Escape from Azkaban

*This novel is a sequel to my first fan-fic, "The Third Voldemort" also available here on WebNovel. I would highly recommend that you read that one before reading this one, or things may not make too much sense.*

It was a quiet evening in the house that belonged to Rose and Scorpius Malfoy. Scorpius was the only one at home, as Rose was off visiting with some of her family. Scorpius was not used to having such a large family and sometimes preferred to have some lonely nights at home. He sat with his leg up, reading a fascinating book about Muggle technology.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Scorpius sighed. More relatives? He hadn't realised just how many Weasleys there were until he had to meet all of them. At first, he had been excited to meet all of the people he had only briefly heard about or gotten an occasional glimpse of. But there were so many of them. And he definitely did not remember all their names, or how they were related. It was nice to have so many people that cared about him and he was glad that they all seemed to approve of his marriage to Rose. But he wondered what they all thought about him as a person. He had gotten better at the small talk, but he still sometimes felt out of place among all of these people that had known each other for ages.

Some of them seemed to just want to meet the celebrity of the day. That had gotten old quickly. He understood how Albus had felt now, growing up as the son of the most famous person in the wizarding world. Apparently, things like privacy were not something that famous people needed. Luckily, the Potters and the Weasleys knew the tricks of how to avoid having their houses swamped with tenacious fans or journalists. It did not deter most family members though. Even Rose had gotten annoyed with some of them. At one point, she had to forcefully push a pair of Weasley cousins out of the door. Scorpius did not have her way with people, he could never have managed that without insulting a whole branch of his new family.

"What do they want now?" Scorpius mumbled to himself as he walked towards the door. He opened it with barely a glance at the person on the other side of the door. Later, he would look back at this moment and wish that he had been a bit more careful. 

It wasn't a relative that stood on the other side of the door. There, in full view of the streetlamps, were Crabbe, wand in hand. Scorpius jumped back in shock. He felt something brush by him and a strange sensation in his head.

"What are you doing here? How did you get away?" he asked. 

"That was what I was about to ask as well," Crabbe said in a dangerous tone. "How come Malfoys always slither away from punishments, eh?"

Scorpius gulped. This was bad. How much did Crabbe know? He had already been in Azkaban when his trial was up, as had most of the other Death Eaters. He needed to be careful.

"Are you alone? Come in, before someone sees you." Why had he said that? It seemed so natural to say, and he had been raised to always show hospitality, but he shouldn't invite him in! Crabbe seemed to expect nothing less and quickly moved inside. Scorpius hastily closed the door behind them. 

"Yes and no. I am the only one here right now, but there is a fair amount of us who are out again. Did you really think we would stay in Azkaban?" Crabbe said as he stepped inside. "We escaped once already, and it wasn't all that hard to do it again. See, the new righteous leaders of this country can't very well use dementors, but regular guards are more easily bribed." Crabbe led the way into the living room. Scorpius followed after him, still shocked. He hadn't thought about the possibility of the Death Eaters escaping again! What could he do? He decided the best course of action was to play along for now. Then he could gain more information and try to alert the Ministry of what had happened. Or did they already know? He doubted it, or they would have alerted Rose and him. He regretted not going with Rose to the family gathering now. But maybe this way was better. Maybe he could get Crabbe away from here before Rose came home. He wondered what Crabbe wanted. Did he know what Scorpius had said, to avoid prison? Would he believe that Scorpius was still on their side, but had simply used Rose as a way to avoid punishment? It was the best chance he had at the moment. Crabbe had already been imprisoned during his trial, as had the other Death Eaters, but much of what he had done had been known from newspapers etc. Once again, he cursed the backsides of fame.

"Nice house." Crabbe commented. "But not as nice as the manor. Why did you burn that down?"

"Thank you. Rose didn't want to live in that manor, and I wanted to please her. The manor didn't matter to me at the time, staying out of prison and a label as a Death Eater was more important. I presume you know what happened?"

"Yeah, we found a few papers after we got away. She actually married you? I would have thought her experiences would make her stay as far away from you as possible."

"You forget the mind games I did with her. I always pretended to be her friend, and that I tried to get her away from there. She believed me eventually. By the time we got to the wedding, she didn't mind the result. Then her family played right into my hands by forcefully arresting me right in front of her, making her angry with them and sympathetic to me. With her on my side there was no way Potter and Granger could convict me."

"But what about Severus? He was with you almost constantly; didn't he know what you were doing?"

Scorpius had to tread carefully here. He doubted they would believe that Albus had not betrayed them. They must have figured out who let the Ministry into Malfoy Manor. That story was almost as well-known as his own trial.

"Albus is my friend. He always wanted to believe the best of me. I walked a fine line, but it worked. One thing I learned from my grandfather; connections are valuable. With Albus I had a connection to the Potter family. By being seen as Rose's saviour, and having her insisting that I was her saviour, I avoided Azkaban, and gained another connection. And she even married me. I freely admit that I love her. And she believes she loves me. And maybe she does. Love is a powerful force when it comes to allegiances. People with love are also easier to manipulate." He stopped before he said something wrong.

Scorpius indicated to a couch opposite the chair he had been sitting in. He quickly hid the book he had been reading. As Crabbe sat down, Scorpius decided to go on the offensive.

"Now I want to know a few things." Scorpius said. "The Ministry and the Potters have made many assumptions and I want to know the truth. Who was it that pretended to be the Dark Lord, and why did you not tell me about that?" This was a risk, but he needed to steer the conversation away from his actions and over to other things. He glanced at the clock. Had Rose said when she would be home?

"We took turns doing that actually. Neither one of us wanted any of the others to be the boss alone, so we each took turns. At least we did until I fell for Severus' trap. That was clever of him. Did he anticipate that we would try to attack his family like that? He sure put up a nice display afterwards I hear. Chains, and crying mother, and all."

"As far as I know, Albus didn't have a part in that plan. He just hoped that his family was prepared for something like that. It was just luck on their part that it worked. Just like his father, he seems to have luck on his side. It was unfortunate. The first I heard of it was when Lestrange and Albus came to my door after the fact."

"What about the escape of the prisoners? Did you know about that?" Crabbe asked with suspicion in his eyes. 

Was that what this was about? Had Crabbe come to gauge whether Scorpius was a traitor or not? If so, there was still a small chance of him walking away from this meeting alive.

"I did not know that he would do it that night. We had discussed how to do such a thing, but I was planning for the plan to fail, preferably with Albus taking the blame and not me, of course. But I am glad that the Dark Lord, whoever that was that night, decided to send Rose up to my room that very night. Otherwise, my situation would be very different." That was true. Then he would probably have been able to leave the Death Eaters behind and not need to go through the horrors of the following weeks at all. But that might also mean that Rose would not have fallen in love with him. Or at least that she would not have deigned to admit it. Nor would he have had the courage to say it. "Albus decided to do his plan alone and it worked. Probably because the rest of us were still distracted from the events earlier that night. I was busy with Rose, and you were waiting for the Minister, others were preparing for the move to the Manor."

At that very moment, the sound he had been dreading came. The front door opened, and Rose's voice was heard in the entryway.