Straight to Azkaban
There were two carriages waiting for them outside of Hogwarts. Although they appeared to be the same size as the ones that bring the students from the train to the school every year, these had no thestrals pulling them. In fact, there was no sign of any animal pulling the carriages along. Harry futilely hoped that meant it wouldn’t be able to leave the grounds.
“Watch your head,” advised Perkins. He placed his hand on Harry’s head and he guided him into the closest carriage. The two aurors then joined him in the carriage. As soon as the door closed behind the second auror, the carriage started to move. Harry’s hopes of having one of the professors stop them were completely dashed.
The carriage moved quickly and in a matter of seconds Hogwarts completely disappeared from Harry’s view. Harry felt like he was going to sick-up at any moment, though he doubted it had anything to do with the speed of the carriage. It was as fast as the knight bus but a lot smoother given they were not weaving around muggle cars.
Perkins sat comfortably beside him, though he was watching the scenery go by rather than Harry. The still-nameless auror was sitting across from Harry and watched him suspiciously. His wand was out and aimed at Harry as if he expected Harry to either attack him or jump out of the carriage at any moment. To be fair, Harry was considering both options but didn’t think the odds would be in his favour.
Seeing the auror’s wand pointed directly at his chest reminded Harry that he didn’t have his wand on him. He had a terrible of vision of Umbridge gleefully breaking it as soon as they arrived at the ministry. Logically he knew they weren’t supposed to break anyone’s wand until the guilty verdict was announced, but given his past experiences with the ministry, Harry didn’t feel overly confident that they would follow protocol and wait.
The carriage ride was tense and silent. Perkins occasionally glanced at Harry but didn’t offer any more support or encouragement. The other auror’s wand didn’t waver from where it was aimed. Even when the carriage finally did stop, Perkins had to prompt the other auror before he lowered his wand to allow them to exit smoothly.
“Bradley, I have him. Would you mind getting the door?” Perkins prompted, causing Bradley to reluctantly lower his wand and exit the carriage.
As soon as Harry got out of the carriage he knew something was wrong. Well, more wrong that it already was.
Instead of arriving at the ministry as he expected, they are standing at the edge of a large body of water. As far as Harry could tell, there was nothing for miles around.
“Where are we?” Harry asked. He wondered if the aurors had taken him to the middle of nowhere to dispose of him. It suddenly occurred to him that he was alone with them and at their mercy. They could tell the world that Harry fought them, maybe even that he escaped so they would have time to hide his body.
“North Sea,” answered Bradley gruffly.
“Shouldn’t we be at the ministry?” asked Harry. The auror’s answer and attitude were doing nothing to alleviate his fears. In fact, Harry’s imagination was growing and leaping at wilder theories. Were these men really death eaters and were using this whole situation as a ruse to get Harry to Voldemort?
“You’ll be going straight to Azkaban,” Bradley told him.
“What?” croaked Harry. They were sending him to Azkanban without a trial?
“It’s only until your trial date can be set up,” Perkins tried to reassure him. It didn’t help. Harry knew all too well that someone could be forgotten in the wizarding prison. After all, Sirius had stayed in Azkaban for over a decade without ever receiving a trial.
“The boat is coming,” announced Bradley. In the distance, Harry could just make out a light. The sun had already set, so not much light covered the sea. A fog rolled around them which cut visibility even more.
Perkins lead him towards a shoddy dock. The wood was uneven and creaked as they stepped on it, but ultimately held their weight. The boat docked and Bradley greeted the men on it with a show of affection that had been absent from the man so far.
“Who’s this then?” asked one of the men as he helped Perkins guide Harry onto the boat. “Bloody hell, how old is he?”
“Harry Potter,” Perkins said, answering the first question. He didn’t answer he second though Harry supposed there wasn’t much need to since they now knew who he is.
“Is he really?” asked a second man on the boat. He was staring at Harry’s forehead. Given the limited light on the boat, he couldn’t make out the scar.
“Even celebrities have to answer for their crimes,” said Bradley.
“What did he do though?” asked the first man. “I wasn’t even aware he was standing trial. Bloody papers sure missed that one-”
“Unforgivable curse,” offered Bradley as an explanation while he interrupted the man.
“He hasn’t received his trial yet,” added Perkins. “He’s to wait here until then.”
“You’re sending him to Azkaban without a trial?” asked the first man. Harry was relieved to note that the man sounded outraged on his behalf. It was nice someone had finally pointed out how unfair this whole thing was.
“John, we’re just following orders,” said Bradley. “Same as you.”
“Whose orders?” asked John.
