Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the franchise. They belong to JK Rowling.

A/N: Well, here's chapter four, haven't got much to say about it really. Bit sooner than my usual, and a bit longer than my usual, so you guys should be happy. I have to admit, it is harder to write an Azkaban fic where people believe that Harry is still innocent – wait I shouldn't say that. It's harder to write when Harry isn't as betrayed. This chapter didn't exactly turn out the way I want it, but I've learned to trust my pen. In my opinion, it's turning out a bit too lighthearted, but as I'm working on a dark, elaborate, noirish story – I guess this kind of becomes my reprieve. Well, you're not here for a journal entry, on with the plot!

Chapter 4: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Potter's Escaped!

- Rita Skeeter

At dusk yesterday, Azkaban Prison experienced the breakout of its most infamous prisoner: The-Boy-Who-Lived. Profligate Potters imprisonment was initially met with much controversy – many unwilling to believe that our boy hero had deserted us. However, those of you who had been following his descent – faithfully brought to you by this honest reporter, will have to admit that we had seen this coming. However, even this reporter, who had been keeping a close eye on Potter, failed to realize his true allegiances until it was too late. There had only been one other escape from Azkaban Prison in its long and notorious history, the Dark Lord's closest confidant: Sirius Black. After a strenuous amount of research, this reporter has uncovered a horrifying secret – Sirius Black is Harry Potter's godfather. Not only that, but had, in fact, been in close contact with our Saviour since he was thirteen years old. Is this why our Saviour has deserted us? Was he so starved for affection and the desire to know his parents that he turned to his father's traitorous best friend? Did Sirius Black reveal the secret to his escape? How many more are there to come?

"Citizens must remember that Potter is extremely dangerous and unstable." Says Minister Fudge when questioned on how the public should react to this new threat. "It is still uncertain how Potter has escaped from Azkaban, but we have reason to believe that he is headed towards Germany. The proper officials in France and Germany have been notified and we are doing our best to capture him. In the meantime, we must remind citizens that while Potter may appear charismatic; he is in fact, very dangerous and should be reported straight away." This reporter heartily agrees and would like to advise citizens to stay far away from Potter, consider the events of his arrest.

Potter's best mate, Ronald Weasley, who is now dating Potter's not-so-faithful ex-girlfriend Hermione Granger (from The Triwizard Triangle between Potter, Granger and Krum) were unavailable to comment on such short notice. No indication on how Potter will react to this betrayal by his former best friend.

---------------------

Harry groaned in pain. He couldn't move. Not only could he not move - he didn't want to move. Harry groaned in pain again, screw running away. He'll just lie here, and if the Aurors ever found him, hopefully they'll just think he died. How the hell did Sirius survive this? Oh right, he was a dog – all he had to do was crawl around, no scaling buildings in imitation of Spiderman. His arms felt like elephants had rammed their tusks through their muscles and decided to hang from them.

Suddenly, a bucket of hot water was poured on top of him. His eyes snapped open only to rapidly blink the water away. He then felt a warming charm followed by a drying charm hit him. Harry tensed his shoulders, feeling his muscles start to loosen. He lifted his head slightly – groaning at the effort that it took him, he felt like an old man.

Roxy stood before him, eyebrows raised. "Up you git, you're supposed to be gone by now. Up!"

Harry groaned again as he climbed onto his knees. Fuck, what he wouldn't give for one of Severus' potions right now. He got onto his feet only to have them collapse underneath him, causing his head to make a spectacular bounce off the floor. He groaned again. He was never going to get to France like this. Harry stared at the hand that suddenly appeared before him, recognizing the red polish; he grabbed it to be pulled on to his feet.

"Thanks" he muttered, he felt his chin being grabbed roughly as his head was turned downward. He noticed that Roxy was ranting furiously as she madly dabbed at his forehead with, he realized, makeup.

"Do you know how fucking late it is? Do you care? Fuck Harry, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…hold still."

He felt her finger gently tug on his lower eyelid as a contact lens was placed on his eye. The same happened on the other eye.

"You should be so happy that no one else here has your prescription – these are still yours." She shoved several items into his hand. "You only have one other pair, so you better get to Draco's tomorrow else you won't be able to fucking see."

Harry nodded numbly – still flexing his muscles to get them working.

