Still not mine...
Chapter 9...
Hogwarts a few days earlier...
Dumbledore was worried. Imogen Potter who was the key to his plans for the Wizarding world was missing. An alarm ward had triggered a breach on the Dursley residence and when he had finally realised this and gone to investigate it, there were muggle dressed in white suits with strange masks and gloves on crawling all over the property.
Casting a light legilimency charm on one of the police had revealed that early the morning before, a passing jogger had noticed that the front door to the Dursleys house was wide open and that there appeared to be a trail of blood leading from the driveway to the front door of the house.
The jogger had ran to across the road and knocked on the door of number five and explained what he had discovered and then used the neighbours phone to contact the police.
When the police had entered the house and followed the 'blood' trail and it led to the basement, where the police had found evidence of torture carried out. They quickly searched the rest of the house and found the unconscious Dursleys who were woken and after a few questions were cuffed and taken away in separate police cars.
Dumbledore cursed. There was no magical signature so it clearly was nothing to do with the magical world. But he needed to find that fucking girl. He needed her for his plans for the Wizarding world. More importantly, without showing live images of her to her parents using a scrying mirror, how was he going to continue to force them to create charms and potions for him to use.
It was amazing how people could find the skill to excel, when their slut of a daughter was threatened
He couldn't use Severus. He was a pathetic potioneer. All of his 'breakthroughs' came from Lily Potter and her Husband - this was why when he was teaching a class he just wrote the directions on the board and ordered the class to brew them.
He smiled darkly to himself. He had his own hold on Severus Snape.
.
###
He had sent his minion out with three of his special assistants to track the girl. It had taken a day to bring them out of stasis and to imprint their orders, but once they were released, they stood still for only a few seconds seeming to sniff the air. They waited for their master to indicate that he had lowered the wards that stopped apparition, then as one they aparated out of the building hot on the trail of the Potter Heir.
His Minion bowed to Dumbledore and disappeared with his own crack of displaced air to follow the tracking charms that had been placed on the three assistants.
Three hours later he put his paper work aside and looked out of the tower windows over the darkened quidditch pitch. He hoped that this issue with the Potter spawn would be resolved soon.
He got to his feet and started to walk towards his sleeping chambers that were attached to his office, when a shockwave of magic blasted him back into and across his office where his backwards progress was halted by the ancient desk in the middle of the room.
The cry of pain as his pelvis shattered from the impact was swallowed almost instantly as the force of his waist colliding with the side of the desk caused his upper body to keep going and forced his head to smash violently into the various parchments that were scattered about the desk top.
The noise that this series of events caused was drowned out by the violent thunderstorm that was currently lashing northern Scotland at the time.
Not that it would have mattered, as none of the staff currently residing in the castle for the summer were even aware of the Headmasters presence. Due to his inability to locate the Potter whore, he had told them three days earlier that he was leaving for a month long holiday in France which would allow him to search unmolested.
None of the portraits were able to summon assistance for the old man as they had been frozen into immobility by Dumbledore a week after he had become the Headmaster.
The past heads of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry could still hear and see everything that happened. They just could not move or interact with anything, even each other.
Likewise, the house elves had long since been forbidden from entering the Headmasters office unless summoned.
So it was as the grand manipulator lay unconscious on his back in the middle of his office that all of grand plans for Imogen Potter and her family came crashing down around his ears. It would not be until he woke up in agony nearly six days later and saw his Minion and his familiar lying unmoving on the floor of his office that the first twinges of impending doom settled with a great weight on his shoulders.
He waved his wand and cast a quick healing charm on himself, repairing the damage to his shattered pelvis. Once he was able to sit up, he took stock of the damage that had been done to his office. He looked around in disbelief at the ruined bookshelves and the shattered display cases that held both the sword of Gryffindor, his Order of Merlin First Class and various other various trinkets and mementos that he had accumulated over his long life time.
His eyes then fell onto a disjointed melted lump of what looked like silver slag. He gasped and painfully rolled off his desk and hobbled over to the surprisingly intact shelf and gazed at the wreckage of what used to be a set of extremely rare focus medallions. He quickly waved his wand over the remains. The results made him pale and a cold shiver ran down his spine.
The enchantments were broken. He now had no way to track the Potters.
He quickly turned to his unconscious Servant. Kneeling next to his prone form he forced his eyelids open and dove straight into his mind. There was none of the normal finesse or subtlety. He needed answers.
