Albus Dumbledore had gone to bed early the night the teens had gone to Azkaban, and taken a Dreamless Sleep potion to make sure he would indeed sleep, instead of tossing and turning as he was bound to do without.

Come tomorrow, he had to be rested and well, to all appearances unconnected with the actions of his adopted son and his friends.

Before the effects of the potion overtook him, he frantically wished that they would succeed.

He was awoken at an ungodly hour the next morning by a very, very angry Minister.

"WHERE IS HE, DUMBLEDORE!" Fudge shrieked, storming into the office, then the bedroom, and Dumbledore's private library.

"WHERE HAVE YOU HIDDEN HIM?"

"Cornelius…" the headmaster started.

"No! You are undermining my authority! You…you…"

"Cornelius…"

"I should have known you would pull a stunt like this! Picked it up from that horrid Potter boy, didn't you? WHERE IS HE!"

"Cornelius!" Dumbledore said forcefully, "Will you please explain why you are here, at 5.30 in the AM, shouting like crazy?"

The three Aurors that had accompanied the Minister grinned a bit. They, too, did not appreciate being dragged from their beds practically in the middle of the night, by an insane Minister.

"SNAPE! He is gone! His cell is empty!"

Dumbledore smiled broadly, infuriating the Minister even more.

"You…you…you…" he stuttered, in serious danger of bursting a bloodvessel.

"Cornelius, calm down! You can't honestly expect me to be sorry that Severus has apparently escaped…if he has."

"He has, we searched everywhere," one of the Aurors said.

"Yep. There was a disturbance during the night," the second one very nearly snickered.

"Fireworks that proclaimed the most interesting views on…on the European Parliament…" the third didn't even try to hide his mirth.

Fudge glared.

"You had something to do with this. You or Potter!" he growled.

"Cornelius, while it is true that I plan to do everything within my power to get Severus out – you will find a letter in your office with a demand for a trial – I had nothing to do with his escaping from Azkaban. Harry is supposedly in his dorm, probably fast asleep."

"We shall see," the Minister said angrily.

He walked to the floo, and threw in a handful of floo powder.

"Harry Potter!"

No response.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!"

A sleepy head appeared. "Min'ster?"

"Mr Thomas. Please get Mr Potter for me," the Minister said curtly.

"Not here," the boy responded.

"What do you mean, not here?" Fudge spluttered.

"He's not here. Neither are Ron and Neville."

Dumbledore was very unhappy with how pleased the boy seemed to be that Harry was apparently in trouble.

"SEE?" Fudge turned to him, "See? Potter and his friends probably got the traitor out of Azkaban. Tell. Me. Where. They. Are."

Dumbledore sighed. "Cornelius, you don't know for sure if Harry had anything to do with this. And if he had, I had no idea, and they could be hiding anywhere."

"Minister?" Dean's voice came from the fire, "the girls say Granger has gone missing as well."

Fudge's eyes darkened.

"Do you deny that those impertinent brats broke him out now?"

"I said nothing of the sort. It is certainly something they might do. Harry was not at all pleased that you threw Severus in Azkaban. And he is prone to rash actions. All I know is I had nothing to do with it, nor did I aid them in any way. That does not stop me from being glad Severus is out of that hellhole, however."

The headmaster glowed with power, and Fudge backed down a little.

"He is my son. I will fight you for as long as it takes. You can search my homes all you want, I have done nothing illegal, but I will go to the fullest extend of the law to get him freed of whatever charges you will lay at his door. Now please leave. Mr Thomas…I hope in time you, too, will learn to see that it is better to do what is right instead of what is easy."

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After Neville brought him some hot chocolate, Severus slept for over 18 hours.

"What did you put in it?" Harry asked when it was nearing noon, and Severus showed no signs of waking up.

"A few herbs," Neville replied, "actually, a bit of spiced wine. It induces sleep while stimulating the body to heal. I also added a teaspoon of nutrient potion. I mean, he wasn't there that long, but he hadn't even recovered from changing back into an adult."

The boy frowned. "Is it really only a couple of days ago that we played with a six year old?"

Harry nodded. Then he remembered something.

"Neville…?"

"Yes?"

"Whatever did happen to Bellatrix?"

Neville held his eyes tightly shut. "Sectumsempra."

"Sectumsempra?" Harry enquired, curious.

"On her throat. You can imagine the results." Neville pounded into the dough he was kneading.

Harry paled. "You…you beheaded her?"

Neville nodded, slightly green.

"It seemed so easy at the time," he muttered, "but when I think of it now…"

"I know," Harry said softly, "it isn't fair, is it? Growing up without parents, having to fight and kill when we should be in school, pulling pranks and worrying about nothing more drastic than housepoints."

Neville nodded. "You've been fighting this war since you were eleven," he said, "without parents to help you. The people around you only made it more difficult."

"Not all of them," Harry smiled, "You and Ron, Hermione and the twins…you supported me. I think I've got the best friends in the world. You were made to grow things, to nurture plants, and yet you fought and killed to help me. I'm sorry that you ever had to do that, but I'm pretty glad you were with me. And now, too."

He sighed and stared in the general direction of Severus's bedroom, though he knew there would be no chance of him waking yet.

Phoenix song thrilled through the house suddenly, and with a flash of flame, Fawkes burst in, carrying a note.

"Hey, Fawkes," Harry petted the bird, "is everything alright at Hogwarts?"

The bird trilled and held out the note.

Harry read it and went red in anger.

"The idiot! Fudge already dropped by, and knows we helped Severus escape. Oh, I hope he will fall soon…"

He read on.

"Ah. Of course."

Neville looked at him. "What did the headmaster write?"

"He says that he doesn't expect much good to come from a trial at this point. Says we need to get public opinion on our side now. He suggests I give someone – Luna – a complete interview in which I explain exactly what happened. I'm afraid Severus will hate it that people know what happened to him, but it is the best way."

"Well," Neville contemplated, "Fudge did make some rather stupid mistakes. If you reminded the public of that in the interview, they would be less likely to support him. Remind them that he ignored the signs of Voldemort's immanent return, and that he kept denying it until a year after the fact. It doesn't help that he refused to be at the battle either…not to mention Sirius, Harry. People know now that he spent 12 years in Azkaban for a crime he never committed."

"That was more Crouch's fault than anyone else's," Harry said absentmindedly.

"Fudge was Minister, it happened on his watch," Neville reminded him.

"Dumbledore wasn't blameless either, but you better not mention that," Fred said as he entered, having heard a large part of the conversation.

Harry shrugged. "He wasn't blameless in a lot of things, but we've sorted that out. But yeah…maybe I should set up the interview with Luna."

Fred nodded. "At least the things Luna makes up aren't half as crazy as some of Skeeter's stories," he grinned.

The other two boys snorted and agreed.