Battle of The Hotel D' Azkaban

Over the space of the next month, they raided three homes and took out the heads of four families. From what they were able to gather, from newspapers stolen from wizarding homes, Voldemort was in a rage about the murders of his followers. Or, rather, the Ministry was concerned about the deaths of those upright members of society… It was clear, to all but the most stupid, that Voldemort had taken over the Ministry and installed his own puppet Minister – a man, ironically named Quisling.

"I've been thinking"

"Careful" Hermione warned her friend.

"Five people are dead, and that is all very well" Harry continued, "But I think its time that we did something more – I think we have to go on the offensive"

"Right" Hermione said. "I'll just nip to the toilet and then strap on my Spitfire, go up to Angels Two Zero and have a bash at them" and Harry laughed from amusement.

"That would be a sight to see" he said, wiping tears from his eyes, "But lets go for something a little less complicated"

"Oh" Hermione said. "I have a pair of Hurricanes in my trunk"

"Stop it" Harry threw a cushion at her. "I'm thinking that we should go raid a house and do some serious damage"

"Or" Hermione said as she worked over a few plans, "We could do a raid on Azkaban"

"You want to stage a major assault with two people on a heavily fortified prison, release numerous important persons, get them all out and be home in time for tea and crumpets?" Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "You're mad!" he declared. "We'd never be able to breach it" but Hermione snorted and shook her head.

"It's a Prison, Harry" she told him. "There is no trouble at all getting in – the hard part is getting out"

"We do not know the size, the strength or the disposition of the enemy forces" Harry said. "And, come to that, we do not know if anybody we know is being held there" but he listened to the argument Hermione made for the island Prison. By the end, he agreed that, while it might be an important target, the release of some prisoners would do wonders for anybody remaining free. They knew some pockets of resistance were holding out, like the one in Yorkshire and a party of people on the Salisbury Plains – but, crucially, not who was leading them. It was safe to assume that they knew Harry and Hermione were not in the hands of Voldemort, otherwise they would have been tortured and killed before having their bodies shown around in public.

"We are going to have to study hard on what we know about the place" said Harry, "And read everything in the books we brought with us. We'll need to know the layout, the normal guard numbers, deployment locations, number of floors…" and Hermione nodded and both went to the tent's makeshift library to start selecting books.

#

The cells for the highest value prisoners were deep in the lowest parts of the Prison. No light, save for the torches, ever touched the walls. Kept in the cells were those people Voldemort knew were too valuable to kill and yet too valuable to keep under house arrest. Anybody he and his Death Eaters caught, who had been deemed important enough, had also been thrown into cells. Their conditions were poor, but the Aurors guarding them were in no mood to treat them well – all had been placed under heavy Imperious charms and made to treat them poorly. So long as they did not actually die, Voldemort didn't care what happened to them.

"Neville?" a voice called in the dim light. Hannah Abbott was one of the first to have been thrown inside prison – her friendship with the Bones' made her high on the capture list.

"Yes?" a reply came back. Neville had been captured a few weeks ago during one of the frequent Death Eater attacks in the area of their hiding place. Daphne Greengrass had been a part of the same group, but Neville had not seen or heard of her since the minute he'd been stunned by a lucky shot. He had no way of knowing that she was alive but had been used a plaything by Crabbe.

"Have you heard anything from the guards?" Hannah asked.

"Only that somebody did another attack two nights ago" Neville said. "You-Know-Who is still looking for them. I wonder who they are" he added.

"Harry and Hermione?" Hannah asked – her voice filled with hope.

"If they had any sense, Hans, they'd be well out of the country"

"Hermione, yes" Hannah said, "But Harry rushes in where Angels fear to tread. I'll lay all the clean straw in this cell that it is him"

"If you two do not mind" the voice of one of the Patil twins called over from another cell, "I'd like to enjoy my terrible existence, at this moment in time, in a somewhat quieter environment – thanks"

"We should try to get a message out to him somehow" Neville said.

