Mark of Ancients

Chapter 11: SIRIUS

    Friday went well. All of the seventh years were in the Great Hall being told about their N.E.W.T.s which was perfect for Harry to sneak about the school and go mostly unnoticed. The rat he would pick up on the way. He was sure there would be some rats sneaking around outside Azkaban... Ron and Hermione were talking an awful lot about it, dropping him hints of what it's like, he thought.

    Harry snuck into the Restricted Section with ease that night when everyone left the commons. He was becoming very adept at doing it as he had done it many, many times before. Azkaban was a castle on an island somewhere. He didn't really need to know where because the book gave Apparating directions.

Apparate first to Hogsmeade.

Take Hogsmeade to Bristol.

Take Bristol to the island of Azkaban.

DO NOT APPARATE DIRECTLY INSIDE AZKABAN!

    Harry walked back to the Fat Lady, took off his cloak, gave the password ("Fire Quidditch") and stepped inside the portrait hole to see Ron and Hermione -- staring at him? Harry didn't know what to say, so he just said,

    "What?" short of breath.

    "We're going with you," said Ron, arms folded, looking quite stubborn. "The two of us decided since the first time you mentioned it. We aren't letting you go alone, you're nuts!" Harry brushed past them.

    "No you're not. What if something happens to you?"

    "What if something happens to YOU? What if the mark disappears? Go on, try it, see if it glitters." Harry turned around to look at Ron. He made his skin glitter... then glow perfect white...

    "I don't get it," said Harry, utterly confused, "but it's great because I'll be needing it." He grabbed a small vial holding Polyjuice Potion and some cheese to catch a rat with. "Fine. If you're going, grab whatever you want to take, put it in this box and I'll cover it with the Invisibility Cloak."

    "You have any idea how we're going to do this?"

    "Worked it out last night. Just hope the Dementors are fooled."

    "I think we should be ready to make them move around so we don't get seen if we don't have to be. I, for one, don't want them near me."

    "Right," said Harry. "Take the box." He watched as Hermione stuffed all three of their wands inside it, a Sneakoscope (lights up and spins when someone nearby isn't being truthful), Neville's Remembrall (smoke turns red when you forgot something), a small book entitled Demented Dementors and what looked like a miniature version of Harry's Firebolt. Surely she hadn't shrunk the real thing!

    "Hermione..."

    "Yes. Trust me." She took the box over to the girl's dormitory (all the girls were fast asleep) and opened her trunk. She stuffed what Harry could swear was a grenade into the box... "Ron?"

    "Oh, right. Here." Ron handed Hermione a small box that looked like something Fred and George had made for them.

    "You two really prepared didn't you..." said Harry, quite amazed and looking at the pile of stuff in the box.

    "There's - no - way - you could to do it alone," said Hermione.

    "All right then," said Ron, looking prepared. "Shall we?"

    "Right," said Harry, feeling some anxiety but confident. He grabbed both their hands. Hermione held the box with the cloak on top of it. His skin lit up the girl's dormitory as if it was day and then they were in Hogsmeade...

    ...then Bristol...

    ...then stared at a looming, dark castle overlooking an ocean. This was Azkaban. Their cloaks whipped madly in the strong winds. It was the dead of night and freezing cold. Harry grabbed his wand out of the box and floated the box just behind them.

    "Scared?" said Harry, feeling just the same.

    "Yep," said Ron just as Hermione said "Very," quickly. The three of them took a deep breath, gripped their cloaks closer to their freezing bodies and walked.

    "How do we get in?" asked Ron, looking at Hermione for the answer.

    "There's a dementor at each entrance. We could try to lure them away. There's at least one at every door and they fill up the corridors guarding prison cells. We have to be careful as to not attract attention when moving one."

    "We can't just kill them all, can we? Go on Harry, try Clades Ultimus!" Harry shook his head.

    "Ron... what if I end up killing myself with it?"

    "Besides," started Hermione, "Dementors are immune to magic. It's all in this book I brought with us. We better get moving."

