raised by dementor

chapter 23

Harry awoke to what tasted like melted gold running town his throat, the last thing he remembered what the disgruntled spirit of Voldemort attacked him. He already knew Voldemort would be injured and quite heavily; in some way Harry saved his enemy. If he had allowed Voldemort to enter him then the man would have destroyed and Harry would have become something much different. Something he did not want to think about
"Harry," he heard Cho's voice first and a hand on his shoulder, his vision was blurry but slowly he was refocusing
"Told you it would work," he heard Hermione grumble, Draco normally would have made some kind of comment by now but instead he helped Harry to his feet.
"Quirrel?" Harry checked hoping the man was dead.
"He's stuttering with Satan now," Draco confirmed feeling no sympathy for either of the men who tried to kill them.
"Voldemort?" Harry continued noticing that not a single person in the group flinched at the name.
"Long gone," Draco answered. The group had seen the spirit fly away from Harry screeching with pain as it was almost devoured.
They were still in the chess room and no one had arrived to help them; the ash pile that was once Quirrel/Voldemort was in one corner and the spirit was long gone. Hopefully he gave Voldemort a fright he would not soon forget and if the man had any sense he would not come close to Harry in spirit form again.
"Are you ok?" Cho asked suddenly; it took Harry a few moments to grab hold of reality, then he saw a thick golden liquid on the floor.
"You used the elixir," he realised looking at the stone; Cho was holding it and nodded. It healed obviously and if it kept drinking it he would be immortal, something he was not going to do. In fact he intended to return to Flamel the moment he could but he could not help feel touched that his friends had gone to such lengths for him.
"Well thanks for almost dying back there, you're our ride home remember because I have a strange feeling unless Crabbe can turn into fly and Goyle can become a giant green monster we are not getting out of here in a hurry," Draco remarked dryly once he realised the danger had passed. Harry shook his head at the comment as Cho flashed Draco an irritated glare
"Though we need to thank Hermione who worked out it would help more," Draco pointed to the bushy haired girl who for the second time this night flushed red. Harry did what he would do when anyone saved his life; he hugged her
"Brilliant," was all he could say; the elixir would have sped up the time it took for him to heal and not knowing the full extent of his powers Harry would have guessed it would take some considerable time.
"Awww," Draco commented looking at Cho with wide arms
"No," was all she could say with narrow eyes, Draco looked at her with mock hurt and turned to Crabbe and Goyle
"No," the echoed Cho's words not wanting a hug from anyone right now.
"She gets one," Draco murmured in protest gesturing to Hermione who had now been released from the embrace.
"Save my life first then I'll think about it," Cho sighed not completely against the idea; anyway they needed to get of here.
"I take that as a challenge," Draco winked at her before turning towards the door, the chess pieces had moved for them to exit the room now and Draco looked at Harry.
"Any clue as to how we're getting out of here again?" he wondered, Harry nodded; he had a plan to get out, one he had come up with around three seconds ago.
"Is the plan insane?" Draco checked... Harry nodded slightly and Draco burst into a smile.
"The only way we do things in this club," he decided and the six of them walked out of the room knowing that the job was done, though they still had Dumbledore to deal with when he found the pile of ash, the lack of Quirrel, no stone, well and of course Snape when he woke in the morning to shampoo covering his hair.
"Out of pure interest are you planning on telling Aunt Bella you almost ate the Dark Lord?"
One week later
Nicholas Flamel had been sitting by the windowsill reading a book, he had been trying to distract himself. Dumbledore had taken the philosopher's stone away for safe keeping but he would some of it soon, already he felt older and tried to distract himself by burying himself in a book written by one of the great writers he had met during his life. His wife was somewhere downstairs doing the same but suddenly he heard something, a squawk of some kind and he turned around to see an owl as white as snow soaring towards his home. It was a manor on one of the islands hidden from muggle eyes just off Britain, three floors, a tower with all the comforts of home was all he needed. The owl however was not his and in the warmth of an early spring sun he wondered who had sent him at this time
"Hello," he murmured. He was old there was no denying it but he had been old for a long time; he had a short grey wispy beard and spectacles hung loosely from his face. His eyes were shining blue and his skin had a darkened tone; he was tall and thin with lines across his face that would never fade. He spoke in a kind voice as the owl landed on his desk; this was his study but he noticed the owl was carrying something. A package and so he took the poorly wrapped present and came face to face with the stone
"What on earth?" he questioned aloud as he noticed a note accompanied the owl, he took it
Dear Mr Flamel
Hogwarts was never safe for your stone and now we have stopped it being stolen we believe it would be safer with its owner. Lord Voldemort attempted to use it so he could return from the dead (or whatever he is) and we think it best that you take it back. Please do not mention this to Albus Dumbledore as he is sure to demand it back; he had his own purposes for the stone and we think it best if he remained ignorant.
