Chapter 9:
Assault on Azkaban Prison part 1
Padfoot twisted and contorted his body in a valiant effort to squeeze through the bars of his cell door, but he was simply too wide to fit through. He managed to get his head, shoulders and most of his abdomen through, but his hips proved challenging. Fortunately, he knew a trick for this kind of thing, it was something Peter had shown him way back when while sharing Muggle magic tricks, specifically how to escape a straight jacket.
And so he dislocated his hip with a loud yelp of pain that would have woken the entire prison were it not for the sound of... mortars? Yup. That sounded a lot like mortars. But back to the matter at hand, as with dislocating a shoulder in order to escape a straight jacket, dislocating his hip allowed him to squeeze the last bit through the bars.
"Quit your whining and get over here!" Regulus yell-whispered from his cell.
Padfoot limped pitifully across the dark hall. In dog form he had much better night vision and despite knowing the other prisoners couldn't see as well as him, spotting Bellatrix at the bars of her cell made him terrified for his secret getting out. But fortunately the keenest human eyes couldn't see him in the pitch black of the prison at night. It didn't hurt that his coat was pitch black either.
"Okay hold still and try not to yip too loud." Regulus instructed as he pulled Sirius close to his cell door.
It took some awkward maneuvering but his brother managed to get him into a position to pop his hip back into place, and this time he managed to bite back any sounds of pain. He may have growled a little though.
"I need you to be your old tough guy self now Siri." Regulus said. "I know you don't quite have human faculties now but remember the plan. Find a wand, any wand, and bring it back to me. Failing that, escape back to the mainland and go with plan B alone."
Padfoot nodded and sprinted on his way. The full ache of his recently dislocated bones overshadowed by the instinctual panic coursing through his veins. He could smell something in the air. Something rotten, foul and reptilian. Something that hadn't been in the prison moments before.
He made it to the bulkhead door at the end of the hall and crouched in the corner, waiting to find out if anybody had spotted him. Deciding the coast was clear he shifted back into Sirius and advanced on the portal.
Only to immediately leap back when it dented inwards with a loud "thung!"
Shifting back into Padfoot he crouched in the corner again and waited for whatever was trying to break in to succeed. With his heightened senses he could hear the voice on the other side intone "bombarda" twice more, a voice he recognized but couldn't quite place. But when the bulkhead door was blown clean off it's hinges and halfway down the hall, he got a face to go with the voice as its' owner stepped through the dust and debris.
Bartemius Crouch. Former head to the department of magical law enforcement. Following behind him was... Bartemius Crouch. Former head to the department of magical law enforcement.
Clearly some polyjuice shenanigans were at play here.
Sirius watched as they marched right past him and perked his ears to hopefully hear if anybody was standing guard beyond the doorway.
"Oh my fellow faithfuuuuuuls!" One Barty called out in a singsong voice. "We come bearing gifts. Freedom and blood and vengeance for all!"
The alacritous Barty advanced on Bellatrix Lestrange's cell, the other onto Sirius' own. One cast an unlocking charm, the other the killing curse. Freeing real Death Eaters and killing falsely accused ones? Yup. Enemies. Time to skedaddle.
He didn't wait for the quiet Barty to discover the lump on his bed was just pillows and sheets and chose then to cross the boundary into the wider prison. Thankfully the great chasm of the pit was empty as far as he could tell and the two Bartys hadn't seen fit to leave a guard outside the door. He took off upwards, seeing as they were at the bottom and most highly secure section of the city. The great vault door at the top of the chasm lay open and battered, much like the bulkhead door from below.
The cheering and howling, figurative and literal, of his fellow prisoners nearly drowned out the sound of rain and fighting coming from above but he heard it all the same. The long-eroded stone faces on the walls seemed to jeer at him as he passed and the smell of that foul reptilian beast grew stronger.
Then a bolt of lightning lit up the prison, crashing outside on the surface of the island. And he saw it. In the poor light he made out an enormous shape crawling down the adjacent wall, a mere hundred meters away. In the brief glimpse he got of it he thought it might have been a wingless dragon, but his senses told him it was something deadlier. Something unique and new. Something with thick, plated scales along its spine like hewn stone and a head far too large for its body, and a tail much too small.
Something the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures must have REALLY been asleep on the job for to have allowed such experimental crossbreeding to have been a success.
Where were the Aurors? Where were the dementors? Was something up top keeping them occupied? By the sight of the multicolored lights illuminating the sky he suspected as much.
