Hogwarts Grounds, 3/12/1989, 09:34
"Alright gather round, this might be the most frustrating lesson we have. How many of you can see what's in the paddock?" Harry asked the class at large.
"There is nothing in the paddock, Uncle Harry," Tonks said, to her right Charlie Weasley and the blond-haired boy beside him named Jeffery Meadows, both raised their hands.
"Now Nymphadora, we talked about this," Harry sighed as he saw that four of his students had raised their hands.
"Sorry sir, but I don't see anything in the paddock Uncle Professor Harry sir," Tonks said in a petulant tone.
"Keep it up Tonks and I'll take you with me this summer to collect black mamba venom. As to why only a few of you can see the three thestrals in the paddock, it's because of a very strange form of magic the animals possess. Only those that have seen and fully understand what death is can see them," Harry explained, looking pleased with how effective his threat was on his niece.
"Now due to the fact that most of you cannot see them, I have taken the liberty of photographing one from my memories as their magic has no effect on a memory," Harry said as he took a shrunken easel out of his pocket and resized it.
After levelling the easel he took out a photograph from his pocket and hit it with an engorgement charm, expanding it to a three-foot by three-foot square and casting a duro charm on the back of it before setting it on the easel.
This picture was from the class Harry had in his fifth year when Hagrid took them into the forest. He had photographed a large thestral striding out of the trees and managed to keep all of his classmates out of the frame. He had also managed to get the entire thestral in the frame which was harder than you would think.
The photo was taken with a magical camera and showed the thestral standing proudly with its wings tucked to its sides and its white eyes focused on the camera before it trotted out into the open, then the picture started over again.
This is what a thestral looks like," Harry said as he stepped out of the way so the class could see the picture properly.
"They have wings?" Hestia Jones asked as she looked at the photo in alarm.
"They do, they have an amazing sense of direction and can fly much faster than any broomstick on the market," Harry explained.
"They're carnivores, aren't they, sir?" Charlie asked as he watched the thestrals in the paddock tearing large chunks of meat off of the deer carcass Harry had left for them.
"They are, they hunt birds and rodents but they are also scavengers and have no problem eating rotting meat. Two points to Gryffindor for the observation," Harry answered, giving Charlie an approving nod.
"Are they dangerous, Professor?" A blonde Hufflepuff girl named Penny Haywood asked warily.
"Thestrals can be dangerous when they have a foal or they feel threatened. Wild thestrals have also been known to attack broomsticks when someone flies over their territory. Usually, they are quite peaceful creatures and will not attack humans," Harry assured her, the girl's cheeks flushing when he looked her in the eye.
"They pull the school carriages, don't they sir?" Ben Cooper asked.
"They do, they have for decades now. The former groundskeeper did an excellent job of training the Hogwarts herd. The Hogwarts herd has even been trained to leave the post owls alone. Wild thestrals have been known to prey on owls when food is scarce," Harry lectured.
"Now for today, I want you to draw the thestral in the photo and label the parts of its anatomy. Miss Tonks, if I get another stick-figure drawing from you, I will have you scrubbing the owlery floor with your toothbrush," Harry warned, causing his niece to scowl at him.
"Can we draw the ones in the paddock, sir?" Meadows asked.
"Sure, just don't try and get in the paddock, it's warded," Harry instructed.
"Yes sir," Jeffery Meadows answered before he and Charlie Weasley went to the edge of the paddock.
Harry watched the class get to work drawing the thestrals. This was something he had picked up from Professor Grubbly-Plank when she substituted for Hagrid in his fifth year.
The students had to truly study the animals from a safe distance to draw them. It was pretty safe for both parties involved and the animals seemed to enjoy the attention for the most part.
The only incident Harry had so far, was last year when Apollo took offence to one of the seventh-year girls not adding his... undercarriage to her sketch. Griffins were very proud creatures after all.
Harry could tell that Charlie enjoyed this type of work as his drawings were usually quite detailed. If Charlie continued the class to the N.E.W.T level, Harry planned on putting him in touch with his contacts at the Wales dragon reserve.
Harry walked around the students, noticing most of them were focusing on the batlike wings of the thestrals in their drawing before they began drawing their bodies.
"Forma sketchis," Harry heard Tonks exclaim as she pointed her wand at her parchment.
Harry watched in mild irritation as a perfect sketch of the thestral in the picture appeared on her parchment.
"If you hadn't done the spell in front of me, then I never would have known," Harry snorted as he vanished the parchment.
"I am so dropping this class next year," Tonks huffed in annoyance.
"Oh that would be a tragedy, now draw the thestral like everyone else is or I'll let your mother know how much of a brat you've been in my class," Harry threatened, finding his patience wearing thin.
Harry really did love his niece but she could be a real pain in the ass when she wanted to be.
'Surely I wasn't this annoying as a student,' Harry thought to himself as he began walking through the students catching glimpses of their drawings and making sure they were completing the assigned task.
Peverell Beach House, Cornwall, 4/16/1989, 02:45
Harry and Bellatrix were gearing up for the assault on Azkaban. They were going to hit the prison tonight as according to their latest chat with Snape, the death eaters were getting close to hitting the prison themselves.
