Chapter Twenty-One

Azkaban Fortress

Sunday 2 July

… - …

Sunday morning, the three residents of the Bones household finally were able to sit down and have a meal together. As Smidgen was clearing the plates, Amelia looked at the two teens and inquired, "What are your plans for the week?"

Susan looked at Harry and began; "I told Hannah that I'd stay with her on Monday night. Tuesday afternoon, we're going to see Mr. Ollivander. Wednesday afternoon, we're having Hermione over for a swim and maybe dinner. Thursday afternoon, we were thinking of asking Neville Longbottom and Hannah over, and Friday, we're going to start on our summer homework."

Surprised at the homework comment, Amelia nodded and inquired, "How about you, Harry?"

Harry replied, "Mad-Eye is staying at Hogwarts for the summer. He offered to give me defense lessons in…" Feeling the jab in his ribs, he corrected himself, "in the mornings, and he specifically mentioned that Susan is welcome to go too if she wanted."

Amelia nodded, but didn't reply. She wasn't sure how she felt about her teens preparing to go fight a war, and then realized that by any definition, one was already a veteran and the other would follow him to Hell itself, if he asked.

Harry added, "He said he had someone to visit on Monday, but we could start on Tuesday. Could you make us some more popsicle stick portkeys?"

Smiling, Amelia replied, "Of course, my dears."

Harry had a far away look on his face and Amelia inquired, "What is it?"

Harry replied, "I was reading about setting up anti-apparation wards a few weeks ago. Could you carry one of the sticks with you… In case something… I don't know how I would have escaped without… I don't know how to thank…"

Susan had her arms around him in an instant. This was the moment that both women had been waiting for. Harry had never really talked about the utter violence or sheer terror with either of them. For several minutes, the three of them just held each other in comfortable silence.

Finally Amelia agreed, saying, "If you two each carry one, I'll be sure and carry one too. Okay?"

Happy with the hugs, Harry asked, "What do you have planned for your week?"

Amelia replied, "The Sirius Black hearing is scheduled for Monday morning at ten. Depending on the outcome, there will be a follow-on sentencing hearing, restitution offer, or both."

Susan knew how much Harry was emotionally invested with his godfather and asked, "How could there be both?"

Knowing that the conversation could go very badly, Amelia chose her words carefully. "Say, for the sake of discussion that Mr. Black had nothing what-so-ever to do with the deaths of your parents. Okay?"

Susan nodded, whereas Harry wanted to scream, 'Of course he didn't. He's innocent.'

Please to hear no outburst, she continued, "Say, for the sake of discussion, that it can be proven that Pettigrew's alive and Mr. Black had nothing to do with the deaths of those twelve bystanders in London in 1981. Okay?"

The two teens each nodded.

Amelia continued, I'm ninety percent certain that the Wizengamot can be convinced of those two things – especially since Burke, Bletchley and Rowe are residing in the holding cells." She looked at Harry and continued, "That said, escaping from prison is illegal."

Susan burst, "You can't escape from prison if you were never sentenced."

Amelia smiled. "Well spotted, Susie. That is the argument that will be presented."

"How can I help?" inquired Harry.

She replied, "I'd rather not put you or Ron on the witness stand. You're too close to him to appear unbiased, and I don't want your testimony about the night in the graveyard to get completely off track in any cross-examination. Huntsbury, the prosecutor doesn't like to lose. As for Ron, I'd prefer that the entire Weasley family stay as far away from any of the courtrooms as possible. That said, Hermione Granger's parents have consented to allow her to testify and submit a memory from that night in the Shrieking Shack."

Seeing Harry's relief, she concluded, saying, "When all is said and done, the only crime that I believe him guilty of is failing to register as an animagus, which is on the books as a five thousand galleon fine."

Harry blurted, "I'll pay it."

Amelia smiled at the two teens and replied, "If it comes to that, I'll be certain to mention your offer to Mr. Black."

… - …

At Hogwarts the next morning at breakfast, McGonagall remarked, "Indeed this is a treat Alastor. I cannot remember having breakfast during the summer with a returning Defense Professor. What are your plans for the summer?"

Moody replied, "Most days, I'm giving defense lessons to Harry in the mornings. Amelia's niece, Susan will be coming here too."

McGonagall considered her words and replied, "That's highly unusual."

Moody replied, "So's having a prophecy stating that he's the one destined to do battle with that snake-faced bastard."

"Professor Moody!" gasped McGonagall.

"Getting up, Moody cut off any rebuttal, stating, "I've got people to see today. Potter and Bones will be here from nine until noon, most Mondays through Fridays. We need to help him out." That said, he walked away from the table.