He padded on, hoping whatever creature was in here with him didn't have true night vision, or being reptilian, thermal vision. Clearly it had one of them because Sirius heard the warning call of it inhaling deeply - a disgusting, gurgling sound as if it were drowning - and so he veered into the nearest open and well-lit hallway to avoid what he expected was an oncoming ball of fire.
What ended up colliding with the staircase where he had just been was far worse. A putrid sludge, thick as tar and clearly acidic, advanced through the hallway after him, but not by much.
He turned his head to see it as he ran, and it bubbled sinisterly in the light of the torches. The combination of its incomparable stench and his turning back to look were the only reasons he could have possibly failed to see the figure he then collided with, for it was both massive and stench-ridden as well.
"Ahhhhh, a puppy." The werewolf spoke out in deep tones.
A speaking werewolf? So wolfsbane potion then. That was at once a relief and a further problem, for Sirius recognized this werewolf and he couldn't decide if he'd rather face him feral or lucid.
"And however did you get in here?" Asked Greyback as two smaller werewolves circled around.
Crap.
"Wait." Greyback ordered his lackeys.
He then sniffed the air in Padfoot's direction, before pausing to think. Padfoot doubted very much he could smell anything over the stench of that creatures spit pooling not twenty meters from them, but he could be wrong. Solves surely had senses of smells than dogs, yes?
"Leave us. Free as many prisoners as you can, whether they belong to the Dark Lord or not, and be cautious to avoid whatever that creature out there is."
They barked their assent and fled up different side stairs, leaving Sirius and Greyback alone. They stared at each other in silence, Sirius coiled up and ready to spring and Greyback taking a deep breath.
"I have a proposition for you, Mister Black."
Double crap.
Padfoot let out a huff in surrender and shifted back into Sirius Black. He made a show of straightening out his filthy prison fatigues before motioning for the werewolf to continue.
"Let's hear it then." He said.
"Your niece is upstairs. Fighting." Greyback said simply.
Triple crap! Of all the nights!
"You are not in a position to protect her. But I am. likewise, I am not in a position where I can get to and protect my niece. But you are."
Sirius' Azkaban-addled mind took a while to chew on that before he registered his surprise.
"You have a niece!"
"Indeed. The daughter of my sister, deceased, and suffering from a blood curse. Her mother was a brilliant enchantress and... poisoned her to have the touch of death to transformed werewolves."
That sounded like truly difficult, but not implausible magic.
"It sounds like a rather excessive way to protect her, and it sounds like she didn't want you anywhere near her. I must refuse, consequences be what they may." Sirius answered with his head lowered, ready to shift and run.
"Oh no, you misunderstand." Fenrir said, making a calming motion with his hands. A motion that looked decidedly odd on a fully-transformed werewolf.
"My sister and I were very close. She was attempting to immunize her to lycanism, and hopefully collect antibodies that could help cure the disease." Fenrir explained. "Unfortunately, she always was an overachiever. Her possible cure worked too well."
Sirius could detect no deceit so nodded in a tentative agreement to hear him out.
"What do you propose?" Sirius demanded.
"You deliver my letter to her, promise to watch over her in my stead, and I promise I and my pack will get Nymphadora off this rock safely." Greyback concluded.
Sirius stared at him with the blankets expression he could manage.
"This hardly seems like a fair exchange. You protect my niece for one night, I protect yours forever?" He complained.
"Well, the way I see it, I have more leverage in this exchange." Greyback fried, pointedly flexing his impressive claws.
Sirius looked between the werewolf in front of him and the wretched sludge melting the entire hallway behind him. He made a fine point. A sharp one, if you will.
"But perhaps I should sweeten the deal." Greyback conceded. "I will further cover your escape and help you remain undercover so long as you achieve the task you have agreed to."
That was much fairer. But still.
"What about my brother?" Sirius asked.
"Your brother's safety is already assured. He does not need protection. But you'll just have to take my word for that. Our time grows short. I need your answer." Greyback said in the heir of an ultimatum.
Sirius didn't even bother to pretend to consider the offer. It was a pretty good deal.
"Very well. Where is this letter." Sirius acquiesced.
"In my cell, block six, row three, cell at the end." Fenrir explained.
That was four floors up. On the way to where he was headed anyways.
"And where is your niece?" Sirius demanded.
"The delivery address is on the envelope. Naturally I cannot send it as I do not have mailing privileges, and her father would likely intercept the letter anyways."
Perfectly understandable.
"Now go!" Fenrir barked.
Sirius transformed back into Padfoot and charged on the left set of stairs behind Fenrir.