The twins were spending the night with Sirius and Amelia. He and Bellatrix would be returning the favour by watching Harry and Edgar next weekend so Sirius could take Amelia out. Harry thought it was an acceptable arrangement as his younger self was usually better behaved than the twins, though Edgar could be quite the handful.
"Are you ready?" Harry asked as Bellatrix slipped on her silver mask and flipped the cowl of her cloak over her head.
"Yes, how are we going to get inside?" Bellatrix asked curiously, her voice distorted by charms placed on the mask.
"There is a prison transport dropping off a group of prisoners at three o'clock tonight. We're going to use them to enter the prison," Harry answered as he pulled his own cowl over his head.
"Sounds simple enough, what's the catch?" Bellatrix asked as she looked at him tilting her head to the side curiously.
"The catch is that we have to be in contact with a ministry auror in order to cross through the prison's gates," Harry answered as he checked his robe pockets to ensure he had the bracelets and his shrunken broom.
"The new goblin wards?" Bella asked, a look of understanding crossing her face.
"Yes, they were added a few years ago thanks to our new minister," Harry nodded as he took Bella's gloved hand in his own.
"This should really piss the old bat off," Bellatrix giggled.
"Yes, though I imagine after tonight, they won't be using the island any longer," Harry chuckled.
"We should get going, then," Bellatrix said as she glanced at the grandfather clock on the other side of the room.
"Alright, here we go," Harry said as he turned on the spot and apparated them both to the dock that the aurors used to use to travel to Azkaban.
Wick , Scotland , 4/16/1989, 02:5 0
The two of them appeared on the end of a long pier jutting out into the turbulent sea. The sound of the waves crashing onto the shore behind them filled their ears as soon as they materialized. There was a chilly breeze blowing in from the north that brought in the scent of the ocean air as thunder cracked in the distance.
This dock hadn't been used in years which was fortuitous as the ministry no longer kept aurors in the boathouse. The auror department had started using portkeys to transport their prisoners after Antonin Dolohov had escaped from this very dock back in eighty-four. This made the dock a perfect staging point for their mission tonight as it was the narrowest point between the mainland and Azkaban island.
Checking his watch and seeing they had less than ten minutes to cross the short piles of open ocean, Harry unshrunk his Nimbus Two Thousand.
"Just like last time, I'll fly us out," Harry said as he let the broom hover at mounting height.
"As long as you ride behind me this time," Bellatrix said as she threw her leg over the broom.
Harry waited for Bellatrix to get situated before he climbed on behind her and reached his arms around her waist to grab the handle. Taking a deep breath, Harry prepared to kick off, already knowing this was going to be a very difficult trip.
"Yes, Bella likes this way much better than riding behind you," Bellatrix nodded as Harry rested his chin on her shoulder and she snuggled into his chest.
"I think I like this better too," Harry chuckled.
"Are we ready?" Bella asked, the slightest hint of anticipation in her voice.
"Yes, just lean when I lean and hang on tight because this will be a rough ride," Harry warned as he kicked off hard.
They shot two hundred feet into the air before Harry leaned forward, making them rocket forward over the sea.
Harry flew the broom as fast as it would go, hoping to cover the five or so miles to the Prison Island in the nine minutes they had before the auror party arrived. For the first half of the trip, the ride was relatively smooth before the wind started to pick up when they were about three miles out.
It wasn't until about a mile away from the island that the dementor's presence really made itself known. The wind picked up tremendously right before they entered a violent rain storm, Harry was forced to dodge large chunks of hail as he caught sight of the island.
There were so many Dementors on this tiny island that they created their own microclimate. Their presence here actually affected the weather! The cold coming off the island clashed with the warmer air from the surrounding area, causing there to be constant gale force winds. This drastic change in air temperatures pulled in all of the clouds in the area, which was the reason for the perpetual rain over the island.
Harry was forced to fly diagonally, aiming his broom sightly into the wind. He flew slightly northwest, letting the wind right his course in the last hundred feet as he descended over the unused docks.
They gently touched down on the portkey landing pad exactly where they needed to be and looked around warily as they dismounted the broom.
"W-what time is it?" Bellatrix asked, shivering slightly from the cold aura coming off of the prison gates fifty yards away from the pad.
Harry shrunk his broom and placed it in his pocket before he pulled out two chocolate bars and handed one of them to Bella.
"Two til three. Disillusion yourself, and be ready when they get here." Harry said before taking a big bite of his chocolate bar as he cast the disillusionment charm over his robes.
The robes he and Bellatrix were wearing actually amplified this particular spell to the point they were almost completely invisible. Harry's unspeakable robes were already enchanted with this feature. Bellatrix had been forced to enchant her cloak and catsuit as it wasn't a feature offered on the civilian market. This feature made it so that they didn't need an invisibility cloak, though when he had the option, Harry still preferred his family's old cloak.
"This isn't my first covert operation, husband," Bellatrix huffed after swallowing a mouth full of chocolate.
Harry watched as she cast the spell over herself before she seemed to fade away before his eyes. A few seconds later he felt her place her hand on his shoulder, ensuring that they wouldn't run into each other as they trailed their targets.