… - …

As Moody offended McGonagall and Flitwick watched in amusement, back at Minehead, Riddle and Crouch were finalizing their plans to invade Azkaban. Riddle knew that most of the prisoners sent to Azkaban died within the first five years. Between the poor food, lack of sanitation, lack of sunlight and the debilitating effects of the dementors, a ten-year sentence was literally a death sentence for ¾ of the inmates. That said, there was no guarantee that the six Death Eaters that he was truly interested in reclaiming – the Lestranges, Dolohov, Mulciber and Rookwood, would be living, able to walk or sane after twelve years. Riddle felt that in able to quickly advance his plans, he needed them enough to risk the loss of an equal number of his other followers. He had faith in the tenacity of his most faithful followers. He was willing to take the chance.

Voldemort announced, "Grayback, Mrs. Flint, Mrs. Parkinson and Michael Bullstrode can cause two minutes of havoc in the ministry lobby. That will keep the Aurors in London while we liberate my other faithful followers from Azkaban."

"Perhaps Peter can accompany them and see if he could retrieve your wand," suggested Crouch.

Again, weighing the risk against the reward, Voldemort replied, "An excellent idea. They'll meet at the Edgecombe house at 10:55 to use her employee floo connection. They shall escape, either from the visitor entrance or the public floo connection and disburse."

"Sixteen of us will break down the gates of Azkaban. There should be between four and six human guards there. With the diversion at the ministry and Black's trial, the Aurors will be hesitant to commit reinforcements to assist the Azkaban guards. The dementors will not block our way. In fact; they may once again assist us. The others should be here in a half hour. By nightfall, news of the break-out will have reached the public and the ministry should be near collapse."

He thought for a moment and added, "Advise Wormtail of his new assignment. Also, let me know when Lucius arrives. I have an additional task for him to perform."

… - …

Sirius Black looked at himself in the mirror at his room at the Tower Bridge Hilton hotel. The last few days had been very therapeutic for him. Cleaned up, fed, hair cut and wearing a new set of robes and shoes – he felt like a new man. At half nine, there was the expected knock on his door. As described in the phone call that he'd received, the two investigators were present. They produced proper identification and announced, "Mr. Black, I'm Investigator Anna Daily and this is Senior Investigator, Connie Hammer. Are you ready?"

Sirius looked at the two women for a moment and with a hint of a smile replied, "Yes, Investigator Daily. Please lead the way."

… - …

Penny Parkinson and her lifelong friend Michelle Flint were in the last place that they wanted to be. Their husbands barely settled in their graves; they had been left penniless by the Dark Lord. For years, they had heard that widows and survivors had been well taken care of – in some cases, made millionaires through their service to the cause. They had received nothing.

As it stood, Penny would be hard pressed to afford the tuition for her daughter, Pansy in the next term. Silently, she cursed the day that she and her Timothy had taken that monster's brand.

… - …

Arriving at the designated spot, the old man carefully set the one set of equipment on the table. He poured himself a small glass of Ogden's and drained it in one satisfying swallow. Minutes later, he checked his watch again, took a less satisfying gulp from his hipflask and waited. At 9:58 he put on the auror ring that would circumvent the anti-portkey ward and snapped the Popsicle stick. A moment later, the Shrieking Shack was empty.

… - …

"Will the defendant please rise?"

Sirius and his solicitor, Bill Gray stood side by side – at least as well as a man can stand, chained to a magical chair in courtroom ten.

Augusta Longbottom stood and faced the two men. She had been surprised to be asked to stand in for Amelia's behalf for such a high-visibility hearing, but was always glad to help out, as she was able. Instead, Augusta saw Amelia seated in her Wizengamot seat, presumably so she could vote instead.

Longbottom began, "Mr. Black, you stand accused of aiding in the deaths of Lily and James Potter. How do you plead?"

In a clear voice, Sirius responded, "Not guilty."

"You are also accused of murdering Peter Pettigrew. How do you plead?"

"Not guilty."

"Additionally, you are accused of being responsible for the deaths of twelve muggles. How do you plead?"

"Not guilty."

"Normally, you would have been accused of escaping from Azkaban Fortress. However, it was pointed out to me that you were never formally sentenced. As such, that charge shall be dropped."

Black nodded his head in acknowledgement, while Huntsbury scowled.

In a somewhat indulgent voice, Longbottem added, "Finally, you have been accused of failing to follow proper paperwork."

Mr. Gray responded, "If it will please the court, Mr. Black was previously unavailable to file the proper form and pay the necessary fee. I filed it on his behalf on Saturday. Here is the completed form and receipt."

