Chapter 44
It was a long walk to the top of the tower. There were no more dementors, but their gloom persisted, and Harry wanted to keep the patronuses with them, but his whole right hand had gone numb and soon his concentration started slipping. The doe faded before the stag did, but both were gone before they reached the fourth floor. When the last silver light died away, Harry felt a shudder of discomfort and sadness, but that was all.
They continued their ascend in near darkness. Harry kept turning his head, listening for rattling breath, braced for another assault on his mind, but he didn't see anything and all he could hear was the scuffling of Draco's uncertain feet and Hermione's laboured breathing.
Then he noticed the light ahead of them. It spilled down the top of the stairs, not the flickering, orange light from the torches, but the silver glow of patronuses. None of them said anything, but they sped up.
When they reached the landing of the fourth floor, Harry stopped dead, staring up at the sight in front of him. It was an elaborate spiderweb, thin strings of patronus light that ran along the walls, across the chasm over the pit and up above them, illuminating the entire inside of Azkaban with calm, ghostly light. Harry craned his neck back, staring up at it, for a moment so overwhelmed he didn't notice the other change that had occurred – that sound had returned to Azkaban. The oppressive, unnatural lack of acoustics was gone and though the screams had quietened, they could now hear quiet weeping echoing between the walls.
"It's-" Harry began, but didn't get any further before Draco pushed past him, all signs of his trance-like state vanished in place of sudden urgency.
"Where are you going?" Harry called, but Draco ignored him.
He stopped in front of a cell just a few paces ahead.
"Dad?" he said only just loud enough for Harry to hear him and his voice sent a chill down Harry's spine.
"Oh no," said Hermione quietly.
She let go of Harry's arm and he took a hesitant step towards Draco.
"Dad, can you hear me?" Draco said.
He reached out towards the bars of the cell door, but then stopped, glancing down at the thread of silver that ran across them. Harry was close enough now that he could have reached out to pull him back, but he didn't. Instead, he looked into the cell. Through the shimmer of light, he could make out the figure of a man huddled under a blanket, his face peeking out but half obscured by shadows. His cheeks were sunken and his skin ashen, and Harry hardly recognized him without his long, silky hair. Of course Harry had known Lucius would be there somewhere in Azkaban, Draco had told them. But he hadn't spared it a single thought that they might find him. They had to have passed him on the way down too and he hadn't even noticed.
Harry touched Draco's arm and he flinched, turning to Harry with a guilty look on his face.
"Harry, I-"
Draco swallowed and glanced back into the cell.
"Do you think maybe we could-" he began again, but before he could finish his sentence, a mighty crash sounded from above.
Harry, Draco and Hermione all looked up.
"What was that?" Draco asked.
"I don't-"
A second crash and the light in the tower dimmed as if the power had been cut. The glow condensed around the thin wire of the patronus chain, and then it snapped just as Draco's patronus had in the pit. Harry threw himself at the railing, looking up in time to see red light flashing from the topmost gallery. A girl cried out, the words lost as her voice echoed down the tower. Harry thought it might have been Ginny.
"We're coming!" he yelled back, then turned to reach for Hermione.
She took his hand and Harry looked at Draco.
"I'm sorry-" he began, but Draco cut him off, shaking his head.
"Forget it," he said. "Let's go."
Harry nodded and they ran for the stairs.
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They moved as fast as they could along the galleries of the fifth floor and then the sixth. The voices of people shouting curses became clearer, the light of the spells continued to flash like lightning above them, but Hermione wasn't breathing right and each step seemed to cause her agony, so by the time they reached the second floor from the top, they had once again slowed almost to a walk. She heaved in gasps of air and then coughed hard, buckling over and clinging to Harry to stay upright.
"Sorry," she wheezed.
"It's fine, you'll be fine," said Harry, his words nearly drowned out by another barrage of spells from above. "We'll get you to the hospital wing as soon as we're back."
Hermione nodded.
"You just- go ahead. See what's happening. I'll catch up."
"No, we're almost there-"
"Just go, Harry."
