Disclaimer: Is it really necessary to write a disclaimer at the beginning of every chapter? Once again I own nobody. Happy? Now I'm upset.

Drole is a word, right? I didn't just make it up?

Chapter 4: Azkaban

Azkaban. Once the name had given Harry a sense of security. Now he was filled with dread at the mere mention of the word. At the start of the war the criminals kept there broke out and only dementors roamed the black corridors. Afterwards it had become a safe haven for dementors, death eaters and other convicts too cowardly to leave the safety that the walls (and dementors) offered. A new prison, Gefangnis, was built, holding none of the terror Azkaban once did.

"Holy shit." Draco's face hid none of the emotions. Even if he tried to disguise them Harry could read him like an open book. "We have to get Hermionie out of there."

Hermionie glanced a street lamp flickering not far off and her hope returned. She felt the dewy grass under her bare toes and the cold wind biting at her skin, her thin pyjamas offering no protection from the elements.

It was when she stopped to restore the life to her aching muscles and lungs that she heard the heavy footfalls, muffled by the thick grass.

She started running again, convinced that if she could just reach the lamp it would be okay, her ordeal would be over, she'd be safe.

Come on. Almost there.

The footsteps sounded closer now.

You can make it.

She could hear her pursuers heavy breaths as he chased her through the open field.

Just reach the light.

The light flickered off and she was engulfed by the darkness, choked. She stopped, her destination snuffed out in the twinkling of an eye.

Hermionie gasped as Percy's cold arms enclosed around her waist. Screaming, she turned around and beat at his shoulders with her fists, seemingly minute against his broad figure. Percy gripped her wrists with superfluous harshness and pulled her closer to him, leaving her no room to move.

Suddenly two barely visible pools of light appeared on the road, caused by a cars headlights a short distance away.

Percy dived for cover in nearby bushes, dragging Hermionie helplessly along. They seemed to wait in those bushes forever. Percy pinned Hermionie's arms to her sides with one arm and covered her mouth with the other, yet Hermionie still struggled and tried to scream all the same. But the car passed and Hermionie was once more plunged into darkness, with only Percy's warm breath on her neck to confirm that she was still alive.

Finally, when Percy was sure that there was nobody around, he lifted his hand, stained with Hermionie's tears, from her mouth and used it to jab his wand painfully into her back.

"If you ever try anything like that again I'll break your spine. Do you understand, you little bitch? Your fate is sealed. Don't try and change it."

As Percy dragged Hermionie back to Azkaban the light flickered on, just for a few seconds, before leaving her for the last and final time.

After Harry left for the Ministry of Magic to find Ron, Draco decided he wasn't going to sit back and let Hermionie die. So he grabbed his wand and, looking around his small bungalow one more time, set off to a place he'd thought he'd never willingly go.

Realising that Ron wasn't at the Ministry of Magic, Harry started off in the opposite direction, the wind whipping his already messy hair into a frenzy as he tried to hide in the clouds from muggles on the ground.

When Harry arrived, Draco sat at the door, peering anxiously at the barred windows. Harry's bones chilled and his heart beat faster as he sensed the dementors wandering the long, long halls.

"She's in there, Harry. What if she's already dead? What then?"

Draco gazed hopefully at Harry, releasing some of the innocence that caused Harry to love him so.

"She isn't dead, Draco." The conviction in his voice soothed Draco, yet Harry felt far from certain.

Entering Azkaban was easier that they'd thought it would be. No convicts greated them with murderous intent, dementors seemed to shrink through the wallos at therir approach, death eaters didn't come to finish the work of their once great leader.

Only Percy came to them. He looked exactly like the Percy he had been fifteen years ago, except for his larger build and the dark mark on his arm. He still had an air of superiority, only now he was sarcastic and malicious.

"I was hoping you'd bring my little brother. I haven't seen him in such a long time." His sneer was cut short by whimpering from the adjoining room. He jerked his head and a death eater emerged from a corner Harry and Draco weren't even aware existed. The whimpering came to an end and Percy once more revelled in the silence.

"Let Hermionie go Percy. Your quarrel is not with her."

"Nor is it with you, Draco, yet here you are. Besides, she's carrying Ron's sprog, isn't she? I can't have it coming back to 'get me', can I?"

Harry slowly tried to edge his wand out of his pocket.

"Accio wand." Percy's drole voice made him seem bored, as if entertaining toddlers. "You don't learn, Potter. Ever. I'm better than you. Deal with it. Av…" A sharp pain in his hand interrupted Percy as Draco produced his wand from seemingly nowhere.

Ron stopped Percy's rolling wand with his foot and jabbed Percy in the back with his wand.

"Where's Hermionie, Percy?" Percy bit his lip.

"Hi, Ron. How's it been?" Snape and Lupin entered after Ron and stood behind him, looking rather like bodyguards. Snape stepped forward and handed a vial of veritaserum. Lupin, to save Ron from moving, forced Percy to drink it and, pointing his wand at his, muttered "Enervate."

"Now, once more. Where is she?"

"In the next room."

"Thank you." Snape and Lupin left the room and nothing but shouted curses were heard from them for several moments.

Percy sunk to the floor.

"This isn't the end, you know? There will be others, even if you kill me." Ron Blinked once, twice before muttering "Avada Kedavra." He kicked Percy in the ribs and, when satisfied that he was dead, relaxed. Draco looked shocked.

"You killed him."

"He's no longer my brother. As far as I'm concerned he never was my brother."

Hermionie glanced from Ron to Percy, recognition absent from her eyes.

"Hermionie?" Ron reached out to touch her shoulder and she flinched and moved to the wall.

"Hermionie, it's okay. It's Ron. Percy can't hurt you any more." Ron looked physically pained to see Hermionie so confused and lost.

Slowly Hermionie inched away from her dark corner cautiously.

"Give me your wand." Ron obliged, hoping for any sign of the Hermionie he'd known not two weeks ago. In a manner of seconds Percy's body was obliterated. Not a morsel of flesh or skin remained, and Hermionie collapsed.

Ron caught her before she hit the floor and lifted her up, taking her home to keep her safe, and happy.

Thank you to every one how reviewed. Moony stop almost killing yourself and Pads I'm sorry for the loss of money I caused and I would prefer a cookie.