I was a bit worried about how Flamel would be received. Thanks to everyone for your support.
This is probably the only chapter of the entire story that does not have any Ginny or Harry in it, but I thought it was important for everyone to see what was happening while the kids were with the Flamels.
Chapter Thirty-Six: Our Summer of Discontent
Despite contrary opinion, dementors were not the only creatures guarding the prisoners of Azkaban. A garrison of Hitwizards also maintained a presence on the island for those prisoners not in higher security wards.
Once upon a time, all prisoners in Azkaban were subjected to the dementors. This included prisoners convicted of murdering wizards, and wizards convicted of trying to pass off conjured money. Witches who tortured muggle children were housed alongside witches caught in the act of prostitution. There was no segregation based on the nature of the crime—everyone suffered equally.
However, only four months into her office, Amelia Bones put a stop to that.
In one of several interviews with the Daily Prophet, Minister Bones said that she never approved of the use of the prison as a catch all for all criminals. "The criminal code of Wizarding Britain is woefully outdated, as is our punishment of criminals. If I accomplish nothing else in my time as minister, I will make sure we have a legal system that is actually fair and just."
She gave that interview in May, and by June the hitwizards received orders to completely reorganize the prison. The files of every prisoner were reviewed, and almost twenty witches and wizards received official pardons for offenses that in the muggle world would have been deemed as misdemeanors only.
Cells were cleaned and remodeled. The Nurnmengard warden was brought in as a consultant, and the cells were charmed to hold the lower security prisoners without having to resort to torture.
The higher security prisoners, however, continued to have dementor company even if their cells were cleaned and better facilities were provided. Not even Amelia was going to show pity to convicted Death Eaters and the rest of the worst of wizarding kind.
This change resulted in a shifting of almost half of the prison's remaining prisoners out of the upper dementor-infested floors into the newer cells in the ground and first floor levels.
On July 13, when it was all done, Warden Jameson Patil for his part thought it was an excellent idea. The oldest son of Svrivisan Patil and older brother to sisters Padma and Parvati, Jameson took pride in his work of keeping the prisoners in line so that the rest of the world could be safe. For every petty thief, there was a Bellatrix Lestrange. It was his job to keep them all off the streets.
Still, with the new recruiting incentives, Jameson was already studying for his auror entry exam, hoping to make up for the mediocre potion NEWT scores that prevented him from making the program the first time. While his other scores were sufficient, like so many his potions score was bad enough to disqualify him.
Now a NEWT in potions was no longer required, just preferred.
"Warden," a fresh recruit said as she popped her head in, "the dementors are acting wonky."
"Wonky, Trish?"
"They're not obeying our orders."
He stood, alerted. "What are they doing?"
Trish audibly gulped. "They're gathering in the atrium."
Jameson felt a chill and turned to the floo. The fire never flared green. "Our connection has been cut," he whispered.
"Sir?" Trish said, suddenly turning as green as the fire should have. "What do we do?"
The island held almost two hundred dementors, and a garrison of twenty hitwizards. "Sound the alarm, order all staff to assemble in admin," he decided. They could not guard prisoners and defend themselves against dementors if the demonic beings turned.
Trish ran out of his office to give the orders, but then screamed. He ran out after her into a corridor of solid ice. Trish was on the ground with a sparkling ball of light hovering over her mouth, while on the other side of the ball floated a dementor. Without hesitation, he whipped out his wand and shouted, "Bellus Patronum!"
A lance of white offensive magic streaked into the cloak of the dementor. The creature released a hair-raising keening howl akin to a banshee, but backed away. Unlike the normal patronus charm, the bellus was offensive in nature. Enough of them could kill a dementor. Not even the Ministry of Magic was incompetent enough to employ creatures they could not destroy if the need presented itself, despite common belief to the contrary.
Trish's soul settled back into her body and she gasped before screaming again, weakly. "Trish, get up!" Jameson shouted. He grabbed her arm and dragged her back toward the front administrative offices. As they approached, he heard shouts of the offensive patronus charm ahead of them and emerged into a scene of chaos.
Four hitwizards were clearly kissed, and another ten were trying their best to hold off the demons. With so many, he didn't bother with offensive magic. "Expecto Patronum!"
A mongoose the size of a muggle shopping cart darted out from his wand and slammed into the first line of dementors. The defensive charm pushed the monsters back, giving the struggling survivors a chance to catch their breath. Realizing the bellus spell did not offer any actual protection, the survivors also summoned their defenseive patronuses and pushed the dementors back for a time.
