As you all know, I did not come up with HP and therefore all credits should go to JK Rowling!

Here is chapter three. I hope you like it. You can always let me know by leaving a review.

Chapter 3

Closed doors

After a last check, Lucinda closed the door of her apartment and, suitcase in hand, walked the short distance to the underground. Five stops and a short walk later she let herself into the Ministry, taking an elevator up to the Department of Magical Artefacts. There, lounging behind her desk, sipping her first of many cups of coffee, Patagonia Hale was already waiting.

"And there Ladies and Gentlemen she is; Lucinda Shacklebolt, youngest First Class Rehabilitation Officer ever, ready to go out on her first big assignment. Now please Miss Shacklebolt, tell us all, how are you feeling?" she bellowed through the still empty office, flawlessly imitating a popular Quidditch commentator, cheeky grin plastered on her face all the way through.

Slouching down in the next available chair, Lucinda made herself comfortable, accio-ing herself a cup a coffee and putting her legs up on the edge of Pat's desk.

"Well, I'm kind of nervous, you know, what with going away for a year and being magically bound to someone I don't know and who will be newly released from Britain's finest hellhole, thinking who knows what." she sighed, swirling the little plastic spoon around.

Pat gave her best friend a once over and had to grin. In the 8 years they had known each other, this most definitely was one of the few times something really had gotten to her.

They had met on the Hogwarts Express, during their first ride and had never let go of each other. They both got sorted into Ravenclaw and had combined their brains and daring characters to win the Quidditch and House cup three times in a row while surviving more then their fair share of teenage angst and boy trouble through the years. They couldn't help it, they were born gorgeous and boys always turned out to be so stupid!

Scooting over her chair, she gathered Lu up in a big bear hug and whispered into her ear, "I'll miss you to Lulu, but just remember I'm only one owl and a few hundred miles away. Don't worry, if he ever hurts you or bugs you I'll come over to that big fancy pansy mansion he's going to hide you in and I will kick his ass. You make sure to tell him that, alright. Tell him your best friend forever, Patagonia Hale, will most certainly have his hide if he even thinks about doing something stupid".

Lu had to smile, "That would be a nice introduction, don't you think? Hello, I'm Lucinda Shacklebolt, your Rehabilitation Officer and just in case you wanted to know, my friend Patagonia will have your hide if you ever even think about doing something stupid ever again. I'll bet that will get us of on a brilliant start and keep him away from anything remotely related to the Dark Arts"!

They only needed one look after that to fall into a fit of giggles that took a while to get rid off. Lucinda felt all the stress, tension and worries leave her system. This would be OK and Pat was right, in the worst case, she was not all that far away from home and her backup was alive and kicking, waiting for some action. Getting up, she hugged Pat one last time and rolled her suitcase out of the office, waving goodbye, yelling a quick "I love you, will owl you a.s.a.p. with the newest news!" over her shoulder.

Suitcase in tow, she carted through the hallways, into another elevator and down 6 floors to get to her own office, to pick up her case file, check out with her secretary and wave good bye to her boss, who gave her a thumbs up and a salute.

That left all but one stop and catching the next elevator she went all up to the top floor and exited into Minister's reception area.

"Hi Sue, is Uncle Kingsley available right now?" she greeted the secretary behind the reception desk who was in the middle of a floo call, but waved her through. Leaving her suitcase in the hall, she walked passed the reception desk and with a light knock on the door entered the office behind it.

Sitting behind his desk, Kingsley Shacklebolt looked up and saw his favourite niece enter his office. Getting up from behind his desk he met her half way through the room and enveloped her in a big hug.

"I'll miss you kiddo" he whispered into her hair, while pushing it back over her shoulders. "Send grandma an owl as soon as you have settled in and if there is anything and I really mean anything you need, you'll let us know, alright? And we'll be watching him all the time, so don't worry about him pulling any tricks on you, we'll be there before he can even blink an eye, so there will definitely be no hexing you."

"You, as the head of Wizarding Society, are supposed to embrace those we welcome back after a prolonged absence, you know", she scolded, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow at him. "Not to make their lives as miserable as possible, while hunting them down for being assigned to your niece. He can't help it, I'm quite sure he had no say in this entire matter. So if you want to blame some one, take it up with my boss. Don't make my job even harder than it already is."

"Just promise me you'll be careful Lulu. He's not one of those small town criminals you're used to deal with. He's the real deal and although one might hope he will behave himself, things could get rather nasty if he doesn't."

"Fine, fine, I'll send you an owl every hour as a sign of live, reporting the number of times he took a breath of air, OK? That way you will be fully informed about his conduct!" she countered, getting rather annoyed. They always acted like she couldn't handle herself in these kinds of situations. As if she was four years old and way in over her head.

Chuckling, Kingsley let go of his niece and leaned against his desk. She had grown up so fast, he barely noticed. And now she was on her way to pick up a Junior Death Eater. He couldn't help but worry, could he?

But the face she made clearly said to stop worrying now or else, so he lead the conversation into clearer water and after another few minutes kissed her good bye. But when she got onto the elevator, he couldn't help but worry where all of this would lead.

Someone had obviously had the brilliant idea to make at least one room in this dreadful place comfortable enough to receive guests. The Azkaban reception area and foyer was a big lobby, painted in a cheerfully pale yellow, with nice white ornamented ceilings and paintings of landscapes on the walls, flowers scattered around the room, giving it a homey feeling.

Some settees were placed throughout the area as well as a big round reception desk witch was staffed at all times with a cheery witch, dressed in a matching yellow outfit. Anyone who didn't know better would think they obviously made a wrong turn and ended up at the wrong place.

Lucinda however had been further into Azkaban, passed the cheery receptionist, through the nice looking wood framed door behind the reception desk and into the inner bowels of the building. The only improvement the Ministry had deemed necessary after the war past that door, had been the banishment of all Dementors, but hardly anything else had changed from the old days.

The building was still a dark, depressing, draughty, damp structure in which prisoners where locked up in isolated cells, with nothing to keep them company but themselves. Care was sufficient but minimal and having to go there still was most people's worst dream come true.

The door, from the foyer to the exchange rooms and the real prison, that looked so inviting from the outside, looked rtotally impregnable from the inside. Its construction of interlocking bolts and locks made it nigh impossible to get through, effectively blocking the only humanly possible way out. Once you went through that door, chances of turning back were rather limited.

Waiting patiently on her side of the door, hearing the bolts unclick and locks pop open, she prepared herself for what she would find behind it. She knew his file forward and backwards, remembering every single detail of his live the Ministry had deemed necessary to be written down. She had seen pictures of him, from the early days, when the war had just been over and pictures taken during his trial.

She had off course known what he looked like even before, they had been at school together, although one could hardly say they knew each other, him being a sixth year Slytherin, she being a shy third year Ravenclaw. But it had been hard to overlook him in the hallways or during meals in the Great Hall. Slytherins in those days had always had the ability to make themselves noticed in a room full of people. To draw everybody's attention and he off course had been a Slytherin to the tee.

But a war, a public trial and five years of Azkaban could do a lot to a person. He probably would look all different, but more importantly, she was wondering what would be left over of that boy that had strolled Hogwarts' hallways so confidently.

Passed the door, through a small dingy hallway, she entered the main exchange room. Here lawyers could talk to their clients, visitors could see their loved ones and in her case, Rehabilitation Officers would pick up their Subjects. All she could really do now was sit and wait for what was going to come into that room through the closed door at the other side.