Seventh-Year: The Next Generation

Author's Note:

BIG thank yous to lasalliann (as always =), Kelsey Lupin, and lunny4urwrittings for reviewing, you guys are the beeessstttt =]. I have some bad news =S November is here, and I am participating in NaNoWriMo, for those of you who might know what that is. Basically, I'm writing a whole novel in a month. As you can imagine, that's a lot of writing, so I won't be writing any more of this story until December. BUT WAIT!!! That's not as terrible as it sounds. I worked extra and got ahead, so there are enough chapters for me to continue posting one every ten days until December. Once we get there, I will come back to it with earnest. I know that's not nearly enough, but it's better than nothing, right? And I figured this is probably one of the few chances I'll have enough time to do NaNoWriMo. So, wish me luck!

Chapter 17: Azkaban

"This is the 'outfit' you were talking about?" asked Albus incredulously.

"I told you I wanted to look impeccable," said Scorpius.

"I'm not sure I'll look good in this," Albus said doubtfully.

"Of course you will, I picked it out. Even if you don't, it'll look good on me, and that's what's important. And at least we'll match, that's also a must. Criminals need to match. It's a given."

"I don't kno--"

"Just put it on," said Scorpius in exasperation, taking it off the bed and chucking it at his friend.

"All right, all right," said Albus, under the assault of flying clothes.

A few minutes late, Albus was staring at himself in the mirror. The "outfits" that Scorpius had picked out for them consisted of several pieces. The first was a plain black shirt that clung to your body. The second was a leather jacket that was, again, black. Then there was a pair of cargo pants, and heavy, dragonhide boots-- both of which were black as well, though the boots did have silver buckles. A pair of black leather gloves for the hands, and the final piece was a silver pendant of a roaring lion, rearing up on his hind paws. This was worn on a light, thin, also silver, chain about the neck.

"Much obsessed with black and silver are we?" asked Albus, turning and raising his eyebrows at Scorpius.

Scorpius was dressed in the same clothes as Albus, and was sitting on the bed, just pulling on the last glove. "It gives a regal, mysterious air," he said.

Albus shook his head, looking back at the mirror. Despite himself, he couldn't help but admit that Scorpius did have impeccable taste, and that he had probably never looked better. His emerald eyes shone out at him from between the darkness of his hair and the identical darkness of his jacket and shirt.

Scorpius strode over and stood by Albus, clapping him on the shoulder. "How now, my hearts! Did you never see the picture of 'we three'?" said Scorpius. "Except for that doesn't really work, because there's only two of us."

"What's that?" asked Albus in confusion.

"Nothing, just a quote," replied Scorpius. "Now, we really do look impeccable, don't we?"

"This is one time you really are right," said Albus wryly. The mirror showed the two of them standing side-by-side. They were almost complete duplicates of each other, except that Scorpius's blonde hair was a sharp contrast to his clothes, unlike Albus's locks which were the same color. And the eyes. Albus's were shining emerald's; Scorpius's were blazing sapphires.

"I'm always right," said Scorpius.

Albus made a face at him.

"What are the necklaces for?" asked Albus, playing with the silver lion.

"First off, they look great. But that aside, they're charmed to help protect the wearer. They'll only do so much, though. They can't save you from an Avada Kedavra to the chest, but they'll turn aside hexes and jinxes that are only headed to brush your arm or something."

"Really?" asked Albus in surprise, not expecting there to be a deeper reason for wearing them, other than "looking impeccable."

"Yeah," said Scorpius. "Even I'm slightly cautious-- every once in a while."

"And there are very, very long expanses of time between those 'whiles'," pointed out Albus.

Scorpius grunted. "Self-preservation isn't very high up on my to-do list."

"Only when our whole future as free men is on the line, right?"

Scorpius's eyes snapped to lock on Albus's. "Our future isn't on the line," he ground out. "We're not getting locked away in Azkaban, okay, Albus? Don't even think that. We won't."

Albus looked at Scorpius silently for a moment. "Right, Scorpius."

"We should probably get going," said Scorpius.

