Chapter 5 – The Picture

'Hey there, wake up!' a man yells at me from beyond the bars, pulling me out of one of my familiar nightmares. 'The Minister's coming!'

'What? Who?' I start, taken aback by this turn of events. 'The Minister... that would be... who, exactly? I'm a bit behind with the local news, you know... Wait a second... who the hell are you? I didn't know that Azkaban has human guards...'

'Well it does!' he spits, eyeing me with contempt. 'Anyway, you'd best behave while Mr. Fudge is here... he's inspecting the prison, so if something goes wrong there'll be hell to pay!'

'Pay... riiight...' I laugh in his face. He might not be very smart, seeing how he considers being locked up in here not a bad enough punishment. What other hell is there? I guess working here gets the best of you... He suddenly startles as the doors start to open, revealing a pair of Dementors coming in for a last minute check-up before Fudge's arrival.

'Right,' he hurries, 'I've got a lot of work to do so I'd better be going...' He clenches his hands around the barred door and pushes against it to make sure that it is locked, and will not open unexpectedly, then he trails off to the next cell.

A while later the Dementors pass by, taking time to breathe a bit more terror into the inmates than usual... shrieking and showing their blackened faces from under their hoods.

The place fells quiet once more, and I get the chance to glance at some faces I haven't seen in years. Forgotten in their tears, curled up in dark corners... they all surface now for the show. Approaching the barred doors, they wait...

Finally the moment they've all been anticipating... the Dementors take their guarding positions across the corridor, the doors are opened and Cornelius Fudge comes in, accompanied by his assistant, some guards, a journalist – probably appointed by the Daily Prophet to cover the story, and... Lucius Malfoy. None of them appears particularly happy to be here. Hah! I should think so, I'd stay as far away as possible if I had a choice... but I don't... bloody hell!

I've been kept sane by my thoughts, by my lust for revenge... others aren't so fortunate. And still my life ended eleven years ago... what compensation is there for all this...? Will it ever change...?
I'm left with the consolation that I can still remember my own name... pointless as it might seem. Yet this is my opportunity to show them who I am.

Fudge's voice breaks through the silence... 'Yes, creepy place indeed, yes yes!'

Malfoy mutters something as a reply as he approaches some cells to 'inspect' their inhabitants up close. Soulless monster... he'd be the guest of honour in this place, had he not enough money to buy himself a second chance. He was a Death Eater, everyone knows that... and he's still dangerous. I'd give anything to see him being held responsible for all his actions... make him pay for the sorrow he brought into the world.

A cold laughter fills the hallway when Malfoy passes by one of the cells on the opposite side of the corridor. A laughter that I know so well... Bella's laughter. She moves from the shadows where she found shelter and stares into Malfoy's eyes with contempt. Malfoy's face whitens at the sight of her. He bites his lip and tries to look away, pretending not to notice her.

'You... you've come to count the sheep, have you... ?!' she starts before he can escape. 'Mr. Blondie-hair... ooh I'm so evil!... No, I'm not!' She speaks in a mock baby voice, then starts laughing again like she's just won a million galleons at the WizzLotto.

'Shut up!' he spits in a rather low voice, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention.

'Shut up...? SHUT UP??... ME, you're telling ME to shut up??... I went looking for him, I've been locked up in here for 7 years now while you revelled in your wealth...' She reaches out through the bars and grabs him by his robes, pulling him toward her. 'Listen you filth, listen to my words... he'll be back... and then we'll see who's his new favourite! You're not even worthy of Avada!!'

At that same moment Fudge descends the stairs from inspecting the upper floors of the prison. He stops in his tracks at the sight of Malfoy hanging by his robes under Bella's grip. A second later he starts shouting...

'What in God's name!? This is no circus, don't just stand there... that woman is dangerous, help Mr. Malfoy or lose your jobs!' He rushes forward, trying to catch up with the guards.

After the 'captive' is released and the guards spread to their regular places, leaving no less than four Dementors in front of Bella's cell, Fudge goes up to a still shaking Malfoy.

'Everything all right Lucius? What was all that about?' He pauses to glance at Malfoy then at Bella's cell... 'That woman's insane, I've never seen such viciousness in anyone before. She's like a viper...'

'Right, of course' Lucius mutters while straightening his robes. 'I'm all right, no need to worry... let's move on, shall we?'

'Sure, sure... still, she should be punished... like solitary confinement... even though, well, all this seems enough. These Dementors are a thousand times worse than anything sleep or food deprivation could do...' He starts forward to continue the inspection, playing absently with the curled up newspaper he has in his hand.

'I doubt it...' Malfoy mutters in a low voice and moves along to catch up with the Minister and the others that have gathered in the meantime.

They pass by every cell, commenting on the state of its inhabitant... things like 'hopeless', 'mad', and 'desperate' pop up a lot in their conversations. Fudge shrugs at the sight of the conditions we have to put up with, at hearing stories about all that died in here, but I know he won't have it any other way. 'They made their beds,' he says, 'and now let them sleep in them.'

'You're wrong!' I shout from my cell, watching his surprise at hearing my voice. His face darkens as he realizes that I'm still alive, 11 years since he saw me in that cursed street. And I'm not mad... not by a long shot. He looks around puzzled, trying to discern where my voice came from, probably expecting to see me standing right behind him, armed with a sledgehammer and grinning madly back at him.

'Black... Sirius Black... where is he? Where?' he asks the guards impatiently.

'Cell 17, on your right sir, it's over there...' one of the guards points my way, and I see Fudge excusing himself from the others and approaching the cell.

'Well well, what have we here... I must say, Mr. Black, that I'm quite surprised to see you here today. As I was being told before you rudely interrupted, prisoners tend not to last long in here. But, I guess that's not your case, of course... with being You-Know-Who's faithful servant... I've seen Mrs. Lestrange is also holding up pretty well...' I let him finish his little speech and settle with just staring back at him for a while. I know better than to have them send four Dementors over for a visit because of something I said to their precious Minister... git!

'Right, evil me... you'll probably toss around in bed at night for at least two weeks after you get back home, just because you laid eyes on my evil face... EEVIL!' I grin at him and look straight in his now horrified eyes.

'Well,' he spits taking a step back, desperate to be out of my presence 'I see Azkaban has been treating you well...'

'Oh, you have no idea Fudge... ' I notice he's still holding the newspaper and I suddenly get a great idea. 'Say, are you done with that newspaper? I miss doing the crosswords...' His face whitens and he shrugs before replying.

'Uh, sure, whatever... here...' He pushes the tattered newspaper through the bars and mutters something like 'Bloody maniac... crosswords??!!' before turning and returning to his companions.

Everything is back to normal now. Fudge and his party left earlier, the lights in the hallway were turned off and the Dementors went back to their usual business. I'm left in my cell as usual and start to inspect my new acquisition. A newspaper is a really good thing to have when you haven't been around for about 11 years, so I hurriedly browse through all the pages until a picture on the front page catches my eye... Arthur, Molly and their children... my God, how many are there?! I've definitely been missing a lot, blimey! This boy... Ron... it says here he's Harry's best friend... Harry, he's at Hogwarts... he's all grown up...

'Wait a second...' I feel the blood draining from my face and hands at the sight of another familiar face looking back at me from the picture.

'It can't be...' I take a closer look at the picture, trying to prove myself wrong somehow, until I notice the missing finger on the rat's hand...

'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!'