Huntsbury, the prosecutor did not look pleased.

… - …

Moody, dressed in Auror robes, wearing his Auror ring and looking like a supposedly long-deceased Barty Crouch Junior had no trouble navigating around the island fortress prison. On a normal day, with a full staff of six , it was unlikely that he would run across any other human guard. To that point, except for the once-every-six-hour walk-throughs, which were performed at twelve and six o'clock, they mostly stayed in the guard's office and let the dementors roam the island.

Moody went to the third floor.

… - …

Black's Solicitor Bill Gray went through the defense evidence at a moderate pace. Huntsbury didn't have much of a case, since the two primary ministry employees involved with the case – Fudge and Crouch were dead and all of the witnesses had been obliviated. The only other person who could have added testimony for the ministry – Dumbledore, was also dead. While it had long become accepted as fact that Black was guilty, there was very little actual evidence. There was no record of Black's wand ever having been checked for previously cast spells, and it had apparently been destroyed a year ago in an act of vandalism.

The memories provided by Potter and the Granger girl, along with her testimony, convincingly established the survival of a supposedly long-dead Pettigrew. Potter's graveyard memory, corroborated by the evidence previously collected by Daily and Hammer, refuted the notion of Pettigrew as being an upstanding citizen.

Black's pensieve memory of Pettigrew blasting the street open, accidentally hitting a gas line and blowing a large hole in the street, negated the final charge.

With Hermione's parents watching in rapt attention from the visitor gallery, the Wizengamot members had just pronounced him not guilty and were moving on to the restitutions part of the hearing when the lockdown bell rang.

… - …

Eric the guard was chatting up an attractive twenty-something witch, who had stopped by his desk to ask where the forms office was located when the employee floo grates came to life and five people stepped through. Three were wearing Death Eater masks. Munch immediately picked up the side-by-side shotgun and fired just as he was hit with Greyback's killing curse. Two of the three masked Death Eaters fell. Greyback growled, "I'll hold this space for three minutes. Go."

As Pettigrew ran towards the display case, Finrir could smell the blood from the two women. Neither were likely to survive and the old werewolf wasn't going to risk his own safety to tend to them. He fired off another killing curse at two teens, who were unlucky enough to have just passed their apparation test. One fell, while her friend ran back to the lifts, screaming as loudly as she could.

… - …

Back at Azkaban Fortress. In the last twenty minutes, Moody had methodically visited death on the three Lestranges, Dolohov and Mulciber. He was just looking for Augustus Rookwood when the lockdown Klaxon sounded.

Moody was certain that no human had seen him. Thus, the only other reason that the lockdown alarm would be sounded was that someone else was attacking the fortress. The old Auror could only think of one group that would attempt a prison break – Death Eaters.

Moody made a quick decision and fired off a spell.

… - …

Peter Pettigrew could hardly believe his eyes. On the same wall, in the same repaired display case, was his master's wand. The only things that were different about the case were the photos that Anna had taken from Potter's pensieve memory and their investigation of the graveyard. He glanced for a moment at the photo of The Dark Lord's severed hand and gave an involuntary shiver.

Recalling Greyback's promise of three minutes, Pettigrew smashed the glass and pocketed the wand. He ran as fast as he could back towards the lobby, when he was hit in the back with a stunner.

… - …

Third year Auror Trainees, Bob Sunset and his classmate Mike Whitebear were, by any definition, scared witless. When they received the notice the day before that they were going to get out of the classroom and get some hands-on practice, they had both been pleased. An hour into their shift, the two regular guards had almost immediately been cut down after sixteen Death Eaters and you-know-who had arrived. Mike had said they he was sure that they were Death Eaters, since they all wore the bone white mask that they had seen in class.

They were huddled down in the guard's office, certain that the Death Eaters would find them and they would be next to be killed. Suddenly, Mike called, "Look!"

A bright white light Patronus shaped like a Doberman appeared feet from them and growled, "Leave now. There's no one here that is worth dieing over. Leave now."

Not needing to be told twice, Sunset threw the lever that released the Garrotting Gas on the entrance to the first, second and third floor. The two trainees grabbed the emergency Portkey chain, tapped it with their wands and disappeared.

… - …

Penny Parkinson stared at her friend Michelle sprawled on the floor in a bloody pool – just the same as she was. As she drew her last breath, she heard Greyback shout, "Let's go.

As she let go, her wand rolled a few inches and came to a stop in a growing pool of red liquid.