She coughed into her sleeve, letting go of Harry to steady herself with a hand against the wall instead. Harry was about to protest when a curse and a scream sounded in close succession from above.
"Draco, can you do your spell again?" Harry asked with a questioning look at Hermione.
She nodded. Draco pulled out his wand and pointed it again to Hermione's throat and then her chest, muttering the incantation.
"Thanks," she said.
Draco reached into his pocket.
"Your wand," he said, handing it over.
She took it, grimacing as her burned fingers closed around it.
"Now go," she said.
And they did.
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They raced up the final staircase and launched into the chaos on the topmost gallery. Spells were flying everywhere; one brushed by Harry's face so close it singed his ear.
He could see one auror lying on the floor right by the door, but the other three were still standing. Ginny was the farthest away from him, quickly retreating down the gallery as she took on one auror by herself, throwing curses like mad and dodging the attacks as well as she could in the narrow space between the wall and the railing. Between her and Harry, the other three were duelling the remaining two aurors, who still hadn't noticed him and Draco.
"Neville, duck!" Harry called, and Neville dropped to the floor.
In the same moment, an auror hit Luna with a stunner.
"Stupefy!" Harry cried, and the red light caught the auror in the chest and threw him back against the wall.
His partner turned, catching sight of Harry and her eyes widened in disbelief.
"What the– who the fuck are you?" she cried as she threw a wordless hex at them.
Draco cast a shield charm faster than Harry could react. The moment the auror was distracted, Ron turned and sprinted towards his sister, who was backed up against a cell, throwing shield spells with frantic speed. The auror heard him and spun around, aiming her wand at his feet. Draco slashed his wand downwards in a wordless curse at the same time Neville cried:
"Expelliarmus!"
Draco's spell missed by an inch, but Neville's hit and the wand flew from the auror's hand into his.
"Stupefy!" Harry and Draco said in unison.
One red jet caught her in the chest, the other the side of her head, and she collapsed. They all turned, wands raised, to the last standing auror, who was still fending off Ron and Ginny. Harry couldn't tell which of their spells caught him, though one stunner came uncomfortably close to hitting Ginny instead. The auror stiffened and fell like a tree tipping over.
Ginny lowered her wand. She was sweating and out of breath. Ron was bleeding from where a severing charm or something like it had brushed his cheek. Harry's heart was pounding hard, his fingers felt strange and numb. He watched Neville step over the fallen auror at his feet to kneel down by Luna.
"Rennervate," he muttered and she stirred with a quiet groan.
Ron and Ginny were coming towards them and Ron's eyes swept anxiously from Harry to Draco.
"Where's Hermione?" he called.
"She's fine," Harry said. "She got hurt, but she's fine. She was right behind us."
Ron's face was a grimace of anger and confusion, he opened his mouth to speak, but then someone coughed. Harry turned around and saw Hermione coming up the stairs. A moment later, Ron pushed past him, running down the gallery and pulling her into a hug as soon as he reached her. She winced from the touch and he immediately released her.
Only then did he seem to notice the burns.
"What-"
"It'll be fine," she said, her voice rough and unconvincing. "I need Madam Pomfrey, but I'll be fine."
"Did you find the source?" asked Ginny, calling Harry's attention away from Ron and Hermione.
He nodded.
"And you destroyed it?"
"Yeah," he said.
"What are we going to do about the aurors?" Draco asked, gesturing to the four unconscious people on the floor.
"Leave them?" suggested Harry. "The dementors are gone, they won't be hurt from being in here."
"They saw us," said Draco. "They recognized you."
"They'll think we were polyjuiced."
"Why weren't we?" asked Ginny. "We didn't even bother to cover our faces."
"It's fine, no one will believe it was us," said Harry.
"But if the aurors say they saw us, we'll probably be questioned, and the investigation will focus on people who might have been able to get a hold of hair from all of us. And even if they don't suspect us, if they recognized Malfoy, that could be a problem…"
"Memory charms," croaked Hermione.
