"Wait a minute!" Draco protested. "Severus cured a Squib of his condition? Why are you saying he's someone who can take it away? I don't understand that!"
"Well, young man, a Breaker can take the ability away, but can also give it back," the Minister explained. "Because he 'cured' Mr. Colton in the manner he did, we know that he was born with the ability to destroy what he cured, do you understand?"
"I think I do. But how is he supposed to guard Azkaban?" Draco asked.
"The answer to that is, he doesn't actually guard the fortress. Instead, he will be able to take the ability to use magic from any convicted criminal before they even reach the island. This way, they can serve their time with much less supervision than they have now," the Minister answered.
"But then Azkaban would be just like a regular Muggle jail. I've heard of Muggles that have escaped from their own jails. What would stop a criminal from trying to leave Azkaban on a raft or something?" Draco asked.
"There are two reasons that criminals had never left of their own accord during their sentences at Azkaban. First of all, Azkaban, like many other wizarding areas, is protected with powerful charms to repel Muggles. These charms would keep Muggle ships away from the area, so if, for instance, this crippled wizard tries to float on a raft, what ship would pick him up? How far do you think he would get without magical aid?
"Which brings us to the second reason they wouldn't leave, especially if they are not serving a very long sentence; the very fact that, once their sentence has been carried out, they will regain use to their powers, throught the curative powers of the Breaker. If he escapes, who else would be able to restore his abilities?" the Minister reasoned.
Draco looked at Severus' unconscious form, and shook his head. It was virtually unthinkable, that he could really take the ability to perform magic away from a person. And then, Draco thought of something else, something that made his stomach crawl. He suddenly remembered when he sent that "slice" of psychic energy at Potter and Black during that Quidditch match. Dumbledore had been crawling the wall trying to get Draco to "fix" them up. Could he have possibly been thinking that he'd "Broken" them?
"So what's the collar for?" Draco asked.
"The collar is to prevent Severus from accidentally Breaking anyone without the Ministry's permission. The collar is magically charged to block the ability. The Ministry of Magic holds a key of sorts that will enable him to Break despite the collar on his neck. Just know that since he's got the collar on, he is no threat to anyone at all. And additionally, he will be able to perform magic as he normally did before this incident occurred. The only ones affected by the discovery of the new Breaker would be the prisoners of Azkaban," Dumbledore assured Draco. But Draco still frowned and thought the entire thing sucked ass, big time. Now everybody in school would think he was a freak. Well, even more than they did already...
"As soon as he wakes up, he'll start getting his training. I can't wait to see him in action. You will allow me to supervise him, won't you?" Aloysius asked the Minister.
"I'm certain that you there would provide a great deal of inspiration to him..." Dumbledore responded. Aloysius sneered and hovered over Severus, as though expecting him to wake up just because he was watching him. But after a few moments of watching Severus' uncle behaving in a most nauseating manner, and the Minister speaking to Dumbledore in hushed tones, Draco decided that he'd had enough and made his escape.
But just as he thought he would escape unseen, he ran straight into Peter Pettigrew. The boy was short enough to only reach Draco's shoulder, so he never even saw him until he nearly tripped over him. "Oh, sorry. I didn't see you."
Peter shrugged. "Barely anybody else does, either. I hope you didn't forget your lesson today, with me?" Draco gaped. He did forget. He'd been so distracted with Severus and trying to make up with Drucilla that he completely forgot about his Animagus training!
"I know what you're gonna say. It's alright. What do I care if you learn how to do this or not..." Peter sniffed. Draco frowned, but decided not to argue with him. Besides, he had to ask him an important question...
They used a downstairs room that usually stored extra Quidditch brooms. Draco discovered Peter turned himself into a fat little gray rat. He remembered what Sirius Black had said about Peter, though; that he was able to keep his shape much longer than he or James Potter were. And Peter was supposed to be able to guide Draco into holding his ferret form for as long as possible. At first, Draco was so distracted that he couldn't even change his nose, like he'd been doing.
Frowning, Peter said, "What's going on? Sirius said before he left that you were even down to whiskers! Now you can't even sprout a hair!"
"Look, I've got a lot on my mind!" Draco snapped. "You can answer a question for me, though. Remember the Quidditch game between Gryffindor and Slytherin? When Potter and Black were put in the hospital wing? Did either of them ever tell you what happened?"
