In Azkaban I had fulfilled my mission, shortly after they transferred me to the other cell I have already begun to memorize the movements of the place. I had bought some special cages from the merchant and not long after nightfall, by manipulating Tenebrius's body, I freed myself and became invisible.
The dementors couldn't even know who hit them, literally. Being a clone, in addition to being imperceptible, they could not notice that those further away began to disappear. I didn't catch many, I didn't want to raise any suspicions, although this will probably cause problems anyway.
They were trapped in tight-fitting bags quickly covered in the blood of my reserves, disappearing in plain sight. To avoid wasting time and risking discovery of me, another clone would take them away while Tenebrius returned to his cell.
It wasn't easy, since the consumption brought by the skill 'veil of death' was a lot, and I had to undo several clones to have enough. After getting far enough away from the prison, he could lift the invisibility and have a smoother journey with simple camouflage spells until he reached land and sell the dementors to the merchant.
With that finished, I had nothing to do here, and next time Amelia comes I'll be gone, but just in case and to improve the scene, I'll reduce the appearance of this clone a bit to make it look more gaunt.
...
Amelia didn't sit idly by about what her former assistant was doing. She tried to go see the Tonks women try to talk some sense into him, but she didn't get the answer expected.
Andromeda already knew about the clones and one of them spent much of his time with her and her daughter, so she didn't want to get involved in her son-in-law's affairs. Tenebrius had become an emotional support for both women, always trying to keep them active and upbeat, so after asking if everything was okay, she continued with the lie.
She and Tonks acted sadly but showed that they wouldn't do anything about it and that they respected my decision, which made Amelia quite stressed.
She also went to seek help from Headmaster Dumbledore, who was supposed to be someone close to his, but she was also surprised to see that he didn't seem interested in getting Tenebrius out of Azkaban, even seemed a little cheerful. Amelia was unaware that the headmaster thought it was a very good idea to have Tenebrius in Azkaban and leave his troublesome student with one less clone, although he also worried about what he could do there, while giving new ideas to deal with him.
With no answers, the only thing she got was that she started having headaches. No one in the ministry wanted a crazy killer out there, and everyone on Tenebrius' side didn't seem to want to help either. This, coupled with the fact that her work had increased without the help of her almighty assistant, did not let her sleep peacefully these days.
She got to the point where gave up and decided to give in relatively, she would appear to agree with Tenebrius in the least, all for a very particular reason...
The holidays were approaching and she was not going to break her promise with her niece, she was going to spend more time with her and for that, she needed Tenebrius's help, with him, her work could be greatly reduced. This need to spend time with Susan intensified after the girl had started to tell more about her 'friend', Red, and she had started asking her some very 'special' style of questions.
Amelia considered going back to Azkaban many times while these things were going on, but at times she remembered the kiss they had and she got a little angry, other times she just laughed and told herself that she should be more mature. Her emotions were a bit chaotic for a while until she finally made up her mind and she had the will to go back.
...
When she came to see me she was a bit scared, my appearance and attitude that previously had not changed at all were no longer maintained. She saw Tenebrius as very thin, being able to see how the bones of his face stood out a little, as well as her pale and sick skin tone, as well as the slow movements that worried her.
She knew what this place can do to people but she didn't expect that in just a few days the young man's condition would drop so quickly. She ended up calling the Aurors to open the cell so she could enter.
Turned over Tenebrius's almost motionless body, which looked quite shattered, and my dying person act quite believable, as well as giving off an aura of death naturally.
"A-Amelia…" said with a parched voice and with a weak look "I thought that in the last moments I would see my mother… but I think this is fine too"
"Up to this you have to get?" Amelia, who didn't believe my act at all, asked with a certain indifference and questioning.
My apparent state did upset her a bit, but knowing me she didn't think it was that bad, so she decided to appear tough without showing the slightest concern.
"It's you who made me come to this, if you..."
"Shut up and let's go" She didn't let me finish and grabbed my arm, lifting me up and dragging my weak body out. Amelia was tired of this and she wasn't going to give me the chance to make things more difficult.
"Madam Bones, you can't..." The aurors, unsure, tried to stop us.
"I put him here and I can get him out, there is no record that indicates that he should be here and if someone has a problem they can come see me at my office"
With Amelia's serious and intimidating words, no Auror wanted to continue questioning her and they made way for us. They knew that there were many in the ministry who would not agree to let me out and they did not want to get in trouble or be blamed for my release, but now there was nothing they could do.
We left Azkaban on a silent journey until we reached the Bones's house where I could see that she felt calmer, but at the same time she looked at me reproachfully, even without showing any good feeling.
"..."
"You have a very beautiful house" I commented, appreciating the place despite having already been here.
"Thanks..." she said without looking at me while she searched for a bottle in one of the furniture, which inside had a yellowish liquid where a kind of fungus floated.
