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Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and settings belong to J. K. Rowling.
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Chapter 19
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January 25th, 1997, Thursday afternoon. Offices of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, DMLE at the Ministry of Magic. Hogwarts.
Amelia Bones, Head of the DMLE, said to everyone present at the meeting, "Good, we're all agreed on the plan to destroy, well, try and destroy the dementors Azkeban. As we all know, there is no known way to destroy a dementor, but we will all sincerely wish that Amma's magic will somehow intervene. We shall see."
Amelia turned to Nymphadora Tonks and Madame Pomfrey and said, "Now I would like for Tonks and Madame Pomfrey to take the floor. They have created a plan to reform the prison system and from what little I've heard so far, I'm strongly in favor. Now that Voldemort and the Death Eaters are a bad dream and no longer control the Wizengamot, we have a great opportunity to implement some long overdue reforms. Tonks and Madame Pomfrey, the floor is yours."
Tonks began, "Thank you, Amelia. Hopefully soon those dreadful dementors will be gone and we can all start treating the prisoners as human beings rather subjecting them to years of unending torture. In the muggle world there is a phrase that you can tell the character of a people or a nation by how they treat their prisoners. So after much discussion, Madame Pomfrey and I have created a plan to reform our penal system from one of just punishment to one of rehabilitation, reform and protection of the general population. Our plan centers around treating prisoners first and foremost as human beings who need help." Tonks looked to Madame Pomfrey.
Madame Pomfrey said, "As a healer one part of my training was how to heal the mind. Many, many things can damage the mind, causing someone to do what they wouldn't ordinarily do. And that is the case with most prisoners; they commit their crimes because of some past trauma or some inborn damage to the mind. So rather than just throw them in prison, let's first put them in a place where they can't harm others. And then let's see how much they can be healed."
The meeting continued as Tonks and Madam Pomfrey made their presentation and then discussed with everyone how to implement the changes.
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January 28th, 1997, Sunday, Azkeban.
Most of those at Hogwarts, the Ministry and the Wizengamot who could cast a patronus were all standing around the third level platform at Azkeban. Their patronuses were all cast and standing in front of each one, including a large wolf seated in front of Tom Riddle and, next to him was a majestic stag standing in front of Harry Potter.
Down below in the Pit the dementors were moving around in an agitated manner. Normally they just experienced the patronuses of the aurors who patrolled the cells; maybe three patronuses at most. They had never experienced fifty patronuses surrounding them.
Once everyone had spread out fairly evenly around the platform Dumbledore, as per the prearranged plan, raised his hand and all the patronuses slowly moved down toward the Pit. The dementors began to squeeze in tighter and tighter to escape the energy of the glowing creatures of light and goodness. The patronuses continued to tighten the circle around the dementors.
Soon some of the dementors began to float upwards to escape. As they did, some of the people became frightened that they would float away and escape. However, when the dementors floated up to a certain height, a ball of golden light flew down to meet each rising dementor. The dementors tried to quickly move away from the light, but were too slow. The light quickly accelerated and entered the chest of the floating dementor. When that happened there was a flash of light and all that remained was the ball of light which flew back up until it was lost from sight. This happened for each dementor that tried to float up and escape. Soon all the dementors had been transformed into light. One by one the prisoners began to cheer, and quickly more joined in.
The patronuses returned to their respective wizards and witches. The aurors who guarded Azkeban day after day and year after year were especially happy to no longer have the onerous job of being surrounded by the horrible energy of the dementors. The healers among the people gathered saw the terrible mental condition of many of the prisoners and began making plans for starting their healing regimens.
For the first time in almost 300 years some sunlight reached down into the bottom of Azkeban.
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March 18th, 1997, Tuesday early, evening, Sadova Castle, Romania.
Tom put on his Voldemort form and stepped outside into the darkening evening. The sun had set a little earlier and the hills beyond were quickly becoming just black shapes under the dark purple sky and dark clouds. Tom cast an invisibility spell on himself and then cast his wolf patronus. The patronus walked up to the platform and sat down, waiting patiently.
Tom also quietly walked around to the eastern entrance side of Bellatrix's prison. Strangely, Bellatrix did not move back her inner curtain. Always when she saw the light of the patronus coming through the curtain, she would open it and try various ways of making contact with the patronus. Tom could sense that, very slowly, his plan was working, Bellatrix was gradually learning how to make her mind more calm and peaceful which would cause the patronus to stay or even, sometimes, come closer. In the beginning the patronus would almost always stay for just a little while before moving away or returning to Tom.
Tom and the patronus both stood still and silent for a while. The early spring birds had mostly settled in for the night but a few were still chirping here and there. After about 10 minutes the patronus stood and moved through the bars and the curtain and disappeared into Bellatrix's prison.
This was a first, the patronus had never gone inside before.
Tom closed his eyes, became even more quiet and still inside and energized his magical connection with the patronus. He could now see through the eyes of the patronus. He saw Bellatrix seated on the edge of a comfortable chair, her back straight, eyes closed and hands resting on her knees.
A small part of Bellatrix's consciousness registered the presence of the patronus and absorbed the goodness and peace that it radiated. The larger part of her consciousness was expanded to a place of deep silence and bliss. To Bellatrix, this felt like a safe and welcoming home and it called her deeply to remain there for as long as possible. The patronus made a small noise of joy, curled up at Bellatrix's feet, closed its eyes and joined Bellatrix in that place.
Tom saw all this through the eyes and spirit of his patronus. He removed the invisibility spell and the Voldemort form, then sat in one of the comfortable chairs resting on the flagstones outside the large glass door. He gave himself a quick warming spell to ward off the cold evening chill. Then, still connected with the patronus, he joined it and Bellatrix in that place of deep bliss.
Before sinking in fully, he made a mental note to contact the Mind Healers at St. Mungo's to begin the next stage of Bellatrix's healing.
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end of chapter 19 and end of story
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