of his trust.

Harry felt the same detachment as five years ago as he watched Luna make runes in his blood on the outside of the blood circle. After a moment, he felt his hands return to him and realized that he would have to cast the magic himself or Ginny wouldn't be tied to him. Possession only let you use the hosts' magic to a certain extent. If Luna had done the casting, even with Harry's body, the spell would recognize the magic as belonging to Luna. It was complicated, but made some sort of twisted sense to someone, Harry was sure.

Luna ran him quickly though a mental 'How to' of the hand movements he would need to make – at least the ritual didn't require a wand and Harry's minor wandless abilities would suffice. Once he was certain he had the movements down, he gave a mental nod. Luna started chanting while he moved his hand in the correct pattern and focused his magic to connect with Ginny.

Almost four solid minutes of spell casting later, Harry felt control over his whole body return. Not wasting any time, he cast a wandless and imperfect spell to clean up the blood circle, then cast another to ensure it was as gone as he could make it. Then he knelt next to where Ginny was leaning over painfully. "Are you okay?"

Ginny glanced up and him and smiled. "Yeah. Give me a moment."

Harry nodded and settled himself on the floor next to her, hoping they looked like they were merely talking to anyone who might stop outside the cell. Luna floated off to tell the Baron that he could let the Aurors over.

Ginny had regained her composure by the time the two Aurors and the Baron returned with Minister Scrimgeour and Dumbledore. Neither of the two powerful men looked pleased to be there, and Dumbledore kept shooting the Bloody Baron suspicious looks.

Ginny floated up and over to the cell door while Harry stood and took up a leaning position against the wall with a blank look on his face. Ginny smiled faintly at the group on the other side of the cage. "Headmaster, Minister."

"Miss Weasley," Dumbledore replied, eyes darting over to Harry. "May I ask why you didn't pass on with the rest of your family?"

"More-so, why you would wish to defend your torturer?" Scrimgeour added harshly.

Ginny frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "Harry didn't torture me, Voldemort did. He possessed Harry with some help from Umbridge and Malfoy and made him kill Luna and Ron and Hermione and then torture me."

Dumbledore shot Harry a considering look even as Scrimgeour said, "You testified differently at the trial."

"Does the Imperius Curse ring any bells?" Ginny hissed, her Weasley temper coming to bear as her patience ran out.

Harry pushed himself off the wall and moved easily over to the bars. "Ginny, calm down. Losing your temper won't help anyone."

Ginny huffed. "Not my fault they're idiots."

Harry's lips twitched. "No, I suppose not." The Baron smirked proudly while the two Aurors gaped at Harry like he'd just grown another head and Scrimgeour blinked at the two in the cell dumbly.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Mr Potter, is this true?"

Harry gave the old wizard a quick once-over, then nodded. "What Ginny says is true. Umbridge hit me with something on our way into the forest that night and when Malfoy – Lucius, to clarify – said the trigger phrase, Voldemort had himself a free pass into my head and took control."

"Why would You-Know-Who want you to kill your friends?" one of the Aurors asked.

Realization hit Dumbledore like a sledgehammer. "The prophecy..."

" 'One must die at the hand of the other'," Harry agreed, his eyes dark. When Dumbledore looked surprised, he added, "Oh, I know the whole thing. Voldemort gave Lucius the prophecy sphere so it could be passed on to him. He was quite happy to share the bloody thing with me as I sat rotting here in Azkaban."

"Between the visions and the dementors and Harry thinking it was all his fault, it's no wonder he went a little insane," Luna muttered from behind Dumbledore.

"Oh, Harry...." Ginny whispered tearfully even as Harry shot Luna a silencing look.

"Getting Potter out of the way was in Voldemort's best interest," the Bloody Baron growled, coming around to stand next to Harry. "Everyone knows how badly the dementors affect him, and if he dies here, it only means that Voldemort wins."

Ginny wiped at silvery tears. "Even when Harry had his wand pointed at us in the Department of Mysteries we knew that he would never hurt one of us. No matter how moody or angry he got, he would never have acted so cold to us. We're family. We – Luna, Ron, Hermione, Neville and I – knew that back then and we tried to help him, but we couldn't. We were just kids. Sirius and Professor Lupin never stopped believing in Harry, and they didn’t know Harry half as well as my family or you, Headmaster. Harry says my family was too close to the tragedy to look past the surface, but what's your excuse?"

