Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix
Chapter 35:- The Godfather
Sirius knew that most people would probably have been thrashing about like mad at this point, bodily throwing themselves in every direction they could in a bid to throw their captors off and escape. And he was currently feeling an extremely strong urge to do just that. Though, considering what lay ahead, who could blame him?
Alternatively, he could just turn into a dog and bolt. But if he did, then he'd give away his only disguise and word travelled fast through the Ministry. They'd be put on high alert for a large black dog almost instantly. He'd never make it out.
Resisting would do him no good. Even if he was to somehow acquire the wands of one of the Aurors, he couldn't just Apparate out.
It seemed… there was no way out.
So he strode forwards, held in the grip of two burly Aurors but with his head held high. 'If I'm exiting the game,' he thought to himself. 'Then I'm not going to go out pleading for mercy. I'm not going to run. I'm not going to scream or beg or snarl. I'm going to face my personal end bravely… just like James did… I wish I could say I'll see your soon, buddy. But even I don't know what they do with a body after its been Kissed. Maybe there's a special ward in St. Mungos already with my name on it.'
Even so, it was a battle to stop his legs from trembling. For twelve years he'd festered under the watchful blind eyes of the Dementors and every day for those twelve years he'd lived in constant fear that they'd somehow remove his soul simply by sucking out his happy memories too hard. Or at the very least that they'd remove his sanity. And on joining the Order, he'd finally allowed himself to hope. Hope that maybe a different future might lie before him. One that didn't involve him either dying on the run from the law or facing perhaps the worst fate it was possible for any human being to face.
But perhaps… this was always going to be the way he'd go out. And if so, when they came to read his will and they realised he'd left everything to Harry Potter, maybe that at least would shock them into giving the Peter Pettigrew story a little more credibility.
Unbeknownst to him, Scrimgeour was watching his every move from a little way behind. The Ministry didn't make a habit out of subjecting people to the Kiss but he'd been present at most of the times it had happened. And he too was taking note that Black was acting very differently to most.
'We're doing the right thing…' he thought. 'We have to be doing the right thing. That Pettigrew story was the last attempt of a desperate man to get off the hook… although… he doesn't exactly look that desperate."
He shook his head violently. Even if this was the wrong thing, there was no way to stop what was about to happen now. He could only pray that they really had gotten the wrong guy.
When they emerged into the Duelling area where the execution was to take place, Sirius tried to ignore the horribly familiar wash of coldness that spread through his system like the world's fastest frostbite. There was the Dementor at the far side of the room. It was currently being held back by a Patronus in the shape of a fruit bat, beating its silvery wings back and forth as it flew in circles around the Dementor to keep it in the same spot and to try and dull its effects to the rest of the people in the room. And there were quite a few of them. Several Aurors, he noticed, but a good many of the Wizengamot were present and of course who could miss Minister himself, standing there alongside that kid of Arthur's… Percy… who was drawing himself up and trying to make himself look at important as possible.
And there was Arthur himself, not too far away, standing next to Kingsley. They watched dourly as Sirius was marched into the centre of the room and… when Sirius saw who was standing between his fellow Order members, his heart dropped into an abyss.
'No… no, no, no, no, why did they bring Harry?' he screamed in his head, sunken eyes locking onto the young man beside Arthur, the Weasley father's hand resting on his shoulder consolingly. 'He can't see this! He mustn't! He's got enough to deal with, he can't see his godfather be subjected to this!?"
Instinct drove him to resist a little at this point, trying to send messages to Kingsley and Arthur with his eyes alone to get Harry the heck out of there! But the Aurors held him securely and wrestled him forwards into the middle of the room, holding him still as Fudge cleared his throat.
"Sirius Black!" he declared. "It took us a long time to track you down, but the day of your comeuppance has finally come. You are sentenced to receive the Dementor's Kiss at precisely midday on Tuesday October 10th, under the following charges:- Mass Murder, Attempted Murder, Association with the former Dark Lord, Escape from Azkaban, Breaking and Entering Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and most recently, associating with the wanted criminals known as Fairy Tail. Do you have anything more to say before your sentence is carried out?"
Sirius grunted as he locked eyes with the Minister. "Oh, there's a lot of things I could say right now, Fudge. But none of its what you're going to want to hear. Things like, I'm telling you I didn't commit those murders. That you've got the wrong man. That I think you're probably the most incompetent Minister that this country has ever had the misfortune of electing and that we'd all be a lot better off if you were given the boot. But I don't think any of that's going to really make a difference is it?"
Fudge puffed out his chest, his ears going a little red and the majority of the rest of the room watching him a little warily.
"Very well," he coughed indignantly. "Then let us not waste another second. Cancel the Patronus!"
The flood of cold was felt by everyone in the room as the bat dissipated into thin air, and the Dementor lurched forwards almost as if it had been pressed up against an invisible wall that had suddenly vanished. Sirius tried to jump backwards himself, gasping rawly as the scabby hands of the loathsome creature began to reach out, clawing the air as it closed the distance steadily between them, tilting its head from side to side as if sniffing out its intended target.
His breathing quickened, his pulse raced, he began to sweat even despite the cold. Voices welled up inside him… saying things that he'd long tried to suppress.
He could hear himself asking, "What… what happened? Where are they? What happened to James and Lily?"
And he could hear the tearful voice of Hagrid replying, "They're dead, Sirius… You-Know-Who… 'e got through the Fidelius some'ow… I'm sorry, Sirius. They're dead!"
He gritted his teeth, the Dementor's hands now inches from him. He couldn't think about that! He mustn't! He would not go out snivelling, he would go out facing his tormentor head on!
"Well? What are you waiting for?" he hissed at the Dementor. "Do it already!"
