A/N- A thousand apologies for not updating sooner. I blame school/marching season/my life in general.
Chapter 13- Visiting Hours
It was especially cold that day on the tiny island in the middle of the North Sea.
Every breath taken by any prisoner came out as a shallow shudder; their thin blankets not doing much in terms of warmth.
Little clouds of hot air could be seen coming out of all the cells, as the staff rushed to place Heating Charms in various spots on the island. The charms were mostly for what little staff was there, but if it benefited the prisoners as well, then so be it.
The Dementors could be seen floating around; their decayed hands latching on to a prisoner's bars every now and then to stop for a snack.
The Ministry was trying to cut down on the amount of Dementors within wizarding England. After the fiasco in Harry Potter's fifth year at Hogwarts, they were still seen as an asset, but now as a burden as well. Nowadays, they were still in use, but kept under strict control by the guards of the island.
A young guard walked along one of the many darkened halls in the fortress that was Azkaban, his blue eyes scanning the hall in front of him, before looking over his shoulder at a sudden sound.
He kept walking when he heard it again, but just faintly. As he continued to walk, it grew louder, to the point where he could figure out what the sound was. It was a whistle, and a very low one at that.
The guard walked to the end of the hallway and turned to the cell on his left, where the whistle was coming from. He peeked inside, expecting to find one of the many deranged male prisoners that inhabited the fortress, only to find a female prisoner instead.
The woman caged within had to be, at this point in time, in her late twenties, early thirties. She had long brown hair that reached to just above the small of her back. It was unruly, knotted, and matted in some places; no one could tell that she once used her hair as a way to attract men. Her face was shaped like an elongated oval; a perfect match for her long limbs. Her grey Azkaban standard uniform was entirely too big, engulfing her now rail-thin frame.
When the guard came upon her, she was staring at the ground, her knees pulled up to her chest so her chin could rest on said knees. One long, pale finger was running along the dirt floor, making shapes and words at random intervals.
The guard continued to look at her as she whistled away a tune that seemed familiar, yet foreign at the same time.
All of a sudden the whistling stopped, and the woman whipped up her head, her blue eyes alight with fear and excitement as they locked with the guard's.
"It's happening again."
* * * * * * * *
Ginny looked up at the imposing grey building in front of her before scrunching her eyes shut.
She opened them again, hoping to some deity that she wasn't in front of Azkaban fortress. But as her vision cleared and she heard the sound of water crashing against the rocky terrain, coupled with the screams of the prisoners, her hopes fell.
And to think, this imposing prison is her current employer. She works at St. Mungo's now more than anything, but Azkaban still calls her in from time to time to check up on the prisoners' mental health. But that didn't mean that the place still gave her the collywobbles at the mere mention of its name.
Ginny looked up at the prison once more, took a rather large gulp, and walked through the gates.
* * * * * * * *
Once inside, Ginny was greeted by a young guard with dark brown hair and blue eyes named William.
"May I ask what it is you are here for, Doctor Weasley?" William asked.
"I'm here to visit one of the prisoners; a young woman by the name of Andrea Lowe. I wish to speak with her."
"Would you like me to bring her to your office?"
"No; the visiting room will do just fine, William."
"Yes, doctor. If you could just wait in the visiting room, I'll bring her in shortly."
"Thank you."
"It's no problem at all," William replied with a smile before heading off to Andrea's cell.
* * * * * * * *
Ginny entered the visiting room and instantly felt like she had entered one of the Auror interrogation rooms at the Ministry.
The room was low lit with one metal table in its centre with two chairs, each at opposite ends. At the far end of the room was a one way window; the room's occupants could not see out through the large window, only those on the outside could see in.
The lack of comfort in the small room overall only added to the amount of fear that Ginny had for Azkaban.
She sat down in one of the metal chairs and flinched on contact. She lifted her bottom up a bit and placed a hand on the seat of the chair. It was as cold as ice.
Ginny slowly inched herself back onto the chair, looking up when she heard the door open.
The person who entered the room was a young woman, who looked to be in her late twenties, early thirties. She was looking down as she made her way to her chair; her long brown hair covering most of her facial features. Her feet were bare as they shuffled across the smooth linoleum floor. Ginny noticed that her grey uniform was too big for her small frame and the only thing that was visible besides her feet were her long pale fingers; each digit peeking out from sleeves that were fraying at the edges.
She sat down in the chair opposite Ginny, barely noticing the coldness of the chair. She kept her head lowered and said nothing; the only sound heard from her was a low whistle.
Ginny cleared her throat, hoping to get the woman's attention to no avail.
"Ex-excuse me, Miss Lowe? Miss Andrea Lowe?" Ginny asked the waif of a brunette.
Andrea only continued to whistle.
