Thursday August 12th 6:00AM

Tonks was exhausted. She and Kingsley had just arrived back in London at the Ministry. They had to take Y/N to Azkaban the night before, via Thestral carriage and it was a 12 hour round trip. She couldn't help but tear up at the memory of his face as the doors were closed on him.

This was the hardest thing she'd ever done. She loved the boy. He was her cousin but she thought of him as her little brother. She couldn't believe the Minister would sent him to Azkaban. He was thirteen. Thirteen... and he was now surrounded by the worst criminal scum imaginable.

Death Eaters. Murderers. Rapists. Peadophiles. They were all there, all thrown in together. Y/N would be an instant target.

Assault, murder, rape- he could be the victim of any of them. The most frustrating thing was he wanted to go, for the notoriety, in case his own uncle, Tonks' cousin, was hunting him. It may have been being awake for twenty four hours and the exhaustion as well as the mental toll, but this had her questioning everything. All she had wanted to be was an auror, but this was the type of people she was working for. People who would send a child to Hell on earth?

Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Now came arguably the harder part. She had to tell Dean and Penny.

It was going to be front page of the Prophet today. Fudge saw to it. In his arrogance he wanted to embarrass Y/N by announcing his sentencing. The fool didn't realise he was doing exactly what Y/N wanted him to.

Tonks wanted to tell her cousin and cousin-in-law before they read about it in the paper. As soon as she got back to the Ministry she rushed to the Floo Network.

—~—

Penny hadn't gotten much sleep. She was awake most of the night, worried about her Cutie Pie. Where he was, what he was doing, was he ok?

She was awoken by a loud knocking at her bedroom door. That was... odd. She heard Dean was in the en-suite shower so she put on a dressing gown as a thought crossed her mind:

"Cutie Pie!" she squealed, shooting over to the bedroom door and ripping it open. She was disappointed and puzzled when she saw a broken hearted looking Tonks standing there.

"Tonks? What's going on?"

"It's Y/N. I'm so sorry. There was nothing I could do."

"Tonks what are you talking about? What's wrong with Y/N?"

Tonks looked at Penny, tears breaking from her eyes:

"He's been sent to Azkaban."

—~—

Hermione sat in shock at her kitchen table. She stared at the Daily Prophet. Her boyfriend was plastered all over the front page. He was topless, his hands bound in front of him and he looked like he had been badly beaten.

His rib cage and abdomen were bruised, his face was puffed up and bleeding. The magical photo showing him sneering arrogantly at the camera. Hermione knew in her heart it was Y/N's way of speaking directly to Sirius, saying to him "come get me!"

Her parents exchanged worried glances. Hermione had silently cried as she looked at the photo but not replied to their worried enquires. They had heard Azkaban was bad but judging by Hermione's reaction....

They were alerted to the lounge by a loud pop.

"We're in here" Wendell called out. Dean and Penny rushed into the kitchen and Penny instantly wrapped Hermione in a huge hug before looking at the paper on the table.

"You've heard" she said sadly. Hermione nodded and broke down crying again.

"Tonks came to our house an hour ago, as soon as she got back from transporting him" Dean said sadly.

"Wait Tonks... girl with pink hair? Why would she?" Monica asked.

"She didn't want to" Penny spoke up. "She was heartbroken, but it's her job as an auror in training. She had no choice."

"What happened?" Hermione asked. "The paper says he assaulted a Ministry employee? He didn't just so..."

"Yeah that's exactly why he did it according to Tonks" Dean shook his head as he spoke.

"Knew Fudge would send him to Azkaban for a fortnight after his previous threat, knew it would be plastered all over the papers"

He rubbed his eyes as he spoke. This wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been such a dick the other night. He pushed Y/N into a corner, Y/N pushed back. Merlin knows what he was suffering at this very moment.

"This Azkaban, is it as bad as Hermione has said?" Monica asked worriedly.

"Worse probably" Penny said sadly, holding Hermione's hand.

"It's an island fortress in the North Sea. The worst of the worst criminals are sent there. It's full of murderers, rapists, the worst kind of people. It's mostly guarded by foul creatures called Dementors. They literally suck the happiness, the happy memories out of you, they feed on them. The few human guards there are just as sadistic as the prisoners."

Monica broke down crying at Penny's words, jointing Penny and Hermione. She asked:

"Why would they send him there, a thirteen year old boy?"

"The Minister is terrified of him. Y/N has made some powerful enemies, like the Malfoy family. They've probably convinced Fudge that Y/N wants to overthrow the Ministry or something ridiculous like that..."

Dean's voice trailed off as his attention was drawn to something outside the window. He opened the back door and two birds flew in, an eagle and a robin.

They instantly transformed to a tall tanned man Hermione recognised as Rowan's boyfriend Talbott, and a middle-eastern lady with a hijab on. Dean embraced them both.

"Talbott, Badeea, What are you guys doing here?"

Wendell cleared his throat, Dean suddenly realising he had let two birds that changed into strangers into the Grangers house. This was probably strange to the muggles, to say the least.

"Sorry guys, this is Talbott Winger and Badeea Ali, friends of ours. This is Wendell, Monica and Hermione Granger."

"We're sorry to hear about Y/N, Dean, but that's why we are here. He asked us to keep an eye, in our animagus forms, to watch the Grangers, in case your Uncle comes here" Badeea explained.

"We're gonna be flying around the neighbourhood for the next three weeks keeping watch. Until school goes back" Talbott answered.

The Grangers thanked them before Hermione announced she was going to lie down as she wasn't feeling well. After she had left Monica turned to Penny:

"I'm worried about her, this has been pretty hard on her. She has a friend Lavender Brown, do you think you could ask if she could come stay for a few days. It might be good for Hermione to have a friend to lean on right now."

Penny smiled.

"Yeah no problem. I work with Lavender's mum Melissa at St. Mungo's. I'll owl her as soon as we get home. If it's ok I'll apparate her here."

—~—

They had left an hour or so later.  Penny had owled Melissa Brown as soon as she got home. By 4pm she had apparated back to the Grangers with Lavender. Penny had explained everything to the Brown's. Why Y/N had been sentenced to Azkaban, all the protection he had placed around the Granger's, about how devastated Hermione was. How badly she needed her best friend. Lavender had been only to willing to stay, not giving her mother much say in the matter.

"Here we are Lavender, this is Monica and Wendell, Hermione's mum and dad" Penny said with a strained smile. She was beyond terrified for Y/N, but trying her hardest to keep a strong facade.

They greeted the young witch before informing her Hermione was upstairs and didn't want to come down.

Lavender nodded and headed straight upstairs to the room they had said was Hermione's. She knocked and entered the room to find Hermione laying on the bed, crying, holding a picture of her and Y/N. It was from their holiday to Loch Ness. Y/N was playfully kissing her cheek and they were both smiling for the camera.

Lavender rushed over to Hermione and engulfed her in a massive hug.

"Why did he do it Lav? He could die in there"

"He did it because he loves you Hermione. His only worry is making sure you are ok. He did it to keep you safe" Lavender replied sadly.

Hermione cried heavier as Lavender held the hug tighter.