"Yeah, let's go," replied Albus, taking his Invisibility Cloak off his trunk.

"You ready for this?" asked Scorpius.

"Heck yes," said Albus, his fist clenching in the folds of the cloak.

"I'm going to be really unoriginal and cliché, okay?"

"Sure, go ahead. I won't hold it against you," said Albus dryly.

"I'm with you, come hell or high water."

***

It was short work for Albus and Scorpius-- sneaking down to the greenhouses, under cover of the invisibility cloak, and slinking in. They had left the door unlocked of course, and because it was a Sunday, and hence a day off, Neville wasn't down there, and hadn't found that they hadn't done as they had said.

Scorpius immediately crossed the greenhouse, until he found the Three-Stemmed Pricker. Shrinking it with a spell, he picked it up and tossed it to Albus.

Albus caught it hastily, eyes widening in surprise. "Scorpius, what the heck? If I had dropped it, or something, there would have been all our chances down the drain. That was careless and stupid."

Scorpius laughed. "You need to loosen up a bit, Albus."

"Loosen up? We're breaking into Azkaban-- people don't just do that, Scorpius. And we're kids. This is no time to loosen up."

"No, this is exactly the time. We're not going to be able to pull this off if you're jumping off cliffs at so much as a fly landing on you," said Scorpius with amusement.

Albus rolled his eyes. Casting a heating charm on the Pricker, he stuffed it into the inside pocket of his leather jacket. "Let's go."

"My pleasure," said Scorpius.

***

They flew hard, and they flew fast.

Even though it was just after midday when they finally approached Azkaban, it was overcast, and it was dark for this time of day, with no promise of a sun coming to rescue them from the dismal weather.

There it was. Azkaban. A dull, stone tower that loomed to the sky out of a tumultuous and wild ocean. The sound of the waves crashing against the rock walls of the prison was almost deafening, even though the boys flew high above it. A very narrow stone causeway led from the base of the tower over to the mainland of England.

The sky was full of Dementors. They seemed almost to be without number, their dark, cloaked figures floating ominously below the clouds.

The air seemed close and suffocating to Albus, and there was a chill in the air. He shivered, and drew his leather jacket about him.

Albus pulled the Invisibility Cloak, which they had still been wearing, off, and handed it to Scorpius.

"Why are you giving this to me?" asked Scorpius in surprise.

"Just in case something gets messy," said Albus.

"And if that happens, then you'll need it," said Scorpius, thrusting it at him.

Albus shook his head. "I've got the Pricker, that should be enough for me to get away. You take it. Besides, you're the one with no sense of self-preservation," said Albus with a wry smile.

"Exactly why I won't make good use of it," said Scorpius, eyebrows raised.

"Just take it," said Albus.

"Okay, fine." Scorpius took the cloak, stuffing it inside his jacket.

Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, Lestraud appeared, hovering beside them on a broom.

"Hey, boys," she said, smiling at them.

"Oh, it's you. Happy day," grumbled Scorpius.

"Glad to see you, too," she said.

"Lestraud," said Albus succinctly.

"Albus," she said teasingly. Albus rolled his eyes.

They were now almost within range of the Dementors.

"Get ready for some fun," cried Scorpius, grinning and drawing his wand.

"Oh, yes," Albus muttered. He drew his wand. "Haud Nidor!"

Scorpius mimicked the charm.

"What's that for?" asked Lestraud curiously.

"To protect us from the Three-Stemmed Pricker," said Albus.

"The what?"

"Just do it, unless you want to be incapacitated in there," said Albus in annoyance. Lestraud obliged.

The trio was nearing the stone tower, when the Dementors finally seemed to notice them.

The Dementors came swooping in from all sides, dark fluttering capes and seemingly empty hoods.

The air seemed to turn to ice, as all happiness and warmth was sucked from the three teenagers.

"Expecto Patronum!" Two voices yelled simultaneously.

Large silver shapes blasted from their wands. A large scorpion on one side, and a coiling dragon on the other.

Warmth seemed to flood back into Albus's limbs, as the scorpion and dragon rushed into a ferocious battle with the oncoming foes.