… - …

As the lockdown alarm sounded, Head Auror Kingsley Shackelbolt realized that they were trapped. He'd been so engaged by Gray's defense and the evidence presented that he'd never considered that most of the top seventy-five leaders within the British wizarding world were all in a single room, and ten floors above them, the lobby was under attack. They were a prime target.

Scrimgeour asked, "Shack, how many are on station duty?"

Without hesitation Kingsley replied, "Four Sir. The standing order is for the senior man on duty to call in reinforcements within the event of an attack."

Rufus, replied, "Right. In the mean while, have your people secure the door. We're in a fairly secure place. We'll wait it out."

Up in the gallery, the two dentists were scared witless.

… - …

Remus Lupin was disappointed, rather than surprised to have been purposely excluded from Sirius' trial. Regardless of what a handful of friends like Sirius, Filius, Hagrid, Harry or Hermione had told him, he would always be a third-class citizen in Britain – barely tolerated, but never really welcome. Sirius had told him that things would be different this time, but the unfortunate werewolf barely heard him.

Suddenly alert because of the warning bell, Lupin could hardly believe his eyes when he saw his traitorous old friend, Peter Pettigrew running flat-out down the hallway.

Taking as careful an aim as he'd ever done, Remus whispered, "Stupefy."

As Pettigrew dropped, Lupin ran up to him, called Stupefy again just to be certain and Incarcerous. Instantly, Pettigrew was tightly bound in ropes.

Lupin became filled with a rage, such as he'd never felt. Peter's words spoken in the Shrieking Shack - about virtually being forced into servitude had proven to have been lies. He'd willingly participated in resurrecting that monster and had tried to brutally murder Cedric Diggory – as honorable a young man as Lupin had ever met. Remus kicked Pettigrew as hard as he could, snapping the rat's femur with from the impact of his work boot. Lupin cast Stupefy again to make certain that the traitorous shite didn't wriggle away again.

… - …

The Dark Lord had been very pleased with the operation so far. They were nearly at the fortress door before being spotted by two guards. As the two guards desperately traded spells with the force of Death Eaters and sounded the alarm, Riddle brought down the massive door. The annoying guards hit Turner and Trump.

Enraged by their audacity, Riddle slashed Litchcomb with his fire rope spell, severing the man at the legs. For nearly a minute, the mortally wounded man screamed in agony.

Meanwhile Junior cast the killing curse at McMaster, temporarily ending the conflict. Once they saw that there were no other guards in sight, Junior called, "The Lestranges are probably on the third floor. Rookwood, Mulciber and Dolohov are most likely on the second.

The Dark Lord commanded, "Kill any guards that you see. There may be other Death Eaters here. Release all that you see and any that volunteer to join me. Barty and I will keep the exit path clear for our departure in five minutes. Go."

… - …

Aurors Michelle and Michael Wood, Alyx, and Jeff Steele were in the Auror Ready Room when the alarm sounded. Michelle was the senior of the Aurors and directed, "Michael and Jeff, secure the lobby. Alex and I will call for backup and secure the Minister's office. If either the Lobby or the Minister's Office are clear, we'll meet up at Courtroom Ten. There's a trial there today. Be careful. Go!"

As they were leaving, Michelle directed, "Alyx, call Tonks and Shephard. I'll call Walker and Brooks."

… - …

The Garotting Gas proved to be completely ineffective as a person had to be standing still, breathing it for half a minute or so for it to be effective. As the fifteen Death Eaters were running, none of the even noticed it, let alone were affected by it.

Moody had finally found Rookwood's cell when he heard shouting and footsteps down the far hallway. The ex-Unspeakable looked at him for a moment, seemed confused and in a raspy voice, demanded, "What do you want?"

Moody replied, "You dead. Avada Kedavra." The jet of green light flashed from his wand and struck Rookwood. Lifeless eyes still open, the brilliant wizard slumped back down onto his thin mattress.

The running footsteps were louder now. Moody had a decision to make. He could stay and probably take down a few more of the scum before most likely being overwhelmed, or he could leave. Considering his primary task paid, he reached into his pocket pulled out the Popsicle stick and with a blue flash, disappeared.

… - …

With a flash, Sunset and Whitebear were portkeyed into the empty Auror waiting room. Whitebear asked, "Bob, who warned us?"

Sunset replied, "Someone who probably wasn't supposed to be there. I really don't care what he was doing – he could have been killing all of the inmates for all I know. Mike, I do know this – we're alive because he had the good sense to tell us to leave, rather than sit there and be slaughtered like Litchcomb and McMaster. He was there! I saw him with my own two eyes. Forget the Partonus. All I'm reporting is that I heard a voice ordering us to leave. You say what you want. Without him, I'd never see my 'Becca again."