They waited silently in anticipation for the aurors to arrive, both munching on their chocolate bars to keep the effects of the dementors at bay.
Their attention was pulled to the centre of the pad as a blue flash of light lit up the dark, signalling the arrival of a portkey. A second later, Six people materialized out of thin air clutching a length of rope.
The Aurors started marching the prisoners as soon as they landed, giving the prisoners no time to get their bearings. They moved in unison, with the three aurors forming a triangle. One walked in front leading the group, and the other two were off to each side, while the three prisoners walked inside the formation. The prisoners were wearing manacles on their wrists and ankles with a long length of chain attaching all of their wrist shackles together.
The aurors marched the prisoners swiftly toward the gate while Harry and Bellatrix brought up the rear trying to get as close as they could without giving away their position.
"You got the one on right, I'll go left," Harry whispered.
They took three more steps before he felt her release her grip on his right shoulder as they split up to pursue a different auror.
The procession came to a stop in front of a set of double doors big enough for a giant to walk through. The lead Auror, a woman with dark brown hair, pressed her badge to a brass plate where a door handle or a latch would normally be.
Less than thirty seconds later, the brass plate the lady auror had pressed her badge to seemed to bubble like wax before it formed into a miniature human face looking out of the door at the party of aurors.
"Name and purpose for your visit," a man's wheezy voice issued from the mouth of the metal construct, the voice slightly distorted by the sound of vibrating metal.
"Senior Auror Serena Savage. Initiating a Prisoner transfer," The female Auror said in a calm carrying voice that echoed over the heavy wind and rain.
There was a pause for maybe a moment before the face melted back into brass plate, looking just as it had minutes ago. It seemed like an eternity later before Harry heard the sound of gigantic bolts being slammed into place and the massive doors began to swing open.
The gates didn't open very far, coming to a stop when there was about five feet between the two doors. Once the doors came to a stop, the lead auror made her way through the gate with the prisoners following behind her.
Harry got as close as he could to his target, a tall blond man with a goatee and a ponytail. Harry was maybe half a step behind the auror as the procession moved through the gap in the doors at a brisk pace.
Harry waited until the auror was about to step over the threshold before he rushed forward. Harry roughly shoved the auror through the gates while keeping a grip on the man's shoulder with his left hand.
With his right hand, Harry pressed his wand to theauror's back and cast a nonverbal stunner as soon as they passed through the gates.
The man's momentum took them both a few steps forward before the auror collapsed three feet inside the gate.
Harry stepped around the downed auror and quickly focused on the lead auror, taking aim but waiting for Bella's mark to drop before acting.
Less than a second later, the auror on the far right collapsed as soon as she stepped through the gates, drawing the attention of the lead auror and the three prisoners.
Auror savage barely had time to register what had happened to her colleagues before she was struck with twin stunners courtesy of Harry and Bellatrix.
Dropping his disillusionment charm and grinning at his wife, Harry looked over at the confused prisoners.
"Take care of the guards, I'll deal with these three," Harry said as he waved his wand at the three bound men, vanishing the sleeves of their prison robes.
"Oh good, Chimera gets to play," Bella giggled before stalking towards the gatehouse.
Harry glanced over at the prisoners who looked scared after they heard he was going to 'deal' with them. Glancing downward, Harry was pleased to see that all of their forearms were tattoo free.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you," Harry promised as he raised his wand.
"W-who are you?" a bald man in his forties asked warily, looking at Harry with wide fear-filled eyes.
"I am Reaper," Harry replied before flicking his wand three times in quick succession.
All three stunning spells hit their marks, dropping the prisoners into an unconscious heap on the muddy earth.
With a nod, Harry began walking towards the gatehouse, his head on a swivel in case any dementors were patrolling the grounds, the sound of the torrential rain filling his ears and the bone-chilling cold of the dementors seeming to wrap around him like a suffocating blanket.
Harry looked around the vast courtyard as he approached the guard's shack. There was a large graveyard a few hundred yards away, it took up most of the west side of the island and was cast in the shadows of the tall slender triangular-shaped prison tower.
There was a thirty-toot high wall that the main entrance doors were set into. The wall looked like one never-ending slab of glistening black stone. The wall surrounded the perimeter of the island, going almost to the water's edge in most places and made the prison seem even darker.
The vast space within the walls was completely barren, consisting of muddy soil and large puddles from the near-constant rain. This place seemed so dead, it was almost like they were on another planet, the radom flashes of lightning only seemed to enhance it's otherwordly appearance.
Harry was pulled from his observations as he came to the open door of the gatehouse. The shack was built onto the perimeter wall on the right side of the massive entry door and was where all of the human staff spent most of their time.
At one time, the prison had human guards on the high-security wing but they had done away with this practice when the goblin wards were placed over the prison. Now the full-time guards only went into the prison three times a day to feed the inmates.
As Harry stepped inside the gatehouse, he wasn't surprised to see the guards already unconscious and bound on the floor.
"You're really having fun tonight I see. Did you find the medallions?" Harry asked, pride evident in his tone as he admired her handiwork.