And as he felt the Dementor's clammy hand grasping as his shirt, saw the other one rear its way backwards to pull off its hood and reveal its hideous practically mummified face and gaping hole of a mouth, he tilted his head away to look right at Harry. He knew he probably shouldn't, but he couldn't help it. His eyes met Harry's and he tried to put as many apologies, don't worry's and wordless inspirational speeches into his gaze as he possibly could right as the Dementor leaned in towards him.
Yet Harry's expression remained hard… firm… in fact, he was glaring at Sirius with an expression that of morbid satisfaction! And as the Dementor's finger clasped at its face, its rattling breath washing over Sirius' face as it leaned in… Harry pulled his glasses down his nose and fixed Sirius' gaze over the top of them…
…and they glowed yellow.
Microseconds later and the Dementor reeled backwards, screeching in what could only be described as shock! And he wasn't the only one. Both the Aurors on either side of Sirius flinched back, and the room was filled with startled cries and a even couple of screams!
Because Sirius Black had been turned to stone!
"What!? What's happening!?" Fudge cried, the Dementor hissing as it swung around the room, trying to sniff out its intended quarry and yet unable to sense his presence. "What's happened to him!"
"I don't know," cried one of the Aurors. "It just happened all of a sudden! He's just… rock!" He whipped out his wand to tap Sirius' face with no reaction at all from the petrified prisoner. "Pure stone!"
"How could this have happened?" Madame Bones called sharply. "Someone must have cast a spell! Did anyone see anyone using any magic!?"
"There was nothing, no sign!" piped up another Wizengamot member.
"It just happened."
"What are we supposed to do now?"
Fudge wheeled around, gasping as he tried to figure it out, his jaw flapping as he looked from the frozen Sirius to the people, most of which were looking either nervous and on the verge of panic or tense and searching around for action. He could put a name to every single face in the room so who could have…
It clicked.
"They're here…" he whispered, before repeating much louder, "They're here! They have to be here! There are some Fairy Tail mages within the Ministry."
"So quick to jump to conclusions," a voice rose above the ensuing din before it could get too loud and as an orb of light appeared off to Fudge's left, hovering a few feet above the ground before suddenly expanding out rapidly to take on… a much more humanoid shape. Out of thin air, a man appeared. A man with straw-coloured, slightly wild hair, two large tufts of which took the distinctive shape of cat-like ears, wearing a black suit equipped with red tie and sporting a pair of faint sunglasses on his distinctly handsome face.
"After all, its not like the Fairy Tail universe is the only other dimension out there, you know," Loke chuckled. "I'll have you know this man has caught the attention of the Celestial Spirits."
Twenty minutes ago…
Harry had excused himself to go to the bathroom and Kingsley, or rather Evergreen in disguise, had volunteered to guide him to where it was. And of course Arthur had to accompany him as his guardian so they all hurried off together, which was good because Evergreen in truth had no idea where she was going but Arthur was familiar enough with the Auror office to lead the way. Under her Invisibility Cloak, Lucy darted after them, keeping close on their heels so she wouldn't have to dodge all the passing Aurors too much.
"Ugh, I can't believe I'm entering a men's room," Evergreen muttered in Kingsley's voice as they all ducked into the room. Arthur made sure it was empty before locking the door with a quick spell, allowing Lucy to appear from beneath the Cloak, still disguised as Tonks and producing three small bottles from within her robes.
"This is going pretty well so far," she said.
"Yeah, but we have to make this quick," Arthur nodded. "We need to be in and out of this room as quickly as possible. Harry, give me one of your hairs."
Harry didn't hesitate for a second as he yanked out one of the unruly black hairs from the top of his head, passing it to Arthur who also took one of the bottles from Lucy and quickly began unscrewing the lid.
"Are we sure this going to work?" Harry asked. "If it doesn't and Sirius is kissed…"
"He won't be," Arthur said. "If we know Sirius he's not going to be able to resist looking at you in his final moments if he knows you're there. That's what we're counting on?"
"And if he doesn't? If he refuses to look?"
"We'll interrupt in another way, but don't worry, Harry," Lucy promised, passing another bottle to Evergreen. "We're not living here without your godfather and his soul will be in his body when we do."
"Is Loke in position?" Evergreen asked as she downed the liquid within the bottle and almost immediately her dark skin began to lighten and hair grew rapidly out of her head as she returned to her original shape - the potion having been an antidote for Polyjuice potion.
"I hope so…" Lucy nodded. "Even he wouldn't go out on a date with a girl when I asked him to be ready… I think…"
"You think?" Harry cried.
"He'll be there!" Lucy stated firmly, passing the final bottle to Harry as Arthur passed his to Evergreen. "Now quick, get in the stalls and we'll help you swap clothes for your transformations."
"Quite right," Evergreen said, offering Harry as smirk as she headed to one of the stalls. "Sorry to disappoint you if you were hoping to see me in my birthday suit, boy. It's not going to happen."
"I… I wasn't!" Harry blustered but hurried into his own stall. Five minutes later and the four of them were back in the office, ready for the execution to begin. Only now Harry was masquerading as Kingsley and Evergreen was Harry while Lucy was still under the cloak and Mr. Weasley was still Mr. Weasley.
All set for the execution to begin.
It had worked like a charm. The Dementor couldn't perform a Kiss upon a statue. It couldn't even sense that Sirius was still there
And Loke had taken his cue. He'd been watching what was going on around Lucy from the Spirit World (which was something he could theoretically do any time he wanted but was kept from doing so unless it was urgent by Virgo). But as Lucy had summoned him that morning to tell him the plan, he'd been ready to jump in.
He stood with his hands in his pockets, his hair wafting slightly with the slight gust of wind that had come with him from the Spirit World upon his entry, apparently unconcerned by the Aurors who quickly fanned out across the room to point their wands at him.
"Who are you?" Scrimgeour asked gruffly, stepping past the stone Sirius and joining the others.
"Just an emissary," Loke chuckled casually. "From the world of the Celestial Spirits."
