Harry Potter

Broken Shackles

Chapter 1:

Freedom

Today was an important day. Today Harry would need to wake up early and prepare the main room for the guests. His Master was expecting the Ladys of the town, therefore the rooms had to be presentable as had Harry himself. So he rose early and left his bedroom. He worked long and hard to have gained his own room. No longer did Harry have to sleep with the other servants in the big dormitory in the basement. He was the Masters personal servant and because of that was in the room right next to him. Today, albeit Harry didn't know, was his 16th birthday. About 15 years ago, he was taken from his home, taken by vile and strong magic that crushed space. On Halloween all these years ago, Lord Voldemort, the darkest wizard of the era, had tried to kill him. The evil man murdered Harry's parents and then failed to kill the infant. The killing curse rebounded on the Dark Lord and destroyed him. But the impact of the curse ripped space apart and little Harry disappeared from Godric's Hollow.

He reappeared in south Egypt. And unfortunately for Harry, he was found by slave traders. For years he was pushed around and worked until he was sold to a wizard. Said wizard knew who Harry was. The stories of his defeat of Voldemort reached far and wide. So at the age of eight, Harry received his name. The wizard that bought him was an evil man. He dealt in illegal potions and ran a prostitution ring for years before he was assassinated by a rival. Harry was 12 when he witnessed his Master being beheaded.

He was taken by the assassin and delivered to the man's Master. This man was his Master until today. Andrew Gart was an old english noble man who left the UK and lived in Germany. He too was dealing with potions and illegally charmed muggle artifacts. Harry had many jobs. He was a test subject, trained to be an assassin, a bodyguard when needed and he was given to the female competitors to gain favors.

He had no easy life. Mistakes were harshly punished and tardiness even more so. Having killed multiple other assailants and nearly dying on guard duty more than once had left Harry scarred and with a cold heart. The fact that he was ordered to entertain the women his Master dealt with, was something Harry was in no way proud of. And today was another such occasion. But Harry would do what his Master ordered him to do, for he was his Master and Harry was his servant. After all, he had no other purpose, no other use.

When Harry stepped into the hallways he had donned his best robes. He was only to wear them if ordered and today was quite important after all. The four Ladys visiting were reluctant to let Master Gart sell his wares in their establishments and Harry, along with some Galleons, was supposed to make them willing. Harry didn't look forward to being a toy again but his Master ordered him so he would do his very best.

"Master.", Harry called as he knocked at the big wooden doors of his Masters chambers, "It is time. The Ladys will arrive soon." After a short silence the doors opened. A tall elderly man with short grey hair and an impressive beard looked with his deep blue eyes directly in Harry's green ones. His navy blue robes were made of the finest silk and his wooden cane was ornate with many rubies. "You have your orders." Andrew Gart's voice was harsh and cold. He tolerated no disobedience, so Harry had learned early on. He bore the scars still.

With a curt nod and a "Yes, Master." Harry marched of to the parlor to prepare the reception. He opened the door and was about to magically ignite all the candles when a wand was pressed into his throat.

"No move, boy!", a gruff, disembodied voice growled, "Lead us to Andrew Gart and you will live!" Harry's mind was on fire. He could see several more wands without bodies trained at him. These people wanted to hurt his Master, but a servant always protects his Master.

So with one fluid move of his arm, he ripped the wand that was held against his throat from the assailant and casted the strongest shield charm he could muster. The shield pushed the man in front of him back, the invisibility cloak fell of and revealed the face of a mangled man with too many scars and one madly swirling magical eye and a peg leg. The man was well known to all wizards and even servants like Harry. This man was Alastor Moody, legendary Auror and currently in pursuit of Harry's Master.

An unfortunately, the Master entered the room just then.

The barrage of spell fire drowned whatever words he screamed.

Harry's shield didn't last long. It shattered after about 5 seconds and he turned to push his Master out of the room but a cutting curse sliced the man in half, killing him instantly.

Harry dropped to his knees.

His Master was dead. A slave without a Master held no purpose, no reason, nothing to validate his existence.

With these thoughts he was knocked out by a stunner.

Moody approached the boy he had just stunned and turned him around.

"Merlin be damned...", he mumbled as he stared at Harry's face. Could that be him? Could the boy be alive after nearly 15 years? Albus needed to know about this.

The Aurors worked fast. They encountered no more problems after taking out Gart and managed to extract the boy and Gart's body. While the body was given to the Ministry, Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt took Harry to Hogwarts. Despite the summer break, the headmaster Albus Dumbledore was in his office. The old wizard was still surprised to see someone exit the floo.

"Alastor.", he greeted the grizzled Auror, "What do I owe your visit to?"

"Albus, you will be very surprised by our findings in our last raid."