"And... Is everything okay with your niece?" I asked trying to end this awkward situation, I knew that what I did was not quite right but it was an opportunity that I did not want to waste.
"You have serious problems!" She scolded me "I don't know how you've lived until now... I know your childhood may not have been the best and maybe you don't fully understand some things, but if you continue like this you won't end well" She said very annoyed while tried to pour herself a glass of liquor.
Amelia had kept a lot of feelings inside of her, resentments that she now unloaded. Since Tenebrius appeared she received a lot of support, but this last time it became more complicated and she participated in things that she didn't expect.
"You mean the kiss?" I said, causing her hands to shake as she poured herself one more shot, almost knocking it over.
"Are you satisfied with that now?" She frowned in irritation. Of all that had happened, that might have been the least problematic, but also one of the least she could forget.
"I don't know if you're going to like the answer"
On her forehead her veins could be seen, she was angry and I decided not to continue provoking the tiger. We kept arguing for a while longer, she gave me some sort of morality class which I guess was because she felt somewhat responsible for me, I think she was self-imposed herself as a parent figure.
The discussion was, as I said, a morality class, but that changed when two particular issues arose. The first was the disappearance of dementors in Azkaban, both of which came to the attention of the ministry but were unable to resolve.
Amelia doubted me, maybe because she is very insightful or maybe because she spent a lot of time with me and she began to notice when I lied. She deduced that I might be to blame and is not that I could deny it at this point, so I got another lecture.
My guilt over the disappearance of the dementors made my apparent willingness to prove my love to him seem less believable, but I tried to defend him by proving to her that if that were the case, I wouldn't have stayed to the point of ending up in this state.
The dementors thing was hard to explain why, but thank god, she doesn't like those creatures and I didn't suffer much.
On courtship... it was a push and pull, but on that subject, we agreed that I would not overstep the boundaries and that she would not hold back on the simple things I do.
Finishing with that came the other issue that left me on the tightrope, which was my identity. Like many in the ministry, Amelia searched for information about me, including sending query letters outside the UK, but like many, she found nothing.
The story I created was able to cover some plot holes about my background, still many doubted my identity, but since they couldn't find a way to prove it, they couldn't do much. I had covered various flaws like the veritaserum that 'made' me tell the truth and thereby reveal a bit of my past in court the other time, so for now I could still rest easy.
Although it was difficult for me, I convinced Amelia that although everything I said might not be true, it was not a very relevant topic so she could leave it aside, I was afraid that the more lies, the more flaws I would expose.
As I said, she had imposed herself on me as a parental figure, although I was doubtful about my family history, she still consider that it could be real. She did this mainly so she could try to get some ideas out of my head, about my attraction to her, plus she believed that if it wasn't for those 'dangerous stupid things' that I do, I could be a pretty good wizard and she wanted to help me out by trying to educate me.
We both had two different opinions about what we were doing, but neither of us told the other. We had our plans and they would stay hidden.
After that the attention was put on my physical state, I noticed how she had secretly cast 'revelio' on me, to see if she actually saw me like this or if it was all another farce. Although it really was a farce, she couldn't find out, I had modified the clone's body so that she would be noticed that way, so even with the best mediwizard to treat me, it wouldn't change my appearance.
She became a little more concerned after she didn't work out and emphasized that she should get me taken care of, but I refused.
After convincing her not to and just drinking some potions, she took the edit to go to the Tonks house for a rest and let them know I was fine.
She thought for a moment that I had had some conflict with them because when she asked for their help to get me out they did not agree, so she also told me that if I wanted I could go to the leaky cauldron and that she would cover the expenses temporarily.
Her offer made me feel a little warm inside, her concern for me was genuine and even caused me to feel bad for lying to her.
I left her house promising to return shortly to help her with her work, heading to the Tonks residence. When I arrived I was just received as usual, since despite the fact that for many people I was in Azkaban all this time, for the Tonks women almost nothing had changed by having a Tenebrius with them all the time.
For certain things, Tonks had helped me, like my dealings with Lupin, so I didn't lose my source of income, plus I also didn't stop preparing for my future association.
I had also spent my time comforting Andromeda, for although I was able to cheer her up regularly, at times I still felt deep sadness. Regarding my mother-in-law, I must say that I also discovered that on the nights that Red visited Tonks for... 'night duels', she tried several times to spy a little to see if she discovered my secret identity, which I decided to take advantage of to embarrass her in the future.
While all this was going on, at Hogwarts...
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Sorry for taking so long, it was difficult to resume and even at times I doubted if I was missing some event that I had planned, although I must clarify that this time served me well and now I can say that my face is no longer that of a puffer fish.
I will only upload this cap this week and I will try to upload another in the other story, next week I will try to upload 2 and so on.