Chapter 15 Magic Carpet Ride

"Oh no." Dobby squealed, "Dobby too young to die!"

"Relax." Sirius replied evenly.

"Relax?" Dobby squealed again, "How can Dobby relax? In case Mr. Sirius black doesn't notice, the rocks are coming up real fast."

"Calm down." Said Sirius, "And hang on."

"Oh Dobby hang on, you bet on that."

The carpet was traveling almost straight down the side of the outer wall of the prison. In another few seconds they would crash into the rocks at the shoreline. At the last instant the carpet turned parallel to the ground at a height of about two feet and shot forward, skimming the ocean beneath them. The three watched the lights of Azkaban fade in the distance until it was out of sight.

"I didn't hear any alarms or see any unusual lights." Said Sirius to Pig and Dobby. "I think we made it."

Dobby turned a pale face toward Sirius. "Mr. Sirius Black, Dobby like you and all that but if we ever in something like this again..."

"Yes." Said Sirius.

"Please to let Dobby know what's gonna happen so Dobby don't almost stain the carpet!"

"Okay." Said Sirius, "Sorry Dobby, I didn't mean to scare you, but it was the fastest way down and if we stayed close to the wall, we were less likely to be noticed. I think all the dementors were too busy watching Mrs. Periwinkle and her bunch to notice us. I'm going to send that woman a big fruit basket. Do I ever love her."

Sirius saw Dobby and Pig looking at him strangely. "That's a joke." He said. Pig and Dobby looked at each other and relaxed. Dobby burst out in laughter and Pig hooted like mad.

Sirius looked from one to the other. "What's so funny?" He asked.

"Dobby and Pig just have a funny picture of Mr. Sirius Black and Mrs. Periwinkle." Dobby howled.

"I mean that because of her we were able to get away...Oh, never mind." Sirius groaned when it was clear that he had lost control of that part of the conversation. Then he asked Dobby. ""What was your wonderful plan and why didn't it work? We almost lost the carpet."

Dobby looked incredulous. "Wadaya mean?" He asked. "Dobby's plan work like clock. Everything go just like it should."

Now it was Sirius' turn to look incredulous. "It worked?" He repeated, "How? Nothing happened."

"Mr. Sirius Black is very right and that is why plan worked." Said Dobby complacently.

"I'm confused." Said Sirius slowly. "Could you please explain it to me?"

"Very simple." Beamed Dobby proudly. "Dobby start tour at other side of the prison. Dobby know that by the time we get to your room it be late and Quartermaster will have locked up for the night."

"You mean he wasn't gone?" Asked Sirius.

"Oh, yeah he was." Dobby replied. "He make supply run every night. Warden should have known that but Dobby guess he forgot. This is even better than Dobby hope for. Now Dobby get carpet back, then change it with another one and hide magic carpet. Maybe Dobby can get them to give it to me since it is kinda worn out and will probably be thrown away anyway."

"That's fine." Sirius told him, "But whatever you do, don't draw any attention to that carpet or give them any reason to inspect it. I know your friend said it's just a rug when it's off but all magical objects that I know of give off some kind of energy. We may have just been lucky that the dementors were not as through as they could have been. Just be careful. It would be better to have it burned than for them to find out what it really is."

"Dobby be careful you betcha." Said the elf.

"We're coming up on the coast." Sirius observed, "We need to get higher and slow down."

"What for we need slow down." Inquired Dobby.

"Because Pig has to guide us to Mooney's place." Sirius told him.

"Pig know the way?" Dobby blinked, "How?"

"He's an owl." Said Sirius patiently. "Owls have the ability to find people wherever they are. Harry's owl Hedwig could find me wherever I was and let me tell you, I was in some pretty out of the way places. I don't think Pig will have any trouble getting us to Mooney. Right?" He asked Pig.

Pig hooted and did another flip.

The carpet ascended to above cloud level and they slowed enough to allow Pig to fly in front of the carpet to be their guide. Sirius felt some frustration because the tiny owl could not fly very fast. After about another hour Pig began to descend.

"This is it." Said Sirius to Dobby, "We're almost there."

They broke out of the clouds as Pig led them into a valley and landed in front of Lupin's thatched roof cottage. Sirius went up to the door and knocked. A light came on in the house and they heard the shuffling of feet. A moment later the door opened and Lupin looked at them all in stunned surprise.

"Padfoot? PADFOOT!" Lupin exclaimed. "How did you escape and how did you get here?"

"All in good time Remus." Sirius replied, "But right now we don't have time to go into it. These are my friends Pig and Dobby." Indicating the owl and the Elf.

To Dobby and Pig he said, "May I present my good friend, Remus Lupin aka Mooney."

"You came here on a flying carpet?" Lupin observed, "How ingenious. How did you come by this? They are not easy to get in this part of the world."

"Well we can't admire it too much because I must send Dobby back with it." Said Sirius. "We have to get it back before anyone knows we are gone so Dobby is in the clear."

"I trust you will explain all that to me." Said Lupin. "Well do what you must then we will get you inside."

Sirius turned to Dobby and Pig. "You two know what to do." He told them. "Dobby, have Pig ride with you and just go in the direction he is looking. He will get you back to Azkaban. Then send him back here. When you start getting close, remember to stay low to the ocean and as close to the wall as you can. All right? Get going."

"Dobby sure hope he can work this thing." The Elf fretted.

"Piece of cake." Sirius told him, "All you have to do is think about what you want it to do and the carpet will respond."

"Dobby got a bad feeling about this." Dobby whimpered, "Okay," He said climbing on the carpet, "Here we GOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Dobby and Pig took off into the night.

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Dawn was just starting to break as Dobby and Pig approached the prison. They came in as low as they could just as Sirius instructed them. They flew toward the east wall and did a vertical climb to the cell window. Pig got off the carpet and climbed onto the ledge and held the carpet in his beak as Dobby apparated into the cell. Dobby climbed up to the window and pulled the carpet through the bars and put it back onto the floor.

"Okay, Pig." Said Dobby. "Your job here is done. See you back at Hogwarts."

Pig gave Dobby a farewell hoot and took off over the ocean.

"One more thing left to do." Dobby thought to himself as he disapparated.

Presently Dobby was plodding through the passageways of the prison with a rug over his shoulder. As he approached Sirius' cell he saw the door was open. There was an Azkaban Wizard and two dementors inside. Dobby went up to the door.

The wizard saw him and barked. "Elf, what are you doing here?"

"Warden tell Dobby last evening to change this rug." Said Dobby innocently. "So Dobby come here to do that."

"Go ahead." The wizard told him. "We seem to have a problem accounting for this prisoner, but he must be here someplace. Don't these twits know that we need to be informed whenever a prisoner is moved from his cell for any reason?"

"Maybe he go to sick call." Dobby offered. "He didn't look so good last evening."

"Could be." The wizard said thoughtfully. To the dementors he said, "Well, he's not here. Let's check out the other usual places he could be."

Dobby rolled up the old carpet and placed the new one in the cell. It struck him that the wizard seemed very unconcerned that Sirius was not there. "Of course he not concerned." Dobby thought to himself. "You are not supposed to be able to escape from Azkaban. It's impossible."

Whistling softly, Dobby disappeared down the passageway.

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The Minister of Magic was awakened by Albus Dumbledore's face in his fireplace.

"What is it, Albus?" He asked, "Is he away?"

"Yes, Minister." Replied Dumbledore.

"And we can keep tabs on where he is through the wand?" Fudge inquired.

"It's all working faultlessly." Dumbledore reassured him.

"Very well Albus." Said Fudge, "I'll tell the team to stand by."