Hunting The Traitor

A Puzzle of Unpleasant Pieces

Gryffindor Tower literally buzzed with excitement. The end of the year exams were finally over, and the next morning the students would be on their way home on board of the Hogwarts express.

The Gryffindor Common Room was packed with students who were discussing their exam results or using the last moments at school for another game of wizards chess and exploding snap. Any observer might get the impression that the whole house was assembled in the room.

Nobody really took notice when the portrait hole opened and Sirius Black strode into the common room, a smug grin on his face. The holidays might be near, but he wouldn't be The Great Sirius Black, Prankster Par Excellence if he would let the Slytherins leave the castle without a little surprise to remember him over the holidays. Bless those little house elfs, they had been more than willing to let him inspect the next morning's breakfast in the kitchens. And all the Slytherins who would be unlucky enough to eat their porridge in the morning would find themselves in a rather funny predicament when they got off the train in the evening.

Though Sirius was grinning, he would have enjoyed the prank even more if he was able to share it with his friends. But James and Lily had been snogging the entire afternoon, as if they would never see each other again after the next morning, and Peter had been fawning over a rather attractive sixth year Hufflepuff ever since lunch. Not that the shy little Peter would ever overcome his fear and ask her for a date, sometimes even Sirius wondered how on earth Peter had ever been sorted into Gryffindor.

With Prongs and Wormtail ruled out, Sirius had spent half an hour searching for Remus before he had gone into the kitchens on his own. Remus had not been in the library and not out on the grounds, and after he had checked at Hagrid's, Sirius had been far too lazy to once more climb the stairs to Gryffindor tower. But that didn't mean he couldn't tell his friends about it now.

His blue eyes darting across the faces in the crowded room, he soon spotted Peter in an armchair in front of the fireplace and went over.

"Hey Pete."

Peter looked up from the book he had been reading and smiled.

"Hey Sirius, where have you been?"

"Oh Pete, if you hadn't been Hufflepuff-chasing I would have invited you to come along. I've been in the kitchens."

Peter's eyes widened, a kitchen raid was something he was up to at any time of day. But Sirius only smirked and raised his hand.

"No, no kitchen raid. Rather breakfast preparations. But you'll have to wait until tomorrow on the train until you see the result. That's the punishment for neglecting your prankster duties."

Peter raised a pale blond eyebrow.

"Anything I should know? Which food to eat and which to avoid, something like that?"

"Only if you plan to take a seat at the Slytherin table..."

"Nope, can't say I intend to do that."

Sirius laughed. If anybody had asked him who was most afraid of the Slytherins, especially of Snape, then his immediate answer would have been Peter. The small and not really slim boy had been bullied by them ever since their first year and had never learned the art to stand up against their taunts. Of course, it was neither very easy nor even necessary to learn it if you were friends with James Potter and Sirius Black. If they called you their friend, they defended you in every situation.

"Seen James and Remus anywhere?"

Peter shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't know where Remus is, haven't seen him since lunch. Last time I saw James, he was sitting on the sofa in the corner, with Lily glued to his lap and mouth."

Sirius laughed loudly and with a ruffle across Peter's already thinning out hair he went over to search for his friend. He wouldn't be Sirius Black if he allowed James to snog his girlfriend for hours without interruption. Not that he didn't like Lily or the fact that she was James' girlfriend, not at all. Lily was a cute and bright girl, and if they were completely honest every of his friends was to a small extend in love with her. She was their princess, but that didn't mean she was spared the taunts that came along with the package. Being James' girlfriend meant being accepted by their little gang, and that meant getting along with Sirius, Remus and Peter or you were out of it. Oh, and Lily got along, with all of them. But that didn't hinder her from doubting James' choice of friends every other day.

As Peter had said, James was sitting on a sofa in the corner, Lily on his lap. Sirius doubted that they had even moved ever since Peter had left them on their own.

With a smirk that would have honoured every Malfoy, Sirius let himself drop next to James, startling him so that he dropped Lily quite unceremoniously to the ground.

"Hey Jamie, what's up?"

James didn't pay him more attention than was necessary to shoot a murdering glance, then he lend Lily a helping hand and pulled her back onto the sofa.

"You alright Lils?"

Lily grimaced while rubbing her backside, and she too shot Sirius a scolding glance.

"Yeah. Just keep him under control in the future, otherwise I can't guarantee for anything."

She pulled out her wand and waved it threateningly in front of Sirius' face, but the twinkle in her eyes betrayed that she would never consider using Sirius as a test object for her charms.

Sirius smiled one of his famous million-candle-smiles that even melted McGonagall's heart from time to time.

"Oh, come on Lils, you love me. Just admit that you couldn't imagine a life without me."

Lily rolled her eyes towards the ceiling.

"A life without Sirius Black? That would be like dying and going to heaven!"

With a sigh James turned towards his friend.

"And what have you been up to lately?"

Sirius grinned.