Peter drew a deep breath. "I sure do remember that night. I remember when Jim and Sirius came back up to Gryffindor Tower. We were up all night trying to figure out what you did. Remus came up with something really out-of-this-world, and none of us believed him. He said that you had cut them off from their powers. I have never heard of such a thing, and neither did Jim, and he's the best student of us all. Sirius had figured that you disrupted their commnication flow with magic and that was why they were left so out of sorts. Then he figured out that you must have been an Animagus; that was the only way you could have heard them communicating in the first place. You know what I mean?" Peter asked.
"Yeah," Draco nodded. He knew what Peter was talking about, all too well. "Let's try again."
After about another hour of attempting to change his nose, the unthinkable happened. "Holy shit!" Peter screamed. Where Draco Malfoy had been standing, an albino ferret now stood. For a fraction of a minute, of course. In the space of a blink, Draco reappeared. "Wait till I tell Sirius, he's going to be so pissed off that he missed this!" Peter crowed happily. Draco couldn't help but be as glad as Peter was. Maybe Sirius was right, and he had only been able to slice them like he had because all Animagi were on a similar wavelength. That alone made him ecstatic.
Draco tried again to change, and was successful one more time, but only held the form for a few seconds again. But all that transforming had made Draco quite tired. As he bid Peter Pettigrew adieu, he thought to himself that he couldn't even wave his wand, he was so exhausted.
Aloysius had indeed grown tired of his vigil over Severus. In due time, the boy would wake up, and he'd get started with what he needed to do. If Severus was nothing else, he was strong. Stronger than, apparently, even he had thought. But not strong enough to wake up just yet. "Tell me if there's a change with him," he ordered Madame Pomfrey as he swept out of the Hospital wing with his Snape nose held high in the air.
Madame Pomfrey frowned, well, actually scowled. Then she sighed and looked at Severus. She patted his shoulder and said, "You can't help where you came from, poor dear." Then, she turned and went off to another part of the wing. She didn't notice Severus' tiny bits of movement...
Where am I? It's so dark here. I feel like I'm floating in a storm of blackness. I take a breath and realize that I can still breathe. But that's about it. I can do nothing about the floating.
I don't understand it. All I did was try and fix Professor Colton's heart. He was clutching his chest. I knew that if I didn't try to save him, that people would say that I killed him. Which wasn't true. I hate the man, yes, but I don't want to go to Azkaban for killing him. I'm in enough trouble already without being accused of murdering the unpopular Potions master.
I can see it now. Potter and his little asshole friends making jokes as they lead me away. Why can't I move? Wait, what's this? My body is moving, now. I feel more grounded as a white light surrounds me. Someone had been shaking me. I can even hear him, very faintly, if I strain myself. It was Draco. He shouldn't have been there; he should've gotten the hell out of there before they accused him of something. Well, I'm getting out of here, somehow, even if he doesn't. That boy has to learn how to take better care of his ass; he's a Slytherin, dammit. Goddess knows how many points would get taken from Slytherin for killing a teacher...
I have to get out of this mess. Things cannot be left as they are; the whole damned place will fall apart without me. Lestrange will make dog meat out of Draco. Please, Father Sun and Mother Moon, make sure Draco remembers that repelling spell I showed him! He's hopelessly bad at Defense. He's brilliant at everything else except survival! Like a Ravenclaw. Just because he's from a pure blooded family, and just because he's a little bastard sometimes, it doesn't make him a Slytherin! Sometimes he even acts like a Gryffindor, which makes me want to kick his ass in.
But I can't do that. I love him. He's like a little brother to me, that I don't have. Maybe I was his father in another life. All I know is, I hate it when I hear Lestrange talk about Draco like he was my bitch. Lestrange doesn't understand anything pure. That's why I despise him, now. How could I shag my own son? Or my brother? That's something Lestrange would do. The very idea makes my stomach sour, even here, where I suppose I'm not supposed to feel anything. But I do feel. In fact, I feel more than ever, here.
