Never Was Free

By: sandssavvy (AKA) DeppDRACOmaniac
Rated: PG 13
Pairing: Harry/Draco: Post Hogwarts (slash, yaoi, m/m, man on man, boy love, must I continue?), RL/SB, RW/HG

Warnings: character deaths, angst, violence, abuse, and AUness.
Spoilers: This story is after OotP and is AU because. . . SIRIUS LIVES! Also it will be more AU once HBP comes out. (I may incorporate some of the info in it into the story later though.) This is a POST-War fic.
Summary: Harry is with Sirius who has decided that he needs to face his fears by seeing Azkaban as a free man. They see someone there that they didn't expect.

Disclaimer: I don't own HP. Don't sue or I SHALL HUNT YOU DOWN WITH POINTY OBJECTS!

1st Chapter: A Hell of an Encounter

Harry Potter was walking to the gates of Azkaban with his, now free, godfather Sirius Black. In a way Harry could understand his need to visit Azkaban as a free man. However, that did not stop him from fervently wishing that he had taken Remus with him instead.

In preparation for the visitors that came sometimes at this time of day the dementors had been moved to a different part of the island. This seemed to have little or no affect on the atmosphere of the prison. Fear and depression seemed to leak from it's very walls while the stones beneath their feet seemed to be frozen from age long exposure to dementors.

The sky was a gray overcast above the monstrous structure, and the fog that lingered along it's outside seemed to be connected to the building as though it was part of it. The mere sight of the building with it's cold pillars of stone in hues of black and grays could make the happiest of men feel trapped and utterly alone. There was no sign of wildlife on the island and the eerie silence seemed to cover it like a blanket. It was the most terrible place Harry had ever laid eyes on. He could only begin to fathom what Sirius had gone through in twelve years of this hell.

As Sirius and Harry stepped through the towering black gates there was a loud screech from it's rusty hinges. That sound seemed to reach deep inside of Harry as he was gripped with a sudden feeling of foreboding.

"Sirius maybe we shouldn't go inside. . . Couldn't we just leave?"

"If I back out now Harry I'll never face this."

"How is that a bad thing?" The emerald-eyed boy was silenced by the look of determination that was etched on his godfather's face. He sighed as he recognized that look as one that left no room for argument.

They tried to hurry inside of the forbidding structure as though that would make it seem less terrifying than they had previously thought at the gates. This idea was quickly squashed when they heard the sounds of the prisoners. Harry started to wished for the eerie silence of the island. It seemed that every time they went by a cell they were witnessing another person going through their own personal hell.

Harry soon wondered what they had done to deserve this punishment. How many would stay for life? How many would be freed eventually, but would live with a feeling of being an outcast as Sirius had done for so long? How many would go mad in this place? How many already had? How many just wished for the end? How many could actually deserve this? How many are innocent?

There were so many people in these gray walls. If a prisoner was lucky enough to have a window the light from it was so sparse and the view so horrible that they probably wished they had none. A feeling of depression seemed to be embedded in the walls as though the dementors were still there, and once in a while the Harry would catch a feeling or a thought that would very briefly take him back to the war. Back to the death and torment that still haunted his nightmares, and he knew that if he were in here too long he would relive his worst horrors even with the dementors absent.

As he turned to look at Sirius he realized that he felt it too. Remus told Harry once that it had been as though part of Sirius had died here, and he had only truly started to live again recently. The raven haired young man was worried for a moment that this trip may break Sirius' spirit. He supposed that he could only hope for the best.

As terrible as everything about this place was Harry, felt that nothing could compare to the prisoners. The poor wretches that screamed and begged for mercy in their cells. The whimpers, moans, and screeches. Some of the ones descending into madness and were muttering to themselves. There were many who stayed quiet and in their own world as if they were trying their own form of escape. Worst of all were the silent accusing stares of some of the others. Stares that blamed the free people for their sorry existence.

Harry recognized a few of the prisoners. Hell, he had helped put some of them in here. Marcus Flint the old Slytherin Quidditch captain was one of the ones who moaned and pleaded in the shadows. He had been captured during the war, but he was considered one of the lucky ones. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy along with Bellatrix Lestrange were given the dementor's kiss at the end of the war. As well as many others that had fought alongside Voldemort.

Harry and Sirius had by this time gone past so many prisoners that they were starting to become a blur of faces known and unknown. A giant mass of sad, forgotten, or unwanted souls.

Just when it seemed that they were coming to the end of their self-inflicted torment Harry stopped in shock, when he recognized the bored drawl that feel from the lips of a prisoner at the cell by his side.

"Never thought I'd see you in hell Potter."

tbc...

Well I hope you like the first real chapter. If you like it review. If you don't please leave constructive criticism.