Acting as the Valkyrie again, in public, visibly, was dangerous and risky. There would be DMLE officials at Azkaban, Hermione knew, and there was a real risk of being identified. Fixing the prison and earning amnesty for destroying the dementors in the first place (even though, arguably, that wasn't even a crime) was worth the risk, but it was still a risk. It was at least moderately less risky now that Hermione was taking her friends as backup – the guards wouldn't want to risk a spell fight in the dead of night, and especially not when it was known at least one of them could control Fiendfyre. Hermione and her friends had discussed all this while everybody finished getting ready, gravely preparing to go on this dangerous mission.
That being said, Hermione couldn't help it: she was excited.
"Two more nodes," she told her friends, who were groaning and trying not to throw up. "The lines get worse around Azkaban, so we'll probably all throw up when we arrive. Just try to do it quietly over the cliff, before the guards know we're there."
"So this pause was entirely unnecessary?" Pansy demanded, her voice hushed. "We could have just been sick once instead of twice?"
"I kind of like that I threw up on Orkney," Millie commented. "Just on premise."
Pansy huffed and rolled her eyes.
"None of you have made trips longer than two nodes at a time, as far as I know," Hermione said. "It's difficult. I want to keep you all safe."
"We've all made our own lines," Tracey pointed out, still sounding queasy. "Doesn't that guarantee our safety?"
"So long as you stay on this side of the lines," Hermione cautioned. "If you lose concentration while you're in your bubble, who knows what might happen to you?"
That shut Tracey up.
"Fine. No way am I messing with the Fae," Pansy grumbled. She dusted off her hands and stood back up. "Right. Where to next?"
"Azkaban. One jump, two nodes. Everybody ready? On my mark…"
Hermione led the way, the others managing to follow her signature, and a moment later, the four girls popped into existence on Azkaban, falling to their knees and vomiting over the cliffs into the sea. Something about it struck Hermione as very funny, even as her stomach roiled and heaved – they were throwing up as quietly as possible so as not to get caught, and something about secretly puking when they were supposed to be a threatening unknown war faction was very funny and absurd.
Once everyone's stomach had settled, they stood, regaining their footing as they looked around the isle. Azkaban's island had not changed much since the summer, but there were changes, Hermione noticed – the perpetual lightning flashes above the prison seemed to have abated somewhat, though the sky still looked ready to storm. And from the tall, dark tower of gleaming stone, there was light – light peeking out from the building, giving off signs of life.
"How are we going to do this?" Tracey whispered. "The three of us, hoods up at her back, with Hermione arriving on wings of fire?"
"Can I do the wings of fire after we bargain for amnesty?" Hermione said. "It's not easy to do, realize."
"No," Pansy snapped. "We need them to know who we are immediately so they don't attack us as jail breakers or invaders."
"That's a good point." Hermione sighed. "Fine."
They crept forward in the dark, sneaking through the graveyard until they could see people moving about outside the base of the prison. Pansy shot Hermione a look, and with a deep breath, Hermione stood up straight, centered her magic, and launched herself into the air.
It was the third time Hermione had manifested wings of fire, a careful combination of flying with her air elemental and manipulation of her fire elemental to give off the illusion. She couldn't actually fly with the wings, but judging from the looks on the faces of the Azkaban guards as she slowly descended to the ground in front of them, it still looked impressive as hell.
"I have come to discuss the offer of amnesty from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," Hermione said, her voice ringing out clearly as her three followers loomed up behind her out of the darkness. "Whom among you has the authority to bargain for such a thing?"
The guards looked at each other, wide-eyed, before one hastily sent off a Patronus, presumably summoning someone higher up.
"A—a—a thousand apologies," one of the guards stammered. "W—we didn't know to expect you. Please. It will just be a moment."
Hermione withheld a sigh, instead concentrating on standing up straight and looking very imposing and adult. She kept the wings of fire glowing behind her, though she had landed – practically speaking, they were helping to keep her warm. She was only wearing a tank top of dragon hide with her arms entirely exposed, while the others got to wear full hooded robes. The guards were eyeing them all warily — first Hermione, then the hooded figures backing her up — and Hermione wondered what was going through their minds.
Amelia Bones came herself, with an entourage of two red-robed Aurors, arriving on broomsticks with odd glowing runes on them. They landed near the guards and convened for a moment, before Madam Bones approached, giving Hermione a frank look up and down. Hermione held her breath, hoping the dramatic makeup and getup was enough to keep her from being recognized.
