I do not own the rights to Harry Potter

Sorry this is out late, it went longer than expected.

Chapter 2

Amelia Bones was dealing with some routine paperwork in her office when her two way mirror flashed. She held her breath as she picked it up, fearful that today would be the day that Voldemort would make his move. When she saw Sirius Black's face pop up into the screen, she thought that her fears were warranted. Had something bad happened at Hogwarts? "What's wrong there, Sirius?" She kept her face calm, but a bit of worry crept into her voice.

"Dementors! They're all here, they have to be, no one has a clue what they're here for, come quick!" Sirius turned off the connection abruptly.

Amelia went on full alert. She hit the emergency button for the aurors. Everyone currently in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement offices would know something was up, and would do anything necessary to prepare for leaving there, if the situation required it. There were multiple types of alarms that she had access to, ranging from one that spread just to a room and summoned its occupants to her office, to a ministry wide alarm for immediate evacuation. Whatever was happening at Hogwarts was extremely serious, but it felt like single piece of a larger puzzle, not a complete move. Either way, she would only take a few squads, just in case.

She stormed into the main offices, which most of the aurors had been in before she called the alarm. She took stock of who was not on assignment. It was far too small a number. Because there had been so much death eater activity recently, she only had a few dozen people at headquarters, mostly people that specialized in investigating and routine law enforcement over combat. Her mind worked subconsciously and instantly, giving her expert knowledge of who she had and what they could do. One thing that she took into consideration was that her four best field agents, Sirius Black, James Potter, Frank Longbottom and Mad Eye Moody were already at Hogwarts. Sure, Moody was retired and Sirius Black was suspended by Cornelius Fudge to try to be seen taking action after his brother Regulus escaped from Azkaban, but both of them were more than willing to stand with the auror department against Voldemort. Hogwarts also had a number of very competent staff to use defending the school from dementors. Amelia looked at the time. If she remembered correctly from her time at Hogwarts, most people there would also be at breakfast. It probably would not need many people, but all of them would need to be adept at the patronus charm. She had already chosen one squad to go with her by the time she stopped walking into the room.

"Hogwarts is under attack by dementors, possibly all of them." Amelia stopped talking for a fraction of a second as something hit her. Sirius had said 'all the dementors were at Hogwarts.' What if that meant all of them, not just those sent to the school? That would be perfect for what Voldemort needed. Dementors probably wouldn't abandon the ministry, as the situation was currently, but what if they were told to just leave for long enough for an attack on Azkaban? That might work. Either way, reinforcement aurors would probably be welcome there, even if it was just for a short time while they waited for the dementors to come back. Still, Hogwarts and the students there held first priority.

She recovered and started speaking again. The pause while she thought might not even have been noticeable. "Auror Recol, Auror Serta, your squads are with me. We'll go and provide assistance. Auror Shacklebolt, you're in charge of the Azkaban team, take half of the people here and go there, figure out what's happening. Make sure there are no escapes. Keep three people in touch with home base at all times, and secure both sides of the crossing." Azkaban was only able to be entered through a narrow boat crossing point. If they secured both sides well, they would be able to have advance knowledge of attacks and would be able to help control the prisoners.

"Auror Zabini, stay here and be in charge, you have everyone else. Don't let anyone leave high alert until you, I, or Shacklebolt give the order. Dismissed, there's a need for haste." Amelia left, running to the nearest floo network. She hadn't even needed to do anything except for picking up her wand to get ready for a fight. She had started wearing her bulky, spell resistant combat uniform at all times while at work, and most of the rest of the staff had picked up her nervousness and wore theirs as well. Thankfully, Hogwarts had recently been upgraded to allow the main auror office to floo in. That came after the disaster where Barty Crouch Jr had been impersonating Moody, and Bellatrix Lestrange had been impersonating Madame Pomfrey. The aurors had even added a fireplace near the great hall of Hogwarts, and that made Amelia extremely grateful as Recol's team went in first, securing the area before Amelia and Serta's team went in.

