FicWad

Chapter Twenty Four: Jailbreak

The cold winds whipped across the island where the wizard prison Azkaban was located, but it would be one thing if the cold weather conditions were the only thing that those on the island had to worry about. The effects of the Dementors were nearly paralyzing to anyone who came in contact with them. While this kept the prisoners in check for the most part, it was not a picnic for the handful of Aurors stationed around the parameter of the prison.

The regular Auror guards on the island were a rather recent addition, mandated due to the double escape of Sirius Black and Bellatrix Lestrange a couple of years ago. The Aurors were rotated on and off the island in groups of four to five every four hours, to make routine checks on the prisoners, so they could report to the high ranking officials at the Ministry. Needless to say, Azkaban duty was one of the things that every Auror dreaded about their job.

An Auror by the name of Hammer shivered before reaching into his cloak pocket and biting off the end of a piece of chocolate, which temporarily gave him some relief from the effects of the Dementors. Unfortunately, the prolonged exposure from Dementors made sure that chocolate only helped for maybe a couple of minutes. Many Aurors collapsed when they returned from Azkaban duty, barely able to move for several hours.

Hammer looked up as his partner, a surly Auror by the name of Savage walked out of the entrance of the prison, barely visible in the Dementor created fog around the island. Still, Hammer saw Savage shudder from the mixture of the bitter weather and the powers of the Dementors.

“All the prisoners are present and accounted for on the north side of the prison,” declared Savage in a weak voice, as he gave another involuntary shiver. “Morgan and Tallows should be beginning to wrap up their inspection of the south side of the prison at any moment.”

Hammer nodded curtly, before he consulted his watch. It was only twenty five minutes before his shift ended and he could get off this island. He felt his knees buckle and he grabbed onto the wall, with a glazed look in his eyes. He took another bite of chocolate, in an attempt to calm his nerves.

Hammer was distracted for a few seconds from his misery from what appeared to be a boat docking on the edge of the island. At the moment, he dismissed it as a delusion, of being exposed to Dementors for nearly four hours.

Foot steps caused Hammer to wonder if it wasn’t a delusion. A brown haired woman in her late thirties and a balding nearly fifty old man walked out, with weary looks on her face.

“Hammer, Savage, we saw something rather strange just to the side of the prison,” remarked the woman known as Tallows in a slow, calculating voice. “Three boats had just docked outside of the island.”

“Yes, and some guy in a metal suit and helmet and four weirdoes dressed in red cloaks got out of one of the boats,” informed Auror Morgan. “Oh, and these guys had the lower half of their faces covered and they had strange looking hats. They looked as if they might be threats.”

Hammer’s face fell as he turned to Savage, who looked a bit skeptical. Never the less, the four Aurors pulled out their wands, before they cautiously crept through the shadows, investigating their newly arrived guests.

On the edge of the island, the Shredder and his Elite Guard calmly walked towards the prison, with a small contingent of Foot Ninjas behind them. A quartet of Death Eaters waited on one of the boats, so they would be able to transport the prisoners that the Foot collected off the island. Shredder, the Elite Guard, and the Foot Ninjas walked forward, where they came face to face with the quartet of Aurors currently on duty guarding the prison.

“Who are you?” exclaimed Hammer, looking completely baffled at the appearance of this guy more metal on his armor than a Muggle automobile.

“A very interesting question, one that I’m afraid you are not going to live to learn the answer to,” remarked Shredder in a calm voice.

Like the impulsive Gryffindor he was, Hammer pointed his wand out his foe.

“Stupefy!” cried Hammer, setting a jet of light flying towards the metal man. Much to Hammer’s horror; the spell impacted his opponent’s armor, having no effect whatsoever.

“Pathetic,” growled the Shredder before turning to his minions. “Foot Ninja, dispose of this minor inconvenience.”

“Into the prison, quickly!” ordered Hammer as he motioned for his fellow Aurors to back off. Unfortunately, their attackers had no mercy and one of the red cloaked figures grabbed Tallows by the arm, before slinging into their metal covered attacker.