The Patronus' whirled around them. The dragon would blast a Dementor back here, and then would leap over Albus to smite down another on that side. The scorpion danced left and right with a nimbleness Albus wouldn't have expected of such a big beast. His large, barbed tail flicked this way and that, knocking Dementors spinning away.

The three students shot toward the prison on their brooms, protected by their silvery shields.

They landed on the flat roof, dropping their brooms and heading for the lone staircase that headed down to where they would find the prisoners.

Albus pulled out the Pricker, enlarged it, and sat it down on the roof. He started to furiously stroke on of the leaves.

Rain started to pour down fast and fierce, soaking them and plastering their hair to their heads. But it soon chained to flakes of snow because of the cold, flowing around them in a blizzard

"What the hell?" cried Lestraud.

"Blast!" said Albus with passion.

Quickly shutting off the snow, Albus went for the only other leave that could be the scent-inducing one.

At first he wondered if anything was happening, because he couldn't smell anything due to him being the one stroking the stem. But then he looked up, and saw all the Dementors in good-sized radius around him frozen, seeming to just hang in the air, motionless. Though farther away the Dementors were still floating about.

He looked over at Scorpius and Lestraud. Thankfully, the charm they had cast earlier had seemed to work, and they were in complete control of themselves.

Despite everything, he let out a loud laugh of relief. "It worked!" he cried gleefully.

"But who knows for how long? Let's go," yelled Scorpius, heading for the staircase that vanished into the tower.

Albus heaved the plant over to the top of the stairs, and followed Scorpius down. Lestraud came last.

The staircase spiraled down the center of the prison, all the way form the roof to the very lowest floor. On each level there was a landing, and four corridors lead off of it, each in a different direction.

Each hall was lined with barred cells, and each cell was filled with a gaunt, hollow-eyed prisoner.

The trio stood at the landing of the first level. At the moment, every prisoner was pressed up against the bars of their cell, a grin plastered on their face, and a look of bliss in their eyes.

"I must say, that is now how I pictured the prisoners of Azkaban," said Scorpius with some amusement.

"It's because of the Pricker, obviously," pointed out Albus.

"Oh, right," said Scorpius.

"Let's do this."

They ran along each corridor on the floor, blasting off the locks of the cells, and pulling open the doors. Lestraud was kind enough to join in, helping it go faster.

As soon as their cells were open, the prisoners would press forward and up the stairs to the roof, obviously heading for the Pricker, wanting to get as much as the scent as possible.

As soon as they were finished with the whole level, they headed to the next, and the next after that.

After about the third level, the prisoners no longer were scrabbling at the bars of their cells with looks of bliss on their face. They were now generally cowering in a corner, or lying face down on their narrow cot. These people generally looked up in surprise when their cell door was busted open, but they would leap to their feet, and rush out with huge smiles on their face, eager to get away.

They continued from level to level, but there seemed no end, and Lestraud's mom still hadn't been found.

Finally, they were almost done. They reached the fourth floor from the bottom. Here the prisoners looked very haggard indeed, and seemed like mere skeletons of humans. At last, on this level, they found Lestraud's mother.

She was the spitting image of Lestraud, only taller, and older looking. When she tore forth from her cell, Lestraud threw her a wand. She caught sight of Scorpius, and an expression of bitter amusement flashed across her features.

Stepping out of the next cell, came a tall man with brown hair, and dark eyes. For a moment, Scorpius and Albus just stared stupidly in surprise, but then they both realized at the same time, it wasn't who they thought it was, it was his father.

"Lestraud," said Driscoll's father, with a nod of his head.

"Driscoll," answered Lestraud's mother with a return of the nod.

Right, I suppose they're both Lestraud and Driscoll too, if you think about it, thought Albus wryly.

Scorpius was rather white, standing beside him.

They blasted open the next three cells, and three more recognizable people stepped out. Babcock, Bulstrode, and Zabini.

"Oh, boy, these Slytherins do sure seem to end up in Azkaban a lot, don't they?" Scorpius muttered.

