AN: And so we have finally reached the end of the battle at Azkaban. It took...FAR longer than I expected to be honest. Not that I'm complaining, I for one like how it turned out, one problem forever appearing after another. Well, I hope you enjoy the conclusion to this little adventure.

Chapter 23: Luna

My name is Luna.

I believe pandemonium is the word most people use in our situation. I do admit, it was a little chaotic.

The nice old man with the Patronus had headed back up to the top of the stairs connecting to the second floor and was leaving the area nice for when the others came down, but that left us with a lot of Dementors flying in both directions. Oh, and they were choosing to be more troublesome now. They seemed to particularly like Neville's horns and were trying to take them for themselves. But that wasn't the only problem. The intriguing centipedes were everywhere and with the door destroyed, it was tricky keeping them outside.

"BRRUUUHHH!" Standing in the doorway, Aximili was having a splendid time swinging his head from side to side. His tusks and trunk were holding the enemy back wonderfully, many Taxxons flew through the sky after saying hello to him. The few who didn't tended to get squashed.

They were getting in easily at the sides of the doorway, safe from his reach, but Rachel and Ginny positioned themselves just as little behind Aximili. Rachel's paws were brutal, ripping deep, paralysing wounds into their bodies, dropping them to the ground and leaving them for their not very nice family to eat. Ginny was zigzagging back and forth from the wall to Aximili's foot, leaving deep claw marks in every Taxxon she could.

Behind them, Neville was running around like a frenzied bull, not even losing momentum as he collided with the Taxxons passing the other three. Instead, they either came along, bent helplessly over his head or impaled on his horns, were trampled or spun off to the ground as he moved on to the next one or crashed into a wall, killing and removing any victims he'd picked up before starting all over again. After sending one careening into its friend across the room with a kick from a back leg and slamming another one into a wall with his side of course. The only time he really stopped was when the Dementors were sent back by the squid and he had to wildly shake them off his horns.

I was staying further back. The Dementors weren't interested in me at all, so unlike the others, I only had to worry about the Taxxons managing to pass all the others. Which was nice, because a lot of them did it.

The alligator mind felt a little cranky that I couldn't fight them in the water, but it was still perfectly happy to help me stop them. Snapping my jaw around a chunk of unpleasant worm body, I forced myself into a roll that not only ripped the chunk right off the Taxxon and made it give a really fascinating screech, but it also forced it off balance and crashing to the ground. It knocked over a few others along the way, something that helped me as others began to their horrible plan to eat him. Digging my claws into them as I went, I climbed up one after the other as they formed a pile over my first enemy and snapped my jaw tightly over any Taxxon the tried to eat me along the way, creating new piles for me to carve my claws up through. Normally an alligator can't climb like that, but their soft flesh made it easy for me to get a good, helpful grip.

"SSSCCCRRREEEEEEEHHHHHUUUUAAA! SCREE, SCREE SCREEEEEE!"

"BRRRRUUUUHHH!"

"GRROOOAAARRR!"

"RRREEEEOOOOWWWW!" We'd long stopped using thought speak, not really seeing a need at the moment, but verbal noises were constant. Especially the Taxxons' right now, it was like a choir of Nargles calling for mates all around me. I wasn't sure if they were feeling pain or cheering for joy for the chance to eat, only that they were getting louder. Or maybe my friends were just getting softer. They did seem a little droopy.

/AARRGGHH! Damn that stupid thing to HELL!/ Rachel screamed, drawing my attention as I slammed my tail into a Taxxon's side and knocked him off the pile, dooming his life as the rapidly snapping pincers of his friends cut holes all down his flesh. I thought she was talking about the Taxxons for a second, but then I noticed the Dementor twirling in the air and aiming an open hand for her head. She retaliated by biting down on it and forcing it right into the path of a Taxxon's mouth. She didn't let go until they were busy with eating other, the Taxxon trying to eat it while the Dementor tried to kiss it. By the time the Taxxon gave up on it, Rachel had hurt two more Taxxons and had another two Dementors swirling around her. She looked like she was trying to swat flies dangling above her head.

