Chapter One: A Shift in Fates

Harry had been in prison for nearly two years now. He didn't know where exactly he was being kept, just that it wasn't Azkaban – which was perfectly fine with him. The lack of dementors, the ministry had refused to stop using them to guard their prison, was the first clue. The second was the lack of windows/bars; Azkaban had tiny cells that were left open and exposed to the cold air and spray of water off the waves. Sometimes entire floors were flooded during the rainy season (even though it always seemed to be the rainy season there). His tiny cell was encased in permanent darkness with no windows to let even candlelight in – and with no wand, he had no way to bring light into his little room. A weaker man might have gone mad trapped inside the darkness for day at a time, but other men hadn't spent their childhoods locked inside a cramped cupboard. Harry liked to think this gave him an advantage over his captors.

He had been arrested from the Burrow by unmarked, hooded figures. The only difference between them and remaining Death Eaters was the lack of masks and their use of non-lethal "light" spells. Their intent had only been to incapacitate him. They hadn't had to at all though, as Hermione, Ron, and Ginny had taken it upon themselves to do that for the hooded people. They had the house to themselves for once and Harry had been planning on telling them about his decision to move abroad and study in France for a while. They had never had the conversation, and he had the distinct feeling that the conversation had never been meant to happen at all. That his once trusted friends had called him over because their family wouldn't be home in time to stop them.

Harry had gleaned that the reason he was here was because the ministry feared him. His captors – he now knew were Unspeakables – had been tasked with finding out how Harry killed five years ago Voldemort; whether he had stolen magic from murdered wizards to do it, or if he had stolen Voldemort's magic. The theories were becoming increasingly ridiculous – but then they had discovered that Harry was unchanged in appearance since the day he had killed Voldemort. No scars stayed on his body, no muscles wasted away, no magic grew weaker. The only thing that changed was the hair atop his head – growing longer and longer due to lack of personal grooming (not by choice mind you). He was quickly becoming a magical anomaly and the Unspeakables were very keen to find out what fueled his continued vitality. But now after years of no results, the Unspeakables patience had worn thin and something bigger was being planned. Something worse than Harry cared to imagine. So when the door to his prison opened to reveal Luna Lovegood – dressed in beautiful white robes with a long chain around her neck – Harry was shocked.

"Luna!" He had never been so sad to see her; so sorry that she had suffered so much and he couldn't have stopped it. He had no idea what was going on outside the hidden chambers beneath the ministry, but Luna's presence made it clear that things had gotten bad.

"Hello Harry Potter." She still spoke in her soft, lilting voice. She still had that faraway look in her eyes that she'd had in school – but somehow it looked like she was barely aware anymore. Like she had drifted away from the mortal plane. The door slid closed behind her as she entered his prison. A soft ball of light was allowed to float inside the room, so that they could see each other. And when the door was finally closed, Luna's eyes lit up with a fire Harry thought lost.

"You must say the Words Harry Potter. The Words are the only way to save you from your fate." She may be clear headed, but her words were just as muddled and difficult to understand as they had ever been. He remembered how she had come into her abilities as a Seer with her majority.

"What's been happening? Why are you dressed like this? What's going on?" He was desperate for news. "Teddy?"

"Andromeda took him out of the country when they arrested you. They've gone to America. He will live a full and happy life with his grandmother, knowing of you and your courage – but only if you say the Words and save yourself."

"What words Luna?" She looked suddenly sick, her face paling to an almost porcelain effect.

"I know their plans – it's why they took me. I Saw what they would do before they even decided to do it. It's pure evil Harry Potter. They have taken the ashes of a phoenix, and with the stolen blood of a unicorn, created a ritual that will bind you to the ministry. You will never die, but any order the minister gives you – no matter how despicable – you'll be forced to obey." Harry felt sick. Hadn't he done enough for them? He wasn't all that more powerful than Ron or Hermione, even Professor Lupin was equal to him in power, but it was him who would be forced to do the ministry's dirty work for the rest of eternity. The Ashes of a Phoenix were magical, and were continued to be as pure as unicorn's blood. To steal both and pervert them into something that would steal a person's life and will – it was indeed pure evil.

"What happened to you?" He needed to know what had happened while he was imprisoned. Perhaps it would give him one last burst of hope, or perhaps it would destroy what little hope he did have.

"The streets are abandoned, the ministry has gone mad with power. Those who support you – or were once your friends have either been imprisoned for Sedition or have left the country. This place is a wasteland." Like Voldemort had never been vanquished. Like he had never even made a difference. "I was handed over to the ministry to be used for my abilities. I have no choice but to do as they order me."

The ritual was used on Luna. Sweet and gentle Luna who had lost so much in the war against Voldemort, but still had kept her innocence. They had ruined her. Harry pulled her in for a hug, and allowed her to cry onto him. He hated the world he had saved for doing this to the only pure person left in the world.

"You can save yourself Harry Potter." She whispered into his ear. "You can save us all."

The door to his cell was opened and Luna ordered out. Perhaps this would be the last time he saw her, perhaps this would be the last he would see of anyone before they took everything he had left.