"Oh, quite much. While you have been tongue-battling with Lily here I have been using the talents given to me."

James groaned, fully well knowing that Sirius once more had done something worth a detention. He wondered whether anybody in the history of Hogwarts before had ever managed to delay their trip home because they had had to hand-clean cauldrons.

"Do I really want to know, Padfoot?"

Sirius shrugged his shoulders and cocked his head in a very dog-like way. James shook his head. He would have to tell Sirius how much he started adopting Padfoot's features lately. He was drawn out of his line of thought however by Sirius' voice.

"Huh?"

"Earth to Jamie, earth to Jamie! You're still with us? I was asking whether you have seen Remus."

James' forehead frowned in thought, then he shook his head.

"No, not really. Strange, I hadn't even realized."

Sirius just raised an eyebrow.

"Jamie, no offence meant, but you wouldn't have realized if a Hungarian Horntail had devastated the Common Room, you were far too occupied with...you know."

He made a vague gesture in the air which James decided better not to comment. Sirius got up from the sofa.

"Well, I'll have a look for good old Moony, guess he's in the dorm. I wonder why, though, with everybody here celebrating the end of the school year. You two continue wherever you left, just keep in mind that there are children present."

With this he turned around towards the staircase and quickly ducked without even looking back. He knew Lily far too good by now, so the pillow she had thrown didn't come as a surprise.

With a stifled chuckle, he jumped up the stairs and went towards their dormitory. James and Lily no doubt had already forgotten that he had been there.

He opened the door to what he first thought was an empty dormitory. Only on a closer look, he realized through the half-closed curtains around Remus' bed that his friend indeed was in the room as well.

"Hey Moony. Guess what I've just come up with for the Slytherins tomorrow. Jamie didn't really want to listen, but then again he had other things in his mind - and in his mouth if you get my meaning."

Sirius stepped closer to Remus' bed and frowned his forehead as he received no reply. Cautiously, he stepped closer.

"Moony? You here?"

A muffled grunting sound came from Remus' bed which could have been an affirmative, a negation or the sound of a hippogriff in heat. Basically, it didn't really sound like Remus at all and that worried Sirius a little. Sirius opened the curtain of Remus' bed just a little further.

"Remus? Something wrong? Why do you hide up here when everybody's celebrating?"

"Don't want to party. Leave me alone."

For a moment Sirius wondered what had happened to his friend's voice, until he realized that it sounded as if muffled through a pillow. He drew the curtain back completely and sat down on the edge of the mattress.

Remus lay in his bed, curled up into a ball and a pillow clenched over his head. Something Remus didn't normally do and it immediately worried Sirius.

"Remus, what's wrong? Talk to me, please."

Remus shook his head under the pillow. But he should have known that Sirius wouldn't leave it at that.

"Remus..."

With a sharp yank, he pulled away the pillow from Remus and forced his friend to look into his eyes.

"Okay. I know that something is wrong because normally you don't hide away in your bed and try to shut out the world. So either you tell me right now, or you'll listen to me pestering you until you finally give in. First way is a lot faster, but if you prefer the latter, I'm prepared."

Remus sighed and decided to try whether ignoring his friend would work. It did, for nearly twenty seconds.

"Remus Jonathan Lupin, don't think that you can play stupid with me. Something is bothering you, I can see that."

No, it obviously didn't work, Remus should have known.

With a deep sigh, he put himself upright into a sitting position and pulled his knees to his chest.

"I got a letter from home today."

Sirius got a heavy lump in his throat. Had something happened with Remus' family? There were a lot of students lately that received the dreaded letters in which they were told that one of their family members had fallen victim to an attack of Dark Magic. James father was an Auror, and through him they had received more and more disturbing news throughout the last term. It seemed that Voldemort was getting more powerful by the minute. Throughout the school year, more and more attacks against muggle-born wizards and witches had been reported, and also those of mixed muggle - wizard relations were no longer safe from Voldemort and his followers. Not less than eight student had received notice that one or both of their parents had been killed during the last eight months. And though Remus' muggle mother had left the family some time ago, Sirius didn't want to imagine his friend being in such a position.

"What was it about? Has something happened?"

Remus shook his head quickly when he heard the genuine concern in his friend's voice.

"No, not really. Actually nothing's wrong, at least nothing has happened. I'm just behaving like a little child, nothing is wrong. Really."

He looked into Sirius' eyes and immediately knew that his friend didn't believe him.

"So you got a letter from home saying that nothing is wrong at all, and out of sheer joy about these news you go and hide yourself. Really believable story Remus. Come on, somebody with your brains at least should have come up with a more credible story. So, what is wrong?"

"My dad won't be home much during the holiday."

Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"Home alone? You worry because you'll have the house all for yourself for nearly two months? Oh, now I know - you came here alone to plan the party!"

Remus only shook his head.

"I don't think there will be much opportunity for parties, Sirius. Not with Janus home all the time."