What he found rocked him back on his heels and broke the occlumency connection. The last memory that he found was their last meeting in this very room. There was nothing after. Just a white fog.
There was no evidence of memory charms or any other form of tampering. It was as if his Servants mind had been totally erased of the events of the last week.
Fuck.
###
A few days before the ass fell out of Dumbledore's world...
We had spent a hectic two days after everyone arrived in the new dimension getting people settled and checking that The Fates had warded all of our equipment to work in a magical environment before they sent it to this dimension.
Thankfully they had.
Jason and his team of elves had installed several portraits in key rooms and areas of our base so that Lord Potter and other former Heads of House could offer advice and generally just see what was going on. Once they had done that, they went around and generally assisted wherever they could.
They were a god send.
Once everyone was settled, I called an all hands meeting and briefed everyone on what was to become our day to day jobs while we were in this dimension. These included a vehicle perimeter patrol using the hummers and an on foot security team around the manor.
Further security measures would be discussed with the Potters once they were back home and restored to health. Once all of the house keeping stuff was out of the way, I informed them that we would be raiding Azkaban the following night.
There was a rustling and I paused to allow everyone involved in the mission to pull their note books and pens from their pockets.
I nodded to Jason and he snaps his fingers and a 3D model of the prison forms in front of everyone, and I start the brief.
We will be flying from the Potters which was located near Holyhead to Edinburgh to refuel at the local airport. From there we fly north east for another 250 miles to the middle of the North Sea. When we were fifteen miles from the prison at the Initial Point - IP, we would drop down to twenty feet of the ocean, switch off our navigation lights and begin our insertion run.
Once we were over the prison, we would fast rope down onto the roof and begin clearing the twenty five levels that we needed to traverse to get to the Potters, who according to the Fates, were located in the lowest level of the prison which was actually five levels below the sea.
The Auror guard post, administration and barracks are located on the ground floor. There are no Dementors one that level, however, we had to work on the assumption that they were everywhere else and patrolled in random areas. This included the rest of the island.
I fielded a question from Corporal Keila Ben-Asher who came to us via Mossad and was my number two. She wanted to know how we are going to deal with the Dementors.
"I have had a few thoughts about that." I informed everyone. "Jason." I called and the little elf snapped his fingers and a Vietnam era flame thrower appeared in front of me. "I have been told that our weapons will stop Dementors, however, fire also works on them and is actually more effective, don't forget we all carry napalm grenades." I broke off my explanation and looked around the room to see everyone nodding in agreement.
"I would like to have this as a backup plan. One person from each team will be equipped with one of these. If you hold your figure on the trigger, you will get approximately ten minutes of burn time. So don't go overboard with them."
Keila thanked me and sat down. I resumed my briefing.
Once we had secured the Potters we were to make our way back to the roof and then call in the helo for evac. Once we were on the way back, we would land once again at Edinburgh to refuel and then head back here to base where the medical team - which included the Potters Elvin healer – would be standing by to take over.
The ground crew needed to fit the four out rigger tanks on to the UH60 to increase our range. The round trip was close to a thousand miles and even with the out riggers, we only had a range of eight hundred miles, hence the need for two fuel stops. If the Potters are in a worse condition than we think, we can skip the return stop and hammer back here, however, that would leave us extremely short on fuel.
Short as in we may not make it back here.
Once the briefing was complete, I dismiss everyone to return to their duties and I call on Zoe to pop me back to manor where after spending some time playing with Imogen and having dinner, I begin my own preparations for tomorrow night's mission.
###
Present time...
While Dumbledore was trying to figure out a way to get Imogen back under his control we were currently flying at fifty feet over the North Sea. It was almost 0200 and out TOT – time on target was 0215. I looked around at the other five members of Team 4 and I noticed that with the exception of our resident Canadian, Corporal Luke Byers who was reading a novel using a tiny map light, everyone else was dozing.
I ran the mission through my head several more times while I waited for the IP call from the Pilots. Once I was sure that I would not forget anything, I gave my equipment a final once over to make sure that nothing was obstructed or would fowl on the fast rope line.
None of us were weighted down with heavy packs except for our medic, another Corporal, this time from France called Andrea Moreau. Her pack carried all of the first aid and trauma gear. She was one of the only women in the world to complete the American Airforce Para Rescue Jumper course.
