July 1st, 1993
Marina still couldn't believe this was happening. How in the world Mad-Eye had managed to make this happen was beyond her. But here she was, fifteen years old, and at the gates of Azkaban. She wasn't sure what surprised her more: that he'd gotten the Ministry to allow this... or Dromeda.
It had been a year since she'd found out that her father was a prisoner within those wall. And in all that time, the Ministry had been predictably reluctant to listen. They didn't want to admit to their mistake – because it would make them look more than just incompetent to have to tell the world that they had locked up an innocent man; one of their own aurors no less.
After last year's disaster, Fudge wouldn't have to worry much though. Dumbledore and the Board of Governors looked just as bad after a basilisk had roamed the school and petrified muggle-born students.
Marina had almost fainted when Harry had told her, after weeks, that he was hearing a voice in the wall that no one else seemed to hear. After seeing his Parseltongue in action, combined with Hagrid's dead roosters and the mass exodus of spiders... Carmen had come up pretty quickly with the king of snakes. Just as Marina had gone to tell McGonagall their suspicions, Hermione had been petrified.
She'd known full well at that point that Harry would not stay put and sit on his hands; not with his best friend turned into a statue.
Then Lucius – and she would still love to hex him for it – had removed Dumbledore from office.
All in all, it had been a spectacular mess all around. By the time she'd finally had a chance to tell McGonagall what was in the Chamber, Ginny had been kidnapped. But, to Marina's absolute horror, she hadn't been alone. Tyler Nott, in a valiant effort, had apparently tried to rescue her. His wand, which had been found next to Ginny's, had shown basic offensive spells.
Consequently, for the first time as long as Marina had known her, Carmen had lost her head. Her friend had gone and joined Harry and Ron in their off-the-books effort to rescue the latter's sister. When McGonagall had told her that they would close the school – basically giving up on Ginny and Ty – Marina had joined her friends and they'd descended into the Chamber. She still couldn't decide whether she was proud or horrified that the boys had found it.
Lockhart, the complete fraud, had obliviated himself by accident, bringing down half the roof on their heads in the process. As irony would have it, once again it had been Harry and Marina who had ended up facing Voldemort alone. Well, not exactly Voldemort; more like a shadow of himself – a memory wraith he had linked to his diary. Truth be told, given her mum's journals, that had really given her the creeps.
Then the heir of Slytherin had used his power and called his pet. Fighting a basilisk was not easy, given the fact that you couldn't look at him. But Marina had used the Glacio Charm, which was rapidly becoming her favourite spell ever, and frozen the beast – aiming over her shoulder, no less. The ice had effectively covered the eyes, blinding the creature.
Snakes needed heat, so the cold had slowed the damn thing enough for Harry to jump down Slytherin's statue and drive the Sword of Gryffindor through its head.
Voldemort, aka Tom Riddle, had not been pleased but he hadn't been fully corporeal yet. Arrogant as ever, he'd rambled on about how he'd make them pay and given Harry and her the same idea at the same time. She'd magicked one of the basilisk fangs out of the beast's skull and over to Harry, who had promptly driven it through Riddle's diary.
Then it had simply been a matter of getting the kids back upstairs and into the infirmary. Right about then the headmaster's phoenix, Fawkes, had shown up again and flown them out. McGonagall had apologised profoundly for dismissing Marina's information as she had believed, at the time, she'd only said it because she'd wanted Ty back.
Marina shook her head. A possessed Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher two years ago, a bloody basilisk last year... Harry was certainly never bored at Hogwarts.
"You ready?" Mad-Eye rumbled beside her as they cleared the usual checking points.
The aurors had searched them and taken their wands. The last bit disturbed her but she knew better than to argue.
"Yes," she assured her grouchy escort again. "There is nothing they can make me see or hear that I don't already remember anyway."
He harrumphed but didn't stall any longer. He had resigned from the Ministry a few months ago, even from instructing, but only after he had convinced Fudge to sign special clearance for Marina to visit her father.
In the end it had taken Dumbledore's considerable, if gentle, influence for the minister to authorise a reopening of her Dad's case. The headmaster had been more than just disturbed after reading the letter and the last of her mother's journals. Her mum had known the real plan too and had written about it.
"The dementors will stay clear of you, Miss," the auror said reassuringly.
"You'll forgive me for only believing that when I see it," she muttered under her breath.
The auror was young, which was the point probably; at that age he couldn't have so many bad memories yet and wouldn't be as influenced by the prison's guards.
