Fugitive Prince

The Same But Different, Janet Berliner

Harry James Potter, oldest son of Lily Evans and James Potter, wiped the sweat off his face and smudged the dirt on his cheek. He snuggled deeper into the dry river creek, curling his feet under his legs and praying that the bad men would go away.

He could hear them, creeping through the woods around him, brushing the trees and the leaves and the flowers, killing the plants' lives without a second though as they crushed the forest things beneath their feet. He could hear them, muttering cold phrases, words and vengeance and the cleaning of the magical world.

A twig snapped nearby and Harry's body quivered with fear. Then, some dirt came flying over his head and a body followed, landing with a grunt some feet before Harry. He nearly jumped up in fear, but the murmuring men were too close and would catch him if he moved.

The body, a woman, groaned and got to her feet. She was dressed in complete black with the cowl pulled up to cover her face, the standard dress for Death Eaters. But she was alone and wasn't the reason Harry was so frightened.

It was the men after her.

An explosion tossed up the air and Harry along with it, throwing him to the other side of the creek. The woman screamed, not one of fear but one of anger, and lifted up her hands in the air with a swish. An answering explosion came from the tip of her wand and Harry heard the screams of the men. But it wasn't enough; it never was.

They came from all sides, forming a tightening circle around the witch. Dressed in pure white robes in the forest, they too pulled up their hoods to cover their faces from the atrocity they were about to commit. Harry whimpered and tried to curl up again, tried to curl up away from the sight.

They circled her, moving to dodge her curses and hexes while shooting many times that many back at her. Each hit her with a scream, leaving the scent of burning flesh, the taste of death in the air. Her robes burned so she tore them off, revealing a figure too beautiful to be evil. Maybe she was. Maybe she was the good one, decked in condemning black, while they were the ones to be hunted, dressed in betraying white.

Aurors and Death Eaters. Not so different anymore. There once was a time, his mother had told him, that Aurors were simply good people, trying to make sure the bad people didn't get away. But now, with the dozens and dozens of laws giving the wizards whatever powers they wanted, the world was now a dictatorship where those who spoke against the strictness of it all were labeled as rebels and exterminated. Aurors were the prime force holding Voldemort back from completely taking it all, but they were also the prime force holding him in his current position with power enough to practically own everything anyway.

The curse that hit her the hardest, that caused her to fall, was an unforgivable. Harry recognized the screams of pain that came with possibly the worst of the three, the Cruciatus, and clenched his eyes shut, wringing tears from them. He tried to block out her screams but could no more do that than he could make the men leave. Someone cut off the curse and her screams were cut off into hacking sobs.

Harry was crying as well, letting the liquid flow down his cheeks, and he turned a mournful eye to see what had happened, to satisfy his fearful and dreadful curiosity, to witness the 'justice' of the Ministry.

One of those dressed in white stepped forward to confirm that the witch was no longer able to attack--nor able to defend, as his foot crashed into her abdomen. She let out a whimper and tried to curl into a ball, an instinctive reflex, but the kicking didn't stop until she lay stretched out on the canal floor. The man, satisfied, stepped back and another stepped forward.

"Haley Toulon, you are charged with the offence of siding with the Dark Lord, of conspiring and completing a plan to kill innocent wizards and witches, and of enlisting in the armies of the Dark Lord, of arraying yourself in the robes of a Death Eater. Under the Magical Enforcement Code, I am allowed and called to duty to capture and disarm you, to place you under an officer's control, and to hold you under control until your just trial. In that trial, you will be judged on these charges and sentenced."

He motioned and two more white-robed wizards stepped forward, each taking a rough hold on the nearly unconscious witch's arms. "I have already captured and disarmed you, and now place you under the surveillance of these two officers. Are there any objections to the trustworthiness of these two officers?" The forest could have rocked with the silence. "I now move on to the next step in the procedures: your trial."

The witch groaned and one of her officers roughly backhanded her. Three more stepped forward, forming a line that faced her.

"Do you have anything to say in your defense?"

She was crying. Harry could hear the tears, trickling down her face and hitting the padded floor.

The speaking officer turned toward them. "You have heard the charges against the captured Death Eater. You have also heard that she says noting in her defense. This silence can be taken as a plead of guilt, under the Magical Enforcement Code. What is your verdict."

"Guilty," said the first.

"Guilty," said the second.

"Guilty," said the third.

The officer turned to the remaining others, the ones who had not said a word in this whole time. "You are witness to the fairness of this trial. Is there any objections to the procedures?" No one spoke. "With no objections, I will proceed to deliver the sentence and the punishment."