"Five minutes people, lets shake it loose" Leut Adam Andrews thick Welsh accent came over our headsets. Everyone stirred and stood up as best they could in the cramped interior of the chopper to get themselves ready and Luke jammed his book into a pocket on his webbing.
There was not much to check.
Once we had switched our NVG's on, we were pretty much ready to go.
We only had rolling gear with us. Basically, rolling gear was weapons only – with a few mars bars and a camel back full of Gatorade thrown in to keep the energy levels up. While two of the team carry collapsible stretchers in case the Potters are unable to walk
Ok I'll be honest. We are going against Dementors. We have a shitload of Mars Bars
Within two minutes everyone was in position and we knelt down on the deck waiting for the pilots call.
"IP Inbound." Came the next call. The deck dropped out from under us as the pilot's dumped collective to drop us down to twenty feet off the North Sea.
"10 seconds." Came over the headset from Adam.
This informed us that we had 10 seconds until the chopper pulled up from its incursion altitude of twenty feet.
I started counting down in my head and just as I reached one, the nose pulled up and the airspeed quickly bled off as the pilots performed the helicopter version of a hand-breaky.
"DOORS."
I reached out a hand and ripped the catch open, allowing the door the fly back on its roller to lock in the open position. Byers, who was my number three and the person closest to the back of the aircraft, checked that the door was locked open and gave me the thumbs up.
"ROPERS IN THE DOOR"
I stood in a half crouch facing the Crew Chief who was manning the left door gun at the front of the helicopter. My right hand was gripping a tie down on the deck and my left hand was on the rope that was attached to a hard point on the roof.
I feel the front of the aircraft level as the pilots pitch down to stabilize the aircraft now that we have slowed down.
Any second now.
"GO GO GO."
I kick the rope out the door and grab it with both hands. Throwing myself out of the chopper, I wrap my ankles around the rope and I begin my decent. The ground is rushing at me and I feel the rope shake as Corporal Ben-Asher started her decent on the rope. When I was about ten feet off the ground I pushed down on my locked ankles and my rapid decent slowed, allowing me to drop the last three feet to the ground and clear out of the way for my two team mates to land safely.
I moved to about fifteen feet from where I touched down and scanned the area with my rifle up to my shoulder. I felt a hand slap my shoulder and I looked back to see the other five formed up near me. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the two ropes fall from the helo and the nose pitch down as the pilots pull power and get the hell out of there.
We will pick the ropes up when we evac.
Once again I was impressed with my people. Time from start to finish, the entire insertion had only taken about thirty seconds.
Using had signals the team stack up beside the door. I nod to my team XO Staff Sergeant Tim Mitchell, and he pushes a small mirror on a telescoping handle under the door looking for trip wires or anything else that could fuck us up.
He removes the mirror from the door and gives me the all clear. I signal to Tim and he pulls a length of det cord from his webbing and begins to stick it to the hinges. Corporal Corcoran puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him. He reaches forward and tries the handle. The door opens, Mitch pulls the det cord off the hinges and his team disappear into the blackness.
I don't even question why they would leave an unlocked door in a prison.
Wizard Logic…
Now that we were on the ground and the adrenalin from the fast rope was fading, I was becoming more and more aware of the feeling of shear misery that seemed to rise up out of the stones around us.
"Fuck me." I hear Andrea breath over the tactical radios. "This place is fucking with my calm Boss."
"I hear that Doc." I reply as Luke, Keila and I follow stick two into the building and down the first flight of stairs.
"Mercury, this is Four Six, on the ground beginning entry." I transmit into my radio. Mercury is the call sign for our opps room back in Holyhead.
"Roger six, cameras and LSR are nominal." I double click my mike to roger their transmission. LSR are our life support readings. Each member of the assault team are hooked up to bio monitors that keep track of pulse, BP, body temp and also our GPS location.
Thanks to us getting dropped twenty five years in the past, I had to do some pretty serious begging for the fates to let all of our gear work without needing pesky things like satellites and GPS locators the size of a suitcase.
Fuck I love magic.
We leap frogged our way towards the end of the passageway where according to the plans that Cody had managed to acquire for us, the stairs leading down into the rest of the prison were located.
Using our night vision goggles gave the prison an even creepier visage that what I had envisioned in my head. Everything was green.
Although thinking about it, it is probably a good thing that we had to use our NVG's. We didn't have to see what the prison was really like.
This joint was fucking creepy. Apart from the occasional moan coming from behind some of the cell doors the entire floor was dead quiet. The only constant was that fucked up feeling of despair, misery and depression that seemed to seep into my bones.
