Well, it's Monday, and as you know that means it's time for another chapter! In this chapter, the infamous Valentine's Day Hogsmeade trip, and why you should not antagonize a stressed out Dementor.

Thanks to those of you who have read, and even more thanks to those of you who heeded my call and reviewed. To the ever faithful Snood – Thanks, and I'm glad you liked the chapter. It was actually very easy to write once I got the action square in my head. Lara is going to have a very important role to play in the coming stories, so you haven't seen the end of her. Also, Azkaban is actually the only wizarding prison in Britain, so it deals with minor lawbreakers and Death Eaters alike, thus it would have different security wings and, naturally, the supermax containment wing. And about Esdras' reaction to the Oracle leading troops, I figure with the Oracle being over 1500 years old, she's led troops before, and since she has the power of prophecy, she's got to be an excellent tactician since she can see the battle before it happens. Thus, Esdras wouldn't be impressed, but definitely surprised that she would feel the situation warranted her involvement. And the 45th Marines will come to prominence again, soon.

As always, those of you who haven't reviewed really ought to. I'd love to hear from you and see what you think of my work. So please, press the blue button at the bottom and tell me what you think.

And as always, all text in italics is in Azkabaaner and I don't own HP.

Chapter 14 – Disastrous Results

Katie had been unable to sleep that night, not after what she had heard. Esdras hadn't even bothered to say goodbye to her. He had simply flown as fast as possible out of the castle. She knew enough about Azkaban protocols to know better than to tell anyone what had happened, merely that Esdras had urgent, and classified, issues to attend to. She had made sure Hermione had understood the same.

So the young mortal had simply stayed up all night, staring into the fireplace. When the sun finally rose, Alicia and Angelina dislodged her from the chair where she had kept her vigil and dragged her upstairs for a shower. When she finally made it down to the Great Hall, she sighed and looked over to the Ravenclaw table. Roger was the first one to meet her eyes. He shook his head sadly and Katie sighed.

Hermione looked up from across the table with a fixed expression, she passed over her copy of the Daily Prophet, and the headline seemed to scream at her. "Ten Death Eaters Escape Azkaban."

Katie couldn't really pinpoint the exact moment that the Great Hall fell to silence, but when she noticed it, she looked up. Every head at the Gryffindor table was turned to the door, and every face bore a look of horror. Some of the younger students looked close to passing out. Katie whipped her head around and saw a horrifying sight. Esdras hovered in the doorway of the Great Hall; he was in mortal form but still wore his Assault cloak in riot mode. The mirrored face shield was up, and she could tell that his glowing green eyes were locked in a thousand yard stare. But perhaps the thing that terrified even Katie was that Esdras was covered from head to toe in dried mortal blood.

Esdras glided to the Ravenclaw table and took a seat, but paid no attention to the fact that the people beside him had scooted as far away as they could. He merely looked at the table in front of him and reached out with a shaky hand for the tray of pancakes. When it became obvious he couldn't hold onto the tray, he brought his hand back and sat helplessly at the table. His voice echoed in the silence. "Could…could someone help me?"

The simple request from the powerful creature was all it took. Katie rushed up from the Gryffindor table and ran to the Ravenclaw table. She forcefully pulled the awestruck first year seated next to Esdras away and took the seat. She took his bloodstained hand in hers and smiled as brightly as she could. "What do you need, darling?"

The Dementor looked at her and smiled sadly. "I seem to be having a little trouble. I didn't get any sleep last night. I'd like some pancakes, please." When he spoke, Katie realized that his mouth wasn't moving. She knew this to be a sign that he hadn't applied his animagus form properly, likely the cause of his shaking hands. "And some tea."

Katie was busy loading his plate with pancakes when Aaron and Malachi glided into the Great Hall, both wearing disturbing amounts of dried blood, as well. They looked around made their way over to the Ravenclaw table. Aaron sighed and saluted. "The 91st Infantry has just landed. As per your orders, Dr. Transom has transferred the wounded from the 313th Training Division to the Infirmary and stabilized them. All personnel are accounted for. Do you have any orders?"

Esdras shook his head. "I don't know about you, but I think it would be in our best interest to give everyone the day off today."

The mortal took notice of the fact that Aaron was missing an arm, but said nothing. Her eyes went from one Dementor to the other as she searched their hoods for some explanation. "What happened?"