Sirius' face fell immediately. Janus. He should have guessed as much. Remus' four year older brother had graduated from Beauxbatons two years ago and now worked for the French 'Ministère de la Magie'. He had only met him once, but from all that Remus had told him he must be a real pain in the ass. And to say that those two didn't get along would be like saying that Snape had a small problem with his hair hygiene. Not that Remus talked much about Janus, on the contrary he avoided it whenever possible, but from what he had told, Remus' lycanthropy was a very sore topic between those two. When their family had been forced to move for the first (and definitely not the last) time because their neighbours had found out about Remus, he had been nine years old and forced to leave all his friends behind. And this had happened again and again until he had left for Beauxbatons at the age of eleven. And the fact that Remus' mother had left the family and run off with a muggle, leaving the wizarding world and her family completely behind her when Remus had been ten years old, had not helped matters between the two brothers either.

The fact that Remus was a werewolf had always been an easy target for Janus, a target he used mercilessly. Sirius didn't really want to imagine what it would be like for Remus to live with hi for two months straight.

"But why? I mean, isn't he busy at his Ministry, kissing the ass of his superior or something like that?"

Remus didn't even smile like he normally did when somebody said something against his older brother.

"Dad asked him to. He's got a lot of work to do over summer and he can't postpone it. And because Janus had a lot of holiday left, he asked him to take it to watch over me, because a fifteen year old can hardly be left alone."

He rose his voice in a mock imitation of his father, but there was no mirth behind his voice.

"I would have understood it during the time around full moon, but the entire time? Dad will be home for about four weeks, but only five days or so straight. The rest of the time I'll have to listen to how much shame I've brought on the family and that every fucking thing in this fucking world is my bloody fault. So, now you know it. I'd be glad if you could leave me alone again now."

Sirius said nothing, but after some moments he grabbed Remus' hand and tried to drag him out of his bed.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to prevent you from getting a depression. Now, as I see it, you'll have two more months to wallow in your self-pity, so you should enjoy your last evening of freedom. Come on, let's tease James and Lils a little, and then I'll tell you what I've planned for the Slytherins tomorrow."

Remus only rolled his eyes, knowing fully well that he would lose this battle of wills against his friend. Sirius' next words however, made him look up again.

"Oh, and about your brother..."

"Yes?"

Remus asked this cautiously, he knew only too well what would happen if he encouraged Sirius in whatever he was planning now.

"I think I have an idea for Janus. An every-day surprise in case he bothers you too much."

Now Remus was worried.

"And that would be?"

Sirius put an arm around Remus' shoulder and guided him out of the dormitory.

"Tell me, has Janus ever received a howler?"

At this, even Remus could no longer suppress a laugh.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Janus had not needed Fletcher's confirmation of what he feared had happened. Not really. The completely empty front yard of the wizarding prison, the unguarded entrance and the eerie silence that was no longer disturbed by desperate screams from the prisoners told him everything he needed to know. He had been to Azkaban many times, bringing new prisoners in or fetching prisoners for further questioning, he instinctively knew that the prison had been raided. The only question he could not answer was how.

Pushing this question into the back of his mind for now, Janus once more turned to the old Auror. He knew Mundungus Fletcher from various occasions, but nevertheless he wondered why it was exactly him who had awaited their arrival. Truly, Fletcher was the connecting link between the Auror Units and the Department of Mysteries, but normally he only supervised Janus' and Lucas' missions when both Ministry organs were involved. But today Janus was fairly sure that no Aurors were here, at least not yet.

It was Lucas who finally uttered the question.

"Fletcher, how many teams are already in?"
"Seven teams already arrived, you're the eighth. I was told that ten more would be sent, but it'll take them a couple of minutes longer as they weren't on duty when the emergency call came."

Janus nodded.

"Your teams or our teams?"

"Yours."

"No Aurors?"

Fletcher shook his head.

"Fudge explicitly ordered not to send Aurors, otherwise we'd already have at least a hundred men here."

Fletcher didn't need to speak out aloud what that meant. If Fudge was keeping the Aurors away from the raided prison, then he wanted to hush it up. Nobody would notice a small group of Unspeakables investigate a crime scene, dozens of Auror squads on the other hand would definitely be noticed. Not to mention that the more Aurors you brought to a crime scene, the bigger the possibility became that one of them would let something slip.

But there would be time to talk about this later, right now Janus and Lucas needed to know what the situation and their orders were.

"So, what happened?"

Fletcher shrugged his shoulders.

"The morning shift arrived half an hour ago, and they immediately reported that the entrance was unguarded and the prisoners weren't there anymore. I was sent here with three teams, we evacuated the morning shift and set up Anti-Apparition wards. Only portkeys work, and those only to get in, not to get out. Nobody comes or leaves without my knowledge. The teams that have previously arrived are already in the building, searching if any of the intruders are still here and how many prisoners are left."

Janus nodded.

"The night shift?"

"We haven't found them yet."

"The Dementors?"

Fletcher sighed.