"Mars bar now people." I order finally recognising the feelings for what they were. Several people shook themselves and as one, six hands reached into pouches on webbing and pulled out the chocolaty goodness.
"Ok groovers." I say over the radio. "Let's get this fucking job done and get the fuck out of this place."
We reached the stairs and my stick took the lead, leapfrogging down to the next level. The way Azkaban was set up, meant that there was not one main stairway. You had to traverse each floor to get to the end of the corridor to the stairs leading to the next level. We did not see this coming.
As we descended to level twenty the noises from the inmates and feelings of despair began to increase. I began to realise why they were getting more pronounced. The top floors were the prisoners who had been in here the longest.
They were basically husks of human beings, there was nothing left up there for the Dementors to feed on. As we got further down, the prisoners still had the happy thoughts that these abominations required to sustain themselves.
We had made it down to level seventeen when we first came across a Dementor. I was leading my stick and we were about a quarter of the way along the corridor after leap frogging stick two in the stairwell, when the fucking thing just floated through the wall of a cell about fifty feet in front of the us.
Then it stopped and looked straight at me.
Fuck.
The Dementor turned its body to fully face us and I realised that it was hovering about three feet off the floor. The feeling of misery that this thing gave off only slightly bothered me and I realised with a shock that while the felling of misery and total suffering emanating from the very stones of the prison affected me, the actual presence of a Dementor did not.
Just like that fucking bird or whatever the fuck it was that tap danced all over my back when its master invaded the Manor.
I look at the rest of my team and realised that they were not affected either. I bought my Steyr up and sighted on the what I estimated to be twelve foot tall creature, flicking the safety off as I did so.
I felt a motion to my right and my NVG's flared slightly with light given off by the pilot light on the flame thrower that Luke was now pointing at the Dementor. I also knew that Ben-Asher is on his right and stick two is covering us from the stairs.
The Dementor slowly glided towards us. I wasn't sure if that was to draw out the fear of their next victim or it was actually curious about our presence.
I pulled the rifle tighter into my shoulder. Looking through the sight, I lined up the glowing red dot with the centre of the things hood.
"Standby people." I say into my throat mic. "Let's see how this plays out."
JKR and the producers of the movies, managed to do a pretty bang up job of getting the look of a Dementor correct. What they failed fucking miserably at was the shear presence of the fucking thing.
Even though it seemed we were all immune to the effect of fear and being forced to relive your worst memories, we are still able to feel the bone chilling cold and a slight feeling of terror.
Fucking things.
I shake it off and concentrate on the spectre slowly approaching. I can suddenly feel a malevolent presence in my mind and with a start I realise that the fucking thing is attempting to find a purchase in my head to start extracting it's fucked up form of pleasure from me.
"Fuck." I snarl into my radio. "Light it up." the sound of the suppressed weapons is shockingly loud in the confined space of the corridor. However, the sound that the flame thrower makes as it roars to life drowns it out completely.
My NVG's flare shockingly from the light of the thrower, making it almost impossible to see before the sensors adjust themselves and reduce the light amplification of the goggles.
I shove my NVG's up off my face to rub and furiously blink my eyes trying to clear the spots dancing in front of my vision. Where the fuck did it go?
The sound of the flame thrower is absolutely drowned out by the most soul destroying sound I had ever heard. It was way worse than that fucking shadow bird thing could ever be.
"Tango down." Came over the radio. And we instantly stopped shooting to look at the where the noise was coming from. What I saw shocked the fuck out of me.
The Dementor was writhing on the ground burning like a roman candle. Its screams as it died were just about the most horrific thing you could ever imagine.
Taking a chance, I stepped up to the thing being careful to stay out of reach of its thrashing limbs and shot it straight through the centre of what I guessed was its head.
It gave a shudder and stopped moving – and screeching.
Thank fuck.
The smell on the other had...
Geezus.
If I thought the noise was bad, the smell was ten thousand fucking times worse. I gagged and waved the team forward pulling my goggles once again back down over my eyes. We had to get away from that horrible stench.
We made it down to level sixteen and paused to regroup.
"Fuck Boss." Corporal Tom Corcoran said to me while we paused in the stair well. "That thing was worse than a sewer." There was a murmur of agreement from some of the team.