"How?" asked Hannah.

"I haven't figured that bit out" said Neville.

"If we were more powerful, I'd suggest that we send him a Patronus with a message" the Patil twin said.

"But we have no wand, and this is too powerful for us to try wandless" Hannah said, shivering as the Dementors came close to her cell.

"What about" Neville suggested, "If we all try and put what magic we can together and send a single message out? I don't know if there are wards to stop that, but it's worth a try"

#

It took the best part of a day, but the messenger Patronus found Harry and Hermione whilst gathering seaweed for some potions. Given the limited time left, the Patronus had spoken quickly, but, with the aid of the Pensive, they went back several times to hear the message fro the trio.

"Hope this finds you" came the collective voiced message. "We're being held in Azkaban in the high security cells in the lowest levels of the fortress. Think we're going to be executed in the next few days. Please come and save us"

Harry's reply, using Hermione's patronus, was short, simple, to the point and contained just three words:

We are coming

#

With such a short time left to them to plan the attack, Hermione ditched the thoughts of looking at plans of Azkaban in favour of Harry's solution of simply walking in through the front door.

"They won't be expecting that" he said to her that evening. The plan was for them to attack the following morning when guards would be tired from sleep and when the human body, worn out from staying up during the dark, was simply sluggish. The mind would take longer to respond to situations and would give the pair the edge they hoped for. Getting close was not all that hard as they spent a little of their Muggle money and took a couple of trains to the seaside town of Yarmouth. They spent the day before the attack at an abandoned site of an World War 2 army camp, hiding in the corner the furthest away from the country road – slapping up a couple of repelling wards for good measure. Harry took a Dreamless Sleep at about 8pm that evening and went to a good number of hours sleep – having first checked that their stolen broom was in working order. He'd taken it for a test flight and, because he thought he had been spotted, created a complex pattern in some fields below – knowing the muggles would assume he had been a UFO and had created a Crop Circle to fool them. During the flight to Azkaban Island, Hermione would be asleep in the feather-light and interiorly expanded trunk – allowing her to catch up with some sleep that she had missed over the last few days. She would also be needed during the flight away from Azkaban – playing tail gunner for anyone who tried to shoot them out of the skies.

#

"Azkaban off the port bow" Harry said quietly. Hermione heard and looked at the dismal looking island they approached. Even from this distance, she could feel the cold of the place from the Dementors and the general inhospitable condition of the barren pile of rock that the fortress was built on. Muggles could not see it from land or from the air, and a tricky repelling spell, and some understanding from the Muggle Prime Minister, made all ships to pass the island port or starboard side on to the island – and only on one side only. It was, to Muggles, disguised as an oilrig.

"See anybody?" Hermione asked.

"No" Harry replied, "But that does not mean they're not under some kind of disillusionment spell. We land, blast our way in, battle down to the cells, find anybody that we can, fight our way out and fly away"

"It sounds easier then it really is" Hermione said, taking her wand from the holster and adjusting the armour she wore. Without being able to go to Diagon Alley and buy, at great cost, Dragon Hide armour for themselves, the pair had had to come up with an alternative solution. Knowing that they would need armour at some point, they had taken two suits of armour from a Death Eater home that the pair had attacked. It wasn't the best solution, but they'd worked with what options were open to them. The metal in the armour would deflect most spells and take two or three powerful spells to smash.

"From what Sirius told me once or twice" Harry said as he brought the broom to the ground, "The cells we want are accessed directly from the reception area. Once we have eliminated the guards at the front desk, we'll make walls in the passages and corridors to slow down the response" he slid off the broom and helped Hermione out of the trunk which they shrunk and would be taking with them inside. They stepped up to the main doors where Harry saw Hermione frowning. "What?"

"I always thought it was rude to go into a place without knocking" she replied.

