Chapter 36: Speculation and confusion
For disclaimer and author notes please see chapter 1.
1988-09-19 07:00 UTC, location unknown
Nick was exhausted. To be honest, so were Hobby and Sirius - one from so much elf-apparating back and forth, and having to separate one dementor at a time from the larger group to slap a portkey on, the other from making so many portkeys.
But Nick easily had had the worst job of all. To begin with, he had to get close enough to the dementor to touch it with both the wooden stakes. Since the dementors moved about, this was exhausting work.
Then, as each dementor died, the foul stench of whatever was left, and the bodies - such as they were - piled up in the room, causing even Nick to feel somewhat nauseous. It got to the point that Penny and Remus were taking turns vanishing the remains and freshening the air every two or three dementors.
But in the end they deemed it all worth it. Hobby's description of what the dementors had been given permission to do by Voldemort, and how many muggles - who had no knowledge of the magical world, leave alone being able to defend themselves against something they could not see - were killed, had shaken them all. This was much worse than what they had seen in the first war, and that was already bad enough. So they were determined that not one of these unnatural beings would be left alive. Guarding Azkaban was not, in any case, a huge priority - the most dangerous of the prisoners had already been dealt with, one way or another.
Despite how tired he was, Sirius knew there would be a Wizengamot meeting today, so he downed a couple of energy potions and shook himself awake. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, he told himself, with an inner smirk at his euphoria, no doubt caused by their success last night!
The Daily Prophet soon arrived, and Sirius busied himself in reading the headlines while trying to eat some breakfast.
Dementors defectors?
The dementors have left Azkaban, according to highly placed sources giving us a late night scoop. However, it is not known where they went, nor why, though there is no shortage of speculation.
"Azkaban has always been a dark, dank, dreary, dull, dismal, depressing place", said one source (quite unnecessarily, in this reporter's view!). "It is my opinion that even the dementors have become depressed and have left for happier hunting grounds", said Salish Girgashite, a filing clerk in the DMLE's records office. It is unknown what gave him these insights, as he was ordered away from the press corps by the head auror before we could ask for more information.
The head auror himself refused to speculate, only stating the bare facts as he knew them (see detailed report on page 3). Other sources the Prophet attempted to elicit information from, had varied responses. All of them were smarter than Mr Girgashite, as they only spoke on condition of anonymity. The consensus was that the dementors had defected, and therefore this was a sign that, if not the Dark Lord himself, then at least someone with similar sympathies, was amassing his troops.
The article continued in a similar vein, but there was very little of substance in it at this early stage.
1988-09-19 09:00 UTC, Ministry of Magic
The Ministry was in a flap. Sometime last evening, the auror contingent at Azkaban had reported that many of the prisoners - who should have been quiet and subdued, with the dementors patrolling - were instead being quite boisterous, and in some cases even euphoric.
On attempting a count of the dementors, they found that about half of them were missing. Attempting to communicate with the creatures was a dodgy affair at the best of times, and tonight, the ones that remained appeared to be much more restless than usual, making any attempt at getting some answer even more futile. As such, the auror team had merely attempted to restrain them and prevent them from leaving Azkaban castle.
Exodus Cautor, the warden of the jail, had been summoned to the Ministry to make a statement in front of the Wizengamot, and the questioning had quickly taken a somewhat unexpected turn.
Minister Bones was conducting the interrogation. This was unusual enough, but then again, a simple fact-finding session being held in front of the full Wizengamot was already an unheard of happening.
"Please tell us, in your own words, with approximate or exact times, everything that happened. If there are parts that you are not personally aware of, let us know who should be asked. We need to get to the bottom of this potentially devastating incident", said Bones.
"Yes Minister Bones. Here is what happened, and I can assure you I have direct knowledge of all this", he said.
On Minister Bones' nod, he continued. "At 6pm, when the guard shift changeover was due to happen, two of the guards who were coming off the shift casually mentioned to their replacements that some of the prisoners seemed to be a bit ore noisy than normal. By this time they were normally quite subdued, partly due to the darkness, and partly because the dementors are more active and take over much of the patrolling once the evening starts".
"We thought nothing of it. It was a little unusual, but did not seem worrying in any real sense. But about an hour or so after the shift change, one of the guards - who was himself somewhat more susceptible to the effects of the dementors, despite our auror badge protections - realised that he was not as affected as he normally got. He came down to my office and informed me, then went back to his station".
"Is he allowed to leave his station like that?", asked a member of the Wizengamot whose name the warden did not know. (He did not know most of them anyway. Representative government was not a concept that the British wizarding world was even remotely familiar with!)
"Yes sir. Each floor has three aurors in each shift, and as long as at least two remain, it is allowed".
