Azkaban

**Azkaban**, located on the island of the same name, is the main prison of Wizarding Britain, as well as the home of the Dementors.

## Layout

Azkaban consists of a solitary tower on a small island in the North Sea, halfway between the Orkney and Shetland Islands. To enter Azkaban one must Apparate or take a Portkey to Seabase Acheron, just outside Azkaban's wards, followed by passing through Thief's Downfall, where visitors are drenched with a potion that detects Imperiuses, illusions, or Polyjuice potion. This is followed by an hour of waiting to confirm that there truly is no Polyjuice, along with a search of belongings. Finally, visitors pass through Thief's Downfall a second time and are subject to a strip search.

Azkaban's tower is fifteen stories tall. The center of the tower contains a circular hole, roughly fifteen feet across, which cuts through the entire tower and allows for communication between the warden and the Dementors. The levels themselves are connected by a rusty old lift. The Maximum Security Wing is located on the tenth level, containing twenty cells of which twelve were occupied in the summer of 1993.

## Personnel & Inmates

Azkaban's current personnal:

* Warden Matthias Stark
* Abernathy (no first name given)
* Brown (no first name given)

* Dementor guards

Current inmates of Azkaban:

* Antonin Dolohov (Death Eater, imprisoned in 1981)
* Mulciber (Death Eater, imprisoned after an anonymous tip by Peter Pettigrew)
* Avery (Death Eater, either imprisoned in Azkaban or dead)
* A son of Uriah Travers (Death Eater, imprisoned in 1981)
* Fenrir Greyback (Werewolf, imprisoned in 1994)
* Stavros Skorzeny (Werewolf, imprisoned in 1994)
* Two unnamed werewolves (Imprisoned in 1994)

Former inmates:

* Jocasta Flint (Aspiring Dark Lord, imprisoned circa 1924, died sometime before 1991)
* Linnea Wilkes (Death Eater, imprisoned in 1981, died in 1982)
* Berith Selwyn (Death Eater, imprisoned in 1981, committed suicide in 1981)
* Barty Crouch Junior (Death Eater, imprisoned in 1981, death faked sometime after 1981)
* Augustus Rookwood (Death Eater, imprisoned in 1981, broken out in 1993, escaped recapture in 1994)
* Bellatrix Lestrange (Death Eater, imprisoned in 1981, broken out in 1993, death faked in early 1994 (official death date is in december of 1993))
* Sirius Black (falsely conviced as a Death Eater in 1981, broken out in 1993, pardoned in 1994)
* Rodolphus Lestrange (Death Eater, imprisoned in 1981, broken out in 1993, recaptured after suffering Personality Death in 1994)
* Rabastan Lestrange (Death Eater, imprisoned in 1981, broken out in 1993, recaptured after suffering Personality Death in 1994)

## History

### Origins

The island of Azkaban was raised from the sea by the Dark Lord Emeric the Evil, who raised a great tower there for an unknown purpose. Emeric's tower was never discovered by his foes, and after his fall it fell into the hands of his apprentice Ekrisdis, who performed foul experiments on captured sailors for nearly a century before dying of old age. His protective charms remained in place for nearly twenty years and making the island visible for the first time in it's history, leaving it to be discovered by Muggle sailors in 1443. The Wizengamot ordered teams of wizards to the island to purge it of Ekrisdis's experiments. They were largely succesful, but many wizards lost their lives in the attempt and many others later took their own lives rather than live with the knowledge of what they had seen, and they were unable to root out Azkaban's greatest horror. The deep caverns and tunnels beneath the tower contained a nightmarish sight: a nest of hundreds of Dementors, a creature that had, up until that point, never been spotted in packs of greater than five.

Unable to drive out the dementors, the Wizengamot withdrew, casting powerful wards and Notice-Me-Not Charms over Azkaban. Hidden from view once more by wizards, Azkaban remained unused and unvisited, despite the occasional Dementor wandering away from the island to plague the mainland, until the International Statute of Secrecy of 1692 brought with it a sudden need for a Wizarding prison. These two problems continued until 1718, when Minister for Magic Damocles Rowle devised the Treaty of Azkaban.

### Treaty of Azkaban

In 1718 Minister Rowle somehow managed to communicate with the Dementors, and brokered the Treat of Azkaban.

The exact terms of the Treaty of Azkaban remain classified, but the general terms are commonly known.

