From Azkaban to Hogwarts

Chapter 2 The Exercise in Azkaban

Azkaban is a prison, and no matter what horrible name the outside world gives it, no matter what weird stories are made up, it is a prison.

Even if the former worthless man was scared to death after his trial when he heard that he was going to Azkaban, it cannot be said that the inmates of this prison lived a life worse than death every day - if that were true, the prison would have been closed down long ago.

It was the only prison in the wizarding world in England, and it didn't matter if you were a male or female prisoner, petty or felon, you would be sentenced and put in Azkaban, and if it didn't make any distinction between prisoners and just put everyone together, there would be a lot of deaths in prison in every sense of the word.

Petty criminals such as William were confined to multiple cells, and the dementors on patrol did not stay here all day, coming to feast on their rounds every day. The dementors did not come easily the rest of the time - to reduce the protests of the prisoners who had been released, and to give them time to develop new pleasures.

And among the petty criminals who can go long periods of time without interacting with dementors, there is still minimal social interaction.

The food, alcohol, books and newspapers that had been brought in by various means were circulated and consumed by these petty criminals, and a new system of trade was established here.

"Nine chocolates, fresh stock from Flourish and Blotts, seven pages!"

"Five dollars! Cut the crap, it was a fairy tale last time!"

Such deals are struck quickly among the crowds of prisoners, and are ignored by the batsmen who are temporarily called in as guards -- no hard work for them, and even a handsome gold Galleons each time.

It's a monthly show and one of the hottest trading days on the island.

The Dementors will not be taking part in this operation - they are reluctant to withhold their ability to suck up the joy around them unless necessary, preferring to let the Ministry's batters do it for them.

The prisoners are rounded up on this day to clean their hair, drink potions to combat common prison diseases, and bring about a magical cleansing that is obviously not possible in the presence of the dementors.

At the moment, William was being tricked by his cellmate, who was five feet nine feet tall, but whose main job in the cell was to do something like a double dealer, who called him over to barter when the two sides did not agree on the price of the exchange, did a simple calculation, and closed the deal, with the right to smoke a candy or a cigarette.

This guy was in a similar business before he came in, but when the hit man was on the black market, he got caught because of his size, and he didn't go away. Two years isn't too much.

Now he's going on and on and on about Willem having a book meeting or something, either selling books, or getting a bunch of prisoners to talk for half an hour or something, selling tickets, Willem doing the talking he's doing the talking he's doing the talking he's doing the collecting and he's doing the watching, he's taking the stuff 60-40, Willem six-four-four.

Taking advantage of the materials brought in today, two people may be able to make a small fortune.

"Look here, little William, we're in the real business here. You're out here like this, and you can't get a change in jail. How can you do that with a batter?"

Are you serious you don't count?

This wasn't the first time that Willem had tried to talk him out of it. After all these attempts, the guy still wouldn't give up, so let him. Anyway, Willem didn't plan to cultivate a lot of book fans here. Is it possible to make a pile of gold galleons in your cell for extra income?

Prisoners in the prison did not pay so much for a story, but this is a mixed prison, if it is a pure men's prison, he face mud, how can come out to tell stories and treatment?

He had been sent to Azkaban just as he was coming, along with a fellow smuggler who had received the lightest sentence, but he was the only one who had been scared to death. Many of his fellow smugglers were still in Azkaban.

They had thought they would have no problem stuffing enough money, but when there was a change of Minister for Magic, and the new Minister Fudge wanted to keep his campaign promise to crack down on smuggling, they thought they were dirty when they showed up, and except for the fact that they were too timid to do anything, each of them got a bunch of charges, the least of which was ten years.

They didn't even recognize William when they saw him; the dementors' constant watch had taken away most of their self-care, and they followed the ranks of the prisoners almost mechanically.

This made Willem feel both relieved and sad -- he would have been much better off if he had not been a coward.

The elder took Willem by the shoulder, and turned with him the other way, saying, "Now, little Willem, don't look; they won't know. The felons seldom stay awake, and the greedy black ones even tried to chew up our bones. Look after yourself."

With a sigh, he added, "They're better off than we are, actually. It's really hard on our side when the time is over, and the darkies come in every day, tut -- no money."

At this point, the elder gave an exaggerated shrug, which made Willem laugh.

"Come on, come on, I knew you were popular, but I didn't know the darkies liked you so much. Next time you stand with your back to the door, maybe the darkies won't come in."

"Go, but that will do, but you must promise me that we shall have a book meeting and divide it between you and me."

"Eee!"

William took two steps to the left and pulled away from the big guy.

...

It was as if the clocks had been cast by magic during the day, and before Willem had even felt the passage of time, the sun was setting in the west, the batters were checking each other's numbers, and the dementors were on stage, eagerly eating - they'd been hungry all day.

The prisoners were taken back to their cells, and after a good meal the dementors locked the heavy prison doors, leaving seven prisoners behind.

"Seven?

"Where are the cheaters?"

Everyone panicked. It wasn't good to go missing in prison -- either escape or death.

Dementor kisses are no legend, and these guys are really capable of killing people if they make a real attempt to escape.

If it's a successful escape, the rest of us are bound to get bigger sentences, which is even worse.

"Wait, don't panic, look for something!"

After a quick review, the facts came out.

All the galleons were gone, and the chocolate, which would have been more valuable in prison, was left behind -- the kind of refresher food you would never have kept if you had escaped.

The answer was obvious -- the kid got out of jail, walked away with some start-up money.