"A third universe?" Fudge scoffed.
"How many different realities exist out there?" Madame Bones asked.
"Oh, far too many to count. But we from the Celestial Spirit World - we can see into many of them. We've been watching what's been going on in this one ever since Fairy Tail arrived in it. You could say… it caught our interest. And whether you choose to believe me or not… the man you were just about to effectively kill is quite innocent. He did not commit those murders you accuse him of."
"And how would you even know that?" Scrimgeour queried. "Those murders were committed long before Fairy Tail arrived. You can't have been watching him for all that time."
"We've been watching for long enough. We can see pretty far. And I can tell you now that he was telling the truth back there in that interrogation room. Peter Pettigrew is still alive."
Scrimgeour blinked, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully as he scrutinised the smirking Loke. What possible reason would a man from another universe have for coming through to defend a man marked for death? It couldn't be to recruit him - what use could he be to them without a wand? Unless it really was just to defend him…
"Scrimgeour, good god man, why are you just standing around!" Fudge cried. "He's trying to free Black. Apprehend this man at once!"
All the Aurors tensed but Loke just offered Scrimgeour a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry you have to take orders from this halfwit. I know from experience that its no picnic. And I know that my words aren't going to make much of a difference to this. But I want everyone in this room to consider the following words… Sirius Black is innocent. Fairy Tail are not your enemies - you are wasting time and energy trying to apprehend them that you don't need. Oh, and this Voldemort guy I've been hearing about… yeah, he's still alive. So… have a good hard think about that after we're gone."
"…After we're…?" Scrimgeour blinked, but Loke abruptly lifted one fist into the air and cried:-
"O Regulus… grant me your strength! SHISHIKOYO!"
The flash of bright light that radiated out of his body was so intense it almost seemed like a miniature sun had a appeared in the chamber. Everyone in the room was sent reeling backwards, yelling and clutching at their eyes under the glare, seeing such big spots that they could barely make out anything and their retinas almost seeming to burn! But Loke was already in motion and swung himself into the line of Aurors, his fists cloaked in light as he thudded straight into to of them to send them flying out to the sides. One Auror twisted about to try and utter a stunning spell but Loke's following roundhouse kick blasted him off his feet before the foot could even make contact and sent him cannoning back straight into another.
"GET HIM! GET HIIIIM!" Fudge cried as he stumbled backwards towards the door, stumbling over people as he went. "He's with Fairy Tail! He must be! Somebody stop him!"
Harry ran forwards, a little better off than other people as he had been prepared for Loke's attack. Under his guise of Kingsley he drew his wand and fired a Stunner in Loke's direction. Loke was just swinging another Auror around by his arm and the Stunner narrowly missed him to strike another Auror in the side and send her crumpling to the floor.
The room descended into chaos in a few seconds, Wizengamot members scrambling blindly to try and find an exit while more Aurors and security guards tried to fight their way through to get in. Lucy flattened herself against the wall, narrowly avoiding a collision with a guy's arm as he swept it out wildly. She watched as a Stunning Spell lanced in right towards Loke but his hand was cloaked in the light of Regulus and he literally backhanded the spell right back at its caster, with twice the force - enough to shatter the Auror's hastily erected Shield Charm and knock him backwards across the room.
Lucy knew the Lion Spirit could take care of himself but he was just one person. And if their plan was to work, they were going to need to draw people's attention away from Sirius. And for that, they'd need more. Much more chaos.
She gripped the key chain underneath the cloak. It was time to get a little nuts.
"Open, Gate of the Archer!" she said as loud as she dared. "Sagittarius!"
The familiar chiming sound of an opening Gate echoed through the room and a man wearing what appeared to be a huge cowl that was shaped like a horse's head sprang into existence in front of her. Fortunately this time he didn't need to be told what to do. Loke and Gemini had gotten all of the Spirits ready for what they had to do when they were summoned and Sagittarius quickly spun around, stringing his bow and firing an arrow with pinpoint accuracy straight into Fudge's bowler hat, sending it zipping into a wall in front of him.
"Glad to be of service, moshimoshi! It seems we have a miniature war zone going on here," he said as he turned about to see more Aurors streaming in closer, three of them firing simultaneous Stunning spells at him. Sagittarius strung three arrows instantly and fired them with astonishing precision, the Spells shattering the arrows but the arrows cancelling out all three spells at once. Sagittarius vaulted sideways and spun around to fire another shot that knocked the wands out of two witch's hands at the same time and moments later a body was thrown across the room via Loke.
"Standard training isn't going to cut it!" Scrimgeour shouted about the din. "Remember what we talked about! Use any spell you can think of! Expelliarmus!" he jabbed his wand at Sagittarius and his bow instantly flew out of his hand seconds after he'd fired another arrow that slipped through the robe of another wizard to pin their arm back against the wall. Sagittarius turned to look at Scrimgeour balefully but then he just faded into thin air.
Moments later…
"Excuse me," a hand tapped Scrimgeour shoulder politely and when he turned around a white-furred hand swept in to karate chop him right in the side of the neck. He was immediately stunned and crumpled to the floor, and Capricorn the goat was dusting off his hands over his body.
"Apologies," he said in his usual deep baritone. "I am just carrying out meh duty." And he pounded across the room to slam his elbow into another Auror's chest, flooring him before springing into a cartwheel that turned into an upside-down sweep kick as soon as he was on his hands that sent a further two men flying.
Loke twisted around to watch as Capricorn went into a mad barrel roll in mid-air, spells flying above and below him as he tucked his hands into his chest and sailed straight over an Auror's head, landing neatly next to him and his tufted tail swatting the wand from his hand before he whirled around to knee him in the gut. When it came to hand-to-hand combat skills, there really was no Spirit better than the goat.