Amelia's group was chosen carefully for their abilities with the patronus charm, and because they were some of the better duelists in the building currently. Charles Recol's squad had been unchanged since the war with Voldemort, and the four of them had once defeated eight death eaters at once when they had set up a trap for aurors. Edward Serta and his squad had far fewer medals to pin on themselves, but were nonetheless almost as skilled, and were better at investigation.

The great hall was packed with people as she went in, and it seemed like everyone was up and milling around. Still, she could see that aurors Moody and Tonks were there with their patronuses, as were all the staff except for professors Flitwick and Dumbledore, who was dealing with the ministry after someone allegedly put Iris Potter's name in the Goblet of Fire. No, wait, Flitwick and Madame Flamel were coming in with several students, including one on a stretcher. Potter, Longbottom and Black weren't there. There was also a screaming that she would have bet her fortune that it had come from dementors, though she couldn't feel any of their effects with the dozen or so patronuses in the room. She strode over to professor Mcgonagall to ask where James, Frank and Sirius had gone, but the professor spoke first. "Your aurors went down that hallway down to the grounds, they were trying to rescue one of my students."

"Do you mind if I take Moody and Tonks away from the defense?"

Suddenly the screaming stopped, but Mcgonagall didn't hesitate as she said "Do it, just go!"

Moody heard this, and he got up, shouting at Tonks to come too. Amelia ran at a jog to the grounds, and her aurors followed. Moody was even able to keep up, which was a surprise. As they pushed into the grounds, Recol's squad went ahead of her and made sure the area was cleared before Amelia went in, just like the auror handbook dictated. They saw that the dementors were gone, and her aurors stood around the body of what a magnification spell proved to be Nick Flamel's son Ares, though there were two other students there. The same spell showed the extremely blond face of Lucius Malfoy's son, and Greengrass' older daughter. Amelia had seen that both of them were Ares' friends, but were they out among the dementors with Flamel, or did James and Sirius take them out there with them? Mcgonagall would have a fit if she found that Amelia's aurors had willingly taken students out among an enormous number of dementors, and Amelia would be right behind her in that. But that was for later. Frank Longbottom saw her group, and made several hand signals that said that Ares was okay and that the threat was gone.

Amelia breathed a sigh of relief as she started walking toward the other group. At some point while the aurors were transporting the seemingly unconscious Flamel toward them, they stopped for a moment, engaged in furious whispered conversation with Malfoy and Greengrass, then seemed to agree on something. James cast a few spells on Ares, and they continued moving.

Amelia got to them a moment later. "Report."

James acted as the spokesman. "We were eating breakfast when we heard a scream from the grounds. It carried the magical energy of the dementors, it had the exact same effect, though dimmed from what would happen if we were physically close to one. At some point we realized a student was missing, I think someone was trying to see outside at what was going on and saw him. By then, all the dementors were screaming like that initial one. Me, Sirius and Frank went with Mr. Malfoy and Miss Greengrass, who are friends of Mr. Flamel and who can cast their patronuses. We came here and saw Mr. Flamel facing down all the dementors. While it might not have been all of them, it was certainly more than what Fudge stationed at Hogwarts. Suddenly, the dementors vanished, there was a shockwave as they died, and Flamel was thrown backwards that direction. We found him stable but unconscious, with more dementor energy on him than I've ever seen. We are taking him to his mother now."

"Do so, we are stationing extra aurors at Azkaban. Once you three are done here, we'll leave to go there. Auror Black, Auror Longbottom, I'd like to view both of your memories, but for now, go with Auror Potter and come back when Mr Flamel is delivered to Madame Flamel." Technically, Sirius was on indefinite leave because Fudge wanted to blame someone for the escape of Regulus Black, but Amelia was done with that. Whether or not there were any breakout attempts at Azkaban, she would need every wand possible defending the place, and she didn't have any time for losing one of her best people for stupid reasons.