“You will learn before your demise, not to oppose me,” declared the Shredder, as he held his metal gauntlet a few inches away from the fearful woman’s throat, as she trembled, barely able to stand.

“Reducto!” screamed Morgan, blasting a large section of rock protruding from the ground, causing the fragments to fly into their enemies. Tallows managed to take advantage of this momentary distraction to break free and join her fellow Aurors in making a strategic retreat towards the prison.

“After them!” screamed the Shredder which prompted the Foot Ninjas to advance forward, but the Aurors managed to make through the doorway of the Prison.

“Colloportus!” yelled Tallows, causing the doors of the front entrance to seal themselves shut. “That should hold them.”

The Aurors had a brief second’s silence before they heard a loud pounding noise coming from outside of the door followed by the wooden doors slowly splintering, as their attackers had found a way to break down the door.

“Yes, but not for long,” remarked Savage in a dark tone of voice. “What we really need to do is get to the fireplace with the Floo Connection to the Ministry and get help!”

The others nodded in agreement, as they were severely weakened by being exposed to the Dementors, even through it was only nearly a period of a few hours. They made their way towards the fireplace leading to the Ministry as fast as their legs could carry them but the doors shattered open.

The Shredder stormed in, followed by his Elite Guard and then his group of Foot Ninjas. He was done playing games; he vowed to finish this up and

“You have reached the end and now none of you will leave here alive,” thundered the Shredder, as he sprang up, kicking Savage back into the wall. The unsuspecting Auror landed on the ground with a sickening thud.

Tallows grabbed her wand, attempting to distract this mysterious man in metal with a well placed light spell, but one of the red cloaked figures jabbed a spear forward into her wand hand, shattering her wand into pieces and forming a deep cut in her hand. She fell to the floor, with a pained expression on her face, as her hand oozed blood. Tallows came to the sudden realization that she didn’t have much time left before her life came to an abrupt end.

“Reducto!” shouted Morgan, blasting a section of the ceiling out. The jagged chunks of the ceiling spiraled towards their attackers. One of the assassins was unlucky enough to be in the path of the debris and the jagged stone torn him cleanly in half.

Morgan raised his wand; the room with the fireplace was only just a few feet away. If he could reach it, they might have a chance to beat up this assault.

Unfortunately, Morgan felt a sensation of pain, as one of the attackers jabbed his sword right between his shoulder blades. Already very weakened from his duties on the island, he fell to his knees, as two other assassins pinned his arms behind his back, holding him in place. His wand rolled to the side, completely out of his reach. Utterly helpless, Morgan saw the swipe of a blade coming right through his throat. That was the last thing he saw before the sword decapitated the Auror in an instant. Morgan’s head slid off his shoulders and landed to the ground, an action that caused blood to splatter in all directions.

Hammer winced, as Savage pulled himself up, wheezing in agony. Savage felt he had broke his ribs thanks to that ruffian blasting him into the wall. Tallows cradled her hand as the three Aurors were surrounded by the four red cloaked figures. Savage and Hammer raised their wands, shielding their female comrade but two of their adversaries casually kicked the wands out of their hands, thus causing their only known defense against attacks to be swiftly eliminated.

Shredder walked forward and casually punted the decapitated head of Morgan out of his way, before he turned his attention to the three captive Aurors, who were at the mercy of his Elite Guard.

“You thought you could have opposed the Shredder but you three along with your deceased comrade were foolish in that assumption,” declared Shredder in a cold voice.

“What, are you some kind of kitchen utensil?” remarked Savage in a weak voice but he did not live to regret that remark. For that moment, the Shredder swiftly sliced Savage’s jugular with his metal gauntlet. Savage slid to the ground, blood oozed out of his throat before he gave one final involuntary twitch before he bled to a slow agonizing death.

“As you can see, your flippant remarks will earn you nothing but a slow, agonizing demise,” said Shredder in his coldest, most chilling voice possible before turning to his regular Foot Ninjas. “Foot Ninja, begin liberating Lord Voldemort’s Death Eaters from their cells. Let no one get in your way.”

