Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.
Written for - Stickers - Ravenclaw; Eagle - Freedom.
Word Count - 320
Freedom
The gates clanked one by one, but nobody moved. Huddled in corners, parents shielded their children from this new, unknown threat.
Familiar red cloaks appeared, and Auror's entered the cells with small smiles on their faces.
"The war is done. You're free to go."
It took awhile for the words to sink in, and yet still, the prisoners refused to move. This could all be a trick, to give them illusion of freedom before they were killed or tortured. Everybody being held in Azkaban under the new rule couldn't believe that the light side had prevailed.
The odds were simply too stacked.
A single man stepped forward. He shouldered the burden of being the first to face the proverbial firing squad, because he didn't want to sit back and watch people with children face it.
He led the way, and when he wasn't attacked, slowly, slowly the people began to follow in droves. Suddenly, nobody wanted to be the last to leave.
They were clothed, fed and watered, and yet, they still watched cautiously, waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for the moment when this new reality was torn away from them.
"If everyone could get into an orderly line," one of the Aurors announced, gesturing them to where a desk had suddenly appeared. "You'll all be given new wands, and taken to a safe house. There will be people waiting there for you, to help you find out if your homes are still habitable, and if they aren't, you'll be provided for."
They were all Muggleborns; they weren't entitled to own a wand, as it was proof that they'd stolen magic from those of purer blood.
They'd all been locked away, lucky that they hadn't simply been executed.
And now…
Wands. Homes. Clothes.
It damned on the ex-prisoners of Azkaban that they'd survived. They'd lived through a war that had threatened to never end.
They were free.