Disclaimer: I still do not own Harry Potter.

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Enjoy this chappie!

Chapter 8: The Great Escape

The next morning, the Daily Prophet headlines screamed: THE TRUTH ABOUT BARTY CROUCH. The article was a story all about how Barty Crouch Jr. and his mother had taken Polyjuice Potion to switch their identities, and his mother had died in Azkaban instead of him. It told about how Barty Jr. had lived under the Imperius for years, and how he had finally broken out of it and escaped. It warned the wizarding community to keep a lookout for a man with straw-colored hair and other distinguishing features.

Needless to say, Harry, Sirius, and Remus were shocked. "I would have never thought Barty Crouch would do such a thing," said Sirius. "But he did love his wife, I'll give you that. Her wish was his command."

After breakfast, Remus said, "Guess where we're going today, gentlemen?"

"Where?" asked Harry.

"House-hunting!" chimed Remus. "We're going to find a permanent residence to live in! Would you like to look in Hogsmeade, near Diagon Alley, or in Muggle London?"

"Where would you like to live, Sirius and Remus?" Harry asked. "I don't really have a preference."

"I'd personally like to live in a magical community," Sirius said. "I have absolutely nothing against Muggles, but I really like the stores and choices of things in a magical area. How about you, Moony?"

"I'll do whatever you want, Padfoot," Remus answered.

"Yeah, you choose, Sirius," Harry said. "After all, you're free now. You should make the decision."

"Let's look in Hogsmeade, then," decided Sirius. "I always loved going there as a boy. There were a lot of nice homes there, and I'm sure that at least one of them will be for sale."

xxx

As they walked through the streets of Hogsmeade, they tried to ignore the stares that people gave them. Many of the occupants and visitors had read Rita Skeeter's article about Sirius's freedom, so many made disparaging and rude comments.

"I'm worried," one passerby said. "Black can't be that sane after twelve years in Azkaban Prison. What're the Ministry thinking, placing the Boy-Who-Lived in his care?"

"Ignore them, Sirius," Harry said comfortingly, seeing the tension in Sirius's face. "I hate the attention, too. But it's bound to die down in time."

They got quite a lot accomplished that day. They did find a few nice homes that were for sale, but none of them really grabbed their fancy. One had three bedrooms and a bathroom on the top floor, and a kitchen and living room on the bottom floor. A few were ranchers, meaning that there was only one floor. The three house-hunters did like them, but none of them screamed out at them.

They went out to dinner in Hogsmeade that evening, at the Three Broomsticks. Madame Rosmerta was there, and was very pleased to see them.

"Sirius Black!" she exclaimed, giving him a big smile. "And Remus Lupin! It's so good to see you together again. I found it very hard to believe that you had committed any of those crimes, Black, so I'm glad you're innocent."

"Thank you, Rosmerta," Sirius said, flashing her a dazzling smile as well. In his youth, he'd had a bit of a thing for Rosmerta.

"And Harry Potter!" She shook Harry's hand vigorously. "How good to see you! I hope you'll be coming here a lot next year. What are you now, going to be a fourth-year?"

"Yeah," said Harry.

"Don't worry, you'll be able to," said Sirius with a grin. "The Headmaster gave me a permission form for you, and I signed it. So you'll be allowed to go."

Harry beamed. "That's fantastic!" he said jubilantly. "Thanks, Sirius! I love this town!"

"I'm glad that you do, young Harry," said Rosmerta happily.

The three ordered drinks and food, and they sat there eating it and making small talk. After dinner, Sirius begged and begged Remus and Harry to go to Zonko's. "You never grow up, Padfoot, do you?" Remus said jokingly.

"Nope, I don't, Moony," laughed Sirius. They went into the joke shop, and Sirius got some prank items. "Don't think you'll get away with using them on me. I warned you about that before," said Remus.

"Your threats mean nothing to me," Sirius said with a good-natured cackle.

"Watch that I don't get you back," taunted Remus. Harry laughed outright at the antics of his two guardians.

xxx

Over the next few days, the house-hunting continued. On the fourth day, they found it. It was a white house with blue shutters, and just looking at it felt right. The address read 804 Lawdershod Avenue, Hogsmeade.

"Let's go in," said Sirius, and the two Marauders and their pup trooped into the house. They went in through the front door, and what they immediately saw was a stairway. But they decided to explore the first floor before venturing up the stairs.