"Ginny..." Harry sighed and met the tired eyes of Albus Dumbledore, then looked over at the grim-faced Scrimgeour. "Look. Ginny can't move on until I'm free of Azkaban – the danger of owing me a life-debt, I suppose. I don't care myself, whether I'm in or out – the public is a fickle creature and at least here I'm mostly at peace and safe from Voldemort – but Ginny's eternal soul, as it were, rests on my freedom. I've hurt her enough in her life; if you won't let me out the easy way, then I'll find another way out."

"We'll just capture you again," one of the Aurors said haughtily.

Harry turned chilled green eyes on the Auror. "You're in the middle of a war, idiot. If I escape, the last thing you'll be worrying about is hunting me down."

"Actually," the Baron commented cheerfully, "if you were to escape, Voldemort would probably focus on finding and killing you, rather than demolishing the wizarding world."

"Delightful," Harry shot back dryly. "Make sure they write on my tombstone that I was just a way to get Voldemort side-tracked, won't you?"

"I'll do my best," the Baron agreed with a somber expression.

Harry rolled his eyes

Scrimgeour cleared his throat and everyone looked at him. "Mr Potter, I will have your case re-opened in light of conflicting evidence. Expect to be moved to Auror Headquarters within the next twenty-four hours."

"Surely we can move him now?" Dumbledore asked, eyes twinkling.

"Headquarters would go ballistic," Scrimgeour replied. "Twenty-four hours."

Harry shrugged. "Time is of no importance to me," he said. "I've already been in here for five years; what's another day? I'm going to take a nap." He turned and walked over to the small pile of rags that acted as his bed and laid down on it.

It took the crowd outside his cell a while to disperse. The Baron got bored with all the staring after a while and floated off to find Peeves while Ginny and Luna glanced at each other, then floated over to take up guard positions next to their living friend.

As soon as the other living people were gone, Harry sat up and looked to where Peeves and the Baron were slipping into the cell. "Peeves? Could you see that my trunk makes its way to somewhere safe?"

"Peevesy on it," Peeves said with a salute, then left.

Harry nodded to the Baron. "Could you let Sir Nick know what's happening and have him inform Remus and Sirius?"

"I will. Then I will return here to help keep an eye on you and Miss Weasley. Don't fall asleep until I return."

"Right." As the Baron left, Harry turned to Ginny and Luna with a tired smile. "So, heard any good jokes lately?"

-~/^\~-

Harry Potter, the Aurors of the Ministry soon found out, had a strange tendency to attract the attention and companionship of ghosts. By the time of his trial, he'd attracted not only the two Hogwarts House ghosts, the poltergeist and Ginny Weasley, but also another six ghosts that had either been haunting Azkaban or the Auror Headquarters. Since more than one of the gathered ghosts was known to be violent towards anyone that approached it, the Aurors were quite worried about approaching the Ministry cell that Harry had been moved to four hours after Scrimgeour had left Azkaban.

Tonks, unlike her fellow Aurors, wasn't particularly afraid of the ghosts, so she approached the cell calmly. "Wotcher, Harry. Ginny."

"Tonks!" Ginny called happily and moved to hug her Auror friend before remembering she was a ghost and touching Tonks would only make the other witch cold.

Harry and the old dead Auror he'd been talking to watched as Tonks' smile turned sad when faced with Ginny. "At least they can't hurt you anymore, right?" the metamorphmagus said.

Ginny's smile turned sad as well. "Physically, no. Emotionally?" She glanced back at Harry.

Harry sighed and walked over to the bars of his new cell. "What can I do for you, Tonks?"

"Well, mate, you could ask all your ghost friends to leave or simply file into the courtroom in an orderly fashion. The other Aurors are shaking in their boots at the sight of so many ghosts," Tonks reported in a professional voice.

Harry blinked, then turned back to his various dead followers. "You heard her. Shoo!"

The ghosts fled like a flock of birds startled into flight. Sir Nick half-dragged the Baron out of the cell and towards the courtroom with a wave good-bye. Peeves gleefully bounced next to Harry, Ginny and the mostly invisible Luna while Tonks shook her head in amusement.

"Teach me that trick, Harry?" Tonks asked.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know how I do it, I just do. Peeves, remember to behave yourself in the courtroom."

Peeves turned upside-down in mid air. "Peevesy not be causing trouble in the courtroom. Promise," he said with a touch of seriousness that left Tonks staring.

