Sunday, September 18th, 1994 was a calm and relaxing day at Hogwarts throughout the day.
The skies were blue, the temperature was eighty degrees even, and the winds were calm.
Sundays at Hogwarts usually meant alone time and this day was no exception.
On this day, Lily Moon spent several afternoon hours lying completely naked on the sloping lawns in the brightest part of the sun working on her tan. Lily's relaxed state as she soaked up the sun reflected the kind of day it had been at Hogwarts.
But, when Lily joined Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Susan for dinner in the Lily Potter Hall, some major news was about to break.
As the students of Hogwarts were about to enjoy a Sunday evening dinner of meatloaf with bacon bits mixed in with ketchup and hot sauce to dip it in and sides of mashed potatoes, corn, and dinner rolls and Budweiser to wash it down with, up at the staff table, Headmaster Lupin spoke up and said, "Please remain seated after dinner and dessert. A major announcement is coming, and it is definitely good news."
Despite knowing that a big announcement was coming, everyone ate at a rather leisurely pace, being in tune with the casual and relaxed mood of the day. The same held true when their meals were gone, and their dessert of chocolate pudding appeared. (The dessert being pudding delighted Lily and Luna.)
After dessert, everyone remained seated.
"So," explained Headmaster Lupin, "The Minister of Magic, Arthur Weasley is here, and he has a massive announcement to make. He has been under a Disillusionment Charm so that he would blend in with the staff table so as not to attract attention and disrupt your dinner and dessert. Don't worry, he was fed awhile before you all came in for dinner but now it's time to remove the Disillusionment Charm."
Next nanosecond, Lupin took the Disillusionment Charm off of Arthur and Arthur got up in front of the staff table and spoke.
"As Minister of Magic, " said Arthur kindly, "I have executed an executive order removing Azkaban from the control of the dementors. They will be replaced by highly trained Aurors. My predecessor often said that he only felt comfortable in his bed at night because he knew the dementors were standing guard at Azkaban. Let's just say that many of us, including some who worked at the Ministry, felt far less comfortable with trusting the security of the most dangerous criminals in the Wizarding World to dark creatures with no allegiance. It's been in the back of many of our minds for years now that dementors could easily be persuaded to abandon us and turn to the Dark Side under the right circumstances."
"By the right circumstances?" asked Harry, "Do you mean Lord Voldemort returning?"
"It wouldn't even necessarily have to be Voldemort, "said Arthur seriously, "Dementors are dark creatures of their own accord and in reality, probably wouldn't need too much convincing from any dark witch or wizard who might appear to have some staying power. "
"Not to be pro criminal or anything," piped up Ginny, "But dementors are such inhumane creatures that I consider their use at all, even against the worst of the worst, to be inhumane."
"Well, Ginny," said Arthur, smiling at his daughter, "You've steered me straight into point two. I have overseen the creation of a Dementor Depletion Squad."
"But" interjected Hermione, "Dementors can't be killed."
"This is true, " said Arthur calmly, "However, there are ways of shortening their lives and of preventing them from breeding."
"Well, " suggested Susan, "Auntie always told me that she suspected dementors would have a hard time surviving in sunlight."
"Your Auntie was right," confirmed Arthur, giving Susan a small smile, "In recent weeks I have had teams of Unspeakables intensely studying dementors. Their experiments and research had confirmed that exposure to heat and light significantly shorten the lifespans of dementors. A special Sun Room has been set up in the Department of Mysteries. "
"So?" guessed Luna in her dreamy voice, staring up at the ceiling, "The Dementor Depletion Squad will set out to capture dementors and bring them into the Sun Room?"
"Yes, Luna," confirmed Arthur.
"You are wise and thoughtful, Luna Lovegood," piped up Lily.
"The even better news," explained Arthur, "Is that exposure to heat and light makes breeding impossible for dementors. Dementors need cold and darkness to breed. And once they've been exposed to enough heat and light, the heat and light permanently burn off their breeding ability."
"Oh," realized Harry, "If all dementors could be caught and put in the Sun Room, then dementors will become extinct?"
"Indeed," replied Arthur.
"You are smart and wise, Harry Potter, " piped up Lily.
"It is unknown as of now what is the timeline for dementors to die out after they are mass exposed to heat and light in the Sun Room," said Arthur matter of factly, "But, because we are stamping out their breeding ability, thus preventing the creation of new dementors, we are already starting the process of ridding the world of dementors for good."
"Were rouge dementors an issue?" asked Ernie from his seat a few tables away,"
"There have been incidents of rouge dementors and dementors on the loose," answered Arthur uneasily, "That's another reason we need to rid the world of them. Rouge and vicious creatures on the loose is something we simply can't have. The Dementor Depletion Squad is already at work. That's all I have. Just know that I enacted these measures due to my conclusions that dementors can never truly be trusted and are just way too inhumane.'"
Around the Lily Potter Hall, there were nods of accent from all around.
At their table, Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Susan, and Lily were all feeling as though all pieces of a stormy and gray sky had been lifted away from them, leaving only the clear and blue sky behind.
There was no question that the Wizarding World would be a much better place without dementors in it than with dementors in it.
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As this will be the last update to A Different Path before Christmas, I would like to take this moment to wish each and every one of you a very merry Christmas. May all of your Christmases go down in history.
Merry Christmas from Arizona! Love you all-Michael:)