There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. John’s question had Harry wondering the same thing. For the first time he realized that neither Kingsley nor Tonks had gone to Hogwarts to arrest him. Did they even know about it? As the silence stretched on, it became clear that no one was going to say who arranged this whole event.
“Perhaps we ought to go before the dementors get antsy,” suggested a third man who had been standing in the back. At the mention of dementors, the others started shifting.
“Of course,” answered John and he started ordering the other men to their stations on the boat. As far as Harry could tell, John was the captain. He used his wand to steer to the boat. The second man’s job was to casts a patronus to ensure the dementors did not attack the ship. Harry still hasn’t learnt the man’s name but his patronus was some sort of bear. The third man, whom the aurors referred to as Burke, seemed to be stationed as a third guard in case prisoners attempted to escape. Harry supposed he could also provided a second patronus if need be, but the man was watching Harry so intently that he probably wouldn’t notice if any dementors got close enough for a kiss.
As they pull away from the shore, the fog grew thicker until Harry could barely make out the men next to him. Bradley tightened his grip on Harry’s arm. Harry briefly entertained notions of kicking the prat and trying to swim to shore but quickly discarded the idea. Even if Harry could undo the magical bindings and lose them in the fog, he was no longer sure which direction to go. With his luck, if he didn’t drown, he’d probably end up swimming to Azkaban… or into a waiting dementor’s arms.
Harry shivered as the temperature dropped the longer the ride went on. He could still make out enough of the auror’s faces to know that Perkins was giving him pitying looks while Bradley was scowling at him. Burke was still watching him intently. Harry wasn’t sure if he was imagining the man smirking at him or not.
Eventually an imposing shape started to form in the fog. By the time Harry could clearly make out Azkaban, he thought he would sick up over the side of the boat. He wondered if this was how Sirius had felt when he was first brought here.
The boat jostled as it came upon the dock. This dock didn’t look to be in any better condition than the first one. Perkins helped Harry move off the boat while Bradley once again trained his wand on him. The group then made their way to the fortresses’ rather intimidating doors.
Once inside the building, John and his shipmate broke away from the group and Harry was sorry to see them go. So far, John was the only one to question the ridiculousness of the situation. While Perkins seemed sympathetic enough, it is clear that he was willing to go along with it.
They made their way down a long hallway until they came to a branch. Bright light was coming from the right side and Burke lead the party down that hallway. The light was giving the place a more uplifting feeling, but Harry’s spirits crashed again before he was able to even start to relax. He saw a sign that said “Criminal Processing”. Criminal. That was how these men viewed him. Harry was so glad uncle Vernon couldn’t see him at this moment. The man would have had a field day.
They eventually arrived at a room that surprisingly reminded Harry of the muggle police stations he’d seen on the telly. There were no cells in view, but there was a man seated behind a desk. There were a few chairs, though no prisoners were handcuffed to them. Slightly to the right of the man behind the desk were steel bars that Harry figured must led to the cells.
As they approached the man, he lifted a surprised eyebrow but didn’t ask why a teenager was being brought to Azkaban. Even if said teenager was still wearing his school robes. He merely handed Bradley some forms to fill out before moving towards a filing cabinet that also looked surprisingly muggleish to Harry. It seemed like John was the only one here willing to protest this madness… and even then it was only a minor objection. Everyone else seemed alright with locking Harry away.
Perkins greeted the man and called him Anton. They made a few pleasantries, as Anton moved about his desk. If Harry hadn’t dreading being thrown into a cell and forgotten he might of found the small talk comforting and normal.
Anton pulled out a new folder from the filing cabinet. When he placed it on his desk, Harry noted the label was a serial number. He was pained to realize it was about to be his criminal serial number.
Bradley handed the forms back to Anton. There was a slight gasp before the man was glancing at Harry’s forehead, no doubt looking for the scar, but as Harry expected, he did not make any comments about who the newest Azkaban prisoner was or question why this whole thing was happening. By now, Harry was pretty sure no one is going to speak on his behalf.
“Time to pat him down,” said Burke and stepped towards Harry. He ran his hands down Harry’s sides more thoroughly than the auror did when he was arrested. It made Harry feel rather uncomfortable. When he reached Harry’s trousers and felt a bump near the pockets, Burke reached into each pocket and pulled items out.
There wasn’t much in his pockets. A half-eaten box of Bertie Botts, a note he and Ron were passing each other during Charms earlier that day – he rather hoped they hadn’t written anything embarrassing or incriminating - and the beginning of his Charms essay that he decided to scarp and start over. As Burke pulled out the items, Anton marked a note of them on his form and started placing them in a bag.
