Harry Potter One Shots

Prisoners of Azkaban

All rights belong to the author, SilverSailorGanymede

Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy was two weeks shy of his seventeenth birthday when he went to visit his grandfather in Azkaban. The wizard prison didn't normally accept visitors except for those on official business, but Draco Malfoy had somehow managed to get permission for Scorpius to visit his grandfather. Needless to say Scorpius was far from thrilled when his father had announced this to him; he had heard more than enough stories about Azkaban to have convinced him that he never wanted to set foot in the place, and besides that he had never even met his grandfather.

Nevertheless, one icy cold morning in December, when all his schoolmates were nicely tucked away and safely asleep, either at home or at Hogwarts, Scorpius found himself standing in the middle of nowhere, staring out at the roughest sea he had ever seen. The waves were as high as the Whomping Willow and twice as deadly – at least that's how it seemed to Scorpius. The strong winds were threatening to rip his travelling cloak off him and feed it to the hungry sea. He felt physically sick as he realised that his destination was somewhere in the distance, out in the very centre of the sea. How on Earth was he going to get there? He wasn't even at Azkaban yet, and already he hated his father for having made him come here.

A hand touched his shoulder and he nearly jumped out of his skin. Only then did he realise that a man was standing behind him, wearing the hooded maroon robes sported by all the Azkaban prison guards. He wondered briefly how the man had got there: he obviously hadn't apparated or taken a portkey; Scorpius would have heard him otherwise. Unless of course they had finally found a way to make silent apparating possible, but Scorpius highly doubted that.

"Scorpius Malfoy?" the man said, and Scorpius nodded. "Come with me."

Scorpius was about to ask what exactly was going to taken them to the island on which Azkaban was situated, but he never had a chance to do so. The guard had apparated both of the from where they stood to the front of the prison before Scorpius had a chance to register what had happened. He looked around, feeling somewhat dazed. Evidently they had found some way to make silent apparating possible.

He gazed dumbly at the guard, then he said, "I thought no one could apparate to or from Azkaban?"

"A select few can," the guard replied, and from the curt tone of his voice Scorpius could tell that the man would not give him any further information on that matter.

Scorpius turned his attention to the prison that loomed overhead. It was easily three times the size of Hogwarts, its sheer, black walls dotted in places my miniscule slits covered by iron bars. It took him a moment to realise that these were probably what passed for windows in this place. He shivered despite his best efforts not to. This was where his grandfather had been stuck for almost a quarter of a century? No wonder his father had warned him that his grandfather may not still be entirely sane.

The oppressive atmosphere only worsened as he passed through the numerous barriers into Azkaban itself. There were a few lights scattered about the place, but these grew fewer and fewer in number the deeper inside the building they went. Scorpius followed the guard up so many flights of stairs that he felt as though his legs were going to give out under him. There was almost no light left and the corridors smelt of damp, decay and despair; he hated it here, he wanted to get out, wanted to leave and never come back.

And then they stopped. The door in front of them swung open was a loud creak, as though it hadn't been opened in years – which, he reminded himself, it probably hadn't.

"He's in there," the guard said. "You'll be safe, don't worry. We're always watching the cells of our most dangerous prisoners."

Our most dangerous prisoners. The sentence did nothing at all to calm Scorpius already raging nerves. Again he considered running, but the guard gave him a sharp push from behind and he entered the room involuntarily. The doors slammed shut behind him and Scorpius had the impression that he was never going to be let out, that he had done something so horrible (though what, he didn't know) that his father had decided to send him here to rot, just like so many of his family members had. Then he reassured himself that his father would never do that to him. His father wasn't like that; he cared too much about him.