Remorse

Felix shook his head, "No more questions.." It was a lot to think about though. What she said was true, he had been trying to dominate the minds of everyone he was around, if he was in the room, he wanted them to know he was there... but there was a new thing that she suggested that he had never really attempted before.. trying to understand his own mind.. WHY did he enjoy doing the things he did.. why did he feel such impulses... why did he want to see the light leave people's eyes... why did he enjoy planting? Felix stared at his hands for a long moment. Shaking his head again, he put his fingers on his temples. "I'll see you later then." He muttered, staring straight at the floor and not moving.

Felix was feeling horrible for a moment, he felt sort of sick, and his head was pounding from to much thinking. He felt a lot better now that he was clean, but his mind was freaking out. He was changing to quickly, it was almost like a withdrawal from their pain. He tugged half halfheartedly on his chains, and looked up at her, an odd sad look in his eyes. "You gonna throw me back in a cell somewhere then?" He asked with a small smirk.His handsome face seemed to momentarily show his age, the affect the dementors had on him, and just how tired he was of being bad. He wanted to sleep, not die in this horrible place. He wanted to reform, but was almost afraid of that step, he wanted to sleep without nightmares, wanted to live without fear, without pain.. he wanted to live.."If so.. just let me go now.. I need to sleep." He muttered and leaned back in his chair.

"I'm afraid I have to..at least for now," she said gently. "But it won't be for long. I promise." She flicked her wand to open the door, Evidently her door slamming had attracted the attention of the Assistant Warden. He came in with two other guards.

"Chief Warlock Lupin," he addressed her respectfully. "Is everything alright?"

"It is," Khaat said, standing. "But I have strict orders for you. If I find they have been violated, I will have you in the cell with Mr. Barker. I will leave you to his devices. He can be quite creative when he wants to be." Khaat knew Felix's reputation preceded him. And she did believe everything she had told Felix. She looked at him deliberately to tell him she was up to something. "Aren't you, Mr. Barker?" She didn't want him to believe she had suddenly turned on him.

"I understand, Ma'am," the assistant told her.

"You can have all the guards on him you like," she said, "but they are not to lay a spell or a hand on him unless he violates a rule. And NO dementors in his cell or pestering him until morning. I will be back." Her last words about her return were meant strictly as a threat. "As the Director of St. Mungos, my medical orders do have to be observed, by your own protocol."

"Yes, Ma'am," he said, not liking her orders one little bit.

"I will be checking. Count on it." She looked at Felix. "Get some rest. You have a lot to think about. And I have a lot of work to do."

Felix nodded and glanced at the guards, with a small bitter smile, one of them took a step backwards at his gaze. He hadn't realized just how far his reputation proceeded him, and it was quite entertaining seeing them watching him distrustfully. He grinned at them and sat up a bit straighter. Glancing at Khaat, he smirked and leaned back in his chair, the real time was over, people were watching now. "Oh yes.. quite creative..." He said smiling at her, and glancing at the guards. They were staring at him hatefully, like he had committed something personally against them. It made him want to laugh.

One of the guards came over and undid Felix's chains, looking surprised at how loose they were. He glanced at Khaat, unsure of what to make of the whole situation, and it was obvious he was thinking not very nice things about either of them. "We'll take good care of them miss." He said after he pulled Felix to his feet, holding the chains tightly. "Lets go.." he growled and Felix was nearly dragged out of the room. Felix took one last look at Khaat, and couldn't resist a pleasant. "Nice meeting with you, Kitty." Before he was pulled out of the room. Sure he hadn't used that name since he had her captured, but still... people were watching, he had a reputation to maintain.. even if he was changing.. he almost wanted it to be a surprise... still himself, right up until the program Khaat was putting him through... then he was nice, and perfect, the perfect gentleman, ready to serve and help people.. it would work.. it had to... if he wanted to live anywhere else but Azkaban..

After Felix left, Khaat gathered her things and marched down to Rob's office. She didn't bother knocking. Why should she? Of course it didn't do any good. He wasn't here anyway. Oh, what a surprise, she sighed. She went over to a diagram of Azkaban and began to study the map of the prison. She chose the cells she wanted and then made herself at home at Rob's desk. She wrote a court order for Felix's rehabilitation plan and was very specific about how she wanted the cell for Felix designed.

She explained the rehabilitation, the process she envisioned, and both the rewards for success she planned on and the consequences for him if he decided he wasn't interested in rehab any longer. She left Rob a list of the items she intended to provide Felix with and how she intended for the whole process to be monitored.

