Entry for the "Speed Drabble" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"
Prompts: "For Merlin's sake, leave me alone!", last, Hermione/Rabastan
Entry for the "Ultimate Hermione Granger Pairings Challenge" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"
Pairing: Hermione/Rabastan
Entry for the "Chocolate Frog Card Club" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"
(Bonus!) Eldritch Diggory; Challenge: Write about someone visiting a prisoner in Azkaban.
Entry for the "Gringotts Prompt Bank"
Character Pairings: Hermione/Rabastan
Still Human
Hermione felt more than uncomfortable as she climbed off the small boat that had brought here over the ocean to the island of Azkaban. The wind was howling around the tall prison building as she walked towards it, pulling her cloak tighter around her shoulders upon feeling cold shivers running down her spine.
Even though the dementors were long gone, as the Ministry of Magic and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had decided against using them as guards after the end of the Second Wizarding War, the place was still having the horrible atmosphere of hopelessness about it. It was as if the ghost of the horrible creatures that had once watched over the prisoners here and the effect they had on every human soul was still present, lingering in the air, darkening the mood of everyone who happened to set their foot onto the island.
Hermione would have preferred to stay away from this place, but as an employee of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement she had been assigned the task of informing one of the prisoners about a recent event and it would not have looked good if she had chickened out. Hopefully, this would be the first and last time she would have to visit Azkaban.
A guard led her into the buildings and up a damp staircase which was only sparsely lit by some torches, just as the hallways that led to the cells.
"Lestrange, you have a visitor," the guard growled through the bars as they had reached their destination, but the man barely looked up.
"Mister Lestrange, I am Hermione Granger from the Magical Law Enforce..."
"I know who you are!" Rabastan interrupted her angrily, not even trying to conceal the tone of disgust in his voice. "What do want? And if you are not here to inform me that the Ministry wants to execute me, than for Merlin's sake, leave me alone!"
"A-actually, I was sent here to inform you that your wand has been destroyed by the Ministry."
For a short moment, their eyes met, and Hermione was able to see beyong the open disdain – there in the cell sat a man who had once been rather handsome, but who had been drained of his will to live in the last years. He was tired of living, he did not care about what was happening with him, and he also did not seem to be moved by hearing that his wand had been destroyed.
And even though Hermione knew what horrible things he had done in his life, what he had done to the Longbottoms and countless other people, she could not help but feel pity for this man. Because after all, they were all humans, weren't they?