But abruptly he gasped and clutched at his face, a wave of cold washing over him as if he'd been subjected to one of Gray's Ice Geyser attacks. And… a voice… a voice that sprang up in his mind… an oddly androgynous one…
"She took on a job recklessly without my permission. She must have been horribly impatient not being able to work for three months."
"KAAAARREEEEENNNNN!"
"Guhg…" he choked, the words of Master Bob from the day he'd been banished from the Spirit World ringing in his ears. The cold in his back became more pronounced and he spun around to see that the Dementor was almost on top of him… clammy fingers snagging at his coat, its breath a deep suction trying to slurp up every ounce of what made Loke who he was.
These creatures… they were abominations of nature… Loke clenched his teeth angrily. They had no right to exist on this, or any, plane!
None at all!
"REGULUS IMPACT!" he bellowing, his fist shining with a brilliance that made the Dementor reel backwards before Loke drove his fist into its stomach, a massive lion-shaped plume of light roaring out from his clenched fingers to engulf the wretched wraith. Like a Patronus of pure energy it slammed the Dementor away, a blast of light shooting across the room like a meteor to pummel it straight into the wall, right through it and through several others before the attack petered out.
The Dementor didn't get back up.
Harry's jaw dropped. He'd seen this mages do some impressive things since he'd met them, but that was probably the first true display of the raw power that Fairy Tail could wield and he was certain that if Kingsley had had hair, it would have been standing up at that point… and it had all come from his fist, not even a wand!
His mind felt like it had been blown to smithereens
But he saw another Auror firing a spell at the ceiling above Loke - a hex that splintered the stonework without the Lion noticing and the falling rubble crashing down towards Loke's head. He reacted instinctively, firing a Depulsion Hex that caught the startled Loke in the sight and knocked sent him skidding backwards several feet, but the spell also caught the rubble to send that flying too, forcing the Auror in question to dodge aside to avoid his own attack.
Loke sent Harry a quick grin before running back to the battle and Harry dodged quickly into the crowd, looking around for an opportunity to contribute to the fight with making it obvious that he was on the side of the Spirits. He saw two Aurors preparing what looked like fire spells to throw at Capricorn as the goat swung another one around by his ankle like a flail, but a quick flick of Harry's wand and suddenly the two of them were disarmed and a well placed Reductor Curse smashed into the ground between them, tossing them sideways and sending them rolling.
It was at that point that Capricorn suddenly vanished into thin-air. Moments later he was replaced by Scorpio, who whipped his tail around to clobber another Auror upside the head.
"We are!" he yelled with a wide grin. "Been waiting to cut loose! SAND BUSTER!" The blast fired from his tail-tip engulfed four more Aurors and washed them away in the spray of particles. Scorpio whirled round and round in circles without stopping the attack, whipping up a veritable sandstorm tornado that either knocked the enemy back or blinded them still further.
Harry shielded his eyes, he knew that the sand guy appearing was his cue to get to Sirius, who was still standing as a statue in the exact same place. Loke and Scorpio worked the room between them, aiming blasts of sand or flashes of light in the direction of anyone they saw, forcing most everyone to get down and shield their eyes. Nobody was looking at Sirius now, which was exactly what they were gunning for!
Dodging through the attacks and holding, Harry hurried to Sirius' side. It pained him to see his godfather's expression frozen like that but much better this than going soulless. He arrived at the same time as Arthur and Evergreen, who had spent most of the chaos stood up against the wall with Arthur shielding Evergreen with his arm - after all it was imperative that Harry not be seen participating in the battle in any way. Moments later he felt a hand on his arm and even though he knew it was Lucy he still jumped.
"Are you ready?" Lucy whispered urgently in his ear in Tonks' voice.
"You guys are nuts!"
"…Yeah, I kinda know that," Lucy said, gripping the key for Scorpio in her hand and wordlessly forcing his gate closed. Scorpio vanished but the spray of his sand remained long enough for Lucy to summon her next Spirit.
"Open, Gate of the Maiden. Virgo!"
A pink-haired woman wearing a French Maid outfit and with a pair of shackles with dangling chains around her wrists… for some reason… appearing in mid-air above them with her attack already charged. Her hands were together over her head, palm to palm and glowing yellow, but she slammed them downwards - her the yellow light expanding to crash into the ground around the clustered group.
"SPICA HOLE!" Virgo cried, and suddenly the floor fractured beneath their feet. Harry almost yelped as he plunged down through the hole that opened up below him, dropping into free fall alongside his petrified godfather and the invisible blonde. But the attack carried them down through several floors of the Ministry building and, halfway through the fall, Sirius suddenly revitalised - the stone seeming to fracture of him and leaving his gasping for breath as Evergreen released her spell!
"WAAAHH! WHAT THE…!" he flailed his legs wildly as they plummeted, the ground rushing towards them like a tidal wave from below. But suddenly a chain lashed around his waist while another wrapped around Harry's, the both of them being drawn towards Virgo as the Maiden Spirit dropped down with them, hooking each of them under her arms and bracing for impact. Fairy-like wings had sprouted from Evergreen's back and she'd grabbed Arthur beneath the arms to slow his descent, and at the last second Loke plunged down next to them to seize what looked like thin air in his arms.
The two Spirits crashed into the ground feet-first, knees bending to absorb the shock of impact. Harry and Sirius gasped as Virgo successfully kept them both from hitting the floor - she possessed a strength that belied her slight frame and was able to hold them both easily at the same time.
"What's happening?" Sirius looked around in complete bewilderment, scrambling out of Virgo's grip and starting when he saw Evergreen gently placing Arthur down. Harry was stunned to… after all, he was seeing a carbon copy of himself with fairy-wings sprouting out of his back.
"Much obliged, Evergreen," Arthur coughed as his carrier alighted down next to him. "That would have been a rather unpleasant experience."
