J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 3 – Horror

Azkaban had always been a place where screams and crying were constantly heard both day and night whether due to the Dementors making their rounds or the prisoners screaming out their frustrations and despair. However, since Umbridge's new form of "expulsion" was started, there were not only more screaming and crying than ever before but also shouts of outrage as even some hardcore Death Eaters protested the incarceration of children – even Mudblood children.

Azkaban had room for many prisoners and was usually half full at any given time. There were three levels of imprisonment in Azkaban. The first level was for those people who had committed minor crimes or crimes which were not deserving of the constant attention of Dementors. Mostly petty criminals, such as the likes of Mundungus Fletcher, were kept in this section.

Their sentences were under a year and even if you served a year, you might think twice about committing a crime, but sometimes risked it anyway because at least you had a place to stay and two meals a day. You had a small room with a stone bed but the bed had a mattress six inches thick, a greyish set of top and bottom sheets, a pillow with a raggedy pillowcase, and two blankets. You got a chamber pot which magically cleaned itself once a day. If you were lucky your cell might have a small window.

You received two meals, boring but filling and nutritionally enriched to keep you semi-healthy and once a week you received a cleaning (and shave if male) done by house elf magic. Every other week your bedding was changed as well as your uniform. You could have two visitors once a month and receive letters, but your mail was read by the Aurors before given to you to check for spells and secret messages. If you were a lazy lump who liked sleeping most of the day and not doing much except perhaps chatting with your neighbors, it wasn't all that bad a stay, except once a week when Dementors visited you for five or ten minutes.

The second level was similar except there was no sheets, no visitors allowed, mail was rarely received unless it was to announce a death in your family, and your cleaning was limited to once a month. Your window, if you had one was merely a hole in the wall near the ceiling but it let in light if it was day and cold if it was winter. Dementors came every day and the duration of their stay depended on several things such as your behavior, the length of your incarceration and how sadistic the Aurors were feeling.

The average sentence in this section was a maximum of five years and you did something bad like cheated on your taxes, accidentally (really) killed or severely injured someone, were caught swindling or stealing from an important person, committed minor treason like expressing your views in public, usually when drunk, and had slandered or pissed off the wrong person. There were times when some of the inmates had pissed off Dumbledore once too often and he used his influence to teach them a lesson. Sometimes they were let out early if they sincerely apologized and/or became a strong follower of the greatest wizard since Merlin. It worked the same way for the Ministry and certain powerful Purebloods (before the Voldemortic war).

The third level was the worse as this was where all the Death Eaters had been sent and other persons who committed vile crimes like real treason and intentional murders. These people, the scum of the earth, disgraces to the Wizarding World, etc. had to be punished as cruelly and harshly as possible to serve as a deterrent for their unacceptable behavior and horrendous crimes.

Basically you had a crude room craved out of the stone walls of Azkaban but with rough edges. The stone bed had a two-inch thick mattress, no sheets or pillow and two thin, raggedy blankets. You were supposed to use one of the blankets as a pillow but you'd freeze if you did. Your chamber pot was a hole in the floor and you hoped your waste made its way down the pipe otherwise the room would smell even more vile than usual. If you were lucky your cell wouldn't have the hole-in-the-wall window as you were too far down to get any sun but only a constant cold blast of air even in the summer.

You received two tasteless meals which were nutritionally enriched to keep you alive so you could suffer longer. The meal was gruel, grey in color with the consistency of wallpaper paste. If you were lucky, once or twice a year you would receive a hosing down by the Aurors if they were bored and wanted to hit you with a blast of cold water and "see you dance" to their tune. You couldn't receive mail but if an Auror was in a good mood they might inform you that your mother or father had died or your spouse ran off with a new mate.

Besides Aurors, the occasional house elf and the bi-yearly visit of Ministry personnel like the Minister of Magic the only visitors you were allowed to have were the Dementors. They would visit any time day or night (not that you could tell the time of day) without warning and stayed for as long as they wanted. You were here to suffer and suffer you would.

You might be able to talk with another prisoner in a cell near yours, but only if you had something to say or vice versa. After a year or so, most people had used up all of the polite conversation they had and nothing changed day-to-day except for an insane prisoner screaming and not stopping or thinking up a new rant to shout out which only served to annoy you. Occasionally someone died so that was good to talk about for a day or two.