"They're gone. Whether willingly or not, I can't tell yet."

Lucas twisted his wand between the fingers of his right hand, a gesture he always made when he was processing information, trying to prepare for what was awaiting them. He stopped the twisting and looked at Fletcher.

"Our orders?"

Fletcher pulled out a makeshift map of the prison complex, pointing at it while he spoke.

"Three of the teams are covering the north-wing, two are in the main complex and another two in the dungeons. You're to cover the east-wing, the high-security complex. So far I've not received any feedback from the other teams, but they're only in for a couple of minutes yet.

Your orders are to locate the prisoners that are still left and to secure them in their cells in case they're out. If you find any of the intruders left, arrest them. Stun and bind, don't kill - explicit order. We want to be able to still question them. You're to report back every thirty minutes, in case that there's an emergency send a signal. I'll see what help I can get through to you then.

I'll send the next two teams that arrive to cover your backs, but until then you're on your own. Any questions?"

Lucas shook his head and so did Janus, his eyes still fixed on the map, trying to figure out the best strategy. During the years of working together, it had proven to be most efficient if Janus figured out the strategy, he had a knack for finding the most effective way. After some short moments, he drew his eyes away from the map and nodded at Lucas.

"Let's go."

"Good luck Lupin, Spalding."

With a final nod at the older Auror, the two Unspeakables entered the building. Slightly less than five minutes had passed since their arrival.

The entrance hall of Azkaban was unusually silent, that was the first impression Janus got when they entered the prison. Of course he should have expected this, but nevertheless it unsettled him to some extend. Whenever he had been here before, the entrance area had been closely guarded, at least five wardens had been stationed there to thoroughly check every visitor for concealed weapons or other means of escape. But what bothered Janus most was the creepy silence.

Though the cell complexes were shut off from the entrance area, the shouting and screams of the prison inmates had always penetrated through the doors. There had never been silencing spells on the separate cell complexes, one of the more subtle methods of torture that were practiced in Azkaban. Every prisoner should be able to hear the terrified screams of the other inmates when the Dementors were once more making their rounds through the prison, the prisoners were supposed to always be reminded that there was no single moment of mental peace for them while they were imprisoned here.

But now the only sounds that could be heard in the wide hall were the muffled footsteps Janus and Lucas produced.

Lucas' analyzing mind immediately registered that no signs in this room hinted that a fight might have taken place here. This alone was strange, even if there had been some sort of riot serving as a distraction in another part of the prison, Ministry guidelines declared that at least two members of the shift that was on duty had to remain in the entrance area, no matter what. He stored this piece of information for later, already contemplating the idea that one or more of the guards on shift had been involved in the organization of the raid.

"This way."

Without hesitation, Lucas followed Janus' lead down the corridor on their right, his eyes never ceasing to check their surroundings for possible attackers. Both men had their wands drawn, ready to let the curses fly in case they were attacked. First stun, then ask questions, a strategy that had more than once saved both their lives already.

Janus was sprinting up the staircase at the end of the corridor, heading for the high-security complex. Upon every corner he had to round, he first carefully checked that their way was clear, leaving the coverage of their backs to Lucas in absolute trust. The first lesson that every Auror and especially every Unspeakable learned was that either you learned to rely on your partner completely, trusting your life to him or her without hesitation or doubt, or you were out of it. Working on missions like those professions required didn't work out if both members of the team were dividing their attention between two things at once. Janus and Lucas had learned that lesson quite soon, and both knew each other well enough by now to simply know that they could rely on each other. Janus knew that while Lucas was watching their backs he would immediately get to know when danger came from that direction, just as well as Lucas knew that Janus would not lead him into hostile confrontation without a warning.

Janus didn't know whether he should be relieved that they met nobody on the way to their destination or whether this should worry him even more. The prison seemed to be completely empty, and if all the intruders and the prisoners should have really escaped before the alarm had been raised then this hinted at a well and carefully planned raid. This possibility was not one Janus liked to consider, it meant that whoever had carried out the attack was far too powerful and capable for his liking.

They reached the entrance to the high-security ward without a single occurrence out of the ordinary, and both men for a moment just stared at the open door.

The door behind which the most dangerous criminals in the wizarding world were held should not be open.

With a quick spell, Janus found that all the wards that were usually guarding the door had been taken down, and had been for quite some time now. The magical signatures they had left were already beginning to fade.

From his previous visits to the prison, Janus knew that behind the door lay a long stretched corridor with ten cells on each side, none of the cell-doors being exactly opposite to another. The prisoners were meant to hear the others' screams, but allowing them to have eye-contact was something the Ministry was carefully trying to avoid. Though nobody had ever managed to break out of Azkaban, none of those responsible were willing to take a chance that it could happen in the future.

'Doesn't seem they have to worry about that from now on,' Janus thought grimly, while another part of his brain was already busy thinking up the best strategy for them to proceed. He looked at his partner who was eying the corridor behind them warily.