"Um…it's 7:00am now, so you really should get going. Uh, give this to Draco for me."

Harry glanced down at the tiny wrapped package in his hand and smirked. "Totally immune to the Malfoy charm my ass."

Roxy snorted, "Yeah, like you totally were."

Harry blushed, "Shut up." Harry glanced back at Roxy's face. "Thanks."

Roxy smiled back at him, knowing that one word meant and thanked for a lot more than just getting him ready. She awkwardly patted his shoulder, "Yeah… you really have to go. I'll see you sometime, yeah?"

Harry leaned over to give her an even more awkward hug, "Yeah, we will. Stay safe okay?"

Roxy snorted, "Harry, this is the best bordello for a reason." Harry groaned and rolled his eyes. "Yeah I know, lame joke. But still, you should be more careful than me Harry, watch out okay?"

Harry nodded and gave her another hug, this one less awkward.

"Say sorry to Mike for me, I'll pay him back later."

Roxy nodded, "Good luck Harry."

Harry took a deep breath in and exhaled, "Yeah, counting on it."

-----------------

"Sseverusss!"

Severus Snape forced his mind to clear as he broke the formation of the uniformed circle. He bent down, kissing the hem of Voldemort's robes as those gleaming red eyes burned into him.

"Sseverusss, did you know about this?"

The potions master kept his eye down as he knelt at the Dark Lord's feet. "No my Lord, the Order had no part in breaking Potter out."

"Mosst curiouss. How about his little friendsss then Sseveruss. How are they going to…assist him?"

"I don't think they are my Lord."

Voldemort's eyes flashed, "You fool! Crucio! I ssend you to find out information Sseverusss – you incompetent sspy! These are Potter's friendss, of course they are doing ssomething, and you're supposed to find out! I'm severely disappointed in you, you're becoming more Gryffindor."

Severus gasped for air once the curse ended. "Forgive me, my Lord. Weasley and that mudblood are scared to do anything because the Ministry has started tracking them," Severus dared a glance at a window. It was bright already – sufficient time. "They may have gone to a drop off. To my knowledge, there is one at Camden Market."

"Good Severuss, I was starting to worry. Crucio! You may be a master Occlumens Severuss, but whatever information you gain you report to me!"

Severus convulsed on the floor, writhing in pain as thousands of white hot knives pierced him. When the curse ended, he composed himself again.

"Rookwood, Lestrange and Malfoy, go with Snape, arrange a team to go to that filthy muggle pigsty."

-------------------------

"Davidson! Emery! Mallory! Where are those reports?"

"Shacklebolt! Where is Auror Tonks?"

"Trackers! Where the fuck are the fucking trackers?!"

"Where's my team?"

"Oh my god, Potter's escaped! Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod…"

"Who has Potter's profile?"

"Is anyone following Granger and Weasley? WHO IS FOLLOWING GRANGER AND WEASLEY?!"

"COFFEE! WE NEED THE BLEEDING COFFEE!"

A gofer rushed into the conference room, levitating five platters of steaming coffee behind him. Levitating clearly wasn't his strong point as he left a path of screaming burnt aurors behind him. Hundreds of paper aeroplanes crammed through the opened door, bombarding the frantic aurors erratically.

"Someone SHUT THAT DOOR!"

It was a madhouse; the trained department of witches and wizards was rendered inoperative. Someone rushed to the door, slamming it closed. Paper was flown everywhere and sparks emitting from wands burned holes through the precious information. The Auror Division of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was useless, if the aurors weren't panicking in confusion, they were still half asleep. It was freaking four thirty in the morning, no one wanted to be awake.

"SILENCE!" A loud whistle echoed through the room, everyone stopped and stood to attention.

Gawain Robards stood at the head of the room, "Wake up you imbeciles and grab a cup of coffee. Panicking like a bunch of five year olds. I want five teams out on field. One of you will be following Granger and Weasley; two of you will be going after Potters known locations; and the remaining two will be sent to guard the coast. POTTER CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO CROSS THAT CHANNEL!"

People started panicking again and the distinct hum of voices started to fill the room.

