Following the escape last week of ten prisoners from the high security wizarding prison Azkaban; a review had begun by the ministry examining the cases of each the inhabitants. This will look closely into the lives of the prisoners and their victims. The details of the crimes that placed them their in the first place.

The realm of Azkaban is a horrific place. The great stone fortress is found on a tiny island way out to sea. Guarded by soulless, creatures of night, christened 'dementors', the criminals are not merely trapped by the walls and bars, but by the crushing, black abyss of their own heads. Housed in this place of pain and madness are some of the worlds most dangerous criminals. Their crimes range from brutal murders, to vicious acts of treasons, but perhaps the most disturbing of all, is that of the Lestrange's.

Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange were two of Azkabans most heavily guarded prisoners. Bellatrix (maiden name Black) is the cousin of another infamous ex-captive of the prison, Sirius Black, who escaped nearly three years ago and is the suspected rallying point for these further breakouts. It seems as though the following of the Dark Lord, and sick desire for power, runs in the family.

The Lestrange's are convicted, alongside two other supporters of You-Know-Who, of the torture of two prominent members of the wizarding community. Frank and Alice Longbottom (Previously McKinnon) were two high profile aurors who are behind the capture of countless other Dark Lord supporters. They were captured and tortured into insanity by the Lestrange's, who believed them to know the whereabouts of their fallen master. Neither will ever recover.

But what of the real Longbottom's? The world knows for well the tails of their powers and skills, and of the price they paid for them, but what about the real people? The true spirits that were lost at the hands of those who have none. Their story is below.

Alice Longbottem, known by her friends as Ali, was born on the 9th of July 1961 into a pure blood wizarding family. As a second child, Ali showed signs of excellent magical capabilities at a young age, so it was no surprise when the yellow parchment letter of Hogwarts arrived on her doorstep shortly after her 11th birthday. After taking up her position at the school Ali quickly rose to popularity among her peers, becoming liked by nearly all those around her. She found her particularly friends however in a group of girls in the year above her, most of who were in her own house, Gryffindor, though there were a few from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

As Ali changed gradually from the round faced first year, into a far more mature sixteen-year-old (though she still remained the same height, short), she went through many boyfriends, though none of them lasted long as she found she was unable to really talk to them and she bored of them quite quickly. This all changed however, when Ali first began her 6th year at the school. She had taken her O.W.L's at the end of the last school year and had passed them all. Her Defence Against the Dark Arts marks had been exceptional and Ali had already begun mapping out her career as a dark wizard catcher. It was on her first day in her new Defence class that she found herself sitting next to someone who would impact her life more than she could ever have thought.

Frank Longbottom was born in the January of 61, to a magical mother and father. He was the youngest of four brothers and was always the quietest. While his brothers were always running about and showing off, Frank was more likely to be reading a book, or out exploring by himself. Despite the fact he was nearly seven years younger than his eldest brother, he far the most powerfully magic of the four. He was quite tall and wiry with dark brown hair and eyes, and he gave off a persona of quiet intelligence. He was often descried as 'shy', but was quite happy to talk to those he knew well enough. Frank had a few good friends at Hogwarts, but because of his of quiet personality and general unwillingness to join in games such as quidditch, he was often picked on.

He had had a crush on Ali since about 3rd year, but partly because of his shyness, and partially because of their different social groups, he had never tried to ask her out. Despite sharing a common room with Frank for nearly 6 years, Ali had never looked twice at him.

When the seating plan for the room was handed out at the beginning of the Defence class, Frank was thrilled – finally he'd be able to talk to the girl he'd liked for what felt like forever! Ali on the other hand barely noticed Frank's name, caring more that one of her friends, Fiona Todds, would be sitting in front of her, perfect for chatting purposes. When everyone sat down Ali greeted Frank with a smile and a friendly hello, the way she would anyone, then started talking to the girl on her other side. Little did she know that her throwaway comment meant a great deal to Frank.

After a week or so, Frank finally dared to speak to her, asking her for help on a question he already knew the answer to. She cheerfully obliged and it gave him the confidence to start a proper conversation.

After that, Frank and Ali's friendship bloomed. Ali was surprised to find that a guy she had always written off as 'boring' or 'uninteresting' was actually very sharp and knowledgeable, he could also be quite funny when he wanted to. As the months went by, September into October, then November, Frank found himself falling more and more in love with her, and though Ali hadn't realised it yet, so was she.

Unluckily, at that point Ali was going out with a 7th year by the name of Amos Diggery. Taking in by his charm and good looks, she was unable to see what was quite plain to everyone else. What an arrogant, bullying git he really was. Amos took pride in being one of Frank's key tormentors, and it was this that eventually drove the two soon-to-be aurors closer together.

