The Light of Day

The Light of Day

Prologue

The Welcoming

A single beam of light can heal a person from a million years of darkness.

Harry, Harry, Harry! They are here for you. It is the day...

"Mr. Potter, they are here!"

The man of twenty-seven jolted from his dreams and stood up quickly, no sound coming out of his dry, pale lips. He moved around dreamily, not quite understanding what was happening. His arms flailed about uselessly, his mouth muttering words of no importance to the matter at hand. The Azkaban official, the only official that stayed around Azkaban everyday thought he heard the words James and Sirius, but nothing more.

Harmless hallucination, he thought to himself.

"Who's there, who's there?" Harry sputtered, still waving his arms around, blinking his eyes furiously.

"It's Dennis Creevey, sir," said the Azkaban official. "Do you remember me? You talk to me everyday that I come here, sir. Can you remember?"

He was scared that Mr. Potter had forgotten who he was. Noticing that his days of staying here were short, the dementors had been taking the pleasure of tormenting him even more. Dennis was glad that Harry was leaving. A few more weeks and the savage beasts would have permanently damaged his mind.

There was a pause.

"Yes, I remember you," Harry now said. "What do you want with me?"

"Ms. Hermione Granger and Mr. Ron Weasley have come to take you away Mr. Potter," Dennis answered. "Remember? You were so excited yesterday!"

"I w-was?" a smile seemed to have erupted out of the tired mans lip, but it slowly disappeared. "Wait a minute!" he looked around, vision still somewhat blurred. "The dementors! Where are they?"

"They have been told to not bother you, Mr. Potter, so that you can go in peace. You're very fortunate, because somehow they actually obeyed this time. Most of the time when they are being commanded, they don't listen."

"I used to fight dementors," Harry spoke up proudly. "I can't actually remember the spell though. . . . I remembered I was the best!"

"Yes, sir, very nice; but we must go. Ms. Hermione and Mr. Weasley are outside, waiting for you," the Azkaban official said opening the jail door without having to unlock it, for there was no need for such silly things as locks in Azkaban.

"If you please, sir, come with me." The Azkaban official extended his hand and Harry walked forward and grabbed it.

"Are they near? Are my friends near?" Harry questioned looking around.

"We'll take the elevator, sir, and we'll see them in a couple of minutes."

The jailer and the ex-prisoner walked through the jail hall, which had inhabited only two prisoners. Harry and the jailer's brother, Colin Creevey were the only occupants. As Harry walked past the jail cell, he stared into it, seeing the seemingly dead, still figure of Colin on the bench. He stopped and stared through the bars, his eyes widening in fascination. Dennis, seeing that Harry had stopped, turned to see what had distracted him. He saw immediately the pale form of his brother.

"Harry Potter," he whispered, "perhaps we should leave." Harry shook his head.

"In a minute my friend, in a minute." Dennis walked up next to Harry and stared sadly at Colin, an unmoving statue.

"That was your brother, wasn't it?" Harry asked, still gazing at Colin's limp form.

"Yes, sir, it was."

"Funny, all the time I've been here and I never bothered to ask. How long has he been here Dennis?"

The jailer was surprised that Harry Potter had remembered his name. "Well, I think it has been about five years, Mr. Potter."

"Why is he here?"

"Can't say I really know. I was too broken hearted to go to his trial, but I know he was turning to the bad side," Dennis told Harry.

"You mean Voldemort?" Harry asked. Dennis flinched at the mentioning of the Dark Lord's name.

"Yes, Mr. Potter. He was working at the ministry, at the Department of Private Investigations too! But, it didn't go too well. He was, well... He was a traitor."

"You know, Dennis, he used to really admire me. Follow me everywhere he would. Didn't think he was the type to turn bad. Maybe he was falsely charged, like me," Harry said turning towards Dennis, one of his hands gripped the jailer's right shoulder. "You believe me don't you? You believe me when I said that I was falsely accused? That I never should've been in Azkaban? Do you, Dennis?"

"Yes, Mr. Potter! I believe you! I never doubted you! Not for a second, but isn't my duty to judge who goes in and who doesn't. I just guard them, Mr. Potter. I wish that it were me who decides... Well, not that much, because there's so much responsibility in deciding who is guilty and who isn't. Now we must get going now, we have wasted enough time already!"

"Yes, yes, you're right, Dennis," Harry muttered. "Let's go." Slowly, he followed Dennis to the elevator and closed his eyes as he stepped out, not knowing what was to come next.

"Harry!" Harry felt like he was being engulfed in brown hair, the scent of lilacs, or was it lavender? He did not know and did not care, for he thought he knew exactly who had rushed at him.

"Her-Hermione?"

Hermione Granger released Harry from the hug, and beamed at him. "Oh Harry, it's so good to see you! Ten years! I can't believe it! Are you all right? Oh, have the dementors been bothering you? Have they been feeding you well? Molly said she would come, but Arthur's been really sick lately, so she can't come and..." Hermione stopped suddenly, as Harry laid one finger on her lips.