"Tell me about it." I replied. "Ok, we know they can see us and they will be gunning for us. I have no idea if they can or even will communicate with each other to call out for help. This place is too big and we are going too slowly."
"We need to hump it if we are going to make the RV, I don't plan on having the chopper flame out and dump our asses in the middle of the fucking North Sea."
The one problem with missions over the water is that there is nowhere for the helo to land. They are currently in a holding pattern about ten miles away from the island flying to conserve as much fuel as possible.
However like all things, fuel is a finite thing and it runs out rather quickly when you need it.
"Ready for a little run my Minions?" I ask the team.
"Ready to roll Six." Came the voice of my XO.
I shove a fresh magazine into the Styer and chamber a round. "Let's hump it people." So saying I lead the team in a run along floor sixteen.
The others spread out and follow me at five meter intervals. We don't worry about leap frogging anymore, the idea is to cover as much ground as possible in the shortest amount of time.
We get level ten when we encounter our next Dementors. I burst out of the stairwell and come face to face with another of the fucking things. Reflex's kick in and my rifle snaps up and I loose a three round burst straight into its head and keep running.
There was another four of the things on this floor as well so I kept my rifle up and kept shooting. I heard the clatter of supressed gunfire behind me and I knew that the next two people in line were double tapping the downed Dementors behind me.
It's called insurance.
You do not leave a live enemy behind you.
With a click my rifle went dry and I took one step right and crouched down.
"Loading." I called and the rest of the team kept going past me while I reloaded. Once I had replaced the magazine with a fresh one, I waited for the last person in line to thump me on the shoulder. I counted to ten and then stood up and followed the line. I was now tail end Charlie and it was my job to watch our back to ensure that no one crept up on us.
The levels seem to pass in a green tinged blur of shooting and reloading as we encounter more and more Dementors. From what I could quickly count as we fled past them was that we had killed at least fifty of the things.
I can't understand why we have yet to encounter a single human guard during our decent.
Then it comes to me. There are no human guards here at night.
I hope.
I pass this idea onto the rest of the team over the radio and everyone seems to agree with my assessment. With this in mind we pick up the pace even more.
We had just cleared level one and we were crouched in the stairs near the entrance to the Auror barracks. Mitch, my team XO scouted ahead checking for doors.
"Six." His Texan accent was thick in my headset. "It looks like they transfigure the doors into walls as they leave the island." There is only a blank stone wall on either side and at the end another staircase leading down."
"Copy that." I nod to myself. "Move people." I say to the rest of the team, who move out in front of me while I give a location report to Mercury, then I follow after the team.
Surprisingly we do not encounter anymore Dementors. We also do not encounter anymore cell doors.
We go down another three levels until we are at the absolute bottom of the prison. There is nothing there. Just a blank wall on either side.
Fuck
Dumbles has put up wards.
"Sam." I call to my guardian.
"Yes Aj?" she responds. This time I don't go into my mind to talk to her, I keep my attention fully on my surroundings and just let her voice sound in my head.
"We need some help here. We in close to the Potters cell, but there is a ward or something in the area, there is only solid walls. And we can't hear anything." I tell her
She is quiet for a minute as she tried to work out a solution.
"I'm sorry Alex, you will have to ask the fates."
"Thanks Sam." I say to her as her presence fades form my mind.
I was about to call to the Fates when an idea hits me. "Everyone spread out." I order my team. Look for an indentation in the middle of one of the blocks of stone. Something that shouldn't be there."
They spread out to follow my command and I follow my own orders and start running my gloved hands over the rough hewn stones of the prisons foundation.
About ten minutes later a call of "Boss." Brings my attention to Andrea. She is about thirty feet away from me near the very end of the passageway. I make my way over to her and she shows me the indentation in the stone.
I run my hands over it trying to examine it as best I can in the green light of the NVG world. I cant make out shit.
"Eyes closed people." I order over the radio. I pull my NVG's off my eyes and blink in the absolute darkness. It's worse than a coal mine. I shake off the thought and pull one of my Glocks from its holster and flick on the barrel mounted torch. Once it bright white light illuminates the depression in the stone, I can make out that the impression is actually a carving a snake with its jaws open and its fangs on display.
Suddenly the answer came to me.
"Blood." I whisper to myself. The books talk about blood sacrifice's being the strongest form of protection, so it stands to reason that blood is what holds the wards of the cell door in place.
