Hi Guys,

I know, I know - there are lots of Azkaban stories out there.

But are there any good ones? Maybe rather new ones that do not just consist of all these clichees we know all to well? Just name some Azkaban stories that you think are still worth reading!

Maybe - is there ANY story at all where Harry is JUSTLY thrown into Azkaban? A story where he really acts wrongly - and learns out of his mistakes, becomes a great leader, whatever?

For example, a very unique Azkaban story would be Lens of Sanity's - there, all the clichees are worked through so very fast, that one does not even notice.

 

I'd like to add a question for some discussion here: what about Azkaban stories has made them so popular?

To OP: Not the best match to what you're looking for, but KMFrank's 'Escape from Darkness' is an excellent story about an imprisoned Harry.

 

Elizium for the Sleepless Souls, by Voice of the Nephilim, isn't an Azkaban story in the usual sense, but it is thoroughly excellent, and certainly does something different with the idea of an imprisoned Harry. Go read it.

 

I think it's one of those guilty pleasure things, Palindrome. Which is why a "justly in azkaban" fic isn't really the same. It's the idea that you have been wronged by people and you take your revenge on all of them. Everyone wishes they could pay back everyone who has done them wrong but there's all that law and order shit that gets in the way. And not being an all-powerful wizard. That's why so many of those fics also have Harry become a Super-Wizard so that nobody can stop him from taking his justified revenge.

 

As justbrowsing said, plus considering how horridly the prison is portrayed, it serves as a quick and easy way to make a darker and crazier Harry seem somewhat plausible. Which, I suppose, also feeds into the wish fulfilment part - everyone wants an excuse to just go insane at some point or another in their life.

 

I wrote a story like that for last year's Azkaban contest. Harry's political assassination backfires, and he lands in Azkaban for 500 years.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7613015/1/You-Can-t-Take-The-Sky-From-Me

 

The thing about Azkaban that I find objectionable is that most all of the Azkaban stories tend to be the same: Lock someone up. Stick a Dementor nearby. Make their lives shit. Have the character do the "woe is me" thing for a half dozen chapters, then let them out to deal with folks who can never appreciate what they've been through, who fall over themselves to apologize for something they can't fathom. Meh.

What I'd like to see someday (and I started a story of this type once) is one where where solitary confinement with Dementors to torment is the exception, not the rule. There's only so much that can be said when putting people in cells and then leaving them there. All the great prison films (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Coolhand Luke, hell, even Malcolm X or Longest Yard) had a genuine and interesting prison culture beyond "stick folks in a box and make 'em suffer." Better is to force Hermione into a position of desperation, giving handjobs for favors--one of them being "Don't stick me in a cell with Bellatrix as you and your buddies watch her physically and sexually abuse me."

Take someone as ruthless and borderline sociopathic as canon Hermione, temper her with six years of magical hell, and you have the makings for a Dark Lady that would make Voldemort look tame.

 

Why yes, I would indeed read the shit out of this.

 

Since we are talking about this... y u no update?

 

To actually answer the request...

Control is decent.
Fugitives of Azkaban is very good.

Those, and Elizium, are probably the only readable Azkaban stories out there (and only Fugitives really fits the theme).

 

Are you still working on that story? I really enjoyed the first chapter and was hoping for it to get finished.

 

I very very vaguely recall reading a story where Harry gathered his friends to help him infiltrating Azkaban Ocean 11 style so he could kidnap a prisoner. I vaguely remember that making more sense in context.

...I can't remember absolutely anything else about the story though, but I remember liking it and thinking it was well written. If anybody knows what story that is, I'd definitely recommend it.

 

So you want a story where Harry learns some big secret of the world while being locked in Azkaban, while being actually guilty? Don't think you will have much luck that.

For a Azkaban!Harry story without angst you have 2 choices either Super!Harry like Do Not Meddle In The Affairs Of Wizards, but those type of stories have a lot of "showing everyone the error of their ways", which is just a different type of angst. Or you can go with all of the Count of Monte Cristo knockoffs, with Escape to Darkness being the best one.

For Harry who is justly imprisoned your best of looking to the crossovers where he is banished from the wizarding world. With the first one coming to mind being Star Empire and all the other versions that the author has posted. They are OK stories if you ignore the clear mental problems the author has when it comes to rape.

P.S. As long as we are talking about azkaban fics. Can anyone remember the name of the one shot where Harry is thrown into azkaban by Fudge, only to be rescued by Dumbledore a couple of hours later? But when Dumbledore comes Harry acts like the typical azkaban!harry. One scene that stuck in mind was Harry having rub on tattoos, that he got from animal cracker packets the warden gave him.

 

I'm sure those little giraffes were intimidating.

 

This sounds more like a parody of an Azkaban!Harry fic. Not that I wouldn't be up for something like that, if it was done well.

 

My memories are fuzzy, but is this an Azkaban!Harry story?

IIRC it is one of Blot's Odd Ideas. Look it up.

 

Not as such, no. It's not even Harry-centric, really. It focuses a lot more on Hermione, who first tries to decode the eponymous cipher that Harry created while in a Ministry holding cell (not in Azkaban, I'm pretty sure). After that, spoiler stuff happens, but the rest basically revolved around how Harry turned pure evil all out of nowhere. It was still a pretty good read though - my hazy recollections give it a 4/5, if not better.

 

Sounds like "the prisoner's cipher" which can be found both in the library and in the wba. hasn't been updated in awhile though, and wasn't really to my tastes.

 

I thought it was complete? Eh, I'm too busy with finals to dive into a lengthy fic right now anyway.

 

As soon as I saw this thread, I thought Prisoner's Cipher. WbA Thread.

I'm usually not a fan of evil!Harry fics, but I loved that. It's not just that Harry is evil, but somehow you get the feeling it's in such a deep and fundamental way rather than him just turning around and wanting revenge on everyone.

It wasn't quite out of nowhere.

Spoiler

IIRC, it was because he did such fundamentally dark magic (for an arguably good reason) - necromancy - and that fucked with his soul.

It's only 40,000 words on FFN, with an extra part of a chapter in WbA.