Title: The Living Dead
Rating: PG13-R
Pairing: SS/HP (and probably others in future chapters)
Genre: Action/drama/angst/romance
Warnings: Slash, violence, torture, death.
Chapter 2 summary: Harry gets to be in Azkaban for the first time in his life. But his plans on staying take an unexpected turn.
Disclaimer: HP characters belong to the talented JK Rowling. I'm only borrowing them for fun. Original characters are mine, though.

The Living Dead

Chapter II - Azkaban

Harry felt like he was going to be sick. The island was cold and the area around the castle looked deserted. Harry quickly cast a warming charm on him and looked around, only to find Snape standing not too far from him, looking at the castle in fascination. Harry turned to look at the castle standing in front of them. All he could see was a ruined wall with little black windows that didn't even have glass.

'Those must be the cells.' Harry thought to himself.

Harry started feeling gloomy. His vision was becoming blurry and his ears were starting to ring when he heard Snape's voice from a distance.

"Do you have your auror badge on you?"

Harry shook his head and took out his auror badge from his pocket and put it on his shirt. His vision became clear again and the ringing noises disappeared.

"What was that?" He asked.

"They know we're here." Snape replied.

"No, I mean.. I felt their presence, but after putting the badge on, it disappeared." Harry asked.

"And you call yourself an auror." Snape rolled his eyes and sighed. "Those badges are charmed to let the Dementors sense aurors, since they can't see. And since they and the aurors are considered Ministry employees, they do not harm them."

"Oh." Harry said and looked at the gates.

The gates creaked and opened slowly, revealing a dark entrance to the castle grounds. Harry and Snape walked in and passed the Dementor that was standing aside near the entrance.

They heard the gates close as slowly as they opened and the loud clunk indicated that they were locked in.

The Dementor glided in front of them, leading them inside the castle. Harry noticed that Snape had his wand out, so he took out his own. He wasn't sure why did they have their wands out, since they were on Ministry property after all. And all the criminals were locked in cells. Not that they were able to do anything in or outside those cells anyway. But he kept his wand at the ready, remembering that no one can fully trust a Dementor.

The castle doors opened and they walked in. Harry looked around and surveyed his surroundings. It was empty. The whole place looked deserted. He thanked whoever was responsible for having a dim light around the place. Which, obviously, wasn't enough for Snape.

"Lumos!" Snape said and started walking to the staircase. "Stay close, Potter. You don't want to get lost in this place. That badge won't work forever, you know."

Harry quickly followed Snape and they reached the second level of the castle.

"This is where they keep minor criminals." Snape said as he walked through the stone corridor.

"Minor criminals?" Harry asked.

"Thieves and law breakers." Snape replied. "Next are the murderers, and then Death Eaters."

Harry felt a chill pass behind his neck. He turned around only to see a Dementor opening a cell door and entering. The shriek of the prisoner inside the cell made Harry shudder.

"You'll hear a lot of that while we're here." Snape said in a cold tone.

"Kinda figured that out." Harry replied.

The lack of communication between them was disturbing Harry. He didn't like his former Potions Master, but he desperately needed to talk at this moment to keep his mind away from the shrieks and moans of the prisoners.

They reached the Death Eater cells. Snape was looking through the little windows on the doors, as if he was looking for a certain Death Eater.

When he finally stopped in front of a cell he took a deep breath and opened the door. He walked in and Harry followed.

The scene in front of them wasn't a pleasant one. Harry stood there in a shock. Draco Malfoy was crouching in a corner. His eyes were wide open and he was shaking.

Snape looked at Draco for a moment, and Harry could notice a change in Snape's face. He looked sad. Harry had never seen Snape in this way. He looked like he was disappointed and broken at the same time.

Harry looked at Draco and saw his school days rival and enemy in his worst state of being. He knew that Draco can't see or hear them, because of the six years he's been in Azkaban.

Snape walked toward Draco and knelt next to him.

"Draco?" Snape said in a soft tone that surprised Harry. "Draco can you hear me?"

Draco turned to look at Snape. But his stare was blank. A moment later he tilted his head to side and his shaking stopped.

"Father?" Draco said in a rough voice and put his head on Snape's chest.

Snape sighed and stroked Draco's long blonde hair that has turned almost grey because of the dirt for the last six years.

