No Exit
Part 0: Prologue
A/N: I've been sitting on this one for a while, and it's finally ready to go! Anyone reading my other WIPs needn't worry, I'm not ignoring those in favour of this, it's more or less done, so I won't be dedicating tons of time to it. The chapters for this fic are very short, 2-4 pages at most, and it falls more into the realm of a ficlet rather than an actual fic.
Quite AU, given that I didn't have much to work with in terms of canonical personalities, so I made it up as I went along and I pulled what I could from the wiki. As far as I'm concerned Cursed Child never happened(but Al is still in Slytherin). For the purposes of the story, the ages stand thus: Scorpius & Al are 15, James is 17, and Teddy is 23.
Extra special thanks to my lovely braintwin KuriQuinn for betaing this for me and tearing me to shreds in the best possible way. Some of the dialogue in this fic is all hers, so she takes the credit there. If you're into T-rated Naruto fanfiction, definitely check her out, she's brilliant.
No Exit
Part 0: Prologue
Twentieth Anniversary of the Closing of Azkaban
10th July, 2021
A controversial move in its time by Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt, especially in the political upheaval following the war, many people questioned the seemingly rash decision to close the prison. So close to the events of the Battle of Hogwarts (2nd May 1998),the wizarding community was still rife with paranoia and fear, still mourning those they lost in that last harrowing final battle.
Prior to its closing, one of the Minister's first acts was to remove the Dementors from their posts within the prison. Many people questioned this controversial move, and their presence replaced with Aurors on rotation. This did mean safer conditions for families to visit their incarcerated loved ones, but others still were concerned about the escape rate without the Dementors standing guard.
“Considering we had more breakouts with the Dementors in place than without them, I do not feel that the public needs to worry about Dark witches and wizards escaping,” said Auror and war hero Harry Potter, following the announcement. “There are still anti-Apparition enchantments in place upon the island, and the Aurors rotate often enough that complacency will not be an issue. These prisoners aren't going anywhere.”
Three years later, the prison was closed and the inmates relocated to new facilities on the mainland, an announcement that caused more than a few raised eyebrows. Shacklebolt's Junior Minister Percy Weasley went on the record saying that the prison had been condemned, and is no longer an ideal building to use as a prison. The Azkaban inmates were then moved to the Sirius Orion Black Memorial Penitentiary. In the years following, there were no breakouts of any kind, and the wizarding world was content with the decision.
However, the question still remained as to why Azkaban had been closed in the first place.
On the outside, the building looks the same as it always has, a stronghold for the scum of the wizarding world.
Following a little digging, it seemed that the decision to build a new prison was not the result of the natural decay of Azkaban itself but something much more sinister.
It began in 1999 with the sudden death of Death Eater Walden MacNair.
According to his death record, he was found out of his cell, thirty-three floors down in the incineration rooms beneath Azkaban itself. The incineration rooms had not been used in decades, and how MacNair escaped his cell and why he went down there is a mystery.
His cause of death is perhaps the most mysterious aspect of the whole incident, as there was deep gash in his forehead, but upon speaking to Healers at St Mungo's Hospital, they claim that it is virtually impossible for someone to bleed out from such a wound so quickly.
One could write off the man's death as a fluke, but what succeeded it tells us that there was more going on than simply one wayward prisoner.
Three months after MacNair's death, the body of convicted ex-Ministry official Dolores Umbridge was found in the same place, with the same injury.
Three months after that, Auror McKinley was found, in the same place, with the same injuries.
It continued. The records from that time do not indicate what may have been the cause of this rash of murders, nor does it list whether it was committed by man or creature. Regardless of the culprit behind these tragic deaths, after the loss of nine inmates and three Aurors, it was announced that the prison would be closed.
Did Azkaban truly fall into disrepair, and were the subsequent deaths coincidental, or was there something more sinister lurking in the bowels of the historic prison? One can only speculate, but most curiously, the Anti-Apparition wards surrounding the building have never been taken down. This leads this reporter to wonder, are they in place to keep people out, or keep something in?
Emma Stryke
Special Correspondent
James Sirius Potter lowered the paper, his face glowing with excitement as an idea came to him. He rushed upstairs and burst into his younger brother's room. Albus looked up from the book he'd been reading, and glared at his brother for barging into his room without knocking.
“Al,” James said, his tone breathless in his excitement, “I've got an idea.”