Breaking the rules

AN - This was previously chapter 2. Nothing has changed sbout this chapter other than its placement in the story.

I really don't know why my muse has it in for poor Harry! This was a little hard to write.

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Flashback, Harry's POV:

Harry blinked groggily, trying to figure out where he was and why he was awake. Every muscle in his body hurt and he was so exhausted he couldn't think straight. Lifting his head slightly, he realized after a minute that he was probably in a Gryffindor dorm room. However, judging by the furnishings and a few decidedly feminine items, such as makeup and jewellery, scattered on the dresser immediately across from where he lay, he wasn't in the boys' dorm. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and looked around confusedly.

There was a bra hanging from the doorknob. He definitely wasn't in the boys' dorm.

A soft snore from behind him drew his attention to the fact that he wasn't alone. Turning rather stiffly, he smiled at the sight of Hermione snuggled up beside him. She was sound asleep, a soft smile lighting up her delicate features. Upon seeing her looking so happy, the memory of the night before came flooding back.

Voldemort was dead. Really, truly dead. And, almost more amazingly...Hermione loved him. Harry blushed, remembering their kiss and the conversation that had followed earlier that morning. If they hadn't both been so exhausted she'd been willing, even eager, to make love to him.

He was still exhausted, which brought up the question of why he was currently awake. A quick glance at his watch revealed that only an hour had passed since they'd fallen asleep. He also noticed that he'd been too tired to remove his glasses. Yawning, he reached up to do so when a soft creaking sound made him freeze.

There hadn't been anyone else in the tower when Hermione had closed them in earlier, but now it sounded like someone was in the hallway. The Fat Lady must have returned to her frame and started allowing other students back into the dormitory. Sighing, Harry decided to go see whoever was out there and find out what they wanted. According to Luna, Lavender was in St Mungo's and Parvati had gone to the wizarding hospital to provide moral support for both her best friend and her twin sister, Padma. The Ravenclaw had been badly burned by a curse during the battle. Someone must have come to collect one of the Gryffindor girls' belongings, but Harry didn't want them to disturb Hermione. His new girlfriend needed her rest after everything she'd been through recently.

Sliding off the bed, Harry tiptoed to the door and carefully unlocked it, trying to be as quiet as possible. As he turned the knob, Hermione rolled over, mumbling in her sleep as she hugged the pillow Harry had been using. Smiling affectionately at her, Harry eased the door open and slipped into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

The hallway was almost completely dark. The only light came from a small gap in the curtains covering a small window to Harry's right. Glancing toward the window, he saw a cockroach scurrying out of the light and wrinkled his nose in disgust. Shaking his head he turned toward the stairs to look for whomever had been in the hallway, muttering, "Since when does Hogwarts have a roach problem?"

"Since never, asshole," a deep voice growled behind him. Before he could turn around, the voice hissed, "Stupify!" and everything went black.

"Death Eater scum!" An angry voice broke through the fog in Harry's head, jarring him awake just in time for him to be aware of someone spitting in his face.

As the wet, slimy mess trailed over his cheek, he tried to reach up and wipe it away but found himself unable to move."Wha-"

"Shut up, ye little arsehole," a second voice ordered.

Harry pried his eyes open, squinting against the glare of several torches. "M-me?" He stammered confusedly at a large black haired man in Auror's robes standing in front of him.

"What part of shut up did you not understand?!" The owner of the original voice snarled from just behind him. "You're not to speak...got it? We're not in the mood for your lies, dirtbag. We know you tried to kill Harry Potter!"

Harry blinked, "What are you on about? I am Harry Potter!"he blurted angrily. "I don't know who you think I am, but...."

"Nice try, Malfoy," the man in front of him snarled. "Now shut up! They'll will be here for ya soon," he nodded at the man behind Harry, who suddenly twisted his arms behind his back, sending searing pain through both shoulders, briefly taking his breath away.

"But- Aaaaaaaaah!!" Harry tried again to explain but his arms were wrenched even further and he fell to his knees, gasping. "I'm Harry Potter!" he choked out just before the man twisted hard. Harry screamed as he felt his left shoulder pop out of its socket. Black spots swam in his vision and he struggled not to cry. "Please..."

"Another word and I'll rip your arms off completely and shove 'em up your arse, you little fuck," his tormentor yanked him back to his feet by his left arm and Harry barely choked back a cry. His heart was beating out of control and he'd broken out in a cold sweat. He swayed weakly, his head hanging low as he prayed silently for someone with half a brain to come save him from these two morons. He knew as soon as someone like Kingsley or Arthur found him, the two oafs would lose their jobs in a heartbeat.

As he waited impatiently to be rescued, he slowly noticed that the unused classroom they were in seemed to be getting colder by the moment. Then he suddenly realized that his heart was racing harder than ever. Just as a horrible suspicion came over him, the sound of a door slowly creaking open drew his attention to the right. Turning his head toward the sound, he watched in horror as his worst nightmare glided into the room. "Fuck," the man in front of Harry cursed softly, moving to his partner's side, behind Harry.

Seeming larger and even more horrifying than usual in the small classroom, two dementors made a beeline straight toward him. "Eh! Back off now! You can't have him yet!" The first auror ordered shakily. The dementors seemed oblivious to him, bearing down on their target like dogs on a juicy steak.

"P-patronus!" Harry muttered. "Cast a patronus you idiots!"

The man holding him gave his right arm a vicious yank, dislocating his other shoulder, but through the wave of pain that swept over him, Harry noticed that the other auror was trying to follow his advice. "Fuck, I can't, Paul!" He turned to his partner, his eyes huge in his overly pale face.

