Tomorrow came and Harry woke up downstairs on the couch. He rubbed his neck. It hadn't exactly been comfortable but Harry had chosen this instead of the room he and Ron had been offered. Harry couldn't take that room. It had been Harry's. The Harry from this world. So he had stayed on the couch. Hermione and Renata had bunked in the guestroom. Harry saw Renata standing at the top of the stairs.
"Good morning, Harry," she asked, walking down the stairs, still in a long-sleeved nightgown.
Harry sat up and stretched his arms, yawning. "Do you wanna sit?"
"Sure. What prompted the couch over the room with Ron? Did he kick you out for snoring or talking in your sleep or something?"
"No. I couldn't stay in that room. That was Harry's room. It'd just be strange."
"No stranger than anything else here. In this world, I was never born. My uncle went crazy and killed my mom. Remember?" she said bitterly. "At least you existed and died. I never even was." She mentally shook the mood from herself and said lightheartedly, "So.nice p.j.'s." She snickered.
"If I remember you picked them out."
"I didn't think you'd actually wear them."
"Well. Er.yours is pink. With rabbits on it. You hate pink."
"Wrong."
"You don't hate pink?"
"No, you were right about that. But these aren't rabbits. They are fwuffy wittle bunnies." She giggled and Harry laughed.
"Do you think we'll make it home, Harry? To our world, I mean. I miss my mom. I know I wouldn't be seeing her now if we were there anyway but I miss knowing she can come if I need her. Knowing she's there."
"Ren, I promise you that if I can do anything to get you home I will, whether I get back or not. I'll get you back to your mum."
"Thanks, Harry. That means a lot."
"Ahem."
The two of them looked up at the stairs to find both Ron and Hermione fully dressed and staring at them from the top of the stairs. Harry blushed and took his arm away from around Renata. How had that gotten there? He frowned trying to remember.
Hermione simply said, "Mr. Potter said we'd be leaving within the hour. You should probably get dressed."
Ron merely arched an eyebrow at Harry.
"Right. I still need to brush my hair too." Renata stood up and she seemed to glide rather than walk up the stairs. Hermione scowled and followed her.
When he thought the girls were gone Ron laughed. Harry failed to see what was so funny.
"Harry, what were the two of your talking about?" Ron sat down next to Harry.
Harry stood up and turned away. "I've got to go get dressed."
Ron followed him up the stairs. "Would you mind telling me what that was all about?"
"What do you mean? Renata came down to see me and we were just talking."
"You had your arm around her."
"Did I?"
"It's no secret. Everyone in the Tower knows you like her."
"They do?" Harry swallowed involuntarily. He had barely realized how much he liked her, how did everyone else already know?
"Yep. Most of us figured it out a while ago. Before the Valentine's Day card and before Christmas. After all she is the only person that you let lead you around on strings."
"She does not lead me around on strings! What about you?"
"What about me?"
"I think the whole school knows about you and Hermione."
"What are you talking about? We're not dating. I'm not her kind of guy. She wants someone brainy. Like her. Birds of a feather after all."
"Yeah right. She's already got brains. She's interested in someone who'll make her laugh."
Ron had no response to this.
"You should be dating her."
"Did Renata tell you to say that? Are you her little trained puppy?"
Harry threw a pillow at Ron's head. "No!" He fastened his cloak. "It's just.Ron," he sighed. "Hermione's nice and smart and she's not ugly but Renata.There's just something about her, Ron. Normally I wouldn't put up with someone as bossy as her (she's worse than Hermione!) or anyone who tried to read my mind so often. Though sometimes she knows what I'm thinking without any spell. She's just.I don't know. She plays Quiditch as well as anyone, she's brave, she's smart, and she's gorgeous. Just.Ron, help me!"
"What do you mean? What do you want? You sound fine to me."
"I don't like this! I like her too much. She terrifies me. Swear you won't repeat any of this."
"So that's which card was yours. I thought as much. Okay. I won't say anything."
"Swear, Ron."
"I swear, Harry, I swear."