* The tower of Azkaban was to become the main prison for Wizarding Britain, staffed by Dementor guards, Aurors, and DMLE personnel
* The Dementor guards are bound to Azkaban
* The Dementor guards would be allowed to feed on the inmates, but not to Kiss them
* Every wizard or witch convicted of treason, murder, rape, terrorism, or assault on the person of a member of the Wizengamot or their families would be sentenced to Azkaban
* Every wizard or witch convicted for a lesser offence for a second time would be sentenced to Azkaban
* Every wizard or witch who attempted escape from a Ministry holding cell would be sentenced to Azkaban
* Every wizard or witch who attempted escape from Azkaban would be sentenced to a Dementor's Kiss
* Underage wizards and witches most likely cannot be imprisoned in Azkaban, as the thirteen-year-old Rubeus Hagrid was deemed too young for Azkaban, although this rule may not be set in stone, as Albus Dumbledore feared an Azkaban sentence for Ron Weasley after his possession by Tom Riddle
* Giving a dark artifact to a minor is punishable by three to five years in Azkaban
* Unsanctioned use of Fiendfyre can lead to imprisonment in Azkaban
* Use of an Unforgivable Curse will result in a life sentence in Azkaban

There are also three additional terms, known only to high-ranking members of the Ministry

* The Dementors have the right to fly to the British Mainland to pursue an escaped prisoner to administer the Kiss
* The Ministry is obligated to ensure a minimum number of magical inmates for the Dementors to feed upon, which at times had led the Ministry to heighten the severity of a judicial punishment, and has even led to the imprisonment of innocents
* If the number inmates remains below the minimum for one year and one the day the Treaty of Azkaban will become null and void, and the Dementors will no longer be bound to the Isle of Azkaban

Practitioners of Wild Magic are not imprisoned in Azkaban, but are instead flung through the Veil of Death.

### Post-Treaty

Troughout it's history Azkaban has had many wardens, none of whom (until Matthias Stark) lasted more than five years, and seven of whom committed suicide.

When Rubeus Hagrid was revealed to have been raising an Acromantula at school, Armando Dippet told him he was lucky to only be expelled, as at thirteen he was too young to be imprisoned in Azkaban.

Shortly after the death of Minister Nobby Leach, Alexander McAvity was forced to flee the country when his political opponents created several trumped up charges that would have sent him to Azkaban.

Linnea Wilkes died in Azkaban in mid-1982, a week before her daughter's first birthday.

### Book 2 - The Secret Enemy

Regulus Black comes to Hogwarts disguised as Gilderoy Lockhart, taking the first steps in his plans to break Sirius out of Azkaban.

## References

Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 89 - Azkaban,

After several weeks of planning the Azkaban Breakout is set in motion.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 57 - The Boggart (Pt 2),

"The Death Eater Antonin Dolohov... ...currently serving a life-sentence in Azkaban.".
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 128 - Redux (Pt 2),

The Azkaban crisis is ended by the incarceration of Fenrir Greyback and three of his packmates.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 48 - Ginny's Day (Pt 1),

Ginny learns the recent history of House Wilkes.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 89 - Azkaban,

A brief history of Azkaban is given.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 61 - Post-Game Developments,

"...to Headmaster Dippet, who was only too happy to summarily expel him and tell him he was lucky that at the age of thirteen even an "abomination" like him was too young for Azkaban.".
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 78 - The Riddle of the Diary,

"Perhaps even Azkaban, depending on how the Wizengamot chose to treat a minor who committed crimes while claiming to be possessed. ".
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 62 - Meet Peter Pettigrew,

"Worst case scenario: They have me prosecuted for giving a dark artifact to a minor. Disbarment plus three to five in Azkaban.".
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 73 - The Final Lesson of Gilderoy Lockhart,

"It was considered very dark and almost always led to a stretch in Azkaban unless used for some legitimate purpose...".
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 79 - Meet Regulus Black,

"...unless Walburga wanted to spend the rest of her life in Azkaban for using an Unforgivable Curse. ".
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 89 - Azkaban,

The Treaty of Azkaban.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 43 - The Birthday Party (Pt 2),

Countess Zabini warns Harry of the consequences of researching Wild Magic.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 57 - The Boggart (Pt 2),

Lockhart gives a lecture on Dark Lords.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 79 - Meet Regulus Black,

Harry and Lucius meet Regulus.