Sprinting up staircases after years of inactivity and while in the middle of a weeks-long fast proved taxing, however, and he made it up two whole flights before collapsing in an alcove. He took several minutes to catch his breath. Good thing, too, because the action saved him from being trampled by a platoon of Aurora charging past. He spotted Kingsley among them, and old training resurfaced as the desire to fall in line and follow him towards the action nearly overcame him. Fortunately, he regained enough of his own faculties to resist that urge and instead padded along in the direction they came from.
He lost count of which floor he was on but the lack of cells, presence of potter plants and the large mess hall suggested this area was reserved for on duty Aurors. Oh look! The hot bar was still on and full.
And so Sirius finally broke his fast as Padfoot and stole as much food as his belly could handle. In all honesty it wasn't much. Weeks of only having a bite - literally - of food per meal and nothing else but water lead to a stomach not capable of handling more than a few scraps. It was probably for the best. He had a long swim ahead of him and it wouldn't do to make it on a full stomach.
He only managed to get a few bites of egg and some rye bread before another bombardment from whoever was attacking the prison shook the structure so thoroughly that it knocked most of the furniture on the ground. A few ceiling tiles even came loose and cashed down onto the lunch benches, denting them terribly and covering floor in dislodged dust.
Lunch break is over. Back to running!
Severus dismounted the thestral and took his first step onto Azkaban. Qura, Hagrid had named her. She was the only thestral who would consent to pulling a carriage with Severus in it, and as such they had formed a bond over the years. A bond that had allowed him to claim her as his familiar.
"Severus, my friend... you look like shit." Lucius greeted as he approached.
Severus turned in time to see his greatest friend try to hide his wrinkled nose at the smell of unwashed alcoholic that permeated the air he walked through. He'd been sober for a whole day now. But showers got in the way of sulking in hate and writing letters to everybody he could possibly blackmail or bribe into this. Friend or foe.
"The pleasantries are unnecessary Lucius." Severus said as he surveyed the wands for hire that formed a wall around the man that had declared Severus godfather to his only heir. "I know I have wronged you in threatening you as I did. But I couldn't take any chances. After tonight, if you never wish to speak to me again, I will respect your wishes and leave you, Narcissa, and Draco in peace."
Lucius considered him for a moment, before deflating. Pomp and antagonism fleeing his body. He took Severus by the shoulder and lead him a few feet away so the hired men couldn't overhear.
"They are entirely necessary. Even now I respect and love you Severus. As does Narcissa and my precious Draco. I'm just... confused." Lucius whispered conspiratorially. He waved towards the sky of fiery rockets and spellfire. "What is the point of all this? Of the superfluous threats and blackmail when you know I would move the world for you if you merely asked?"
"Revenge, Lucius." Severus answered as another barrage of muggle armaments hammered the prison. "I am doing this all for revenge. And I will throw away whatever it is I had with you, or Narcissa, or Igor or the others who have reared their heads since the mark reappeared to have it."
Lucius backed away from him and he locked eyes with the blonde.
"And I pray you will forgive me, both for what I have done and what is to come, but for now consider yourself released." He explained as he proffered a black diary he had pilfered from the headmaster's personal library. "Any aid you provide me from the future is entirely your own, and I will not harass you or your beautiful family any further. But know the man who oversaw your wedding vows and delivered your only child is dead, and that Albus Dumbledore killed him. The husk you see before you is his spirit of vengeance and I will stop at nothing to complete my purpose. I will burn down any bridges, scale any cliff, shatter any castle, to make them hurt as I have been warned."
Lucius took the ruined horcrux and Severus advanced on the veritable army of criminals and bounty hunters the blonde had hired on his command. There were well over a hundred of them, though only eight here. If Lucius were to be believed, he'd gotten hold of everybody from the Korean maniac Kwan Chang-Ho and his gun-toting companion James Collins to the bizarre African sorcerer Imhotep the One-Hundred-and-Twenty-Third. The best were here and at his beck and call. They seemed to have things well underway. Though only stragglers remained near the edge of the island to greet him, with the heavy hitters deeper inside hitting as heavily as they could. Which turned out was rather heavy.
"Guide me to the deep cells holding the Dark Lord's most faithful. I have an old friend there whom I have longed to be reunited with, and who I know longs to help me in at least half of my revenge." Severus commanded.
The no-named, but well-paid, hit-wizards nodded and bowed before turning heel and leading Severus towards his ultimate goal. Lucius followed at the rear, duty making way to loyalty. And possibly, curiosity.
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