"Okay, we'll take the cells from front to back. That way, if someone is still in there they will be trapped and can't get past us. I'll take the cells on the left, you those on the right. One remains in the corridor while the other is in the cell. Quick check only, making sure that nobody is in the cell anymore and if they are, we'll lock them in after the standard check up for wands or other weapons, no matter if prisoners or intruders. Let's not spend too much time in the cells, I don't like the idea that one of us has to guard the corridor in both directions on his own."

Lucas nodded his consent and both men proceeded behind the door, Lucas still covering their backs while Janus searched out for anybody jumping out of one of the cells to attack them.

The first cell was on the left side, so Janus quickly made sure that Lucas was in the corridor, his back covered by the wall, and entered the small room.

Like all Azkaban cells, the room was barely large enough for a grown man to walk in, with two steps maximum it was crossed from one side to the other. The only light in the cell was provided not by a window as such, but by small slits in the wall just below the ceiling. The slits were barred and enchanted so that no prisoner could scratch the rock around the bars. Not that the slits would have provided enough space for a grown man to push through anyway, even without the bars, they were maybe slightly less than two inches high.

The steel-bar door of the cell was wide open, and upon entering the cell Janus only found the ragged mattress that was covered by a well-worn blanket and a pathetic excuse for a pillow in the far end corner. Otherwise, the cell was empty. With a quick look at the ceiling, Janus went out of the cell again and shut and locked the door behind them. That way, they could secure that nobody hid in a cell they had already checked and considered empty.

He shook his head at Lucas, indicating that the cell had been empty, and while his partner went into the first cell on the right side of the corridor, Janus leaned at the wall and let his eyes wander across the corridor to his left and right.

They repeated this procedure with fourteen other cells, every time one of them was covering the corridor while the other one was searching the cells. Every time they came out without finding anything, the cells were empty.

This changed however when they came to the second-to-last cell on the left side of the corridor. Once more, Lucas had taken up his position in the corridor, but before Janus even entered the cell he felt that something was different this time. Even before he looked closer into the small, dim-lighted room, he knew that it was not empty.

Most other men would have turned around and retched the contents of their stomachs onto the corridor as soon as they had lain their eyes onto what Janus saw now, but Janus Lupin had seen worse. He might have been only thirty-one years old, but he had worked for wizarding governments for more than ten years now, and four and a half of them in the Department of Mysteries. It didn't need a Dark Lord to bring out the worst in some wizards, and by now Janus was used to seeing blood and intestines in large amounts, macabre as it might sound.

Scanning the room with his eyes, Janus saw the bodies of five people lying in the cell. At least he guessed that it were five people, there were a couple of body parts lying around which he could not immediately attribute to one of the corpses. The bodies were lying in a huge pool of already drying blood and they looked as if their death had not necessarily come upon them by magic. Janus guessed that it had either been cutting and detaching charms that had been carried out clumsily, or rather the use of knife-like sort of weapons. The latter possibility seemed more likely to him right now, though one of the corpses showed wounds that seemed to have been inflicted by something else. Beyond his ability to block it, suddenly an image of Remus after a particularly nasty full moon when he had been seventeen years old came to Janus' mind. Remus had been fairly upset about something before his transformation, about what, Janus did not know, and in the morning they had found him literally shredded in the garden shack. Claw marks...bite wounds...Janus' mind was racing. Somehow, the marks on this one body reminded him of the wounds his brother inflicted on himself in his canine form, but he quickly dismissed this thought into the back of his brain. Last night had not been a full moon, so this could not have been done by a werewolf. He would think about it later, he had already spent too much time in this cell for his own liking. Not that the sight of the corpses bothered him too much, but Lucas was alone in the corridor and that was something Janus tried to keep as short as possible. It wasn't possible for a single man to guard a corridor completely into both directions, it was better if he left now.

With one last look onto the bodies in the cell he confirmed the information he had already taken in the very first moment he had entered the cell.

Janus left the cell, locking the door behind him and turned to his partner.

"I guess we've found parts of the night-shift."

Not really knowing why, Janus had to suppress a macabre chuckle about the wordplay he had unwillingly made, but Lucas had not seen the state of the corpses in the cell, so he didn't react to it.

Instead, he remained calm and professional about it, death and bodies were nothing new to him, either.

"How many?"

"From what I could count, five. But it's hard to tell, some of them seem to have been torn apart. Literally. They're wearing warden's uniforms, and unless somebody took the time to dress prisoner or Death Eater bodies in their robes, it's the guards."

Lucas thought for a moment, then nodded. He'd have a look at the cell later, once the building was declared searched and safe.

Relying that Janus would guard the corridor, he went into the second-to-last cell on the right.

The search of the remaining cells on the corridor provided the same results than the first sixteen. Each of them was empty except from the standard 'equipment' Azkaban provided its prisoners with, and none of them showed any signs of a struggle or a fight.