Mad-Eye nodded sharply and the auror moved to escort her inside. They'd agreed that she'd go in alone – but Mad-Eye and that magical eye of his would be watching. One wrong move from the dementors and he'd send in his patronus – obviously no one had told the auror that the grouch could somehow do magic with his cane too.
Azkaban was huge and the further in they got, the worse Marina felt. Part of her just wanted to turn on her heel and leave, especially when the prisoners realised that someone was there and started screaming for mercy.
Most of them didn't deserve any, she thought grimly, as she passed Bellatrix' cell. Her cousin was cackling like the lunatic she was, mumbling about her Lord's return.
"She's always like that," the auror commented when he noticed where she was looking.
"Lovely," Marina replied, deadpan. "Then again, she was like that before the dementors so..."
Marina had been repulsed by her relatives all over again when she'd found out exactly what Bella and Rodolphus had done to the Longbottoms. She'd known the basics but... there had been a witness.
Jupiter and Laura had left David and Carmen with them to have a night out, given that Bianca had been at school. Carmen and Neville, thank Merlin, had been fast asleep upstairs when the Lestranges had made their appearance.
But David, nine years old at the time, had been downstairs. Thankfully, his instincts had made him hide in the closet. Unfortunately, while it had spared him Bella's insane attention, he'd witnessed everything; how Bella, her husband, Rodolphus' brother and Barty Crouch Jr had tortured Frank and Alice with the Cruciatus until their minds had broken. But the worst part, David had told her, was that Bella had been laughing. Cackling like a hyena while she'd destroyed two good people in the name of her master.
"Your father's not like any of them," the auror said almost whimsically.
"That's probably because he's innocent."
It took almost twenty minutes to get to the part of the high security ward where they were holding him. It was a lot quieter down here but Marina could still hear the fruitcake cackling.
"The wards will only let you through for the next hour. A privacy shield has been erected," the auror said, still sounding somewhat gobsmacked about that.
Mad-Eye had really taken the minister to task.
Her stomach was in knots. The auror walked away and left her to go into the cell on her own. But instead of her father, she found a big black dog. She couldn't help but smile.
"Dad?" she asked hesitantly.
The dog visibly flinched and raised its head. Marina gasped. His eyes looked haunted and empty. Also, she realised with surprise, she couldn't sense much of his emotions.
Before she could come up with an explanation for that, her Dad changed back to human. He was wearing the same rotten prison garb as all the others did and was skin and bones. His grey eyes looked dull and lifeless, deeply sunken into his skull. He looked nothing like he had in her mother's memories within the journals. Twelve years in prison had turned his features waxen – and Marina knew that he used to have her prominent cheekbones, oval-ish face and weird thin-lipped smile. Their eyes had the same shape too, if not the same colour. Or at least they used to. Marina was appalled by the havoc Azkaban had wrought on the attractive man she'd seen at James and Lily's wedding.
She jumped when her Dad swore violently, his voice a painful rasp.
"You shouldn't be here!" he finished his rant, panting.
But now that he was back to human, she could sense his emotions just fine. Whether he thought it was a good idea or not, he was thrilled to see her.
"That's what Dromeda said," she smiled shakily and stepped further into the cell. "But Remus and Mad-Eye convinced her."
At the mention of his best friend, his heart jumped. Dear Merlin, she could sense her Dad's feelings even better than others.
"This is no place for a-"
"If you say child-," she interrupted him dryly, "-I will smack you. I might be only fifteen but I haven't been a child, in that sense, in a while now."
And he really didn't need the details, at least not while he was still stuck in here and couldn't do anything about any of it.
"You just sounded like your mother," he mused almost wistfully.
"Did Mad-Eye tell you about her journals?" she asked and stopped in front of him.
Even slumped from strain, he was as tall as she'd imagined – she barely reached his shoulders.
"Yes. He told me everything that's happened since..."
He trailed of. Marina didn't particularly think it was because he didn't want to remember that Hallowe'en but because his mind was damaged if not broken. Bloody dementors. She reached out and brushed his too long hair out his face. He was going grey, she thought glumly. He was only thirty-four!
When she touched him, he snapped out of whatever fog his mind had drifted to.
"He also told me that you exploded all over Dromeda and the others," he chastised but his lips twitched a bit.
"I was angry," she admitted. "After years of getting lied to... and that anyone actually believed you would ever..." She cut herself off when she sensed the sharp bite of pain from him.
"And then I found out you hadn't gotten a trial and really lost it," she added.