If Rob objected, he merely had to contact her. But she was only giving him 24 hours to respond. At that point, she was going to override him. After all, it wasn't like he didn't know where to find her. When she had signed and sealed the court document with her own seal, she left the island. She had plants to buy.

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A few days later
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Felix stared at the ceiling of his cell. He had actually slept pretty decently the night before, and now he was sitting on the floor, staring off into space. He was getting dirtier again, but nothing like he had been when he had first spoke to Khaat. Any day now.. he kept telling himself.. any day.. she would let him out of this cell, and give him a new one.. with plants, and life.. something growing.. something to do! It's what kept him sane for the next couple of days, as he battled with the part of him that was telling him this was the stupidest thing ever, he would never change.. she didn't believe in him..

Even without the Dementors around to torment him.. he tormented himself with these thoughts constantly. It was like a different part of his mind, telling him he was being weak, stupid, a quitter, telling him that he was worthless, that it was stupid to even think that he could change.. that Khaat was a horrible woman, who was only in this for herself, for the glory of rehabilitating the madman who had captured her. She was in it for the glory.. but Felix had to fight these off with thoughts of his own. "Khaat isn't like that.." "She wants me to succeed." "She's saving my life... why should I hate her?" "I'm stupid... I was stupid.. but I will be better.. I promise.."

Day after day it felt like, of course it only a couple of days, but it felt like an eternity to him, sitting on the floor, between dozing off and counting the bricks on the wall across from him. Every now and then he would bug the guards outside, for there had been more then ever since the Dementors weren't allowed near him. More guards, all sitting there, watching him and jumping whenever he so much as moved. Every now and then Felix would bug them with questions about the world, manage to get a newspaper from them, and get a sentence or two out of them, before the fun wore off and he resigned to counting bricks again.

The problem had not been in getting the gardening equipment or the plants. The problem was in getting a final design for a cell that worked for the plants needs and for the security needs at Azkaban. And then it took some reconstruction and increased layers of protection spells so that this would not easily blow up in her face.

In the end, the cell was prepared. It was double the space of the cell that Felix had had before. One corner was lit, permanently, by a magical light that shown down on the workbench. The light just seemed to come from nowhere. It had taken some time and design to find a way to do magical light that did not also risk providing Felix some way of gaining magic for himself. If he even tried to reach for the light, it went out. It was that simple. When he stopped messing with it, it came back on. He would figure it out for himself.

The workbench was made of stone and was an extension of the wall. There was a narrow stone shelf built under the workbench in order for him to have some place to store his supplies and tools. She had supplied him almost everything on the list that Azkaban agreed to let him have. And she had supplied him with a dozen different plants. Muggle plants, but they were some of the most difficult and persnickety plants she could find for him, to challenge his mind.

The new cell gave him workspace, light, and still space for his bunk and other standard necessities. She stood with a couple of guards and the assistant warden as they finally went to fetch Felix to move him to the new cell.

Felix ran his hand through his hair for the millionth time, staring at the wall, bored out of his mind, when suddenly someone stopped in front of his cell. "Hey... time to move.. your new cell is ready." The guard said, and Felix stood up quickly. So she hadn't forgotten him! The odd feeling that his heart had leapt into his throat, and he felt oddly light headed. "Okay.." He said hoarsely, leaning against the wall from the fatheadedness. The guard pointed his wand at him through the bars, and chains appeared on Felix's wrists. Felix glanced down at them, and then smirked as the chain connected to a small hook on the wall, so that the guard could safely enter the cell without Felix being able to leave. The door opened with a tap from the guards wand, and Felix stood motionless, as he checked the chains before tapping the hook and the chain fell away from the wall, and into his hand.

A sharp tug, and Felix was pulled into out of his old cell, and into the hallway. People were looking at him curiously from their cells. It wasn't often someone was taken out for any reason, and he had already been taken out of his cell twice in the last week, it was an oddity, and they were curious. He tipped his head to them, and smirked, grinning at one of them as he held his head high and made his way down the corridor.

The guard took him to where Khaat and the other people were, and Felix smiled at them all. "Hello," He said weakly, glancing around at the guards, and then at Khaat. "Nice to see you again, isn't everyday I get human company in those cells, kinda makes you feel like an animal." He said lightly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. If you didn't know what evil he had done, one could very easily assume that he had been framed, that he was innocent, in the sheepish look he was giving everyone. The look that he had no idea what it was like to even attempt to do evil, let alone be the perfect torturer, who kidnapped innocents and tortured and killed them for fun. He smiled lazily, and his good looks came into play, even though he was dirty and greasy, he was still handsome.