Bella just smiled innocently and handed him four medallions, she was already wearing hers as were the five unconscious guards on the floor.
"Hurry up and get the Aurors in here so we can play with the dementors," Bellatrix giggled.
"I need three more for the prisoners," Harry said as he slipped a medallion over his neck and looked around the room.
The room looked like a cross between a teacher's lounge or a house common room. There was a fireplace with a fire burning merrily, plenty of plush armchairs, and a wizarding wireless, making Harry think the guards spent a lot of time in here.
The area in the very back of the room looked like an office with five massive filing cabinets shoved against the wall and a large reception-style desk that was positioned so whoever was seated there was facing the door. On top of the desk was a nameplate that read, WARDEN, in block letters.
"You didn't kill them?" Bella asked as she removed three medallions from the warden's desk drawer and handed them to her husband.
"They weren't marked so there wasn't a reason to harm them," Harry shrugged as he accepted the other three medallions.
"Fine, now hurry up and get the people, Bella wants to burn some dementors," Bellatrix pouted or so he assumed (as she was still wearing her mask).
Walking back to where he left the unconscious Aurors, Harry cast three incarcerous spells on them before slipping a medallion over each of their necks. Then he slipped a medallion on each of the prisoners who were still wearing the heavy shackles they came in with.
These medallions were charmed to act as a repellant of sorts. No Dementor could get within five feet of a guard wearing a medallion. They were a safety precaution to keep the human guards from an accidental kiss or suffering magical exhaustion from having to constantly cast a patronus charm.
Harry didn't expect the Dementors to get loose but he didn't want to risk any Ministry workers getting kissed should an accident occur.
With a lazily cast, "mobilicorpus," Harry levitated the four men and two women across the courtyard and into the gatehouse.
Carefully he guided them through the door two at a time before setting them down next to the guards already laid out on the gatehouse floor.
"Alright Chimera, flip the switch," Harry said as he cancelled the levitation spell on the last auror and turned to look at his wife expectantly.
Bella cackled happily as she reached up and pull a heavy old fashion wooden contact switch mounted on the wall behind the warden's desk.
With a mighty clang, the large wooden lever slammed into the contact position, activating the lockdown wards.
A golden dome seemed to shimmer into existence in front of the prison tower as the ward designed to contain the dementors, came to life. These wards were set over an area a couple of hundred yards in diameter, directly in front of the prison's main door.
The main door of the prison was the only way to enter or exit the warded area once the wards were raised and was directly tied into the main ward scheme. These wards were designed to allow spells to pass through them but prevent the Dementors from leaving. The lockdown wards were a fail-safe in case the Dementors got out of control and had to be contained. The dementors were always quick to turn on the ministry so it made sense that they would have a way to deal with them.
Harry was quite thankful for this ward setup as it simplified things a lot on his end.
Reaching down to the unconscious warden, Harry unclipped a large silver key from the man's belt. Taking the key, he inserted it into a keyhole next to the lockdown ward switch and turned it counterclockwise. Less than a second later he heard a loud gong-like sound ringing over the prison and signalling the wards were down.
"The goblin wards are shut off, we shouldn't have any problems getting out of here," Harry said as he pulled the key from the wall and slipped it into his pocket.
"Are we finally ready to go and play now?" Bella asked giddily.
"Yes, now we just have to get the dementors into the lockdown wards," Harry agreed
"How do we get the Dementors out of the tower?" Bellatrix asked curiously.
"With a patronus charm, of course," Harry chuckled as he led her out of the guard shack, locking the door behind him with a careless flick of his wand.
Once they were away from the gatehouse, Harry raised his wand and concentrated on that day at the Central Florida Zoo when Carina released every snake in the reptile house. Smiling to himself, he went through the wand motions.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry bellowed over the wind and rain.
A silvery light burst from the tip of his wand, growing incredibly bright before taking the shape of a basilisk-sized king cobra. With a flick of his wand, Harry sent the patronus racing to the top of the tower before it vanished into the roof of the prison.
They waited a good minute or two before the Dementors exploded out the main entrance door. There had to be more than four hundred of the foul creatures congregating outside of the main tower and they just seemed to keep pouring out of the prison.
When the last stragglers came out followed by his 'Patronus' Harry nodded to Bella who flicked her wand and sealed the door, trapping them inside the lockdown wards. Once the door was sealed shut, Harry dropped his Patronus charm, shivers started to wrack his body as the creature's aura could be felt through the wards.
"Can the spell handle this many?" Bellatrix asked, looking over at him in alarm as she felt the dementor's effects.
"Only one way to find out," Harry muttered as he removed the core sharing bracelet from his robe pocket.
Bellatrix sheathed her wand and offered him her right wrist. Gently Harry clasped the bracelet on her wrist before coming to stand behind her and allowing her to clasp the other bracelet on his right wrist, causing the chain connecting the two bracelets to light up a light blue colour.
"Are you ready?" Harry whispered into her ear.
"Yes, let's burn some dementors," Bellatrix exclaimed as she snuggled into him.