"Oh" and Harry battered down the door with two overpowered blasting hexes. "Happy?" he smiled and led the way inside – casting hexes and jinxes where he could find a target. It took seconds for them to clear the reception and surrounding areas, and they created walls designed to take a lot of punishment before breaking down. Finding the staircase to the lower levels, Harry and Hermione made their way into the very bowels of Azkaban itself.

#

"Getting light" said the voice of Neville.

"I guess Harry thought it wasn't worth the effort to get us" said the Patil twin.

"If I have learned anything from Gryffindor" said Hannah's voice, "It is that you never abandon your friends. I know that Harry will make it before they come to execute us"

"And" the Patil twin asked, "What happens if he does not turn up and save us?"

"Then" Neville replied, "We'll die on our feet rather then as broken shells"

"Nice speech" Hannah said.

"Thank you, good lady" Neville replied cheerfully, "I was pract-" he stopped as he heard a loud thump from down the corridor. "What was that?" he asked.

"I don't know" replied the Patil twin. A moment later she added, "All I can see is smoke dust and debris falling"

"Ceiling collapsed" Hannah guessed. "They'll not bother to get us out"

"They will" Neville replied. "They will want us to face them before they torture and kill us in public" then he saw something go zooming past the small gap in his cell door. "Did you see that?" asked the boy.

"I don't know what it was" said Hannah, "But I can hear fighting going on" and then flinched automatically as something else zipped past her cell door. By now, most of the occupants of the high security cells had stirred from their floors and pressed against the barred window in their cells doors to catch a glimpse of what was going on.

"Maybe the Order has come to rescue us" suggested a hoarse voice.

"Could be a Death Eater trick" said another. They listened for another ten minutes as spells were fired, people screamed in agony and dust swirled down the dank cell corridor and inside the cells through the gaps. As sudden as it had come, the sounds stopped and only footsteps could be heard. The fitter of the prisoners readied themselves to take on anyone who came in – better to go down fighting.

"Right" said an all too familiar voice, "I'm your new entertainment manager. Who is up for a spot of breaking out of cells, followed up by a nice day of playing freedom?"

"Harry Potter?" asked most of the cell occupants at the same time.

"The one and only" Harry replied. "You'd all better stand back from the doors. I'm going to use the universal door key"

"Universal door key?" a number of the prisoners asked themselves – milliseconds before the question was answered for them with their cell doors being blasted open by Harry and Hermione.

"We got everybody's wands, but we're not sure whose wand is whose, so you'll have to work that one out yourselves" Hermione handed out wands to everybody. There was some exchanging before the wands were reunited with their rightful owners.

"Once we get topside, you're all going to have to get in this trunk we've got" Harry explained the plan to the freed group before leading the way back over the bodies of the fallen Death Eaters and to the staircase.

#

"My Lord, we can not contact Azkaban" a follower said, looking up from the Floo as he sensed Voldemort's entry to the Floo room.

"You have tried Portkeys?" Voldemort simply knew that he had hidden that packet of cheese biscuits somewhere round here. He suspected Lucius Malfoy had taken them without mentioning it – there'd be blood.

"There is too much atmospheric interference" the follower said. "We are trying to get contact via Floo, but it doesn't seem to be working. I have dispatched a few of your followers on broom from the closest point to Azkaban. It may simply be that the security wards were tripped by accident and they have not realised this yet"

"Very well" Voldemort was going to have words with the senior of the Malfoys about taking his personal food. "Inform me when you have regained contact with Azkaban and get them to send me their report at the same time"

"Yes, My Lord" the follower bowed and tried to get the island fortress on the Floo.

#

Only the pair of them remained with Hannah, Neville and Padma Patil, standing under the pier at Yarmouth – the spray from crashing waves just misting over their clothes. A light wind caused their clothing to flutter and flap around their legs and arms.

"Looks like we're the last" Neville said, creating a Portkey for them. "I know that everyone will be thrilled to see you ag-"

"We're not going" Harry said.