"The sooner we get out of here the better," Evergreen said as her wings folded away once more. "No offence, kid, but I'd rather not be in your body for too much longer."
"No, I'm totally with you there," Harry said. "That is too weird."
"And thank you, Loke," Lucy said as she was placed down and she pulled the Invisibility Cloak off. "But how did you know where I was?"
"Well…" Loke immediately slung an arm around her shoulder and pushed his glasses further up his nose. "Clearly our love was so strong that it physically drew me to you like a magnet. Or perhaps I just have a sixth sense when it comes to…"
"Okay, okay… you could sense where your key was, couldn't you?" Lucy coughed, her cheeks slightly red as she brushed Loke's arm away.
"Can somebody please explain to me what's happening?" Sirius asked as Virgo gripped the chains around his arms and ripped them away like they were made of paper.
"Princess, the task is complete," the Maid said, looking around to her owner hopefully. "Is it time for punishment?"
"…You know, one of these days, I'm going to get used to you asking me for that," Lucy muttered. "But we can't afford to stick around here."
"Agreed. They'll be trying to seal the atrium as we speak!" Arthur nodded, gripping Harry's (the real Harry's) shoulder and guiding him forwards down the corridor. "Let's get out of here!"
"Sirius, put this on!" Lucy threw him the Cloak. "Loke, Virgo… thanks for your help, but you can return to the Spirit World now."
The two of them nodded in understanding and began to fade before their eyes. "Punishment next time, I hope," Virgo said.
"Feel free to call on me anytime you need me," Loke smirked. "And not just for a battle."
Lucy sighed as the Lion and the Maiden disappeared, but quickly fell into line alongside the others as they hurried through the corridors. She was panting a little, having exerted herself by summoning four Spirits in a relatively short space of time. It would be so much easier if she could summon two at once, but she still hadn't reached that stage yet.
Harry and Lucy took point, the former with his wand drawn and pointing it ahead of them warily, while the latter kept an eye Arthur and Evergreen along, Mr. Weasley keeping close to Ever at all times. They were creating the illusion that Kingsley and Tonks had come across Harry and Arthur in the chaos and were trying to shepherd them to safety and all the while Sirius followed on behind beneath the Cloak, veering with them whenever they encountered another person as they made for the Elevator.
"Shacklebolt!" a voice cried as another Auror that Sirius recognised as Savage dashed towards them from up ahead, flanked by several more Aurors. "Have you seen Black?"
"No, I haven't!" Harry replied urgently. "He… He's still on the loose somewhere in the building. Watch your back while we get H… Mister Potter to safety!"
"Yes, sir!" Savage nodded, the Aurors hurrying away and charging straight past the hidden Sirius, who grinned to himself beneath the Cloak. He'd come closer than he ever had before to a fate worse than death today, but he was still okay, still free. Was it possible that this could work after all?
But a brief elevator ride later, and Sirius' hopes dropped considerably.
The Atrium was a mess. It was filled with dozens and dozens of security personnel, along with several ordinary witches and wizards that were trying their hardest to look brave but were actually all extremely jumpy as if expecting a mass murderer to leap out at them at any moment. The security trolls were all up on their feet, bashing their clubs into the palms of their hands and squinting about brutally for any sign of the fugitive and the man standing beside the lever to open the ceiling hatches that would release Dementors into the room was on stand-by.
Not to mention all of the exits had been sealed. All of the fireplaces and even the visitors entrance had been magically closed off with thick wooden boards. And with the Anti-Apparition wards still up, there was no way out.
Before they could be noticed though, Lucy quickly ducked her way back under the cloak, squashing up against Sirius slightly and the two of them crouching low as they followed the other three carefully into the room. Not far away was a very flustered looking Fudge, poking his finger through the hole in his hat left by Sagittarius' arrow and surrounded by several Aurors and Harry made a beeline straight for him.
"Ah, Shacklebolt," Fudge coughed. "I… I see you found Mr. Potter… yes, yes, very good… yes… Any sign of Black?"
"None that I have seen… Minister," Harry said, trying to think on his feet and emulate Kingsley as best he could. He didn't know the man that well yet but he always seemed pretty calm and collected so he drew himself up and tried to still his own rapidly pounding heart. "But I'm requesting permission to open up one of the exits… to allow Mr. Potter to leave… immediately. We wouldn't want Black to… get too close to him. I mean, you know as well as I that he's a target."
"Yes, Shacklebolt, I am aware, but we can't let anyone out right now. We're putting the entire Ministry on total lockdown - nobody enters and nobody leaves until Black has been found."
"… I see… then we'll… just have to guard him, I suppose," Harry turned to look back at the others, eyes wide with urgency. What were they going to do now? This hadn't been part of the plan, had it?
Arthur tried hard not to look worried himself but he kept finding his gaze being drawn towards Percy, who was sitting crouched not far away and clutching his arm, which had clearly been injured in the chaos somehow. Percy took several moments to notice his father was staring at him, but when he did he held his gaze for only two seconds before looking away again frostily.
Mr. Weasley felt a little bitterness of his own inside. Percy was now the only member of his family who wasn't aware of the existence of the Order of the Phoenix and had never spoken one on one with a member of Fairy Tail. It was a split that had affected much of the family more deeply than they cared to admit. To an extent, Percy had never gotten on with most of his brothers nearly as well as the rest of them did with each other. He'd always been like something like the loner of the family.
But still… without him… they just weren't whole.
For now though he had other things to focus on, drawing Evergreen by the shoulder towards the wall and Harry hurrying over to join him. They knew that at best they only had about fifteen minutes before the Polyjuice potion wore off and if they were still here then… well, it didn't really need explaining.
"What now?" Harry whispered under his breath.
"Okay… time for the last ditch effort," Evergreen replied in a low voice. "Lucy, you ready for this?"
"Yeah. I think so."
"You've summoned quite a few Spirits in rapid succession today. Are you sure you're okay?"