Her and Ron had re-joined them, she was leaning against him, his arm was looped around her waist.
"Right," said Harry. "Of course. Who knows memory charms apart from Hermione?"
It turned out Draco did, and it took only a couple of minutes to wipe the memories of the four aurors. Draco took care of the two who had collapsed the farthest from them, Hermione the ones right where they stood. Once it was done, a strange quiet settled among them. They stood close together next to the bodies of the stunned aurors, hurt and exhausted and right by the door that would lead them out, but none of them moved to leave.
"Do you think they'll still use it as a prison?" asked Luna quietly.
"They'll have to find something safer," said Draco. "It won't be inescapable with the dementors gone."
He sounded certain, but it was hard to believe him. Standing inside Azkaban, it still felt inescapable. It was still a fortress; the walls were just as thick, the bars just as real. But the dementors were gone and the darkness of the place was a sane one. The dementors were gone and the awareness of the cruelty of what the place had been was like a steady beat through Harry's brain.
They kept people here.
The anger he felt at that thought pounded through him like a fever, except it felt right and natural, and it was mending something inside of him that had been broken.
"You don't think they'll try to bring the dementors back?" asked Ginny.
"They won't want to," said Hermione.
"We should go," said Neville. "They'll have alerted the guards back on the main land. They could be here any minute."
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They took off from the top of the metal stairs on the outer wall of Azkaban, through icy pinpricks of rain. Harry flew at the back of their formation, watching the backs of his friends, of Neville, who shared Draco's broom this time, Ron who was holding Hermione tightly in place in front of him, Luna with her arms wrapped around Ginny's waist, her white hair billowing behind her. Ahead of them, the dark line of the shore was coming closer. When he glanced back over his shoulder, he saw the first light of dawn spilling over the horizon and the still visible shape of Azkaban silhouetted against it.
Once they reached land, they disapparated in quick succession.
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Seven cracks sounded on the halfway point of the path that led from Hogsmeade station to Hogwarts. The castle ahead of them was still mostly dark, but here and there a square of light was visible.
"How late are we?" asked Neville.
Ginny looked at her watch.
"We're not late. We've got fifteen minutes to spare," she said.
"Oh," said Neville. "Well, that's…"
"Yeah," said Ginny.
It felt like it had been days since they left Hogwarts.
They walked to the castle, all of them casting worried glances at Hermione, whose troubled breathing was only getting worse. Now and then a small whimper escaped her, and Ron held on to her a little tighter.
"Luna and I can take the brooms back to the locker rooms," said Ginny when they were almost at the steps to the Entrance Hall. "You two just hurry and get Hermione to the Hospital Wing."
Harry nodded. Luna and Ginny took off, the rest of them turned to the stairs. Draco was the first one to notice the figure who sat huddled on the top step and he jerked back in surprise. Harry recognized the green hems of Slytherin and already had his wand raised before he realized who it was.
"Pansy!" Draco called.
She lifted her head with a start, her eyes slow and confused before they settled on him. She stood up quickly, gathering her robes around her against the cold.
"You made it," she said.
Draco nodded.
"Yeah."
Her eyes slid from him to the rest of them.
"It worked, didn't it?" she asked. "I think we felt it all the way here. I've been so fucking worried- where's Weasley? And Lovegood?"
"Went to put the brooms back," said Neville.
Then Pansy's gaze fell on Hermione and her eyes widened.
"What the hell happened?"
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Ron and Harry left Draco and Neville with Pansy. They didn't even make it across the entrance hall before they gave up on letting Hermione walk by herself. Ron picked her up and Harry pulled out the invisibility cloak. It was very early morning and the corridors were deserted, but on the off chance that they did run into someone, it would at least be less suspicious for them to find Harry wandering around by himself than the two of them helping an injured Hermione through the castle.
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Harry pushed open the door to the Hospital Wing and looked inside. It was dark, the empty beds were islands of ghostly white, the curtains around them all pulled back.
"No one's here," he said and held the door open.
"Go wake up Pomfrey, then," said Ron's disembodied voice.