Jameson joined them. "Status?"
"We're it," the assistant warden, John Lockerby, said. "We've lost almost half our staff. The bloody things have turned on us."
The whole castle rocked under a tremendous explosion. "They're just the distraction," Jameson said. "We're not dying in a lost battle. Get everyone into the conference room and start warding the place to hell and back again. We lost this fight before it started—my concern right now is saving lives."
The other hitwizards obviously appreciated Jameson's decision. They all left the administrative offices and ran back further into the maze of rooms until they arrived at the largest interior conference room. It was in the center of the prison and as impregnable, and was originally built as a strong room.
The moment they arrived they closed and sealed the door, and then all twelve of them began warding the room with every Ministry ward they could think of, and a few others to boot. Even before they finished, the castle rumbled as more explosions ripped through its ward lattice.
"Can you feel it?" Lockerby said.
As warden, the prison wards were actually keyed to Jameson, and he could feel those wards dropping one by one, until… "There's nothing left to stop them," he said. The walls around them grew cold to the touch. Though they could not see them, the men and women in the room could feel the dementors testing the wards.
Suddenly a silvery linx jumped through the wall, bypassing the defensive wards. The cold seemed to ebb away. "This is Shacklbolt," the Lynx said. "Aurors are counterattacking. Voldemort has escaped with all followers, we are containing dementors. If you are able, we need assistance."
The patronus flickered away. "Is it a trick?" Trish asked.
"Patronii can't be forced through the imperius," Jameson said, having just studied that for his aruror exams. "Bring down the wards. We act as a group. Lockerby, you, Hash, Peets and Grundy on defensive. The rest use the bellus for attack. I'll mark the dementor with a glow spell, concentrate on the dementors one at a time. Ready? Go!"
They brought down the wards and rushed out into a cold hell. A dozen dementors remained in the administrative section of the prison, hoping for more victims. The assistant warden and his group cast their patronus charms while Jameson marked the nearest dementor. The eight remaining witches and wizards shot the offensive patronus spell into the beast, causing it to writhe and cry in agony. It took the eight of them four spells each before the demon seemed to deflate before their eyes into nothing more than a tattered cloak.
Eleven remained, and Jameson's arm was already trembling from the expended magic. Regardless, he marked the next one and started to shout the charm.
The four casting the defensive spells also began to tire. Sensing their weakness, other dementors began to close in until they heard another voice bellow, "Bellus Patronum!"
A dementor in the rear of the attacking line unleashed a demonic screech before it exploded before the sheer power of the spell. Jameson had to fight the urge to drop his wand in shock.
A figure emerged from the far door, a figure familiar to all of them.
Albus Dumbledore shimmered with power as he walked into the room. He pointed his wand at a second dementor and again pronounced the charm. The magic he unleashed was easily stronger than anything the surviving hitwizards could have summoned all together, and another dementor died screeching.
The others turned to Dumbledore, momentarily forgetting the hitwizards.
"All offensive, take my target!" Jameson roared.
The twelve of them together struck a dementor. With their increased numbers, they were able to kill the second dementor with only two barrages of charms, while Dumbledore had already destroyed a third. The demons, caught between the two magical forces, attempted to escape only to be blocked off by another pair of aurors brandishing defensive patroni.
Together, they continued to destroy the monsters one at a time, until none remained.
"Where are the rest?" Dumbledore demanded.
"Most likely left with the Dark Lord," Jameson said.
Dumbledore glanced at the warden. "Jameson Patil, class of '85?"
"Yes, sir." Secretly Jameson was proud the man remembered him.
Next to him was Head Auror Kingsly Shacklebolt, who was also looking at Jameson. "Where are the rest of your people?"
"We lost eight in the initial attack," Jameson said. "They took us completely by surprise. Trish here told me of their gathering in the atrium, but before we could do anything they tried to kiss her. I joined up with the others and we retreated to a strong room to hold out for assistance."
"You didn't try to control the situation?" Kingsly asked with a neutral expression.
"With all due respect, sir, we were never going to get control of the situation. There were two hundred dementors and I only had twelve people left. I wasn't going to throw their lives away in a battle we had no hope of winning."