"I've got enough juice for one more, don't worry. Just give us a few minutes to get into position," the invisible blond replied, before moving off out into the room. Sirius shuffled to keep up with her, his shoulder wedged up against hers as they slunk forwards beneath the Cloak, weaving their way around a few Aurors turning in slow circles with their eyes peeled for the fugitive and looking straight through them as they crept slowly by. It made Sirius smile, remembering fondly his days at Hogwarts where he'd done this thousands of times with James, but still, he hadn't a clue why he was doing it now.
"Where are we going?" he asked as quietly as he could, but Lucy just shushed him as they made their way closer to the middle of the room.
Meanwhile at the other side, Evergreen was trying to surreptitiously prepare her own part of what was to come. Harry and Arthur stood in front of her, forming a barrier with their bodies to keep most people from seeing what she was doing as she swept her palms out in slow, rhythmic motions, opening her fist every so often to dispense a dollop of Fairy dust into the air. The dust seemed to multiply as it whooshed away from her, twinkling faintly but the particles too small to be noticed because even as they grew in number they spread out across the room instead of clustering together and giving the ceiling an ever-so-slightly golden glow, so minor that nobody noticed the subtle change.
After five minutes of spreading the dust around, she deemed herself ready. Stepping up next to Harry, she scratched her hair and gave a meaningful nod in the place where she knew Lucy should be.
Beside the fountain.
Lucy caught the signal and gripped Sirius' arm tightly.
"Hold on," she whispered, poking one golden key out of the folds of the cloak and dipping it into the water of the fountain right next to the centaur. "Open… Gate of the Water Bearer… Aquarius!"
FWOOSH!
A sudden burst of water out of the fountain that engulfed the five golden statues within instantly grabbed the attention of everyone in the room just in time for them to see the beautiful blue-haired mermaid that burst out from within. Her long hair streamed out behind her and her tail twisted up until the fins were level with her shoulders.
The room had been on tenterhooks but the emergence of such a stunning Spirit managed to startle half the room into just gaping. The other half though immediately opened fire with Stunning Spells, Impediment Jinxes and all manner of jinxes and curses upon her.
But like all the Spirits before her, this time Aquarius had been ready for action straight away.
"At least you didn't interrupt a date this time," she muttered as she swept her arm out and the water in the fountain exploded up around her, forming a twisting helix of water that acted as a shield to bat most of the spells aside. Gripping the urn that she always carried in her hands, Aquarius rose up, gathering energy and liquid within it as her face twisted into a snarl.
"Attack first, ask questions later, is it?" she growled to the room at large. "I have to admit, there's a part of me that approves of that!" she raised her urn up above her head. "But you just chose the wrong Spirit to try that on!"
"Please don't sweep me away, please don't sweep me away, please don't sweep me away…" Lucy whispered.
Aquarius didn't hear her but as she swiped her urn to the side with one terrific swing, she made sure the deluge of water that poured out from within missed the area around the fountain where she knew Lucy to be standing. And it was torrent! An entire river's worth of water came blasting out, sweeping across the floor and curling out in all directions like an instant flash-flood. Wizards and witches screamed as they were engulfed in the rush, swept off the floor and sent tumbling over and over, scrambling to find the surface. The water crashed against the walls like waves hitting a cliff, sweeping down the corridors and pouring into the elevator system to carry people around helplessly like jellyfish in a current.
Not even the Minister was spared. Fudge yelled as the water reared up over him and crashed down upon him and all his Auror vanguard, drenching them and plucking them from the ground like weeds to send them swirling away in the maelstrom! And Aquarius kept spinning round in circles, the blasting water forming a literal whirlpool that ripped the statues of the goblin and the house elf from their moorings to whisk them away!
Percy gasped and scrambled back against the wall as the water shot in towards him, his glasses falling from his nose as he tried to scrabble to his feet and flee. But suddenly someone jumped in front of him and raised up a Shield Charm, as strong as he could muster, which repelled the water pulse and sent it crashing out to either side instead. Percy stared up at his father, jaw flapping in disbelief, but Arthur didn't look back at him, focusing only on keeping his son out of potential harm's way. And the water seemed to be diverting around Harry and Evergreen, but they still took shelter behind a suit of armour just in case.
Not all were affected though. The security trolls throughout the room roared and powered their way through the flood towards the fountain, lifting their clubs high above the waves as they battled their way through the pounding current. And right before the water hit him, the man at the lever had managed to yank it down which meant that even as he was washed away the panels in the high ceiling opened and several Dementors streaked downwards like fallen angels.
"They're mine," Evergreen whispered, raising her hand and sweeping it downwards in one rapid thrust. The dust that filled the air above the surface streaked into clusters under her control, gathering around the trolls and the Dementors like swarms of mosquitoes.
"Yōsei Bakudan: Gremlin!"
BANG!
BOOM!
BOOM!
CRASH!
BANG!
Dementors screeched as they were consumed in the explosions of hundreds of detonating particles, flung sideways in every direction though looking comparatively unhurt as they veered for control.
The same could not be same for the trolls. Their spectacular bellows of pain crashed about the room as they were bombarded by the attack, detonations going off all around them and blackening their tough skin as they veered about wildly. Two lost their footing and vanished beneath the water. One smacked himself in the face with his own club. Another two stumbled into each other and began fighting.
But now the way was clear!
Harry looked to Mr. Weasley earnestly, but when Arthur noticed his gaze he nodded pointedly back at the hyperventilating Percy pressed against the wall behind him. Harry got the message and fired a quick Stunner that washed over Percy and knocked him clean out, before he whispered, "Let's go!" to Evergreen and they both hurried forwards towards the water flow. Aquarius spotted them and focused her power, dividing the water flow to divert it around Harry and Evergreen as they bolted forwards, a pathway opening up before them, like the Red Sea before Moses, but the water only split a couple of feet ahead of them and closed back in again a couple of feet behind them, like they had a forcefield around them that repelled the water as they ran.
