Total control over victim.

last one to arrive at Azkaban.

He ignored the annoyance on Alecto Carrow's face and the way Bellatrix was licking someone's blood off her wand. He didn't know whose blood it belonged too and, frankly, didn't want to know either.

He studied the group in front of him. He knew that Blaise was far behind, concealed by a disillusionment charm. Theo seemed eager – night missions were his favourite; while Pansy stared up at the sky where Dementors hovered above.

"We'll split into two groups," he said at last. "Nott, Braddock, Rhodes, Parkinson, you're with Bellatrix. Start from the east wing, work your way towards the middle. Donalds, Carrow, Pritchard, you're with me. Keep your eyes peeled for Dolohov – he's the most important prisoner the Dark Lord wants freed. You know what you have to do." He caught Pansy's eye and she gave a subtle nod. "Let's begin."

Bellatrix was the first to take off and the others followed. Draco led his group to the west wing, steeling himself as he flew just below the Dementors.

"Don't fuck this up, Donalds." He steadied Maisie's broom when she swerved. She was a bundle of nerves and the last thing he wanted was the Dementors detecting their presence before they even began.

"Sorry." Maisie mumbled, taking a deep breath and focusing on flying. Draco noticed that she kept close to him thereafter, which was better than falling off her broom anyway.

"Strange," Alecto Carrow mused, when they finally landed in the west wing. Her eyes narrowed at the Dementors floating unperturbed in the sky outside. "They don't usually leave us alone. When MacNair led us the previous time, we were swamped by Dementors. What the hell did you do – "

Draco hit her with a Silencing curse. The Dementors only left them alone because of a shield he'd cast on the group prior to the start of the mission. He and Blaise had invented it sometime ago, but it was temporary. And now, he was half-tempted to remove it from Carrow and let the Dementors suck the life from her measly body.

"You didn't succeed because you couldn't shut your bloody mouth," he muttered and led them down the dark corridor. There was no need to keep their voices down. All around, the prisoners wailed and howled and made an altogether terrible noise.

When they arrived at the cells, Draco stopped. "Let's split from here. Free as many as you can." The others went their separate ways, but Draco frowned when he realised that Graham Pritchard was still standing nearby. "What?"

Graham shrugged. "I'm kind of nervous, mate. Haven't been on a mission like this before."

Draco ignored him and began to undo the locks on the nearest door. But he didn't tell Graham to leave either. After all, he recognised Graham Pritchard as a fellow Slytherin several years younger. And as much as Slytherins could be arses, they didn't turn their backs on each other.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Blaise had been shadowing Maisie Donalds for sometime now. Pansy and Theo were stuck with the other group, so he'd taken it upon himself to view her memories instead.

He tried to block out the screams from the prisoners as he followed Maisie. She finished the first row and he waited until she turned into a dark alcove before stepping towards her.

A body-binding curse hit Maisie and she went rigid. There was no one around at all and a chill raced down her spine.

"I do apologise for this," came a deep drawl, before a wand tapped her forehead. "Legilimens."

Maisie felt her memories flood through her mind all at once. Happy ones, sad ones; good ones, painful ones. She saw her mother rushing down the stairs to hug her after she'd passed her exams with flying colours. She saw her father being killed in the crossfire during the war. And also saw her uncle bringing her to the Dark Lord and encouraging her to receive the dark mark. She saw all those and every other memory in between. It seemed like years of her life just flashed before her very eyes, like a cinematic film with people and events and everything crystal clear. And then it was over in the blink of an eye.

"Thanks for standing so still," the person murmured, sounding vaguely amused. "Now just relax."

And then he whispered something in her ear. The incantation was so quick and rehearsed that she could hardly make sense of it.

When Maisie blinked again, she realised that she was sprawled on the floor. She wasn't hurt at all, but she did catch sight of a tiny, traitorous piece of rock nearby. And she thought to herself, I can't believe I tripped again, I'm such a klutz.

It was as though the previous minute hadn't happened at all.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Theo had always sworn on Salazar's grave that he could sense danger before it came. He had something like heightened senses – well, apart from Pansy who had the nose of a bloodhound once every full moon – and he firmly believed that was what made him one hell of a fighter.