"Well, you're not who I was afraid you might be," Amelia said frankly. She nodded at the others behind Hermione. "Welcome, then. You've come to fix the prison?"
Hermione raised her eyebrows. "If your offer of amnesty still stands."
"Oh, sure," Amelia said, waving her off. "You're not a known Death Eater, so honestly, now that I know that, I'm much less concerned." She gave her a quirked grin. "Honestly, you did everybody a favor, getting rid of the dementors. But the jailbreak caused a lot of concern."
"I played no part in that," Hermione said immediately. "Another learned of my plan, and took advantage—"
Amelia Bones gave her a grim look.
"While I'd like your help in discussing exactly what happened and what your plan was so I could determine possible avenues of leaks and figure out who did do the jailbreak, I know I'm not going to get that," she said. "As it is: amnesty for fixing the damage to the walls of Azkaban. Our prisoners might be the scourges of the earth, but we are trying to keep them from freezing to death."
"Deal."
Hermione didn't wait around – she flew up with her air elemental, fire elemental still burning brightly behind her. The gleaming stone of Azkaban blurred in front of her until there was a sudden break, exposing hard, isolated cells through a hole in the wall, and Hermione landed neatly on one of the outstretched stone hands, focusing her magic on the stone below.
Hermione could feel her earth elemental sit up inside of her, stretching, before running through her magic and connecting the stone to the earth. As the stone remembered it was stone, made of the earth and still part of the earth, there was a great rumbling as the stone arms began to move, shifting and flowing back into the walls of the prison.
Hermione walked down the arms and through the hole into Azkaban as the arms shrank, retreating back into the walls, and she was careful to keep the earth magic going until the hole was entirely sealed, the prison made of solid stone once more. Satisfied, she turned, stopping short at the prisoners before her. The prisoners looked slightly less gaunt, but their eyes were no less haunted as they stared at her.
"The ides of November," one breathed. "A most auspicious day."
"The Lady comes to protect us from the cold," a man with a scratchy voice said. "Our Valkyrie burns bright with justice, even for us."
Hermione's eyes went wide with alarm, and she reached for the ley line, dipping herself into it just enough to emerge on the other side of the walls on the ground of the island; her stomach uneasy once more, though not from the line.
"It is done," Hermione announced, striding back towards the guards. She belatedly realized she'd lost the wings of fire at some point, now able to fully feel the cold on her neck and bare arms, but she opted to keep to the shadows anyway, now that the deal was done. "Is it satisfactory?"
"Let's see." Amelia Bones looked up to survey the wall of Azkaban, and Hermione looked up too.
The walls of Azkaban were made of great, gleaming black stones, used like bricks and mortared together up until they suddenly weren't – there was a patch of the wall of Azkaban that looked like a burn scar, all shiny and smooth. There were no individual blocks of stone or mortar – there was just a dark, smooth façade of stone, solid up until it wasn't anymore, and the bricks began again.
"That's very impressive magic," Amelia Bones said finally. "But it looks solid." She nodded at Hermione. "A deal's a deal. My team will stop investigating you, and should you be identified or caught for something else, you will not be persecuted for this crime."
Behind Hermione, one of her followers scoffed.
"As if destroying the dementors was a crime," said one of them.
"As if the Valkyrie didn't do a service to wizardkind," said another.
"As if they could catch her to begin with," said the last.
Hermione smirked, raising her eyebrows at Amelia, who held her hands up in defeat.
"Fair enough," she said. She hesitated. "…before you go, Lady Valkyrie, one question—"
More questions were dangerous, and Amelia Bones ostensibly represented the Ministry of Magic. Now that the trade was done and her amnesty secured, Hermione leapt into the ley line, her magic carrying her away on the rough flow of magic as fast as she could go. Somehow, she could feel her friends following her a moment later, their magic resonating in the ley line like a harmonic chord, and Hermione felt a sense of safety and satisfaction knowing that they were all safe and the deed was done.
It ended a moment later when they were all throwing up on the shores of Newark beach once more, Pansy cursing Hermione's birth and Tracey gagging and heaving but with nothing left to vomit. Millie managed to pull herself together first, and she stood and gave Hermione a tremulous grin, a nod of respect, and Hermione nodded back, pleased.
"I'm never volunteering for anything like that again," Pansy declared loudly. "If I should suggest it, someone stun me where I stand."
"Drama queen," Hermione said, affectionately. "Come one – one more jump and we're home."