Lily. She is like an infection in my blood that I cannot purge. I fought it for so long that she despises me now. How I grieve for that! I want to howl, but my mouth won't even open. I want to swim to her, but she is a mermaid, now. A mermaid with a long braid of red and eyes greener than the sea I swim in, but still a mermaid. A woman with no legs. What A joke. I can never slide through her dark passage... Can I be content with being a merman, to be with her? Do I love her enough? Or will she ever come to me, to the sandy shores between her world and mine? Can I ever get her to love me enough to do that?
I float towards her, and arms reach out for me. Not hers; she's dashing away in fright, but these other arms surely belong to other girls I've had. Drucilla, gloriously nude and even more gloriously two-legged, approaches me. She is followed by Andromeda, whose pale skin glows in the dark waters. She also has two legs, thankfully. And then Rachel Lestrange swirls around me, smirking. I know why; I can feel what my body is doing. Other girls surround me, and I swim beside each one, and they all whisper the same thing in my ear. You can't change who you are, Severus. We don't want you to change who you are. Only Lily does. She doesn't belong with you, we do.
For a while, I linger, and enjoy each one exactly as I had in the past. But then, in the midst of ecstasy, I catch sight of my beloved Lily again. I manage to flee the others. I feel my legs fuse together painfully, until my feet become a long, transparent fin. I wasn't myself any longer, but now, I could catch up to Lily.
I press on, leaving all the others behind. Lily comes into sight. She sees how I have changed, and she is suddenly unafraid. She shyly comes closer, slowly, slowly...
Abruptly, I feel a pull around my neck. I reach up and feel a collar around my neck, and someone is yanking me away from Lily! "There'll be time enough for wenching once you've done your work at Azkaban, laddie," I hear someone say. I whirl around and see a one-eyed old man.
"Azkaban?" I say in amazement.
"Once you get out of here, you'll understand what I mean. But no wenches now. You must concentrate on getting out of here, not lolling about with females." He disappears, though the collar still remains on me.
Now I am alone. The floating in water becomes floating in air. Black air. I can see my mother, swinging in the breeze by a rope around her neck. My body careens toward her, and I pass through, between her feet. And Uncle Aloysius is there, waiting in the other side for me.
"I didn't think you could live up to the Snape name, but it appears I might have been wrong about you," he tells me. Now I know I'm dreaming. He never compliments me.
"What is going on?" I hear Draco ask. He's looking keenly at me. His nose is shaped like some sort of animal. He's worried that I'm dead, I realize. Am I dead? Why can't I leave this blackness behind? Why does it just keep getting darker? I reach my arms out to him, but this only seems to repel me, rather than attract me to him. I fly even more quickly away from him. I can see Lestrange looming over his shoulder, but he doesn't see him. I struggle to scream, "Draco, look behind you!" But only Dumbledore seems to hear me, and he doesn't say anything. He just shakes his head sadly, as if he was disgusted with me for some reason.
I begin to fight the strong breeze that pulls me. I slow down, and soon stop altogether. And as the breeze ends, so does my balance in the air. I begin to fall. In panic, I try to claw the air to hold me but it doesn't. I smash into the earth.
I open my eyes...
Draco dragged himself closer to the Slytherin common room. He could hardly wait to plop into his bed and sleep for the rest of the day. Or night, he wasn't even sure what time it actually was... He yawned and looked up from the floor. Lestrange was standing there, with his sister. "Yes?" Draco drawled. He was in no mood for their shit, he thought irritably.
They didn't answer him. Instead, they linked their powers together (something that Draco had not been taught how to do) and said in unison "Stupify!" Draco couldn't even have reached his wand in time, even if he'd had the strength to counter the spell, which he couldn't have done becasue they were linked and he was not. He collapsed on the floor, and blackness overcame him.
The twins smiled at eachother and then the brother called softly, "We have him."
"Good," an equally soft, but far more sinister voice answered. "Let's be gone from here. I would sincerely love to know what this young man has been hiding. If the rumors are true, he will be a veritable gold mine of information..."
When Draco woke up, he noticed three things immediately. The first was that he was somehow suspended in the sir, hanging upside down. The second thing he noticed was that he was stark naked. And the third thing, or things, he noticed was a pair of eyes staring at him. They were red and glowing, and they really looked more like serpent's eyes than human's. Even from his odd angle, Draco could not be in any doubt that those eyes belonged to Lord Voldemort.