In the light cast from my torch I bar my forearm and pulling my combat knife from my boot, I open a shallow cut on my arm, and allow the blood to pool on the blade. While I am waiting for enough blood to collect, I turn off the torch and put the pistol back into its holster and then pull my goggles back over my eyes.
"Ok people. You can look again. Lights out." I told them what I had discovered and what I hoped would happen. Everyone concurred that it was the best plan we had so I ordered them to stack up twenty feet from me, just encase something went pear shaped.
Once they were clear, I let the accumulated blood drip of the knife blade and into the mouth of the serpent guarding the door.
As soon as the blood hit its carved mouth, the snake gave a shudder and the wall seemed to explode outwards with a wave of silent force that pushed us all back several steps, allowing us to see into a fairly large and well appointed cell. There was light coming from a banked fire and what looked like work benches and a kitchen directly in front of me.
As I entered the room, I lifted my NVG's of away from my eyes as there was enough light to see by. There was a door of to my left and using hand signals two of my team went and investigated it. Before they could get there, it opened to reveal a gaunt man about 6 ft tall with extremely messy black hair that was lightly streaked with grey and glasses.
"Who are you?" he demanded in a rough voice. As he looked at the four of us in the room in disbelief.
"James wha..." a lady that was at least half a foot shorter than the man bumped into his back and he whipped an arm out to prevent her from falling to the ground. Her hair was long with no hint of grey. If I had nothing else to go on, just the colour of the hair and the eyes told me everything I needed to know.
I had found Imogen's parents.
I held my empty hands out to the side. "Lord and Lady Potter, I am Commander Alex Jacobs. My team and I are here to get you the hell out of this place." I told them and Lady Potter burst into tears and buried her face into her husband's neck.
"Thank Merlin." Lord Potter replied to me. His knees went wobbly and he sat down with a thump on the cold stone floor pulling his wife with him.
"We don't have a lot of time." I told him looking at my watch. We had thirty minutes to get back topside. "Get what you need and we can go."
"We can't leave." Lord Potter said in a quavering voice. "They have our daughter and only work.." I raise my hand and he trails off.
"Imogen is fine and safe." I reassure them. Both their shoulders sag at the news. They help each other to their feet and head into the bedroom. Two minutes later they come out wearing clothing that had defiantly seen better days.
"Wait." James Potter said as we were about to hustle them out of the room. He gestured to the shelves of books and what looked like potions. "We can't leave these. Dumbledore has forced us to create all of these and we do not want to leave them for him to profit from."
"Do you still have you wands?" I ask and they both nod their heads.
"Yes we need them to conduct our research. Before Dumbledore enters our cell he casts a ward on us that stops us from casting magic." Lily answered.
"Ok, shrink what you can and we can take it with us." As soon as I said that, both Potters began waving their wands over the shelves shrinking everything down until it all fitted into a shoe box that James had transfigured from a candle that was sitting on the bench.
Byers offered to take the shoe box off Lord Potter and he put it into his back pack. "Common Sir, we have to leave." He told them softly. Gently guiding the pair of them out of their cell.
I activate the throat mic. "Mercury, this is Four Six. Proceeding to extract. Status is green plus two." The message basically translates to us beginning to move to our exit point and the team is all present and accounted for uninjured and that we had two more people than we started with.
"Roger Four Six, Mercury copies green plus two." Our controller had received my message.
"Double Zero copies moving to extract." The voice of our pilot Lieutenant Commander Jack Webber, who was another Aussie, came over my radio as well. "Hump it Boss, you have thirty minutes until we have to bingo."
Basically, the chopper had thirty minutes of endurance left until it needed to head for an airport to refuel.
"Six copies Double Zero." I reply. "We're humping." I switch channels and tell the team to move out. We retrace our steps and proceed up through the levels of Azkaban. On the lower levels there are cries for us to let them out, as well as curses and swearing from some of the more rabid inmates. As we ascended, these shouts got quieter and eventually faded out all together when we reached level seventeen.
I look back at my team as we traverse another corridor. Lord and Lady Potter are being carried on a pair of portable stretchers that we had bought in with us for just this eventuality. Every floor, the stretcher bearers swapped out so that no one would be to tired by the time we reached the top.
Saying that though, we were starting to feel the effects of basically running almost flat out for the last hour
We were about just about to start ascending the steps from level twenty four to twenty five when something made me pause. I keyed my mic. "HOLD." I hiss the order and everyone stops dead and quickly moves to the wall and brings their weapons up.
