Ch2: Azkaban
Azkaban is the inescapable wizarding prison located on an unplottable island in the middle of the North Sea. The only way to on or off is by magic rowboats. The prison is organized into two upper levels and the basement or 'animal pit' as it is referred to by the guards. The whole prison is made up of the old grey stone and enshrouded with fog giving it a creepy abandoned look. The walls are covered in mildew and the air seems to permeate the walls. The top level is for convicts that have committed serious crimes but aren't considered very dangerous. They all might have committed acts such as murder, rape, aggravated assault, or arson. While these all are serious crimes they didn't have a high body or damage count and are easily controlled by the dementors. The middle or ground floor level houses the guard offices and the non-violent offenders. Those who stay here have done crimes such as burglary, robbery, larceny-theft, vehicular-theft or pissed off someone high up in the process. The dementors patrol every infrequently but enough to terrorize the inmates who are often very susceptible to their charms. When officials visit this is the floor they are taken around – it's safe but enough to scare people away. This is what everyone pictures when they think of Azkaban. Then there's the basement. Here live the monsters and the most dangerous the world has to offer. It includes serial killers, serial rapists, sociopaths, child molesters, and those who use the unforgivables. The Deatheaters are all automatically placed in here as well. The dementors rarely visit this mash up as the prisoners are considered to have no souls.
With Dumbledore's help I was sentenced to the basement. On your way in the guards tell you you'll never see daylight again. No one escapes and no one leaves. You will die in the pit of despair. When I first arrived I was processed into the system – this includes a series of photographs, wand registration and confiscation, cavity and body searches, and inoculations for various blood and sexually transmittable diseases. You are given your prisoner number tattoo then left to spend the first night in solitary. The next day you are then taken to your level.
It's a free-for-all down here. No cells or separation for the wicked. They figure we'll all kill and contain each other for them. Famous individuals including Fenrir Greyback, Bellatrix Lestrange, Antonin Dolohov, and Lucius Malfoy are my company and at first I figured I was being thrown into my own living hell. Avid supporters of the man I'm prophesied to kill and one who I am personally responsible for sending there, what else would I have expected?
"Have fun," the guards snicker as they haul open a heavy steel door and toss me into a big, dark, empty looking cavern of a room. The door slams shut behind me allowing me to notice the faint glow of lights that illuminate my new home. The floor is a cold, hard cement, damp with I don't want to know what. The walls appear to be the same stone as the outside and I notice the shadows creeping out.
Suddenly this large beast of a man comes racing towards me and tackles me. He is wearing only well worn jeans and his chest is hairy enough to keep him warm without. His hands are clenched around my biceps, the yellow nails on his fingertips leaving crescent shaped gouges. I don't get a good look at his face, but I notice his teeth are the yellow of his fingernails and just as sharp looking. I realize this must be Fenrir Greyback the famous child killer werewolf that works for Voldemort and quickly turn my head away closing my eyes. The growling softens and is replaced by a snuffling sound as he sniffs my now inadvertently exposed throat.
From the shadows somewhere around us I hear, "Good instincts pup, now just stay still and let him express his dominance as alpha." I whimper slightly but relax my body and go completely pliant under this beast of a man. Greyback grumbles in satisfaction and proceeds to gently, something I had been told was never possible for this man, grab my bared neck with his teeth. When I do nothing to resist he lets go and sits up to his knees. I stay on the ground beneath him waiting for a signal indicating permission to move. At his snort I stay under his legs but lean up until I'm sitting under him. I sneak a quick look at his face from under my fringe to see him watching me with a cautious eye, but he doesn't seem too threatened by my small mass. Going with my instincts, I gently nudge my nose against his jawbone and hum softly when he tugs me closer in approval.
All of a sudden from behind I hear a muffled, "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing? Get your mangy hands off my godson you filthy pervert!" I start to stiffen in fear and instinctually clutch the man holding me. He growls in response and pushes me back down as he growls protectively into the shadows while crouching over me. As nothing further happens I start to relax and turn my head towards the distraction, knowing better than to get away from the man who seems willing to protect me. Lucius and Bellatrix are holding back a scruffy, dark haired man, who seems almost more rabid than the werewolf above me.
"Dammit Black! Do you have a death wish? Quit struggling and act like you were raised!" hissed the long blond-haired man on the right.
The wild black haired lady on the left followed him up by saying, "Stop this nonsense right now cousin and get a hold of yourself! And don't you even think about changing, he will rip you to shreds in seconds!" She was far less dignified about her scolding than her companion.
When the struggling continued the blonde leaned over and hissed angrily in "black's" ear, "Don't you make me get the collar! I will put you in it if I have to." This seemed to have an instant reaction if his sudden stillness and bright red cheeks were any indication. "Merlin help me, Sirius, you act like a child. Draco has better control over himself and he's half your age. Merlin knows why, but my wife and Bella still like you, so I attempt to help, but you are going to get yourself killed!"
Lucius's obvious frustration had me giggling which brought everyone's attention back to me. "Would you let the child up now Fenrir, before Black here, has a fit?" I start giggling again, almost hysterically this time, as I realize the absurdity of the situation, I'm in the worst part of the prison, abandoned by the guards, trusting a known vicious, child-killing, werewolf I don't know, to protect me from other criminals whom I do.
"Easy there A leanbh, don't think about what you know, just accept what is happening here. Everything will make since in the end." His deep quiet growl in my ear sent a gentle fire burning through my body.