Harry's breath caught as the man turned back to the bleeding witch. "You are hereby condemned as guilty of all charges and are now given your sentence. Death."

The word echoed through the forest and even the chirping birds went quiet at the word. A word now so familiar in the magical world, but one that never lost its frightening edge.

Harry whimpered quietly, eyes widening at the word. He nearly passed out when one of the men turned sharply, probably hearing the noise. But the man soon turned back, watching the death decree carried out. He tried to turn away, turn away from the shaking woman who now realized her fate, but his morbid curiosity forced his eyes to watch and ears to listen.

The officer motioned and the two holding the witch's arms left her to fall, walking back along with the three-man jury to their watching positions. The witch coughed violently, spewing red spit on the remaining officer's white robes.

He brushed them off disgustedly, magically cleansing the robes to their pure white. Then he face her, withdrawing his wand slowly, making sure that she saw him. The forest remained quiet, tense, mourning the evil that was man. The leaves moved in the breeze, seeming to Harry like they were trying to escape the dreadful sight, the unnatural taking of a life by another.

"There is no law to how quick or painful your death has to be," the man muttered. "There is no law to how I can kill you, no law dictating me on these matters. There is no law protecting your kind from justice."

"This is not justice," the witch shot back, voice shaking. "This is torture, cruel and sadistic. You are no better than I am."

"You? I am no better than you?" The man sneered and stepped up to grab the witch by her robes, fists clenching the clothing around her neck so that he was choking her without touching skin. She let out a limp scream but he shook her sharply. "I have the power to break your neck, to send you swooning beneath dozens of pain curses, to send you to the ends of the worlds, or to set you free. And you insult me by even thinking to compare us?"

Harry winced as he dropped her, letting her body thump against the floor with a thump. He was shaking with fear.

One of the others stepped up and Harry thought that maybe this one would stop the madness. But all he said was, "This is taking too long. Let's get this over with and report back with the ministry."

Suddenly, Harry couldn't take it anymore. He bolted out of the small shelter of ferns growing out of the creek's wall and leaping into the midst of the Aurors, causing them to first leap back in surprise, their eyes widening at they took in his form. Some moved immediately, casting a catching spell that slid off him like oil on water. What spell could stop the horned stag?

Harry's hooves beat at the dried floor, scattering the ring of Aurors far enough that he could reach the woman lying helplessly on the ground. The Aurors, when they realized what the forest animal was trying to do, shouted out in anger but could not capture him, even then.

The Death Eater realized what he was trying to do, that he was trying to help her, and got to her feet, using the last of her strength to jump onto his back and cling to his thin neck. Harry, in his animagus form, reared up when an Auror got too close and leapt away, using his abnormal swiftness to speed away from the battle scene and soon-to-be death place.

The Aurors could be heard following, but they wouldn't dare shoot him down with a curse. His black colors made him look like something from the death world, a ghost come back to haunt them. Not even they would dare shoot upon a ghost.

Harry, feeling his strength begin to dwindle away, hurried to a safe place in the middle of the forest that only he and the people who helped him, the ones like her, knew about. It was a hidden pit, beneath the roots of a great oak. The others had showed it to him, when he and his family first moved here, telling him that it was his safe place, the safe place that he should go to whenever something bad happened like before. When he reached it, he collapsed, pushing the now-silent Death Eater inside and transforming back to his original form: a boy of eight years.

*

"James, shouldn't Harry be back yet?" Lily asked, worried. She peered out the window of their new home for the hundredth time in the last five minutes, then glanced at the clock in a ritual-like manner that had been done many times before.

James smiled and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest and breathing in the smell of her hair. Strawberries. Wild strawberries. "You know Harry. He's as much at home out there as he is in here. Besides, there's no creature in that forest that would dare hurt a human child. And Remus is supposed to be walking over here today, remember? He's probably already met up with Harry and the two of them are coming back right now." They left the other protection around Harry--the protection that, as much as they didn't like it, they had to see--unsaid.

Lily brought a hand up and nibbled on the tips of her fingernails, a nervous habit she always tried to stop doing, and gave a little "I hope so."

James smiled wider and spun his dainty wife around, making her squeal before she clutched at her round belly in semi-anger.

"James! Don't do that!"

"Why not?" he asked. "Maybe the baby likes to dance." He twirled her again and again in their funny little dance, making her giggle like a teenager again, making her lose the many worry lines that shaped her face as well as his. "Besides, what better way to celebrate our new home than to dance in the kitchen?"

Her face flushed and eyes twinkling, Lily danced along with him, their moves getting wilder and wilder, almost too funny to watch much less do, getting carried away and lost in their love.