He waited a few seconds in case there were any questions - he'd never been in front of, far less addressed, such a large gathering.
"Once he apprised me of the unusual lack of dementors, I decided to take a count. This is actually pretty hard, but it can be done, because the dementors move fairly slowly. The difficult part is counting how many of them are in the part of the castle that they reside in, when they are not patrolling. To the best of my knowledge, no one in the auror corps has ever willingly ventured into that section, and there are huge doors that separate it from the parts that we - guards and criminals alike - inhabit. Still, we had a job to do, and an eight man team went in. Our badges protect us from being attacked, but they don't do much when you're in that hellhole - the very air appears to be made of dementor breath, so bubblehead charms are important. We also have to carry powerful torches to dispel the gloom and keep the beasts physically away."
The audience were suitably impressed. Well, most of them, anyway.
"We discovered that about a quarter of them were no longer present in the castle, which meant that they had slipped out of the door at some point. When they came back and reported this, I posted four people to guard the gate and push back any dementors that attempted to approach it.
And approach it they did. In large numbers - large enough that I had to place four more aurors there to help the four already present, and help them push the dementors back.
By around 8pm, the number of dementors wanting to get out from the gate had dwindled - clearly they were learning their lessons. Or so we thought. And so I reduced the front gate watch to two aurors, sending the remaining six back on patrol. I cancelled or cut down everyone's break time (ready room time) in light of this unusual situation."
He paused, ostensibly to take a sip of water, but it was clear to Minister Bones and some of the others close by that he was getting more nervous. Something was up.
"At this point, the guards on all the floors reported a conspicuous lack of dementors all over the prison - all four floors that is. This got me seriously worried and I sent the first of my patronus messages to the DMLE office here in the ministry. But because this did not fit any of the criteria for a red alert, the message may have been in someone's queue for some time. I have no idea how long it was before someone saw it."
"Why was it not a red alert situation?", asked the same member who had asked the previous question.
"We have specific definitions for what constitutes a red alert, and all of them have to do with prisoners escaping. None of our process manuals say anything about dementors leaving us".
"All the more reason you should have reacted with more urgency, Warden", said the member.
Bones felt she had to step in. Affero Crimen was always butting in like this, quick to give blame to anyone in any debate. "That is a matter of opinion, Mr Crimen. And since our manuals don't appear to encourage such independent thought, Mr Cautor is blameless. Mr Cautor, please continue", she nodded at him.
Grateful for the reprieve, the warden used this temporary boost in his confidence to get past the part of his report that was causing his nervousness, before he either lost his nerve again, or someone else made any accusations about his reaction to this.
"By 10pm, it was clear that all the dementors had effectively abandoned their stations, and since the gate was now under constant watch, they must have all decided to, basically, 'go home'", he said.
"So we gathered up nearly all of the aurors in the castle, leaving a handful to guard the front gate, and once again braved the rear part of the castle. We soon found out that there were now no dementors in the area. None. Not even one."
"How could that happen, Warden", asked Minister Bones herself this time. Many others nodded their heads; it was certainly curious.
The warden grimaced. He wasn't sure if this group of people were the "shoot the messenger" types or not, but there was no turning back now.
"We ventured deeper and deeper into that section looking for them. Eventually it led to a door, and that door to a passage which curved around a bit. At the end of that passage was a door. A door which opened out to the front of the fortress, just a few dozen feet from the main gate we all know. I have never seen, or even heard of, this door, and I don't even know if the plans for the fortress show it, but it is there". He hung his head a second or two, even though this was not really his fault.
"So where do you think they would have gone and how much of a head start did they have?", asked Minister Bones.
"I do not know, Minister", said the warden.
(There was a monumental error being made here. Due to the shock value of this event, people weren't thinking straight, but if they were, they would have immediately sent a specialist auror team, and one of them would have quickly found portkey traces, and at least been able to pinpoint the general location where the portkey led, even if not the precise location. By now, though, the portkey traces would have dissipated, so even if someone thought of it now, Sirius was safe.)
"So at this point, we have no idea where they went, whose orders they are following, or even where they might strike. We have no way of tracking them, either. Our communities are basically sitting ducks", she said angrily.
The mood was sombre; even the most diehard pureblood had cause to hate these creatures. Sure, Voldemort had some control over them but the questionable merits of that were moot, since Voldemort was now dead.
It was not even clear what was the worse danger: a group of dementors "gone rogue", or the same group under the command of another Voldemort wannabe.
Amelia glanced around the room, noting the expressions on everyone's face. She paused briefly at one face, but did not call him out, choosing instead to merely move on. Time enough to catch a hold of him after the session.
