"Let's go in."
Albert gave the raging sea of fire one last glance, tapped his temple with his index finger, cast a Head-on Charm on himself, then waved his wand to summon his Patronus again. After driving off the Dementors that Cedric and the others had been struggling to hold back, he turned and walked straight through the door behind him.
This ancient fortress had been expanded with the Undetectable Extension Charm more than once. When Albert entered Azkaban through the main gate, he had the illusion that he had just stepped onto Platform 9 3/4. What lay before him was not a cramped room, but a dim, cold, damp corridor.
Though braziers stood every few dozen feet along the corridor, they burned with deep-blue magical flames that gave off no heat.
Albert narrowed his eyes and used the light from the braziers to examine the cells around him. He suddenly understood why Hagrid had been so afraid of this place.
If hell existed in this world, it had to be Azkaban.
"Ugh, what is that smell?"
"Damn it, do they use Trolls as prison guards?"
The people entering behind him began cursing under their breaths. They had clearly forgotten Albert's warning and failed to cast Bubble-Head Charms to isolate themselves from the outside air. Faced with Azkaban's appalling conditions, they immediately felt physically sick.
There was nothing to be done about it. Dementors could not smell foul odors, so naturally they did not care about Azkaban's dreadful sanitation.
There had not been many prisoners in the past, so even if the conditions were terrible, they had only been so bad. But ever since the Death Eaters began cramming people into Azkaban like mad, the sanitation in this wizarding prison had deteriorated rapidly.
This wizarding prison had originally been a