Jameson thought to himself that perhaps being a warden wasn't too bad, since it was obvious he wasn't going to make it to auror. However, Shacklebolt nodded. "That's the first sign of a good strategic thinker—knowing when to attack, when to defend, and when to retreat. Good job, Jameson. If you ever think about leaving the hitwizards…."
"Frankly, sir, I was studying for my exams when the attack occurred."
The other hitwizards stared. Shacklebolt, however, grinned. "Don't bother. Come by the MOM tomorrow and we'll get your sorted out. Good job. Now, let's get all of you out of here. We have another garrison of hitwizards and aurors who will take over. You all look like you need rest."
"I can't argue with you there, sir."
~~Bonds of Blood~~
~~Bonds of Blood~~
August 3rd dawned to a clear, muggy day in Newcastle Upon Tyne.
Store owners and office workers along the quay were already out in large numbers in anticipation of the rush of summer tourists. The forecast called for a beautiful sunny day. For this reason, it was with surprise that some of the store owners looked up to see a black cloud bank rolling toward the town. One merchant's son in particular noticed the sudden, inexplicable drop in temperature and gulped. It was a feeling he grew all too familiar with during his second year at Hogwarts.
Colin Creevey turned and ran back into his mum's flower shop. "Mum!" he shouted.
Dorry Creevey stepped out from the back with a few tulips in hand. "What's all the shouting then?"
"We've got to get out of here!" Colin screamed.
"What are you on about?"
"Dementors are coming! They're coming here!"
"I can't see a thing, Colin. Stop joshing about!"
"Mum, you can't see them because you're not a witch, but they're coming!" He ran to the counter and picked up the phone, quickly dialing a number. His mother walked to the window to stare at the admittedly strange cloud bank rolling in. Behind her, she heard her oldest son call out, "Hermione! It's Colin Creevey. Yes, I'm sorry. You've got to contact Professor Dumbledore! Dementors! Yes, dementors! There's a whole cloud coming in. I see ice on the windows, wait… Mum! MOVE!"
Dorry never saw the cold hands that grabbed her, but she felt them. She looked down to see the skin of her arms turn pale white as some unseen force lifted her from the floor. Colin Creevey, who was due to start his fourth year, did not know the patronus charm, or any other magic that could save his mother.
He did know the lumos spell, though. In his terror and desperation, he poured every ounce of magic he had into the wand he pulled from his back pocket, and screamed, "Lumos maximus!"
The dementor hissed in anger as the blinding light pierced its cowl. Under the flash of magic light, Dorry Creevey caught a brief glimpse of a living nightmare. She tried to scream, but terror stole her voice just as sure as the dementor wanted to steal her soul.
The cold hands let go and she scrambled to her feet. Her son, only fourteen, stood bravely in front of her with his glowing wand. "Get back!" he cried, shaking with his own fear.
The dementor hovered closer, reaching out for the wizard with skeletal hands.
"Expecto patronum!" a voice cried from behind.
A ghostly falcon soared through the store and attacked the dementor's face. The creature made a low moaning sound as it backed away and then fled the store. Colin sagged in relief as a young, pink-haired auror ran into the store. "Any one hurt?"
"No!" Colin said.
"You at Hogwarts?" She was looking at his wand.
"Going to be fourth year. Gryffindor."
"Good on you, mate," the Auror said. "Ma'am, I'm Auror Tonks. I need you and your son to come with me now."
"What's happening?" Dorry Creavey asked in a shaky voice.
"The town is under attack. We're trying to evacuate people as best we can. You're lucky your son was with you. Come, please!"
The two left the flower shop and emerged into what looked like a war zone. "Auror Tonks, there are muggle bobbies!" Colin said.
"They're with us," Tonks said. "Special reaction forces to help keep the situation contained."
Indeed, the uniformed officers were taking the lead in evacuating shaking and terrified civilians from the quay. Though Colin knew his mother and the bobbies could not see it, the black sky overhead was literally swarming with dementors.
Not all the civilians got away, either. The air grew abruptly colder. Tonks turn and shouted, "Expect patronum!" again, once more producing a silver falcon that pushed two of the demons away. A nearby clump of aurors, ten in all, turned their wands on the same demon and all started shouting "Bellus Petronum" at the same creature. Their spells did not look like animals, but more like silver lasers that slammed into the dementor.
It screeched in pain while Tonk's falcon continued to keep it from escaping. The ten aurors launched three spells each into it, until the creature exploded.