Raising his wand, Harry visualized the Dementors burning and pushed the hatred he had for their entire race, and his desire to see them completely destroyed to the forefront of his mind.
He made a circular motion with his wand and channelled all these emotions he had been building up into his voice.
"FIEND IGNIS SPIRITUM ORBITUS!" Harry roared.
A four-foot wide hoop of white-hot fire formed in front of him hovering in midair about ten feet away. It resembled a muggle Hoola-hoop and illuminated the area in bright white light, the heat coming off of it nullifying the dementor's aura more effectively than a patronus charm.
Jabbing his wand at the Dementors who had all clustered together, Harry sent the hoop soaring through the air, manoeuvering the hoop so that it floated a hundred feet above the dementors.
Once the fiery hoop was directly over the cluster of dementors, Harry twisted his wand to the right, making the hoop expand outward to where it was over two hundred and fifty feet in diameter.
Directing his wand downward, the hoop fell harmlessly through the lockdown Wards and encircled the entire group of Dementors, much to the creatures' distress, if the earsplitting shrieks were anything to go by.
The flaming hoop came to a stop about six feet above the ground, trapping the now very agitated dementors. The dementors tried to flee the circle only to find they were trapped inside the burning ring, their skin sizzling when they got too close.
"Here comes the fun part," Harry whispered before he jabbed his wand forward a second time.
Suddenly more rings started forming from the main ring, each new ring connected to the original ring at the same point on a slightly different axis. The conflagration now resembled a gigantic fiery cage with the gaps between the bars rapidly getting smaller as more rings continued to form.
Soon thousands of fiery rings formed out of the first ring and they all started merging, completely enclosing the soul suckers inside a sphere of white-hot fire.
The spell was so hot that sweat was pouring from Harry and Bella's bodies even though they were standing hundreds of feet away and being drenched by torrential rain.
Now came the hardest part of this spell, with a grimace, Harry twisted his Wand to the left and concentrated on shrinking the fiery sphere
The sphere now resembled a small sun two hundred and fifty feet wide and was so bright it was blinding.
Harry started pushing his magic into the spell, causing the sphere to shrink in on itself, it rapidly grew smaller as he concentrated on the final stage of the spell. All the while earsplitting shrieks could be heard coming from inside the conflagration as the fiery sphere closed in around the dementors, incinerating them on contact.
As the sphere shrank smaller and smaller Harry had to channel more and more power to keep the thing reducing in size.
Harry could feel Bellatrix adding her own magic to the spell, but even so, he could see black spots in his vision as the ball shrunk more, drawing large amounts of magic from both of them to compress the ball of fire.
Harry was starting to wonder if he could finish this spell when the fiery sphere stopped shrinking and he felt the pull on his core cease. The sphere was about four feet in diameter now and glowing so bright, he had to avert his eyes, the whole courtyard was now lit bright as a summer day and the rain had stopped falling.
The fiery ball began to flash brighter and brighter, filling the whole area with blinding white light until the ball exploded outward with a roaring 'BOOOOOOOOM!'
The explosion shook the ground they were standing on and staggered them backwards. They shut their eyes as the light became so bright it shined through their closed eyelids and they were forced to turn their heads away from the tower.
They were both caught by surprise as a powerful wind swept across the courtyard, sending a cloud of ash and intense heat in every direction and staggering them backward. Harry was just wondering if something had gone wrong when darkness fell over the island and the violent super-heated wind abated.
They both collapsed to their knees panting heavily as their eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness. Clumsily Harry reached over and unclasped the bracelet, causing the glowing blue chain to go dark.
"Holy s-shit, that spell was draining," Harry muttered as he slowly caught his breath.
"I n-noticed, that spell was much more draining than fiend fire," Bellatrix muttered as she unclasped her own bracelet and pocketed the pair.
"We need to leave, the ministry will have detected that magical outburst," Harry gasped out as he slowly got to his feet, noticing the cold from the dementors was completely gone now.
Nodding, Bellatrix allowed him to help her to her feet before they made their way to the partially open gates of the prison.
"We did it!" Bellatrix whispered softly into his ear as they walked the short distance to the gate and crossed the dock to the portkey area.
"We did, though I don't think I could have done that without you," Harry admitted as they came to a stop on the portkey pad.
"You always say the sweetest things," Bella giggled as she removed a small skeleton key from her pocket and offered it to him.
"Let's go home, Luv," Harry whispered as he placed his hand on top of hers with the portkey sandwiched between their joined hands.
"Yes, Bella needs a nice warm bath," Bellatrix nodded, sounding completely exhausted.
"Home," They said in unison, causing the portkey to activate.
With a jerk behind their navels, Harry and Bellatrix disappeared in a flash of blue light, leaving the desolate prison behind them seconds before a squadron of ministry aurors arrived.
Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, London, 4/20/1989, 27:39
The order was gathered tonight to go over the details of the Azkaban attack though from the details Sirius had already gotten from Amelia, this was probably not a death eater attack.
"I am glad you could all make it on such short notice. Does anyone know anything new about the Azkaban attack?" Dumbledore asked.