Tallows and Hammer exchanged a weak, surprised look as the Foot Ninjas slipped off into the shadows before the implications of what they heard had fully hit them. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Name had in fact some how returned to life and the Potter boy was not the lying fool that many in the Ministry had attempted to make him out to be. Unfortunately, another realization struck the two Aurors, as they swiftly understood they would not live long enough to tell the tale.

Hammer took a deep breath. He had a sudden idea, but actually carrying out was a long shot. Still, he felt he had to try, because he would be killed soon in a matter of moments.

Hammer threw himself to the side, knocking one of the mysterious figures in red cloaks back with his shoulder. He managed to pick up his wand and spun around to make his move while he still could.

“Alohomora!” yelled Hammer, clicking the door open and he threw himself in front of the fire place but two of the cloaked figures grabbed him by his ankles and yanked him back. The other two figures held Tallows, to ensure she didn’t have any ideas about trying to join in on the fight.

The two figures that had Hammer shoved him back into the stone wall with sickening voice. The back of his head cracked against the wall and he was knocked unconscious momentarily.

Shredder stepped forward and surveyed the fireplace. Lord Voldemort had informed him of it; it was the only escape route out of Azkaban from within. Shredder pulled out a sonic gun before he took aim towards the fireplace. With one push of the trigger, the fireplace shattered into dust from the vibrations emitting from the gun.

Tallows winced, as their only hope of escaping this menace had been swiftly eliminated. Shredder stepped forward and pointed his sonic gun towards the form of Hammer, whose eyes began to flicker open ever so slightly.

“Farewell,” declared Shredder coldly before pushing the trigger on the sonic gun. Tallows screamed in horror as she watched her fellow Auror get blasted into smithereens by this Shredder bloke’s fiendish weapon. Blood splattered throughout the entire corridor but Shredder regarded the matter with cold indifference.

Shredder turned his attention to Tallows, as she braced herself for the inevitable. She wished that Shredder would get on with it and blaster her with that device in his hand. Then this entire traumatic nightmare would finally be over.

“Be as creative as you want in finishing the girl, but keep in mind we have less than fifteen minutes before we are to be off of this island,” ordered Shredder to his elite guard, confident that the Dementors would not interfere with his work, as he possessed the Eye of Darkness emerald which granted him some control over the foul creatures. “Meet me back by the boat within ten minutes, Lord Voldemort’s detained followers should be properly rounded up by that time.”

Tallows fearfully watched the Shredder walked off. She had seen many horrifying things during her years as an Auror but the fact they had slain three Aurors so far without one bit of magic had her positively terrified. She wished those cloaked figures would get on with it, put her out of her misery.

Tallows yelped as she felt a spear jab in the back of her left leg, an action which involuntarily caused her to leap up. She didn’t have much time to recover from that move before she felt a trident stab her for a split second in the side of her right left. She staggered to the side but felt herself pushed back into the center of the circle her foes, before feeling the blunt end of an axe whack her swiftly across her arse. She swiftly avoided a spear jabbing into her right side but a double edge sword lightly slashed her across her left leg as she spun around. Her legs buckled, as blood dripped down from the slash made on the side of her left leg.

“Just end it now you callous bastards!” screamed Tallows in desperation but her attackers shoved no mercy, as the one closet to her grabbed her by the chest and shoved her back into the center. Two quick jabs to the right of her leg drew more blood and she sank down to her knees but all four of her attackers reached forward and pulled her up to give her more punishment.

It would have been better if they were laughing at discomfort, but they reacted with each wince and each moan of agony with cold indifference. They continued to take turns periodically jabbing at her legs with their weapons, an action that caused each second she stood to be one of utter agony. Tallows believed that fact made her slow, inevitable demise even more chilling. The assault continued for what seemed like an eternity but was in reality only a few moments. The bottom half of Tallows’s robes were cut from the constant jabbing and slashing, with her legs completely battered and blood that flowed towards the floor.

“We better finish off this so we can join Master Shredder,” declared the Double Edged Sword Foot Elite member, as he motioned towards Tallows.