Just then the dark skinned Auror exited the floo, levitating a body behind him.

Albus greeted Kingsley and stood from his chair to see why the two Aurors had brought a body with them.

As he got close enough to see the boy's face, his old heart nearly stopped. "By the stars... It can't be... Harry...", Albus muttered, "He looks just like his father..."

"With his mothers eyes.", Moody supplied.

Albus swallowed heavily. "Was he...?"

"A slave?", the grizzles Auror asked. "Yes. We checked him over and..."

The headmasters expression was grave. Ever since little Harry had defeated the Dark Lord and vanished, he had searched for him but after 12 years, Albus had lost hope. "What, Alastor?", he asked, fearing the answer.

"He has more scars than I do. Most of the are from severe torture and some are battle scars.", Moody said in a toneless voice. The scars on his back barely left any skin untouched. Badly healed wounds all over his torso and some burn marks marred his body. The boy was trained and looked older than he was. He appeard to be around twenty, most likely a result of too many strengthening potions an whatever else experiments were performed on him. Alastor told Albus that there were no magical seals or curse marks on him.

Dumbledore nodded and sat in one of the armchairs in front of his desk. Today was Harry's 16th birthday. He should be happy in his sixth year in Hogwarts by now but fate held only cruelty for the boy. Maybe now that could be changed. He told Kingsley to place the boy in the hospital wing and return to the Minister and inform him to come to Hogwarts.

Hogwarts was mostly vacant at this point. Being the 31st of July nearly all student had left. All but one had left.

Ginny Weasly was in a bed in the hospital ward when the door bust open and a dark skinned man levitated a young man to the bed besides her. Ginny pretended to sleep and tried to hear what the man told Madam Pomfrey bit she didn't understand them. She did hear the matron gasp and she hurry of to her potions while the man left.

Ginny looked at the figure in the bed besides her. He had messy black hair that were contained in a short pony tail. His glasses sat shrewd on his nose. The robes he wore were a tight fight and looked as worn as her own.

All in all the young man was quite something to look at, so Ginny decided. Maybe that would distract her from the constant nightmares. These nightmares and her pleas to Madam Pomfrey where the one of the reasons she was still at Hogwarts. She did not want to go home. Ever since she was possessed by Tom in her first year and nearly died, her family avoided her like some pest. And the bullying didn't help either.

Ginny glared a hole into the ceiling when ahe heard a groan from besides her. The young man's eyes fluttered open. His vibrant emerald green eyes scanned the room. He fixed his gaze on her and Ginny met him head on. For several seconds neither of them spoke.

"Are you my Mistress?"

Ginny looked confused at the young man.

Mistress?, Ginny wondered. But it did have a nice ring to it so she wouldn't correct him. "What's your name?", she asked.

His eyes lit up, literally, as he stood straight, placed a hand above his heart and bowed deeply. "I am Harold, Mistress, though all Masters before had called me Harry."

Ginny was mesmerized by the glow Harry emitted. "Ok...", she said and the glow flashed brightly before it vanished, "Harry, what are you doing here? I don't remember seeing you in Hogwarts before."

Harry lifted his head. "I do not know, why I am here or how I got here, Mistress. I apologize for being unable to answer!" He bowed once more in apology. Ginny was startled by his behavior and hopped out of her bed to straighten him. But her knees where still weak from her lack of sleep and the pain potion for her cramps, so she stumbled forward only to be caught in Harry's arms.

Ginny recoiled violently, pushing Harry away as hard as she could. She did not want to controlled in any way. If Ginny wasn't in control, Tom was and she would never let that happen again.

"Don't touch me!", she hissed, barely able to remain upright. Harry flinched back, Ginny's push had no effect whatsoever, yet Harry dropped to his knees, his forehead hit the the cold stone floor hard enough to draw blood. "Forgive me, Mistress!", he stammered.

With Harry kneeling on the floor and Ginny hanging at the edge of her bed, Albus Dumbledore walked into the hospital wing.

"Ah, Miss Weasly, it seems you have met Harry already.", he said in his grandfatherly voice. He walked over to her, desperately trying to ignore Harry on the floor for now. But the moment he stepped within arms reach of Ginny, Harry shot up and stood between them, eyes blazing. "Do you mean to harm Mistress?", he asked.

Albus had damn near drawn his wand at the boy in surprise. But what surprised him even more was the fact that Harry had called Ginny Mistress and the magic he emitted. He managed to regain his composure. "By no means, my boy, I wish to inquire how she's fairing today."

Harry stared into Dumbledore's eyes and what Albus could see in them was terrible.

Ginny pushed Harry aside. He didn't resist at all. "Professor, I'm quite fine by now. But I don't know who Harry here is, he isn't a student as far as I can tell."