Harry let the door fall shut and ran to the door in the back wall. He had the terrible thought that Madam Pomfrey might not be there, but he pushed it back and hammered on the door, the sound seeming loud enough to wake the whole castle. An agonizing second passed and then another. He looked back over his shoulder – Ron had pulled off the invisibility cloak, Hermione was a dark shape on the bed. Harry pounded on the door again, his heart going crazy as it slowly and horribly started to dawn on him that they could loose her.
"Where the fuck is she?" called Ron.
"I don't know!"
He reached for his wand – he was far beyond the point where blowing up a door to wake someone up would be a drastic move, and if for some insane reason Madam Pomfrey wasn't in her quarters, maybe the noise would be loud enough to wake up another teacher, anyone who knew anything about healing spells, and then to hell with all of the secrecy- the door was pulled open and Madam Pomfrey, wrapped in her dressing gown, blinked up at him with sleep-drunk eyes.
"Potter?" she said. "What on earth are you-"
"Hermione is hurt. She got burned by fiendfyre, I think it might have gotten in her throat, or she was too close when it exploded, she can't breathe properly, I don't have time to explain how-"
But Madam Pomfrey didn't ask any questions. She pushed Harry aside, and was already rolling up her sleeves and pulling out her wand as she hurried towards Ron and Hermione. She flicked her wand and the lights in the hospital came on. At the other end of the room, a locked cabinet sprang open, and an army of bottles, jars and vials zoomed to the table by the bed where Hermione lay. The tiny, old witch had cast three spells before she even reached the bed, and already the wheezing of Hermione's breathing had eased. Ron jumped out of her way and Pomfrey grabbed a vial from the table.
"Merlin, poor child," she muttered.
She uncorked the vial, but didn't bother to have Hermione drink the potion; she guided the liquid with her wand so it swirled like three blue snakes from the bottle and into Hermione's mouth and nostrils. Hermione coughed and shuddered, Pomfrey put down the vial, her eyes never leaving Hermione. She raised her wand over Hermione's face and moved the tip in tiny figure-eight movements, the murmured incantation too quiet for Harry to make out any words. He and Ron watched her anxiously and at first the spell had no visible effect, but then Hermione's skin moved, rising here and there, like fingers poking from the underside of it, faster and faster, until it looked like it was boiling. Pearls of sweat broke out on her forehead and ran into her hair. It pooled in the creases by her eyes and around the burns, where it sizzled and frothed. Madam Pomfrey moved her wand faster, Hermione's skin bubbled, more white froth appeared and Hermione whimpered and squirmed on the bed.
"What are you doing?" Ron demanded, staring wide eyed at the foam that now appeared around Hermione's fingers and soaked into the sheets.
"Trying to save the nerves in her skin," said Madam Pomfrey without looking up.
She put down her wand and picked up a large, ceramic jar.
"Fiendfyre," she muttered, scooping up the thick, waxlike ointment with two fingers. "I'm going to have someone's head for this…"
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There were more potions, more spells, more sharply smelling ointments. Harry paced between the beds, cringing whenever another sob of pain escaped through Hermione's gritted teeth. Ron stood like frozen next to the bed, his face pale and worried. He started when Madam Pomfrey suddenly stopped to look at him.
"Bring me a glass of water," she said.
Harry stopped pacing and Ron blinked slowly.
"What?" he asked.
"There's a sink over by the wall, dear."
"Oh," he said. "Right."
Harry looked at Hermione. She lay flat on her back, the rise and fall of her chest was quick, but there was no more wheezing. Madam Pomfrey gently put an arm around her and helped her to sit up. The collar of her shirt was soaked. Her skin was glistening – whether from sweat or spells or potions, Harry had no idea – but the burns were gone. Ron came back with the water. He handed it to Madam Pomfrey, who held it to Hermione's lips.
"There you go," she said as Hermione drank.
She put the glass down on the bedside table.
"Did that hurt?" she asked.
Hermione shook her head.
"That's good. Now, your throat should be completely healed. You might feel a bit sore right after eating, but you should have no trouble breathing or speaking. If you do, come see me again immediately."