"Mad-Eye said it was Narcissa who told you?" her Dad asked, a growl sounding in his voice. It made him sound like the oversized canine he'd been a few minutes ago.
"I don't think she's that bad," Marina nodded, tentatively. "Lucius is, no question, but Narcissa... All I ever sense from her is the need to protect her spoiled brat of a son and... well, loneliness."
"Sense?" Uh-oh.
"I'm an empath," she said warily. "I thought Mad-Eye would have told you that."
"Nope. Must have slipped his mind." Marina snorted at that.
Her Dad actually managed a smile, of sorts – and pulled her into a hug so slowly, she knew her was giving her the chance to back away.
Tears burned her eyes when she hugged him back. Her own emotions were warring between joy – she was hugging her Dad! – and sadness – she'd seen and held broomsticks that felt more solid than her father. She could count his ribs, merely from hugging him, for Merlin's sake.
"I'm not so sure if I should tell you what's going on outside," she finally said, still firmly in her Dad's arms. "Good news might make you feel better. And with the dementors..."
They would suck anything positive right out of him again. And the more they fed on a person, the worse that person would get. Her father had managed to stay sane up until now, but if she gave the dementors something to feed on now... they might shatter his mind after all, before she got him out of there.
"What did the others say?"
"Well, Mad-Eye told me to keep my mouth shut. Remus was all for telling you – something along the lines of if you stayed sane this long, you could handle it. And Dromeda, ever the practical one, said to ask you."
"Well then, let's stick to the basics," he suggested and sat down on his... so-called bed, pulling her with him. "What subjects did you pick?"
"Care for Magical Creatures, Divination and Runes," she answered, smiling. It was a parental thing to ask – and not his style.
She knew that both her parents had picked Magical Creatures and he had chosen Runes too.
"Nice. How are you doing at them?"
"Runes is an Outstanding so far, as is Transfiguration, Astronomy and Potions by the way, the rest is Exceeds Expectations. Well... except History of Magic; only an Acceptable there. And I'm tutoring by best friend in Runes so she can take the O.W.L. too. I'm taking Muggle Studies as an extra – don't really need to study for that with Ted around." Dumbledore himself had approved the extra tests.
"You're as smart as your Mum then, hm?
"From what Mum wrote you weren't exactly stupid either," she replied. "Especially considering..."
She waved her hand in the direction of where he'd been curled up as an Irish Wolfhound.
Then she had a thought of what else she could tell him that, as a parent, would likely not make him too happy.
"So... ehm... Mad-Eye might have... registered me at the Junior Duelling League," she said quietly. The British and Irish Duelling League wasn't nearly as large, or popular, as the Quidditch League but it was the second most important sport in their world. It wasn't just about winning, but about creativity during the duel and endurance – the record, at the final of the World Cup, had been two hours. Normally, duels lasted all of ten minutes, twenty tops. The Junior League only accepted entries with sponsors, as underage witches and wizards needed a special permission to use magic at all.
Marina had Mad-Eye, the Notts and Remus. That was plenty of adult supervision, she thought.
"He did what?" her Dad exclaimed on cue, sounding half outraged, half bemused.
"He's been... blaming himself for Mum for some reason, so he's been teaching me on the side for years. I know more offensive and defensive spells than any student has business knowing."
Not that she was complaining. If it hadn't been for the Ice Charm, Harry and she would most likely have been basilisk lunch.
"But the Duelling League is more than just casting."
"I've been practising with Bianca and David Nott," she grinned, still not moving a muscle. "Until Bianca got a job in Africa to finish her Mastery in Arithmancy, that is. David's an auror almost done with training so..."
"Andromeda still as close with them, then?"
"Yes, we all are. The best friend I mentioned? It's the Notts' second youngest child, Carmen."
Silence reigned for a minute or so. Marina knew what he would ask next before he did.
"How's Harry?" His voice had an awful longing in it, and she could sense a need in him; the need to make up for his perceived failure to protect James and Lily.
She was getting slightly unnerved on how well she could read his emotions.
"A typical Gryffindor," she replied dryly. "And he's playing Seeker." She could feel her Dad grin against her hair at that.
"So he's okay then?"
"He's... getting there," she answered, unwilling to lie. Her father tensed.
"What do you mean?" he asked sharply. Marina sighed.
"After... everything, Dumbledore left him with Lily's sister. Those muggles are awful, Dad. They hate everything about our world and they never wanted him. What Dumbledore was thinking when leaving him there, I will never understand." Blood protection or not.
"Are they... abusing him?" Outrage sounded in his voice and she didn't need empathy to sense the rising anger in him.