And so, when he felt the air change, he knew that something was about to happen. He unlocked the charms on the door and waved the prisoner out. A bedraggled woman flung herself at him and he stepped away in mild disgust, before waving the other prisoners over.

He tossed one of them a Portkey. "The Dark Lord wishes to see all of you two days from now. Be sure to know where your loyalties lie."

Without waiting for their response, he strode off and headed down the stairwell. A quick glimpse of the sky outside made him realise that his hunch was right. The Dementors were beginning to gather; their floating bodies descending towards the prison.

Theo tugged on the invisible chain around his neck and murmured a quick incantation to light the phial. Moments later, the phial glowed, sharp gleaming embers in the dark.

He zipped up his jacket to hide the glowing phial. The heat against his chest was never scorching and he'd long gotten used to it. Much like playing with fire but never getting burnt. He descended another flight of stairs, only to pause at the sight of a Dementor.

The Dementor was blind – they all were, but that only meant their other senses were stronger. Theo stopped and held his breath until the Dementor floated past.

Once it was out of sight, he slipped past the stairwell to a dark corridor and cast Sonorus spells on the prisoners to mask his own footfalls. But a hand reached out through the bars to stop him.

"Please, let me out," the man said. His face was cleaner than most, eyes more lucid and sane. Theo deduced that he hadn't been imprisoned for long. "I can't bear another second in here."

Theo looked at him. "Tell me where Antonin Dolohov is."

"I-I can't remember. I saw him sometime ago, I think he was – "

"Not good enough." Theo stepped forward and pointed his wand at the man's temple. "Legilimens."

In a flash, he saw the man watching as Antonin Dolohov was dragged off downstairs. It was all he could get out of a hurried Legilimency, but he'd always been a far better fighter than he was a mind-reader.

After freeing the man and handing him a portkey, Theo hurried off before the man could reply. He stopped when he spotted a familiar mop of untameable hair. Bellatrix was skipping down the corridor, happily freeing other prisoners and handing out portkeys.

"Lestrange!" Theo called. Bellatrix whirled around and he gestured her over. "Dolohov's in the basement. The Dementors are coming."

Bellatrix simply grinned, following Theo down at a more leisurely pace, letting out short barks of laughter every now and then. She wasn't afraid and Theo knew why. Draco had told him that normal Dark Wizards like Bellatrix didn't need to be afraid of the Dementors, because they were just as evil.

That he, Draco, Blaise, Pansy and several other Death-Eaters were deathly terrified of Dementors could only mean one thing: they weren't plain evil. Not yet, anyway.

Theo took a strange sort of comfort in knowing that.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Run.

The phial hanging around Pansy's neck seemed to burn hotter than ever. She'd already used Legilimency on Malcolm Braddock and Guthrie Rhodes. Bellatrix, of course, was untouchable – her mind was so locked up so tightly that none of them dared try entering it. Now that Pansy's job was over, all she had to do was get out of there.

There was only one problem. She didn't have a portkey, and she only realised it mere minutes ago, when she found that the key she'd kept for herself had fallen out of her pocket by accident. She had been searching for her fellow Death-Eaters or prisoners since then, hoping to find someone who could get her the hell out of her.

Apparition was out of the question. Azkaban's anti-apparition wards were locked tighter than even Bellatrix's mind.

And then she stopped when she saw them.

Tall, black, ghastly figures flew across the courtyard. The shield had evaporated and as fear gripped her heart, she knew that the numbing spell was wearing out too. Her fingers shook as she cast another weak numbing spell on herself. Then she rounded the corner...

And came face to face with a Dementor.

"Expecto Patronum!"

The small burst of light from her wand was enough to frighten that one away. But there were more behind it. Faceless grim reapers loomed in front of her, far too many to count.

"Pansy!" The voice came from the adjacent building. Theo. He was with Bellatrix and they carried a prisoner between them. Theo's eyes were wide as he saw the Dementors near her. "Get out of there!"

His words spun her into action and she gripped her wand tightly. She cast out another faint white light in front of her, dispersing two more Dementors, before turning on her heels and running for her life.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Where the hell was that woman?