"I said SHUT UP you bloody wankers! I don't trust the French, a bunch of flaming pompous arses if you ask me. They won't do anything to capture Potter." Robards took a deep gulp of coffee, "Williamson! I want you in charge of intelligence, gather every bit about Potter that you can find. Tonks, I want you to join the stakeout team this time, and for Merlins sake put your klutziness aside! Shacklebolt and Dawlish, you are in charge of watching over the Death Eaters. I want seven teams to remain here in case of DE activity. They should be out making contact with each other, where one is, the other might show up. Now get! Move those arses you dimwitted sods!"

A mad dash for the coffee and the door happened; people were trampled on as they tried to squeeze out of the conference room. Robards took another gulp of coffee. It was going to be a long day.

------------------------

Harry snuck into the quiet market. Many of the vendors were still nursing cups of tea and could care less about a random man wandering around. He slid into Cyberdog, the only store that dared to blast music at glass shattering volumes this early in the morning. He smiled again at Hermione's intelligence, any wizard would fit in the muggle world once seen exiting this store. Although most wizards weren't partial to the new-age, neon space suits and glow-in-the-dark light up tees, robes would seem relatively normal compared to the outfits this store dreamed up. He sighed as he glanced around, memories flooding back to him. He remembered the first time he came here with Ron; Ron had found it hilarious that muggles would want to own disease plushies, and decided to try on the glowing skeleton bondage trousers. It seemed impossible to deter Ron from neon colours and reason exactly why Hermione wouldn't appreciate getting 'Athletes Foot', and no, it wouldn't make him better at Quidditch. He snapped out of his trance and decided that he had spent enough time staring into the store as the obscenely pierced cashier was glancing at him weirdly. He walked at a brisk pace into the store, twisting through the stone archways and rave lighted hallways. Once he reached a seemingly random corner, he smiled down at the mechanical alien that was still on display. Hermione was right again when she argued that no one in their right mind would purchase an ornamental robot alien for 9,000 pounds. Making sure that no one was around, he reached behind the displays head and counted three bricks up and two across, tapping the desired brick twice. He quickly withdrew his hand as the brick glowed briefly, he glanced around again, satisfied that no one had noticed, Harry proceeded to browse his way out of the store.

It was a nice day, and a crowd was guaranteed to show up later on. Speeding up his pace, Harry soon arrived at the food square. He glanced around as he wound his way through the tables, nothing had changed, not that he expected it to. The curry place was still there, as was the ice-cream vendor. Harry panicked slightly when he realized that it was already way past eight o'clock and quickly turned a corner only to be faced with a row of vending machines. Wincing slightly at the five machines, Harry took out a pound and placed it into the first one. Although the idea of the Drop Off first came as a quick but safe way to pass along messages or packages, safety and security of the item was a higher priority than the speed of collecting it. With that in mind, Hermione developed the idea of having the packages be shuffled between the machines, if Harry couldn't find it in three tries, the machines would revert back to regular vending machines and Harry would have to find another activation brick.

D365…incorrect code, Harry's pound dropped back to him. Harry sighed, fingers starting to tingle from anticipation, what if Hermione and Ron didn't leave him anything? What if they finally believed the presses? Harry winced and pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind. Two more to go before he had to find the other brick, no reason to doubt Ron and Hermione yet. Harry moved onto the next machine and pushed the pound in again, hearing it clatter into the machine: D365… … …incorrect code, the pound dropped back down. Harry wiped his hands on his robes before he bent down to pick up his pound again. He glanced behind him at the clock that hung above the curry vendor, 8:25am. He really didn't have the time. He glanced behind him again, were there that many people before? He bit his lip as he moved onto the next machine; he should have woken up earlier. He sent up a prayer as he pushed in his pound again, please Merlin, please. Relief rushed through him as he heard a clattering sound from within the machine. Thank god. A coke can rolled out and Harry bent down to pick it up, cracking open the tab, the can transformed into a bag. Grinning from relief, Harry quickly unzipped the bag to find his wand lying on top of his invisibility cloak. He could nearly cry from the joy that he felt at finding his wand, he didn't realize how much he had missed it until now. Picking it up, a rush of warmth rolled over him, Harry shivered at the feeling – suddenly he heard a dozen pops echo behind him.