"Verbally, definitely. Physically... I don't know. Harry doesn't talk about it," she recounted. "But I do know they never told him what and who he is. When Hagrid showed up with his letter... he was shocked. He thought Lily and James died in a car crash, for Merlin's sake. Hogwarts was one hell of a culture shock."
"How much did you tell him?" Marina winced.
"Well... Hagrid's the one who told him about Voldemort and '81. He didn't even know who I was until the other students gave him the Daily Prophet articles about me. Then we started talking. And by Christmas I started giving him mum's journals. I couldn't copy the memories she put in them, but at least he gets to read about James and Lily."
"And what about-?" He waved around his cell.
"Everything. I told him all of it, starting with the Marauder's becoming animagi because of Remus and ending with the Fidelius and... the rat."
"You told him about Remus?" he asked, suitably shocked.
"Not just him," she admitted sheepishly. "He was the Weasleys' at the time so they know too now. I asked Remus for permission first, though. And the pretty much only good thing that came out of Harry growing up with muggles is that he wasn't raised with the same prejudices. He couldn't care less that my godfather turns furry at the full moon."
Marina strongly suspected that he wouldn't have cared if he'd been raised by wizards either. He hated bullying and the prejudice against werewolves was just that.
"Anything else important I've missed?" her Dad asked, only mildly sarcastic.
"Yes. But that'll have to wait until you're out. It'll just drive you mad otherwise." Bad choice of words but accurate. They stayed silent for a few minutes.
"I've started animagus training," she told him then. "McGonagall is helping off the record." It was her professor's way of making up for ignoring her concerns the year before.
"Why would she do that?"
"Let's just say I have a talent for getting into trouble," she sighed and wished she could just tell him everything. "She thinks it's a good skill to have – especially for getting away. And... I want to do it for Remus." She hadn't breathed a word about it to her godfather though. She hated the thought that he was suffering through the full moons alone since the night he'd lost all his best friends at once. His father's arm around her tightened.
"Have you found your form yet?" he asked slyly. She knew why he'd asked.
"Yes. It hasn't changed."
She'd wondered why he'd addressed her as Kitten in his letter, so she'd asked Remus. He'd burst out laughing before telling her she'd spontaneously changed into an infant lynx at age two. Her mother had almost fainted in shock, her father had been equal parts proud and disappointed that she wasn't canine.
"Remus will lose it once finds out," he warned her.
"He'll find out when I can turn at will – which means too late to stop me. Besides, I have McGonagall helping me so it's not as dangerous as what you three geniuses did."
"Not the safest thing, in hindsight," he agreed. "But we were all top of the class so..."
"So am I and yet I had the sense to ask for help. I won't be registering though."
The Ministry had too many so-called reformed Death Eaters in its employ. She didn't want word of her potential new skill to reach Voldemort – wherever he was hiding.
"Speaking of animagi-," she said curiously, "-how can you still turn? The transformation takes a lot of magic and..."
"I still have mine," he confirmed her suspicion. "Being innocent wasn't a happy thought so they couldn't take it. It kept me sane. Somewhat," he added wryly.
Before she could argue, there was a change in atmosphere. The temperature suddenly dropped a good few degrees and she could see their breath fog the air.
"Dementors," she realised. "They were ordered to stay clear of you."
"They're escorting someone," her Dad mumbled, cocking his head in a way that made him look remarkably like his dog-form.
Then he started shaking and pressed his eyes shut. Marina gripped his hand, worried, but she couldn't help him. Not only because he was caught in his own mind as of right then, but because he wasn't the only one the dementors were affecting.
"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!" James' voice was trembling with fear, sounding louder than ever in her head.
"Rose, take Kitten and go! I'll hold him off!"
"You can't take him on your own, James!" Marina's breath caught. She'd never remembered her mother arguing before.
"Take the kids and leave!" James thundered. "Sirius will never forgive me if something happens to his girl!"
A loud crack in the background signalled the front door shattering. Harry started crying next to her, close to her ear.
"Lily, take the kids! Run!" her mother's voice, terrified beyond belief...
Marina must've shaken as much as her father, because the next thing she knew was that she was lying on the ground of his cell – him right next to her – and looking up at the concerned faces of the front desk auror, Mad-Eye and... Cornelius Fudge.
"Whatever happened to keeping the dementors clear from here?" she grumbled weakly, still trembling, and turned around to check on her Dad.
