CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Meanwhile, back in Azkaban

It was just after mid-night when Cornelius Fudge was roused in his sleep by his Senior undersecretary, Dolores Umbridge. She had told him that something was wrong at Azkaban, and the Warden did not say what the problem was. So, greatly annoyed, Fudge got up and dressed, before traveling by Floo Powder to the prison. Upon arriving, he was greeted by several Azkaban Aurors and was led to the Warden's office.
Inside the office, Fudge could tell that the Warden had pulled a lot of his hair loose from some unknown frustration. The Warden was angry, very angry. Fudge looked from the Aurors in the room to the Warden himself, waiting for someone to tell him the news that the Azkaban staff was so uptight about.
"Minister," the Warden began, speaking very painfully, "We've had a problem."
"What sort of problem?" Fudge inquired.
"A breakout, a prisoner has escaped."
"Who," gasped, panic now in his voice, "Who was it?"
"The one that was the least likely to breakout, Minister." The Warden replied, still trying hard not to say the prisoner's name.
"And who is that?" Fudge snarled angrily.
"It was—
"Sirius Black." One of the Aurors finished for the Warden, "It was Sirius Black."
"NO!" Fudge said breathless, "Impossible."
"Well it's happened," the Warden said, "And we've spent the past several hours combing the prison for him and we've not found a single clue."
Fudge was in shock, several times he opened his mouth to speak, and several times he was at a loss for words. Finally, he said, "How did he break out? How did he get past the Dementors?"
"We don't know," the Warden said, standing up from his chair, "He just slipped past the Dementors some how when they opened his cell to hand him dinner."
"How in the hell—
But before the Minister could finish his sentence, one of the Aurors began yelling at the Warden,
"THE DEMENTORS TRIED TO TELL YOU THAT HE WAS DANGEROUSLY SANE!!!" The Auror bellowed, "THEY TOLD YOU THAT THEY WERE AFRAID OF SIRIUS BLACK, BECAUSE HE DID NOT SEEMED AFFECTED LIKE THE OTHER PRISONERS WERE!!!"
"Please, come down good man," Fudge said, waving a hand at the angry Auror, "Let us discuss this like civilized men, shall we?"
"You said, good sir, that Black had made the Dementors fearful?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying Minister." Snarled the Auror, "We had warning, before tonight, that Sirius Black was strong enough to make an escape."
Fudge looked at the Warden, and could tell that he was in no condition to discuss the events of the past few hours.
"Was there any who saw Black escape," Fudge began, talking to the angry Auror, "Is there anyone that can say that they saw Sirius Black?"
"No," the Auror said, beginning to calm down, "They were too mad to notice anything. The ones that were Sane were too busy eating."
"Can we go down to the escapee's cell?"
"Yes," the Auror said, now looking important, "follow me."

A few minutes later, the Minister and the angry auror arrived outside of the cell that was formally occupied by Sirius Black.
"We do know that he was still in his cell when the Dementors came with his dinner. After that, we never saw him again." The Auror said, still fuming.
"When did the alarm sound?" asked Fudge.
"About five minutes after the Dementors opened the cell. The gates to the prison closed automatically once the alarm did sound. Sirius must have already been out of the castle when the alarm did finally go off."
"Why didn't the Dementors sense that Sirius wasn't in his cell?" Fudge inquired.
"I don't know minister," The Auror began, "I doubt that THEY even know. They were a little bit confused when they came and told us that there was an escape in progress."
"I see." The Minister said simply.
"Still," the Auror began, "he did get out of the castle, but that is a long swim, sir. We are fifteen miles from shore, and assuming Black even survived the fall from the cliff, he could still be swimming. In fact, he's probably dead."
"Yes, that is possible," Said Fudge, "But we have to be cautious. If he did indeed survive the fall, we are going to have to warn people. I will have the Daily Prophet print that he's escaped and, once that is done, I'll tell the Muggle Prime Minister as well. He killed twelve muggles twelve years ago, he's a danger to everyone, not just the Wizarding world.
"That's good," the Auror said, "Oh, Minister," the Auror quickly added, "there's one other thing that you may want to know. For the past two days, the Dementors have been reporting some strange behavior while he was asleep."
"What sort of behavior."
"He just kept on saying the exact same thing, over and over again in his sleep, 'He's at Hogwarts, he's at Hogwarts.'"
"Who's at—
But Fudge broke off as he suddenly realized something. He knew who was at Hogwarts. There was only one person alive that Sirius Black could mean, Harry Potter.
"He's after Harry Potter. If he is indeed as sane as you say he is, that's what Sirius Black meant. He wants Harry Potter dead.
"My God." Gasped the Auror.
"I have to call on some people."
"I'll walk you out Minister."
"I want this to be a massive man hunt, he has got to be found before the new year begins at Hogwarts. I need at least a hundred Dementors to be ready to leave for Hogwarts, they will be released to the castle if Black is not found by August 31."
"Very well, sir." The Auror said, "Should I tell the Warden?"
"No. You're the Warden now. You appear to be far more competent."
"Thank you, minister," smiled the Auror.
At that moment, Sirius Black was already traveling, moving north, and beginning his long journey to Hogwarts, where he hoped to find Peter Pettigrew and then kill him.