"Doctor Lowe?" Ginny tried again, instead using Andrea's title.
Upon hearing this, Andrea began to laugh. A high-pitched, almost maniacal laugh that reverberated off of the walls of the room, causing it to linger in Ginny's ears.
Then Andrea abruptly stopped laughing, lifting her head to look right at Ginny.
"I haven't heard that in a long time," she stated quietly. "What do you want from me?"
"If it isn't too much trouble, Doctor Lowe, I would like to ask you about your time with Draco Malfoy."
At this, Andrea smirked before tilting her head back and sighing. She brought her head back down and looked at Ginny for a few minutes with a blank look on her face.
"There's so much I could say about him," Andrea began cautiously. "I'm certainly not spiteful for what he did to me, but he is the reason why I was sent here. He's the reason why I no longer have a career, a future. Why my brother, William, applied to by a guard here. William thinks I have not noticed his presence, but I'm not as far off as I used to be. And now that I think about it, in a way, being in Azkaban has brought me back. Of course, I still have my moments of relapse every now and then but, I am no longer obsessed with him; I have my sanity back." Andrea finished this last phrase with a smile and a relieved sigh.
"And what was it exactly that Draco did that caused you to come to Azkaban?"
"I know this is going to sound absolutely crazy, but I fell in love with him."
Ginny gave a little twitch at the last statement. Her eyes bugged out just slightly as she looked at Andrea, her eyebrows pursed together in confusion.
"I'm sorry, but did you say that you fell in love with him?"
Andrea nodded her head fervently. "I told you it was crazy, but I did. I don't know how I did it, but over the course of the time that I had him as a patient, I fell in love with him."
"But that couldn't possibly have landed you in Azkaban. It is rather strange for a doctor to fall in love with their patient, but it isn't unheard of and it certainly doesn't get you sent to prison for it," Ginny replied.
"You're right, it doesn't. It's what I did for him that caused the Ministry to send me to Azkaban."
-November 2002-
Andrea knew she shouldn't have been in this particular St. Mungo's ward this late at night, but it was the only time she'd be able to do what she needed to do.
Her tennis shoes made no noise on the tile floor as she ran down the long hallway, past the cells full of patients; most of them asleep by this time.
She finally made it to the last cell, inside the one man that she cared about the most in this world. Andrea chanced a glance at the guard on duty, knowing full well that he would be asleep; he always was.
She carefully took her wand out of her pant's pocket and placed the tip at the top right corner of the cell's door. She ran it down the length of the door, whispering the counter spell to the first ward, before moving on to the others.
Five minutes later, she had all of the wards removed, her wand placed safely back in its holding place.
Andrea opened the cell's door, thanking whatever immortal being that's up there that there was no squeak or signal to alert others that the door was being opened. She closed the door behind her, confident that there was no need to worry about her safety in his cell. She always felt safe when he was around.
She edged closer to his cot, sighing at the sight of him fast asleep, not a care in the world; her angel.
She moved closer still and extended her arm, reaching for his shoulder to wake him. She nudged him a bit, giggling when he moaned and shifted on the cot. She tried nudging him again, before realizing that it wouldn't work.
"Draco," she whispered, leaning in close to his ear.
He moaned again, followed by a small snort.
"Draco," Andrea repeated in a sing-song voice. "Wake up."
Straightening herself up, Andrea huffed at Draco's inability to wake-up at the present time and decided to try a different approach.
She kneeled down in front of him, her face now level with his before she planted a light kiss on his ever-smooth lips. As her eyelids fluttered to close, his shot open, staring at a seemingly blissful Andrea.
Draco pulled away and sat up on his cot, his hair sticking up wildly in all manner of direction, his silver eyes as pale as the moon.
"What do you think you're doing?" he spat as Andrea came back to her senses.
Andrea reared back so her bum rested on her calves. "What you told me to do this morning, silly. Remember?"
Draco stared at her for a few moments with squinted eyes and pursed eyebrows. He began to cock his head at different angles, trying to remember what it was that he told Andrea that would cause her to wake him up at this ungodly hour.
"Oh, yes! Now I remember," Draco stated when Andrea began giving him the strangest looks.
Her face brightened instantly. "Good. Now hurry; we don't have much time left to get you out of here."
"Yes, of course," Draco replied, rising from his cot with a yawn and a stretch.
Andrea ran to the cell door and opened it again before peeking out, satisfied when she saw that the guard was still asleep.
She turned her head around to see Draco, and began moving it in a way as to suggest that he exit the cell first.
When he didn't comply, she grabbed him by the arm and ran out, dragging him along for the ride.
"We almost made it, you know," Andrea said almost wistfully.