The man was clutching his head and mumbling, "No. No. I'm sorry" over and over again. In that moment he looked every bit as mad as any other prisoner in there.
Horrified, she realised that the dementors were already having more of an effect on him. Even the little information she'd given him had them feeding off him.
"Get those abominations away from here!" she spat and fervently wished for her wand. So far all she'd managed was silver mist that roughly maybe resembled some sort of four-legged creature, no actual patronus, but it would be better than nothing.
"Now, now, Ms Black, you have to understand-," Fudge started, his usual pompous self, but he didn't get to finish.
Mad-Eye slammed his weird cane hard onto the ground once and a huge cloud of silver patronus burst out of it, pushing the dementors away.
Meanwhile, her Dad was still out of it, now moaning "James! No, James, no!" on repeat.
"Please tell me you've got chocolate somewhere in that cloak, Mad-Eye," Marina asked the ex-auror and edged close enough to her rambling father to pull his head into her lap. In a way of answering, the man silently handed her an entire bar.
Marina broke of one block and ate it herself before all but force-feeding her father.
"Never mind that you yourself signed the order to keep them away from Dad-," Marina snapped at the minister without looking his way, "-but how exactly did I qualify for that torture?"
And it was torture. She had known it but she hadn't known. Having people tell her and read about dementors was one thing, but to experience their effect...
"I apologise," Fudge lamented, obviously decided that was the best was to deal with a very upset female. "I actually came here today to tell Mr Black his trial date."
Marina bit her tongue so hard she almost bled. Pointing out that whatever date he had in mind was twelve years late wouldn't help.
"I also sent owls to you, Mr Lupin, Mrs Tonks and Mr Potter so they can attend," Fudge announced, no doubt proud of himself.
This time she whirled around and stared at the minister.
"Why in the world would you owl Harry?" she questioned, aghast.
Never mind Dumbledore, his muggle relatives would make her brother's life miserable for a summons like that.
"Well, as Mr Black is Harry's godfather, the outcome affects him, doesn't it?"
"Yes, and I appreciate that you took it into consideration, Minister. But when you question Dad with veritaserum or worse, watch his memories in the Wizengamot's pensieve... Harry does not need to see that."
Marina didn't need to see it, but there was no way she'd stay away from that trial.
Before anyone could comment or react, her father finally came back to himself, swallowing the rest of chocolate whole from the looks of it.
"I'm sorry, Dad," she said, feeling terrible.
There is no way he'd ever been that affected before. If he had been, he would have gone madder even than Bellatrix.
"I'm okay, Kitten," he blatantly lied to her, forcing half a smile. From what he'd been mumbling, she would guess he'd been forced to remember finding James and Lily dead.
Either way, he heaved himself off the floor and faced the newcomers. He nodded at Mad-Eye with respect, obviously not blaming his former boss like she had done for the better part of a month after she'd found out, and stared at the auror and Fudge without expression.
Marina had to admit it was very disturbing.
"Mr Black-," Fudge started surprisingly steady under her father's continued regard,"-I pushed up my schedule on the correctional visit because I wanted to personally give you notice that your trial will be held on August 2nd before the entire Wizengamot."
That had been so obviously practised and memorised she had to look down to suppress a chuckle. Her Dad took her hand and squeezed once, apparently agreeing.
"I would thank you, Minister-," he then rasped, "-but I'm afraid I will have to go with 'About time' instead."
Much awkward silence ensued.
Finally, Marina cleared her throat.
"If you would give us a minute, Minister? Then I'll accompany you outside." And face the vultures.
Fudge had known she was here so she was going with the assumption that the press was waiting outside. He wanted to do a press statement and have her there to look good.
"Of course," he agreed hastily, twirling his bowler hat. Mad-Eye limped out behind him after nodding at her father.
"Merlin help me," she mumbled. This time she was the one pulling him into a hug.
"Cornelius seems almost afraid of you," her Dad said gravely, but he couldn't hold back the smile.
"He's afraid of the potential disaster I could cause for his career," she replied. "With everyone, including Dumbledore, in my corner, he can't deny your trial and the truth any longer. He's hoping I'll heap some praise onto him once the press gets to me."
"You have a sense for politics."
"I have a sense for bullocks. I don't care if Fudge comes out of this smelling like roses. He didn't put you in here. Crouch better hope I never meet him, though."
"Spoken like a true Gryffindor," he Dad grinned proudly and kisser her on the head.
One more month, she told herself. One month and then she'd have him back. And maybe... Harry would finally have an adult that loved him in his life. Even the dementors couldn't suck that hope away.