Dodging a Dementor trying to grab her neck, Ginny pounced onto a Taxxon and up onto Aximili's back before making a mighty leap again, sailing straight into a Dementor bugging Rachel and knocking it down far enough for a few Taxxons to snap at its cloak before leaping to the next and repeating the process. It did nothing to harm the Dementors of course, but it did leave them joining the bite and kiss dance the others had started. Dementors should buy some makeup. Maybe that would make them more attractive to Taxxons.

/More Taxxons are coming down the walls. They are moving at a much faster pace./ Aximili informed us irritably flinging another small group of Taxxons away with a strong toss of his head only to release an irritated shout as one bit his nose. Raising his foot, he went to stomp at another only to freeze as four others dropped from the stone wall onto his back...only to jump off of him without taking a single bite and run away screeching frantically the whole way to and into the sea. /That is...astoundingly out of character./ Aximili commented, extremely confused. /There is no record in my people's entire history of Taxxons fleeing from organic food sources. Not even Visser Three's most horrible monsters can hold their appetites in check for long./

/Too bad whatever's going on isn't having the same effect on the Dementors. GET OFF!/ Neville shouted, ramming the latest one to grab his horns into a wall only for it wrap its arms around his neck. /AUGH! You reek! Get. Off. ME!/ For a moment I wondered if he had too many wrackspurts in his brain. He was hitting his head and the Dementor into the wall with every word. It couldn't be healthy.

"SSSCCREEEE! SCREE-UUH!"

/Ax is right. This is not normal./ Rachel grunted, actually sounding nervous for the first time ever. She must have been horribly troubled as the Taxxons we were fighting all stiffened and screamed before following their brothers and sisters back out the door. They didn't even try to touch us. /I'm BLEEDING and they're ignoring me! I thought that wasn't possible!/

/Maybe someone's calling them?/ Ginny suggested as she dodged and twisted around the pesky cloak zombies, though she sounded just as shocked as the others and she clearly did not believe her own words.

/No, they look terrified./ Neville grunted as he took to running in circles, black cloaks floating around behind him. Most of the Dementors were following the Taxxons out to sea, but a few were still rather interested in his horns and Ginny's fur. One seemed rather intrigued by Aximili's tusks too. /But what could spook them that much?/

/Perhaps Prince Jake has the answer./ Aximili said as a group of freed witches and wizards came around the corner to the next corridor with a wolf right in front of them.

/I know nothing, sorry./ Jake replied, seeming just as mystified as his group walked past him. /We had a few Taxxons coming in a window two corridors back, but they all started screaming and ran back out it. Terror's never done that to them before. Guys, do you know what's going on?/ He added. He must have kept a link open with the group upstairs.

/YES AND RUN!/ That scared all of us. It wasn't just one teammate responding, that came from everyone morphed upstairs, from Anthony to Tobias. And in all my life, I had never heard anyone nearly as blindly terrified as each and every one of them were.

/WE'RE BEING CHASED BY BLOODY FIENDFYRE!/ Seamus explained quite loudly. Though I guess that's reasonable. If I wasn't already an alligator, that would have made my blood turn cold.

/We're currently blowing up a window in our path. We'll jump out of it./ Ernie informed us, quieter than before, but sounding far more shaky. /You guys GET OUT NOW!/ There's the volume.

/I'll get the guy upstairs./ Jake said quickly, already running back as fast as he could. He may not know what fiendfyre is, but the attitudes of the others made it rather noticeable that it is horrifying and deadly. /You guys go! Go, go, fiendfyre!/ He added, howling long and loud as he let the witches and wizards, most of which were children, hear his voice. They didn't even question it. They decided that losing all colour in their already sickly looking faces was a better idea and screamed.

"OH, MY GOD! RUN KIDS!" The adults were quite vocal. Enough so that the conscious kids, who had no idea what was wrong, started screaming quite spectacularly as they hobbled along on injured legs, the adults pushing them much to firmly for most of their bodies to take and leaving them falling and crying louder until the adults started levitating them. Not that the hobbling adults were doing much better. Most of them looked ready for a nice pillow and the good luck of a gnome bite.

/Luna, Ginny, get a good distance./ Neville ordered, Ginny already moving along. I quickly did as he said and headed for outside and the sea. This wasn't like the feather light charm on the people I carried before. The kids weren't charmed to levitate, they were being held up and moved by a constant supply of focused magic that could set our tracers off.

