Disclaimer: I am nothing but a worshipper of the great J.K. Rowling playing in her universe. Anything you recognize is not mine.
A/N: Updated 03-06-2005
°Parseltongue°
DARK PHOENIX
Chapter 11: Azkaban
Under the calm, collected exterior, Harry was scared shitless. How he had kept his cool this long he had no idea. The only thing that had kept Voldemort from killing him for the last hour or so was the insubstantial threat of the Prophecy. So either Harry was a much better actor than he had ever thought or Voldemort was completely playing him to achieve some sort of indistinguishable plan. He believed it was the first option, but he wasn't ready to forget about the second one.
Undeniably, Harry had been a lot more daring in the last few days, a lot more confident. It was strange that his own personality would change fast enough for him to realise it. For now, it had kept him alive, though with his spur of the moment suggestion to raid Azkaban himself that might change soon enough.
That was where he was right now. A two-way voice activated portkey created by Voldemort had brought him in one of the towers, close to the Death Eater cells. The Azkaban wards had a strange quirk: they allowed people to apparate or portkey in, but not out. So Harry didn't need to sneak in, just out.
Snapping out of his jumbled thoughts, Harry turned back to the task at hand. Facing Azkaban was a lot less scary than playing with the Dark Lord. The threat here was a lot more tangible.
Now, standing in the main D.E. corridor hidden by his invisibility cloak, Harry waited for an Auror to make an appearance. He guessed, correctly, that most of them were either tending to their injuries or repairing the damage Voldemort's previous raid had caused. He just hoped one of them would come by soon enough.
Coincidentally, an Auror turned around the far corner. By the badge on his gold robes, he was an officer, which was exactly what Harry needed. Pointing a wand in his direction, Harry whispered:
"Imperio." As soon as the Auror's face went blank, Harry sent his orders in his mind.
Open all the jail cells containing Death Eaters.
The man immediately went to work, each door responding to the password and hand imprint of the officer. Meanwhile, Harry's thoughts went back to the planning with Voldemort...
Flashback
"Please explain to me how I'm supposed to put an officer under Imperio when I have no knowledge of how to cast that spell?" Harry asked Voldemort.
"But you do." Harry looked at him blankly. "I implanted that knowledge when I possessed you."
"What? Why?"
"See it as a show of goodwill from my part."
"Yeah, right. Goodwill. Tell me the real reason. And don't tell me that goodwill is the answer 'cause I know you're too Slytherin not to have another reason."
"Sharp, as always. The main reason I did it at the time was to see if it would affect you."
"Affect me?"
"Yes. I knew you had just attempted the Cruciatus on Bellatrix. I gave you the knowledge to see if you would use one of them again, and how you would respond to the power of these spells. As of now, I haven't seen much evidence of their influence, so I guess you haven't used them yet. This will be an opportunity for you."
Harry pondered this new information for a moment. It explained the dreams. However, this meant he had to do it in real life as well. Just as he was about to refuse, he remembered his conversation with Malfoy. Magic is a tool, evil is the intent. Well, he wouldn't know for sure until he tried it. And trying it brought another problem.
"Alright. But how do I keep the Ministry from tracking my magic?"
"Hmm. This is quite the drawback. The ritual to disperse the tracking charm on your wand would take a while. It took two hours to free mine when I was in fifth year."
Two hours! That was too long. He had to act soon if he wanted to succeed. Harry was searching furiously for a solution when it hit him. It was simple, but he wasn't sure if the Dark Lord would agree.
"We have brother wands. If you were to lend me yours, I should be able to use it without any problems."
Voldemort looked at him with a piercing gaze. "You do realize that giving another wizard your wand willingly is a matter of supreme trust."
"You said I was supposed to trust you. Trust cannot be one-sided."
"Indeed. However, I will ask for your wand in return." Harry hesitated slightly.
"Of course. You can always get rid of the Ministry's charms while you're at it."
So they had exchanged wands, exactly at the same time, neither wanting to give the other any advantage.
End Flash Back
So now Harry was holding an Auror under Imperio with Voldemort's wand, of all things, and enjoying the rush of magical power in his veins. The only thing it compared to was the Patronus Charm. Obviously, the greater the power of the spell, the greater the rush that accompanied it. Most Dark Arts spells being extremely powerful, it was no wonder many wizards were corrupted by it. It was intoxicating.
A few minutes later, all the cells were unlocked and some Death Eaters had started coming out. Harry lifted the spell off the Auror and stunned him before he had time to react. Fighting the thrill of magic, Harry focused back on his task. With a muttered incantation he launched a miniature Dark Mark spelled to follow him. It wouldn't be very wise for the Death Eaters to see him right now, so the Mark was going to be their beacon for now.