In the sky overhead, the other dementors began to clump together for a concentrated attack. By then, Colin and his mother reached the ambulances and vans. He did not wait to see the outcome of the battle as he and his mother climbed into a van.
It was only as he got smashed against one window that he noticed bodies. The quay was littered with a dozen or more bodies of men and women, and at least two children, staring sightlessly at the sky.
~~Bonds of Blood~~
~~Bonds of Blood~~
Minister Amelia Bones sighed and rubbed weary eyes. The desk in her office in Bones Manor was piled with parchment reports of the dementor attacks across the country. The attacks lessoned in intensity each time because of concerted efforts between her DMLE and Scotland Yard, but they were still losing people. In the past two months, fourteen witches, wizards and children had died, in addition to almost sixty muggles.
The Prime Minister was screaming bloody murder, and Amelia did not blame him. Her arrangement with the American Department of Magic helped mollify him to a certain extent. It helped that the American Secretary of Magic was in fact a good friend of hers and let the American President know that they really were doing everything they could.
The problem was the rest of Europe.
France, Bulgaria, and Spain-the old European magical principalities that covered all of Western Europe-had steadfastly refused to take any action to curtail the flow of support from their countries to Voldemort.
In fact, she knew Bulgaria all but supported him, while the ministers of France and Spain were too frightened to take part in any action to curtail him. She alerted the Prime Minister, of course, but there was little muggle authorities could do to stop magical travel, and raising the old Hundred Years War wards was impractical, assuming it was possible at all. For all that bad things were getting through, they also depended on their continental counterparts for trade.
Still, Voldemort himself had not made any direct attacks yet. She was thankful for that.
"Auntie?" She looked over her shoulder to see her niece standing at the door. "It's awfully late. You should get some rest."
"Yes, I know. Go to bed, Susan. I'll be along shortly."
Susan started to say something more when Amelia shot to her feet. She felt a rippling sensation that made the hair on her neck stand on end. "The wards!" she shouted. Both heard the front door explode.
"The safe room, now!" Amelia said. The two women ran out of the office. Amelia noted with pride that even though she was dressed in her night shirt, her niece still had her wand.
They ran down the back hall when they heard a thin, reedy voice calling, "Amelia! I have a surprise for you!"
She ignored her niece's terrified whimper as they reached the disillusioned trap door. She lifted it with a flick of her wand and the two ran down the stairs into the basement of the house. She activated the emergency wards before closing the door.
Susan already used a lumos to light their way down into the basement. Overhead, they could hear feet thudding against the floor, followed by a thunderous crash. Someone tripped an emergency ward.
Though she hoped it was Voldemort himself, in all likelihood it was another who died.
"Auntie?" Susan asked. Her voice was etched in lines of terror, but her wand hand was steady.
"We get to the emergency portkey." The two women made their way through the attic to a small door set in the far wall. It was too small for them to enter standing.
"Dinky?" Amelia called.
The Bones house elf appeared, visibly trembling. "Missus, bad wizards in the house!" she whispered.
"We know. We need the portkey."
"Portkey no good," Dinky said, shaking now much like a Chihuahua. "Bad wizards put wards over house."
Amelia sighed. "Dinky, I need you to go to Hogwarts and tell Dumbledore what is happening, then to the Ministry to alert Kingsley Shacklebolt. Can you do that?"
"Yes, missus."
Dinky disappeared with a snap of her fingers. Overhead, the house shook from another explosion. Amelia opened the door and crawled through on her hands and knees into the safe room, with Susan right at her heels.
The room served ordinarily as Winky's bedroom and was coated in odd trinkets from the house and grounds. But it was set within solid granite and reinforced with wards sufficient to hold off any attack, at least for a time. Moreover, the door was disillusioned by elf magic—only Amelia as Dinky's master could see it.
Suddenly a new sound penetrated the depths of the house. It was a roaring sound, much like a tornado. Only everything grew warm, even the granite walls. "Auntie, what is happening?" Susan asked.
"Fiendfyre," Amelia said grimly. "Don't worry, Susan. We'll get a little hot, but the safe room will hold. I hope you don't mind sleeping in the Ministry for a while, though. I doubt we'll have a house left when this is over."
Buoyed by her aunt's courage, Susan scooted over until she nestled in Amelia's arm. Together, the two women settled down to wait out their attackers, while overhead Bones Manor burned.
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Thank you for reading.