Twirling around, Harry's eyes widened in horror, he quickly dashed out of the corner, and kicking down a table, ducked behind it. Death Eaters! Fuck! He was screwed, he just escaped from Azkaban yesterday – there was no way he was strong enough magically or physically – especially after that climb yesterday. The table exploded and Harry gasped in pain as he felt several splinters enter his side – he quickly ran towards another table, hiding behind it. He was a fucking sitting duck; he couldn't even use his invisibility cloak as they knew where he was. Fuck, if only he was strong enough to apparate – and if only it didn't attract the Ministry. He glanced around the table, pulling his head back as a violently blue spell whizzed past. The curry vendor! It was the closest vendor, and the stone wall would provide better protection.

"Potter! Come out here you fool!" Fuck, that's Lucius Malfoy. Harry could have groaned if the situation wasn't so serious.

"Awww! Is the wee wittle Pwotter scwared?" Fuck. There was no fucking way that he could fight his way out now.

Taking a deep breath, Harry sent several blasting curses over the table before he made a mad dash for the curry vendor.

"Crucio!"

Harry ducked under the curse as he felt it singe his hair.

"Expulso!"

Harry quickly sent up a shield, hoping that it would hold as he continued to run blindly towards the vendor. He should have watched where he was going as he suddenly crashed into a tall, muscular body.

"Well, well, well, Potter. Still as blind as a bat I see."

Harry knew that voice, seven years of learning from that voice would make him recognize it anywhere.

Snape glared down at him, "Cease fire! I got him! Not so almighty now are you Potter?" Snape glared at him some more, and Harry felt his grip loosen ever so slightly.

Glancing up in confusion, Harry suddenly understood Snapes message as a crumpled piece of parchment landed in his fist. Biting his lip, and feeling quite sorry for Snape, Harry kicked him in the gut before he leaped over the vendor wall. Crouching down, Harry gasped in relief as several violet curses hit the wall above him, creating several craters.

"Potter you coward! Come out and fight! Hiding like the weakling you are won't delay your fate."

Harry cursed, he was outnumbered and weak, and they knew it. Glancing around, Harry spotted a jar of curry powder beside him. Hit by the sudden epiphany, Harry jumped back up and threw the jar towards the Death Eaters, aiming another blasting curse at it. He grinned as the curse hit the jar and shards of glass and clouds of curry powder rained down on the Death Eaters. Screams of pain could be heard as the powder landed in several of the Death Eaters eyes. Malfoy, Lestrange and Rookwood on the other hand, were smarter and quickly blew the powder away from their faces.

Suddenly, a dozen more pops could be heard as wizards in violently coloured robes apparated into the square. Harry's eyes widened as he recognized several of them, aurors! Fuck, he was screwed.

"Fuck! Potter's made contact with the Death Eaters! Hand him over Lestrange!" Dawlish screamed at Bellatrix, she was probably the only one crazy enough to go around without a mask.

"Awwww, missing your wittle traitorwous Saviour? Come and get him Dawlish!Crucio!" As Bellatrixs spell hit an auror, all pandemonium went wild. As the Death Eater's concentration turned towards the aurors, and the aurors focused on capturing more Death Eaters, all attention turned away from Harry. Not believing his luck, Harry quickly donned his invisibility cloak and slipped away.

---------------------------

"Malfoy, you git!" Ron banged on the tall, ornate door. "Malfoy! Open up!"

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron and turned around. The view was amazing. The Malfoy villa stood on a slight hill that led to a private beach. The Mediterranean glistened in the morning sun and yachts could be seen dotting the water surface. Made of the purest white marble and decorated with blue French shutters and gold filigree, the villa was no less grand and extravagant as Malfoy Manor; even though one who has visited said Manor could tell that this was just a vacation home. Surprisingly enough, a gleaming black sports car could be seen hiding behind a grandiose fountain of an angel saving a man.

The door creaked open and Hermione frowned down at the withered looking house elf peeping up at them.

"Master Draco isn't up yet, sir and madam. He's asking Tibby to go open the door."

Ron glanced down at the pathetic looking creature, seemingly surprised that the house elf would answer the door. Regaining his posture, he pushed the house elf aside and walked into the foyer.

"If he can send you down here, he can come down too. MALFOY! You ferret, get down here!"