Draco ignored his phials and strode through the empty corridors. Alecto Carrow had been a sneaky one from the start. She slipped off before he could corner her, and he was beyond frustrated by now.

At the stairwell, he crossed paths with a Dementor. He cast another numbing spell on himself and stood still until the Dementor floated away.

Then there was a faint noise. Far off near the end of the hallway. Draco rushed over and caught a glimpse of stringy ginger hair before Alecto Carrow ran off.

"Incarcerous!"

The spell wasn't from him. No, it hit him.

Thick ropes wound round his body and forced him to his knees. He choked, furious at having let his guard down during the chase and found himself dragged out of the shadows. His wand fell from his hands and he stilled when he came face to face with a familiar Slytherin.

And then Draco felt thick ropes wind round his body, squeezing the life out of him. He stumbled to his knees, dropping his wand along the way and was dragged out of the shadows, coming face to face with a familiar person.

Graham Pritchard let a slow cruel smirk curve his lips as he stared down at Draco. "Always watch your back, Malfoy."

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"Pansy!"

The call came from the other end of the hallway. Pansy stopped when she saw Maisie Donalds beckoning her over. In the girl's hands was Pansy's ticket out – a portkey. But Pansy froze when she saw the Dementors approaching Maisie from behind.

"Maisie, watch out!" Pansy yelled. The girl whirled round and shrieked at the sight of the black figures. Quick as thought, Pansy flung out another spell. "Expecto Patronum!"

But you couldn't cast one without happy thoughts, and happiness was the furthest thing from Pansy's mind at that moment.

"Go!" Pansy ordered. "Get out of here!"

Maisie's eyes widened. "But – "

"Leave! Now!"

Giving one last desperate look around, Maisie vanished with the portkey.

Pansy stood alone in the alcove. The blackness was closing in. She steeled herself and cast Patronus charms in quick succession. But they were close, too close. She could see them, feel them feeding off her fear. She hit the wall as they backed her into a corner, and she pressed her lips together to hold back a terrified scream when one of them loomed in front of her face.

Only the Dementors never came, because a blinding flash came from the right, blasting a hoard of them away. And Pansy let out a shuddering breath of relief when she saw a familiar wolf-shaped Patronus charging through the foray, dispersing Dementors in every different direction.

She glanced over, only to see Blaise grinning widely, tossing his wand flippantly in his hand. "You're welcome."

"I knew I dated you for a reason," she returned, before going straight into his arms, pressing an open-mouthed kiss to his jaw. "Believe me, you haven't seen my gratitude yet. I shall repay you in full, you can be rest-assured of that."

Blaise's eyebrows shot up and he held out his Portkey. "Let's go then."

"What about Draco and Theo?"

"Theo's gone with Bellatrix and Dolohov. I saw Draco a good half-hour ago, and I haven't seen anyone else since."

Pansy hesitated. She knew Draco could take care of himself but she worried because he couldn't cast a Patronus. And she worried even more when she thought of the brown-haired, wide-eyed girl in his room possibly waiting up all night for him.

"Stick to the plan, baby," Blaise added, casting a wary eye around for any incoming Dementors.

As reluctant as she was, Pansy knew Blaise was right. Draco's plans had always been foolproof. Things had only gone awry tonight because she'd lost her Portkey. And if they stayed here for a minute longer, Dementors could surround them and even Blaise wouldn't be able to cast Patronuses then.

Smiling up at Blaise, she grabbed the Portkey and slipped her hand through his with the other.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Draco didn't even wince as Graham shot another singing hex at him; this time sending a sharp, searing pain on his chest, barely missing his heart by several inches. The bloody ropes were cutting into him, slicing their way through his skin, but Draco could hardly care less. All he was looking for was the bloody wand he'd dropped earlier.

"They've been keeping an eye on you for a bloody long time," Graham spat, flinging another hex at him, but Draco's ears were pricked.

It wasn't Alecto Carrow that they should've been looking for. It was him – Graham Pritchard.

"They?" Draco asked.

Graham hesitated. Draco didn't.