"Mitch, take a peep, Tom back up. Something feels fucked up." I say over the radio.
"Roger Six." Replied the two soldiers as they crept up the stairs using Mitch's mirror to look around the turns on the stairs.
"Six, this is Double Zero, we got a problem."
"Boss." Mitch's voice came on the back of my pilots.
"Let my guess, every fucking Dementor on the planet is between us and the roof?"
"And the rest are actually on the fucking roof."
My thoughts move at warp speed. "Zero, time to bingo?" I snap into my mic.
"One- seven mikes Six." Jack responds instantly. I quickly set the countdown timer on my watch for sixteen minutes just to be safe.
"Double Zero break off and return to holding. Stay within half a mile, but keep you fucking eyes peeled." I pause to take a breath. "If they swarm you, use your countermeasures. The fuckers burn like a bonfire."
"Roger Six, half mile holding."
Ok one problem taken care of. I open the team channel on my radio. "Ok minions listen up. We are going to have to make a break for it. We will lead with napalm grenades followed up by throwers. Stay in a close bunch and provide fire support for each other." I turn to the Potters.
"Lord and Lady Potter, can you walk?" I asked them. I really needed them to be able to make their own way onto the roof. The stretchers took four people out of a team of six. Two of us could not hold off that many Dementors.
Both Potters nod at me and they stand up and pull their wands out. "We can both cast a Patronus Commander." Lady Potter tells me.
"Good, if you need a strong memory, picture the look on Imogen's face when she finally gets a hug from her parents for the first time in almost a decade." Andrea tells them and both the Potters faces light up with the mental image her words had just put into their minds.
"Ok Tim let's get started."
Fifteen seconds later, a series of fiery explosions rocked the top level of Azkaban prison. The flames were clearly visible to the flight crew circling half a mile away.
If it looked impressive from half a mile away, it was fucking bedlam on the inside. Mitch had rolled four of the napalm grenades into the middle of the floor and as soon as they detonated everything within a fifty foot radius was covered in flames that stuck to everything they touched.
A distant part of my mind recognised that we were not giving the prisoners on this level a chance at survival. But I quickly squashed that thought. That was beyond my control. My mission came first.
Ten seconds after detonation, we moved as one proceeded by a stag and a doe Patronus that circled our tightly bunched group as we made our way towards the stairs at the other end of the floor.
There were some Dementors that although they were burning, still attempted to grab members of my team as we passed. These were dispatched by either a burst of gun fire or immolated by one of the flame throwers that were adding to the extreme heat and confusion.
After one of the longest minutes of my life, we were ascending the stairs that led to the roof. We kicked open the door and once again, two grenades were rolled out onto the roof of the prison and the whole process repeated itself.
The screaming of the dying Dementors was drowned out by the sound of the approaching helicopter as it hovered over the roof. A few of the Dementors attempted to approach the helo, but were discouraged by a sustained burst of fire from the .50 cal machine guns as well as a stream of flares that spewed from the dispenser at the rear of the helo.
The remaining Dementors decided that enough was enough and as a group the fled the roof as quickly as they had appeared. Jack hovered the chopper a foot off the roof and we sprinted towards the open doors, Byers and myself grabbing the discarded fast ropes as we ran past. One by one we clambered into the chopper and as soon as we were aboard the Crew Chief activated his intercom.
"GO GO GO." He screamed.
Like a shot, the nose dipped and the deck came up as the pilots applied maximum power to get us as far away from that fucking place as soon as possible.
I hear the co-pilot Adam tell Mercury that we were successful and were returning to Holyhead as soon as we refueled in Edinburgh. I absently look at my watch as I shift to move myself off the deck and onto one of the troop seats that line the centre and rear of the aircraft. I notice that the timer had ten seconds left to go and I smile to myself.
Made it with heaps to spare.
I glance over at the Potters and see that they are snuggled into each other. Lady Potter has tears streaming down her face and they both have a look of disbelief and relief on their faces. I catch Lord Potter's eyes and give him a thumbs up. He gives me a watery smile in response and I turn my attention to the rest of the team.
It seems funny actually, not five minutes after we have left a hot LZ, the team are back to their usual antics when riding on a chopper.
Most of them are asleep and Luke was once again reading his book using a small map light.
I shook my head and closed my eyes letting the adrenalin from the past few hours leave my system.
It was time to sleep.
Today was shaping up to be a fucking massive day...
Thanks for reading...