Hermione walked in after Ron, sending Tibby an apologetic smile. The foyer was equally grand, though the style was more modern and elegant than Malfoy Manor. Hermione wouldn't be surprised if this villa was built to suit the Lady Malfoy's needs more than the Lord Malfoy's. The hallway was light and airy, it continued straight through the villa, occasionally branching off into separate rooms, ending in a pair of French doors that led into a cour d'honneur. There, the hallway diverged into the east and west wings of the villa. The doors were open, the white curtains blowing gently in the warm breeze, contrasting beautifully with the blue scenery. In front of the doors was a grand, floating staircase that bent around a classic chandelier, leading up to the second floor. Ron walked up to the staircase, his footsteps echoing in the empty hallway.

"Malfoy! You bloody, lazy arse! Get up!"

Hermione glanced down at her watch; she had to spend a fortune getting a decent mechanical one so that it'd work in magical areas. It was just past ten; one would expect Malfoy to be up already.

"Malfoy! You stuck-up pompous git! Get down here!"

A thump echoed from upstairs followed by some faint cursing. Hermione smirked, apparently Malfoy was up.

Ron turned back to her and gave her a proud grin, "Well, the ferret's up."

"Weasel you uncouth mongrel!" Draco Malfoy stumbled, in all his elegance and couture clothing, onto the second floor balcony. "Tibby! I want a Headache Potion, and get us some tea. Come on, let's go to the sitting room, unlike you Weasel, I know how to show some manners. Granger, it's nice to see you."

Ron reddened in anger at Malfoy as the heir descended the stairs. "Unlike you Malfoy, I don't spend my time wasting away in bed."

Malfoy smirked at this as he reached the bottom of the stairs and turned down the hallway, leading them into a robin blue sitting room furnished with white couches and side tables.

"I don't spend my time in bed wasting away Weasley; I'm very productive in bed." Malfoy flopped down on the couch after sending an arrogant smirk towards Ron, and rubbed at his temples, "Sit." He waved his hand flippantly towards the other couch.

Hermione nudged Ron, who had gone slightly red at Malfoy's innuendo, onto the couch, "You're looking well Draco."

Malfoy sighed in happiness as Tibby appeared with a Headache Potion and a platter of tea. After downing the potion, Malfoy absently waved his wand at the tea set, pouring three cups. "Don't say anything Granger; you know I don't care about your House Elf liberation rights. I have a hangover, it was Saturday last night. What're you two doing here? I don't remember inviting you over."

"Yes well, about that," Hermione shifted in her seat, "Harry's done it."

Malfoy sat up at that, his stormy grey eyes going wide. "Harry's escaped? Finally?"

Hermione gave Malfoy a pointed stare. "You expected him to escape from Azkaban?"

Malfoy rolled his eyes, "Well, yes, it is Harry. He's fought down a dozen aurors before. That and he said he had a plan."

"A plan? And he didn't tell us?"

Malfoy huffed at Ron, "Harry has plenty of secrets that he hid form you over the years. He told me that he would think of something, but I think Azkaban got to him. Knowing Harry, he wouldn't willingly stay in Azkaban for over three years. I didn't plan on staying in France for three years."

Ron glared at Malfoy again, "I'm not daft you know, I know there are plenty of things that you and Harry did that Harry wouldn't tell us. But he would tell us a way to escape from Azkaban."

Malfoy rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to give a retort when a sound in the hallway caught his attention. Lifting his hand up to indicate silence, Hermione heard a feminine voice calling out Malfoy's name as footsteps approached the door. When the sitting room door opened, Hermione blushed and quickly averted her eyes from the half-naked female form. Decked only in skimpy lingerie and draped in a silk robe, the modelesque figure stalked up behind Draco and bent down, placing a kiss on Draco's neck. Draco twisted his head to the side as the girl whispered something into his ear. Ron, Hermione deduced from a quick glance over her left shoulder, was valiantly trying to act normal, only to fail miserably as his eyes popped out of his head when a second, equally curvaceous, equally slender, equally half-naked model entered the room. Draco glanced up as the second model entered.

"Excuse me for a second."

Right before he exited the door, he took a pause, "Like I said Weasley, very productive." With that, he grabbed both the models' hands and dragged them out of the room.

"Lucky bastard."