He silently summoned his wand over to him and undid the ropes. Fury glinted in his eyes as he stormed over to Graham. "Who the hell are you working for, Pritchard?"

"Expelliarmus!"

The curse rebounded off the Anti-Disarming shield that Draco had cast earlier on himself. "Try again," he growled and deflected the hexes that Graham flung at him.

Graham's eyes narrowed. "Imperio!"

"Not the killing curse?" Draco drawled, reaching over and grabbing Graham by the collar of his shirt. "What a fucking pity." Draco quickly disarmed him, before clocking him on the nape of his neck swiftly.

Graham was immediately out like a light, collapsing onto the floor in a heap. But Draco didn't have long, because out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Dementors swarming towards him, like bees to a hive. Hastily yanking the portkey from the pocket of his jacket, Draco placed Graham's hand on it and transported them out of Azkaban.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

The silver Portkey that Draco had led back to the flat. Amidst horrified gasps from Pansy and Blaise, he dropped Graham on the floor and collapsed in a flurry of grime and dust. Only Theo had the sense to support him before he could fall over.

"What happened?" Theo demanded, leading him to the nearest chair.

"He tried to use Imperius on me," Draco muttered. "I suspect he's working for someone. Tie him up. We need to see what's been going on inside his head."

Theo levitated Graham to another chair and bound him with ropes, while Pansy dashed into the inventory to retrieve fresh phials. Draco snuck a glance at his room and wondered if Hermione was fast asleep, or if the muffling charms had worn off and she could hear everything.

"Draco." Blaise came out of the kitchen with a cup of green liquid that he handed to Draco. "You should get some rest. Let us handle this."

"I'm fine."

He wasn't. He hadn't noticed it earlier in the fight. But the adrenaline was gone now. All he felt now were the welts from the stinging hexes and a sprained ankle.

"Blaise is right." Theo's stance was defensive as he stood guard near the unconscious Graham. "You don't look good, mate."

"I'm fine."

Pansy came out with the phials and Draco stood, ignoring the way his body ached from the effort. He cast a swift Legilimens on Graham. The boy's memories flooded his mind and the more Draco saw, the more his anger grew.

Finally, he took the phial from Pansy to place the memories in. "Yaxley placed him under an Imperius, with the direct orders to put me under one as well," Draco told the others. "You can view it in your spare time."

Theo nodded. "So what're we going to do with him?"

Draco sighed. He turned back to Graham and quietly, his words a mere mumble, he lifted the Imperius curse. It took several minutes, but Graham's shoulders eventually slackened, even as he remained unconscious.

"The curse is gone," Draco said at last. He looked at Pansy and Blaise. "Obliviate the incident at Azkaban and plant a fake one instead. I want him to believe that Yaxley tried to kill him. And you – " He turned to Theo. " – send him home."

"Are you kidding me?"

"Do I look like I'm in the mood for jokes?"

"Well, that's true. But – " Theo's scowled at the sleeping boy, his eyes narrowing in annoyance. " – let's just dump him somewhere. Oh, let's put him back at Azkaban."

Draco shrugged and headed towards his room. "Do what you want. I'm done for the night."

"Draco, wait." Blaise stopped him. "I could look over your injuries if you want. Make sure there's no internal bleeding."

"It's fine, I just need sleep."

"But – "

"Blaise, baby, let Draco sleep," Pansy interjected, smiling at Blaise in a sultry manner. "I do believe we have some unfinished business here, and I don't mean anything to do with Graham."

Draco frowned at her and she gave him a surreptitious wink. Without another word, he disappeared back into his room.

Pansy glanced at the others and clapped twice. "Right. Let's get to work."

"I can't believe we're not going to do something to him," grumbled Theo, collapsing down on the sofa.

Blaise looked at him. "Like what?"

"...something Death-Eatery."

"That's brilliant. First-rate idea. All hail the clever Theodore Nott."

"Fine, how about an Avada? Is that clever enough for you?" Theo sat up and aimed his wand at the sleeping Graham, only for Pansy to stop him.

"Draco said to send him back home. And if Draco wants to show kindness to someone who's supposedly an enemy then who are we to stop him? Besides, Pritchard was under the Imperius curse. He didn't know better."