Suddenly the baby gave a kick. James had had his hand on her belly and felt the movement, eyes lighting up with wonder. It kicked again and Lily's mouth formed a little O.

"Can you feel that?" she asked breathlessly, guiding his hand over her stretched belly. A small thump met his fingers. "That's his heart."

They stayed like that, her hand over his, feeling the life of their new child, eyes locked and drowning within each other. This was magic at its most primitive--or most evolved form. The unmatched connection two people felt with each other, for each other. The love that stayed lit through the years. The heart gave a thump, and James smiled softly at his redheaded wife, a smile that was answered on her face. He learned forward and kissed her, lips locked together as the little heart beat life beneath their hands.

"James..."

Someone cleared his throat and James nearly dropped Lily in shock. She gave a shriek and grabbed onto his arm. "James, you punk! You can't just go around throwing me on the floor!"

James blushed and immediately grabbed her back up, helping her to her feet. It was rather hard, with her being well along in the pregnancy but James tried to act like it was nothing. She hated being reminded how...different she looked, being pregnant.

Lily snorted and pushed him away playfully, turning to greet their guest. "Remus, how are you?"

Remus rolled his eyes and grinned wolfishly. "Just fine, I suppose. Considering how long it took me to get here. You two are always moving."

James grinned sheepishly and shrugged. "Don't ask me why. Every time we get a new house, Lily goes on her little 'it just doesn't feel like home' romp and we move again."

"James!" Lily shoved him into a chair, then made to sit on him. James made a face and half-pushed her away before grabbing her and sitting her down on his lap. Remus took a seat opposite them.

"Right." Remus shook his head. "One of these days, I'm going to get a straight answer out of you two and have a heart attack."

"Do you really want to know?" Lily asked sincerely.

Remus nodded. "Of course. I'm supposed to be your friend, and friends are supposed to be worried about each other. What kind of person would I be, as a friend, if I didn't think there was anything wrong with you two moving about twice a year since Harry's birth?"

Lily and James exchanged looks at the frankness of Remus's words and James shrugged.

Lily sighed. "The reason we keep on moving is because of all the... people who come to our house."

"Death Eaters," James explained. "Everywhere we go, they're there. Not doing anything, which is the frightening part-"

"No," Lily argued. "The frightening part is the way they're friends with Harry."

"Woah, woah, woah," Remus paled. "What are you guys saying?"

"Ever since Harry was born, Voldemort has been sending Death Eaters to us, we think as a sort of guard. They don't do anything harmful, and have actually helped us several times. Once, Harry walked off on his own and they brought him back. And once we had some... trouble with the ministry, and some of them distracted the Aurors while the rest helped us get out."

"Are you sure they're Death Eaters?" Remus asked.

James nodded. "They make no secrets about their alliances."

"What do you mean, when you said they were Harry's friends?"

"Just that. It's hard to explain but..." Lily rubbed her forehead. "We try to move to get away from them, but they always find us and sometimes we don't realize that they've found us until we see a few of them outside, playing with Harry. With all this moving, Harry doesn't have any time to make friends and I think he's become attached to them." Her expression showed her horror at the idea.

"We can't really say anything about it either," James continued. "We tried, once, but Harry remembers the time the Aurors tried to make me come with them. They weren't too nice about it. He claims that these Death Eaters have never hurt him, and that they're always there. Sometimes, when we try to talk about this with him, try to convince him to stop being friends..."

"He just convinces us that he's right," Lily continued. "It's the darndest thing but there's no way around it."

"The worst thing is that we've begun to rely on them," James admitted after a moment of silence. "We no longer worry about Harry getting hurt, or Harry getting lost. Just the other day, one of these Death Eaters brought over some cookies and we didn't even think about it before we let Harry have some. It wasn't until later that night that we thought about what might have been in them. There wasn't anything, of course, but we didn't know that."

"This has been going on for eight years?" Remus asked and the two nodded wearily. "And they've done nothing?" Another nod. Remus leaned into his chair, stumped. "Well, don't ask me. I haven't an idea on me."

"We don't know if we should keep trying to avoid them, or simply accept them," Lily whispered.

Remus just shook his head again, then quickly changed the subject as a melancholy mood began to settle over the kitchen. "How's the baby?"

Lily beamed and brought an hand to rub her belly. "Just fine, actually," she bragged. "Only a one more week to go then-"

"Out with little James."

"James?" Remus raised an eyebrow. "You're going to name him after you? Isn't that a bit...dangerous?"

James laughed and waved a hand. "No, naming it after you would be the dangerous thing."

"And did Lily agree to this?"

