AN: HEY! I'm sorry this took me forever. When I sent out my last note, people responded saying that they didn't care how long the next chapter was, they just wanted it. So here it is. All four pages of it. I hope you enjoy. I kind of have the juices flowing again, so maybe I'll post soon! Thanks for reading! REVIEW &THANKS! Love always padfootqueen.

"Expecto patronum!"

White mist floated out of Cory's hand. It hung around and pulsed out white light. Then it took its shape. A beautiful, luminous phoenix flew around Dumbledore's Office. It curved around the hangings and swooped down to the floor and then raced to the ceiling. Slowly, then it withered into nothing.

Cory was at her last lesson before the Christmas break and had been working on the Patronus Charm. Dumbledore had informed her that Voldemort had many dark creatures that followed him. If a war started, one of the first creatures to join him would be dementors. Cory had only heard of dementors before, she had never seen one or heard a lot about them. She only knew that they were dark and could suck out a person's soul. Cory thought about how these creatures were allowed to even be in the wild. They sounded awful. To Cory, a person's soul was the most important thing. It made them who they were. Without your soul, you're just a shell of what you were. A person with no feeling or understanding. In many ways, as Dumbledore had put it, similar to a dementor itself. Cory's opinion was that no one deserved that.

"That was excellent, Cordelia! Brilliant!" Her jovial professor told her once her Patronus had disappeared. "Given your age, that was absolutely amazing! Very advanced magic like I had told you in the beginning of class."

Cory smiled. She was so happy with herself. In the last two weeks she had completed so much. Her magic was improving brilliantly and she felt like she could take on the world. Countless numbers of spells she had done without any hesitation and some gave her trouble, but after a few times of practicing them, she could do them without a problem. She had now completed very advanced magic and she felt even better about herself. Though one of her previous thoughts weighed down her brain. Where were these dementors now?

Dumbledore had now sat down and was smiling as he gestured for her to sit as well. Cory's smile had slightly faded once she started thinking about where the dementors might be.

Dumbledore noticed this and asked his student, "Cordelia, is something wrong?"

His smile had faded and concern played through his eyes. Cory was wondering about her question and decided who better to ask than Dumbledore?

"Headmaster, where are the dementors? I know how to fight them now, but where would I encounter one?" Cory asked voicing her questions.

Dumbledore's expression turned grave. He sat back against his chair and looked at Cordelia with an odd expression. That great twinkle had gone into hiding and this worried Cory greatly.

His voice was soft when he spoke, "Cordelia, do you know of Azkaban?"

Azkaban? Cory's head repeated. "No, Headmaster, I don't. What is it?'

"Azkaban is a wizard prison set off on an island surrounded by a rough ocean that can claim any life. Witches and wizards are sent there and with in a month, they go insane."

"Why do they go insane?" Cory asked wanting her headmaster to continue after abruptly stopping.

"The guards of Azkaban are dementors. When a dementor gets near you every happy thought gets sucked out of you. Your pain is their power. The worst things in your life come back to you. Every nightmare, every traumatic experience, everything that caused you pain, floods back into your mind. There's no escaping it. There are thousands of dementors at Azkaban. A prisoner there is forced to think about their past disturbances everyday and so after thinking of nothing but pain and agony for so long, they go mad. There aren't many walls in Azkaban, they aren't needed. Each prisoner is locked in the confines of their own minds. Kept in darkness and insanity. No one ever can escape from Azkaban. They're all too mad to even comprehend an intelligent thought. They can never escape. That is what keeps many at peace in the outside world. They know that the worst of society are being punished and never will be released. Azkaban is one of the most terrifying and awful places in existence. I hope you never have to see it."

Dumbledore finished and looked at Cordelia for her reaction. She stared at her headmaster. Thousands of things whirled through her head. Dementors, pain, insanity, prison, they all lingered in her head. Pressuring her to think of the worst. But the last line of his speech stayed with her the most. I hope you never have to see it. She didn't want to ever see that place. She never wanted to feel that pain or coldness. She knew what memories the dementor would make her see. She'd see her parents, her foster family, all those pain filled, harsh realities of her life. She could not bear to have to face those recollections again. She lived through them once. That was enough.