After his pockets were emptied, Burke once more reached into each pocket. Harry initially assumed he was just being thorough, but as the man groped closer and closer towards his groin, Harry grew more and more uncomfortable. He glanced at the others in the room, wondering if anyone would notice or comment on how long it was taking Burke to search him but none of the other men seemed to think Burke was being inappropriate.
To take his mind off of Burke, Harry glanced at Anton and his meagre bag of possessions. Possessions he was sure he probably won’t want back after this whole ordeal. Harry felt happy that that he’d left his bag in his dorm and both his invisibility cloak and map are safe from the ministry’s hands. Perkins handed over Harry’s wand, and Harry watched as it joined his other items in the bag. Fortunately no one snapped it.
“Clothes next,” stated Anton and Harry flinched as the silence was suddenly broken.
“What?” asked Harry.
“Clothes. You, er, need to change and put on the Azkaban uniform,” instructed Anton. He gestured to a pile of folded up clothes waiting on the desk. Perkins stepped forwards and undid the magical bindings on Harry’s wrists.
“Oh,” Harry reluctantly picked up the bundle and glanced around. “Er, where do I go to uh…?”
“Right here,” stated Burke.
“But…” Harry glanced at Anton for confirmation. The man wasn’t looking at him and looked mildly uncomfortable. Harry turned to Perkins who was frowning. Harry waited a moment and eventually Perkins nodded in confirmation.
With shaking fingers Harry undid his Gryffindor cloak and placed it on Anton’s desk. He was glad that the clothes he was wearing underneath were not his most embarrassing set of Dudley cast offs. The shirt was fairly old so it was pretty faded but Harry liked it because it was one of the few that almost fit him properly. The jeans were atrocious but hardly the worst pair he had. It could be worse and more embarrassing. Harry pulled off his shirt and immediately noticed how much cooler it was. He picked up the Azkaban shirt and quickly slipped it on. It was not comfortable but the material wasn’t itchy or anything. It was pretty thin so Harry still felt cold.
Harry hesitated at the waistband of his jeans. He’d changed around his dorm mates and the quidditch team loads of times but this felt different. Harry glanced at Anton but the man appeared to be busy writing down and packing the articles of clothes Harry had removed so far. Perkins seemed to be staring at Harry’s shoes. Bradley was standing behind him but when Harry glanced at him, he noticed that he was watching Harry and his wand was still trained on him. Burke seemed to be watching him even more intently than Bradley which made Harry rather uncomfortable. Burke waved his wand in a ‘go on’ gesture so Harry removed his trouser and quickly grabbed the Azkaban ones. He was glad there weren’t special Azkaban pants too.
“Shoes too,” announced Burke. Harry toed off his threadbare sneakers and replaced them with the shoes on Anton’s desk. The new shoes resized to fit Harry’s feet but that was the only impressive feature. Similar to the thin prisoner uniform, the shoes seemed to be made of cheap and crappy material. Harry was pretty sure that he’d actually be more comfortable in the worn-out pair he came in with.
Perkins cleared his throat but when Harry glanced at him, the auror was still not looking at him. Harry glanced at Burke. When Burke noticed he had Harry’s attention, he sent him another one of those smirks.
Harry shivered but he was not sure if it was because the Azkanban uniform did nothing to stop the cold, or if it was all because of the looks he kept getting from Burke.
Anton made a few more notes on the form. He then opened a drawer and he pulled out a weird looking camera from his desk.
“If you’ll step over there, by the black curtain,” Anton directed. Harry felt his stomach clench. He normally hated having his picture taken but this one would probably be the worst one yet. He could already see it printed it in tomorrow’s Daily Prophet. Harry didn’t need to look at Burke or Bradley to know that if he protested he’d probably still end up taking the picture but would probably also be sporting a black eye.
Harry reluctantly shuffled over to the black curtain. Anton made his way over and handed him a plaque. It contained the serial number that was written on the folder.
“Just hold this up… and look towards me… now look to right…” Anton quickly snapped a couple of photos then took the plaque back.
“Right, now that that’s all done, I’ll just take him to his cell,” announced Burke. He made his way over to Harry and gripped his arm.
“I’ll go with you,” Perkins said. “Bradley, please help finish off the forms.”
Harry was glad that it was Perkins joining them. Even though Perkins had made it obvious that he wasn’t going to stop this from happening, he was marginally better than Bradley. Harry would rather have the almost ally than two men who clearly hated him.
Burke led Harry towards the bars. As they neared them, the bars moved aside allowing them to pass. Harry was pretty sure it was not as easy to leave as it was to enter. As they moved away from Anton’s office, the halls grew dim again. There were torches lining the way at regular intervals, but it was very mild light that guided them. Harry stumbled often and Burke pulled him closer every time.