Esdras paused to gather his thoughts, but was interrupted. "Hem hem." The three Dementors and Katie looked over to see the great bulk of Dolores Umbridge approaching quickly, wand drawn. "I believe that you've already seen the article in the Daily Prophet, Miss Bell. That is all the information you need to know. You have no reason to ask what happened. Now I believe these Dementors were just leaving."

The four exchanged glances before the Dementors saluted their commander. Their words, however, were directed towards Katie. "Esdras will explain everything to you when the time is right."

Professor Flitwick had gladly granted Esdras an absence from Charms in light of the current situation. McGonagall had been a bit harder to convince, but the look that Dumbledore had given her had softened her right up. At the Dementor's insistence, the Headmaster had also granted Katie absences from her morning classes as well. So Katie, free until lunch, waited for the Dementor in the Ravenclaw common room. It took him a while to scrub the blood from his skin, and he ended up burning his blood soaked cloak in the fireplace, but he finally managed to get himself looking presentable.

Esdras took her hand and guided her down the hallway to the gargoyle that guarded the Headmaster's office. He gave the password and they were quickly on their way up the moving staircase. She sighed when they finally entered the office and she saw the familiar hoods of Aaron, Malachi, and Dr. Transom. The mortal wasted no time in immediately asking the most pressing question. "What the hell happened?"

Dumbledore nodded. "I, too, am curious. I doubt it was as clean as the Daily Prophet reported. Or that a mere prison break would leave one Dementor missing an arm and so many coated in blood."

Esdras nodded grimly. "We don't know how, but Veras Maul's division was given falsified orders to report to New Demnin. No replacement was scheduled for their shift leaving only a training division and a single Marine division on patrol at the prison. According to the cadets who survived, the Marines were the one who initiated the breakout. That just left a single division of cadets, they were totally unprepared."

Katie paled. "Wait a minute. Cadets…who survived? There were Dementors killed?"

Malachi nodded. "We lost one officer and thirty four cadets, all from the same training division. But it was those cadets who managed to keep the breakout to only ten inmates. If they hadn't held on to the secondary transport platform for as long as they had, it would have been much worse."

Aaron spoke calmly. "Twenty seven aurors were killed, too. Ten inmates escaped, three hundred fifty nine inmates wounded, some mortally. So far, one hundred five inmates are dead and we expect the number to rise." He turned to his friend and sighed. "Esdras himself made the call to authorize lethal force. I lost track of the number of prisoners he Kissed."

The admiral sighed. "That's enough, Aaron. She doesn't need to know."

Katie gave Esdras an angry glare. "I have a right to know what happened, Esdras. Now either you tell me or you let Aaron tell me."

He looked to his feet for a second. When the Dementor looked up, his glowing green eyes were hard set and cold. "Fine, if you really want to know what happened, I'll tell you. It was them or us, Katie. I took six souls and killed another five without even bothering to Kiss them." His voice sent chills down Katie's spine. "I ripped the beating heart out of an inmate and reduced the rest to a bloody smear on the prison floor."

Katie collapsed into a chair which Dumbledore had wisely conjured for her. She regarded her Dementor with horror. When she finally spoke, her voice was a hollow shell. "How can you kill so easily?"

Esdras knelt beside Katie and took her hand. "Nothing about it is easy, but I have a duty to protect Azkaban. I had to kill to protect my friends, and to protect you. These were horrible people, Katie. They wouldn't have hesitated to kill me. They killed twenty six cadets before we were able to stop them."

Aaron nodded. "Do you know that Esdras is going to have to write a letter to each one of those families? The commandant of the Guard Academy, the commander of the Guard Command, and the reigning monarch all write letters of condolence when a Dementor dies in service. It hasn't been done in centuries."

While Katie pondered this, Dumbledore sighed. "I can see why the Ministry wants to keep this from the public. What became of the Marines who started the breakout?"

The captain shrugged. "No one knows. And as far as we can tell, Admiral Sidara isn't giving it any concern. Our guess is that they've gone rogue and are now allying themselves with Voldemort." He sighed sadly. "At least she's stopped threatening to draw up charges against Cadet Corinth."

Esdras looked up to the doctor. "How is Corinth healing, anyway?"