Harry merely nodded. "Good. Keep it that way. Are you coming in with us, or going to sit with the Baron?"

"Peevesy stay with Potty and Weaslet."

Harry shrugged again and smiled at Tonks. "Lead on, ma'am."

Tonks made a face, but unlocked his cell and let him out of the room and down to the courtrooms. On the way, several Aurors fell in beside or behind the strange party.

Once in the courtroom, Harry calmly settled himself in the chair in the centre of the room and said nothing as the chains sprang to life around his arms. Tonks offered him an apologetic look and he shrugged in return. He was still considered a dangerous criminal until he was proven innocent in the court.

Luna floated up next to Harry's chair. "Two newer Death Eaters are here with a Necromancer. The Necromancer is weaker with ghosts than you are; her specialty is summonings. If she makes a try for Ginny, we'll be fine."

Harry nodded and bowed his head to better hide his whispered response from anyone watching him. "Can she see you? And will any of the other ghosts have trouble with her?"

"She can only see me if I try very hard to let her. As for the others? Those here are keeping an eye on her, but she shouldn't try anything against them unless they try and help you in the trial, and she's not strong enough for Peeves."

Harry nodded and returned to the trial when Scrimgeour called for attention.

The trial was almost as much a sham as Harry's original one. Most of the members of the Wizengamot had decided previous to the trial that Harry was innocent – the simple fact that Ginny had refused to pass on was proof of that – and all but one of the rest had voted for Harry's innocence by the end. The one who didn't was Dolores Umbridge, and Ginny's claims that the woman was part of the plot to put Harry in Azkaban pretty much nullified her right to vote, pending her own trial.

Twice during the trial, Harry felt Death magic aimed at Ginny. It was weaker than his own, so the magic simply bounced off the ghost, but Ginny winced every time it happened and Luna tensed each time the Necromancer shifted.

Once freed of the chains, Harry stood and met the other Necromancer's eyes coldly. The woman was small and pale, with greying hair, pale blue eyes and more wrinkles than Dumbledore. She shivered when she met Harry's gaze, then inclined her head, wordlessly admitting her defeat. Harry nodded in reply, then followed Tonks out of the courtroom. He didn't like that the woman had been there to send Ginny on, but he could respect the woman's talents. She also didn't have the Dark Mark, which likely meant she had just been hired at the last minute.

Once all his papers had been filed with the Ministry and he was once again a normal citizen, Harry headed to the atrium to leave. Waiting for him by the elevators was Dumbledore, with his eyes twinkling. Beyond him, Remus and Sirius stood, watching the old man warily.

Harry stopped in front of the man, his group of Hogwarts ghosts, Peeves, Luna and Ginny fanning out around him with varying degrees of frowns marring their faces. "What can I do for you, Professor?" Harry asked the old wizard evenly.

Dumbledore smiled. "I was wondering if you were interested in returning to Hogwarts to complete your education, my dear boy?"

Harry frowned. "Is that even allowed?"

"There's nothing in the rules that say you can't return," Dumbledore replied cheerfully. "And it would be wrong of me to leave you to face Tom with an incomplete education."

Harry sneered. "You should have thought about that before you let them sentence me to Azkaban, sir," he spat. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to live with people who believed in me the entire time." He pushed passed the older wizard and stepped easily over to where Remus and Sirius were.

Sirius immediately enveloped Harry in a hug while Remus ruffled the young man's hair. "Oh, Prongslet, I'm so glad you're finally out of there!"

"Thanks, Sirius. Remus." Harry slipped out of Sirius' embrace. "You're sure it's okay if I stay at your place?"

"James and Lily would never forgive us if we left you on your own after five years in Azkaban," Sirius replied vehemently.

"Quite true," Luna agreed.

Harry smiled. "Let's go, then. The ghosts will catch up in their own time, I'm sure."

The Baron and Sir Nick nodded agreement to the statement, while Ginny smiled and Peeves cackled. Luna shrugged. "Ginny and I are tied to you. We'll probably join you immediately."

Harry nodded, seemingly to himself, and allowed Sirius to side-along apparate him to the cottage he and Remus shared in the woods. As Luna and Ginny appeared next to them, Sirius opened his arms wide and said, "Welcome to Cottage Freedom."

Harry couldn't help but laugh at that.

-

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A/N: You know the drill. Tell me your thoughts.
~Bats

Next Chapter: ...To Touch Freedom (April 17th - that's magickmaker17's birthday!)