James saluted, then spoke to the conscious students. "Mr. Malfoy, Miss Greengrass, I think Mr. Flamel would appreciate his friends by his side when he wakes up. If you want to come with me, you may."

James looked slightly... nervous perhaps, when he said that. Also, normally he wouldn't have given a thought to the students, why was he now accommodating them like this? A question for another time. For now, she had work. "Auror Serta, take your team and investigate what happened here. Auror Recol, you and your team are leaving as soon as possible with everyone except Serta's team. For now, contact command and figure out what's happening. We leave through the floo network. Moody, do you know any reason to change my plans?"

Amelia wasn't expecting him to have any complaints, but he had more years of experience as an auror than she had lived and his knowledge was incredibly valuable. The old auror shook his head and made some stupid comment that Amelia didn't listen to. She was too busy calculating, thinking about every possible outcome of the dementors leaving Hogwarts and their apparent deaths. This would seem like one of Voldemort's plots, but there were some problems with that. If Voldemort could control the dementors, why would he make them go to Hogwarts? The school had wards around it, preventing dementors from actually entering it, and preventing almost all possible damage. If the madman wanted chaos, then why hadn't he simply attacked Diagon Alley? Was Ares Flamel serving him somehow? The thought made no sense, but how else could he have known how to defeat dementors?

Were the dementors an afterthought? It would make more sense if Voldemort was simply trying a massive jailbreak, but did he have the numbers to defeat the aurors still there? On the other hand, could the incident merely be what it seemed on the surface layer? It was conceivable that this whole event was just a young man with extraordinary skills and the information of two immortal magicians using that power to get hated enemies out of the castle. Amelia wouldn't take that without more confirmation, though she didn't think there was any chance Ares Flamel was serving Voldemort. His parentage, actions, and words all spoke unequivocally against the possibility, but that did not mean it actually was impossible. Amelia feared Voldemort's destruction and hated the thought that he would return, yet it seemed inevitable. She felt helpless against him, but she would never give up, not while she still drew breath.

Recol was done talking with command and was returning to their position. "What's the news?"

"The wards around Azkaban are down, all dementors are gone, and Bellatrix and Crouch are leading a force in Azkaban. Several former prisoners are already free and are fighting our forces. Shacklebolt is trapped currently with his force, and containment is at zero percent."

"You-Know-Who?"

"Not there, unless he is disillusioned. However, the wards shouldn't have gone down so quickly, though the dementors leaving had a bad effect on them."

"Let's go to command, anyone left will still be able to catch up." Amelia was glad for her cool under pressure. She was tempted to go in wand firing, but instead, she was already coming up with plans for the fight. On the way to the floo network, they met James and his group, minus the students he had brought with him. As they went through the halls, she noticed that the majority of students they passed were conversing loudly and stared at them as she passed, but at least they got out of her way. She barely paused as she travelled before anyone else to the auror headquarters. She looked around until she found Zabini, then went over to discuss plans. Frederick Zabini was smart and very driven, and he probably would have been much higher in the Department if he had joined earlier. He had joined after the war with Voldemort, which had limited his career prospects. A few years before, she had noticed his skills and now used him as her best administrator and tactician.

After a few minutes, and some help from Moody, they came up with a plan. Zabini and two squads of reserves would stay and keep track of the battlefield, and act as a last standby if needed, but Amelia and Moody would each take half of the remaining aurors to aid in the battle. Shacklebolt had been ordered to stay put until relieved, and Amelia would be taking a force to help him. Moody would be taking the more experienced section to fight Bellatrix and her force, and would be flying in over the lake in brooms.

Amelia said her goodbyes quickly, conscious of the chance that she would never make it out, then apparated just outside the anti apparition zone, which had been left untouched so far by the death eaters, according to their latest intelligence from Shacklebolt. She ran forward between pieces of cover, until she saw the first death eater. She raised her wand just as he turned, and her fight began.