"Death Eaters. Come, your master waits." He really hated saying those words, but, he was going to do a lot more things he hated if he wanted his plan to succeed.
Not even making sure they were following, Harry set off towards West tower. He honestly didn't care if they got lost, that would just make less Death Eaters to deal with. Besides, he didn't want to risk getting caught now.
He had chosen the West tower because it was the one closest to the edge of the wards. The wards hadn't been spelled to keep people from passing through them physically, as Sirius' escape had proven before. It was believed unnecessary since the Island was surrounded by freezing water. That was the flaw Harry wanted to exploit. There wasn't a very long way to go. As soon as they passed the wards they were free. The Death Eaters' powers were intact as there were no more Dementors in the prison, so they could easily apparate. He had his portkey.
Fifteen minutes later he was at the top of the West tower. Unfortunately it seemed that all the prisoners he had freed had made it there as well. Sighing, Harry faced the wall, preparing for some fast spellwork. This was where the whole plan succeeded or failed. Luckily, it seemed that the escape had yet to be discovered.
Harry used a variation of the cutting hex to carve a large circle out of the stone wall. He then used a banishing charm to make the disk fall outside. He immediately followed by catching the falling stone with a levitating charm. Once Harry had the newly created platform under his control, he hovered it just outside the newly created opening.
"Climb on;" he instructed the Death Eaters, "We'll fly out the wards where you can apparate." He climbed on the platform himself, the Mark following him as the Death Eaters still couldn't see him.
The soon-to-be-free prisoners hesitated only long enough to hear an alarm sounding throughout the island. They scrambled on and Harry directed the platform to take the closest direct root to pass the wards.
While they were flying towards freedom, one of the Death Eaters addressed him. One which Harry particularly hated.
"Tell me," said Lucius Malfoy, "Have we met before? Your voice sounds familiar."
Damn, Harry thought. It wasn't the time to be discovered. They were seconds away from the magical barrier. He ignored Malfoy. However, a Malfoy does not take well to being ignored.
"I asked you a question!" Lucius hissed, just as Harry felt the tingling meaning they were through the wards. Again, Harry did not answer him, instead informing the rest of the passengers that they could apparate back to Riddle Manor.
This time Malfoy placed the voice.
"Potter!" he exclaimed, amid multiple pops. Without thinking he launched himself towards the area of the voice. Harry was too surprised to react and Lucius pushed him off the edge, disapparating at the same time, and Harry was falling towards the rocky waters below.
Reflexively, Harry caught his portkey and managed to activate it just as he was about to hit the water.
However, using a portkey while moving isn't the best of ideas. Harry still had some of his momentum when he arrived at his destination and crashed onto the floor of the mansion's main room. The only good part of this was that most of the Death Eaters assembled there shrieked in surprise. Unfortunately, Harry couldn't enjoy that very much because of the throbbing in his head.
Slowly, he regained his senses and heard Voldemort ordering his minions to calm down. At the sound of Lucius' name, his head snapped up.
A moment later he was on his feet his left hand outstretched and Malfoy was stuck to the wall, a knife buried is his shoulder.
"What the hell was that fucking stunt, Malfoy?" Harry growled. "I save your pitiful ass from Azkaban and you throw me in the sea?" Harry, enraged, took out his second knife as he stalked towards Malfoy. As he approached the man, he heard Voldemort's voice but the pounding in his ears wouldn't let him make out the words. There was blood lust running through his veins and it demanded satisfaction. Still, there was a lot at stake here, so Harry resolve not to kill the bastard. For now.
That didn't mean he would leave him unscathed.
Because Harry was still wearing his invisibility cloak, all that could be seen of him was the Dark Dagger he was holding in his hand. That must have been a scary sight because Lucius was shaking in fear. Then again, maybe it was because of the pain.
Harry held the blade close to Malfoy's temple. "This is to make sure you remember not to mess with me," he whispered, just before making a long cut from the left temple all the way to the corner of his mouth. Because of the nature of the blades, the wounds would have to heal naturally, leaving a scar. The insult to Malfoy would be greater than any injury.
Before anyone could react, Harry had wrenched the other dagger out of Malfoy's shoulder. His job done for tonight, Harry went to Voldemort holding out the Dark Lord's wand.
"Is the ritual with my wand done?"
"Yes." They quickly exchanged wands.
"Good. I'll be back tomorrow at midnight. Have the Loyalty Spell ready."
Without further words, Harry walked out of the manor, still in a fury, leaving the Dark Lord to deal with his newly freed servants.
Later, lying down to rest in the forest, a little calmer than earlier, Harry wondered if he had just done the worst mistake of his life.
TBC