Guidance

Bellatrix was doing her best to contain her eagerness while Harry sat in a corner. If they made the escape attempt too soon, they'd be sunk before the ship ever left port. After what seemed like an eternity, she came to the conclusion and then informed Harry that if any Aurors had been on the island, they had left for the Auror post on the mainland for the night.

Harry merely nodded and held up his hands to study the shackles that were cuffed around his wrists. He drew his power and whispered an especially strong cutting spell that would remove the magically re-enforced shackles.

There was a silent thud and then a clank as they dropped off and hit the stone floor. Harry winced as he saw that the magic had hit him too and cut his wrists. They were now bleeding and Harry said a silent prayer asking for it to stop before he ran out of blood.

Holding out her shackled hands, Bellatrix walked over to Harry. "My turn." she whispered, hiding her excitement and the resulting adrenaline rush.

"Are you sure? Look what it did to my wrists."

"What's a little blood and pain compared to freedom?" Bellatrix countered with a dreamy smile.

Harry nodded, took her hands, and performed the charm. The shackles dropped off and left Bellatrix's wrists bleeding as well. "Let's get moving." Harry said, after pausing to make sure that her wounds weren't too serious.

"Reducto," Harry muttered. The cell door was no more. They quickly made their way out into the hall and towards where they estimated the entrance to be. Within a few seconds, they hit an obstacle. Apparently some of staircases that led from one leveled terrace to another disappeared when no Aurors were present.

Bellatrix made a quick study of the wall. "Use your hovering ability and get on top that." she instructed Harry. "Once you get up there, pull me up."

Harry nodded and drew again on his power. He slowly floated up and landed on the next level which he hoped was ground level. He turned around an reached down to grab Bellatrix, absently noting that his hand was covered with blood from his still bleeding wrist. She moved her hand, which was bloody as well, towards Harry and he prepared to grasp it.

The breath was knocked out of Harry the instant their hands came into contact and the blood mixed. He instinctively tried to let go, but something was holding their hands together. A warm sensation spread from his hand through his body until he felt it everywhere. A second later it became scorching hot, and then all together, it was gone, leaving no trace. Their hands separated the instant it was over.

"What was that!" Harry exclaimed. He looked down and found an astonished, but understanding, expression on her face. "Are you okay?"

She nodded weakly. "Just get me up there with you and I'll explain."

They made a second attempt and Bellatrix managed to scramble up with Harry's assistance. They sat down against a wall to rest for a quick moment. Harry wasted no time asking her about the incident. "Do you know what that was?"

"Yes." she said with a quavering voice. This was not the way she would have wanted it. He would probably be angry with her now. She should have realized what was happening. "We just performed a very barbaric, yet binding, marriage ritual."

"So those two jerks know what happened to him?" Parvati Patil said fiercely to Neville. She and her friends were sitting at one of the tables in the Common Room and Neville had taken the opportunity to approach them.

Neville quickly made a silencing gesture. "Quiet! We can't let them hear."

"Just tell us already!" Lavender prompted.

"I asked Snape and he said that Harry got sentenced to life in Azkaban for a crime that he didn't do. He was framed and Dumbledore took the bait hook, line, and sinker!" Neville disclosed. "Not only that, Ron and Hermione told everyone that he had been extensively studying the Dark Arts."

"I can't believe it!" Parvati gasped. "How could they just do that? He's the Boy-Who-Lived! They can't just imprison the only person who can stand up to You-Know-Who."

"That's all I know." Neville explained. "Snape says that there's a few people who feel that Harry was definitely framed and that something needs to be done. He told me to round up students that supported Harry. I was just wondering if you'd be interested in being one of them."

"Definitely!" Lavender said resolutely.

"Me too."

Neville was very pleased. He had received similar responses from everyone he had approached thus far. Either Harry was popular, or he was a good judge of character. Maybe both. "We're going to have a meeting at the Hogs Head tomorrow."

The girls were slightly unhappy about it being on Valentines Day, but Neville promised that the meeting would be over soon enough for them to get on with their dates. They even suggested a few more people that Neville should talk to and promised to invite some others that they knew might be interested.

Grinning, Neville waved good-by and sauntered across the Common Room towards his next target while giving Ron and Hermione who were sitting near the fire a sidelong glance. Ron had the DA, but soon, Potter's Legion would dominate it. Not to mention Potter himself.

To say that Harry was shocked would be a bit of an understatement. He had never even considered marriage or having children. Would Bellatrix want children? Did she even like him? He looked over at her and found her looking back at him with fear. It seemed that she had not deliberately preyed on him, which was good, because he didn't like to have people taking advantage of him.

Harry gathered his thoughts and did a tiny bit of Legillimency. Apparently she was surprised about the whole thing, but was not revolted either. He then tried to concentrate on that matter at hand. Escaping from the prison. "There's nothing wrong with marriage." he managed to get out. "We're friends and all that? Right?"

She nodded slowly, but looked rather unconvinced of his convictions.

"Besides, we have a prison to escape from." he said to her. He stood up and then helped her up. "Unless I'm mistaken, the entrance is in that general direction."

She nodded, "Y-yes it is."

They slowly made their way through the dark maze of corridors, trying to keep from looking at other prisoners in their cells. Harry's Scrying ability was useful in more than one instance to help avoid the few Dementors and to navigate their way towards the entrance.

Eventually, they reached a broad corridor that Harry recognized as the center hall that connected to the front doors. They quietly made their way toward the exit unhampered until they spotted five Dementors standing guard before the tall metal plated doors.

"What do we do?" Harry whispered to his new wife. No matter what he did, he couldn't get it out of his mind. Her continued silence must signify that she was thinking about it too.

"Get creative with your power." she instructed distractedly