Whitebear didn't need additional convincing. They had made it home and would finish their shift.

… - …

Alecto Carrow was shocked at what he saw. As he and his sister, Amycus went from cell to cell on one of the wings of the third floor, the prisoners that they encountered either appeared to be insane – babbling nonsense, comatose, or worse. When they finally found Bellatrix's cell, she was laying in her mat, apparently unconscious.

Alecto used a blasting spell on the cell door when Alohomora proved to be ineffective.

Amycus screamed, "Idiot! It looks like you blew her up too. She was the Master's favorite." Carrow checked and couldn't feel a pulse. She hissed, "Call someone if you see Rabastan or Rodolphus. We'll get someone else to open the door."

… - …

Back in Courtroom Ten, Shacklebolt heard a pounding on the door. Wand ready, he called, "Who is it?"

The reply was, "Michael Wood and Jeff Steele, Sir. It was clear on this level. Someone name Remus Lupin has a man tied up by Minister Scrimgeour's office. Michelle and Alyx went to check on the lobby, Sir."

Scrimgeour wanted to open the door and lead the charge. A year ago, he would have. Today, he was responsible for the safety of the Wizengamot and the rest of the British Wizarding world. It wasn't until he heard the newly minted Auror, Alyx's perky voice that he directed Shackelbolt to open the door.

Scrimgeour directed, "Mr. Gray, Mr. Black, at this time I can only offer my personal apology and ask that Director Bones write you a replacement wand certificate. Please write up a reasonable restitution request, and I'll sign it. You're free to go."

Scrimgeour's words were sweet music to Black's ear.

… - …

Back at Azkaban, everyone's reports were similar to the Carrows. In total, they had found four living prisoners who had been low-level Death Eaters, and another six who had volunteered.

In a fit of rage, the Dark Lord demanded, "Kill all of the other prisoners!"

Someone had murdered his six Death Eaters. They would pay.

Ten minutes later, the only residents of Azkaban Island were the Dementors.

… - …

Sunset and Whitebear stuck to their story – He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and at least a dozen or more Death Eaters attacked the island. The two other guards, Litchcomb and McMaster had been killed. They heard a voice ordering them off the island. They left.

They reported that they weren't certain if it was Litchcomb's dying words, or Merlin himself speaking, but they were told to leave, and they did.

When Shacklebolt led a team of a dozen Aurors and Investigator Anna to the island, they found that ten prisoners were missing and another fifty were dead – apparently the result of killing curses, or physical injuries due to explosions. They also found two masked Death Eaters dead, outside the fortress walls.

When she got back and was reviewing her notes with Connie, Amelia and Minister Scrimgeour, Anna stated, "It doesn't make sense. Why would Riddle invade the island and kill everybody off?"

Connie, who had stayed back to document the ministry events replied, "Maybe he didn't. Maybe they were already dead. Who escaped?"

Scrimgeour looked at the list and declared, "Four entry-level Death Eaters and six low-lifes. What about the Lestranges or Rookwood? He'd have gone to collect them."

Anna replied, "Belatrix Lestrange's entire cell was blown up, apparently in some botched attempt to get the door open. For some reason, it never occurred to the Death Eaters that the locks were warded against opening spells and the keys were sitting in the guard's office. Her body was pretty ripped up from the explosion."

Connie asked, "What about the others?"

Anna replied, "Pretty much the same, though not as badly. I have photographs of every cell. Someone could have killed them before the Death Eaters attacked, but no one could have cast fifty killing curses."

Scrimgeour announced, "Mark it paid. They're dead. The Death Eaters must have killed at least some of them. Riddle lost another five people today, and we lost three. It doesn't sound like the ones that he picked up are worth a shite."

He looked as Sunset and Whitebear and asked, "Do you two have anything to add?"

In unison, they replied, "No, Sir."

Scrimgeour got up, and in a fatherly gesture patted the two trainees on the shoulder and added, "You both finished your shifts today. The two of you getting yourselves killed today wouldn't have served any purpose."

Something about Scrimgeour's choice of words niggled at Amelia.

ooo CCC ooo

The old Scribe was still fuming about the bedpan incident. He had once read that revenge was a dish best served cold.

He was willing to wait.

In the mean while he found a new tale that interested him. It had a number 5734840.

Inspiration finally came to the scribe. He would enlist the aid of his favorite Charms Master.

Bedpan indeed. As the pipes began to heat up on his steel horse, a wicked smile could be seen on the old Scribe's face.