Harry Potter and the Azkaban Guards

Written by Tommy (me!); Beta'd by none.

Disclaimer: Characters from the Harry Potter series are the property of J.K. Rowling, and various publishers: including but not limited to Bloomsbury, Scholastic and Warner Brothers. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended by the writing of this story. It is merely written for entertainment purposes.

Summary: Following his fifth year and after being locked up at the Dursley's, Harry will now be taken away into a new family where the way of a Slytherin rules. Determination leads him to gain knowledge, seeking the power to destroy the Dark Lord for good. However, this new path will be long and hard and no year with Harry Potter seems to be without at least one great adventure… Follow him as he discovers his Slytherin side, and tries to figure out just what in the world a Dementor really is…

Chapter Three: Sunrise, the Marking of a New Day

The room he had been given was amazing. The four-poster bed on the right side of the room was enormous, its white and black covers calling forward, begging Harry to just jump into them and fall asleep. On the left side a huge mirror was placed, along with what Harry thought was the door to the bathroom. Beside his bed was a wardrobe, clothes already in it, some of them even carrying Harry's name. And while the walls were adorned with portraits, none of them familiar to Harry, the inhabitants of them seemed quite nice… a least now when they were all sleeping.

The wall itself, along with the roof, was a deep dark green, while the carpet on the floor was dark blue. You'd think that with all these dark colours the room would be of a depressing nature… it was not however. The three huge windows in front of him, its view towards the huge beautiful garden, brought the room a comforting atmosphere. The peaceful silence made Harry sigh in contentment, his worries forgotten for the moment. Stepping out of his clothes, he crawled under the covers of the bed, their soft materials quite different from anything he'd ever felt before. Even if the room was filled with light from the windows signaling that it still wasn't evening, Harry fell asleep, for once without the nightmares, his last thoughts being about the nice family that had willingly taken him inn.

A soft knock on the door brought Harry out of his sleeping state. After whispering a sleepy 'come in,' his voice piercing the silence of the room, the door opened, the long black hair telling him it was Blaise, even without his glasses. Blaise was obviously an early riser, seeing as the clock at Harry's bedside pointed at 7am in the morning.

The girl walked slowly and carefully into the room, obviously not sure what to make of the new guest, knowing that abuse rarely did anything good to a person.

"Breakfast will be served in an hour, Mr. Potter. Do you need anything?" – Blaise's voice was low and not giving away any emotion, even if it clearly signalled that if he wanted anything, she was willing to help him. Probably been a host for a lot of people – Harry thought.

"Eh… Do you have any clothes I can borrow? I only brought my Hogwarts robes…" Harry trailed off, looking down at his feet, not wanting to show his embarrassment.

"In the wardrobe, Mr. Potter. All of them should magically fit you. If that is all…?" - "Harry. You can call me Harry." Harry replied. "And yes, I think that's all. Thanks."

"No problem, Mr. P… – Harry." Giving him a small nod, she left the room, leaving Harry to freshen up a bit.

The bathroom was huge, most of the room made in the colour of light brown and gold. The bath was like the one in the Prefects bathroom, with the exception of the water, which was a dark unusual blue colour instead of ordinary transparent. Wonder why…

Wanting to try it out, he quickly threw off his underwear, and slowly lowered himself down, the water having the perfect temperature. He never noticed the water glowing a soft light blue, starting the healing process of his body, accelerating his grow-spurt and closing his scars.

After an hour or so, feeling quite refreshed, Harry climbed out of the bath. Quickly drying himself off, he went over to the wardrobe, finding himself a nice pair of forest green robes. Looking over at the clock, he could see that is was almost eight. Grabbing his wand he left the room, making his way downstairs to the dining room.

Breakfast was a silent affair, though quite comfortable. The family had sent him a few appraising glances at his choice of wearing, which quickly put Harry at ease. After all, it wasn't every day you visited a wide-known pureblood family like the Zabini's. While Harry never really cared for whether or not people were purebloods, he really wanted to look good for this family. He was shaken out of his thought by Frank asked him a question. "May I ask what your plans for the day is, Harry?"

Looking up from his food, Harry's eyes met Frank's. Not really having thought about it, Harry said so. That, and he didn't want to take anything for granted. He was sure that the Zabini's had something he could do, maybe a few light chores or something. According to him, that was the least he could do, since this family had so graciously taken him in. Frank, however, never got to say a word.

"He's coming with me." – All heads turned to the black haired girl sitting at the end of the table. Frank only lifted an eyebrow in curiosity, while Louise tried to hide a small smile, obviously knowing what to expect. Harry didn't do anything, having no idea what was going on. Blaise, satisfied with having gained their attention, continued. "He needs a new style. Meaning, he need new clothes, new haircut, preferably contacts instead of glasses, new attitude and so on. Like I said, he is coming with me."