They reached the fountain and were quickly joined by Lucy and Sirius, all four of them pounding their way across the room, splashing through the puddles the water left behind as it curved about them.
Aquarius watched them go, opening a path before them to one of the boarded up fireplaces. She allowed herself a little smirk as she imagined suddenly letting the water wash over them to sweep Lucy away again… but she knew that it wasn't the time or place. Not right now.
"You owe me for this one, Lucy," she muttered to herself as she began to fade back to the Spirit World. "You owe me big time."
Harry pointed his wand at the fireplace and hit the boards with a Reductor Curse to blow them in. Sirius threw the cloak off and grabbed a handful of Floo Powder from within. He knew the Ministry could track where people transported themselves to from Ministry fireplaces so he couldn't go back to Grimmauld Place straight away. Which was why he twisted about and hissed, "The Burrow!" as he threw the Powder onto the fire.
A whoosh of green flame… and they were gone. Aquarius allowed herself a smile of mild satisfaction before she too disappeared. Her water vanished with her moments later, leaving the room entirely dry - even the clothes of the people lying in sodden heaps all over the place, groaning and spitting out water. Arthur Weasley was the only one still standing, and he lowered his Shield Charm with a deep sigh of relief.
They'd done it… they'd rescued Sirius Black from the heart of the Ministry.
Albus Dumbledore and Mavis Vermilion's plan… it had gone… amazingly well. Just one of them alone was a genius it seemed but the two of them together… they made an astonishing strategic team.
He paused just long enough to check that Percy was okay before hurrying over to a nearby Auror and helping him to his feet.
"GWAAH! OOFF! HHHAA! OOW!"
Four figures spilled out into the middle of the floor of the Weasley's deserted living room space, landing in a heap and a tangle of limbs that they fought to extract themselves from. A task that required a great deal of twisting and more than a little cursing before they managed it.
But as soon as they did…
"Sirius!" Harry shouted as he seized his godfather and pulled him into a fierce hug. Sirius gasped as his godson's arms tightened around him enough to crush some of the air out of his lungs.
"Hoooo… okay…" he gasped, clapping his hand against Harry's back. "Okay… okay there, I can't breathe… er… I'm going to assume you're Harry and not Kingsley. I'm guessing Mad-Eye provided you with some of his private stock of Polyjuice, huh?"
"Yeah. Yeah, he did," Harry said, as he pulled back and looked his godfather in the face as if to make sure it was really him. "Sirius… bloody hell, Sirius, what the hell happened!? When I saw you get grabbed in the fire like that… I really don't think anything has ever freaked me out as much as that, not even when I saw Voldemort sticking out the back of Quirrell's head. I was going nuts worrying about you and when… when I heard you'd been captured… I thought… I thought…"
"Hey, hey, kiddo," Sirius placed his hand on Harry's shoulder consolingly, stopping the flow of words from the distraught godson. "You've got nothing to worry about. I'm not going anywhere. I'm here now aren't you?"
"Yeah but… but it was such a close thing! And if it hadn't been for Fairy Tail… Hermione's right, we're too reckless, Sirius! We shouldn't have been communicating through the fireplace at all! If something had happened to you because you were trying to talk to me…"
"But nothing did happen," Sirius interrupted. "And I promise you… it never will… I guess from now on I'm going to have to be more careful. And we'll have to come up with another way of communicating since owl and fire aren't really options anymore… but I promise you one thing, Harry. When all this is over… when we defeat Voldemort for good… I'm still going to be here for you. I'm gonna make sure of it. And… thanks for coming to rescue me."
Harry swallowed, an action which took him a great deal of effort before he pulled Sirius into a hug again. Godson and godfather held each other close, until Sirius eventually said, "You know, this would be a lot more heartwarming if you didn't actually look like Kingsley right now."
This time Harry couldn't stop himself from snorting in amusement. "Yeah, I guess…"
"Aww," Lucy said as she wiped her eye slightly, her hair beginning to lighten as the effects of the Polyjuice Potion began to fade. "It must be nice to have a godfather."
"In a way, you do," Evergreen noted. "Master Makarov's something of a godfather to us all."
"Yeah… yeah, I suppose he is. Um… nice work in there. We made a pretty good combination."
"A surprisingly good one," Ever nodded. "I have to admit I thought things were going to go a lot less smoothly… you're alright, Lucy."
"Thanks…" Lucy said, now fully converted back to herself and glancing at the clock. "Your time's almost up though. You want to find a bathroom so you're ready to change away from prying eyes?"
"Absolutely. I could really do with a long hot bath now…"
"I don't think I could yet," Lucy grimaced as she looked out the window. "We've rescued Sirius… but I don't think I can relax until Erza and Cana are brought back safely too…"
The dull roar of the choppy sea was a constant backdrop at the prison of Azkaban. The rugged, ugly rock it stood upon was pounded more or less constantly by the waves, and the triangular fortress that stood upon covered so much of the space and was so ancient looking that you'd probably think the sea should have eroded the island away enough by now so that it toppled over into the sea. But the island was magically sustained against the elements by countless wards, ensuring that one of the most feared places in the world was kept standing to house the horrendous people it contained within.
Security at this place was taken very seriously indeed, but there were very few human staff members here. People who had the option of leaving usually couldn't last more than a couple of days here and there were constant shifts. Being a human guard of Azkaban was almost as bad as being one of the inmates!
Currently there were only two men on staff, and they were busy working the front desk, trying to keep as far away from the Dementors as possible. They weren't allowed to enter this room, but that didn't stop the coldness and the shivers that they brought with them from seeping through into it from the rest of the prison. And they were thankful for the pounding noise of the sea… it drowned out the screams of the prisoners within.
