raised by dementor

chapter 38

Harry had gone to bed with a smile; the train journey home had been slightly awkward with Draco rushing off to the toilet every ten minutes with an angry glare at Luna every time. Luna had been very popular on the way home surprisingly, Cho had suggested that the girl do it every time Draco annoyed one of them but she had been rebuffed when Luna told her it would bankrupt her family within a week and also leaving Draco skin and bones because there would be nothing left of him.
"Harry," Lucy had said the moment he arrived before pulling him into a loving and tender hug the moment they met and this time not a single person was surprised. It was a regular but strange occurrence now and they tolerated it, some understood and others didn't but Molly Weasley was not stupid enough to try something else.
"Harry, Lucy!" Lucius had greeted handing them an invitation to the summer party the Malfoy's were holding, no purebloods had been particular open this year as the Chamber of Secrets was on the front page almost every day. It pointed fingers at people and a party would have been seen as celebrating a monster, so none of them had held one for Christmas. Something that had been missed considerably,
"Nice to see you Mr Malfoy," Harry assured the man who had insisted on shaking Harry's hand, as Draco had been down in the chamber with Harry he had been alerted. Draco had explained what happened to him down in the chamber and how Harry had saved him from a giant swarm thing. The creature had not been indentified and it couldn't be but people were trying, Harry had apparently destroyed it and that had made the front page. Leaving out the explicit details Harry was a hero to Lucius and a lot of others who did not approach. The Dementor was one reason the other was the fact the minister of magic himself was walking towards them.
"Harry m'boy," he greeted and Harry was thankful that Umbridge was not around, however Fudge was accompanied by a woman with a camera who was following his footsteps with near glee.
"Afternoon minister," Harry greeted as the man walked forward with people watching intently, Harry was confused he normally only met the minister in the holidays and that was occasionally so what was he doing here?
"Harry Potter, for a while people have speculated on your deeds, your defeat of a dark lord has been studied by hundreds but none has found an answer to how you did it. But this year it has been a much different case, you went into the chamber of secrets and destroyed a monster that threatened the lives of your friends and for that I can think of one prize. We gave an order of Merlin third class to the person who arrested Sirius Black and like him you have done a great, possibly greater deed and for that I award you with the same," Fudge announced and a collective gasp ran through the crowd. This was unheard of, a second year obtaining something it took most lifetimes to achieve, but sure enough Fudge withdrew a certificate from his pocket which spoke volumes.
This is to certify that Harry James Potter has obtained an order of Merlin third class award for his great deeds.
"Thank you," was all Harry could say looking shocked, he had not been expecting something like this and he wondered if Fudge was only doing it because they knew each other.
"Do not thank me, thank yourself for you earned it," Fudge declared shaking Harry's hand which was caught in a picture by the woman accompanying him. The crowd who had remained dumbstruck now burst into applause with the exception of Molly and Ron Weasley who were instead scowling.
"Congratulations Mr Potter," Fudge beamed then knowing Harry would want to get home after his long journey so after a few moments he turned and left. Lucy remained uncharacteristically silent until the crowd had died done and they were walking. Then she put a skeletal hand around Harry's shoulder and pulled him close,
"You pulled yourself out of a pit of darkness, you overcame your hunger for souls and saved hundreds of lives, Harry I have never been prouder to be your mother ," she had said and if she human then tears would have run down her face in bucketfuls. Harry was not going to tell her about the figure, the idea would terrify her and most likely ensure he was not sent back to school next year, she had considered it once after Quirrel and this year had been worse somehow.
"I know you think you didn't that award but you did, not for the reasons they think but you did a great thing. Not many can fight a monster inside them and outside them at the same time," Lucy told him gently knowing her son all too well.
"Thanks mum," he had told her with tears brimming in his eyes too, and together they walked down the station and vanished into the shadows. When they arrived home Harry had spoken with his Godfather and adoptive aunt who were ecstatic for him, they had talked for much longer than normal and then Harry had felt the time slip by and he excused himself to bed. His award had been framed and he did sleep with a smile.
Later
Sirens, magical sirens woke him up and he saw legions of Dementors gliding towards the maximum security ward in frenzy, the air was icy with what was a mixture of fear and anger. Harry was confused, nothing like this had ever happened in the time he lived here and he could tell that the other Dementors felt the same.