    "Don't you want to know my idea?" said Harry. "We aren't getting inside that easy."

    "Spill it."

    "I was going to find a rat and transfigure it into the same dog Sirius transforms into. We leave it in the cell, Sirius transforms and we get out as fast and as innocent as possible." Hermione looked impressed. Harry was happy with himself.

    "Not bad, Harry," she said. She suddenly changed her look. "Ok, but where'd you get it from..." He had gotten the idea from looking inside Dumbledore's Pensieve, a jar you could fill with thoughts. Harry had found out from it that Barty Crouch's son was taken from Azkaban by replacing him with his mother and a little bit of Polyjuice Potion.

    "I'll tell you when I explain it to Sirius. Now, come on, we need a rat." There were several scurrying away from the front entrance right towards them.

    "Gotcha!" said Ron as he snatched a rat by the tail and picked it up. Harry pointed his wand at it, closed his eyes to picture Sirius as a dog in his head. His wand gave a quick shake, his skin felt hot and he opened his eyes. Ron was holding the tail of a dog that would pass for Sirius any day. "Nice. Now let's just hope he doesn't bite..." said Ron as the dog scratched an ear and wagged it's tail.

    "I'm not walking past one," said Harry. "I'm sick of fainting. Better find a way to make them all move."

    "Couldn't Harry just summon a big Patronus and scare them all away?" said Ron, thinking wishfully.

    "That won't work," said Hermione in a that-was-a-dumb-question kind've voice. "There's too many of them and they are supposed to suck your soul out you if you try something that dumb. We have our work cut out for us because they're also supposed to do it if you try to break inside." Both Harry and Ron gave the same gulp of anxiety.

    "So how the bloody hell?" said Ron.

    "You're the chess expert, Ron. Full of strategies. You got any ideas?" Ron stood straight and tall trying to look important. Hermione had a point.

    "Well..." he said, the last letter echoing on his tongue, stroking his chin... "Run!" he whispered as a half shout. The dementor patrolling the doorway had stepped around the side of the castle. If they ran fast enough they could make it inside the front without being noticed.

    "Alohomora," said Harry, skin glowing perfect white, wand pointed at the lock. It opened without a grudge and they were inside.

    From floor to ceiling, wall to wall, it was all gray stone. Dementors could be seen at every corner, pacing slowly back and forth as if just waiting to suck out another soul. Torches lined the walls, sparsely lighting the very tall corridors. The smell of dried blood and burnt flesh came like a tidal wave over their noses. People must have just been left here to die and then burned to get rid of the corpse. They had no idea where Sirius could be and they would have to avoid coming close to dementors so Harry would not faint.

    "There's a lot of walls to hide behind," said Ron, pointing out a number of dementors. "They just pace back and forth." When the dementor at the far wall disappeared to the left corridor, the three of them dashed straight down the right corridor, checking each and every cell for a sign of Sirius or a black dog. Another dementor was pacing up and down this corridor but was heading away from them. They dashed behind a box conveniently placed in the middle of the corridor and waited for the dementor to get far enough past them and then sped off towards the opposite end.

    Harry could hear the faint voices of his parents screaming the night of their murder, but it wasn't enough to do much besides slightly cloud his hearing. The thought of getting Sirius back was probably one factor that blocked out a lot of it.

    "How are we ever going to find him?" said Hermione.

    "We haven't thought about that, have we..." said Harry sulkily.

    "Blimey, do you have the mark of ancients or don't you!" screeched Ron. "Foresight, Harry. Foresight!"

    Harry heard a faint voice in the back of his head. "It's him!"

    "Oh yeah!" Harry closed his eyes. His skin started to glow but he tried to keep it faint so as not to attract attention yet strong enough to use foresight. It worked. Sirius was sitting in a cell as the great black dog, curled up on the floor, digging his paws into the stone wall.

    "Where are you?" Harry said to himself. Sirius heard him, because he stood up on all fours, tongue sticking out.