They first went into the lounge, where there was room for a piano. "I used to play the piano back in the day," Remus said. "I think I can still remember how to play a few notes. Maybe we could invest in one."

"That sounds like a good idea," said Harry. "I've never really heard anyone play. I always heard it was a nice sound, though."

They then went into the dining room, where there was room for a table and chairs. "Looks like we'll have to buy a lot of furniture if we live here, but that's quite alright," said Sirius. He had a lot of money in his account. As well as the compensation for his wrongful imprisonment, he also had money James had left him in his will.

They went into the kitchen, which looked very pristine and clean. There was a counter, with a step going down into the family room. In there you could put a few chairs and couches.

"This is it," said Harry contentedly.

"Couldn't agree more, cub," Remus said.

"I love it," Sirius grinned.

There was also a bathroom in the family room. You opened a little door to get to it. "Everything's so easy to navigate," Harry surmised, which his two guardians agreed with as well.

Next, they explored the upstairs. There were four bedrooms, so there could be one for each of Harry's guardians, one for Harry himself, and one guest room. There was also a closet and a bathroom next to one of the rooms, and there was also another bathroom inside one of the bigger rooms. Sirius and Remus immediately started talking about who would get the room with the bathroom inside.

"Let's toss a galleon," Sirius suggested when they couldn't make up their minds. Harry had agreed that it should be either Sirius or Remus who got the room. They tossed the galleon, and it landed on tails, which was what Sirius had picked. "Haha, I win, Moony," he said playfully, punching his friend lightly in the shoulder. Remus just laughed and smiled at him. "Very well, Padfoot," he said.

"So you're saying we can have the house?" Harry asked excitedly.

"It's home," Sirius grinned.

"It's the Marauders' abode," said Remus delightedly.

"How soon can we move in?" asked Harry.

"Once we get everything finalized," Remus answered. "We'll let the real estate agency know that this is what we want."

"Where did our agent go?" asked Sirius.

"He's waiting for us downstairs, silly," answered Remus.

"Don't call me silly, Moony old boy," guffawed Sirius. "You're the silly one around here!"

"Oh, whatever you say, Padfoot, old man," said Remus, ruffling Sirius's hair.

"Hey, stop that! Stop messing with my shining locks!" said Sirius mock angrily.

Harry and Remus couldn't take it anymore; they burst out laughing. They laughed all the way downstairs, and the real estate agent looked at them as though they were odd.

xxx

The next day, Dumbledore came over. He'd decided not to come those few days before, since he knew the three planned to go house-hunting. But when he did come, he brought the Pensieve over. It was the fourth time he'd been to the little apartment; the time before was of course when he'd come to discuss Harry's dream, and the time before that was when he'd brought Harry's things over the day after his arrival, and the time that preceded that was when he came with Poppy Pomfrey the night Harry was hurt. He was getting used to the place by now, and he really liked it.

Harry was very curious about the Pensieve. After Dumbledore left, Remus told Harry that now they were to have their very first Occlumency lesson. Harry was very nervous, but his guardian assured him that it would be okay. Sirius sat on the couch, watching events unfold. "Don't interrupt us, though, Padfoot," Remus told him. "If you're going to sit here, you must be quiet."

"Yes, I know, Moony," answered Sirius. "I'm just going to sit here and read my book." He was flipping through the 500 Pranks to Play on Your Rivals book again.

"Okay, very well," Remus said, and Harry stood up, facing him. He'd already, with Dumbledore's help, put the memories he didn't want Remus to see in the Pensieve. All he'd had to do was put his wand to his temple, think very hard of the certain memory, and it would come out as a shining strand attached to his wand. Then he would put it in the Pensieve. He had watched interestedly as the shimmering strands swam around in the bowl.

"Now, what you have to do is try to push me out of your mind," Remus explained. "When I say "Legillimens," you will see flashes of different memories."

"So my goal is to stop you from seeing them?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Remus affirmed. "Now, concentrate. Are you ready, Harry?"

"Yes, I am."

"Okay, on three. One-two-three-Legillimens!"

FLASH! Harry was five years old and Dudley was crying and telling Uncle Vernon that his cousin had broken his bike when he hadn't.