Without another word, the Foot Elite dragged an utterly defeated and broken Tallows through the blown apart front entrance of Azkaban. They spied the regular Foot Ninjas, as they placed the severely weakened minions of Lord Voldemort on the boat. They seemed to be nearly wrapped up.

The Elite Guard dragged Tallows towards the edge of the island, right in front of the icy water. Two of the Elite Guard held the battered woman’s arms behind her back as a third Elite Guard member knelt down beside her. He grabbed her by the back of the head before he pushed her head forwards, forcing it below the depths of the frigid water below.

Tallows felt a measure of relief before her lungs filled with ice cold water and she slowly, but surely drowned. At least this entire nightmarish ordeal had reached its conclusion. That thought was the absolute last that echoed through her mind as she died.

The Foot Elite backed off before they kicked the limp body of their battered foe forward off the edge of the island. They watched Tallows’s corpse sink into the frigid water with blood bubbling up to the surface. Without another thought, they walked off to take their leave from the island.

Hours later, day broke over the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The students who had elected to spend time outside of Hogwarts had for the winter had returned the previous evening for the next term. Not much had of note had happened over the holidays.

At breakfast, Harry, Ginny, Daphne, Theodore, Hermione, and Hailey sat at the Slytherin table, deep in conversation about the upcoming Wizengamont session to determine a new interim Minister of Magic. They had just come up to the issue of Harry’s mother impulsively throwing her name into the mix.

“Lily has the chance to do what no muggleborn in history has even attempted to do,” remarked Hermione slowly. “But, the rest of the Ministry might do everything their power to make sure she doesn’t get anywhere near that power spot.”

“Hermione, I think you are overanalyzing the point entirely,” remarked Ginny. “Lily isn’t running to win; she’s running to attempt to take support away from Lucius Malfoy.”

“Yes, Mum did say as much,” admitted Harry. “I’m really worried about the stability of the Ministry right now. The Ministry is split many different ways because of the fact everyone has their own agenda. I’m really not sure if I want her to win at any rate. It might be more than she can handle.”

“It might be more than anyone can handle, even you couldn’t handle it Harry, not saying that you wouldn’t try if you had the opportunity,” remarked Hailey with a grin.

Harry just shot his sister a glare and decided not to dignify this remark with a response.

“Still, this splintered Ministry might work out to our advantage,” remarked Daphne in a thoughtful “It would be very hard for them to pass any laws that might work against our favor with all of the influential Ministry officials out for themselves.”

“Or any laws to help us,” remarked Theodore darkly. “Still, I think the situation at the Ministry will be clearer when they choose the interim Minister of Magic at the end of the month.”

“Maybe,” remarked Ginny in a skeptical voice, thinking that the splintered Ministry would severe impair the ability for anyone to do any good. The look on Harry’s face indicated that he was having similar apprehensive thoughts.

“Whatever happens happens, but I don’t think we can talk about this any more right now,” whispered Harry nervously, as he saw many other people file in for Breakfast. “After all, this information about the Ministry being splintered hasn’t reached the Daily Prophet yet and I would have some rather awkward questions to answer if I was caught talking about this. Besides, I really don’t have any other information other than what I just told you.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, before they proceeded with finishing their breakfast. They talked, in near whispers, about the possibility of putting together another Defense Against the Dark Arts study session for later tonight, to make up for lost time over the holidays. That was the only thing that cheered Harry up slightly, as he had the misfortune of having his first class today being with Umbridge. Harry shuddered; his return to class after two weeks off would begin with a rather sour start.

Before Harry could know it, the fifth year Slytherins were preparing for the torture that was Defense Against the Dark Arts. A few moments after everyone had entered the class, Umbridge swept into the classroom, looking really unnerved about something. She turned to her class with a slightly distracted look in her eyes, before she addressed them.

“Chapter Twelve of your textbooks today, there is no need for wands or talking,” ordered Umbridge in a sickly sweet, yet somewhat forced voice before taking a seat behind her desk without another word.