Albus ripped his gaze from Harry and looked at Ginny. "Miss Weasly, did you, by any chance, agree to be Harry's Mistress?"

Ginny looked confused. "I... what?"

"Harry here calls you his Mistress. Did you deny that you are his Mistress?", Albus asked.

Ginny stared at Harry while speaking. "I... I don't think I corrected him, I ignored it. What does that mean?"

Albus sighed and sat down on the bed Harry had occupied. "Harry here was rescued from a mansion in southern Germany just today. He was a slave there, Miss Weasly, and his former Master died before his eyes. I am not entirely sure why, but young Harry here doesn't seem to be keen on his newly acquired freedom. Whatever they did to him...", Dumbledore took a deep breath, "Harry searched for a new Master to serve. Or Mistress in your case."

Ginny just stared at Albus. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that Harry invoked ancient magic to bind himself to you as a slave and servant. You did not deny being his Mistress. That alone was enough.", Albus explained with a pensive look.

"What?!", Ginny shouted, "I don't want-"

But Albus stopped her. "Please Miss Weasly, don't say that! If you were to deny him or send him away the magical contract he forged would kill him!" His voice was urgent so Ginny fell silent. She looked at Harry. The man who just bound himself as her slave. "Who even are you?", she asked him.

Harry bowed deeply before answering. "I held no name until I was eight. I was named Harold, no further name given. I was educated to do any work necessary from cleaning to assassination. My magic is strong and at my Mistress' command."

"No family name?", Ginny wonder aloud.

"I am a slave. A slave has no family. A slave has a Master.", came Harry's answer. Albus shuddered at his toneless voice.

"Miss Weasly. He does have a family name and I am sure you know it. His name is Harry Potter.", Albus told her. Ginny's mouth fell open and even Harry looked at Albus.

"You mean...? He... But why? Everyone said he lives in hiding somewhere!", Ginny hissed. Albus shook his head. "I'm afraid that was a lie. Young Harry disappeared after killing Voldemort. We knew he was alive but had no idea where. We couldn't tell the world he vanished. We needed to recover from war and Harry was a beacon of hope for everyone. Telling them would have done no good."

Ginny glared at the floor, ignoring Harry's attentive gaze. She had loved to hear the stories about the boy who lived all these years ago. He had been her hero, the lonely boy she wanted to marry to give him back his family. But Ginny had changed ever since her first year in Hogwarts. Being possessed and forced to attack student because of a diary that would write back to you, that didn't just pass by her. Students were wary of her, her family discretely ignored her existence. She mostly stayed in school over the holidays, even summer. Naturally she had no friends and the Slytherin pure blood morons were harassing her every chance they got. The train rides home, if she really rode it home, had always been extremely unpleasant, for there was no where to hide from Malfoy and his lackeys. She was no longer believing in heroes. Ginny just hoped to find a job that paid enough money for her to live of it. And somehow, having a slave, didn't really fit in there. But if he would die if she sent him away... She couldn't do that.

Ginny faced Harry. "Ok, if this is supposed to work, you can't call me Mistress. Call me Ginny.", she instructed him, trying to sound somewhat commanding. Harry nodded. He understood that maybe having a servant was not to be public knowledge. "If Ginny does not want others to know that I am her servant, I shall do my utmost to hide that." Ginny blinked, surprised. She didn't expect that he thought about that. His behavior and his servility made him seem somehow dull. Ginny shook her head. She should be the last to superficially judge people. Albus nodded, still thoughtful. "Thank you, Miss Weasly. Harry is very important, despite the fact that we thought him lost." His expression turned grave. "But be aware, Harry will not deny you any command or wish. He considers himself yours. Harry will do everything he can to protect you. As bizarre as that may be now, it may be some good for you in your situation, Miss Weasly." Ginny was about to respond but the door to the hospital wing swung open once again and the dark skinned man entered, followed by a man she knew. The Minister of Magic. How she loathed the man. If not for Dumbledore, he would have shipped her straight to Azkaban.

Cornelius Fudge.

Harry could see Ginny's anger well up at the sight of the middle aged man in his dark gray robes. He positioned himself in front of her.

"Harry Potter! By Merlin's beard! My boy it is a true relief to see you alive!", Fudge approached Harry, a hand outstretched in greeting. Harry spared the hand no glance, instead he stared into the mans eyes. "Corrupt.", was all Harry said before he stared at Kingsley. "Just.", he said and turned around to Ginny. "Do you wish to leave here, Ginny?"

Ginny's mouth twitched in amusement as the Minister's jaw hit the floor and Kingsley bit back a laugh. "Yes, I do want to leave.", she said and walked past the stunned Minister out of the door, Harry right besides her. Dumbledore choose to ignore the Minister and started to talk with Kingsley about the other raids of evil wizard mansions. The next year surely would be interesting.