After they had checked the last cell, Lucas realized that they were already ten minutes late with their half-hour signal to Fletcher. He quickly shot some green sparks out of the ventilation slit at the end of the corridor, knowing that the old Auror would see this as a signal of everything being under control, then he went back to his partner.

Now that all the cells were sealed and they had only to watch one end of the corridor for possible attackers, the two men could take some time to gather and compare their impression of the situation.

Lucas was the first to speak.

"What we have is an unguarded entrance hall with no sign of the wardens that should have been there. So we need an explanation for why at least two wards left their post, completely ignoring the Ministry guidelines. Then we have an apparently empty prison with no signs left of those who have raided it. The high-security prisoners have escaped, the wards in front of the high-security complex have been taken down. On purpose, they didn't show signs of having been breached by force.

Who knows the codes to take down the wards in front of that door?"

Janus looked into Lucas' brown eyes and without hesitation answered.

"The Minister of Magic Fudge, head of Magical Law Enforcement Ryder, Governor of Azkaban McKinley and the twenty wardens that are on duty.

How often are the codes changed?"

"With each shift. The new shift is equipped with an envelope containing the codes that can only be opened and read on the island, inside of the wards around the building. The Minister and the other officials that are not present at Azkaban receive the codes at the same time, and it's made sure that they can only open their respective envelopes with nobody else present."

"Security wards around the island and the building?"

Lucas sighed and thought for a moment.

"Untraceable for apparating in, portkeys don't work, apparating out only from the room behind the warden's office. In case of an emergency there's a code to disable the non-tracking spells so that help can apparate directly to the island. The code is kept in the warden's office, in the safe, and only the head warden knows the combination. In case that apparition is enabled by using that code, alarms immediately set off at the Ministry and in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Otherwise, the island is only approachable by boat. One boat on the island, one on the mainland, all boat movement around the island is tracked and recorded at the Ministry."

This little game of questions and answers was Janus' and Lucas' approach to every new case. During those brainstorming sessions, both made sure that none of them had information the other hadn't, and so they tried to find a first analysis of the situation.

Janus pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger and closed his eyes for a moment while he thought.

"How did they come to the island?"

"Not without help from the inside. Either someone at the Ministry is involved and disabled one of the security wards around the island without anybody else noticing, or someone on the island. But the latter is not probable as the alarms would have set off as soon as somebody on the island had taken down any of the wards."

"Or they had help from both sides."

Lucas shrugged.

"Possible, but I don't think it's likely. The more people you involve, the more likely it is that the plan fails."

"But they needed the codes to bring down the wards in front of the high-security complex."

Again, Lucas only shrugged his shoulders.

"They could have tortured it out of one of the guards. Or they were already there when the night-shift arrived with the new codes. Of course it's possible that one of the wardens was involved, but we'll only find out about that once they're all accounted for. If the body of one ward is missing, then we'll know. Until then, it's only a possibility. I guess at the moment the more important question now is where the lack in the Ministry is, because without one the raid would have been noticed before the day-shift arrived.

What do you reckon happened here during the raid, forgetting about how the intruders came to the island for now?"

Janus looked around the corridor and into the cell in front of him as if the answer to that question was lying in there.

"They came to the island, we don't know how yet. If you ask me how many, I'd say at least twice the number of the wardens, to clearly outnumber them. Maybe even more, because even Death Eaters are careful around their peers, especially if those have been imprisoned for such a long time. They couldn't know what state of mind they were in.

They got the codes for the wards inside of the building, either by force or because they had an ally amidst the wardens. Then they have worked their way through the prison, systematically I'd say. It's of no use to plan a raid so carefully and then have freed prisoners running all over the place in chaos. I guess they started here, with those who have been closest to You-Know-Who."

While Janus was talking, Lucas went to cell seventeen again and opened the door. He stepped inside of the cell, still listening to what Janus was saying, taking in the picture there in on his own. Just like Janus, his face didn't show any sign of uneasiness or any other emotion while looking at the massacre in front of him. When Janus had finished talking, Lucas left the cell and locked it again.

"I reckon those wardens either were the traitors who were useless after they had given over the codes, or they were trying to stop the intruders from freeing the prisoners. Looks like usage of knives or detaching charms, except from one of the bodies. The wounds on this body don't have sharp edges, they look rather jagged, like..."

"Claw- or bite wounds." Janus finished for him. Lucas looked up in astonishment, but then nodded. He had not thought about this himself, but now that Janus said it, he had to agree. Those wounds looked as if they had been afflicted by a wild and raging animal.

He straightened and turned to leave, gesturing Janus to follow.

"Let's get back down and see what the other teams have found. I'd like to know what happened to those prisoners who were in no physical or mental condition to leave on their own."

"Just one moment."

Lucas turned around to find that Janus had once more stepped in front of the cell that contained the bodies.

"What are you doing?"
"Looking whom this cell belonged to. There's no blood on the floor anywhere here in the corridor, so those wardens have been killed in that cell. I don't think the Death Eaters had the time or will to clean up after them. I'd like to know whose cell this has been."