"You don't need to worry, Hermione," he whispered. "I'm all right or, as all right as I hope to be."

"That's great, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "Oh, I'm so glad! Everyday for the past ten years I've been worrying. I just wish they had allowed visitors to Azkaban, although it's a bit too hard to get here... Anyway, let's hurry on. The ship that will take us to England will arrive soon."

"Where's Ron?" Harry inquired, looking around the room. He finally spotted a very tall man near a couch, head facing towards the sea. His red hair made him stand out, and Harry knew immediately that it was his best friend in the whole wide world.

"Ron?"

The man did not turn back but remained staring at the sea. It almost seemed like he did not want to hear Harry, but his best friend wouldn't do that to him, would he?

"Ron? Ron!" Harry was shouting now, his hands extended in front of him. He didn't understand what was happening. "Ron, it's Harry! Ron? Say something!" He attempted to crawl to the silent red-haired man, but Hermione stopped him.

"Harry, maybe you shouldn't..." she said, biting her lip.

"Why shouldn't I, Hermione?" Harry screamed. "Why can't I? He's my best friend! After ten years in Azkaban, ten years of waiting, ten years of hell, ten years of feeling that the only thing that kept me going was the thought of this day. The day that I could finally see my two best friends again, you and Ron! How would you feel if one of them wouldn't even talk to you? How would you feel Hermione?" He grabbed her shoulders and shook her from side to side like a rag doll. His eyes showed hints of a mad man. It was Dennis that kept him from destroying everything in sight. He gripped the ex-prisoners hands and held him back.

"Mr. Potter, you must stop! I went to school with you, Mr. Potter, and even though you were three grades higher than I was, I knew that you and Ron were very close. There are not many reasons that he could hate you so much that you should turn mad! You must not get furious Mr. Potter. I know that ten years in Azkaban could turn even the most optimistic man into an angry dictator, but rage is not the key! Remember that rage is not the key to finding the answers!"

"Harry, Dennis is right, you must calm down," Hermione gently spoke.

"Then make him speak; make that man speak. Show me that he is Ron!" Harry shouted, pointing madly at Ron.

"Harry, listen to me!" Hermione said. "Since you were put in Azkaban, Ron's been having a sense of hatred towards you. I thought, ten years would cure him, but apparently it hasn't."

"What did I do Hermione? What could I have possibly done that could make him this mad? Are you accusing me?" He couldn't have done this to Ron, it couldn't have.

"Just listen Harry, just listen! Ten years ago, when you killed Fleur, did you realize that he had deep feelings for her? And I mean deep feelings. Do you remember where he was when you found out that she was close to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

"Tell me." Harry tried to calm down, but the sense of frustration entered his voice.

"Yes, so he did not know that. When he came back and discovered Fleur was dead, he was furious, and I guess he didn't know who to be furious at. And by that time, you were already in Azkaban, and it seemed like you had to be the one that told him for him to believe that she was a death eater. I tried to tell him, and he refused. Even his own mother tried to convince him and he refused! Nobody could relieve his shock Harry, nobody! These ten years have been so horrible on him. Some days, all Ron does is sit in his room and look at the Hogwarts album and at the pictures of the happy days that he and Fleur had spent together. I had to drag him here, Harry, and do you know why I did it? Because I know, someway, somehow, you can convince him. Only you can Harry, only you can show him the way," she finished, breathless.

The three of them, Harry, Hermione and Dennis turned to stare at Ron, who, Harry unfortunately realized, resembled Colin Creevey. Both seemed to have lost all hope, minds lingering in the past. He walked and stood next to Ron, and gazed at his friend, thinking of all the happy memories they had once shared together.

"Ron, I know you can hear me. You can, can't you?" Harry spoke up.

There was no answer.

"Well, I guess that's a yes. Just hear me out, will you? That's all I ask. Now think, Ron, think back to ten years ago. Remember the time when I spilled Butterbeer all over the homework you had spent all day working on? I told you that I was just acting foolish, and you forgave me just like that. I can remember your exact words: 'Don't worry mate. It's just homework and I can do it again in a couple of seconds. No problem at all.' It took you more than a couple of seconds to finish it, but you did it again and told me that after you've looked it over, it had even improved a bit! Remember that other time when Seamus gave you a chocolate frog and you ate it then started belching out real frogs? You laughed at it and forgave him in a matter of seconds; there was no problem to it." Harry actually thought he saw a smile making its way to Ron's lips, but whatever it was, it disappeared quickly.