"Dammit, you hold him," Harry was shoved roughly toward the trembling man, who barely caught him by the elbow, sending another jolt of pain through his left shoulder. Apparently abusing helpless prisoners made the second auror, who was tall, blond and balding, sufficiently happy because he managed to summon his rat patronus with seemingly no trouble, halting the dementors in their tracks just as the nearest one reached for Harry's head. "Back off you dogs. No smoochies for you 'til you get him back to Azkaban."

Harry gasped, "You can't send me with them. Please! I'm not Malfoy! I'm Harry! Please!"

"I told you to shut up!" the man growled irritably and punched Harry in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. "C'mon Murray, lets get this garbage outta here." Each man grabbed one of Harry's arms and they began dragging him toward the door, ignoring his wheezing and pained cries at the pressure this put on his injured shoulders.

"What's going on here?" A familiar voice sent a shock of hope through Harry and he looked up into the familiar eyes of his Head of House.

"Mc...Gon..." he struggled to draw enough breath to speak.

"Nothin' Professor," the black haired auror replied politely. "He's just putting up a bit of a fight."

"I see," McGonagall murmured, looking Harry over, pursuing her lips. "He always was a troublemaker. Has he threatened to call Daddy yet?" All three adults laughed.

"Prof..." Harry tried again, struggling to remain conscious despite his injuries and the effect of the dementors hovering just behind him. "I'm H-Harry..."

"Good lord, the boy's gone round the bend!" McGonagall twittered uncomfortably. "Draco Malfoy, it was Harry himself that turned you in! I don't know how you thought you, of all people, could manage to overpower one of the finest wizards to ever attend this school," she sneered slightly, then turned her attention back to the black haired auror, "Please try to make sure none of the other students see him. We don't need anymore bloodshed here today." With that, she turned and limped away.

Harry watched her go in horror. As the aurors continued to drag him toward the castle's front entrance, he struggled to stay on his feet, knowing the pain in his shoulders would intensify unbearably if the sadistic duo had to literally drag him.

The small procession made its way out to the courtyard, where the aurors had a couple of brooms waiting. Harry whimpered as the more abusive blond roughly slung him face down across the handle of his broom. "Stay still!" He elbowed Harry harshly in the ribs when he wriggled a bit in a futile attempt to get more comfortable. "Don't make me tie you up."

Harry rather wished he would make good on that threat as they took to the air. As soon as his feet lost contact with the ground the broom's shaft began to dig into his abdomen. It was also very disconcerting to dangle face downward with no choice but to watch the ground grow further and further away. This was especially disturbing knowing that he'd be unable to hold on if he happened to slip. The pain in his shoulders had gradually settled to a dull ache but he was under no delusions that he'd be able to use his arms any time soon. Not without receiving serious medical attention first.

As he dismally watched the countryside below, Harry prayed that whoever had done this to him had not harmed Hermione. The longer he thought about his girlfriend sleeping alone and defenseless while his unseen attacker lurked about the tower, the more anxious he became. Then, he realized that, from what McGonagall had said, the attacker must be disguised as Harry himself and his anxiety escalated to full on panic. "M-my g-girlfriend is in danger..." he ground out, clenching his teeth against the pain in his abdomen where the broom was digging into his diaphragm.

"Shut up!" the surly auror barked, slapping him hard. Harry's head flew to the side and he yelped as he almost fell off the broom. "Bloody hell! Look what you almost made me do! Nearly over London, too!"

Harry looked down and gulped. They were currently flying over a large church with a very sharp steeple. "P-please...send...a message...to...McGonagall. Need...to...check on...Hermione. Gryffindor...tower..." Harry panted.

"Shut the fuck up!" the auror bellowed. Letting out an angry growl, he brought his elbow down in the middle of Harry's back.
Pain shot through Harry's entire body as he felt and heard a rib crunch upon impact. All of the air was forced from his lungs and he cried out as he felt himself slipping from the broom. The auror seemed oblivious as Harry continued to slide further and further forward until he was hanging over the handle at his hips instead of his stomach. "H...h..." he struggled to call out.

Just then, the dementors, who had been trailing behind them, suddenly came up on either side. "What're you doing?" the blond auror asked nervously. "Get back!" He grabbed onto the back of Harry's shirt, causing him to sigh with relief, but before he could hoist him further back on the broom, the two dementors attacked. "Help! Murray!" the blond screamed, getting the other auror's attention just before one of the dementors reached out and yanked him from the broom.

Harry watched in terror as the dementor covered the screaming man's face with its gaping mouth. He felt the broom he was on beginning to descend and tried to think about how he would control it if he was mounted properly. He knew brooms worked mostly by willpower and hoped his awkward position wouldn't matter too much. A dark flash of motion drew his horrified gaze to the suddenly limp form of his tormentor as the dementor casually dropped the now soulless husk. "No!" Harry lost whatever weak control he might have had over his broom as the hooded figure turned on him. A scream on his right suddenly cut off with a gurgle and he knew the other auror had met the same fate. Looking down, he noticed he was now flying only about fifty feet over the top of a very tall building. If he could land on the roof, he might make it...

A bony hand brushed against his ankle and he realized both dementors were now reaching for him...probably fighting over which of them would get his soul for dessert. Taking a deep breath, Harry sent a silent prayer to Merlin or whoever else might be listening to please take care of Hermione; then he weakly grabbed the broom handle on either side of him and pushed himself off, screaming in agony at the pain ripping through his shoulders. He screamed even louder as he realized he had missed the rooftop and was plummeting toward the sidewalk hundreds of feet below. He tumbled helplessly, head over feet, as the ground rushed to meet him. About twenty feet from the ground he smashed into something sticking out of the side of the building. Excruciating pain exploded in his back and skull as the world went black.