"I don't want to break rules, you know. I think threatening Muggle-borns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion." ~Hermione, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Thanks for all the kind reviews, everyone! They make me oh so very happy! Oh. So. Very. Happy. Sorry, that was a little creepy. Anyway, just thought I should disclaim really quick… I don't own Harry Potter, and I don't think JKR is planning on giving him to me as a Christmas present anytime soon, so I'll have to make do with this fanfic.

Chapter 10

The moment Hermione stepped inside, she was nearly swept away by the waves of despair and ice that crashed into her. She had never been near so many dementors at once. She felt her knees begin to shake and she felt faint as if she would pass out then and there. She looked at her friends and saw that they were white-faced and trembling as well.

Shutting her eyes, Hermione forced her thoughts to focus on something happy. Sitting by the lake on the warm summer afternoon after exams were finished, laughing with Ron and Harry, knowing that for once she could sit and be with her friends and not have to worry about a thing. Those times had been so few and far between, and Hermione clung to them as if they were precious treasures, and in a sense, they were.

"E-Expecto Patronum," she managed to whisper through her chattering teeth. Her otter slipped out of the tip of her wand and swam through the air around them. Warmth slowly trickled back into Hermione's limbs, and the despair weighing her shoulders lessened.

Ron's terrier quickly joined Hermione's Patronus, although they agreed that Ginny's might draw attention, as it was larger.

"Where do we go?" breathed Ron, glancing warily around. "We can't stand around."

"Don't ask me," Ginny snapped. "It's not like I hang around Azkaban in my free time."

"Don't fight," said Hermione sharply. "Let's just…walk." She took the first step forward, another shiver sliding through her as the temperature dropped even further. She felt Ginny and Ron pressing close to her, but she didn't look at them. She was afraid that if she saw the fear in their eyes, her doubts would come rushing back, and they couldn't afford hesitation now.

The inside of Azkaban looked a little like the dungeons Hermione used to read about when she was interested in Muggle fairytales as a child. Cold, dark stone walls, winding staircases, and barely any windows. There were a few bewitched lanterns lighting the way, but for the most part the hallway they were venturing through was very dark. She supposed that the light was for the Death Eaters that sometimes patrolled the prison, for dementors did not need light.

"What—" Ginny began, but Hermione shushed her. Ginny glared at her, but Hermione hissed, "I heard something!"

They all went very still and listened. Sure enough, voices were wafting down the corridor toward them, accompanied by the glow of wandlight. Hermione grabbed her friends' arms and pressed herself against the wall, suddenly grateful for the lack of light.

Four figures rounded the corner, talking in low tones and surrounded by shimmering wisps of light that must have served as their Patronus protection. They were all wearing Death Eaters' robes and masks. One of them laughed—a deep, throaty, chilling sound that echoed around the stone walls. Hermione steeled herself and hoped that Ron and Ginny had the same idea that she did.

She didn't give the Death Eaters any time to prepare themselves. Leaping into the middle of the corridor, she shouted, "Stupefy!" and Stunned two of them before they could even register that she was there. Ron and Ginny quickly disabled the other two, and then they were standing in silence again, staring down at the four paralyzed Death Eaters.

"Er…now what?" said Ron.

"Now we take their hairs with the Polyjuice," said Hermione, trying to sound more confident than she felt. "Simple."

"And then what do we do with the bodies?" Ginny demanded. "I don't see any closets handy, do you?"

Hermione bit her lip. She hadn't thought about what they would do with the actual people that they were transforming into. If they left them here, they were bound to recover from the attack and sound the alarm. Other Death Eaters or dementors might even find them before they shook off the Stunning spell.

"Hold on," said Ron, and he stepped forward and started dragging one of the Death Eaters back the way they'd come. Hermione shared a mystified glance with Ginny before following him.

They found Ron opening a trapdoor in the stone floor with a resounding creak that made them all cringe. "It must be a cellar of some kind. I saw it when we came in," he explained, peering down into the dark hole. "It's too dark to see anything, but I'd say it will do."