Daphne, Theodore, and Harry shared covert looks, before they shrugged. Umbridge was obviously extremely bothered about something. They really didn’t know whether to be joyous about Umbridge being taken down a peg or apprehensive about what she could do in her state of mind. Harry wondered if it had something to do with her power being slightly diluted due to Fudge stepping down as Minister. No doubt she would still be difficult but she couldn’t run wild on the student body of Hogwarts as she wanted without the Minister of Magic in her back pocket.

Harry gave his head a shake, before he proceeded to fake reading the text before him. He had a feeling it was extremely boring and mind numbing clap trap, but Harry never bothered to actually reach. He mentally went over strategies of things that he wanted accomplish for the Defense Against Dark Arts study group before the year ended. Harry’s thoughts reminded him that he still needed to have a word with Luna about helping in the instruction of the study group. He resolved to complete that task later.

Harry’s mind wandered slightly, not quite hearing the bell as it rang. This sound was the cue for the students to leave. Harry packed up his things and moved towards the door, but a sickly sweet voice caused Harry to cringe.

“Mr. Potter, I would like to have a word with you in my office, please,” ordered Umbridge in a sweet, disgusted, absolutely horrible voice. Harry stepped forward; he had never spoken to Umbridge during her time at Hogwarts.

Umbridge motioned for Harry to step through the doorway into her office. After the news she just received, she felt the Ministry or at least the faction of the Ministry that best represented her interests, needed a scapegoat. And Potter was the perfect candidate, if she could only worm some incriminating information out of the boy.

“Sit down,” offered Umbridge in her best sweet voice, in an attempt to get on Potter’s good side before she did what she felt she needed to do.

Harry stared at Umbridge before deciding that it was to be in his best interests to sit down, at least until he decided what Umbridge was up to.

“So, Mr. Potter, what would you like to drink?” asked Umbridge in a casual voice.

Harry did a double take, not sure if he had heard the woman correctly.

“I beg your pardon?” asked Harry in a voice of mock curiosity.

“A drink, Potter,” repeated Umbridge in a falsely kind voice. “What will you have? Coffee, pumpkin juice, tea?”

“No, I think I fine,” answered Harry in a slow voice that had a mild hint that was slowly losing his patience with Umbridge.

Unfortunately, the woman wasn’t adept enough to pick up the hint.

“Really, Mr. Potter, I do wish you would have a drink with me,” prodded Umbridge, with an anxious glint in her eye.

Harry blinked, he saw her game now and felt absolutely insulted that the woman didn’t think much of his attempt to spot an obvious attempt to slip him a truth potion of some sort.

Still, Harry realized it would be best to let the woman attempt to pull the truth at him. Attempt was the key word, as fortunately Harry did have a counter measure for any truth potion Umbridge up her sleeve.

“Tea, I guess,” remarked Harry and sure enough, Umbridge turned her back and fixed a cup of tea, which gave Harry the opening he need. He reached into his pocket and pulled out tablet wrapped in paper. Slowly but quietly tearing off the paper, Harry popped the tablet into his mouth, unknown to Umbridge. The tablet contained an agent that would dissolve most truth potions, rendering them completely useless.

“Drink up, Mr. Potter,” declared Umbridge as she pushed the cup of tea towards Umbridge. Harry wasn’t much of a tea drinker; he was more of a hot chocolate person as hot drinks went. Nevertheless, he lifted the cup up and gulped the tea, taking extra care to make sure Umbridge saw him drink the large portion of the tea.

Umbridge could barely contain her glee. Apparently, the stories of the famous Harry Potter had been grossly overrated, as the boy was naïve enough to accept a drink from someone who he obviously shouldn’t have. Umbridge had the boy trapped right now and her ultimate glory was a few moments away. The Veritaserum that she stole from Snape’s private stores should have taken effect any second now.

Harry fixed his face into the blank expression, the characteristic symptoms of those who were given a truth potion.

“Potter, what is your opinion of me?” asked Umbridge, testing to see if the truth potion had taken effect the way it should have.

“I hate your guts,” remarked Harry in a monotone, emotionless voice. “I think you are a disgrace to the human race and one horrendous bitch.”

