Gwyn Swann and the Prisoner of Azkaban

by Lady Dawson

Chapter One: Birthday Tidings

The sun was just setting on the small town as a young teenage girl walked through the streets, the last rays catching her long blonde hair and turning it into gold. Her blue eyes were keeping a careful eye out as she walked, her hands in her pockets, before slowing to a stop outside of a great Victorian manor, a hint of sadness crossing her face as she looked up at it.

Gwyn Swann sighed as she stared up at the manor that had been her home for ten years before she'd left it, by her own choice. Her father William had banned her from ever returning home because of the fact that she choose the legacy that her mother had left behind, her heritage. She chose to leave her father's house and go to the place that her own mother had learned her skills: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Two years had passed since that fateful day when she had found out the truth surrounding her mother's death. The fact that her mother had been a witch had come as a shock, but the fact that her mother had been murdered by the follower of an evil wizard named Voldemort had been almost unbelievable. Gwyn still felt a mixture of pride and sadness about her mother's death. Proud that her mother had risked her life to save the people in the street that day and sad because she would never know the woman who gave her life for them and Aurora Swann would never see the woman that she was growing up to be. Even though she had never found out the name of her mother's killer, Gwyn knew that he had been arrested and sent to the wizard prison Azkaban, said to be a desolate place, protected by dementors. Among the darkest of creatures known to wizards, dementors literally sucked the happiness out of people . . . and sometimes, their souls.

Gwyn shivered slightly; just thinking about the damage that the dementors could do gave her the chills. She never wanted to come across them, but the way that her life was, she was bound to meet one sooner rather than later.

In the two years since she had found out about being a witch, Gwyn had fought alongside her friends to protect both their school from being destroyed from within and to prevent Voldemort from rising again.

Her friends were probably what Gwyn missed most about school, despite Charms class and going to watch the Quidditch matches. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger were some of the best friends than anybody could ask for. Gwyn didn't know how she had gotten so lucky as to find friends like them, but she was glad she did. They were more like her family than her father had been in all the years she had lived with him.

With a sigh, Gwyn glanced up at the manor one last time before pulling her jacket tighter around her as she headed down the street, about to head in the direction of her own house when someone yelled something behind her.

"Gwyn!"

Turning back around, she saw a familiar boy her own age running towards her, trying to catch up with her. He was taller than her with brown hair that hung constantly in his face and grey eyes, with a friendly demeanour. "Hi, Evan," she said, smiling faintly towards her future stepbrother.

Ever since her departure two years earlier, William had finally detached himself from the life that he had been living and moved away from both Gwyn and her mother permanently by seeing a woman and eventually moving in with her. Evan Taylor was that woman's son, though he didn't particularly like William or the fact that his parents' marriage had fallen apart because she had gotten involved with him.

"It's good to see you," Evan said as he caught up with her. She nodded, not saying anything. "How have you been?"

"Fighting a giant snake that was attacking the school," Gwyn answered, with a hint of a smile. "You?"

"Come on, I'm serious," Evan said, laughing as if she were joking. Gwyn couldn't help grinning, even though she was telling the truth about the previous school year, which had been attacked by a basilisk.

"So am I," Gwyn said, shrugging. "It wasn't too bad." She paused, glancing towards the manor. "So . . . uh . . . how are things with Dad and your mum?" she asked.

Evan shrugged, his expression stony. "Not too bad, I guess, considering they're getting married next month," he replied. Gwyn glanced up in surprise at the particular piece of news.

"They're getting married?" she repeated and he nodded, looking at her in surprise at her expression.

"You didn't know," he observed. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Gwyn, I thought that you knew. It's . . . kind of big news around here." He paused, looking awkward.

"Madeline and I don't exactly get the headline news," Gwyn said quietly.

After she'd left her father's house, she moved in with her housekeeper and her mother's old friend Madeline Harris, who now worked at the Ministry of Magic and held guardianship over her. But neither Madeline nor Gwyn were exactly well-respected within the Muggle community that they lived in, due to Gwyn's disownment and Madeline's lack of involvement.

