Check first chapter for summary, disclaimer, and other warnings.

Chapter 23 – Insanity
posted June 10th, 2020

Wotch-

F**K the Minister!

Sorry, it had to be said before anything else. The man is clearly insane, and things are going really bad. I mean… the man thought it clever to place Dementors around Hogwarts!

Dementors!

Around children!

He clearly lost it.

And that normally suicidal manoeuver was done with the blessing of the Wizengamot, most of whose members see Dementors as abstract entities able to discern criminals from innocents. "After all," one of those pompous windbags was heard saying, "they guard the prison, they ought to know."

YOU ought to know, Mr Pompous Windbag. Go to Hogwarts to see with your eyes whether Dementors are good for your health. And your children.

F-ing politicians. Each of them should spend a time in Auror training with us, just when we are faced with the numerous dangerous creatures we could find outside. I remember these moments as the greatest displacements in the shortest time, followed by mind-numbing terror.

We were put face-to-face with a nundu, for two seconds. A quintaped, five seconds. A basilisk (just a picture, and I think they'll change it for the one John gave me), three seconds. A manticore, two seconds. A chimera, four seconds.

For each of these creatures, there were handlers, controls, protection, and a viable strategy: brute force. If enough wands are brought forth, the target creature will die.

Not the dementors. The exposition we had to them was of ten seconds, during which we had to cast the Patronus spell – learnt beforehand and practised until it became corporeal. But faced with the aura of the beast, none of us could produce a patronus, corporeal or not, on the first try.

And we continued to be exposed to it, day after day, until we could produce the protecting spirit. This class has the highest rate of dropouts of the Academy (when compared to its duration).

I wanted to drop out myself, in order to be at Hogwarts and protect John with my meagre Patronus. Or teach him. Or both. They say children are too young to learn this. They also say that Dementors ought to be there.

I say bull.

I gave pointers to John, by letters, and I know that Hermione is not far behind (and Luna is not far on his left side, and Su on his right). And, apparently, I learn that their professor of Defence has been asked to help, too.

Hermione spreads the information freely, and most Ravenclaws participate in the unnamed quest for the first patronus among students. Especially after professor Lupin mentioned that such a spell might grant additional credits for end-of-year exams, as well as OWLs and NEWTs.

Thanks to my own experience, I know that the spell should be easier for the older students, both because they instinctively know which kind of memory grants the most happiness, but also because they know how to produce them.

However, with Hermione on the task, the lower years found themselves equalling their betters, because the protecting spirit is not a lover. And a child has a more innocent outlook on life, granting them the ability to summon moments of happiness with a protecting parent.

John showed me his, and I felt that it was purer, too. Since then, I re-learnt the spell in order to associate it with happy (and innocent) memories with dad. And with John too – as a dragon, he'd be capable of protecting me better than anything.

Back to the Minister and his insanity. Do you know why he chose to bring Dementors to Hogwarts, in fact? Because, in his infinite wisdom (or, rather, stupidity), he thought that Sirius Black, freshly escaped from Azkaban, was going to storm the school.

Sirius Black… I realized recently that he was my mother's cousin, and I remember playing with him, when I was but a little tot. The disgust I then felt was uncomfortable, and I resolved to find out the depth of his betrayal by looking at his trial's transcripts.

And found none.

I spoke of this to my superior, who had to see by himself because he didn't believe me. Up it went, up to Madam Bones herself. The "monocle dragon" as some call her (never to her face, and never in her back either: only far far away) descended the discovery chain until she found yours truly.

"Why did you sought these?" she asked.

"Because he's my cousin." I said. "I remember him coming to see my mother, when I was little, and couldn't reconcile the idea of a mass murderer and the fun babysitter he was."

"Sirius Black, babysitter?" she asked incredulously, almost losing her monocle. And surprised us by barking a laugh. "I've known him for some time." she said. "And he was such a cad to women that I thought him far too immature to have children. But, apparently, he babysat you, and the Potters made him sworn godfather." she finished, pointing at the folder.

"Sworn? But…"

"I know. It means he couldn't have betrayed them. And since there's no transcript, there's no trial either. Something fishy is going on, and we're going to find what, before one of the kids has an accident with the accursed dementors. Good job, recruit. Your name?"

"Tonks, madam. And thank you."

I swear she almost asked for my missing forename, before smiling – and I know I kicked as many shins here as I did in school when somebody uttered my forename. And it must be written in the reports, somewhere, so she'd know.

With her help, the case was quickly dismantled, Sirius Black was officially exonerated, and then found. His only crime was of being an unregistered Animagus. And John didn't have to use his Patronus in a real-life situation…

…except when the Quidditch game of Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff attracted the beasts. That was before they were sent back. By then, however, enough students had learned the spell to be able to push them back. And the others, surrounded by a truly vast menagerie of various luminous animals, found in themselves the necessary will to cast them as well.

If Madam Bones hadn't rescinded the order to bring them there, I believe they would have fled by themselves when facing such a fierce opposition.

Sirius thanked me for everything, especially because I took care of John. Well… he said "Harry", but whatever the incredible events going on around him, whatever the number of people gravitating around him, he'll always stay my little brother John.

And I love him as such, even if he's less and less "little" each time I see him. At the end of the year, he confided that Hermione had gotten a Time Turner in order to take more courses than physically possible, and that got me reeling: which headmaster, the world over, would give a teenager a device able to disrupt reality?

Dumbledore, apparently, and I think he lives more and more to be like the first syllable of his name.

When I informed John of the potential dangers of such an item, he had that lopsided smile of his, and let slip that he knew. And I discovered that not only Hermione had used it, but him too. And they might have spent more time together than the normal duration of a school year.

It shows, too, because John seems more mature than boys his age. As I know that girls love the confident ones, I envision what the following years will be, and I groan. "Promise me you'll learn the contraception spell soon." I plead, not wanting a pregnancy scandal for him.

"No need." he replies, his smile widening.

"Don't tell me…" I start, before grabbing his vest. "Or rather… do tell me! Have you... ?"

"No." is his reply. "But Hermione wanted us to know that spell before leaving the school."

A pause. "You think she has plans for next year, don't you."

He nods. It is not a fleeting thought, however: it's a certainty. That girl and her plans…

To be continued in next chapter: Champions...