The term Muggleborn was officially discarded and the "proper term" of Mudblood would be used in Britain. Level two was now the homes for all the Mudblood children in years one through three. The only exception was if one of the children had an older sibling at school with them so they were placed in the same cell. There wasn't enough room to have one prisoner to a cell so it was now two to a cell. Thus the Creevey Brothers shared the same cell and each gave the other as much comfort as they could.

Level three was where all of the other Mudbloods were placed. The Death Eaters, such as Bellatrix Lestrange, were delighted only because they could spew out all the hate and insults which they had built up during the long years of their imprisonment. It gave them a new lease on life and for the first time in years Bellatrix was happy.

Hermione Granger had been given the distinction of getting the former cell of Sirius Black. The cell was cattycorner from Bellatrix's and the Aurors had loudly announced for all to hear just who and what Hermione Granger was as well as to list her friendships and "mentors" as well as the "real reason" she was here.

For the first few days Bellatrix screamed, yelled, insulted and verbally abused the "new neighbors" almost non-stopped concentrating her wrath mostly on Hermione. Sally-Anne Perks had been assigned a cell with Hermione and although both girls tried to comfort the other between the horrible conditions, Bellatrix's non-stop ranting and the visits by the Dementors, both girls were already in a state of near collapse.

There weren't many Muggleborns in Gryffindor as its members were made up mostly of Purebloods and Half-bloods. Many of the upper years had graduated in the last two years and another had been killed in a Muggle auto accident. The Creeveys were together and three other Gryffindors were third years and under.

Dean Thomas and Hufflepuff Justin Finch-Fletchley shared the next cell down from the girls and next to them was two fourth year boys, then two sixth year girls and three seventh year boys. The odd seventh year boy, Ravenclaw Prefect Jacob Tibbley, shared a cell with a very insane non-Death Eater who was practically at death's door and was glad of the company even if they didn't speak much.

Despite being a "mere Hufflepuff" Sally-Anne was coping much better than the "brave Gryffindor" Hermione. That might have been due to Hermione knowing she was one of the "special people" and faithful follower of Albus Dumbledore. Once she had been recruited after the troll incident by Professor Dumbledore to "help him help Harry Potter" her future had been assured.

She would be protected at Hogwarts (even if poor Harry had to suffer trials and tribulations due to his "destiny") by Dumbledore himself. Her Head of House had also looked after her and protected her from the Weasleys, the only other special helpers which Dumbledore allowed to have access to Harry. The Weasleys, but especially Ron then Ginny, were jealous of her position and despite having to act friendly for appearances sake, Ron took every opportunity to belittle and in the beginning threaten and physically harmed Hermione on occasion until Dumbledore forbade it and had McGonagall keep close tabs on him.

She had been protected and kept safe from some of the things other Muggleborns or less favored students had to endure but now, Professor Dumbledore was a wanted criminal and Hermione Granger was imprisoned in Azkaban along with the other Muggleborns and exposed to insane Death Eaters.

Every day she still woke up thinking (or rather hoping) it was all a bad dream only to be reminded by Bellatrix's rants and screams that it wasn't. She still had hope that Professor Dumbledore would rescue her once he found out she was there but as each day passed, she found it harder to endure let alone hope.

Bellatrix enjoyed telling the frighten students what Death Eaters did to filth like them during the first war and promised that when "Our Lord has returned and when he rescues us then you will experience firsthand all of the things which you truly deserve."

Bellatrix would talk until her voice was raw and then demand that another Death Eater take her place. Antonin Dolohov delighted in telling exactly what he did to female filth, especially "the young ones like you" and every once in a while Dean or Justin would yell at the "sicko pervert" to stop and threaten him with the punishments Dumbledore would heap on him and his ilk. Naturally the fiend just laughed and told or invented new horrors to regale his captive audience with.

Hermione didn't know how long they had been there but it seemed like forever. Sally-Anne thought that based on a two meal a day regimen, they might have been in Azkaban for 16 days, but Hermione said she knew it had to be two months. They would find out shortly that Sally-Anne was right and Hermione was wrong but by then it wouldn't matter anymore.

It was night when they came for them. For once everyone was asleep but the clunk of boots marching down the stairs and into the hall of level three woke up everyone. The cell doors of the Mudbloods were opened and stinging hexes were thrown at them to "wake them up" while the guards started yelling at them. Bellatrix demanded to know what was going on only to be told to shut up and then a strong stinging hex was thrown at her.