Regards
HP, DM,CC,HG, VC, GG
Flamel smiled. He had a feeling that his old friend had wanted the stone for his own reasons but he had given it to him, strange he did not remember the agreement well and perhaps this lot was right. They had given him the stone back, ignored the gold it could give or the promise of immortality and instead wrapped it up and returned it, he had a feeling this lot had the right attitude. The snowy owl was gone and he had no idea who had sent it, the initials did not ring any bells and he supposed if they wanted to remain distant he would let them, though if they ever needed something they just needed to ask. Then the picked up the stone and smiled.
Two months Later
"Draco where's Harry?" Cho asked from the Ravenclaw table, the group were sitting pretty much back to back but there was only five of them. It was getting close to the end of term and soon the exam season would be upon them and then the end of term, the summer was looming it seemed and the time had gone quickly. Hermione and Cho were already revising but they noticed that Harry seemed to spending a lot of time alone; Draco however stiffened slightly at the mention of Harry. Cho took this to mean he knew exactly where he was;
"Harry? why would I know where Harry is? he's in your house!" Draco pointed out, Cho glared at him knowingly. Their adventure had flooded the school the day after they stopped Quirrel and they become almost celebrities; Fudge had been notified by Harry as Dumbledore wanted to speak to him very soon and slowly the true rumours of him being raised in Azkaban faded. They were replaced by rumours about Quirrel, Ron had the Gryfindors convinced he had killed Quirrel while others said otherwise. Cho did not care, she did however care about where Harry was, Dumbledore had already tried finding out where the stone was but strangely his legilmency powers didn't work on any of them.
"Where is he?" she asked darkly, Draco did not answer and as she saw Harry approach from seemingly nowhere she wondered if she actually wanted to know.
"We don't want to ask do we?" Hermione commented, Cho smiled; it seemed great minds thought alike and she nodded.
"No I have a feeling we'll know soon enough."
Meanwhile
Fudge and Umbridge flooed into Dumbledore's office, he had requested Fudge's presence and while he would have gone alone he decided to bring Dolores along. She was going to note down the entire conversation just encase the man tried something
"Thank you for coming," Dumbledore greeted; he had bags under his eyes now. His plan had gone completely off track, he had lost the stone, lost Harry and had been humiliated all in one year.
"What do you want?" Fudge groaned, Dumbledore was obviously aiming for something but he didn't know what. He already knew what had transpired under the school and he had experts working out how Voldemort has alive, he believed Harry as did the wizards who had inspected the pile of ash that was once Quirrel.
"Harry murdered Quirrel," Dumbledore stated, Fudge looked up. Did Dumbledore really think he was that thick?
"Sorry?" Even Umbridge knew the man was trying it on now.
"He killed a teacher and while we have no proof I think he needs to learn a lesson," Dumbledore began darkly
"What are you saying?" Fudge asked the man; he could see that this was some kind of last second bid for control over Harry. He had already been discredited and Fudge had released an official statement that Harry Potter had not been raised in Azkaban but instead by ministry employee's with a dementor bodyguard whom he was fond of. Dumbledore had accepted this explanation as had most of the wizarding world they just didn't want to accept that a dark creature could raise a child.
"I think he needs to go to Azkaban for the summer," Dumbledore answered; his intention was to break Harry in a more direct way and this would ensure he would be back under his control. However the reaction he was expecting was shock and horror which he would use against them, what he wasn't expecting was for both of them to burst out laughing.
"Sure thing, tell you what I'll send him there for Christmas to," Fudge chortled... Dumbledore looked aghast
"Albus, come on. He called A dementor mum in a public place, I mean do you really think that was some kind of... for goodness sake think about it man," Fudge continued.
"And if this information leaves this room then the world will know who tried to send their saviour to a prison," Umbridge added sternly.