Hogwarts was planning a Christmas ball. The decorations were up and food preparations were already beginning. All through the corridors and common rooms people were discussing what they were going to wear and whom they were going to go with. Ali, still blind to Amos's real personality, had agreed to go with him, and fact that caused Frank great pain when he heard it as he had been planning to ask her himself. Not that he ever showed it of course, he was never one to wear his heart on his sleeve. He carried on as normal in lessons, but his insides were writhing with silent anger that the person he cared so much about was going out with someone he despised so much.

On December 22nd however, three days before the Christmas ball, all this was about to change. Lessons having finished the previous week, the students were at a loose end as to what to do. Eventually a decision was reached by a number of 6th and 7th years to start a giant quidditch game down in the stadium. Those who did not wish to join in stayed in the castle to talk or lounge about, Frank among them. Amos Diggery (a beater on the Hufflepuff quidditch team) saw this and pointed it out to his friends. All of them, sensing a bit of fun at someone else's expense, grabbed him and bundled him down to the pitch. Frank tried to fight them of, hating quidditch as he did, but one person is hardly a match for six or seven is it? They finally reached the pitch and forced him onto a broomstick, laughing as they thought of the others seeing his lack of flying abilities. Seeing no other option, Frank took off and soared steadily into the air. To everyone's surprise, he wasn't all that bad. Just because he disliked quidditch didn't mean he was completely useless at it. He flew well, without his broom shaking, and playing chaser he even managed to score a few goals. The boys that had always teased him were beginning to form a mild respect.

Amos was furious. His plant to humiliate Longbottom wasn't working at all the way he planned! He was so annoyed in fact that he swooped toward the nearest bludger and hit it with quite unnecessary force towards Frank, who wasn't even anywhere near the ball. There was a gut-wrenching crack as the heavy metal ball collided straight into his shoulder. From the odd angle it was now sitting at, there was no doubt it was broken.

Frank bit his lip to stop himself crying out. The pain was tremendous. Carefully he steered the broom towards the ground with one hand. Amos, very pleased with himself, called out.

"Come on Longbottom! Get back on the broom we ain't finished the game yet." His friends looked at him strangely, couldn't he see his injury?

"Wuss," Amos yelled, 'you wimpy little wuss! One little injury and you give up." All was silent, but after a threatening stare from Amos, his friends realised what he wanted them to do. They all began laughing at the small figure on the ground. Jeering and taunting him.

Shrugging of their comments, Frank began to make his way towards the exit, nursing his bad shoulder. Amos smiled with satisfaction.

Little did he know his girlfriend, who had wandered down to the pitch in interest, had been listening all along. Ali had become bored of being indoors and had walked down alone to watch the game. She had paused at the gate as she saw with disbelief, Amos deliberately hitting the bludger at Frank. She knew the rules off quidditch; she knew what a beaters job was and everything. But as far as she could see Frank was no-where near the ball, why had he gone for him? And as for laughing and calling him names, that was just plain wrong!

Shaking with anger, Ali strode onto the pitch, stopping Frank as she did. Standing with her hands on her hips, she shouted upwards to the circling players.

"Amos!" she yelled, "Hey, Amos!"

"Oh, hi Ali," shouted back Amos, "What you doing here babe?"

Ali didn't answer that. Instead she shouted angrily,

"Why on earth did you have to hit that thing so hard?"

"I'm a beater," said Amos slowly, confused as to why she was acting like this.

"Yeah, but he was nowhere near the ball!" she yelled in exasperation.

Amos shrugged,

"It's not my fault the little widdy baby has to run off to the hospital wing every time it gets a little boo-boo."

"Are you blind?" Ali asked in disbelief, "It's broken!"

"Yeah well," said Amos uncertainty, "Why are you sticking up for that little geek anyway?"

Ali's blood was boiling. She was finally beginning to see what others had spotted long ago.

"You know what Amos," she said coolly, "You think you're so great, so wonderful; but actually your nothing but a big, self-obsessed bully! He's twice the man you are."

With that, Alice McKinnon, the girl that had never been very good at being mean, did herself proud. She turned, and, taking Frank by his good shoulder, gently steered him towards the exit.

About an hour later, the two of them were sitting on a bench in the cold stone courtyard. They had been to the hospital wing and Madame Pomfrey had healed the nasty break. Neither looked at each other as they sat in a silence that Frank eventually broke.
"Did you mean it?"

"What," asked Ali, uncomfortably aware of what he was going to say.

"About what you said earlier, about me being twice the man Amos was."

Ali flushed and she carefully looked anywhere but at Frank,

"Yes- no…oh I don't know." She said in embarrassment.

"Oh," said Frank simply.

There was silence for another few moments.

"Will you come to the Christmas ball with me?"

Ali smiled, finally looking up at him."OK."