Lucas nodded and watched as Janus pulled out the small card that contained the name of the prisoner. The cards were attached next to the door, but were folded and the names could only be read if the card was pulled out of it's holding.

Lucas watched as Janus unfolded the card and then he saw Janus do something he had not seen him do for years. The moment Janus read the name on the card, his face paled into a sickening white colour and his hands began to shake ever so slightly. Intrigued, Lucas stepped closer and looked over his partner's shoulder.

Janus could not believe his eyes when he read the name on the card. Though he had not heard that name in nearly six years now, he immediately recognized it. How could he have forgotten about him, why had he not remembered earlier that he too had been imprisoned right here, in the high-security complex? Of course he had been, being Voldemort's second in command.

Janus knew that he had paled and he realized that his hands started shaking. Willing his body to overcome this unprofessional behaviour, his thoughts drifted to Remus. He was not allowed to tell Remus about it, but he knew that from now on he would have to keep more than just one eye on his little brother and Harry.

With now steadier hands he handed the card over to Lucas, whose eyes also opened up wider in recognition as he read the name.

The cell in which the wardens had been slaughtered had belonged to Sirius Black.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Janus watched his little brother from across the table with a mixture of amusement and interest in his eyes. The full moon had been the day before yesterday, and though the transformations had not even been close to how horrible they must have been the previous month, Remus still looked tired and strained.

Nevertheless, Janus knew that he needed to get over with this now, there was no other chance for him.

Letting out a small laugh that drew Remus' attention to him, he started.

"So you suddenly came up with the hilarious idea that you'd be the perfect guardian for Harry Potter. Care to tell me where that thought suddenly came from?"
Remus shrugged his shoulders.

"I visited him at his relative's house. His aunt and uncle are muggles and they despise everything magical, including Harry. The child is neglected there, he doesn't get any attention, let alone emotional care. The sooner Harry leaves them, the better for his development, it's not healthy for him to grow up there."

"Why do you think you can estimate the situation? As far as I know, you have no experience with childcare, at least none that's worth mentioning."

Remus looked up, his gaze angry.

"I've known Harry ever since the day he was born. He's always been a happy and active child, not shy and withdrawn like he is now."

Janus leaned back in the kitchen chair and took a sip of his tea.

"The child's parents have just died, it could be a reaction to the emotional strain he suffers under because of that. Given some time, he'll get over it and be 'happy and active' again."

Remus feverishly shook his head.

"No. I know that this won't happen, and not only because I've seen Harry. I've also talked to his aunt and she admitted straight into my face that Harry doesn't have the same ranking in the family that her own son has. The boy doesn't have any toys to play with and nobody pays him any attention. His aunt calls him a freak, and that's exactly how she treats him. If Harry stays there, the only outcome of 'giving it some time' will be that he eventually starts to believe what she tells him."

"Remus, even if his relatives are proven not to be good guardians for him, what on Earth makes you think that you'd be better? As I said, you have no experience in childcare whatsoever."

"I know Harry and he knows me. He has always liked spending time with me and I love the child. I know that I could take care of him, I'd be willing to learn everything I don't know yet. After all, Lily and James didn't have any experience with children as well before Harry was born, and still they managed."

Janus shook his head.

"How do you plan to support the child? A nearly two-year old can't live off love alone."

"I already talked to the people at the University, I'll take up teaching my classes again. And as soon as I've finished my doctor's degree, I'll open up that bookstore with Claire, as we've been planning to do for years now. The sponsorship for the shop is already arranged, so there's no problem. And once it's running, it'll provide enough for Harry and me to live off."

Janus sighed and closed his eyes. His brother was stubborn once he had an idea in his mind, but unfortunately for Janus now he also tended to plan everything very thoroughly. Time to pull out the big guns. It might seem unfair, but it was only for Remus' best.

"So, even if you're found able to provide emotional support, childcare and a secure financial background for the child, two big problems remain: One, you're not the child's legal guardian. You aren't related to him in any way and there are no official papers stating you as his guardian. Two, you are a werewolf."

Remus slammed his hand down on the kitchen table, his anger now threatening to boil over.

"I know that I'm not his guardian, but it would not be the first time that a child is given over to somebody who had no blood ties whatsoever with the child! Lily and James would have appointed me one of his guardians if the Ministry regulations allowed it.

I know that werewolves aren't allowed to have children and I can understand the reason for that law. But there's no danger whatsoever to transfer the curse to a child simply by having it under my care!"

Janus only raised an eyebrow.

"Except from when you bite him."

Remus rolled his eyes.

"I did never say that I'd be around on full moon. Dad already agreed to take care of him during that time, and I'd leave long before moonrise and come home long after moonset, so I would be no danger to the child."

"Remus, there are cases proving that werewolves have transformed quite some time before or after the moon came up respectively set. It's a danger you can never rule out completely."

Remus jumped off his chair and started pacing in front of the table.

