This is real short. Like REALLY short. I'm sorry. We spent the week trying to get my great grandma (FINALLY) settled into her new assisted living place and let me tell you its not been cohesive to writing. Especially since I was basically on dog duty.
Next chapter will be much bigger to get us through the first half(or so) of Third Year...so buckle up buckaroos.
Disclaimer in Chapter 1. Will add as needed.
"What?!" Sirius growled, jumping up from the circle, "How did she get out?!"
Lily looked frustrated, "Kingsley said they don't have all of the facts. All they know is that she lured her guard into her cell, strangled him with a braid that she made out of her hair, then escaped with the guard's wand. They don't know how she made it past the dementors! I highly doubt she would have been able to cast a patronus in that state!"
"How did Siri escape last time?" James asked, climbing to his feet and looking between his wife and daughter.
"Padfoot." Harri said shortly as she quickly moved over to her desk for parchment and a quill.
Lily gave a short nod, "Dementors don't affect animals. Sirius was able to escape his cell then get past the dementors in his dog form so they wouldn't come after him."
"Does Bellatrix have an animagus?" Fred asked curiously as he and George stood to move to the desk with Harriet.
"I don't know." Sirius moaned as Harri said, "Not that I'm aware of."
"But she could." Remus interjected, "How else would she get free?"
Harriet bit her lip as she continued to write on the parchment before her, "There is no other fool proof way past Dementors that I know of." She shot a look to Salazar's painting, "Do you know of any?"
"There were a few legends that said the Master of Death couldn't be affected by them." Salazar said.
Harri snorted, "Yeah, Bellatrix isn't the Master of Death." She rolled up the piece of parchment and Dobby appeared to take it from her without a word before popping away. "I've got two of the Hallows on me and I'm pretty certain that she couldn't have gotten to the one with Dumbledore."
"Then there is no way that I know of. Practicing Necromancers have a certain resistance to them but it isn't absolute and I highly doubt she would be able to practice necromancy within Azkaban." Salazar said.
"Are you sure she wouldn't be able to cast a patronus?" George asked.
"Or just apparated once she was free of her cell?" Fred added.
"When you're in Azkaban for as long as she has been without any protection from the Dementors you're hard pressed to think of a happy memory let alone pull on it enough to make a patronus." Sirius said gruffly.
"And the anti-apparition wards extend past the Dementor's patrol line." Harriet said, pulling another parchment free, "She would have still had to make it past them to be able to apparate, even if she was strong enough to do so."
James' eyebrows shot up, "How do you know where Azkaban's wardlines lay?"
"It's most certainly not because a certain pair of people got themselves caught while they were under poly juice and I had to mount a rescue." Harriet deadpanned, not looking up from her work.
"What, seriously?!" Fred exclaimed.
Lily gave a small laugh despite their current situation, "Oh that one was fun. She broke into Azkaban!"
"No one is supposed to be able to break into Azkaban!" Sirius exclaimed, "It's hidden and warded to the gills!"
Harriet rolled her eyes, "If Voldemort can do it I most certainly can."
"That's not something to aspire to cub." Remus huffed.
Harri shrugged as she put down her quill and slid the parchment to the side before looking up at her mom, "Alright, I've sent Alice and Frank a warning in case they weren't already aware. Did they say why they are focusing the Dementors at the school again? Is she going to try to come after Neville?"
Lily nodded, "Or you, since you took down Bellatrix's master all those years ago. Dumbledore also suggested trying to get Frank and Alice to come here in case she was coming after them, so they you would all be safe under the Dementors protection."
Harri frowned, "I need them elsewhere at the moment." She bit her lip, "Though I suppose it won't be hard for them to slip away with Hogwarts being as big as she is. Did Bellatrix manage to get anyone else out with her? Rabastian? Rolduphus?"
Lily shook her head, "No, she escaped on her own. They would have slowed her down I presume."
"Considering they been in there as long as she has yeah." Harri agreed, she ran her fingers through her hair as she blew out a breath, "Alright, I assume the Dementors will be here by this evening." Lily nodded again, "I don't expect Bellatrix to make a move for a couple of weeks at the very least. She's insane, not stupid. She'll make sure she's capable again before trying anything and if she believes she has enough leeway she'll try to seek out some of the Death Eaters who weren't imprisoned. The Slytherin's should know not to side with her against me but there are plenty of Death Eaters from other houses and countries that she could go to, not to mention Voldemort's other Allies."
"So we're just going to wait for her to come to us?" George asked unhappily.
Harri smiled at him, "We'll prepare what we can. Unfortunately, unless we want to blow our cover right now we can't hunt her down ourselves." She paused and cocked her head, "I guess I could set Wade to finding her but honestly, I'm kind of afraid of what would happen if I pitted that much crazy against each other." Fred and George chuckled, "But, if she steps within the wards I should be able to feel her so that's a plus."
"What are you going to do about the Dementors pup?" Sirius asked softly.