"Oh." He kneaded his forehead. "Sometimes I feel like I am her trained puppy, but I can't help it, Ron. I can't."
"Come on, Harry. Let's go shove some food down our throats before we leave. We're going to need strength. I can't believe this. We are voluntarily going to Azkaban. We must be mad."
Over breakfast they discussed their plan. They were going to teleport to New Jersey in the general area of where Harry saw Azkaban. Further plans would be made from there.
They repeated the teleportation spell from the day before and reached their new destination.
They fared no better for their arrival than when they'd reached Godric's Hollow. They kept a tight grip on each other but hardly kept their footing. They stumbled to their feet to look at their surroundings.
They were on a beach somewhere in New Jersey. Azkaban lay somewhere in the water out there, beyond their vision. "This is no more help than being back in Godric's Hollow. We don't know what's going on out there."
"So you want to jump blindly into a den of vipers?" asked Renata, getting to her feet.
"That's about it I guess unless someone has a better idea. Does anyone know anything helpful about Azkaban?"
"No."
"Then let's go."
"Wait, are we taking a boat or teleporting? I don't have money for a boat and I don't think we could find one to hire for us if we did have the money. Going out into the middle of the ocean to a mysterious island with a group of kids doesn't seem like something someone would want to be hired for."
"Good point. Then to the vipers we go. If anybody wants to back out, this is the time to do it."
No one accepted the offer. They teleported again, landing outside the main building of Azkaban.
They stood up and peered around the corner. A single Death Eater stood there guarding the door.
"I've got this," whispered Renata. Harry heard her count to three before bursting out from the cover of where they were. Before the guard could move or say a word, Renata had turned him into a ferret. She ran to pick him up. "Hermione, do you have any glue with you?"
"Yes. Here." Hermione smeared a large glob on the wall and Renata put the ferret on it.
"Stay." She bent down and picked up the Death Eater mask. "Who volunteers to be the first going incognito?"
"I will." Harry ripped the Hogwarts crest off his robes beneath his black cloak. It would have to do. He put on the mask and pulled his hood up. "How do I look?"
"Short."
"What?"
"The other guard was taller. About your height," Renata eyed Mr. Potter.
"But that won't work," Hermione said.
"For what?"
"For the plan I thought of."
"What plan?" asked Harry.
"Well, Ron is about the same size as Mr. Potter and that guard. We could make Ron the Death Eater and have him lead Mr. Potter and the three of us inside. Prisoners."
"They'll recognize the three of us," Renata protested. "Keep Harry here and come up with another plan. He can guard our bags."
"I thought of that, Renata. I did. But Harry doesn't seem too happy about it."
"I'm not going to just sit out here while the four of you risk your necks in there. I'm coming."
"Told you. Now I thought about it and we can do things to make ourselves less recognizable. For one thing we put Mr. Potter in the front, these men are from our world, they haven't seen him. Any James Potter they did see died fifteen years ago. If we mess up our hair, smudge some dirt in it and on our faces we'll look more like prisoners. Anonymous prisoners taken because." Hermione chewed her lip trying to think. "Because we can be traded to the Muggles. As slaves." She spat the words. "I don't like it anymore than any of you do but it's the best we have. What other reason would we be taken for without giving ourselves away?" No one had an answer. "Alright then. Renata, come with me and we can figure out what to do with everyone's faces. Mr. Potter, Ron, could you watch the bags? And Harry, you're wearing the mask so stand at the guard's post."
"You said it yourself that Ron looks more the part. Here, Ron. Take the mask." He wanted to hear what the girls were plotting. He removed the mask and was shocked as to how Ron appeared when he put it on and drew up his hood. Ron went to the guard's post and Harry sat by Mr. Potter
Harry listened as best he could to what the girls were saying.
"I know, Renata. The one in the mask is safest, until he has to talk. I don't know how we'll manage if it comes to that, but we can't protect Harry and Ron. I want Ron to be the one in the mask just as much as you want it to be Harry. We have got to keep both of them alive. Both, you hear me? It's all or none. We all come back or none of us do. Promise me."
"You're right. We're tough. We can handle this. What have you got for disguises?"
