"I'm hiding down here just like you, what can I see!"
Gall replied irritably, taking another glance at the distant sea, just in time to see a shark swimming past the side of the boat. He withdrew his head with lingering fear.
"In any case... it must have been a powerful wizard, and an Animagus... I saw a bird fly out of the sea."
"What kind of bird?" Lockhart asked again.
"An eagle, maybe," Gall speculated.
He didn't know much about birds.
The two fell silent for a moment, looking at each other.
"Peter is dead, what do we do?"
...
The scene where Lockhart seized a magic wand and escaped from his cell was naturally witnessed by the surrounding prisoners, and they all clamored for him to release them as well.
However, during his time in prison, aside from the patroling Dementors sucking away his happiness and plunging him into sadness and despair, Lockhart was also often bullied and insulted by other inmates.
The halo of his appearance and fame didn't bring him any benefits in this morally low place; instead, it landed him at the very bottom of the hierarchy.
Therefore, after escaping, not only did Lockhart not rescue his fellow inmates, but he also cast the Forgetfulness Spell on them one by one.
With the strength of his spells, he ensured that those guys would spend the rest of their lives as empty-headed idiots.
Then Gall, from the cell opposite, called out to him.
Gall was also considered a relatively minor offender. He was a Vampire and knew a bit of magic.
He was witnessed using magic to steal from a Muggle hospital's blood bank, committed theft, and violated the Confidentiality Law, resulting in him being sent to Azkaban.
Lockhart hadn't intended to release him, but Gall changed his mind with a single sentence—
"You can escape the cell, but do you know how to deal with Dementors?"
Lockhart thought he could use the Patronus Charm, so he let him out.
In reality, Gall couldn't perform such an advanced spell as the Patronus Charm; he hadn't even gone to school.
In the face of Dementors, his only method was to transform into a large bat and slam into the Dementors to knock them away.
—These creatures that feed on positive human emotions become somewhat clumsy when faced with simple-minded animals.
However, after crashing into three Dementors in a row, Gall was so depressed he almost turned into a mushroom, so Lockhart had to carry the dispirited large bat on his back to escape.
In their frantic escape, they encountered Peter Pettigrew, who was held in a specially constructed prison.
Peter's news had occupied the front page for some time, and both Lockhart and Gall recognized this famous traitor, a loyal subordinate of the Dark Lord.
At that moment, Peter was pacing in his cell. Upon seeing the two, his beady eyes lit up instantly. He rushed to the front, grabbed the iron bars, and said, "Help me! Get me out!"
His cell had windows with only small squares, allowing just a finger to poke through, and food had to be delivered through a specially designed thin tube.
The floor and walls shone with a metallic sheen, narrow and cramped, appearing incredibly sturdy.
This cell's facilities ensured that Peter couldn't dig a hole to escape even if he turned into a rat, but as a consequence, he lived in unbearable misery.
Seeing that Lockhart and Gall had no intention of unlocking the door, Peter pressed his face tightly against the bars and shouted:
"Even if you escape, you're still fugitives! Except for... except for the Dark Lord, who else can protect you? Dumbledore?"
...
In any case, they eventually became a group of three.
Peter wanted to release more prisoners, but most of the short-term inmates declined themselves.
By not escaping, they could return to normal society after a little while; if they attempted to escape and were caught again, they feared receiving a Dementor's Kiss.
Moreover, whether they could escape was another question.
Azkaban was in the vast ocean, and no one had ever escaped before.
As for the long-term prisoners, they were almost all muddled by the Dementors, and some were even completely insane, making it impossible for them to become a help, being more of a hindrance instead.
Gall suggested that Peter should find his old companions—
Everyone knew there was a section in Azkaban that held the Death Eaters for life imprisonment. Those lunatics were already mad before they were incarcerated, and after more than a decade, they hadn't lost their minds completely.
Peter turned pale with fright and firmly rejected this crazy proposal.
The people he feared the most now weren't Voldemort or Dumbledore, but his former Death Eater companions.
Especially the most loyal ones... they knew it was Peter who passed information to Voldemort and that their master vanished after that.
In the eyes of some, the culprit for the Dark Lord's disappearance was Peter Pettigrew.
For example, Bellatrix...
If she were released, Peter had no doubt that that mad woman would subject him to a dozen Crucio curses first, or perhaps even kill him outright.
Only by finding the Dark Lord, and under his protection, would Peter dare to meet those crazy "comrades."
He painted a rosy picture for Lockhart and Gall—by helping the Dark Lord rise again, they wouldn't just no longer be criminals, but they would regain power, wealth, and fame!
The Dark Lord was never stingy with his subordinates!
And so the three of them began their escape.
Both Peter and Gall could turn into animals—a rat that could easily hide and a bat that could fly, making them almost invisible to the Dementors.
Lockhart had no affinity for Animagus, but it turned out his Forgetfulness Spell worked on Dementors too.
Hit by the spell, the Dementors forgot what they were supposed to do and stood blankly for a few minutes, letting the trio escape from the magic world's deadliest place unharmed.
The vast sea made swimming back impossible. Fortunately, Gall could fly, and he soon found a nearby fishing boat...
Unfortunately, their luck seemed to end there.
"Peter is dead, what do we do?" Lockhart asked.
The one who promised to take them to the Dark Lord was dead; Lockhart immediately felt lost, not knowing where to go.
"Let's think about surviving in Muggle society first."
Gall thought for a while before saying bitterly, "The city is so big, the Ministry of Magic will have a hard time finding us... but we can't use magic casually and might need to find a regular job..."
Lockhart deeply missed his fans and his best-selling books, but at this moment, he had no other choice and could only go along with Gall's plan.
The two of them devoured the fishermen's dinner, wolfing down the food until they were full.
"What about these fishermen? Throw them into the sea?" Lockhart asked.
"No, if they stay, they can help cover for us. Just use the Forgetfulness Spell to make them forget they ever saw us," Gall said worriedly. "Otherwise, what if that assassin comes back..."
The two shivered in unison, extremely frightened.
After making their decision, they crawled back into the cabin to hide, drifting towards an unknown future with that old fishing boat.