/Luna, we will need you in the water./ Aximili exclaimed as I ran past him, stumbling a little on the high and rough rocks. /In the safety of the water, the Taxxons will regain their normal behaviour. You must stop them from attacking the wizards as they flee./

/She won't be able to do that by herself!/ Ginny cried, dodging the low flying Dementors effortlessly as she manoeuvred close to my side. Unlike me, her form was made for the terrain and she was moving with ease. /There's far too many out there. She'll be overwhelmed in an instant./

Any responses were immediately put to a halt as a giant chunk of the building exploded, drawing everyone's attention and shaking the structure. Oh, and I probably should mention that the it was right over the door and rather enormous pieces of stone were dropping quite quickly all along the path from the prison entrance to the water. Where the others were running or floating.

"SHIT!"

"MOVE IT!"

/Like we didn't have enough problems to deal with!/ Jake growled, swerving around and just managing to avoid a rather undesirable death, the jagged stone the size of a bear that intended to crush him still managing to ruffle his fur as he ran.

Screams filled the air and the disturbing melody only made our problems worse as it attracted more Dementors than before, though they were not enjoying the debris any more than we were. In fact, maybe it wasn't much of a problem for us, for while we were still running, jumping, sidestepping and pushing people out of the way on the ground, the Dementors flew up and away. I suspect that the group of thirty or more people jumping out of the new hole and the Thestral flying away seemed like easier victims.

"BRRREEHHH!" A nicely large piece of stone was denied the experience of crushing a frail woman as Aximili rushed forward, picking the startled lady up with his trunk so as not to crush her and taking the blow to his back. the force was enough to make even his legs buckle and blood started pouring down his back the second the rock disappeared, but he kept going anyway.

"ARESTO MOMENTUM! ARESTO MOMENTUM! ARESTO MOMENTUM!" Looking around as a rock crashed into my side and sent my already off balance body rolling right into the water, I found a rather nice sight of everyone slowing into a gentle stop as they fell, most of the people casting the momentum charm repeatedly over the entire group while a group of the others directed beautiful silver or dull grey creatures at the Dementors, send the unpleasant ghouls away and lighting the dismal area up a bit. Or rather, it would be a nice sight if everyone wasn't crying and screaming for their lives. All well, at least the rocks had stopped falling.

"KEEP MOVING TOWARDS THE WATER!" Harry shouted, guiding everyone he could towards the sea as his stag galloped all around while the other Patronuses formed lines on either side of the group. "Once there, apparate or follow the alligator! She'll lead you to a boat...that's moving in close!" He added, a little perplexed. But sure enough, the boat was now in viewing distance. A quick swim.

"Take your pick and go!" Hermione shouted as she levitated rubble in Rachel's path and flung it back up into the new hole in the building as the first wisps of the of the dark fire reached it. "We don't have much time!"

With the flames shooting out of the hole and other open gaps as it spread through the entire prison lighting up the area, the panicked screams of the freed prisoners were joined a second later by an uncountable number of unearthly howls as Dementors shot out of the building and high into the sky, all of them wearing a nice, toasty coat of fire. It looked like a volcano was erupting.

/This is our best chance./ Aximili informed us just as I made it to the water's edge and ran in, immediately snapping my jaw around a particularly brave Taxxon and rolled him to pieces. At the same time, a fire dragon burst out of the roof of the prison and roared, spreading its fiery wings. /All the Dementors and flames will be blocking the heat and motion sensors of the ships above us. Now is the best time to gather everyone and make a quick escape./

/Easier said than done./ Neville grunted as he leapt into the water, crushing a Taxxon I hadn't noticed behind me with his front hooves while Ginny did the same beside me and I dragged a third into the mouth of its friend. /I can barely see and even I can tell you that these waters are infested./

/And the blood we're all releasing will draw them all to us./ Marco grunted as reached the waves with a group of people. /Not to mention any sharks in a five or ten mile radius./

/Most won't have to get far./ Anthony reminded us as he dodged around people's feet and jumped into the tide. /Just far enough to pass the apparition wards. We're the ones with the real problem, having to demorph./

/Something we must do soon./ Aximili spoke up, a slight tinge of nervousness making it into his voice. /We have used approximately eighty two percent of our time in morph. In addition, I am growing quite tired.

