IMPOSSIBLE RISKS // Drarry

32) VALENTINES DAY DATE!

TW: Gay.

When Hermione's Daily Prophet arrives one January morning, she smooths it out, gazes for a moment at the front page, and then gives a yelp that causes everyone in the vicinity to stare at her.

"What?" says Harry and Ron together.

For an answer she spreads the newspaper on the table in front of them and points at ten black-and-white photographs that fill the whole of the front page, nine showing wizards' faces and the tenth, a witch's.

Some of the people in the photographs are silently jeering; others are tapping their fingers on the frame of their pictures, looking insolent. Each picture is captioned with a name and the crime for which the person had been sent to Azkaban.

Antonin Dolohov read the legend beneath a wizard with a long, pale, twisted face who is sneering up at Harry, convicted of the brutal murders of Gideon and Fabian Prewett.

Augustus Rookwood, says the caption beneath a pockmarked man with greasy hair who is leaning against the edge of his picture, looking bored, convicted of leaking Ministry of Magic Secrets to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

But Harry's eyes are drawn to the picture of the witch. Her face leaped out at him the moment he had seen the page. She has long, dark hair that looks unkempt and straggly in the picture, though he has seen it sleek, thick, and shining. She glares up at him through heavily lidded eyes, an arrogant, disdainful smile playing around her thin mouth. Like Sirius, she retains vestiges of great good looks, but something - perhaps Azkaban - has taken most of her beauty.

Bellatrix Lestrange was convicted of the torture and permanent incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom.

Hermione nudges Harry and points at the headline over the pictures, which Harry, concentrating on Bellatrix, has not yet read.

MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN MINISTRY FEARS BLACK IS "RALLYING POINT" FOR OLD DEATH EATERS!

"Black?" says Harry loudly. "Not - ?"

"Shhh!" whispers Hermione desperately. "Not so loud - just read it!"

'The Ministry of Magic announces late last night that there has been a mass breakout from Azkaban. Speaking to reporters in his private office, Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, confirmed that ten high-security prisoners escaped in the early hours of yesterday evening and that he has already informed the Muggle Prime Minister of the dangerous nature of these individuals.
"We find ourselves, most unfortunately, in the same position we were two and a half years ago when the murderer Sirius Black escaped," said Fudge last night. "Nor do we think the two breakouts are unrelated. An escape of this magnitude suggests outside help, and we must remember that Black, as the first person ever to break out of Azkaban, would be ideally placed to help others follow in his footsteps. We think it likely that these individuals, who include Black's cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, have rallied around Black as their leader. We are, however, doing all we can to round up the criminals and beg the magical community to remain alert and cautious. On no account should any of these individuals be approached."

"There you are, Harry," says Ron, looking awestruck. "That's why he was happy last night . . ."

"I don't believe this," snarls Harry, "Fudge is blaming the breakout on Sirius?"

"What other options does he have?" says Hermione bitterly. "He can hardly say, 'Sorry everyone, Dumbledore warned me this might happen, the Azkaban guards have joined Lord Voldemort' - stop whimpering, Ron - 'and now Voldemort's worst supporters have broken out too.' I mean, he's spent a good six months telling everyone you and Dumbledore are liars, hasn't he?"

Hermione rips open the newspaper and begins to read the report inside while Harry looks around the Great Hall.

He can not understand why his fellow students aren't looking scared or at least discussing the terrible piece of news on the front page, but very few of them take the newspaper every day like Hermione.