"I certainly did not!" Lily huffed. "Don't you remember: Harry James Potter? Besides, I thought we had agreed to name him after my father!"

"Well I thought that we named Harry after you father."

"Harry was your father."

"Yea, but... Leonard?" James made a face. "I might stamp the words 'Leonard the Loser' on his forehead when he goes to school."

"Leonard the... You!" Lily shrieked. "You're the one who came up with that at school!"

"Well, someone had to show you that your old boyfriend wasn't exactly classy material," Remus joked.

She turned on him as well. "You helped him, didn't you! All this time, I thought that you were the best person because you'd always comfort me when I came crying because people were laughing at my boyfriend. You were probably laughing the hardest!"

"What a minute. What's this about comforting?"

"Nothing you need to know about, James," Remus reassured him. "Just some midnight study sessions in the library, some stolen fruit from the kitchen, some making-out in old closets-"

"Ha, ha. Very funny, Moony."

"It's the truth, Prongs, and I expect that you better get use to it."

"Now you two knock it off," Lily threatened, waving a finger. "I might just forget about both of you and run off with Leonard just to spite you. And-"

She stopped mid-sentence, face going pale and stretching out in surprise.

Remus straightened. "What's wrong, Lily?"

"M-my water just broke," she replied, awed.

"You're telling me," James joked from beneath her. "My lap's soaked."

"You're water?" Remus jumped out of his chair. "But, you've still got another week-"

"You think I don't know that!" she screamed, getting up and rubbing her belly. "Oh, oh, oh-"

"Let's get you to the hospital," James said, standing up as well.

"No! Someone needs to get Harry."

"I will," Remus volunteered. "You two get to that muggle hospital of yours and I'll get Harry and meet you there." The three split ways and Remus rushed outside to get to the forest while James and Lily rushed outside to get to the hospital.

Just outside the door, a dark-robed figure waited until the three were out of sight, then started to his master to spread the message. It was time.

*

Remus met with Harry while the exhausted child was on his hurried way home, glasses scratched by the tree leaves and forest underbrush.

"Harry, we need to-"

"Uncle Remus, there's this woman how really needs help," Harry interrupted, panicked. "She's hurt really bad."

Remus looked at his 'nephew,' then to the house and then to the woods and sighed. "All right, but we need to go quickly."

Harry didn't wait for Remus to finish before he started back the way he came. Remus had to run to keep up and followed Harry to a small clearing of trees. "She's in here," Harry informed the werewolf, crawling to a stop in front of a great oak. "See, right behind this plant. There's a hole. She's down there."

Remus followed the instructions and, sure enough, found the hole Harry described. He was surprised to see how deep the little pit ran, but that surprise was nothing compared to what awaited him inside the hole.

"A Death Eater," he breathed as he pulled the woman out.

Harry nodded, looking unconcerned with the fact. He pointed out several deep wounds. "They hit her with lots of stuff, but most of this comes from when they kicked her senseless. The other pain was mostly mental."

"Harry, this woman, she's a Death Eater."

"I knoow! That's why we have to go really fast; they're probably searching the woods right now."

"They who?"

"The Aurors, of course," Harry replied sarcastically. "Who else could do this?"

Remus was taken back at the bitterness in Harry's voice but a popping noise filled the air.

Several more Death Eaters, over two dozen, had just apparated. One stepped forward, sparing Remus a withering look before speaking to Harry. "That was very stupid," he chided. "They're searching now and any minute will sense the anti-apparation shields your parents put up."

"I couldn’t very well just let them kill her," Harry replied with the same tone of voice.

"This was your safe place," another spoke. "Only you. Our master won't be pleased to see that you've abused this place to save someone as unimportant as she is."

"He'll probably kill her," another observed dryly.

"He won't, will he?" Harry asked, looking to the first.

The Death Eater shrugged as if to say 'it's not my place to say.'

"H-Harry, we need to get going," Remus tried to act unafraid but he was shaking all over.

"Not until someone promises to take care of her," Harry said defiantly. "And tell your master that it wasn't her fault. She tried to kill the Aurors, and I think she got a few."

"For your sake, we'll tell him she killed a dozen," one Death Eater answered, almost lovingly. "He won't be so angry then."

Harry smiled and stood, Remus standing as well. Two Death Eaters came up, helping the unconscious witch up and Disapparating with them. Then, all the rest left save for the first. The Death Eater watched Harry a moment before saying, "Remember that we were always there for you, Harry," before leaving.

When all had left, Harry started back for the house but Remus stopped him. "We need to go to the hospital. You mom's having her baby."

As they got ready to Apparate, Remus couldn't help but think that not even Death Eaters could stay long around Harry without being changed for the better.