Umbridge barely contained a smirk; no one would be foolish enough with her power to give her such a frank response without the influence of a truth potion.

“Very well, now answer this,” said Umbridge slowly. “Where is Sirius Black?”

“Somewhere on Earth,” answered Harry in a dreamy voice which caused Umbridge to have a look on her face as if she swallowed a lemon. It took every bit of self control Harry possessed not to burst out and laugh at the expression on her face.

“Very well, do you have any connections with Black?” asked Umbridge.

“My parents made him my godfather when I was born,” retorted Harry with a blank look on his face.

“I’m aware of that Potter!” yelled Umbridge in a voice far removed from her normal sickly sweet tone. “I need to know if you have any connections with Black outside of that!”

“No, you don’t,” answered Harry in a truthful, yet still monotone voice, as he maintained his falsified symptoms from the Veritaserum.

“Tell me Potter, where is the location of Sirius Black?” asked Umbridge in a threatening voice.

“The place where he lives,” declared Harry in a blank tone of voice.

“Very well,” remarked Umbridge. “Tell, me are you up to anything that contradicts Ministry law?”

“I oppose no fair and just Ministry laws,” declared Harry, allowing some expression to come back into his expression before he looked Umbridge right in the eyes. “Now it’s my turn to ask you a question, Madam Umbridge.”

“Professor Umbridge to you, Potter,” corrected Umbridge with her eyes narrowed, in a pitiful attempt to intimidate Harry that failed dismally.

“A Professor indicates the fact that you actually taught the students of this school something useful, a fact that I have yet to see from you,” remarked Harry in a cold voice.

Umbridge opened her mouth in anger but a knock on the door stopped her.

“Enter!” snapped Umbridge and her office door pushed open to reveal Professor McGonagall standing in the doorway with an anxious look. “Yes, Minerva.”

“Professor Umbridge, the Headmaster has called an emergency staff meeting because of certain events,” informed McGonagall in her usual business like tone of voice.

Umbridge stared at Harry, with an expression that indicated she was far from finished with him before she walked out with McGonagall following closely behind.

Harry took that as he cue to leave. As he left, Harry thought it would be a cold day in hell before Umbridge got the better of him.

As it turned out, because of this emergency staff meeting, the rest of the classes for the day were cancelled This gave Harry and his friends ample time to gather up every member of Harry’s covert Defense Against the Dark Arts study group to inform them that Harry wished to hold a meeting. That turned out to be fine with everyone, as there was only one morning class that day. After lunch, everyone met up at the Room of Requirement for the meeting.

“Good afternoon everyone, I hoped everyone had a pleasant holiday,” said Harry cheerfully, before he paused before he launched into what he planned on teaching today. “Now, today, since this may be one of the last lessons I have direct, hands on involvement with, I want to each you one of the most important things that I’ll ever tell you as part of this group. You know the fact that the minute we arrive at Hogwarts, the teachers decide to drill it into your heads that a wand is absolutely necessary for every spell to be a success.”

Everyone murmured, nodding in agreement. They wondered where Harry was going to go with this, as the teachers made sure that they wouldn’t be able to produce any magic without the use of a wand as a focus.

“I want to make thing perfectly clear,” declared Harry slowly. “I have come to find that belief to be….complete and absolute rubbish!”

Everyone in the room, with the exception of Ginny, Hailey, Hermione, Daphne, Theodore, and for some reason, Luna, had gasped at this revelation. Harry frowned but didn’t say anything.

“Potter, you’re bonkers,” said Zacharias Smith.

“I assure he isn’t,” remarked Luna in a matter of fact voice. “I should know because my mother taught me wandless magic when I was young before she….”

Luna trailed off and Harry knew why. Luna’s mother had died before the girl’s very eyes when she was only nine and Harry suspected that might have been one of the reasons why Luna acted the way she did. Of course, Luna didn’t know that Harry knew because that wasn’t exactly one of the topics that came up in ideal chitchat.

“Luna, do you know how to do a wandless shield charm?” asked Harry, before anyone could ask any awkward, indirectly sensitive questions.