"Whatever spell they used was arcane. The only reason the ministry knew of the attack at all, was because the department of mysteries picked up the burst of magic on their detection sensors," Alastor explained, sounding at a loss.
"Yes, from what my friend in the department said, it was a mage-level spell and the amount of magic expended was enormous," Dumbledore agreed.
"The prisoners said they saw a man and a woman stun the aurors before the man calling himself Reaper stunned them all," Kingsley added.
"Were the dementors really destroyed?" Elphias asked.
"Aye, every dementor on that island was burnt to ashes," Moody chuckled.
"Good riddance, they were bound to go over to no-nose's camp eventually," Sirius pointed out.
"I couldn't agree more," Dumbledore nodded.
"How did they bypass the new goblin wards?" Malcolm Vaisley inquired.
"They exploited a weakness in the wards to get in and then shut the wards off so they could leave," Moody answered, sounding impressed.
"They were good, they subdued all of the ministry employees before they could send out a distress signal," Kingsley added.
"From what I heard, they took measures to protect all of the people they subdued?" Dumbledore said, shooting Kingsley a questioning look.
"They did, none of my people were harmed. All of the guards, aurors, and prisoners were found trussed up in the gatehouse wearing dementor medallions. Whoever attacked the island was only after the dementors," Moody answered.
"And how is Voldemort taking this news, Severus?" Dumbledore asked, glancing over to his potion master.
"Furious doesn't cover it. The dark lord tortured Corban Yaxley when he delivered the news and almost snapped his mind," Severus said with a slight shudder.
"Been there," Frank muttered to Alice who elbowed him in the ribs, shooting her husband a look of annoyance.
"We all know who did this," Snape sighed giving Albus a knowing look.
"I highly doubt Harry and my cousin did this," Sirius snorted as if the idea was ridiculous.
"Even if they did, who cares. This was a major blow to the other side," Frank exclaimed.
"It is, the dark lord was planning on using the dementors as his primary weapon when he made his move on Britain," Snape admitted.
"How is Minister Longbottom taking this?" Dumbledore asked, looking at Frank and Alice.
"She's still in shock. Lady Malfoy is urging her to use the situation to her advantage and tell the public that she ordered the beasts to be destroyed," Alice answered.
"She's considering it, the dementors really were a liability as fickle as their loyalty has always been," Frank said.
"Very well, I am quite pleased by this outcome. I just wish we had a clue as to who I should send my thanks to," Dumbledore said with a look of frustration.
"We all would, Albus," Sirius snorted.
"Where are the inmates staying now that the prison is vulnerable?" Dedalus Diggle asked, looking at Moody curiously.
"We have moved all the inmates off of the island and transported them to a top-secret location," Moody admitted.
"Ain't that a kick in the stones, the island finally got rid of the riff-raff and it shuts down," Sirius chuckled.
"The only reason we used a location like Azkaban was that operation costs were cheap due to not having to hire a large staff. The dementors leaving has tripled the projected cost of operation and the budget won't allow for a full contingent of guards," Kingsley explained.
"So why not bind their magic and chuck them in Her Majesty's Prison? Let the muggles keep them up. They'll get three squares a day," Sirius suggested.
"It wouldn't be a bad idea but the ministry has too many leaks and it would be laughably easy for Voldemort to break his people out of a muggle prison," Moody answered.
"Have we identified anyone besides Yaxley inside the ministry?" Arthur Weasley asked from the middle of the table.
"I suspect that Madam Edgecombe is a sympathiser and may have been responsible for shutting down the floo network during death eater attacks in the last war," Kingsley answered, giving Dumbledore a meaningful look.
"Well just keep your eyes open, I fear Voldemort is going keep spreading his influence throughout the ministry," Dumbledore predicted.
"He will only get so far with mum in office but he could still cause quite a few problems if his people start putting the imperious on key officials like they did last time," Frank admitted.
"Then we must be vigilant... constantly," Moody grunted.
The meeting soon wrapped up and Sirius decided it was time to go see his cousin and her husband and find out if they had anything to do with the dementors.
'I bet this was them,' Sirius thought wryly as he approached the floo intent on paying Harry and Bella a visit.
Peverell Beach House, 7/15/1989, 14:39
Harry was at the beach which was swarming with children. The Greengrass family was here as were Sirius and Amelia as well as Susan, Edgar and little Harry. Narcissa had brought Draco over after etiquette lessons. The Tonks family was over as well, Tonks had brought Charlie Weasley and Hestia Jones to hang out at the beach.
Tonight they were having a cookout of sorts before Harry left for Africa for his annual collection trip. He wouldn't be able to come home on the weekends this time as he only had a month before he had to start preparing for next year's classes.
Dumbledore had contacted him last week to request he fill the post as care for magical creatures professor permanently. It seemed that Silvanus' arm was the second limb Professor Kettleburn had lost to a magical creature and he really did want to retire.
At the moment, he and Bellatrix were reclined on loungers listening to the kids playing in the waves. Harry was having to deal with Hestia Jones batting her eyes at him every time he looked her way, much to Bellatrix's amusement.
"You looked stressed," Bellatrix smirked as she looked over her sunglasses at her husband.