1988-09-19 11:00 UTC, Minister's private office, Ministry of Magic
"Good morning, Amelia, what can I do for you?", asked Sirius. He had been asked to meet the Minister in her office shortly after the Wizengamot session was over. While she not the autocratic type, traditionally a request from the minister was closer to a summons - you had to respect the position, if not the person, but it helped Sirius in this case that he respected the person also.
She bade him sit down, and offered him a cup of tea. They made pleasant conversation until the tea was half-done, then she got down to business.
"What do you know of the missing dementors?", she asked him.
He wasn't a Black for nothing, even if he did not get into Slytherin. With just the right amount of shock and surprise on his face, he asked "What?" He didn't even have to fake the shock - he was shocked that she had somehow found him out!
"Come now, Sirius, it is clear you know something about what happened here".
"How is it clear?"
"Look, there was no one in that room who likes those horrid creatures, and most of us know they are hard to control, and the thought of them running wild or under some dark wizard's control is a nightmare for us. The looks on most of those faces reflected that - anger, fear, in some cases close to panic".
He could see where this was going, but did not want to give er any more hints in case he was wrong. He just nodded at her to go on.
"You, on the other hand...", she paused to give him a significant look. "You appeared to be completely unaffected, whereas in reality you, having spent the maximum time in Azkaban among the people in that chamber, should have been almost catatonic with fear".
Sirius was caught in a bind. He definitely could not tell her everything, and telling her only part of the story, or, worse, a made-up one, would be damn near impossible. Her gimlet eye was fixed on him!
"On the contrary, Amelia, I just turn into my animagus form if they're nearby. You already know this". Sirius was very pleased at being able to find a credible escape!
Not long though, sadly!
"That could explain it if you were a selfish git who cared only about himself. You now have your godson and Remus, at the very least. I know they can't turn into some animal form".
Caught on the backfoot again, Sirius decided a bit of name-dropping wouldn't go amiss.
"Aah well, Amelia, what can I say. I gathered from some vague hints from the Phantom that something may happen to the dementors, but he would not say what exactly". Which was true enough, as Hobby never did say what would happen to the dementors.
"So, once again, we are left to be silent, powerless, spectators while he-who-promised-to-trust-me continues to avoid giving me even a semblance of trust".
"Oh Amelia, you're sulking. If I were a bit older I'd give you a very personal compliment on how cute you look when you're pouting!", teased Sirius. In truth, she was far older than him, but Sirius had always been able to charm a lady, regardless of age!
"But truth to tell, Amelia, it does not matter. We both know what they did during the last war, and I notice no one would be truly upset if they were indeed eliminated in some manner so why worry?"
"I need to know, Sirius!"
"I'll try and convince the Phantom, next time I see him, to meet you. That's about all I can do".
"I guess that will have to do. What about guarding Azkaban?"
"Why? All the really bad ones were released by Fudge and have been dealt with in some manner or other. The ones who are left there are ordinary criminals, maybe even a murderer or two but not the psychopathic mass-murderers comprising Voldemort's minions."
"Hmm... when you put it that way...", said Amelia slowly, while trying to think of any actual negative implications of this.
"And I have it on good authority that in a few years things would have been so bad the muggle public would have started noticing. Thousands of muggles kissed by these beasts". He shuddered.
"What is this 'good authority'? The Phantom?"
"Yes of course. Didn't we tell you he has access to something like a seer?"
"Yes I vaguely remember something like that. Well, I guess we can't do much now. But tell me this: someone who can destroy dementors... isn't he way too powerful to be trusted in the long term? You know the old saying: power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely!"
"Indeed Amelia, and sometimes the powers of this man astound us. But he has sworn that he is only here to protect my godson. Oh... and here's another tidbit of information for you", said Sirius, praying to all the gods in heaven that Hobby would not murder him for this.
"The dementors were corralled magically, but their destruction was, I have very good reason to believe, done by muggle means", he smirked at her.
Amelia was shocked. This put a completely different slant on the whole thing. If muggles could destroy beings that no magical - including, it would now seem, the redoubtable 'Phantom' - could, perhaps it was a good thing the more bigoted purebloods were being gradually neutered. This would bear thinking.
"And he also thinks something similar will happen with the giants. Actually, the prediction was that giants and werewolves would be problems, but in the latter case only if Greyback was alive when Voldemort returns, and since Greyback is de-"
He was interrupted by a shrill scream, and he immediately knew he had put his foot in it.
"Voldemort returns?", Amelia screamed like a banshee.
Thank god Amelia herself had cast a silencing charm when they had entered, otherwise there was no telling how many people outside the Minister's private office may have heard her!