"Ron, you're brilliant!" Hermione whispered, beaming at him until his face turned pink, his blush visible even in the semi-darkness.

They hurried back to the other three. "Mobilicorpus," Hermione murmured, and the others followed suit until they had levitated the bodies to the edge of the cellar.

"All right then." Hermione glanced at the others and then bent down to pluck a few hairs out of the head of one of the Death Eaters. She peeked under his mask and made a face. He had a big curly beard and scars that covered the left side of his face and that had turned his eye a milky white. She didn't recognize him, but she was certain she didn't want to spend any amount of time being him.

"Mine's not much better," Ginny muttered, grimacing as she de-masked her own Death Eater and found a man with a bulbous nose and a large wart on his chin.

"Well, look at that," said Ron weakly. Hermione looked over and, despite their situation, she had to cough to hide her laughter. It was a fat redheaded man whose hairline was dramatically receded. His face was frozen in an expression of comical shock.

"Can't escape the red hair, can you?" Ginny whispered, and together she and Hermione snickered.

Ron scowled. "Shut it. Let's just get this over with."

Hermione reached into her robes and pulled out the vial of Polyjuice potion. "You brought the teacups, right?" she whispered to Ginny.

"Of course," Ginny replied, dawning three chipped cups she'd taken from George's shop. "Ridiculously impractical to carry around during a prison break, by the way."

Hermione took the teacups from Ginny and carefully poured a small amount of Polyjuice into each one, making sure they all had roughly the same amount. They didn't have much, and she wasn't sure how long it would last, but she did know that they had to move quickly. If it wore off while they were in the depths of Azkaban…

Shaking away the thought, she dropped the hairs into her teacup, trying not to gag at the smell it gave off. Ginny wrinkled her nose and Ron turned a little green as they added their own ingredients.

"Cheers," said Hermione, and tipped the cup back.

The taste was absolutely dreadful. It was even worse than the Polyjuice she'd taken in her second year, which had been tainted with cat hair. The teacup slipped from her hand and shattered on the ground with a delicate tinkling sound.

"Bloody hell," Ron moaned, pressing a hand over his mouth. Ginny's teacup had just taken a trip to the floor as well. In contrast to Ron's green complexion, she had turned pasty white and stared straight ahead with wide eyes.

Hermione rolled onto her knees and gagged, afraid she would throw the potion back up again. She felt the changes overtaking her body, and it was not a pleasant sensation. Her hair seemed to grow back into her head, or perhaps it just re-grew out of her face as the beard sprouted; her face altered itself and she lost sight out of her left eye. She groaned and the voice that came out of her was gruff and very male.

"Why couldn't there have been a few women wandering down the corridor instead?" Ginny grumbled out of her Death Eater's mouth. Her voice sounded strangely squeaky.

"This is better than a woman," Ron said. Hermione glanced over at him and had to press her lips together to keep herself from grinning. Ginny, however, had no aversion to bursting into donkey-like brays of laughter when she caught sight of her brother.

"Looks like you got a glimpse into your future, Ronnie!" Ginny snickered. Hermione had to say that it did look as if Ron had just aged dramatically in the space of a few minutes.

"Shut it," Ron said sullenly.

"Come on, let's dump them in here before they wake up," said Hermione. They pushed the three Death Eaters down into the hole to join the fourth, shut the trapdoor, and put a locking hex on it. Then Hermione whispered, "Muffliato," so that if they did happen to rouse, no one would hear their screams for help.

"Let's go, we don't have much time," Ron's rough voice said. They gathered up the robes and masks they had taken from the Death Eaters, put them on, and then hurried down the hallway. Hermione's heart felt like it was beating a mile a minute. They had done it. They'd accomplished one of the hardest parts of the breakout. Now all they had to do was find Neville…and somehow get him out of his cell, past the dementors, and off the island unscathed.

This was going to be even harder than she'd feared.