"And finally, remember when Percy crept back to your family, after Fudge's downfall? And you begged everyone in your family for his forgiveness. Fred and George tried to set him on fire, Molly cried all day and night and didn't say anything. Your father wanted to kick him out and Ginny wasn't all that kind either? Who do I bear in mind that brought him into the house and told everybody that he was ready to come back? If I remember correctly, it was you Ron. Who was there, ready to help every single time that I needed to confront something evil? You were Ron, always trying to help. And who was noble enough to step down from being Keeper to give someone younger a chance? Listen Ron, I know that Fleur was a special person in your life, but everybody has their faults and Fleur expressed hers in means of following Voldemort—" Harry even thought he saw Ron flinch at the mentioning of that name. "—and using her wand in a malicious way. Remember the destruction of Hogsmeade at the end of our sixth year? She was responsible for that too Ron, even though I never meant to tell you. When I killed her, it was not because I wanted to, but because I had to. I was willing to give her a chance, I told her right there in the abandoned lot that I was willing to let her go back and become a witch who uses her magic in a good way. I tried to convince her, Ron, but I guess it wasn't enough. She tried to cast the Avada Kedavra curse on me, and well I guess all I had to do was defend myself. I'm so sorry, Ron, but it had to be that way. It had to be, and I don't regret it, because it was the right thing to do. Even if I had no evidence and the Ministry put me in Azkaban for ten years. I guess I'm just lucky that they didn't put me behind bars for life!" he finished. Harry stepped back and looked at Hermione and Dennis. Dennis had his mouth wide open; evidently in awe at everything Harry had to say. Hermione encouraged him to continue. He turned back to Ron, who still was turned away to the roaring seas, his face expressionless. But a few moments back, Harry had seen it quiver slightly.

"You're getting to him, Mr. Potter," Dennis said softly.

"All I can say at the end Ron, is that I'm sorry things have turned the way they did for you but I'm not sorry for what I did. If you can just find it in your mind, somehow, to just think about what I've said, I would appreciate it. I know that ten years in Azkaban has changed me. But somehow, I guess I'm almost thankful that I was in Azkaban, because it gave me time to think, and I tried to do so. Even though those awful dementors kept bothering me." Harry distinctly heard Dennis muttering, 'You got that right'.

"And one of the things I thought of every day was our friendship Ron. I'm fortunate to have a friend as you, who sees me as a good person and not a famous person seventeen years ago at the train station. I simply knew that I was lucky when Hermione, you and I stayed connected for every year that we were in Hogwarts. I guess it's safe to say that meeting you, becoming friends with you was probably one of the most important events in my life. I guess that's not saying much, but it's saying something. I just hope that... Just hope that... I hope that..." Harry said tears filling his eyes and he could not continue. He bent down and sobbed, his heart lingering to the past, thinking of all the happy memories he, Ron and Hermione had shared together.

Those days are over now, he thought, I need to look to the future and be thankful for what I got right now.

"Harry, it's all right."

Where is the light now? Where is it? When will it come?

"Harry, it's all right."

The light! Where is the light?

"Harry, it's all right." The twenty-seven year old, falsely accused convict looked up to see the beaming face of his best friend with flaming red hair looking down at him.

"R-Ron? You forgive me?" he stuttered.

"It should be you who should forgive me Harry," the red-haired man said, his head now turned toward Harry, a small smile on his face. "I was wrong about everything, and I should've grown up and faced the situation like a man. It's not everyday that someone admits that but I do now. Harry, I'm so sorry for all I've done. I should've realized from the start that Fleur loved tormenting others more than she does helping them. When you killed her, all I had to comfort myself was the fact that you wronged me, and I based upon that fact, I made myself separated from everyone else. I kept telling myself that I was right, but now I feel like she left some kind of curse upon me, a curse that made me reject my friends and family."

"Curse or no curse, Ron," Hermione spoke up, "we'll always support you, and always will be there with you, especially Harry and I."

"Yeah, you know that already, right, Ron?" Harry asked, standing up and wiping the tears off his eyes. He looked and saw that Ron was doing the same thing. It was probably the only time of his life that he had actually saw Ron cry openly. Before any of them could continue talking, the door of the room was knocked upon and Dennis ran to open it. A tall man dressed in a blue uniform stood outside, a large ship could be seen in the background.

"Please hurry, Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger and Mr. Potter! You must board the ship in exactly one minute, or be left behind!" the tall man said urgently.

"Oh, we must hurry, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. She grabbed the two men's hands, and led them out of Azkaban Prison and onto the ship. Harry turned, shouting a last goodbye to Dennis.

On the ship, they sat in one of the very luxurious rooms, with Hermione chattering away, telling them all about its history. Harry smiled, feeling as if everything was back to normal. He looked outside and saw that the moon shining brightly in the sky.

I just can't believe it, he thought to himself, I've been missing for a decade, and everything is almost the same! Or is it just of my friends? I wonder what is new? No need to think about it now, I'll soon find out enough.

"Well, Harry," Ron said to him, a grin on his freckled face, "you have a lot of catching up to do. I bet I can spend days telling you about what you missed. Azkaban doesn't provide newspapers right? Not since the last time I checked anyway. Well, in that case, I'll start with..."

"Harry doesn't need to know the past Ron, just the present and future," Hermione interrupted. .

"Just start with the recent news Hermione," Harry told her. "What happened lately in the Ministry?"

"Well, Malfoy just issued an order for all wizarding security officials to start inspecting..."

"Malfoy? As in Draco Malfoy? What's he got to do with the Ministry?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Haven't you heard, Harry? Draco Malfoy is the Minister of Magic!"