"What?" Hannah squeaked out.

"We're not going" he repeated.

"Why?" asked Padma.

"Because we have to do things on our own… Have to search for things on our own"

"But people need you!" Neville couldn't get why the pair didn't want to come with them.

"People need to be free, Neville, but they can not do that if we're both captured" Hermione said. "There are a number of… Well, lets just say we need to travel around a lot and find certain objects before doing anything"

"Maybe we can help" Padma said, and Harry smiled but shook his head.

"If we had the choice, Padma, we would gladly take your help" he said, gently squeezing her shoulder in thanks. "What we are doing and what we are looking for must remain secret – even from our friends"

"It is for the best" Hermione added. "With two people only, we can sneak into places that a larger group would have difficulty in doing"

"So you're disappearing from us again?" Hannah asked. "We could stun you and take you with us"

"Like to see you try" Harry said with a slight smile. "Still… people need to know that I am still out there fighting for them – even if they can not do so themselves. In a place called Scarborough, there is a place called Peasholme Park. On the last Sunday of every month between now and then, meet me and Hermione on the island with the leaders of the free side. Have them dressed as Muggles so they don't stand out at all…"

"What if you can't get there?" asked Neville.

"We'll be there" Harry said.

"Can you not come back with us for just a few moments?" asked Padma. "You can say you're on a mission or something which means that you can not stay for that long"

"It would give everybody the perfect ending to what has happened" Hannah added.

"Do you have pie?" asked Hermione.

"Yes" the three said at the same time.

"Hannah – drop" Harry said.

"What?" the girl blinked, but Hermione saw and pushed her out of the way as Harry took the shot and sliced off the left leg of a Death Eater – the witch falling to the ground in terrible agony. As the others looked around with drawn wands for more Death Eaters, Harry walked other, picked up the severed limb and then belted the crap out of the witch with the bleeding portion. Once he was sure that she was unconscious, Harry rummaged through the robes, found a Portkey and threw it on the Death Eater and activated it.

"What was that?" asked Padma.

"Hermione promised me that the next Death Eater I severed a limb from I could beat round the head with the wet end" Harry said. "She must have followed us from Azkaban and watched you all leave. A shame about that, but at least she did not overhear your destinations" he shook his head.

"Do you still want the pie?" Padma asked after a long silence between them all.

# # # # #

"I wish that we could have stayed, Harry" said Hermione that evening. The pair had stayed for two hours before leaving to return to the cave. Their brief appearance seemed to cheer up the large group they had transported to with the trio of escaped convicts. There had been many requests for them to stay, but they had accepted the pair's repeated statements that they had a dangerous job to do and that they'd make the group an extremely big target if they did not.

"Mione, you know that a smaller group will be able to get in and do the things we need to do quicker and quieter then a large group. We are the two most powerful of our year, and we stand the better chance now we go after the Horcruxes" Harry said.

"We need to find the first one" Hermione said. "All we know is that it is something that Voldemort has, needs and must protect. I've tried looking through nearly the entire library, but I haven't been able to find out what a Horcrux actually is" she added.

"I didn't get the impression that it was a spell" Harry replied, eyes closed in thought.

"Some kind of magical creature?" Hermione suggested. "A magical device?" but Harry merely shrugged.

"I don't know, Mione, but I'm certain you will be able to find out – you always do" he finished by opening his eyes and rewarding the girl with a smile that made her feel warm and fuzzy.

"You realise that I might not be able to do that" she said.

"I have faith that you will, Mione" Harry assured her, patting her hand to support that statement. After having dinner, the pair went for an early night – still in separate bedrooms.

#

"They've gone to bed" said Hedwig.

"Thank God for that" said Crookshanks. He walked over to the still burning fire and pulled out the hidden pack of Marshmallows. Hedwig pulled out two toasting forks and hopped with them in her beak to sit next to Crookshanks. They spent the next hour and a half toasting Marshmallows before going to sleep themselves.