Amelia was the first to fire, a stupefy into her opponent's Protego. Around her there was a cacophony of yells, screams of pain, and flashes of light from spells. The death eater stepped back, and was obviously on the defensive. Beside Amelia, one of her aurors threw a fireball right at him, and the death eater, probably either one of the Nott death eaters or Goyle, stopped it with another Protego.

She had an idea. If Voldemort could mark his death eaters, was there some way that Amelia could hit one of them that would leave them with a mark that could be found by the aurors later? Just killing them might be the most reliable, but the aurors had orders to capture enemies if possible. That order was pushed doubly so for death eaters. No matter who they captured, they would get muggle murdering gutter slime, but they could also get the names of other death eaters, perhaps even the location of Bellatrix Lestrange. That would be Christmas come early.

The problem with marking them somehow was that it was impossible to do quickly using marks upon their magic, but they could still try to blow off a hand or something. It would be hard to pass that off as a new fashion decision after all. She would just have to do it the old fashioned way for now and work on something more subtle later.

She shot off another spell, then dropped behind cover after an Avada Kedavra blew over her head. She was on the edge of the forested area. If she went any further towards the Azkaban crossing, she would have to pass the area that was completely flat and lifeless, a large circle that had been cleared out to prevent attackers from having cover on an assault. The death eaters had countered this fairly effectively by blasting into the earth and digging instant trenches. The strategy seemed slightly familiar for some unidentifiable reason, but that was for another time. The death eaters had really leveled up and gotten smarter. The one she had been fighting called to his men to fall back. The few enemies who had been out of the trenches jumped back into them under the cover of a barrage of unforgivables. The trenches seemed to be quite deep, perhaps as far down as a meter and three quarters.

Amelia had an idea on how to take the trench with very few auror deaths. "Any ideas what spells or what spell they used to dig like that?" Perhaps it was a spell from herbology. It wasn't any offensive spell she knew, it seemed to be too contained to be something like a Bombarda, and even the worst death eaters weren't so stupid that they would try an explosive spell right into the ground front of them.

She heard a few ideas for the right spell, and after a tense moment of experimentation, one where the death eaters kept trying to throw fireballs and other explosives at them, she had made the start of a trench. A moment later, her aurors were beside her. Not a single part of any of them was exposed above ground. They started working quickly toward the death eater trench, all of them taking a few turns each getting them the thirty meters toward the enemy trench. Amelia desperately hoped that the death eaters wanted merely to keep the aurors trapped. If they tunneled into the building Shacklebolt and his people were in, the loss of life would be horrible.

As they kept tunneling, they heard a man that sounded like Barty Crouch Jr. shouting that the apparition wards were down, then a series of cracks. Amelia had to work very hard to not curse loudly. "Keep going," she growled. "If they left people here we don't want to give them a target." They kept going, without a word except for their spells. The area was quiet now, the fighting done. The death eaters had gotten away.

A few hours later, Amelia was sitting up in a chair, still in a nearly empty Azkaban, keeping her back straight and trying to keep her face calm. None of the death eaters were captured alive, and no death eater bodies were left. Two dozen aurors were dead or seriously hurt because of the breakout, and all the prisoners were dead or gone, mostly gone following Bellatrix. The ones that were killed were disproportionately prisoners whose convictions were doubtful, and those who's crimes were smallest. It seemed to her that Bellatrix had tried to recruit everyone in Azkaban, killing anyone who refused. Fudge was supposed to meet her there sometime later, and Amelia was going to use the disaster for as much good as possible. The breakout proved that someone was assembling a force against the ministry, and Amelia would use that knowledge to prepare her people for the storm. If Fudge tried to stop that from happening, she would arrest him herself.

That's chapter two for you all. I will try to release chapter three sometime next week. Thanks for reading.