Michaelis Transom nodded happily. "Corinth and the rest of her troops are doing just fine. I've stabilized all the cadets and they should heal quickly since they are close to a regular source of Patronus energy."

Esdras nodded and turned to Dumbledore. "Sir, I believe we need to consider the rogue Marine division to be extremely dangerous. Now that this first unit has made the jump, it will be a constant battle to keep other units from joining them. This is only the beginning."

It took a few days for the events of the prison break to be largely forgotten. During those days, the Bloody Baron had been slightly miffed about someone having outdone him in terms of blood coverage, but he soon got over it when he realized his position was in no real danger. Thus, it was an entirely uneventful morning that dawned on Valentine's Day. Esdras glided happily into the Great Hall, Cho at his side. "I think I'll skip Hogsmeade and just fly her to New Demnin. There's a new Chinese-Azkabaaner fusion restaurant that just opened up over there."

Cho had a dreamy smile on her face. "Harry's taking me to Madame Puddifoot's for tea. I can't wait."

Esdras paused for a second. "That's an idea. But I know for a fact she doesn't stock Azkaban Green Mint tea, and Katie's really gotten a taste for it."

The mortal smiled brightly, not really listening to her companion because her head was so far in the clouds. "I'm sure whatever you do, she'll love. You two are such a perfect couple."

The Dementor laughed softly. "Well, we do get along pretty well." He looked over to the Gryffindor table and caught sight of a familiar dark blond head. "I think I'm going to go see what she wants to do, I'll be back in a bit."

Cho nodded absently as Esdras glided off. He floated across the Great Hall and came in for a landing right beside Katie. She turned to him and gave him a small smile. "Hi."

Esdras arched an eyebrow at this. "You seem sad today, my dear." He smiled brightly. "But, no need to worry. It's Valentine's Day and today there is no problem that a little Dementor love can't fix."

Katie sighed. "Angelina called for an all day practice. I can't go to Hogsmeade with you today."

The Dementor's face fell. "Except that."

Katie looked ashamed. "I'm sorry; I really want to go with you. But you know how things are going with the team and Angelina really wants to try to get Sloper and…" She was silenced by Esdras placing his fingers on her lips.

He smiled softly. "I understand. Really I do. It's alright."

She nodded quickly and took his hand in hers. "But I want you to go and have fun, though." She gave him a bright smile. "No reason for both of us to be miserable today."

Esdras shrugged. "Well, I can promise you that I'll go out, but I can't guarantee that I'll have any fun." He sighed and was silent for a few seconds, but then his head shot up with an expression that telegraphed that he was planning something. "Will you get a lunch break?"

Katie nodded. "Of course, but it won't be long. I won't be able to go into town."

The Dementor waved aside her concerns. "Don't worry about that. Leave everything to me." With a confident smile, he leaned in and kissed her before floating up and turning towards the Ravenclaw table. "I have a plan."

Katie sighed as she got dressed in her Quidditch robes. Normally the prospect of a Quidditch practice would make her excited, but today she really did want to go to Hogsmeade with Esdras. And the fact that it was Valentine's Day on top of everything else didn't help matters. So with a heavy heart she flew out onto the pitch. However, when she spun around to face the Ravenclaw bleachers, she was confronted by a single seated figure. It was wearing a Gryffindor maroon and gold scarf and carried a hand printed sign that read "Screw Hogsmeade! Go Katie!"

She flew over to him and glared playfully. "Go on, I told you to go to Hogsmeade and have fun."

Esdras shrugged it off. "I'll go after lunch. I want to watch you practice."

The mortal grinned playfully and flew in closer to give the Dementor a lingering kiss. She grinned when she finally pulled away. "Fine, but don't run off too fast. I want to have lunch with you."

The Dementor nodded obediently and sat back to watch the practice, which went without major incident. The advantage to all this, Esdras decided, was that he was able to do reconnaissance on the Gryffindor team while under the guise of being a caring and considerate boyfriend. All told, he figured that he could easily fly circles around both Kirke and Sloper without Britten, a broom, or his float bladders as it was obvious that the pair of beaters had, if anything, gotten worse with practice. Ginny, however, still concerned him immensely.