"I have to deal with teenage girls making doe eyes at me all the time at school, I didn't want it to follow me home," Harry shrugged as he took a sip of his coke.
"It can't be worse than the Lovegoods trying to get us to swing with them," Bellatrix giggled.
"I was all for it but poor Xeno wouldn't survive the encounter," Harry chuckled, remembering the night they had returned from Azkaban, he was sore for three days after that!
"His hair reminds me too much of Lucius which is a real turnoff for me," Bellatrix admitted.
"Ah what could have been," Harry chuckled in faux disappointment.
"Yes, though I think Auntie Bella can find a way to make you feel better," Bella whispered. As Draco kicked off on his training broom and began zooming over their heads followed soon after by his younger self.
Before Harry could reply, Ignotus ran up to them, looking between his mother and father hopefully.
"Dad, when can I learn to fly a real broom like Draco?" Ignotus asked as he glanced up at his cousin and little Harry who were zooming about twenty feet in the air, pushing their training brooms to the limits.
"When you graduate Hogwarts," Bellatrix said matter of factly.
"Really?" Iggy asked in horror.
"When you turn seven, I'll teach you to fly a training broom just like I did Draco," Harry promised, shooting his wife a look of amusement.
"Fine but if he gets hurt you can stay with Sirius," Bella said but there was no real heat in her words.
"But dad, seven is almost a year away," Ignotus whined looking at Harry almost pleadingly.
"Sorry mate, that's the rules," Harry shrugged before taking a sip of his drink.
"But Draco and Harry are flying now," Ignotus whined, pointing to the two boys who were playing tag over their heads.
"Ignotus, if you keep bugging your father, I'll make you wait until you're nine, just like Nymphadora had to," Bella threatened, starting to get annoyed.
"But mum-
"Iggy just go play, you're only going to make things worse for yourself," Harry said with an exasperated sigh.
"It's not fair," Iggy exclaimed as tears began running down his cheeks.
"Life isn't fair," Bella shrugged before pointing toward the group of children playing in the waves.
Harry watched as Iggy ran back to his friends, taking time to kick his sister's sandcastle on the way there.
"I can tell you right now, he is going to be a pain in the ass when he becomes a teenager," Harry muttered.
"He'll be Hogwarts' problem," Bella shrugged, though Harry could already predict that Ignotus could expect a telling-off from his mother in the near future.
"I'm a professor at Hogwarts," Harry pointed out as he noticed his sister-in-law approaching.
"Then it'll be your problem," Bella corrected as Andromeda took a seat on a lounger on the other side of her.
Before Harry could reply to his wife's comment on him having to deal with his moody teenage son as a student, Andromeda got his attention.
"Harry, Nymphadora says you've been picking on her in class," Andromeda said, looking like she was amused.
"She's a bloody menace in class, she's lucky I didn't just chuck her out," Harry exclaimed, giving Andi a look of annoyance.
"She also said that you told her she smelled like a dragon's ass," Andromeda continued, the corners of her mouth twitching.
"In my defence, she was shovelling dragon dung in detention," Harry pointed out.
"Yes, she did mention something about serving a lot of detentions with you," Andromeda agreed, seeming to find this whole conversation very funny.
"She has, the irony of that is that I never assigned her a single detention," Harry sighed.
"McGonagall is taking her revenge on my poor husband by dumping all of your spawn's detention on him," Bella giggled.
"She certainly gets plenty of detentions, I bet you're regretting teaching Nymphadora all of those wards," Andromeda smirked.
"You have no idea," Harry muttered.
"How did she do in your class?" Andi asked, sounding more serious now.
"Okay, I doubt she'll ever follow the career path but she treats the creatures well enough," Harry admitted.
"She did very well on her exams, my baby got eleven O.W.L's at E or higher!" Andi gushed.
"That is surprising considering all the stick figure sketches she turned in for homework," Harry replied, feeling a touch of pride at this news.
"I believe she plans on following the auror career path so you should get a reprieve from her shenanigans next year," Andi assured him as she took the coke in his hand and took a large sip.
"There is a whole cooler full of them," Harry sighed as Andromeda finished the rest of his drink.
"I have to watch my figure. Care to rub some lotion on my back or maybe my legs, Harry?" Andromeda asked innocently.
"Andi, I will hurt you," Bellatrix warned, narrowing her eyes at her sister.
"It would make Ted unhappy," Andi pointed out, enjoying the conflicted look that came over Bellatrix's face.
"Alright, I'm going to go talk with the blokes before you two get into a brawl," Harry said as he saw Narcissa and Roxanne making their way over towards them.
Sirius had brought over a very nice barbeque grill and was cooking sausages while he, Ted, and Lord Greengrass talked and sipped beer.
"Good, don't let them burn the food," Bella said as Harry got up and made his way over to the grill.
"They finally run you out, did they?" Sirius sniggered.
"Yeah, Andi and Bella were about to start bickering and the other birds were gathering around them," Harry said as he dug a beer out of the chiller box.
"I would have left too," Ted chuckled.
"So you're taking another trip to Africa?" Jonathan asked conversationally.