Harry was openly gaping. This… this girl… was going to take him out? – SHOPPING?

"Flies, Harry. Flies." Blaise said, her voice clearly latched with amusement. Her father looked a little shocked though, but inside he was secretly quite pleased. Her daughter would be good for him, and at the same time he thought that Harry might give her some good influences too… maybe get her to really enjoy her free time for once.

Quite embarrassed with his own reaction to her words, he closed his mouth. "But… shopping?" Clearly not having grasped the concept yet, Blaise replied. "Yes, Harry, shopping. You need it." Her voice brought no argument.

They were someplace in Manchester, he knew, though he was not sure exactly where. After going through a barrier like the one on the train station, they entered a street filled with people, most of them a wizard or witch. The sign to his right told him this place was called 'Ally of the Duke.' Seeing his confusion at the strange name, Blaise explained. "Around 1800 A.D. this place was owned by a duke, his name long forgotten. He was one of the last of a long generation of purebloods though, and this street was therefore named after him." – Nodding at her words, Harry turned his eyes back to the street.

The first thing he noticed was that it was much smaller than Diagon Alley. There seemed to be much more shops, however. At the end of the street was a white building, the words 'Gringotts' at the top of it. This building was much smaller than the one in Diagon Alley though.

He never got to explore anything else, as Blaise dragged him into a tiny store at the left corner of the street. Inside however, it was quite big. "Hairdressers." The word left Harry's mouth, his voice clearly signalising that this was something he could do quite nicely without. Blaise however, had him pushed into one of the seats before he could complain, and quickly went to get one of the attendants.

Harry kept his mouth shut when Blaise dragged him out of the building and into the next. His hair had never looked better. Short, and with a few spikes sticking out, it gave him a look that said 'this is the real me.' Some of the spikes was dyed a deep blue, almost only noticeable when it reflected the sunlight. The rest of the hair was dyed black, giving him a 'bad-ass' look… at least; it would if Harry didn't have such a confused look on his face. He had never managed to get his hair to lay flat before, and now… well, it laid flat.

The store was obviously one that sold glasses, contacts and the likes of it. When Harry was finished there, his glasses got to see just how nice the inside of a trashcan looked, and a nice pair of 'never-needed-to-take-off' contacts was placed on his (according to the attendant) beautiful emerald green eyes. Blaise only snickered. However, the worst wasn't over.

CLOTHES! He hated shopping for clothes. Blaise however spared him no mind, and quickly went through rows upon rows, throwing what she thought would look good upon him into his hands. And then, after an hour of collecting what she found, she sent him into the changing room. The way she was fussing (in a cold, neutral way), you'd think he was becoming a model. He felt that way too.

"Next." Blaise words brought him out of his thoughts again. She obviously didn't like the jeans he had on, and her expression told him so long before she opened her mouth. She liked him best in black though, something he was relieved to find. He didn't even want to think on how he'd look in maroon T-shirts and emerald green pants, no matter how much they 'brought out his eyes.' "Next." 'God, this is going to be a long day.'

It was evening before they got back to the Zabini's manor, and the sun was long since gone. Blaise was grinning teasingly at Harry, an unusual show of emotion. Harry however, was practically dragging himself back up to the manor. He was glad that the stuff they had bought was shrunken and placed a lightweight charm upon. Grumbling about 'slave-drivers', which only got Blaise's grin to widen, he opened the door to the manor, heading straight for his room. He was going straight to sleep.

Blaise however, wasn't tired in the least. Having had some physical training over the years and being used to long shopping trips, left her pretty much immune to the drained feeling Harry was feeling now. Heading straight for the living room, she prepared herself for a long talk with her parents about how the trip went. She hadn't had so fun in a long time, not even with the few friends she had.

A/N's: There! My third chapter is up, and ready to be read. I'm sorry it took so long, but between school, exams, summer-job, and other time-taking hobbies, I had little time. Of course, while I'm sure I could have pressed myself into finishing it earlier, I write this story for purely my own fun… and reviews of course:P

I'm almost finished with the next chapter too, and hope to get it up before I get on vacation. Can't promise anything though. Hopefully I'll get a little more free time now when school is out.

Thanks to all my reviewers, (too many to write here, sorry) I'll try to satisfy your need in the coming future.

Written by: Tommy A. L. aka Thanatos – God of Death.

Beta'ed by: None, current beta reader is on vacation, so please excuse my grammars.

Oh, and please review… I find that reviews tend to let some light into my life… shrugs - Next chapter you'll find out just what Dumbledore is planning, Ron and Hermione's reaction to Harry's whereabouts, and Harry will start on his journey to beat the Dark Lord.

Enjoy Life!