The island was also unplottable. Only those who had been there before could take people to the prison and even then only if they knew exactly where it would be on a map if it could have been plottable.
And Lucius Malfoy, thanks to his influences within the Ministry, was one of those people.
So when he swept in through the front door of Azkaban, he took both of the guards by surprise.
"Mr. Malfoy?" one of them stood up hastily. "We… we weren't expecting you today… you don't have a scheduled visit…"
"Oh, but I do," Lucius replied haughtily. "My schedule just doesn't run in accordance with yours, unfortunately…" he whipped out his wand and immediately stunned one of the men, his body falling to the ground like a crumpled paper ball. The other yelled and reached for his wand but abruptly the door to the rest of the prison burst open and a Dementor rushed out, whirling around the corner to seize the guard by the throat and slam him up against the wall. The guard hacked and gasped for breath, his wand clattering to the floor as the hoodless Dementor leaned in towards him.
"Ah, ah, ah… not yet…" Lucius replied, sending out a quick patronus that took on the shape of a hog-nosed snake. The wispy serpent whooshed between the Dementor and the guard, causing the Dementor to retreat quickly. Lucius stunned him as well, and immediately cast a couple of memory charms to remove the memories of the attack from their minds.
"It wouldn't do well for any of the guards to have had their souls removed after today," Lucius shook his head as over a dozen more Death Eaters, wearing their traditional skull masks and dark cloaks, filed in behind him and three more Dementors wafted their way through the door. "If that were to happen, the Ministry would know for sure that you participated in today's escape. And we like to keep that oaf, Fudge, in the dark as much as possible."
The two sides lined up to face each other across the room. Most of the Death Eaters shifted about extremely uncomfortably and even Lucius looked more than a little uncomfortable in the presence of the hellish creatures before them, resisting the urge to flinch at the clattering breath of the foremost one.
But he had a mission. So, he ploughed on.
"You understand… that I am here with a proposition for you then?" he asked.
The nearest Dementor nodded, which was about as close to communicating with people that a Dementor could actually do.
Lucius smirked. He and his followers had sent several Patronuses into the building before even entering, except these ones had carried spoken messages to the Dementors rather than repelled them, even though they still didn't like them. But the fact they were here meant they were interested in listening and had not alerted the Ministry to an attack as they were technically supposed to.
"Good, good," Lucius smirked. "I do indeed bring a message, from the Dark Lord himself. He says its time that you were allowed a great deal more freedom. Your days of aimlessly wondering these halls, leaching happiness from people who were drained of it all a long time ago, they can all be over. All you have to do, is join the Dark Lord."
As with the Ministry, Apparition was impossible throughout most of Azkaban. None of the inmates had their wands of course but they didn't want to take chances. There was only one place on the island where apparition was possible - a stone circle that lay at the other end of a winding path to the entrance hall just beyond the wards.
And with faint pops and loud cracks, several people appeared in a cluster on that spot. Alastor Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt were two more people who knew how to get to the prison. And they'd brought with them two people each via Side-Along Apparition.
With Kingsley was Tonks and Lupin.
With Moody was Emmeline Vance… and Gildarts.
As soon as the hulking Crash Mage regained his balance he stepped forwards to the edge of the circle, his gaze travelling up the ugly fortress towering before him and a faint aura of fury pulsing through him at the sight.
"So… this is it?" he whispered. "This is the place where my daughter's being held."
"If the paper is to be believed," Lupin stood up next to him as Kingsley vanished again. "And this is the place where my friend was holed up for twelve years… well… I can certainly see now why he chose to leave."
"Yeah… and my dear old auntie's in there too," Tonks nodded sourly. "I never knew her but… yeah… the stories my mother told me… I bet she won't be that pleased to see me there."
"This place… it looks like hell on earth," Gildarts whispered, his fist clenching and his cloak begin to billow out around him. "You call this a prison? No true law enforcement from our world would ever keep someone in a place as barbaric as this. And they sent Cana here?"
"It ain't never been pretty," Moody replied gruffly. "I'll be honest, even I don't like the idea and most of the scum in there have done as much as anyone to deserve such a fate. But the Ministry of ancient times decided to use Dementors as guards to keep them from terrorising innocents on the mainland. It's worked pretty solidly. Until Black, nobody ever escaped this place.
"Yeah? Well there are going to be at least two more escapes today," Gildarts growled. The circle was beginning to tremble a little now and Lupin quickly put a hand on Gildart's shoulder to calm him down.
"She won't be in there much longer if we have any say in the matter," he assured him as Kingsley returned again, bringing with him Hestia Jones, the final member of their raiding party.
"Alright, we're all here," he nodded sagely. "Are we ready?"
"One thing," Emmeline raised a hand. "Are we really sure that we're going to leave Sturgis in there?"
Gildarts wrinkled his nose. He'd heard about this guy, Sturgis Podmore, who had been arrested when caught trying to break into the Prophecy Room that he himself had destroyed in the Ministry of Magic. A room he was meant to be guarding so the Order suspected the Imperius Curse had been involved.
"Sturgis is in no danger," Moody replied tersely. "They'll treat him according to the law. The Fairy Tail girls, who knows what Fudge will pull with them? He could send an order for the Dementors to Kiss them at any moment and if we break him out, that might look oddly suspicious. So yes. For now, we leave him in there. We'll free him when we can do it through legal means."
"Alright," Emmeline nodded. "I don't like it, but alright."
"Now, Gildarts, remember, we want this place to stay standing by the time we're finished here," Kingsley said. "Are you sure you won't be tempted to come rushing in after us?"
"…Every part of me wants to tear this building down stone by stone," Gildarts growled. "This place… it just isn't… humane. But as Master Mavis said, we need to work with you guys so I'll listen. Just bring my daughter and Erza back safely."
"Of course," Kingsley nodded. "Alright then, everyone. Let's move out."