"Yeah, I have a big contract for boomslang skin and then there are the usual three hundred and fifty vials of black mamba venom," Harry answered as he took a swig of his beer.
"I don't envy you," Sirius sniggered.
"It's not so bad once you get used to it," Harry shrugged.
"Are you going to make the August session?" Jonathan asked.
"Yeah, I have to be back by the twelfth for the start of term staff meeting so I can't avoid the Wizengamot this summer," Harry sighed.
"I'll be there too. From what Amy said, this meeting is a big one," Sirius said as he looked over at his wife who had joined the other ladies.
"Good, I'm sure you will find it entertaining," Jonathan assured them.
"So what was Iggy's problem?" Sirius asked looking highly amused.
"He's jealous of Draco and Harry," Harry said indicating the two boys still flying around over the beach.
"He wanted a big boy broom," Ted said in understanding.
"Yep, but Bella doesn't want him flying before his core has matured," Harry shrugged.
"The core has nothing to do with flying a broom," Sirius said in confusion.
"I know that and she knows that as well. She just wants to keep him on the ground as long as she can," Harry snorted.
"And you don't want to get in her bad books," Jonathan nodded his understanding.
"More or less," Harry agreed.
"Can't say I blame you there," Sirius sniggered as he started flipping the sausages with a set of tongs.
"It seems you have other troubles, Lord Peverell," Jonathan said, a knowing grin playing on his lips.
"What's that?" Harry asked warily.
"I believe you have an admirer," Jonathan beamed, moving his head slightly to the right.
Harry turned to where Jonathan was indicating to find Hestia Jones hastily averting her eyes, the back of her neck slightly flushed.
"She's looking at Sirius, I'm an old man," Harry said dismissively.
"I doubt it, Sirius is getting fat," Ted guffawed.
"Oi, look who's talking, Tonks," Sirius shot back.
Harry couldn't help but snigger, they were all standing shirtless around the grill. Sirius made a very good point, Ted and Sirius were both getting a slight gut.
"He's not wrong Padfoot, I'm surprised they let you stay on as a hit wizard when you're getting so out of shape," Harry snorted.
"I told you, they gave me a promotion. I am holding down a desk now," Sirius scowled.
"Well, you should still be going through your weekly PT. Your wife is still in fighting shape," Harry pointed out as he glanced at Amelia in her brown two-piece bikini.
Stop ogling my wife you lech," Sirius huffed pointing the tongs at Harry threateningly.
"I would never, but you should really hit the training room more often," Harry said as he cast a temperature charm over the sausages.
"I have been, the weight won't budge," Sirius sighed looking frustrated.
"Could be the beer. They're done, by the way," Harry said pointing at the sausages
"Whatever, let's eat," Sirius said as he began putting the links in a pan.
"I'll inform the womenfolk," Ted said.
"Better him than me," Harry muttered as soon as Ted was out of earshot.
It wasn't long before everyone began taking seats at the three picnic tables lined end to end on the beach and the children were called to come and have dinner.
"Daddy, Iggy kicked my sandcastle," Carina complained as soon as she sat down between him and Bellatrix while Iggy sat across from them next to Astoria.
"I know princess, I believe your mother will take care of him later," Harry said soothingly.
"Oh I will," Bellatrix agreed, shooting her son a look that had the boy wilting under her gaze.
"So are you going to be nicer to me this year, Uncle Harry?" Tonks asked from a few places down the table.
"Depends if I have to stay late to oversee your detentions or not," Harry said, shooting his niece a pointed look.
"I will have to behave this year so I can get the ministry apprenticeship next year," Tonks confessed.
"Excellent, by the way, congratulations on your exam results. I was very impressed," Harry praised.
"I got nine O.W.L's this year, p-professor," Hestia stammered out, her cheeks flushing scarlet when he glanced her way.
"Congratulations, Miss Jones," Harry said somewhat uncomfortably, causing Bella to snort into her goblet of wine.
"Jones, he's married. So knock it off already!" Tonks huffed in annoyance.
"Well, it will be nice not to have to stay late every other night to oversee your detentions," Harry said getting back to the subject at hand.
"I'm taking the N.E.W.T course in care for magical creatures," Charlie cut in.
"I figured you might be, you've got a gift with creatures," Harry nodded.
"What are we doing this year?" Charlie asked, looking pleased with the compliment.
"Depends how big the N.E.W.T class is, we might be taking a few field trips," Harry said cryptically.
"Nowhere too dangerous, I hope?" Narcissa asked from her place beside Sirius.
"No, it will be observation only," Harry assured her.
"Good, I may be taking the Malfoy spot on the board of governors and I would hate to have to fire you," Narcissa smirked.
"Unbelievable," Harry muttered causing Bella to stifle a laugh.
The rest of the night seemed to fly by, Harry really enjoyed these gatherings and always looked forward to them during the summer.
As the last of the guests departed and Bellatrix took Ignotus aside to give him a telling off for his misbehaviour, Harry couldn't help but feel content with his lot in life. He had a rather large group of friends and family, two beautiful kids and a wonderful wife.
Now if they could just take care of the dark lord problem, then maybe he could relax and live a nice quiet life.