Luna nodded.

“Very good, if you could come forward and assist me in a demonstration, that would be rather helpful,” said Harry in a kind voice.

“Of course, Professor Potter, sir,” answered Luna in a calm voice.

“Luna, please don’t call me that,” muttered Harry in an embarrassed voice.

“But Harry, you are more of a Professor than that disgusting toad is,” retorted Luna in a tone of brutal honesty.

Harry wasn’t going to dispute that claim as Luna handed her wand over to Ginny before facing Harry.

“Now, I’m going to use a simple leg locking curse, to prove that my theory is correct,” informed Harry before turning to Luna and pulling his wand. “Locomotor Mortis!”

“Protego,” muttered Luna, causing a shield to form around her. The spell bounced off the shield, causing Luna’s legs to buckle and her to drop the shield before she slid to the ground.

“As you can see, the shield did stop the spell from being effective, but I might not have been the best person to attack, due to my higher than normal levels of magic,” explained Harry. “Sorry, Luna, I tried to hold back.”

“It’s all right Harry, if this is you holding back, than I’ll sleep safer knowing that the Death Eaters have to deal with high levels amounts of magic,” said Luna as she pulled herself to her feet before she brushed the dust off of the back her legs. “No doubt you could shred through any shields the majority of them produced, with or without a wand.”

“Very well then, it’s time to divide into pairs and one of you will attempt to produce a shield with a wand while the other one uses the leg locker curse I just demonstrated with the wand,” ordered Harry. “Switch off as many times as necessary. Begin.”

Everyone paired off as ordered and it wasn’t too long before Harry came to the realization that he had quite the uphill battle to break the conditioned view of wands being the only way to perform magic. Harry walked around the Room of Requirement, in an attempt to assist the members of the group in improving their skills. By the end of the meeting, a few people had managed a light, but easily breakable by any spell, shield but others seemed absolutely frustrated at their efforts. Harry sighed deeply; this would be a work in process.

“Okay, decent work but there is room for improvement, I’ll let you know any details for the next minute as soon as possible,” said Harry, as he rubbed his forehead with his knuckles and felt a headache slowly coming on.

Everyone filed out, with Luna and Ginny staying behind. Harry sank down on a cushy chair that materialized in the middle of the room.

“Harry, Ginny said you wanted to talk to me,” said Luna in a curious voice.

“Yes, I did, Luna,” answered Harry seriously. “You know how I said that this might be the last lesson that I’ll have direct involvement in.”

“Yes, I do remember you saying that,” said Luna.

“Well, Luna, I would like to ask you to assist me in the hands on teaching of this group,” said Harry slowly.

Luna blinked. The amount of times that Luna was surprised in her life could be counted on one hand. What Harry just requested just happened to be one of those rare occasions.

“You want me to teach your pet project, Harry,” said Luna slowly.

“Luna, I’ll be assisting you and Harry will of course guide us through everything he goes through,” informed Ginny.

“You don’t have to give your answer now, think it through,” added Harry.

“No, Harry, I accept your offer,” said Luna cheerfully. “I’m just shocked that you would think so much of me that you would offer me such an important task. After all, many people think that I am totally out of my mind.”

Harry and Ginny exchanged an uncomfortable look. Luna had once again displayed her ability to say the cruel truth.

“No, you’re just unique, Luna,” said Harry slowly before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a two way mirror. “Here.”

“Thanks,” remarked Luna gratefully, as she took the mirror. “Any particular reason why I need a mirror.”

“This isn’t just any mirror Luna, you can use this to contact me or Ginny at any time,” explained Harry. “Just say our names and we should answer.”

“Doesn’t the Ministry frown on these things?” asked Luna, as she closely surveyed the mirror.

“Well yes,” said Harry, as he wondered where Luna was coming from.

“Excellent,” said Luna happily. “I wanted to make sure I didn’t accidentally do something that the Ministry approved on. That could seriously damage someone’s IQ, you know.”

Harry and Ginny nodded deciding the best policy was to agree as Luna excused herself. Ginny sat herself down on Harry’s lap and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend’s neck as Harry allowed himself to relax.