"Lock it down!" a voice was demanding as Harry quietly looked outside his cell to see what was going on, he was swept up in the swarm of Dementors and he accompanied them. What did they mean lock down? No one in the prison had the energy to fight let alone cause a problem so what the hell was going on? Had someone broken in? He didn't even consider the possibility that someone had gotten out, it was impossible except for Sirius who was an animgaus but he wouldn't leave. As he approached the maximum security cells he was going to say hello to Sirius and Bella who he knew would be awake thanks to the loud sirens, however he then found the Dementors were gathering around their cells because they were empty.
"There's no one in there is there?" Dora questioned she was part of the crowd
"Ask Harry," one of them suggested knowing only he had eyes; some were convinced it was some kind of drill or mistake but Harry knew he could not lie to them. Both cells were empty and he told them so
"No there's no one in there," they all understood him and they knew he was telling the truth, if he had said there was then they would have disbelieved him but they didn't. Two people had escaped the most secure prison in the world and they hadn't even said goodbye to him.
The morning
"I'm sorry Harry," Lucy soothed puling Harry close, they were both in his room but Harry was upset. He felt betrayed, angry and relieved at the same time, betrayed because he had no idea they were going to leave, angry because they hadn't said goodbye and relived because they had escaped this place. For him it was different, he could talk to Dementors and the chill never touched him but it had once, once and he remembered it now in full colour. He had never thought about how hard it was for Bella and Sirius to be around it constantly, only leaving once he was close enough and even then not much.
"It's not your fault mum," Harry assured her, he knew how they broke out but he was not inclined to tell anyone, if they had gone through all the trouble to get out then he was not going to help recapture them. Lucy knew Sirius had gotten out before, often in fact but he always came back and she barely noticed because he was an animal, Bella bust have trained from him without potion which would have taken years of effort, five years in fact if she was lucky.
"It is, we're the guards of these people, they broke out and that is our fault," Lucy confessed her feelings
"No it's not, it would have been hard enough to stop them, however the ministry aren't going to be happy," Harry warned
"They're not, Fudge will be here soon and happy is not his mood. Now listen to me, Fudge didn't want detailed information on your life here for a reason, because he knows what these people have done and he will treat Sirius and Bella like criminals. He may talk to you but I think he try and avoid it, but if he does speak about it then you spoke to them both once or twice, you have no idea who they are or what they have done. Fudge will pretend to believe you but do not let on anything about the bond you two shared, don't talk to the aurors either they won't be told anything about you but if they ask one of us will get you out," Lucy explained with obvious concern, the last thing she needed was one auror being mouthy about Harry Potter being friends with a murderer.
"I know," Harry confirmed knowing already how serious this was, an escape from Azkaban was going to be front page news and arrors would be combing the place, he was going to have to slip away at some point to the Malfoy's but until it could be sorted out he just needed to avoid them.
"Good, I'm sorry Harry," Lucy sighed wanting to do nothing more than bring them back just so Harry could have part of his family back.
Meanwhile
A raven and a dog moved through the countryside at high speed, both were riddled with guilt. They had left Harry behind and tears fell from the Raven's eye when she realised that she hadn't even said goodbye, the boy who had saved them from the chill and helped her climb out of the monster she was. She was going to be kissed if she was found and she realised that her relationship with Harry was never going to be the same, Sirius Black felt the same and that the reason they stuck to their animal forms. Dementors were flying overhead but they did not sense the animals nor would they care if they could but that was not the only reason, they did not want to talk they wanted to feel remorse. However them escaping was good thing in many ways, they could be free and try and correct some of the wrongs that had been done to them and Harry over the years.
They had first decided to track down Pettigrew but the feel of fresh air for the first time was enough to send almost all thoughts from her head. She was free she would have traded everything for this years ago but now it felt like something she just had, perhaps she had made a mistake but she couldn't correct it and her own body would not allow her to. She was going to fly free literally and she was going to see Harry again, but her heart froze when she thought how he, the boy who had saved her would react to her abandoning him. Of course he would understand but he would still be hurt and Bellatrix just hoped from in the depths of her heart that Harry would forgive her but each time she thought about it a voice in the back of her head just whispered how he wouldn't.
She only needed to take one look into Siruis's eyes to know he feared the exact same thing.