They eventually came to a fork. Mounted on the wall was a sign that read ‘Block A’ with an arrow pointing towards the left and ‘Block B’ with an arrow pointing towards the right.
“I know just the place for you, Potter,” said Burke. There was such a self-satisfied tone to his voice that Harry thought the man must have known Harry was going to be arrested and brought straight to Azkaban.
“This way,” Burke started leading him down the right hallway. But they stopped about half-way through the hallway at a door marked ‘Block D’. Harry wasn’t sure what happened to Block C but it was clear Burke plans to bypass that entirely.
As Burke opened the door labelled ‘Block D’, Perkins spoke for the first time since entering the prison section. “Surely, Mr. Potter isn’t a high-risk prisoner!” he objected.
“Come now, Perkins. You know we can’t take any risks with such a high-profile prisoner,” Burke said trying to sound reasonable.
“But to put him with such-”
“The other prisoners can’t touch him,” Burke interrupted. Harry could hear impatience in the man’s voice. He looked towards Perkins, hoping the auror had finally decided to call foul on this whole thing. Unfortunately a few seconds of silence make it clear to both Harry and Burke that Perkin’s objections were over.
“Come along,” urged Burke and tugged roughly on Harry’s arm.
“But who are-” Harry started to protest, wondering just what sort of criminals Burke planned to place him with.
“Come on now,” Burke spoke over him. There was clear anger in his voice now and his grip on Harry’s arm was bruising. A sharp tug pulled Harry forward and he stumbled.
“I thought you weren’t going to cause any trouble,” said Burke and roughly pulled Harry back upright. “We don’t take too kindly to troublemakers here, Potter.”
“He’s been cooperative so far, Burke,” interjected Perkins. Unfortunately, kind comments were the only championing he seemed willing to do for Harry.
Having caught on to the fact that once Harry was in his cell, Perkins would leave but Burke would remain, Harry decided to try not getting on Burke’s bad side. He needed to survive this long enough for Dumbledore to get him out of this mess. It would be easier if Burke didn’t hate him. Even better if he could go unnoticed. Perhaps it wouldn’t be any worse than his summers trapped at the Dursleys.
The door led to a staircase going up. Harry followed Burke. They emerged from the staircase and Harry immediately noticed that the temperature was even colder in this area of the prison. At the end of a short hallway was yet another door. A man was sitting in a chair by the door. He looked up as the trio made their way over.
“Fresh meat, huh?” the man commented but he barely spared Harry a glance before he moved towards the door. “You best hurry. The dementors are about to do their rounds.”
Harry shivered at the mention of dementors. He’d somehow forgotten about them and wondered if he was feeling so cold because some of those creatures were close. It was an unpleasant reminder that there were worse things in this place than Burke and his unsettling smirks.
The guard opened the door for them. Burke pulled Harry closer before leading him through the door. It was the first time Harry saw any cells or other prisoners in the place. The cells were built so that the prisoners, rather than just facing one prisoner across from them, were able to see into two adjacent cells on the other side of the corridor. It seemed like even more an invasion of privacy, but Harry realized that might have been the point of the design.
As they made their way down the corridor, Harry thought Burke was actually walking slower so that Harry could look at each prisoner they passed and they in turn could look at him. Except not all of the prisoners turned towards them. Harry noticed a few vacant stares and wondered if the dementors already sucked out a few souls. A few prisoners do glance his way and Harry noticed most had raised eyebrows and disbelieving looks.
It wasn’t until he recognized one of the prisoners that Harry really started to panic. That man had been part of the department of mysteries fiasco. He had definitely been arrested that night. Harry’s eyes quickly snapped to the man in the next cell. Harry was pretty sure it was another death eater from that night. Across from him was Walden Macnair. Next was Crabbe’s father. Harry wondered if he blamed Harry for his arrest as much as his son did.
Harry glanced at Burke but knew that the man was probably purposely leaving him with death eaters who hated him. The smile Burke gave him as he unlocked the empty cell next to Crabbe pretty much confirmed it. There was a maliciousness in his eyes that made Harry think he’d actually feel safer once the cell was locked and Harry was able to get some distance from the man.
“Sweet dreams,” Burke said in parting as the sound of the door locking echoed down the hall.
Anything Harry would have said in response was quickly forgotten as he spotted something even more threatening once Burke had moved out of the way. In one of the cells across from him, a pair of grey eyes were watching him. Harry wondered if Burke planned this when he picked this cell for Harry or if it was just an unlucky coincidence. Being surrounded by death eater was bad. Terrible even. But being in the cell across from Lucius Malfoy was going to be hell.