Hermione nodded.
"As for scarring, this is dark magic, but I think we got lucky. Your face is going to be fine. I'm sorry to say I can't promise about your hands. You've had a heavy dose of skin replenishing potions and those should do for the worst of it, but your skin will be very sensitive for the next couple of days. There might be a certain numbness too, but you should regain all feeling shortly."
Madam Pomfrey straightened up, fixing a pillow behind Hermione's back.
"You will stay here for the next couple of days and rest. You'll continue with the skin replenishing potion every morning, as well as applying dragon burn salve three times a day, and by then you should be as good as new."
Hermione nodded.
"Thank you," she said.
And finally, Madam Pomfrey turned to Ron and Harry.
"Now," she said, "I think you two should explain to me how on earth she ended up like this."
Harry and Ron exchanged glances, but before either of them could say anything, Hermione spoke up again:
"Ron, do you have my wand?"
"Right, yeah, I do," he said.
He fished it out of his pocket and handed it to her.
"Thanks," she said. "Madam Pomfrey, I'm really sorry about this."
Madam Pomfrey looked at her.
"My dear, there's no need to-"
Hermone raised her wand.
"Obliviate," she said steadily.
Madam Pomfrey's face grew vacant. For a moment, she stood very still. Then she blinked slowly and looked around, as if she had just woken up in an unfamiliar place.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I just have to go and… to go."
With a dazed expression, she walked to the end of the room, went through the door to her quarters and closed it carefully behind her.
"I hate that spell," Hermione said.
Harry looked at the closed door and thought that maybe he did too. He knew better than to think a spell was easy just because Hermione made it look that way, but it still seemed like there should be more to erasing someone's memories than that. She had just saved Hermione's life, and they hadn't even thanked her. They hadn't bothered asking her to keep it secret.
Hermione ran a hand over her face.
"God," she said quietly.
Ron was still looking at her warily, as if her skin might start bubbling again any moment. She took a deep breath and swung her legs out of the bed.
"Alright, let's go," she said.
Ron looked alarmed.
"Pomfrey said you should rest."
"I'm fine," she said, picking up the skin potion and the salve. "We're still following the plan: We'll be back in our beds before anyone notices we were gone and wake up this morning like nothing happened."
"Hermione-"
"I don't-" she began, still in her business-like tone.
Then Ron pulled her into a hug, burying his face in her hair.
"I'm so glad you're alright," he muttered.
Harry crossed and uncrossed his arms. Ron released Hermione and she looked up at him and then at Harry with a wry smile.
"So we managed to survive that too," she said.
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They left the hospital wing and walked most of the way back to Gryffindor tower in exhausted silence. Harry drank in the normalcy of being back in the corridors at Hogwarts with Ron and Hermione – even without the daily bustle of students, in the silent twilight hours before dawn when they were too drained to talk to each other, it still felt like coming home.
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They were on their way up the last staircase, the one that led to the corridor with the fat lady's portrait, when Hermione broke the silence.
"You could have told us, Harry," she said.
Harry stifled a yawn.
"I should have told you what?"
"About you and Malfoy."
Harry stopped. The lightness in his body dropped out of him. His stomach turned to lead.
"What's going on with Malfoy?" asked Ron.
Harry stared at Hermione, who had just almost died, and was now looking away like she had no plans to answer Ron's question. Harry looked at Ron.
"He's-" he began, and then didn't get any further.
He could have told them, Hermione said. What exactly was it she expected him to tell? He had no idea what was going on with him and Draco. It wasn't like he had to explain it to anyone.
"It's nothing," he said.
Hermione sighed.
"Harry, it's not nothing."
Ron was watching both of them curiously now and Harry grimaced.
"It's just… We're…" he trailed off again.
"You're what? Snogging?" Ron suggested with a grin.
Hermione looked like she wanted to kick him.
"Something like that," Harry choked out.
Ron laughed.
"Mate, it really kills a joke if you look like that when you say it."