    Another voice pierced the back of Harry's thoughts. "STAND ASIDE, GIRL!" He shook it off.

    "Come on, Harry, hurry, there's one about to turn around!" said Ron.

    "No time to explain, Sirius!" said Harry feeling his heartbeat rise considerably. "Where did they put you?"

    "Third corridor on the left from the middle, all the way down, one corridor up. Second cell on the right..." Harry tried to open his eyes but they wouldn't obey.

    "Not Harry!" The voices were coming back. Green light flashed through Harry's forcibly closed eyes but a hard knock to his cheek snapped him clean out of it. He opened his eyes to see a dementor staring him straight in the face. Ron and Hermione stood frozen, completely unable to speak.

    "RUN FOR IT!" he thundered. He grabbed the backs of Ron and Hermione's cloaks, his skin glowing smoky-quartz black and his legs seemed to move with a speed unheard of for humans. The rat-dog chased after them on instinct. He held his hand out and knocked down several dementors. Back down the corridor to the left, up the middle three corridors down, straight to the end, take the nearest corridor farther inside... second cell on the right. Sirius was there, standing on his two feet, clinging the bars of his cell with both hands. The man on the left cell was awake and watching them.

    "Hey, you're that Harry Potter kid!"

    "No time to talk, old man," said Harry as they turned the corner. "Keep your mouth shut, will you?"

    "'Course! Gonna bring down the Dark Lord again, ya are!"

    "HUSH!" squealed Hermione. She stood behind Ron who stood behind Harry who was thinking of a way to open the stupid cell. Hermione was looking back and forth frantically at the oncoming dementors. "HURRY, HARRY. HURRY UP!"

    The dementors were closing in on them.

    "STAND BACK!" Harry thundered. He closed his eyes, clasped his hands and chanted, "INFERNUS GRANDIS INFLAMORA!" Just before he finished he opened his eyes and pointed both fingers at the metal bars. The surrounding air turned so hot Harry broke into a heavy sweat immediately. Red hot flames shot from his hands and covered two bars. A heinously large crack appeared underneath the two bars, so big Harry and Sirius nearly slipped into it. The bars became as liquid and fell to the floor in a silver puddle. Harry had burned the ceiling and floor stone blocks as well, leaving one humungous hole for Sirius to step out of.

    Harry shoved the rat-dog into Sirius' cell and repaired the broken mess with another small chant. Hermione pulled out Harry's miniaturized Firebolt and with one word, it grew larger than full size.

    "ON!" she ordered. All four of them sat on a part of the Firebolt. The dementors were so close Harry began to hear the voices again.

    "Me! No, please, take me instead!"

    Harry had an extremely hard time controlling the Firebolt as they whizzed around. He dodged dementor after dementor before screaming "EXPECTO PATRONUS!" A humungous, pearly white figure flew out the tip of his wand. It's very height challenged that of Hagrid. The dementors seemed to be more scared than Harry remembered himself ever being.

    One dementor continued to chase them on the Firebolt. He couldn't fly it fast enough.

    "Please... have mercy... have mercy..." Harry found himself taking unnecessary routes through the corridors of Azkaban. Down a long corridor, knocking right into a dementor... had to have torn it's head off... a black goo covered the tip of Harry's hands... turn another corridor... decapitated another dementor...

    "WATCH IT!" bellowed Sirius. A swarm of about ten dementors came up from behind them, riding on nothing but air and moving faster than them. Harry's vision faded in and out.

    "Not Harry! Please -- I'll do anything!"

    He couldn't control the Firebolt much longer. Harry twisted it around several corridors and dodged oncoming dementors. They flipped upside down to avoid the dementors beneath them and Harry felt his dinner itching to come up and out of his throat. The Firebolt kicked up with speed he didn't give it. His skin glowed the strongest black he ever saw it and they zoomed around corners, nearly banging into walls.

    "Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off -"

    "Why's it going so fast?!" said Hermione. She didn't sound nearly as troubled as Harry felt.