Dumbledore shrank back in his chair realising the minister had outwitted him.
The last night of term
On the whole a good year for Ravenclaw, they had won the house cup without much effort at all, literally Cho had proved to be a much better seeker than she thought and Harry was just Harry. They had been named the lightning duo, they worked together and often if you tried to stop one the other would interfere, Wood had ended up in tears after he had lost for the ninth time in a row and Ronald Weasley had turned the colour of a tomato. The whole group had passed their exams with flying colours as did Ron Weasley (much to their annoyance). Currently Gryfindor were in the lead with points as Dumbledore had proved to be much less fair when he realised his pawn was lost, Ravenclaw were a hundred points behind and Slytherin almost two hundred.
"Where's Harry?" Cho demanded to Draco, Draco stiffened again.
"No idea, " he stammered very quickly. Cho had tried to find out a lot but for some reason she couldn't get Draco to talk; she wanted to know now. It was the feast and in the morning they would be off... they would meet in the summer obviously but for some reason Cho felt something was off. She just didn't know what
"Cho," Hermione urged suddenly; Cho turned to see the Weasley Twins giggling in the corner
"Oh no," she sighed realised whatever he had been planning on the train had spilled into his time at Hogwarts. Now it was coming to fruition and she was not too happy
"Draco," she hissed realising he had known he was planning some kind of prank all along, Draco just beamed at her as Dumbledore stood up to make his speech.
"This isn't going to end well," Cho sighed. Snape had been searching for whoever had pulled the shampoo joke for a while and it looked like his search was coming to an end. For in that moment a torrent of foam exploded from the ceiling. Dumbledore had no time to react as he was suddenly covered from head to toe in a pink foam, Cho, Draco, the rest of the hall and some teachers burst out laughing as Harry appeared next to them. He had dropped into his seat next to Cho.
"What's going on?" He asked innocently. Cho hit him with the glare she usually reserved for Draco as Dumbledore cleaned himself off. It took a few minutes and Snape was already looking at Harry who he had seen drop into his seat. Dumbledore shook the whole thing off with a chuckle before beginning his speech, then he mentioned the house cup.
"Before we begin headmaster may I make an announcement?" Snape asked suddenly; Dumbledore was caught off guard; he had never had this happen before but he nodded. Snape turned to the hall. He knew what transpired with Quirrel and had become a listener to the group; however Harry had not been expecting to him to interrupt a speech.
"An interesting year," he began to the silent hall "And I have realised a number of things this year, among others. Firstly I think I owe a few people some points," the crowd began to stir. This was unusal and suddenly the Gryfindors looked nervous
"Firstly to my own house, for keeping the lessons alive with wit I give ten points to Draco Malfoy," he announced, Dumbledore was looking wary but this was not against the rules.
"For the best game of wizard chess I've seen played in a long time... I give Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle fifty points," the hall stirred again but they knew this total could not compete with that of lions. Dumbledore looked relived but Snape wasn't finished; no one cheered yet as no one had yet beaten the lions.
"To Ravenclaw, for surprising the most deadly enemy with a simple tactic I award Hermione Granger thirty points," the Ravenclaw table now waited with held breath.
"For showing courage, determination I give the Harry Potter and Cho Chang thirty points each ," Snape continued. Only ten more points was needed now
"And for standing up for one another, I give Harry Potter, Cho Chang, Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle two points each," McGonagall interrupted startling the hall yet again as Dumbledore looked angered; his staff were going against him and even the head of the house that was about to win knew he had been unfair. Ravenclaw only needed three more points
"And for showing the best quidditch I've ever seen I give the lightning Duo one point each," Fillus finished; one point below what they needed to be even.
"But on a more negative note, for bullying, spreading rumours and harassment I take three points from Ron Weasley." Sprout ended; all the heads of houses had come together. The Ravenclaw table exploded into cheers and claps and Dumbledore stood to attention; he had not planned for this... not by a long shot.
"So it seems with Six hundred and ninety nine points Ravenclaw win the house cup this year," Dumbledore sighed. The cheering did not stop for a while and the all of the group clanged their goblets together.
"To us!" Draco announced loudly, they echoed his words. They had been through a lot and it was time to celebrate.
"And may nothing bad happen next year," he finished. They all started to laugh; what could be worse than what they had faced this year after all?
"Why do I have a feeling I'm going to regret those words?"