"Cordelia?"

Cory's head snapped up and she looked into the blue worried eyes of Albus Dumbledore.

"Yes?" She said somewhat breathlessly. Only then did she realize that with all her insecurities repeating themselves in her head, she was panting.

"Are you alright?" He slightly moved forward in his chair and peered at her over his half moon spectacles.

She took a deep breath and answered his awaiting question, "Yes." She paused then asked, "How did they even get the idea for that place?"

Who could even think of that idea for such a place?

"It was founded a long time ago, before you or even I had been born. It's just a prison that over time has become worse and worse."

Cory nodded her head trying to understand and trying to rid her head of the past.

"I'm sorry, Cordelia, if I upset you. When you asked I realized that you should know the truth, no matter how evil it really is."

She nodded again and said, "Thank you for telling me, Headmaster. Not to be rude, but are we done for today?"

"Yes, I believe we are. Have a good night Cordelia."

Cory left and headed off to the common room. Azkaban was on her mind and it wasn't leaving it anytime soon. Hallway after hallway she journeyed down. Thought after thought clogged her mind. She stayed in deep thought untill she reached her desired destination; the portrait hole. Speaking the password, she entered the common room and crossed to the staircase.

Sirius dragged the cold, wet cloth over his arm for the fortieth time and then placed it back in the water already drawn in the sink. The water had abandoned its original clear color for the color of red, the color of blood. Sirius' blood.

It was the last day of 'vacation' and ever since Christmas, his life had been hell. His father had obviously not been too happy when he did later research into Cory. Somehow, he had found out who Cory really was and just how much of a good witch she was. It freaked Sirius out to the maximum level that his father could find things out about his girlfriend.

What his father learned seemed to light a fire into him. He was the most angry Sirius had ever seen him when he returned that night. He had a file with everything in it. Her foster parents names and address, her grades from Pengelum and from Hogwarts. Even receipts from places where she recently bought things. One good thing was that Sirius found out what the gift he got was. It was a two way mirror. He didn't have necessarily time to really think about what he could do with it because soon after that all his thoughts were on how to survive. His father took to hitting him and things of that nature practically every night. His parents had apparently thought that if Sirius was with a pureblood that he must be turning. They obviously didn't realize that you didn't have to be a pureblood and follow the Dark Lord's way of thinking.

Sirius drained the water from the sink and watched it swirl down. Looking up, he looked into his mirror. Grimacing at his appearance, he pulled the mirror back and took out the healing salve. He carefully applied it to his face and then the rest of his body. His father had managed to get all of his body in his beatings. After he was done, Sirius got up from the side of the bathtub where he was sitting and winced as he felt his muscles ache. His whole body ached and all he felt like doing was just going to sleep right then and there and never waking up. He left the bathroom and went back to his bedroom. This is it, the last night then I'm back to Hogwarts. He just kept repeating that to himself. Sirius needed to get out of that house and fast. He couldn't stand it anymore. Turning towards his door, he locked it. Sirius couldn't deal with anything tonight. All he wanted to do was sleep. So he did.

Cory was on an island. There were jagged rocks and waves crashed upon them with a vengeance. She had no idea where she was. A storm was brewing above her and she looked up into the clouds as if maybe they would give her an answer. They didn't.

Then from behind her she heard yelling. There was a building. It was all gray stone and there were barred windows with pale, white faces gazing out of them. Those faces. Were they even faces? Could they be ghosts? No, they looked solid but just barely. Where was she?

Now she started to hear things. At first it was only waves, then she heard more. But she wished she didn't. Screaming. Terrified screaming. She looked around and saw that some of the people in the windows were screaming. They looked absolutely insane. Where was she?

She heard a voice. She knew that voice. Turning left she saw something that she knew she would never possibly forget. There was a gate. It was made of cold black iron and went from it's archway down to the ground. It was open. At each side of it were tall black figures. What were they?

As the first rain drop hit her so did realization. Azkaban. Oh Merlin. Dementors. Then she saw something that made her snap out of bed screaming, panting hard and her eyes the size of quarters.

Sirius.

He was there. Being dragged in.

"SIRIUS! SIRIUS!"

Her dream ended.