"Ron!" Hermione's face went hot when she heard Ron's words. It hurt and embarrassed her. God, Ron was such a daft, insensitive bugger.

Ron took a glance at her, "Sorry…" He paused and glanced back at his lap, mumbling, "How is that even possible? You can't shag two girls at once."

Hermione looked at him in shock, her logical mind, despite her unwillingness, tried to work out the problem.

Ron looked up again, "I thought he was dating Roxy."

Hermione was spared from answering as Malfoy walked back into the room. "I don't do dating, we're safe. I sent them back to wherever."

Hermione frowned in disapproval, "Yes, apparently you're much happier whoring yourself around France."

Ron grinned at her remark while Draco's glare intensified. "Look, are we here to discuss Harry or my nightlife? If it's the latter, you may kindly remove yourself from my presence. I got enough crap from Harry and the girls who bawl their eyes out at me."

-------------------------

Don't you just love Daft Punk and Kanye West? And Malfoy? Hopefully I did him justice.

Anyway, this chapter was meant to be longer… a lot longer actually. But I've decided to keep the ideas that I have for the next chapter so I can keep this fic going instead of stopping for a long, long time. I stop for a long time anyway, but that's what real life does to you. Like I said, the plot comes as I write, even though I plan out a bit; I tend to be nearly as clueless as you…well, not that clueless. And the reason for why my chapters tend to be short is because I'm not akin to writing long stuff, I started out as a poet, of the Wordsworthian type, not the Chaucerian. In other words, Im used to writing really descriptive, elaborate, short lines, but not long stories. Not that you see descriptive short lines here.

I hate it when someone updates only to have like, half the update be an a/n, so I'll try to answer some things. About the Harry climbing up the wall thing, I realized after I posted it that it's quite a feat. But it really isn't as hard as you think, the way Harry climbed up is called the 'chimney climb', I think. Anyway, by having two walls close together, you can, essentially, place a foot on each wall, and using that force, push yourself up by your legs. As your legs contain more muscles and strength than your arms, and as it's easier to push than to pull, climbing up that building is relatively easier – although tiring nonetheless. However, keep in mind that Harry kind of has a rest stop every time he reaches a balcony. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, check out The Matrix, not sure whether it was one or two, but when they're escaping from the agents, before Morpheus gets caught – I think they're doing what Harry is doing, 'cept they're going down instead of up. Don't really remember.

Another strange thing that comes in mind – does Azkaban really affect you that much physically? Remember, Sirius was stuck in Azkaban for twelve years and managed to swim across the North Sea. Either way, I tried to make the consequences of Harry's climb apparent in this chapter. Thanks for pointing it out.

And I don't have anything against the French, but it's quite a well known fact that the French and the British have a rather...competitive relationship.

K, info and stuff bout this chapter you might be interested in. There is, in fact, a Cyberdog in Camden Market that does sell rather…unique clothing. I hope I did it justice as I don't really remember what Camden Market is like. But I've always imagined that wizards would hang out in Camden, the whole place just reeks of that aura. And I don't remember any vending machines there, but for the sake of this story… Anyway, you can check out Camden Market from their website, though, I personally don't think that the website does it justice. And interesting tidbit, if you didn't know, Camden started out as a stable, though I'm not too sure when it changed into a market, I think it was in the like, seventies or something, so back in Voldemorts age, it'd still, essentially, be a 'pigsty'.

If you wanted something to help you with the imagery or are just curious: (remove the spaces inbetween)

Cyberdog: w w w. c y b e r d o g . c o . u k ----- the 'disease stuffies' are under the accessories section, they're the cutest things ever.

The Malfoy fountain statue: h t t p / b l o g . g i l s o n g a g n o n . c o m / i n d e x . p h p ? s h o w i m a g e 6 7

Malfoy's car (cept it's silver in this picture): h t t p / e n . w i k i p e d i a . o r g / w i k i / I m a g e : S p y k e r . j p g

Also, a 'cour d'honneur' is a three sided courtyard, if you're still confused, look it up wiki, and check out 'corps de logis' while you're at it as this is the basic layout of the Malfoy villa. However, knowing random bits like this won't really matter with the fic in general.

Anyway, thanks for all the reviews! Much appreciated. And since you've read, Review some more!