Harry wasn't sure how he looked.
"I'm not joking."
"What do you mean you're not-"
"About me and Draco. We're- I wasn't joking."
Ron's eyebrows shot up.
"Oh," he said. "That… are you serious?"
"Yeah."
"Shit. Okay, well… wow."
Ron took a step back down the stairs. He looked from Harry to Hermione, like he was assessing the conspiracy of both of them having known about this and not told him – or possibly like he was waiting for one of them to start laughing. When neither of them did, his frown deepened.
"You know, I can't believe I'm saying this, but that actually makes a lot of sense."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry snapped.
Ron held up his hands defensively.
"Nothing, nothing!"
"But it's not just snogging, is it?" asked Hermione cautiously.
Ron's face went completely wrong. He looked at Harry, horrified.
"You're shagging him too?"
"God, Ron, that wasn't what I meant!" said Hermione at the same time Harry exclaimed "No!"
A dark blush coloured Hermione's cheeks, but she pushed on:
"It was just, after seeing the two of you in Azkaban, I thought there might be a bit more to it – that maybe you, you know, liked him as well?"
Harry glared at her. Just then, he was pretty sure he would prefer going back to Azkaban and taking on every single auror the Ministry was sending over there, rather than have this conversation.
"Why would I be snogging him if I didn't like him?"
Hermione's blush deepened.
"Right, no, of course… So you're together, then?"
"That's none of your business!" he snapped.
"We're your friends, Harry, you don't have to keep it from us."
"Fine!" he said. "But I've got no idea if we're together, alright? It's not like it's been bloody simple, but yeah, I like him. I like him a lot, and I'm sorry about that, sorry I didn't tell you, I was going to, I just really didn't want to have this fucking fight with you right now."
Hermione crossed her arms.
"Is that what you think is going to happen? We'll fight about it?"
"We're fighting right now!"
Harry's voice rose loud enough that it echoed up the stairs.
"You're the only one who's fighting, mate," said Ron.
"Am I?" Harry snapped.
He turned to Hermione: "It's not like you weren't pissed when you found out I'd been flying with him – I was just talking to him then, I didn't even like him, and you said he was emotionally amputated, that he wasn't worth forgiving-"
"But Harry, that was all the way back in October!" she said, exasperated.
"And things have changed now?"
"Of course they have! We've been working with him and Pansy for months, we've talked to them, he was with us in the pit."
"Ron was angry about him even coming with us, and that's, what, two weeks ago?"
Ron looked embarrassed.
"It's not like I don't like him," he said. "I mean, I don't but... It was mostly that I didn't trust him, you know? I just didn't get why you wanted to bring him along, that's all, it seemed bloody suspicious to me. But if you like him, that's… you're my best mate, Harry, it's not like I won't give him a chance."
"But-"
Hermione cut him off before he could go on:
"No one is angry, Harry. It's fine, alright."
He looked at her tired face, and then at Ron, who mirrored her worried, sympathetic expression.
"But he's a bloke," Harry said, because he had to. Someone had to.
Ron looked confused.
"Yeah? I mean, I thought you liked girls, but you know…"
"I already told you we wouldn't mind," said Hermione.
"I do like girls, though. Not anyone specific, not right now but just… in general?"
"Yeah," Hermione said. "That's fine, that's perfectly normal too."
"It's not like anyone's expecting you to have stuff like that sorted out already. Charlie didn't figure it out until he was in his 7th year either, and he had a lot less going on than we've-"
"Charlie is gay?" Harry interrupted. "Your brother?"
"Yeah," said Ron. "Didn't you know?"
Harry shook his head, and for a moment they just stared at each other. Then Harry's face split into a grin. Ron started laughing too when he did, the relief and overtiredness washing over them, and there wasn't anything funny about it, but then Harry was laughing because Ron was, and Ron was laughing at him.
"You boys are ridiculous," said Hermione.
She looped a hand under both Ron's and Harry's arm and dragged them with her up the stairs.
"Come on," she said. "Let's go get that half hour of sleep before breakfast."