The next morning he was dragged from his cell and given a warm bath. Stripped naked and touched by wandering hands, they cleaned him and cut his hair – shearing it shorter than he had ever had it before. They gave him a loincloth to keep himself somewhat dignified, and then led him to where the Wizengamot had once been held. The room was nothing like it had once been. Instead of the theatre of seats for residing Lords and Ladies, one large throne had been erected, casting shadows over the audience seats. The ministry had changed drastically. Though perhaps that was what he should have expected from what Luna told him. Where the chain covered chair should have been there was a large pentagram – painted in unicorns blood – and hoops of reshaped gold to tie a prisoner down. In the center of the pentagram was a pile of ashes, just as Luna had told him. This was it, the ritual that would be the end of him. Luna was noticeably absent, but perched atop the throne was Elphias Dodge, a man Harry had thought dead in the war.

"Harry Potter… How are you? I'm sure my Unspeakables treated you well?" Harry didn't deign that with an answer; too busy staring over the assembled crowd. Despite his exposed body, Harry didn't feel self-conscious at all. He was too busy staring at those assembled – hoping that one of them might feel guilty for what they'd done to the world he'd saved for them. Hermione and Ron stood next to the throne, dressed in wealthy robes and bejeweled with beautiful necklaces and broaches. They looked like pet's adorned with their masters most expensive jewels – mere collars and brands to mark them as his. He had never seen the betrayal coming, and that was why he didn't dare to meet their eyes.

"They were quite a surprise to me as well. But, with the promise to be the next minister for magic, and the next head auror, they both played along quite nicely. It's a shame that I couldn't get your pet werewolf's cub, but Andromeda was always rather crafty. But you'll hunt them down for me soon enough, and you won't even need persuasion." Dodge looked smug, and utterly bored at the same time. Like this was his due and he would get whatever he wanted regardless. Harry wanted to make him pay.

The Unspeakables bound him, arms outstretched, to the rings on the ground. The ashes sticking to his damp legs.

"Anything you'd like to say, while I still allow it?" Harry stared at the wall behind the throne, where a good man had once overseen the Wizengamot. Albus Dumbledore's portrait still hung against the wall, tucked behind the giant chair and obscured from view. He portrait was frozen, forced to stare at the atrocity that was being committed before his helpless eyes. And at once Harry knew… he was kneeling in the ashes of the once beautiful Fawkes.

"Albus Dumbledore trusted you. He called you a friend." He began, daring the usurper to challenge his words.

"He was never my friend!" Dodge bellowed, leaning forward in the seat, fingers white against the obsidian throne he occupied. He looked wild, fueled by rage and desperation.

"He was a good man who changed the world with everything he did. He changed the world and made it a better place. And now, like so many before you, you are trying to be better than him. Have more power than him. But if there is one thing I've learned, it's the power of love and generosity and the ability to have mercy."

"Begging now Potter?" Dodge sneered, his face once more composed into a blank mask, but his eyes betrayed his fear. Dodge was afraid of Harry's words, but he had no power to silence him yet.

"No not begging. Not for mercy, anyway. I'm begging for everyone here to remember what you would have lived like under Voldemort," the room gave a massive shudder under the name of the Dark Lord that had been vanquished almost five years ago, "and now think of what is being done here today. Remember that when this man terrorizes you. Remember that when you wish for someone to save you. 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord is born as the seventh month dies.' Remember that. Because you might not be so lucky this time." When Harry had finished talking, he gave one last glance at the audience and then turned to Dodge. The man was smirking; his eyes alight with confidence and surety. But he still looked uncertain and small to Harry. He was a man who thought his time had finally come, but a threat was still lurking behind every corner. He was white as a ghost, smiling through it all.

"Do it!" He commanded. The Unspeakables approached the pentagram, one with a gag to silence him.

"No. Let us hear the hero scream." The chanting began. At first Harry felt nothing, then sudden fire. Burning him inside out. It was pain beyond pain. Then he felt the chains begin to tighten around his soul and around his mind, clouding over it and making everything less clear. The chains binding him to the twisted and ugly light of the man before him. For a moment he despaired. This was the end of everything he had fought for. That there was nothing more for hi to do but accept this new twist of fate.

But something deep inside him rebelled. Something began to rear it's head, and through the pain Harry refused to accept this. This was not how things would end. And suddenly he knew what to do. He knew how to take control back, how to save himself.

"Ut det mihi magicae potentiae ad populos iudicabunt me raptoribus. Et quod omnia accipe. (May magic grant me the power to bring justice to my captors. And give all that they would take from me.)" He could feel the shift in power almost as soon as the words left his mouth. The burning grew worse, and Harry realized the severe miscalculation both Dodge and he had made. But he had no time to dwell on it as he heard a shriek of inhuman rage before he was pulled into darkness.

TBC

A/N: Yes. I know… Another new one. I don't have another chapter for BoS, but I do have a direction for it. So that one will be either this upcoming Sunday, or earlier depending on how my week goes. I am hoping to give you all a new chapter for all my works (except abandoned or finished ones – duh) for Easter, but maybe just my main three (BoS, AW, and HR). I hope you enjoyed this one, but this won't be getting an update until I have another couple chapters done, and I get the next chapter for Harem up.

Thanks for all the support,

DNStalker