Harri's mouth fell into a grim line, "There isn't much I can do. The extra laws regarding them didn't spring up until after the second war when they sided with Voldemort again. I can owl Lucius and try to get him to move the Board to make a big deal over it but since the DMLE is likely pushing them as protection then it will put the breaks on any moves to have them sent away." She tapped the second parchment she had been writing on, "In the mean time I'll train the Slytherins in the Patronus and teach Frigga so she can teach the classes. It is an advanced skill but if it is taught right and with the right incentive, most of those with average and above average magical cores should be able to pull it off."
"I'll go see what Dumbledore is telling the professors about all of this." Lily said seriously.
Harri nodded sharply, "And I should go find Neville to break the news more gently."
On a rocky shore of the North Sea, several gulls were circling over a particularly dense rock pile. Several dropped to perch right around a craggy hole in the pile. A particularly brave gull hopped forward and leaned closer to the hole, it's black eyes blinking as its head twitched from side to side to find a better angle.
A black paw shot from the hole and hooked sharp claws into the brave gull's neck, scattering the others who had landed as the caught gull batted its wings in an effort to escape, trying in vain to peck at the black furred appendage that held it. A sharp jerk from the paw had the gull flat on its belly, its tiny heart racing as a shadow emerged from the hole in the rock.
Said shadow solidified into a black cat. Though not an ordinary one by any means. No, this cat had dull, patchy fur and skin that hung off its emaciated frame like bad drapes. Wild black eyes looked out from a sunken in face and two abnormally long fangs peeked from beneath the cat's upper lip where bent whiskers twitched nervously. The cats tail hung at an awkward angle, a break clearly visible half way down its length. On its head sat two perpetually twitching ears, one with a rather worrisome bite taken out of it.
The wild eyed cat peered down at the petrified gull who still squirmed in the grip of those wicked claws that were quickly staining the pristine white feathers with red. With a twitch of its broken tail this strange cat transformed, leaving the gull to be held by the neck by a similarly wild eyed woman with curly hair who wore white and black striped rags and was sitting cross legged on the rock pile.
"Oh, hello pretty bird." The woman cooed, petting the wound gull absently, effectively spreading the blood that was dripping from the gulls wound. "Were you trying to eat me?" the gull croaked pathetically in a pseudo answer. "Of course you were. What a pretty scavenger."
The woman looked out toward the water, toward the storm she could just barely see in the distance. A storm that was guarding what had previously been her prison. Last night she had done it. She had gotten free. She didn't get her first wish though. She pouted as she stroked her new friend, "I didn't get to gut the guard little scavenger. Couldn't make a knife." She let out a dissatisfied huff, "Strangling just doesn't have that same feel." Once she had taken out the guard and made her way out with her new wand she had had to swim for it and then hide in the hole her new friend had found her in until the aurors had moved on.
Now though, now she was free!
Her grip on the gull tightened and she grinned down at the bird as it squawked pitifully. "Now I can finish what I started pretty bird. Finish the Longbottoms then take little Potty's head to please my lord!" she shook the little creature in her hand as she jumped to her feet and gave a cheer, "He will be so pleased!"
She turned inland and began to walk, "I will need some supplies though." She confided in the gull, "Maybe a friend to play with…" she trailed off as her stomach gurgled. She frowned down at her stomach before looking back to the gull, "Sorry pretty bird. Looks like I'll need a snack to tide me over." She crooned before nonchalantly snapping the birds neck. She hummed as she continued to walk and pry the birds flesh open with her nails at the same time, "Hmm, I wonder if ol wolfie would be up for some fun?"
Harriet watched stoically from the window of her dorm in Gryffindor tower as the first of the Dementors came into view with the setting of the sun.
She had hoped that she wouldn't have as much contact with them this time around. Hell, she'd really been wishing that she would never have to see a Dementor again.
Yet…the Potter Luck struck again.
Harri knew she would need to be on alert any time she stepped out of the Castle.
If the Dementors had affected her so severely before with only her mother's death to remember, she'd hate to find out just how much they would affect her with so many more memories for them to pull on. The deaths of the Avengers, the death of Todd, the deaths of her mates. She'd go down like a ton of bricks if the Dementors got close enough to affect her now.
Harriet shifted forward to lean against the window as Glacia gave a disgruntled clack of her beak within.
Her necklaces clinked together.
Harriet startled when she felt hands on her shoulders and spun to find out who had snuck up on her, only to find the dorm room empty.
Harri's eyes darted around the room, before she huffed and turned back to the window. "Great Harriet. First Frigga and Arthur spring their surprise on us, then we get Bella and Dementors to deal with, and now you're going crazy. Bloody fantastic." She let out a loud sigh, "Happy fucking Third Year."
Did I go overboard with the crazy Bella? Not enough? I'm bad a measuring crazy in a character. I like Deadpools levels of crazy so trying to fit it into Bella was a bit weird.