When Ginny reached the staircases she stopped abruptly. She needed to clear some things up. "Harry.", she said slowly, still he flinched slightly, "I understand that I am your Mistress as per magic. Is that right?" Harry nodded. "Ok, I am your Mistress, but you are not a slave. Do you understand?" His green eyes widened in confusion. "You are my Mistress but I am not your slave? What am I then?", he asked quietly. Ginny raised an eyebrow. "You are Harry Potter of course!"; she exclaimed with a slight smile. Harry looked at her wide eyed. "But I... a slave, nothing else... I...", his eyes displayed a multitude of emotions from fear to happiness and confusion. Ginny sighed. "To your former Master, you were a slave. To me, your Mistress, you are Harry Potter. As easy as that.", she said and after thinking for a second she added, "Understood?" Harry snapped out of his musing. He was supposed to be Harry Potter for his Mistress so that's what he was going to do. A slave... no... Harry followed the orders of his Mistress.

And for the first time in all his life, Harry felt something that others knew as freedom. It was strange. Even though he had his orders, there was nothing absolute in them. He was supposed to be himself, something he never was before. If Ginny wanted to hide the fact that he was hers, he would have to study how to be normal. Again something new.

Harry and Ginny walked down the halls of Hogwarts and Harry tried to map out the area. The castle was enormous, but if Harry wanted to serve his Mistress well, he needed to know his way around her... school? Or more like residence? Whatever she preferred. On the way Ginny showered him with questions. She asked about his life up to this point, who his other Masters were, what kind of spells he knew, and when she asked about the tasks his Masters gave him, Ginny was a little more than just shocked. "You... he had you do what?", she asked, kind of hoping she had misheard. "I was to please the female competitors to gain favors and extend the trade range.", Harry answered tonelessly, but on the inside he was ashamed. While he was a slave, he still managed to have something like morals. Morals he choose to ignore for his Masters. The hope that Ginny would not have him do something like this was faint, but the way she sputtered and questioned his former Masters mental integrity, lit a small flame in his heart.

Today, he was Harry Potter and for once in a very long time, he was happy to oblige the orders of his Mistress. They stalked through the long hallways of Hogwarts until they reached the portrait of a fat lady, sitting in a chair. "Password.", she demanded tonelessly. "Snitches.", Ginny replied and the portrait swung open. Stepping inside, they entered the empty common room. The fire was crackling in the fireplace, armchairs and a couch surrounding it. Ginny flopped down in one of the chairs and pulled out a book from her robes that read The Art of Combative Magic. Harry stood a little lost behind the couch, staring at the fire. "Sit.", Ginny said after a while, "You don't have to stand all day." With an awkward smile, Harry sat down on the couch. Harry was about to break the long silence when suddenly, the witch from the Hospital wing burst in the common room. "Mr. Potter! I believe you have some salves to apply!" Harry eyed her in confusion and then locked eyes with her. He found no evil intend towards his Mistress and him. He rose from his seat and stood to his full height before Madam Pomfrey. "Excuse me, Madam?", he asked, "Did you need something from M-.. Ginny?" The witch huffed in annoyance. "I believe I told you, Mr. Potter, that your back needs treatment! Of with the shirt!", She commanded. Harry raised an unimpressed eyebrow and turned a questioning look to Ginny. She just nodded. If he needed treatment so badly that Madam Pomfrey came for him, he should do as she said. Harry acknowledged her approval of what was asked of him and promptly, wandlessly vanished his shirt. Ginny dropped her book into her lap. Hot damn, the man was built, and all these scars. Indeed, the ones on his back still locked fresh. Poppy urged him to turn around so he came to face Ginny, while the medi-witch applied the slave to his back. Ginny was quite awed at his body and felt the slightest bit warmer all of sudden. The fire was to blame for that, surely it was. She picked up her book again and tried to focus on it, but continued to sneak glances at Harry. Said boy was amused. His Mistress was holding her book upside down. With a wave of his hand, the book spun around, startling Ginny. She promptly turned impossibly red and stood up. "I'll be in my room!", she squeaked and hurried up the stairs.

"All done, Mr. Potter. I shall leave you now.", Poppy excused herself and left. Harry though, did not move. Had he angered his Mistress? He had to ask.

So Harry set out to step into territories no man had ever stepped into. The girls dormitories.

...

A/N: So... I was bored coming up with plot for 'Blind Light' and started to write this. The 'Harry-returns-after-years-of-god-knows-what! plot isn't exactly original anymore but I still felt like writing it. I am currently writing three more Harry Potter stories, One for Mass Effect, and even one for Dragon Quest 8. Well, that's what I'm doing, trying to think of ways to kill Kiba. Have fun with this for now.