Freedom

Sunlight fell on the pale face of Hermione Granger. A nurse checked her pulse.

"She's regaining her health." she told Harry.

Harry sighed in relief. He hadn't slept much this night, the whole mission had go wrong. He didn't know what had happened exactly. One minute Mr Malfoy stood next to Hermione, totally unarmed and handcuffed, the next minute he was free to take her wand and curse her. The Aurors couldn't curse him, he was too swift. He ran towards the hazeltrees and of the hills, but Harry followed him, infuriated. Harry cursed him several times, not knowing what he was doing. Harry became white when he became aware of what he had done. He had killed Mr Malfoy...or at least he thought he had.

When he came closer to the figure on the ground, he almost fell on the ground of amazement. It wasn't Mr Malfoy who lay down dead. It was the Death Eater they were supposed to capture. A search was held immediately. They blasted the front door of the little house to pieces. And strangely, they found Mr Malfoy unconscious on the floor. The Aurors woke him up, handcuffed him and dragged him out of the house.

"Harry?" Hermione whispered.

Harry quickly went to Hermione's bed.

"It's alright," he said, "You're safely in your appartment."

"What happened?" Hermione asked confused.

Harry told her the whole story.

"...and Mr Malfoy is back in Azkaban. He's being prosecuted for attempt to escape."

"What?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yes, and I'm glad he is prosecuted." Harry said angrily.

"But he didn't do anything wrong, he helped us." Hermione said.

"He cursed you!" Harry shouted.

"It wasn't Mr Malfoy, it was someone else!" Hermione said.

"Hermione, it was all just one big trick. He cursed you so he could escape, then slipped into the house. He probably let the Death Eater know that we were coming or something, and then just killed the man..."

"Shut up!" Hermione yelled.

Harry looked surprised at Hermione. Hermione was also surprised of herself. She had rarely such outbursts.

"I'm sorry Harry." She whispered, "Maybe you're right, but I have another opinion on this case."

Before Harry could protest, she got out of bed and went to the bathroom to dress herself. She wanted to know someone else's opinion. And he was located in Azkaban. She told Harry that she was going to visit her parents. Harry didn't see the invisibility cloak she held behind her back.

Hermione went to the Ministry to ask for a permission to go to Azkaban.

"No, I'm sorry." The office deputee said, "We don't want you to get harmed a second time by Lucius Malfoy."

"No, you don't understand me," Hermione lied, "I want to visit Albus Dumbledore."

"But he will be out of prison tomorrow night." The man answered.

"Look," Hermione said angrily, "It's urgent, I can't wait 'till tomorrow!"

"Oh, well...ok then." The office depute sputtered. He wrote something on a parchment, put a signature under it and gave it to Hermione.

"Thank you." Hermione said.

Hermione's steps echoed through the corridors of Azkaban. She shuddered from the cold wind. A guard had escorted her to Dumbledore's corridor, but once he had left, Hermione put on her invisibility cloak and ran away. When she entered 'the corridor of the dead', the silence was frightening. She hadn't got a key of Lucius cell, so she had to call for him via a little window in the door.

"Mr Malfoy?" she said.

The silence wasn't broken by an answer.

"Mr Malfoy, are you there? I want to ask you something about last night. I believe it wasn't you who cursed me." Hermione said.

Finally he answered : "So, you would say that I'm sentenced to death unrightfully?"

"What?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yes, I've been judged very quickly, even without a trial. Someone must have very powerful friends at the ministry..."

"There must have been made a mistake!"

"No, the rules are clear, Miss Granger, every prisoner that tries to escape gets a Dementors kiss. Remember our good friend Sirius Black..."

"Please tell me what happened, I can help you if I get some proof that you didn't want to escape. Or did you want to?"

"Of course, every prisoner tries to escape from this dreadful place, Hermione Granger, think! But last night I knew it was impossible. I've been set up. I spoke the secret password. But something went wrong. Normally the Death Eater would appear, but instead we switched places. It sounds unbelievable, but it's true. Our appearance didn't change, strangely, he came out with my appearance. I was smashed against a wall, as far as I can remember."

Hermione took all the information in. It was a very strange situation and no one would believe Mr. Malfoy...

"I believe you." Hermione muttered.

"Do you?" Lucius voice echoed through the empty corridor.

"I do, it wasn't your voice I heared. It was a strang raw voice...the voice of someone else." Hermione whispered.

It became silent. Hermione's mind was racing. Someone clearly wanted Lucius Malfoy out of the way. He just needed a situation in which he could trick Lucius. She would go to the library of Hogwarts to find a solution.

"When is your euhm...execution?" Hermione asked.

A door somewhere in Azkaban was slammed shut. It became darker and colder. Hermione couldn't see where the exit was anymore. She started to shudder.

"Apparently...now." She heard Lucius say.

Hermione drew her wand without thinking.

"Expellario porta!" she yelled.

The door of Lucius cell was blasted to pieces. She could feel the Dementors coming closer.

"Go to another cell," she whispered to Lucius, "Try to transform into anything.As long as they can't sense you."

She broke the chains of Lucius with a charm and ran out of the cell, out of the corridor.

"Hey! She yelled.

The Dementors looked her way.

"Lucius Malfoy has escaped!" Hermione screamed, "He pushed me aside, I saw him running into that direction!"

She pointed at some corridor. The Dementors hissed and floated away to that specific corridor. Hermione ran back into the corridor of Lucius.

"Come with me." she whispered.

They ran hastily through corridors and halls, until they found the exit. But a guard was standing in front of the gate, not knowing what was going on.

"Here put this on." Hermione said, giving Lucius her invisibility cloak. She walked gracefully to the guard and laughed.

"Thank you for showing me the way to Albus Dumbledore. I have gained all the information I needed."

"No problem Miss." TheAuror smiled. He opened the gate for her. Hermione dropped her handkerchief and walked outside. The guard saw it.

"Oh wait Miss, you dropped something." He said, walking over to the little thing and picking it up. Lucius quickly went passed him.

"Oh, thank you!" Hermione smiled, with a heartbeat of 190 beats per second.

She stepped into the boat, guessing that Lucius was in it too, and ordered the boat to go back to the shore. Once they where back on land, Lucius put of his invisibility cloak. He wanted to hand it back to her.

"No, keep it." she said.

"Thank you Miss Granger." Mr Malfoy said dryly. He nodded and disapparated.

Hermione felt a little disappointed. She had just saved the man's life.

A little voicebegan to speak inher head.

"Hello! What else did he have to do? Bow and fall in the mud for a so-called mudblood?"

"No..." Hermione muttered to herself, "Just...oh shut up!"

----- Finally another chapter! I can hear you think. Well, I don't blame you :-) ------