Harry stood there, observing the scene in front of him. He didn't dare to make a noise. It has never occurred to him that he'd be seeing his former classmate in this state.

"I'm sorry, father." Draco suddenly spoke. "I didn't mean to let you down."

"Shhh" Snape said and continued stroking Draco's hair. "What have they done to you." He added in a whisper.

Suddenly, Draco pulled back and looked at Snape.

"Professor Dumbledore?" he said and went back to his corner and started rocking back and forth. "I didn't mean to do it. I didn't want to kill you. Please forgive me. Please tell Professor Snape to forgive me. I didn't mean to do it. I didn't want to hurt him. I never meant to hurt anyone."

Tears were flowing down Draco's cheeks. Snape hang his head down and sighed. He reached for Draco's hand and held it for a moment, then got up and turned to leave. He stopped for a moment to look at Harry.

"None of this to anyone." He said. Harry nodded and they both walked out of the cell.

Harry could hear Draco's sobs that turned into moans a bit later. All he wanted now was to get out of this place as soon as he could.

When they were far enough from Draco's cell, they stopped again. This time Snape took a little bottle out of his pocket and handed it to Harry.

"Drink this." He said.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"Something to make you relax. You're pale and you're shaking."

Without a protest, Harry took the bottle and emptied its content into his throat. He flinched at the taste, but soon he felt his muscles relax. He took a deep breath and thanked Snape for the potion.

Snape looked at his watch and cursed under his breath. "It's almost sunset. We should get this done quickly. I don't want to have to spend a night here."

Harry nodded. "Where do we start?"

"I'll start from this end," Snape pointed at the direction where they came from. "And you go to the opposite side." He pointed at the other end of the corridor. "You have the list of needed Death Eaters?"

"Yes." Harry said and took out a piece of parchment out of his pocket.

"Good. Now go. We don't have much time." Snape said. "Thanks to you." He added in a lower tone.

Each of them went to his side of the corridor and they started looking for the Death Eaters they were here for. Harry shuddered as a Dementor glided past him, but he continued looking for those on his list. He entered the cell, questioned those who were sane enough to be able to answer and got out. Snape on the other hand, spent a bit longer time in each cell. He performed Legilimency on each Death Eater on his list. Considering it a faster and more effective way to obtain the information they needed.

Harry and Snape met at the middle of the corridor after finishing their 'interviews'.

"I'm done." Harry said.

"How impressive, Potter. If you were a student, I would've awarded your house five points." Snape said with a smirk.

"Alas, I'm not a student anymore." Harry replied.

Snape rolled his eyes and lit his wand tip to check the time.

"It's past midnight." He said. "I knew we were going to be late." He glared at Harry, who shrugged in return.

"I didn't mean to be late, okay?" Harry said. "It just happened. I needed to set Hedwig free before coming."

Snape raised his eyebrow.

"What? I didn't know these badges were charmed to repel the Dementor effect! So I didn't know if I was going back or not." Harry said. "Not that anyone would care." He added under his breath and looked aside.

"We need to get to the roof." Snape said. "So we'd apparate out of here first thing in the morning."

"Can't we stay in one of the cells?" Harry asked.

"Yes, you can." Said a familiar voice.

Harry and Snape turned to the source of the voice and saw Lucius Malfoy standing in the corridor, looking his best. The army of Dementors behind him told Snape that this is not how he expected things to go.

Lucius grinned mischievously. "Attack my friends." He waved at the Dementors behind him and they started gliding quickly towards Snape and Harry.

Snape cursed loudly and tugged at Harry's shirt. "RUN" he yelled and they both started running through the corridor, not even knowing where it'd lead them, or whether there were any more Dementors waiting for them on the other side.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry yelled and his wand shone bright as his patronus appeared. The stag started attacking the Dementors one after another. Harry heard Snape casting a Patronus Charm as well. But he couldn't see the patronus anywhere.

He turned around only to see an unconscious Snape on the floor.

"Professor!" he ran to Snape's aid, but suddenly everything turned pitch black in front of him as a wave of red sparks hit him in the chest.

The pain was unbearable. Harry kept squirming as Bellatrix Lestrange came into view, sending waves of 'Crucio!' one after another at Harry. He was fighting it with all his strength. But one last curse sent Harry five feet away from where he was and hit his head at the wall, which made him lose consciousness.