“Nice girl, but she doesn’t seem to have her head screwed on right sometimes,” remarked Ginny. “After all, she does fancy Ron.”

“Wait a minute, Luna fancies Ron?” asked Harry.

“Well, I think she fancies Ron, you can never tell with Luna,” said Ginny with a barely suppressed smirk as she stroked Harry’s hair fondly. “Of course, it doesn’t really matter to Ron anyway as he likes Hermione.”

“Really?” asked Harry absentmindedly as he kissed Ginny’s neck a few times before pausing to allow Ginny to respond.

“Yes, but she still isn’t too fond of Ron because of his attitude about you during your first couple of years at Hogwarts,” explained Ginny.

“Hermione does hold a grudge, doesn’t she?” remarked Harry in a final tone of voice before he began to snog his girlfriend. Needless to say this conversation didn’t continue, as the two teenagers continued to snog for an extraordinary amount of time, due to their ability to hold their breath thanks to their ninjitsu training.

After a short amount of time, Harry and Ginny ceased their activities.

“I suppose we better get back, as everyone must have wondered if something had happened,” said Harry reluctantly

“Well, they should understand that we have the ability to get side tracked,” said Ginny but at the same time she got to her feet, allowing Harry to rise to his feet. The two held hands as they strolled down the hallway towards the Great Hall. Harry and Ginny attempted to resist the temptation to take a side trip into an unused classroom or broom closet, but they managed to keep their hormones in check.

As they reached the Great Hall, they were greeted with the grim looking, serious faces of Daphne, Theodore, Hailey, and Hermione.

“Harry, the Daily Prophet had some rather horrid news,” informed Hermione in frantic voice.

“The traditional, “hello Harry, how are you” greeting,” muttered Harry darkly before reaching forward. “I suppose I better see this.”

“Here Harry,” said Theodore quietly, as he handed his friend the paper.

Harry took the paper, with a certain amount of trepidation, before he began to read the article aloud.

Massive Azkaban Jailbreak and Four Aurors Murdered:

In a shocking event early this morning, the security of Azkaban prison has been breached once again, with twenty incarcerated prisoners escaping from the prison. All of the prisoners were accused of having ties to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named back during his horrific reign of terror. (more details on Page 8). Unfortunately, the four Aurors on duty guarding the island were slain through the jailbreak. The battered bodies of Steve Savage and Lawrence Morgan were found within the prison, the victims of a sliced throat and decapitation respectively. The bodies of the two other Aurors, Lindsey Tallows and Garth Hammer were unaccounted for, but the Ministry strongly believed they have been slaughtered as well.

The Ministry is at a loss to the motive behind this breakout. There is circumstantial evidence that these ex-Death Eaters have joined up with Sirius Black and Bellatrix Lestrange, who escaped from the prison two and a half years ago.

“Well, there is a chance that they are half right,” muttered Ginny but Harry raised his hand to silence Ginny.

The only clue that the Department of Magical Law Enforcement could uncover from the prison was a small black piece of cloth with a red foot shaped object on it.

Harry went pale at that last section. He realized exactly what it meant the moment he read it.

“No, no, no,” muttered Harry, his face going completely paper white. “Voldemort, Shredder, Voldemort and Shredder, Voldemort and Shredder, of all the things to happen and at the worst possible time.”

Daphne, Theodore, Hermione, Hailey, and Ginny exchanged dark looks as Harry didn’t even bother to finish the article. His two most dangerous enemies had joined forces. Even in Harry’s worst nightmares, he would have dismissed it as a paranoid delusion but yet the proof was in front him.

“Harry, now what?” asked Ginny in a tentative voice.

“I don’t know Ginny, I just don’t know,” said Harry in a shaky voice. “I’m suddenly not feeling well.”

Harry turned before he slowly walked in no direction in particular, as he just wanted to be left alone with his thoughts. He seriously feared for the lives of everyone close to him because of this new deadly alliance between Saki and Tom. The combined forces of Shredder and Voldemort along with their respective minions might be too much for Harry to even handle.