/Then we should travel the shoreline and morph on the other side./ Jake declared as another three Taxxons came my way only for my jaw to rip apart one while my tail knocked another into the third's mouth, causing it to eat it. I did pay for it though. I had to deal with the most painful experience of two inches of my tail being bitten and ripped off. I would have screamed if alligators could do it.

/Luna!/ Ginny shrieked, pouncing over me faster than I could see and landing hard onto a particularly excited Taxxon surging out of the water beside me. "RREEOWW!" Her screech almost managed to block out the loud splashes as she thrashed around in the waves, clawing away at the Taxxon ripping at her flesh from under her. Her blood and the Taxxon's was quickly joining the that of the rest of us in the water.

Unfortunately, the sight stopped a lot of the freed prisoners in their tracks and drew even more Taxxons back to the area. Screams began anew as the people succumbed to their panic and with the fiendfyre still burning strong behind them, the sight filled me with a rather large amount of anxiety, especially when a number of them raised their wands. If another mentally unstable prisoner snapped...

I didn't even have to think about the tracer this time, the fear running through me was more than enough to make me swim as far away from everyone before the first shaky voice could utter a spell. Ginny and Neville were quick to follow as countless, multicoloured streams lit up the area. Their voices were so mixed and panicked that we had no idea what we were trying to avoid as we ran and swam away. All we knew was that it wouldn't be pretty if any made contact with us.

/Anthony, move!/

/Rachel, duck now!/

/Tobias, I would advise raising to higher altitude./ Ernie, Marco and Aximili's cries were all quickly obeyed and it was all that saved their lives. Panic was the worst state of mind for these people, their actions were erratic and few were even bothering to aim. As Rachel flopped to the ground, Jake, Marco and Seamus jumped, weaved and crouched around the fallen debris, barely avoiding annihilation themselves while Ernie was pulled back to safety by a shaky woman, one of the few to keep her head. The result was rather spectacular though. The roar of the crashing waves was amplified as the spells hit the creatures and the water exploded all around them, the droplets decorating the sky with the reflect light of the spells, like fireworks. The spells were fired again and again as all of us disguised as animals slipped away. It wasn't until a minute later, as the sea revealed no more living Taxxons and the fire both in the sky and in the prison started receding that even Harry noticed our absence. He found Ax pretty quickly though, as he loaded a few more people onto Tobias, the only exception, mostly unconscious people. He was looking each of us over, trying to make eye contact. At least, I think he was, I was pretty far away by that point.

/Get everyone to safety./ Jake called back. /We'll provide our own ride back. Gotta keep up appearances and all./

Harry and Hermione were quick to nod and instantly jumped back into it, quickly gaining help from a boy that I was sure was Justin Finch-Fletchley and some of the other more level headed prisoners in herding the hesitant, panic ridden people on their way. Ron however, was far more hesitant and started following after us before Ginny released an ear piercing roar. Only continuing to growl at him, even after he stopped in place, Ron conceded to her wish and sagged. He only waited a few extra seconds before turning around and rejoining the others.

"GET MOVING! You can break down in mortal terror when we're far away from here!" He shouted a bit too aggressively. I didn't need to turn around to know that Hermione was already glaring at him, barely restraining herself from announcing her disappointment in what he just said. It worked though. Everyone was back to running into the water just as the Dementors were coming back down, free of fire. A number of them were swimming or being levitated towards the boats, Harry and the others included, but most were moving waist deep into the sea, grabbing someone else and apparating away.

/Luna, you must demorph now./ Ax said hurriedly just as we past the prison and made it to the far shore. /You have precisely four of your minutes before you are trapped in morph forever./

/Oh, right. No problem./ I replied, focusing on my real face. By the time my body was encased in the water, my tail was already gone and my scales were softening into pale skin.

/You guys realise of course, that Tobias will stay back at the ship to demorph, Cassie's not here and we're going to be up two riders this time in place of Harry?/ Rachel commented as the others followed my example and started changing back.