"And they sure look a heck of a lot like their lovely old children," replied Albus under his breath.

Aubrielle pulled out several more wands from her robes, and tossed them to the older versions of Driscoll, Babcock, Bulstrode, and Zabini.

"Wait a second..." began Albus in surprise.

"Oh, hell," said Scorpius.

"Yep, my mother wasn't the only one you were breaking out for me," said Aubrielle with a grin.

"And you boys are coming with us," said Driscoll, with a smirk.

"You wish we were," said Scorpius.

The five adults advanced on them, slowly.

Suddenly, there was an intense, piercing cold from behind them.

Scorpius and Albus whirled, to find themselves staring directly into the hood of a Dementor.

There were several sharp hisses of anger and fear from the adults.

Albus and Scorpius dived around the Dementor, ran to the stairs, and started sprinting up, but the Dementor followed, and they could hear the clattering of feet on the steps behind them, signaling that their enemies were also coming after them.

"What happened?" Albus said, slightly out of breath.

"The Pricker must have cut out," snapped Scorpius, turning quickly to blast a Patronus at the Dementor. The cloaked shape turned and bowled over a Zabini in his haste to get away from the silver scorpion.

They continued to sprint up the stairs, but now hexes were being fired at them from the pursuing adults. They dodged left and right, blocking one here, and sending a counter back at them there.

Screams could be heard from above them now, it seemed that all the prisoners who had been enchanted by the Pricker were now crashing down the staircase toward them, desperately trying to get away form the Dementors.

A tide of people came surging toward them from around the next bend in the stairs. Albus and Scorpius narrowly avoided getting trampled, but managed to force their ways through the mess, and finally, out onto the roof.

All was chaos

Dementors swooped here and there, and prisoners were running back and forth, trying to avoid them. Some, in their haste to escape the Dementors (of which some were starting to give out Dementor's Kisses left and right), were actually leaping off the roof, falling to the crashing waves far below.

To their surprise, Albus and Scorpius found Lily, Monique, and Hugo being some of the people running around in circles, trying to avoid the Dementors.

"What the--" began Albus in surprise and confusion.

Scorpius leapt forward. "Expecto Patronum!" he bellowed, just in time to save Lily from a Dementor who was closing in for the Kiss.

Hugo and Monique were pressed up against the wall of the roof, and Hugo was firing a stunning spell at one of the Dementors, to no use.

"Expecto Patronum!" roared Albus, his dragon leaping forth and saving them from the said Dementor.

Hugo looked relieved. "Boy, am I glad to see you," he said.

Albus grunted. "I'm going to deal with you later," he said, turning and shielding them from another Dementor.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Scorpius of Lily.

"We came to help," she snapped.

"Well, not doing much of that so far, are you?" snarled Scorpius. "So far, all I see is you getting in the way."

"Watch out!" Lily cried, pulling Scorpius to the ground. A brilliant jet of light soared right through were he had been standing.

Scorpius spun from his spot on the floor, to see Lestraud's mother at the head of the group of prisoners with wands.

He pulled his wand up, and fired a spell, which Driscoll easily blocked. "Albus," he called, "we've got company."

Albus whirled, turned slightly white, but fired off a couple of spells before dodging to the side as a couple of curses came his way.

Albus with one hand grabbed Monique's arm, and with the other grabbed Hugo by his robes. He dragged them over and slammed them down behind a large stone barrier, just in time to avoid getting hit by a couple of jinxes soaring their way.

Scorpius and Lily had done the same with a similar barrier. But now they were across the roof from Albus and the other two, and their enemies were between them.

They were cut off from each other, with hundreds of Dementors flying about in the sky around them, and six desperate enemies, who for some reason were determined to take them captive, attacking them with a ferocity they had never faced before.

How are they going to get out of here?

Author's Note:

Tense, right? =P We're getting to exciting chapters, I can tell you that. Anyways, the quote "How now, my hearts..." is from Twelfth Night. Remember to review, and be on the look out for the next chapter. Wish me luck with NaNoWriMo, and the same to you for anyone who might be doing it! =D