Finally, lunchtime rolled around and Esdras saw a lone Dementor carrying a bag gliding quickly over the lake. He floated up from the bleachers and flew off to meet him after telling Katie they would meet in the Great Hall. He was only a few minutes and was pleased to find her waiting for him. The mortal smiled sweetly. "What do you have in the bag there?"

Esdras smiled. "I figured that since we can't go out to lunch, I'd order us some takeaway. Remember I was telling you about the new Chinese restaurant in New Demnin?"

Katie looked enthusiastically at the bags. "You mean that place that blends Chinese and Azkabaaner recipes? They do takeaway?"

The Dementor shrugged. "They don't usually deliver out this far, but I pulled a few strings."

The mortal laughed and sat down at the virtually empty Gryffindor table. "Well, tell me what we've got."

Esdras opened the bag and started pulling out tidy white takeaway boxes. "Spring rolls with mint, rice, Admiral Sachiel's chicken, which I think is their take on General Tso's, and…" He sniffed the box. "Something with pork in it, I don't know."

Katie laughed and nabbed a pair of chopsticks. "I can't wait."

Lunch was amazingly delicious and Esdras smiled as Katie ran off to the continuation of her all day practice. With nothing better to do, the Dementor lazily glided down the road towards Hogsmeade. He was shocked when he saw, coming up the road, a despondent looking Cho. Esdras touched down and ran to her. "Cho, what happened?"

The raven haired mortal struggled to keep her composure for a few seconds before bursting into tears and falling into the dark folds of Esdras' cloak. "It was terrible. He didn't understand me at all. He just wanted to spend time with Hermione. He doesn't care about me."

Esdras struggled to reign in his urge to kill, reminding himself that the Boy Who Lived was important to the future of the mortal race. He hugged Cho tighter and put on his best smile. "It couldn't have been that bad, could it? Harry really likes you, you know."

Cho pulled away and glared at the Dementor with tear streaked eyes. "Well, I don't like him. Not anymore." She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her cloak and sighed, trying to compose herself. "I'm sorry, I already cried about all this with Marietta. She said I should head back to the castle and take a nap."

The Dementor nodded. "That sounds like a good idea." He patted her on the shoulder. "And don't worry about Harry, I'll have a little talk with him and see what he has to say."

The mortal smiled kindly. "You don't have to do that, Esdras."

Esdras, however, was already gliding away. "Oh, don't worry, I want to…"

It only took the Dementor a few minutes to reach Hogsmeade, and he immediately began the search for the mortal. He had searched a few shops before he looked down the High Street and saw just the person he wanted to see coming out of the Three Broomsticks, accompanied by Hermione and Luna Lovegood. Esdras took his Dementor form and glided ominously towards them. Luna was the first to see him and smiled airily. "Hello, Esdras. How are you today?"

The Dementor said nothing to her, instead opting to grab Harry by the head and slam him against the side of the Three Broomsticks. His voice was thick with the harsh whisper of his native accent. "Cho. Crying. Explain."

Harry struggled mightily in his iron grip and even managed to grab his wand before Esdras knocked it from his hand. Hermione simply pulled Luna away and stepped back to watch the event unfold. From beneath the cold, skeletal hand, Harry managed to scream. "I don't know. She just started crying! What was I supposed to do?"

Esdras dropped Harry to the ground and glared down at him, causing the bespectacled mortal to push himself as close to the wall as possible. "Girls do not just start crying for no apparent reason." There was a deadly pause. "She brought up Cedric, didn't she?"

Harry nodded quickly. "And Roger. She said he had asked her out. Then she got angry because I had to meet Hermione here."

The Dementor looked confused. "Wait, what? Roger asked her out? Neither of them told me about that. And Roger is dating Anna now. When the hell did all that happen?" He groaned and lowered his hood, running a hand through his pure white hair before rubbing his temples. "Screw it. I have a nation of over ten million Dementors that's near the flashpoint of a revolt against mortal oppression, a fleet to maintain, and all of you guys running around in the middle of mortal puberty, which is nothing like Dementor puberty, mind you. I don't have the time to play romantic counselor to every last mortal in this godforsaken school!" He growled sharply. "I need firewhiskey."

As the door to the Three Broomsticks slammed shut after the Dementor, Harry looked up at Hermione and Luna with wide eyes. "What the hell was that all about?"