FLASH! He was eleven years old and Uncle Vernon was driving furiously, trying to get his family and Harry away from the wings of owls delivering Hogwarts letters.

FLASH! He was still eleven years old and was fighting Quirrellmort in the room with the Sorcerer's Stone.

FLASH! He was staring into the Mirror of Erised, looking longingly at his parents and other distant relatives.

FLASH! He was twelve years old and Ginny lay dying in the Chamber of Secrets. "Please don't be dead, Ginny, please don't be dead!" he was muttering.

FLASH! He was fighting the basilisk.

FLASH! He was thirteen and dementors were closing in on him at the Quidditch match.

GET OUT, Harry thought frantically. I DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE ANYMORE!

He suddenly found himself on the floor, panting, gasping for breath. Remus had a concerned hand on him. "Up you get, Harry," he said gently. "Not too bad for a first time."

Harry felt very weak. He sat up, and Remus handed him a bar of chocolate. "Here you go," he said. "Chocolate's not only good for fighting off the effects of dementors, you know."

Harry gratefully took the chocolate and gobbled it all up. He sat and relaxed for a minute, and then tried again. It was not much better this time; Remus still got to see plenty of his childhood memories before he was finally pushed out. Many of them included his relatives. Remus was appalled at the neglect he'd had to put up with over the years. No wonder Harry had felt unloved when he'd come to them!

"I'm hopeless at this," he muttered as he sat up after two more times.

"Harry, what did Dumbledore tell you?" Remus chided gently. "He told you it might take you years to learn this. Believe me, you're not hopeless. I think we should stop for now, though. You look exhausted."

Harry reluctantly agreed. He was given some more chocolate to eat, and felt a little stronger after that.

"We can try again in a few days," Remus promised. "I'm sure that in time, your control will become better. Dumbledore's first plan was to have Severus Snape teach you, but Sirius and I were strongly against that. I think the wounds run too deep for you two to work together. So that's why he asked me to teach you on the day he came round."

"I'm glad," said Harry. "I don't think I could have put up with Snape ambling around in my mind."

"Well said, Harry," said Sirius. He had just taken his nose out of his book because he'd heard the topic of conversation. "I don't want Snivellus anywhere near your mind. I don't want him finding out any information about you that you don't want him to know."

"Thank you," said Harry sincerely.

"No problem," Remus said. "And I know how much you already dislike his teaching methods; I doubt that Occlumency would have been any better than Potions."

"I probably wouldn't have been motivated to learn it at all," Harry admitted. "And then my mind would have no way of being safe from Voldemort."

xxx

That night, Harry fell into a dream. The first thing he noticed was that his scar was prickling. The second thing he noticed was that he was back in the room in the old, old house. As he surveyed his surroundings, he could see the masked man kneeling over the thing in the chair again. Oh, dear, Harry thought unhappily. Another Voldemort vision. Just what I need.

"Tell me, Crouch, you imbecile!" the thing in the chair, Voldemort, snarled. "Tell me how that fool Dumbledore found out about your survival!"

"I d-don't k-know, my l-Lord ..." Barty Crouch Jr. stuttered.

"You don't know?" Voldemort said in a soft, dangerous voice. "Very well. Crucio!"

Harry's scar seared, and horrible screams of pain came from Barty. He was on the ground, writhing in agony. This must be the Cruciatus Curse, Harry thought in horror. He didn't like this Barty Crouch, but seeing the pain Voldemort inflicted on his own servants was just terrible!

When Voldemort finally lifted the curse, Barty was shaking and trembling. "Get up, Crouch!" the Dark Lord snapped. "Don't lay there like an idiot! Get up!"

Crouch struggled to do as he was told. When he finally managed it, he faced Voldemort again. "You would do well to answer Lord Voldemort properly when he questions you," the Dark Lord hissed. "Now, get ready to apparate. We are going to do our deed now."

"Yes, my Lord," Barty answered obediently.

"I reminded you a few days ago that we would be staying here about a week," Voldemort said. "I reiterated the fact that it would be foolish to act before the end of the Quidditch World Cup. Well, the week is up, and we will still not act to get our hands on Potter before the cup is over, but our other deed shall be done now. I have decided that we are still going to stay here until August, however."

"Very well, my Lord."

Harry was hoping he'd wake up now, but he was mistaken. There was a POP! and he seemed to follow the two dark wizards to wherever they were going.