The guards were unnecessarily rough on the students especially considering they were not used to standing and walking or being in the lighted hallway. They were pulled, pushed, hexed and ordered to move along quickly while being verbally abused and being told that they stunk worse than the average Mudblood filth. They were prodded up stairs and when one of them tripped they were roughly levitated onto their feet and cursed at by the guards.

When all of the students were together they were marched out into the cold November night only wearing the rough Azkaban-issued uniform. They were told nothing and when one of the seventh years asked what was happened, he was struck across the face and told to shut his "muddy mouth" or else. Finally they were led down to the pier and ordered to get on a very unseaworthy looking craft. Once they were all accounted for the chief Auror of Azkaban shook the hand of a heavily cloaked figure and Dean Thomas thought he saw a large bag of something (probably galleons) exchanging hands.

The ship took off and fought against the choppy seas while the students huddled together for warmth and comfort. Experiences were exchanged and for once many felt hopeful. Then the hooded figure entered the large room where they were sitting on the floor.

For a long moment the figure just stood there, his/her face hidden under the hood. He/her said nothing and it was making many nervous. The seventh year was about to ask a question but Hermione decided to break protocol and rank and beat him to it.

"Has Professor Dumbledore sent you to rescue us?" she asked hopefully.

The figure started laughing, saying nothing for several moments before finally saying, "No. Dumbledore doesn't give a damn about any of you. He never has and never really will unless you can be of some use to him. Not even you – Hermione Granger isn't it – not even you warrant a moment of his time."

"But he had to have sent you to rescue us," she replied.

"And what makes you think you are being rescued?"

"Well you rescued us from Azkaban."

"No, I did not 'rescue you from Azkaban' I simply bought you. The Ministry doesn't care as it has plans to put others in Azkaban and needs the room. Letting the Dementors 'kiss you' was considered but the warden decided to make a bit of money and feelers had been put out shortly after you were incarcerated."

"Then where are we going?" Dean asked.

"That's really none of your business as I own you and will do with you as I pleased. I have to make my investment back as well as making a profit. Some of you are familiar with the 'ways of this wicked, wicked world' so you can take a stab about how to make a profit on young, fairly healthy individuals between the ages of eleven and 18, can't you?"

With that scary information told, the figured turned around and left the room, banging (and locking) the door behind him while his laughter could be heard as he walked away.

It was then that Hermione Granger and others fainted while others broke down and cried. Then Tibbley took charge and tried to calm them all down.

"There are 21 of us against 'laughing boy' (referring to the hooded figure) and probably two or three crew members. They might have wands but we have numbers and the element of surprise on our side. They have to feed us eventually so all we have to do is catch them off guard – even one of them – get his wand and we'll have a chance at least to put up a fight."

"What if they don't feed us?"

"They have to because it will probably take days to get to wherever we're going and they need us reasonably healthy."

The large room was probably the common area/mess hall but the tables and chairs had been removed. A small bathroom containing three toilets and three sinks would provide water and other necessities so once people calmed down, had a bit of a wash and some water, they'd feel a lot better. So Tibbley started sending people to the bathroom in threes to tidy up as best they could. Those who fainted were revived by having their face washed and given a drink of water.

One of the second years found a copy of the Daily Prophet dated a week after their incarceration. Tibbley read it out loud so that all could find out at the same time what had been happening. The news was not good but news was news and they needed information.

Fudge had given a news conference commending Umbridge for making a start to rid Hogwarts of "undesirables" and it had been such a success and so well-received, that plans were being put in place to start the purge throughout Britain. The adult Mudbloods would be questioned under Veritaserum to finally find out how they had managed to steal magic from "real Wizards and Witches" and place it into Muggles. Then after the guilty were found and severely punished the plague of Mudbloods would be ended once and for all and Britain could go back to being the magical paradise it had once been.

Besides the news conference, Fudge had allowed Ministry "experts" to be interviewed. Titus Morehouse was heading the committee formed to find out the cause of the "Squib problem" which led to the rise of Mudbloods. To hear Morehouse tell it, there had been very few Mudbloods born prior to the 1800's. Then Squibs were born and then an equal number of Mudbloods were receiving Hogwarts letters. This led the investigation committee to believe that sometime around 1800 a dark magic spell had been invented for the sole purpose of slowly but surely destroying the Magical World.

Morehouse said they had several interesting leads they were working on. It was believed that certain families had banded together with the sole intention of taking over Britain by making the birth rate of those with pure blood drop due to the production of Squibs. Then when the increasing numbers of Mudbloods entered their world, after a few generations they would outnumber the Purebloods and a new political force would begin with those fiends who had started the horror becoming the rulers over all of Britain due to the army of Mudbloods they were creating.

