Disclaimer – I think we all know that neither the characters nor the places mentioned are mine. Not, of course, that I would want Azkaban in the first place, although Malfoy Manor would be nice….
He left Draco at the Manor, allowing Narcissa to patch up his wounds before apparating away. He had perhaps an hour before they would be looking for him, before his face would replace Bellatrix's as Number One on the Ministry's wanted list. Everything would have to go smoothly; there was no room for error.
He appeared just outside the apparition boundary at Azkaban. He chafed at the necessity of the walk up to the fortress, feeling time slipping through his fingers even as he passed through Azkaban's security procedures. He handed the warden the forged release papers and waited, on edge, as the pig-like man read the papers and examined the signature. This was taking too long; either the man was illiterate or he was suspicious, and Snape was not willing to take chances, not with this. He tensed, readying himself to perform the Imperius curse on the warden, when the man looked up with a grunt.
"Tenth floor, cell number 448," he rumbled at last. Snape gave a curt nod; he was ten minutes behind schedule thanks to this imbecile and the urge to hex the porcine lump was overpowering. He could afford to do no such thing, however, and so he continued, making his way up the stone steps toward the tenth level.
Cell 448. The bastards would put him in the high-security wing, Severus reflected sourly, finally coming to the tenth floor, breathing heavily from the climb. He had taken the steps two at a time once he was sure he was out of the warden's hearing; it would not do to seem rushed, even if in reality he felt as if the Wild Hunt were loose on his heels. 445, 446, 447… He stopped outside Lucius's cell.
"Lucius," he called in a harsh whisper. "Lucius!"
There was a shifting noise inside the cell. Light glinted briefly off of blond hair and then he heard a voice from within.
"Severus?" The shadows shifted and Lucius Malfoy became visible in the half-light from the torches.
Severus hissed between his teeth as he regarded his friend's condition. Lucius was ragged, filthy, and horribly thin. His hair hung in matted clumps around his gaunt face; grey eyes stared in disbelief from behind the bars of the cell.
"What are you doing here?" he hissed, throwing a nervous glance down the hallway. If the other prisoners knew he'd had news from the outside, they'd hound him for it and then the guards would beat him black and blue for causing a disruption. Somehow though, he didn't think Severus cared about that; the younger man's eyes were as hollow and haunted as Lucius's own and his skin was, if possible, more pale. For a brief moment Lucius entertained the thought that Severus might have become a vampire, but there was no trace of the telltale signs about him.
"You've done something foolish, haven't you?" Lucius asked. He had seen Severus like this only once before, and that had been… well, a very long time ago.
"That depends on your definition of foolish," Snape replied enigmatically. "Can you walk?" Lucius nodded slowly, watching his friend suspiciously.
"Good," Snape said shortly. A creak of metal sounded in the corridor; the door of Lucius's cell swung open and he winced as the torchlight hit his eyes. Then he stared at Severus.
"Your family is in danger and I can't protect them anymore. Are you coming or not?" Severus asked harshly.
That's the end of that one; the rest, as they say, is history, or at least it's Harry Potter canon as of HP 7. And now - Imperio! - You will review. You want to review. Just review, and you can go back to surfing fanfic.