Evan was quiet for a long moment before he looked up at her. "Why don't you just come to the wedding?" he asked suddenly. "I mean, it's your dad, after all, and I really think that you should be there."

"Dad wouldn't want me there," Gwyn replied, shaking her head. "He's made it perfectly clear that we've each made our choices." She folded her arms across her chest, glancing up at the manor. "I'm sorry, but that place is the home of a girl who doesn't exist anymore. She left two years ago and she isn't coming back."

"Are you ever going to tell me why your dad doesn't want you around anymore?" Evan said after a long moment. Gwyn smiled and shook her head. "It just doesn't make any sense."

"Families rarely do," Gwyn pointed out. "I've got to go. I'm expecting a call from my friend Hermione. She's in France right now and I don't want to waste her parents' money with the long distance calls if I'm not there."

"Wait!" Evan grabbed her arm as she turned to go and he pressed a small, rectangular package into her reluctant hands. "I got this for you. Mrs. Harris said that today was your birthday. It didn't seem right for you not to have any presents."

Gwyn stared down at the package before relenting, slowly unwrapping the paper to find a book within.

"The Mists of Avalon," she said softly, stroking the cover affectionately before looking up at Evan in disbelief. "How did you—"

"I might've gone through some of your stuff in your old room," he admitted, looking embarrassed. "There were some King Arthur books in there, so I thought that you might be interested in this." He raised his head to look at her. "Do you like it?"

Gwyn smiled and stood on tiptoes to hug him properly. "Thank you," she said sincerely. Evan smiled and nodded as she pulled away. "I've got to go. Hermione—"

"Yeah, yeah, of course," he agreed, heading back towards the manor just as a woman who looked as though she could be his mother appeared on the doorstep, looking at Gwyn suspiciously.

"Evan," Gwyn said and he looked back at her. She smiled at him. "Thank you," she said again, letting him know with a look that it was for more than just the book.

"You're welcome," he said, grinning at her before he headed towards the manor, climbing up the steps and vanishing into the house. Gwyn watched him go before looking down at the book, a small smile on her face as she took one last look to where her stepbrother had been before heading home.

The phone was already ringing by the time that she had opened the door and she hurried to grab the receiver before the caller hung up. "Hello?" she said breathlessly.

"Gwyn, hi!" Hermione squealed from the other end. "Oh, I was starting to think that you'd forgotten! The phone rang forever."

"Sorry, I got held up. But how are you? How's France?"

The two girls talked for about an hour and would've talked longer had Mr. Granger not come into the room on Hermione's end and started lecturing about the phone minutes when they were perfectly able to write letters to each other—and considering wizards had much faster mail service, there was no point in talking to each other for any longer. So they had to reluctantly hang up just as a tap came from the window and Gwyn looked over to see a Hogwarts owl sitting on the sill.

Jumping to her feet, Gwyn hurried to let the owl in, taking the letter that it was carrying, noting the Hogwarts crest. Immediately, she knew what this had to be; her new booklist for the coming year. But it was a lot thicker than usual, she noted as the owl took the sky, leaving the blonde witch standing in the kitchen as she opened it.

As usual, the letter was written in green ink as she unfolded it, reading the letter that the school had sent.

Dear Miss Swann,

Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Expression will leave from King's Cross Station, platform nine and three-quarters, at eleven o'clock.

Third years are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade on weekends. Please give the enclosed permission form to your parent or guardian to sign.

A list of books for next year is enclosed.

Yours sincerely,

Professor M. McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Gwyn couldn't help but feel a bit giddy at the thought of going to Hogsmeade, the wizarding village that lay outside Hogwarts. It was an entirely wizarding village, but like most of her fellow classmates, Gwyn had never set foot there. Setting the permission slip aside to ask Madeline about it later, Gwyn turned to the booklist for the upcoming year.

THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED:

The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Three by Miranda Goshawk

Intermediate Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

The Monster Book of Monsters by Newt Scamander

Numerology and Grammatica by Paige Twinkle

Gwyn grinned when she saw the last two books; third years, in addition to their regular classes, chose two other classes to attend. After much consideration, Gwyn had decided to go with Arthimancy and Care of the Magical Creatures.

The door slammed shut, startling Gwyn, as Madeline came into the kitchen, looking as though she were exhausted. "Oh, goodness, I haven't seen the Ministry in such an uproar since the days of You-Know-Who!" she exclaimed, fanning herself. Gwyn hurried to start a pot of tea.

"What happened?" she inquired as she prepared it just the way that Madeline preferred it, setting it down before her guardian. Madeline took a huge gulp of tea before she started explaining.

"It's a complete racket since last night," she told Gwyn as she prepared herself a cup of tea. "There was an escape from Azkaban." Gwyn accidentally spilled some hot water on her hand and winced slightly, wiping her hand. It was the same hand that had been burnt a year earlier when it had gotten in the way of her fire spell and still bore the scars of it.

"Azkaban? But I thought. . . . Madeline, I thought nobody could escape from Azkaban. You told me nobody had ever escaped from there!"

Madeline raised her head to look at the blonde witch. "And no one ever has," she replied quietly. "Until now."

--

Gwyn was sitting up in her room later that same night, reading The Mists of Avalon when Madeline walked in, an amused smile on her face.

"Young lady, when are you going to learn that this is now way to spend your birthday?" she said, shaking her head in amusement. She walked over, peering at the book that she had in her hands. "Where did you get that?"

"From Evan," Gwyn admitted, sitting up straight. "You know, Dad's girlfriend's son. They're getting married, you know. It's weird, I'm about to have a stepmother and I don't even know her name. Pretty lady, though."

"Vanessa," Madeline replied quietly. Gwyn glanced up at her, startled. "Her name is Vanessa Taylor. Soon to be Swann," she added with a smile at her. "But it's good that you're making friends with Evan. He seems like a nice, young man. But speaking of birthdays . . ." She headed back to the door and retrieved a long narrow package, smiling secretively.

"Madeline, I told you, you didn't have to get me anything," Gwyn insisted, exasperated. She had told her guardian that it wasn't necessary for her to get her any presents, because she did enough just taking her in. Without Madeline, she would be living in the streets during summer holidays.

"And I told you that you deserve to have presents on your birthdays," Madeline countered, still smiling. "Now, be quiet and open it." Gwyn smiled as she accepted the present, shaking her head at her guardian.

Slowly, she pulled back the paper and gasped in surprise as a brand new broomstick rolled out onto her bed, gleaming up at the blonde witch happily. "Oh, my—" she breathed, hardly able to believe her eyes when she saw it. "A broomstick."

"Maybe you can get in some practice," Madeline said with a wink. "You could turn out to be as good as your mother." Gwyn smiled; her mother had been a Quidditch player when she was at school.

"It's a Comet Two Eighty," Gwyn said, thrilled as she saw the make at the end. She looked up at her guardian. "Madeline . . . thank you." Gwyn ran her fingers up and down the broom, revelling in the feeling of it. She hadn't ridden a broom since her first year and those horrid brooms that the school provided left much to be desired.

"You're welcome," Madeline said with a smile, patting her arm. She glanced up as a tap on the window made them both look up. "Oh . . . The Evening Prophet. I'll bet you anything the news has gotten there by now," she sighed as she retrieved the paper, paying the owl.

Sure enough, the escapee from Azkaban was plastered all over the front page, with a large headline in bold letters: BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN

"This will cause overtime for days," Madeline said with a sigh, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "It's getting late and I'm going to have to head off early tomorrow, so I'm going to head to bed." Gwyn nodded, looking sympathetically at her guardian. "Good night and happy birthday, Gwyn." She paused at the door. "By the way, I signed your permission form. It's on the kitchen table."

Gwyn grinned at her. "Thanks, Madeline," she said as her guardian left the room, looking exhausted. Looking at the paper, Gwyn stared down into the gaunt face of the mass murderer Sirius Black.