"I am most grateful to you for working on these wards for so long without anyone noticing," Voldemort purred. "It is a good thing you stole your father's invisibility cloak. That's one thing your father was useful for."

Harry realized that they were standing on an island, with a great fortress standing in front of them. He guessed, with a thrill of terror, exactly where he was. He'd heard descriptions of it before, and what he was seeing now matched them very well. Azkaban Prison, the place where his godfather had spent twelve years for atrocities he did not commit.

"Tell me again," whispered Voldemort, "how you succeeded in breaking the wards without anyone being any the wiser."

"Very complicated Dark Magic, my Lord," Barty answered. "I placed charms all around the area that alerted the guards that the wards had not been tampered with."

"Very good, very good," Voldemort hissed.

"Thank you, my Lord. Your gratitude is most rewarding," Barty said. "My extensive study of the Dark Arts would come in useful one day, I knew."

"Well, you were right for once, my faithful servant. Come on, let's go."

Harry followed Barty and his Lord inside Azkaban Proper. It looked awful! The first thing he noticed was a few guards sitting at posts inside the prison. As quick as a flash, Barty pointed his wand at the guards, muttering the two dreaded words of the Killing Curse. The guards fell dead before they knew what had hit them.

Barty, carrying the thing that looked like Voldemort in his arms, started walking down corridors. Whenever they saw a dementor, Harry saw him point his wand and cast a complicated spell which seemed to subdue them. "I learned this handy little spell from your extensive tome collection, my Lord," Barty boasted. "Thank you so very much for giving me the honor of looking at them."

"The pleasure is mine, Barty," the sibilant voice hissed. "The dementors will only come back to themselves once our deed is done. Just be glad that they did not cause you any adverse effects before you cast the spell."

"I am glad, my Lord. I have learned to deal with dementors by doing what the common fools do, by thinking of happy thoughts; thoughts of us ruling the world, of the filthy Muggles and mudbloods all being destroyed."

Voldemort cackled evilly. "You are my most obedient servant, are you not, Barty?"

"I try, my Lord."

"The answer is yes or no, you imbecile!"

"Y-yes, my Lord."

As Harry looked on, he was unable to stop the next part from happening, as much as he wanted to. Barty, being directed by Voldemort, started opening doors of cells. Some of the people who came out looked insane. They were still alive, but their eyes were staring into nothingness. Some, however, looked gaunt and ragged, but jubilant at seeing their rescuers. One of the prisoners was Peter Pettigrew. He was trembling like a leaf, but managed a smile when he saw who had rescued him.

"I knew you would come for me, my Lord!" cried a woman with heavy-lidded eyes. She was beaming at Barty and the thing in her arms. "My Lord, is this what you have been reduced to?" she said in a shocked voice.

"Ah, yes," Voldemort snarled. "But never fear, Bella. I will regain my body in due time."

More cell doors opened, and more people poured out of them. When Barty got to one cell, however, he sneered. It seemed that Dumbledore had been right; the Ministry had put Barty Crouch Sr. in Azkaban to serve time.

"Well, well, well," Barty Jr. growled as he looked at the crumpled figure lying on his ridiculously small cot. "Hello, Father. Are you pleased to see me?"

His father sat up and glared at his son. "What are you doing here, you scum?" he roared.

His son laughed. "I am willing to wager that the answer is no," he said mockingly, an evil grin sliding onto his face. "Your prayers have been answered; you're getting out of here. But ... ah, Father, your prayers are also NOT answered, because you're not getting out of here the way you hoped." He raised his wand and held it at his father's head.

Crouch Sr. looked at the wand. "And what are you going to do to me, you filthy mongrel, you are a disgrace to the Crouch family name! I knew you were filth, I knew you tortured those Aurors!"

"Yes, and I enjoyed it, too!" smiled Crouch Jr. "It's time for me to end your pathetic life. Goodbye, Father. Avada Kedavra!"

The green light went speeding towards Crouch Sr. and he fell to the ground, his eyes wide open in horror and shock. There was no doubt in Harry's mind: he was dead.

Harry's scar seared again, and he screamed in pain. Sitting bolt upright in bed, he realized the full extent of what had happened.

Mr. Crouch Sr. was gone, and Azkaban had been broken open, and dangerous prisoners, including Peter Pettigrew, were now free.