diff --git a/_prctlmodule.c b/_prctlmodule.c
index f930953..c57ccd4 100644
--- a/_prctlmodule.c
+++ b/_prctlmodule.c
@@ -426,9 +426,8 @@ prctl_prctl(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
  * encoded copy of it. We try to find the real one by going back from the start
  * of environ.
  */
-static char * encode(wchar_t *wstr) {
+static PyObject * encode(wchar_t *wstr) {
     PyObject *unicodestr = NULL, *bytesstr = NULL;
-    char *str = NULL;
 
     unicodestr = PyUnicode_FromWideChar(wstr, -1);
     if(!unicodestr) {
@@ -443,16 +442,15 @@ static char * encode(wchar_t *wstr) {
         return NULL;
     }
 
-    str = PyBytes_AsString(bytesstr);
     Py_XDECREF(unicodestr);
-    Py_XDECREF(bytesstr);
-    return str;
+    return bytesstr;
 }
 
 static int _Py_GetArgcArgv(int* argc, char ***argv) {
     int i = 0;
     wchar_t **argv_w;
     char **buf = NULL , *arg0 = NULL, *ptr = 0, *limit = NULL;
+    PyObject *bytesstr = NULL;
 
     Py_GetArgcArgv(argc, &argv_w);
     if (*argc < 1 || argv_w == NULL) {
@@ -476,17 +474,20 @@ static int _Py_GetArgcArgv(int* argc, char ***argv) {
     }
 
     /* Now try to find argv[0] */
-    arg0 = encode(argv_w[0]);
+    bytesstr = encode(argv_w[0]);
+    arg0 = PyBytes_AsString(bytesstr);
     if(!arg0) {
         free(buf);
         return 0;
     }
     ptr -= strlen(arg0);
     if(strcmp(ptr, arg0)) {
+        Py_XDECREF(bytesstr);
         free(buf);
         return 0;
     }
 
+    Py_XDECREF(bytesstr);
     buf[0] = ptr;
     *argv = buf;
     return 1;