"There were two cases..."

"Two reported cases, that doesn't mean there weren't more." Janus interrupted him.

"Alright, two reported cases of transformation independent from moonrise and -set. But in both cases exceptional circumstances were the reason, circumstances that I can avoid. One of them had been meddling around with potions that contained Wolfsbane on the respective day, the other case happened after a near-splinching apparition over a distance farther than five-hundred miles, while a fugitive was trying to escape a prison. I don't think that any of those cases can be brought up as evidence against my capability to take care of Harry, alright?"

Janus watched his brother's outburst with something akin to disappointment in his eyes. Seeing his gaze, Remus sat down on the chair again and gave his older brother a challenging look.

"Fact remains that you are a werewolf. It's against the law that werewolves adopt children or are allowed guardianship for a child. As long as this law remains, you have a snowball's chance in hell to get custody for Harry, you better understand that now and spare yourself the disappointment afterwards."

"I'm working on finding the loophole in this law, alright? It's not fair to come up with this argument now, you know that I don't have a reply for it yet!"

Janus rubbed his face with his hands before he looked up at his brother again.

"You've shrugged your shoulders in the beginning, I would let that be in an interrogation with Ministry officials. It doesn't look too good, gives you an air of arrogance, as if you knew the obvious truth and the officials just didn't see it. Do never give them the feeling that you're feeling superior in your knowledge about Harry or the verdict is against you immediately.

Otherwise you were holding up fine until you started pacing around the room.

Remus, I know that you're emotionally involved, and deeply so, in this case, but you shouldn't allow yourself to lose control like you did in the end. That way they'll think you behave just like that when Harry's around. That means: No pacing, no shouting, no slamming your hands on the table. Do not insult any of them or it's over before it has even begun. They might insult you, or let it show that they don't consider you an equal human being, they probably will behave like assholes towards you, but there's no way that you can allow yourself to repeat that behaviour.

And don't start with things like 'it's unfair', that's far too childish of an argument to be helpful for you.

You were good in pointing out how Harry is neglected by his relatives. The first step is to convince them that Harry is not treated correctly with his family. The second step is that you make it believable that you care about the boy, that you love him. You're holding up fine with those, you could even emphasize them more. But don't become too mushy about it, that wouldn't be good either.

In the questioning, they will bring up the issue that you're a werewolf, there's no way we can avoid that. We need to work on a way around the law that states werewolves can't adopt children. Until we've found that, we won't have a chance.

The second big problem is that you're not mentioned in any paper to be the child's legal guardian. As this is connected to the law itself, maybe we'll find a solution for that in our research as well.

But I don't think it would be wise to approach the Ministry with the petition for guardianship as long as we haven't progressed with this."

The look in Remus' eyes clearly told Janus that his brother was not willing to wait any longer than absolutely necessary. Janus sighed and patted Remus somewhat awkwardly on the arm.

"I'm sure that you'll be doing alright in the questioning, but you have to see that we need a stable basis for the petition before we hand it in. I know that you don't want to wait, but impatience could cost you the only chance you might get for this."

Remus slowly nodded, though waiting still wasn't an alternative he easily accepted.

He had been very surprised that Janus had dropped by this morning. Though his father had not told him what exactly had happened between them all those weeks ago, Remus had not missed that an argument had taken place.

They had not spoken about anything that had happened ever since Halloween, Janus had merely told him that he thought Remus had lost his marbles if he thought he'd really be able to get custody for Harry.

Janus had far more insight into Ministry procedures than Remus had, and he had told him quite blankly that his chances were slim anyway, but were equalling zero if he didn't have an insider helping him. And though Janus didn't know that much about the way the Department for Family Regulation worked either, he had agreed to help Remus with his search for a way around the regulations concerning werewolves as well as rehearsing the questionings with him.

This had been their first rehearsal, and Janus was honestly surprised how well Remus was already prepared for it. If they could convince the caseworkers that Harry needed to be taken from his relatives, then they 'only' needed to find a way to convince them that The Boy Who Lived would be best off living with a registered werewolf.

Janus wished that he had been set an easier task, like teaching magic to a squib or finding intelligent life in space. Or in Manchester, come to think of it.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Janus sighed.

"Why don't you lie down for a while, you look ready to collapse. Dad should be home with the books in a couple of hours, I'll wake you then."

Remus nodded and got up from the table. As he stood in the doorframe, he once more turned around.

"Thanks Janus."

Janus looked at his little brother and tried to smile encouragingly.

"You're welcome. Just do me one favour."

Remus raised an eyebrow.

"Which?"

Janus sighed. This would not be easy to say, but he felt he needed to remind Remus of it.

"Don't get too absorbed in the idea. It might work, but you know that our chances are really slim to get the custody. Just make sure that it's not the only straw you cling to."

Remus nodded uneasily and left the room.

Janus took another sip of his now cold tea and then buried his face in his hands.

"What have I gotten myself into now?"