Harry stopped listening at this point. The girls were trying to protect them! Renata should wear the mask. She was nearly as tall as he was. Maybe only shorter by an inch, if that. All of us, he thought, we are all going back.
He waited for Hermione and Renata to return to he and Mr. Potter. They began to rummage through the baggage.
"Harry, come here," Renata said all too sweetly.
"What are you going to do?" he asked warily.
"Nothing. Just come sit by Hermione and me. Please? I promise I won't do anything."
Harry crept closer to them. Renata grabbed his head to hold it still while Hermione came at him with a small brush that looked like something like a miniature paintbrush. "No! No makeup." He struggled and couldn't move his head away.
"Nonsense, Harry. We're just going to cover up your scar. That would give us all away if anyone saw it. I'm just going to make it less obvious." Hermione worked and when she appeared done with his scar she dipped the brush in something else and came back at his face with it.
"What now?"
"We decided you fought capture and got a black-eye. Now if you don't want the real pain of one just let me finish. How well can you see without your glasses?"
"I can see shapes but it's blurry."
"Can you see well enough to follow the reset of us?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Renata, we're going to need an extra pocket with the wand for Harry's robes."
"Right. Wand and glasses for Harry. Got it. Anything but wands for you and me?"
"No, that should be good."
"What are you talking about?" he asked. They were talking as though he weren't even there!
Renata let go of his head and took his right arm. She had a needle and thread in her hand and she began to work. "Prisoners shouldn't have wands, so we're putting secret pockets of sorts in our sleeves to hold them. You'll need one for your glasses and one for your wand. Hermione, are you going to start working on Mr. Potter's sleeve?"
"Right." She moved over to where Mr. Potter was.
"Go over the plan again, Renata."
"Okay, Harry. We signal to Ron when we're ready and he'll lead us inside. We'll have our brooms so that it looks like we were coming here by flying trying to hunt down rumors of a rebellion or escape Muggles and saw this place. Who knows? When we get inside, we'll be taken to cells where Hagrid is, Ron will knock out a guard, get us free if we are actually in the cells, and we'll find Hagrid. That simple. And of course we'll try and find the Green Flame Torch. There. Done. Try and put your wand here, and your glasses there."
Harry tried it. The pockets worked fine even though no extra cloth had been added anywhere. Hermione seemed to have finished with Mr. Potter and Renata worked on Hermione's sleeve before allowing Hermione to work on hers.
The girls then began to work on their own makeup, odd as it seemed for either of them to be wearing it. Most of the makeup was to change their appearance for recognition purposes, not to put on eye shadow or lipstick or anything. Hermione used a cream to darken her face slightly and Renata gave her lines that looked like cuts with a little blood. Hermione gave Renata a lot of freckles and a few scars. They messed with their hair enough to have it hang in their faces and look tangled before coming back to Harry. Renata took water in her hand and put it in Harry's hair.
"Hermione, do you think we should spike it, making it obvious that the scar isn't there or should we keep it flat to cover his forehead just in case?"
"Why don't we curl this piece down over the forehead and spike the rest?"
"That could work." Renata nodded and suddenly eyed Harry like a hungry wolf. "This'll be fun." She attacked Harry's head with the comb and Harry became quite sick of her and Hermione messing with his hair. They told him that he'd be in big trouble if he ruined their hard work.
At last they were done. "Perfect. Hermione, could you get me the mirror?"
"Sure." She giggled and Harry wasn't certain he'd like what he'd see.
A small hunk of his hair was curled over where his scar should be. The rest of the hair had been spiked up. His eye did look as though it had been bruised. Everything else looked the same. They'd done a good job.
"Take off your glasses and put them in your sleeve," ordered Renata.
"It's not good enough. He still looks like Harry."
Renata laughed. "He only looks like Harry to us. Harry, you shave, right?"
"Yeah. But I haven't since we left our Hogwarts on Valentines Day. I couldn't find razors at the Hogwarts here."
