Chapter 13: The Dementors Fatal Mistake:
Harry read the gloating letter from Voldemort and snarled crumpling it up and setting it on fire with just a thought. So the Dementors had defected from Azkaban and left the prison wide open and were now joined with Voldemort. Harry was not happy, not happy at all and he knew a certain lord was going to blame him for this mess he was sure of it. He rubbed his eyes and looked up as Severus came into the room and took a seat.
"Voldemort has the Dementors." Harry said coldly.
"Yes I thought he would do something like that." Severus replied, "you can destroy them?"
"Griphook says the metal mages have come up with a way to destroy the Dementors, but that is not my full worries here."
"Lord Azkaban."
"Yes him, he stays out of our affairs and did allow us one of his islands for the prison but I fear he might just be finished with us now." Harry said, "we need that prison even without the Dementors."
"I know, it is the most secure in this part of the world, even more so than Nurmengard and that is saying a lot." Harry sighed.
Azkaban was actually a chain of islands with Azkaban North, the isle that the prison was on the most northerly of them all and the most desolate. It was the size of another island Harry had read about, that of Alcatraz island with a prison that was far bigger. The other islands, all five of them were further south, on level with the lowlands of Scotland. They were from what Harry understood lush islands with a magical village on each and the city of Merlin on the largest island where the lord Azkaban ruled.
Most people would never meet the lord Azkaban, he had a small fiefdom of his own granted to him by king Arthur himself so long ago. For centuries the lords and some ladies had ruled the six isles and indeed the ministry of Great Britain was allowed the most northern of the isles where a vast fortress had been built long ago. It was enlarged and the last remaining Dementor clan was housed here to guard the prison. The knowledge to destroy them was lost over the ages and all one could do was contain them to a prison, hardly the best thing for prisoners as death was a far kinder thing. With Voldemort able to get the Dementors the lord Azkaban was not going to be happy at all.
"I wonder what else could possibly go wrong?" Harry growled.
"Don't tempt fate Potter!" Severus snarled then looked up as Remus came into his office with a very pale Percy Weasley and took a seat, "what did you do Percy?"
"Nothing, I got a letter from Azkaban sir." Percy said.
"Thought he would write me." Harry said and at that moment a coal black owl entered the room, landed on the desk and stuck out his leg at Harry. "Ah yes I was expecting this, than you my dear owl."
Harry read the letter with a thoughtful look, he was to be invited to the city of Merlin Azkaban palace to meet with lord Azkaban himself. The lord wanted to talk about new guards for the prison and since Harry was rumored to be friends with the goblins he wanted to meet with him. Harry walked to the fireplace, threw some floo powder on it and called for Sirius. In a moment Sirius came into the room and Harry handed him the letter, he was his guardian and he would do as Sirius asked, after all he was just a kid!
"So you think I should go?" Harry asked.
"If you don't Harry I will kick your arse!" Sirius said, "this is the lord Azkaban we are talking about.
"I will take that as a yes." Harry said.
"Good, let him know you will be there this weekend." Sirius said, "after all Azkaban prison does need real guards not demons."
"Agreed, Dementors are evil." Severus said. "Though Griphook has told Harry the goblin metal mages have found a way to get rid of them, though sadly they have not found out how to give certain inbreed Blacks brains."
"Shut it grease ball." Sirius snapped.
"If you two don't behave I will call mum!" Percy said.
The men shut up at once and turned on Percy who had a smirk on his face and it was clear he held all the cards right now. Harry grinned and called for tea loving to see his godfather and Severus at a loss for words.
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Harry stood up and brushed the dust off his robes and looked around in awe at where he had landed. He was on a high cliff that looked over a gray and choppy sea to the right of him and to the left were small mountains. He was on a path that led to the stone walls of the city of Merlin. Sirius whistled by him and Harry could not help but grin. He had heard of the lord of Azkaban, who had not? But he never expected to meet him as he was very reclusive and had been for ages. He walked up the cobblestone road to the gates of the city and showed the pass he had been given to the solder clad in green tunic, trousers, black boots and matching belt and large green cloak with hood over his head.
He bowed and spoke to a solder by him and soon enough several solders showed up to lead them to the palace on foot. They stepped through the gate and at Harry felt as if he had stepped back hundreds of years. The buildings were tall and made of whitewashed stone with red tiled roofs, the ground floors had shops more often than not, there was a sidewalk on each side made of concrete and a step down the cobblestone road, complete with gutters. The people were clad in woodland colors, very few bright colors could be seen here and some of the people looked strange, as if they were human but not fully. Harry did not have much time to think on this as they walked to the top of the city and the gray and white stone palace.
"Wow, this looks like it could have come out of Roman times!" Sirius said.
"Yea I saw the models in my histories classes in primary school." Harry replied. "Just hope I am ready for this."
"You are, you will do fine young mage." Came the gruff reply of the cloaked and hooded form of Griphook, "this will be fun."
"A person on my wave length." Sirius said grinning at the small goblin.
"As you wish human. Griphook said.
They came to the palace and walked past the guards up the stone path to the magnificent structure and into the building. They turned right and walked into the magnificent great hall with its carved black marble pillars, large windows that showed both the sea and flying buttresses that helped hold up the Gothic arch of the ceiling making Harry feel as if he were in church. At the head of the room sat a thin man clad in robes of dark purple with a red skull cap that covered all of his head but for his pale face with neatly trimmed beard. Two solders, both men stood on both sides of him while a young female solder was talking with him. She was clad much the same as the men but with a long green skirt instead of trousers. Behind the seated man was a large banner with a Thestral on a red background with black trim, the coat of arms of the lord of Azkaban.
"Welcome Harry Potter, Sirius Black and goblin Griphook." The man said, "I am Marcus Caius Azkaban."
"I am honored to meet you." Harry said bowing.
"As I am." Sirius replied.
"Good as you are aware we have several problems with the defection of the Dementors." Marcus said, "I was wondering, well I can afford to pay of course…"
"You want us to guard the prison." Griphook said, "clever to have Harry Potter come to appeal to us but I am afraid you might not be able to pay what we want, no human ever is."
"I am, what is it you wish?" Marcus said a keen light in his eyes.
"Respect, and protection from purges." Griphook said.
"Granted, I hold no love for others that see creatures such as yourself as nothing more than scum. You are honorable and good and I for one will help." Marcus said, "I too know the prophecy and who is to stand in the way of that?"
"Very well my lord Azkaban, what do you wish for me to do?" Griphook asked.
The next day was spent working out what was needed to do to get the goblins in place around the prison and set at trap for Voldemort when he came for those locked up inside. No longer would goblins be neutral, they had a strong moral code, but instead of staying out of things as they would have in the past they were going to side with the side of freedom and right. After all this was their world too and they had a right to fight for it, the prophecy was the perfect excuse to do so.
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So yea I know that the whole lord Azkaban thing has been done. But it was always Harry as the lord, I wanted to have someone else in charge of Azkaban that was not Harry. He is still a mysterious man and knows things he seemingly should not. How he does is a mystery and he will stay a bit mysterious as I don't intend on making him a main character, just part of the plot to make Voldemort fail yet again.