"Now, thanks to our noble Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge," Morehouse told the reporter, "We have finally received the proper amount of funding so that we may study the problem, find the guilty parties who are still creating Mudbloods by stealing magic and turning Purebloods into Squibs, and hopefully by the next generation there will be no Mudbloods left in Britain and all Purebloods who were thought to have been born Squibs will have their magic back."

At the end of the article Morehouse hinted that from what information they had found lately, Albus Dumbledore was the leading suspect of this genocide. "That was why he had Potter lie about the return of You-Know-Who, hoping that the funds earmarked for this study would be given to the overly funded DMLE to "fight You-Know-Who" but mercifully for our world, that idiot Potter killed Cedric Diggory – probably because the Pureblood boy was going to win the Tournament and not him – and he has now fled knowing his arrest was imminent."

"That's nothing but lies, slander and, and - Professor Dumbledore is a living saint and only has the welfare of all as his primary concern –" Hermione screamed out before Tibbley told her to shut up.

"Although this stealing of magic theory is a bunch of dragon dung, I wouldn't put anything past Dumbledore. Potter's a stupid pawn and nothing more and everybody knows it. I wouldn't put it past him to have screwed up at the last minute and accidently killed Cedric because Merlin knows…."

"Harry didn't kill Cedric, it was Peter Pettigrew who…."

"Not according to your dear friend Ron "the Backstabber" Weasley," Hufflepuff seventh year John Quinton said. "You of all people, Hermione "the Tattletale" Granger, should know what your fellow stool pigeon is saying about his "best mate" and if you don't…well your were definitely too dumb to be a Ravenclaw and that was why you're a Gryffindor," he taunted.

Before more of an argument could break out, Tibbley called for silence. "We have to plan so that we can make a break for it. We might only have one chance to overpower our jailer when they feed us. So let me finish the articles and then let's get some sleep. We'll have to wait to see how many people come to bring us food and I suggest we eat a meal or two to lull them into a false sense of security and get some strength back before we strike."

Hermione was about to throw her two knuts in but a jab to her side with Dean Thomas' elbow and one dirty look from the fellow Gryffindor changed her mind. She needed to hear everything in the newspaper before she gave them her plan or at least that was what she told herself. She was used to 'making the plans' for the Golden Trio after initially shooting down Harry's original one and/or modifying it into her own.

Probably because he was a seventh year Prefect and a Ravenclaw, Tibbley thought he was in charge but Hermione would soon take over once her much better plans were made and told to others. There might be a fight but hopefully her fellow Gryffindors and Sally-Anne Perks, her new "friend" would back her up.

Just when Tibbley had finished reading all the pertinent news in the Prophet, his "grand plan" was crushed much to Hermione's amusement, when mugs of soup, trays of sandwiches and glasses of pumpkin juice magically appeared much like the food at Hogwarts did.

Hermione was going to make a snide remark about "Tibbley's grand plan" but then Sally-Anne elbowed her in the ribs and shook her head "no" when Hermione glared at her for nudge. However, Hermione was too hungry to utter a comment and helped herself to a mug of chicken broth and a cheese and tomato sandwich.

After everyone had their fill, the plates, mugs and glassware disappeared and people started falling asleep.

Most of them slept deeply but some, like Hermione and Tibbley, stayed awake. Tibbley because he was trying to come up with a plan to help them all escape as he knew what the hooded figure meant about "the ways of this wicked, wicked world" and guessed how the hooded figure planned on making a profit with mostly children and youths. He couldn't let that happen especially to the younger years.

Hermione couldn't sleep because she had to prove (if only to herself) that Dumbledore had not abandoned them and would shortly be rescuing them all – especially her, his own protégée. There were seven Gryffindors and she was the oldest and in her mind it made her the head and spokesperson for Gryffindor. There were eight Puffs and only six Claws so, if she could win over the Puffs she could be elected as leader despite there being five students older than she.

Professor Dumbledore would expect nothing less from her. When he rescued them or she did and thus brought him 20 other "recruits" to help in his fight against the Ministry and Voldemort, she would not only go back to being one of his most faithful followers but probably receive a promotion and definitely be inducted into the Order ahead of the Twins, Ron or Ginny. That would show them!

Finally, sleep found both Tibbley and Granger and they would need it when next they woke as they, like so many others would be waking up to a nightmare.