/And in waters that are a lot more likely to be shark and Taxxon infested no less./ Marco added, his fake, carefree voice polluted with worry. /It'll be a lot harder to manoeuvre with just one person on our backs./

/Oh, this is going to be terrific./ Ginny cried, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

/It gets better./ Seamus mused cheekily as the original Animorphs all caught up to my progress and reached about the halfway point to human again. /All our clothes are still on the boat and if you haven't noticed, we're all in one big group here. better stay under the dark waves boys and girls, we don't have time to separate./

/You just HAD to bring that up, didn't you?/ Ernie snapped as a mortified whine came from where Anthony was adamantly keeping everything but his warping head below the water.

/Yep. Hey it could have been worse./ Even I could tell that if he was human, there would be a huge smirk on his face. /I could also have pointed out that with so many riders, some of us are going to be rubbing our naked bodies on more than just dolphin skin. Oops, I just did./ I don't think he was very sorry. Oh, and Jake, Marco, Neville and Ernie all looked like they wanted to hit him. Ginny simply looked ready to murder him and Anthony just squeaked and sunk further into the water, even though he was still growing bigger.

"SEAMUS, SHUT UP!" Only Rachel, Aximili and myself didn't shout at him at that precise moment. Rachel didn't seem to care and Aximili never understood the problem to begin with. Personally, though I would rather not have to deal with this problem, there are worse options. Like staying in Azkaban.

/Guys, stop fighting and morph./ Cassie's voice was completely unexpected, but I opted for doing what she said, kneeling on the rocky ground as the last few reptilian pieces of my body returned to normal. The others seemed to decide to look for her, but even they followed her advice. /A large school of hammerheads is swimming this way. I can hold them off for a good while, but you don't want to be humans in the sea when the ones that slip by find you./

"That settles it." Neville muttered beside me, finally fully human. His eyes were shut tight and his shoulders suggested that his hands were in front of his groin, not that he needed to worry. Even with the remaining fire, the water was far too dark to see under it. However, what was really interesting was the fact that his hair was being sucked back into his head. "Luna and I will morph alligators. Luna, stop me if I lose control."

"Ok." Scales were already growing all over my body again. It probably wasn't the best idea, morphing again. I was really tired already. But I suppose it was our best option.

"Oh, please don't lose it. We don't have time for a frenzied, reptilian carnivore on top of everything else." Marco muttered, already taking the basic shape of the dolphin.

The time taken to shapeshift was the nicest we had on the island. The Dementors were too busy interrupting the other group's escape plans to be interested in us. Seamus, Ernie, Anthony and Ginny were rather shivery, to the point where even Anthony let his sense of modesty and embarrassment go and leaned into Ernie's offered side to share body warmth, and Neville did look ready to rip Ginny's arm off for a moment, but other than that, we were fine. Five minutes later, everyone was set and we took off, the boys leaning a little more to the left while the girls drifted off to the side and Neville and I moved upfront. The dolphins were faster, but with a school of sharks nearby, it was better for their passengers if we were the first to encounter them. After all, we were deadly and the hardest to hurt.

Not that we need have worried though. Swimming around the island and back toward the mainland, I saw this most fascinating sight. In the direction of the open sea, an island actually leapt out of the water and crashed down into it right where flickers of light revealed a large number of dorsal fins.

"WHOA! That musta hurt." Seamus shouted over the roar of the waves, a large, excited, teeth chattering smile plastered on his face.

/Most of the hammerheads are just floating around, stunned and, in some cases, bleeding from where their dorsal fins used to be./ Marco reported, sounding quite relieved. /We'll be safe for a while, they'll feed on themselves./

/Then let's take advantage of that and get the hell out of here./ Jake ordered, already speeding up and being followed by a startled Ernie's scream.

/Aye aye, captain./ Marco cheered, sounding much happier than before. He must like be in the middle of the sea. Maybe he noticed some water fairies that are said to live nearby. He does have that sound picture trick they mentioned after all.

Whatever it was that caused it, those of us who weren't focusing solely on being cold were in rather good spirits. We had freed a number of nice people and seriously damaged an ancient, quite unpleasant building.

It was pretty nice really. Our work around Hogwarts seemed quite pointless at times. But this? Well, it was nice to make an extraordinary move. One that would affect everything from this day on. For this was monumental. From this one act, we have proven that the Dark Lord's power is not as absolute as he wishes to make it appear. And we will have also proven that we are not the easy targets the Yeerks believe us to be. It'll be interesting to see where things go from here.