Arriving at Azkaban as fast as they could, Amelia Bones and Mad-Eye Moody, accompanied by a five-man squad of Aurors, rushed towards the guards and started asking questions.
"What happened here? You all sent urgent messages saying someone escaped! And where are the Dementors?" Amelia asked quickly.
"Madam Bones, the Dementors started acting strangely five days ago and haven't come out of the east wing ever since. As for the escapee, well…" The guard stopped speaking and began looking around as if seeking help from his companions. This behavior caught Amelia's ire, and she snapped at him, "Well, what?"
"Umm, madam, the one who escaped is Harry Potter," one of the guards behind her said quickly.
"Harry Potter, you say? And pray tell, how did a kid escape Azkaban?" Moody responded gruffly, a hint of mockery in his voice.
The guards exchanged uneasy glances, and then the only female among them gathered her courage and pointed at the entrance of the building. This gesture earned a bewildered look from the newly arrived Aurors. Seeing their expressions, she cleared her throat and said in a hushed voice, "Uh, he walked through the exit, sir!"
The first to shake off his stupor was Moody, who asked again, "You're saying that Harry Potter escaped Azkaban by walking through the exit?"
All he received were nods from every guard present. Massaging her temples, Amelia finally said, "Gather around and give us your memories, one by one… Now!"
She looked at Moody and asked, "What do you think?"
Moody just stared at her passively, his prosthetic eye darting around wildly.
After taking the memories and waiting for the Auror team checking for magical interference, they left.
Upon arriving at the Ministry, Madam Bones quickly inquired about the whereabouts of the minister, only to learn that he was with the Wizengamot in trial room 5. She and Moody made their way toward courtroom 5, where they entered, forcing the minister to halt the trial and look at them with an angered expression.
"What are you doing, Amelia? Can't you see that we are having a trial here?" shouted Minister Fudge.
"Then the session is temporarily suspended because we have a very serious problem right now," Amelia raised her voice, bringing the room to sudden silence. "We have an Azkaban escapee—one Harry Potter escaped Azkaban about 10 to 15 minutes ago, and we have just arrived with their memories," she continued. Then she paused, took her wand, and cast a spell on the wall, making it part away. Moody moved his wand and cast several spells on what now appeared to be a modified Pensieve lodged between the parted wall before stepping closer to its edge and dumping the contents of one of the small glass bottles.
The Pensieve's surface shimmered slightly before it began to play the events that occurred between Harry Potter and the guards until the moment he escaped. This process continued, showing the same event from different points of view. By the end of this, the entire room was deathly quiet. And rightfully so; they had just received a wealth of information that left them unsure of how to proceed.
"Ahem, ahem, this is irrelevant evidence," a shrill voice came from a toad-faced woman, breaking the silence and snapping the others out of their stupor.
"Shut up, Dolores! Now is not the time for you to run your stupid mouth," came an angered voice belonging to Madam Longbottom, accompanied by a spell that magically closed Dolores's mouth.
"What is your take on this, Madam Bones?" asked one of the Wizengamot members.
"My take on what exactly? Are you talking about the usage of wandless magic, the information about the prophecy, the information concerning the immortality of You-Know-Who, or the subtle threats thrown our way by a kid who I'll just assume to be the strongest in the British Isles?" Madam Bones answered, her voice a mix of mockery and anger.
"Well, let's first analyze the events before we can continue further," Minister Fudge's voice broke the silence that had begun to envelop the room again.
"The kid is powerful. He went out of prison like he owns the place, predicted that we would ask for the memories, and in doing so, revealed information we have been trying to uncover since the death of the Potters. Now that I think about it, it's his way of calling all of us idiots. He subtly and directly threatened all of us not to get in his way. And last but not least, he practically told us that this will be an all-out war," Moody said in a somewhat tense voice.
"This is all your fault! You sentenced a kid to death, and now he's coming for all of us," one of the Wizengamot members said, his voice filled with fear. This broke the heavy tension, sparking heated arguments.
"Silence!!" Minister Fudge yelled, hitting the table with his gavel.
"Am I the only one who heard the kid imply that Dumbledore is a dark lord?" Madam Longbottom said, igniting another argument between the light and dark factions of the Wizengamot. This debate quickly escalated. It continued with occasional random observations from the members, dragging on until Madam Longbottom yelled, "Enough!"
"We have all seen the same thing, and I'm sure everyone has come to their own conclusions. But right now, one thing is certain: by the end of this upcoming war, there won't be as many noble houses left as there are now. Just like the previous war, the dark faction are slaves to an immortal madman, the light faction is shackled to an egotistical maniac, and the neutral faction won't be able to remain neutral for long. Need I remind you about the kid's advice to flee the country? That suggests either he is planning to turn this country into hell on earth or he knows something we don't. So you do what you want, but I'm not making an enemy out of him," she concluded, standing up and walking out of the courtroom. She paused by the door, turned around to look at Madam Bones, and said, "Amelia, take my advice and don't send your Aurors to their deaths by going after him. He's not just a kid anymore."
Before she could resume her exit, a white owl flew past her and directly onto the table where Amelia was sitting. It opened its mouth, dropped an envelope, hooted, and flew away as if oblivious to the stunned expressions in the room.
Amelia automatically opened the envelope, found a letter, and began reading it. After a minute or so, she dropped the letter on the table and started massaging her temples.
"Well, a letter from Harry Potter just arrived, directly to me. Now, I want you all to remember that this is the Ministry, and owls can't just get in here, but Potter somehow made his owl do it. Anyway, here's what it says," she began reading:
"Madam Bones, how are you? I'm sure that by now you have learned about my escape from Azkaban—'like a boss, if I say so myself.' Anyway, by the time my owl delivers this to you, I'm sure you all will just be arguing without reaching a decision, so let me do that for you. As of tomorrow, I want my godfather, Sirius Black, exempt from all charges and declared innocent. I don't care what you decide about me because you can't do anything to me anyway. Oh, and just in case some idiot hasn't reached this conclusion yet: we are at war. Now I'm not participating just yet; I'll let you stew a little, lose some people, and when you're desperate, that's when I'll come to cut you a deal. Oh, and you can thank Dumbledore for this idea. He did the same thing two times in a row. Anyhow, that's all. Ciao!"
Amelia finished reading the letter and dropped it on the table once again.
Madam Bones had a look of contemplation on her face before reverting to her usual stoic demeanor. Moody stood there, considering how to handle the situation, feeling the urge to inform Dumbledore. Fudge was left wondering where everything had gone wrong. while, the members of the Wizengamot were deep in thought about what to do next.
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10+ chapters
pat reon/ hunter20