"What happened?" Ginny asked, completely enthralled with Andrea's tale. If it weren't for the fact that it was true, Ginny thought it would make an excellent trashy romance novel. Not your everyday, run-of-the-mill, trashy romance novel, but one nonetheless. It might still make an excellent one.
"We got caught as we made it out of the ward. One of the older residents saw us together and raised the alarm. Draco was sent back to his cell, this time with stronger wards, and a few days later, I was convicted by the Wizengamot and sent to Azkaban."
"I'm so sorry," Ginny replied. There seemed to be no other response to what happened. Ginny felt compelled to apologize, although she did not need to.
"There's no need to apologize," Andrea said with a laugh. "I was young, I still am, and stupid. The way he treated me made me feel special. He made me feel as though I was the only one in his world; that no one else mattered except for me and him. I was wrong, of course, but that's how he made me feel. You aren't feeling that way, are you?"
"Oh, no! Of course not!" Ginny blurted out. "I've known him since our years at Hogwarts. Our families are sworn enemies; that sort of thing. I absolutely hate him. There's no way that I could possibly fall in love with him. Just no way."
"I see," Andrea replied, nodding her head.
"Do you know if you're slotted for release?" Ginny asked to break the somewhat awkward silence.
"As far as I know, I'm here for a while. As you can imagine, attempting to break Draco out ranked pretty high on the crime chart, but I don't remember any mention of my release at my hearing."
"I hope you get out," Ginny said with as much sympathy as she could muster. "It's a shame to see you in Azkaban. I heard that you were a fantastic doctor and that you were slated to take up the position of the Head of the Board."
"Why thank you," Andrea said with a grin. "It would be nice to get back to work, but you know, after you go to Azkaban for a crime that very few know about, it's pretty hard to go back to your original life."
"That's true, but I'm sure that your previous reputation was so great that you'd be able to find work. If anything, you could probably work here at Azkaban. They're my full-time employer; I only work at St. Mungo's part-time."
"Well, whoever you are, if and when I get released, you shall be one of the first to know about it."
"Oh, I can't believe I forgot to tell you my name. I'm Ginny Weasley, Draco's current psychologist."
"I figured as much. You look a lot like your brother, Ron. I used to see him from time to time in the other psychiatric wards. He's a very nice young man, even if he does have no recollection of ever being a wizard."
"That's rather nice of you to say," Ginny replied with a small smile.
"Well, Ginny Weasley, like I said before, if I ever get out, you shall be one of the first people to know."
At that time, William entered the room, bringing Ginny's meeting with Andrea to a close.
"Come along, Andrea. Time to take you back to your cell," William said, taking Andrea by the arm to lead her out of the room.
Andrea sighed dramatically and put a well-crafted blank look on her face before replying. "Yes, William." She turned to Ginny. "It was nice talking to you, Miss Weasley. I hope to see you again soon."
And with a wink directed at Ginny, Andrea Lowe was taken back to her cell.
* * * * * * * *
A few minutes after Andrea's departure from the visiting room, another guard entered; one that Ginny did not recognize, nor did she care who it was.
"Excuse me, Miss Weasley?"
Ginny looked up at the guard with a raised eyebrow.
"Is there anything else that we can do for you or will you be leaving the island shortly?"
Ginny nodded her head several times, a look of confusing plastered on her face, before she stood up and left the room.
She made it down the hallway before she heard her name; the young guard running after her.
"Please, Miss Weasley, let me escort you to the Apparation Point at the front of the island," the guard stated once he caught up to Ginny.
"No, that's quite alright," Ginny replied in the politest manner possible. "I believe I can make it from here, but thanks for the offer."
"As you wish," the guard said with a curt nod, backing away from Ginny as he did so.
Ginny spun around on her heels, head lowered, taking a deep breath once she was no longer facing the retreating guard.
She looked down at the floor, biting one of her nails every so often like she did as a teenager.
She placed a stray lock of hair behind her ear and looked up; nodding again for what seemed like the thousandth time that day. But this time, she nodded as if making up her mind; her nods were not so much done in a robotic manner but more as if she was making a small wave with her chin.
It was with a final nod that it seemed as if she made her decision.
She had a lot of work to do.
A/N- In case you didn't figure it out, the part in italics after "November 2002" was a flashback. Thought I'd clear that up.
AND, because so many people have been assuming this about the story (or the plot line; call it what you will...) Draco IS NOT, and I repeat, IS NOT Antonio. Yes, I know; they look alike, the act the same, etc. If you have not learned this about me by now, I shall tell you: I do everything for a reason. There is a reason why Draco and Antonio look alike. And if you have not figured it out, then too bad; I'm not telling you why. You'll just have to be patient like the rest of the world.
Next Chapter: Ginny makes a little trip to Malfoy Manor!