"That doesn't matter. What matters is that you don't look as much like you as we think you do, with that stubble of beard and mustache growing on your face you look pretty different. It'll do. What about Hermione and I?" She wiped dirt onto her robes. "It'll look like we had more of a struggle. We need names."
Hermione answered, "I'm Christina, you're Victoria-"
"I want to be Hypatia."
"Okay, you're Hypatia. You're Kyle-"
"I want to be James."
"Fine, Harry, you're James. I'll go get Ron now."
Ron stood at the rear, covering the four of them with his wand as though they were real prisoners. Mr. Potter was in the lead with Hermione and Renata side by side behind him. Harry stood behind the girls.
They'd only been inside a minute, passing by barred cells, when they reached another Death Eater.
"What are you doing away from your post?"
Hermione whipped out her wand and before the man knew what was happening, he was crawling on all fours, a ferret.
"Nice work, Hermione," Ron told her.
"I'm Christina now. Remember?"
Mr. Potter pinned down the animal with his foot. "What do you want done with this?"
Hermione ripped a strip of cloth off the end of her robe and tied the ferret to one of the bars of the cell door.
Renata picked up the Death Eater mask and put it on Harry's face, pulling his hood over his head and ruining his hair.
"No, Renata. You put it on. I'm not wearing it."
"My name is Hypatia, James."
"Hypatia," he struggled to remove the mask but she held it firmly on his head until he gave up.
"You win."
"I always win, go stand back by Ron."
He grumbled but did as he was told. There wouldn't be any use arguing with her. There never was.
All the cells they passed were empty, the doors made of iron bars. Hagrid would be with higher security, surely.
They reached the larger, more heavily built cells without meeting any more guards, and Harry could see why. The doors were wood with heavy steel crisscrossing them and supporting them. The tiny window was only about three by three inches and in revealed a troll, kept there with heavy chains around his wrists, ankles, and neck. They checked each door. A dozen trolls in all. Harry remembered the time he, Ron, and Hermione had faced a troll; they'd been lucky to escape with their lives. Some of these slept, snoring loudly, others growled and screamed, straining against their bonds.
Harry shivered. Hagrid had to be here. He had to. At last, Mr. Potter (still in the lead) found the right door. "Is this who you're looking for?"
Harry rushed to be the first to look in through the miniscule window. Hagrid lay, sprawled on the floor on a bed of straw. He was chained to the wall like the trolls they had seen. Harry was shoved aside roughly so the others could look. Harry took out his wand, "Alohamora!" He was shocked that it worked. The door opened and his three friends, all leaning on it, trying to see in, collapsed in a pile just inside the door. Disentangling themselves they stood and rushed to Hagrid.
"Hagrid, it's us. Hagrid!"
He didn't open his eyes. "Are all yeh bloody varmints back for more? I'm not tellin' yeh where Dumbledore has those kids. I'm not going ter tell yeh!"
"Hagrid, it's us!"
"Harry?" He blinked. "What are yeh doin' here? Wearin' that?"
"Rescuing you." He and Ron hastily removed their masks. "Come on, we've got to find the Green Flame Torch."
"That doesn't exist."
"That's how we got here. We're not in our world anymore, Hagrid."
"These chains won't budge. I tried. For months I tried. I did."
"Someone's coming." There was an open and empty cell straight across from them. Harry waited for the Death Eater to come even with the door.
"What.?" Harry pounced on him, taking his shoulders and pinning them to the wall.
"I want answers!" he growled. "How many Death Eaters here?"
"Thirty-seven."
Harry tightened his grip. "Where is Voldemort?"
"I don't know."
"Liar! Where is he?"
"In the lobby. Where any visitors for prisoners were taken."
Harry tightened his grip again. "Do you have the key to those chains?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"No!" he shrieked. "I have it. Let me go."
"Give me the key." Harry tried to sound as dangerous as possible: a mix of hate, fury, and slight insanity in his voice.
The man handed it over; as little as he could move his arms. "Now, you're going to stay here with my friends while I go hunting. Right?" he kept his voice icy and dangerous.
"I'll stay here."
Harry felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. He screamed as his legs buckled under him and he blacked out.