Still innocent looking, even though he was about to go through a rehab program to be integrated into society again. A huge success for the Ministry's program's, and the hope for a few other inmates as well, he knew there would be hatred thrown at him, and the possibility that even if he was ready to be let out, some people may override Khaat's decision, and he could stay here forever. It could still come to that, but at the moment in time, he was being given a chance, something he didn't take lightly.

"Come in here," Khaat said, going into the cell herself, against the Assistant Warden's instructions to her. Khaat didn't listen much to instructions other than her own. She went in and said, "It is the size of two cells--for a purpose. Your workspace is here on the right, and I think, if you check you'll find it has all the supplies you requested beneath it. I'd like you to check the plants and see if they will do for an initial challenge. Also, check the light to see if it is sufficient. Oh, and I totally forgot. We have arranged a bit of water for you--for the plants. It will be delivered to you daily, in the early morning. If you have some leftover, they'll take it away that night on the night watch.

"The dementors will be reduced so long as you follow the rules. If you break them, they will be back on schedule. I will get regular progress reports from the Warden or Assistant Warden. I expect to see some differences when I return. And, yes, I will be back. There's one more thing I have left for you here. A journal. And a pen. They're not magical, I'm afraid. Just a blank book for your thoughts and a pen to record them with. Or your progress with your plants if you wish. " Then she looked him in the eyes. "If I did not believe fully that you could do this, I would not have given you a thing. Make it work."

Felix walked into the cell in front of the guard who held his chains and looked around. It was spacious, and it had a nice workspace for the plants, an odd light fixture that had no actual light. He glanced around the cell, and listened as she explained the schedule to him, water in the mornings, a reduced dementor guard, a journal and a pen. Khaat was staring at him, but he couldn't meet her eyes. He didn't deserve all of this, but here he was... sitting in this double cell, a beautiful array of plants ready for him to take over their care. He smiled, it would be a thrill, taking a step towards the plants, he glanced back to see them all watching him. Gulping, he moved in front of the tables, and looked at the plants. Muggle, common, but useful, and challenging, it would be difficult getting them to accept the place they were growing in. It wasn't a very forgiving place, and disease ran rampart, along with weeds that clung to cell walls, and water that dripped down onto the prisoners constantly, so that it was always damp and cold, with a roaring wind outside at all times.

This room was a bit more insulated, so that the damp was kept out a bit better, no windows, but spacious, which helped, the cell door opened up into the hallway, with no one across from him. He had a feeling this part of the prison probably hadn't been used very much, but he could hear a few other people down the hallway aways. "They'll do.. it'll be a challenge, but they will do.." He said turning to look back at the people watching him. He lowered his eyes when he caught the look on Khaat's face. She was giving him a chance to prove himself.. he better not F it up. Nodding slightly he looked at the people assembled in his cell. "I'll try my best.." He said glancing down at the journal that lay on his bunk. "Thank you... all of you.." he said and lowered his gaze, to stare at his feet nervously. "For giving me a chance.. I do hope I can prove to you all that I've changed.. well, that I'm changing for the better.." he said hoarsely, his eyes still trained on the floor, so that he didn't have to see the shocked expressions on the other people's faces.

Azkaban prison had never truly stood up to the might of Nurmengard, or at least that was what Gellert had always thought, and really, the facts supported that train of thought.

Had anyone ever broken out of his prison? No. (Had he ever left anyone alive in his prison long enough for them to break out? No.) Did his prison rely on such crude and horrid creatures as Dementors? No. Really, his fortress, his prison, had been the strongest the Wizarding World had ever seen.

That didn't mean that Azkaban was something that one could just walk into, plans, consideration, and most of all subtlety were all strict requirements for any sort of heist which involved breaking in, and out of the Prison. So after a few hours of analysis with Sandra, Gellert had finally decided the best course of action, departing for the Island one late may morning in order to break out someone who he'd heard was sympathetic to his course.

Apparating to a point on the coast of the mainland Grindelwald mounted his broomstick and flew towards the Island, choosing to conserve his energy by flying conventionally, rather than showing off to the mindless Death Eaters.

He proceeded as planned, shooting off his patronus ahead of him in order to drive off the outer dementors, scaring the majority of them away from the outside of the island. The patronus, mixed in with daylight was bound to have the best effect on the prison's security. At least that was which he and Sandra had speculated.

Waving his wand as he drew nearer he blew a chunk out of the side of Azkaban, flying through the hole and dismounting his broom, running through the prison till he reached its core cells, reserved for the highest security inmates.

But Barker wasn't here.

Bugger.

Pression his wand to his throat he looked around, before cursing. "Felix Barker, your time has come, where are you?" He asked, his voice magically magnified.