    "I - I don't... know..." Harry struggled to get words out. He didn't want to let off that he was losing control. I can do it, he told himself, I can... The speed burst slowed down and they were coming back around to the middle corridor leading out of Azkaban.

    "The dementors will do it. Trust me!" Harry felt himself slipping out of consciousness. He struggled to keep the Firebolt on course... not that far now. Turn right... turn left... knock hard into a dementor... graze the head of another... close brush with one prisoner... snapped the arm of someone in half, blood spraying... Turn down a corridor, zig zag back and forth... this was the third corridor up on the left...

    "Don't give up, now!" The Firebolt gave another tremendous burst of speed. Hermione's grip on Harry's waist made it even harder to breath. Turn right again... the middle corridor... nearly there... Harry closed his eyes as they headed straight into the flailing arms of another prisoner, his face alight with joy to get killed... Harry tried to dodge but they hit. The black glow of the mark turned to a glitter then disappeared over several seconds.

    "HARRY!" screamed Hermione from behind him.

    "You're dead, Harry Potter."

    Harry turned too soon... The snapping of his Firebolt, the hard crunch against the stone wall, the cracking of bones, an agonizing but quick pain on his back and arms and the screams of Hermione, Ron and Sirius were the last things Harry remembered.

    "Such brave children..."

    "Such stupid children..."

    "Oh, shut up. Be grateful they're alive."

    "Alive, but take a look."

    "Don't touch! What are you, nuts?"

    "No, but Potter has a fractured arm, hand, broken ribs and a nearly fractured skull. Granger's got several broken bones as does Weasley... and Black, well..."

    "They will live, won't they?"

    "Yes, of course, no doubts."

    "Where did you find them?"

    "Inside Azkaban. Potter must have conjured one hell of a Patronus because it was standing over the three of them when we got there. Looked just like James', nearly gave me a heart attack at the resemblance. The dementors did not dare take a step near it. Albus looked ready to faint at the sight of it."

    "How'd you know where to go?"

    "Albus said he was waiting in the Great Hall for them for hours, never showed up. Went straight to Potter's owl, Hedwig. Followed her straight to them. Very smart, that owl."

    "Such brave little souls..."

    "Souls the dementors would love to have taken."

    "Ugh! You are so - UGH!"

    "Fine, fine. I admit it, not everyone would break into Azkaban, especially at the age of fifteen. Potter's idea, was it?"

    "Yes, indeed. He wanted to go alone. Weasley and Granger most likely wouldn't let him. Great friends he has."

    Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall stepped out through the door.

    Harry opened his eyes. He was some place he didn't recognize. This sure wasn't the hospital wing at Hogwarts. His glasses... those were his, but he was sure they would have been smashed to bits. Harry put them on and looked around the white room. It looked like a real hospital.

    On his left was Ron, who's body was glowing a shade of purple. On his right was Hermione who was also glowing a shade of purple. Both of them looked to be awake and turned their heads weakly in Harry's direction.

    Directly across from Harry was Sirius. Sirius glowed a faint white. He looked to still be asleep.

    "Ron?" he said coarsely and weakly, looking left, and then "Hermione?" looking right. He rubbed his eyes under the glasses and sat up. He, too, was glowing white but it was the mark, not a spell.

    The two of them smiled.

    "We made it," said Ron. Hermione sat up, looking a little stronger and smiled more brightly. Ron sat up, too.

    "What's with this glowing?" said Ron, looking at himself. The door opened up and in came Albus Dumbledore.

    "Ah... I see... that you are all awake." For some reason, the smiles on Harry, Ron and Hermione peeled off their faces, danced across the room and ran screaming out the door. They felt guilty for taking matters into their own hands... but no one else was going to...

    Dumbledore walked slowly, but not as to intimidate, towards Harry's bed and sat on the end. Harry gulped. What did Dumbledore have in mind? Was he going to really expel him this time? He snuck out of school, at night, broke into Azkaban and attempted to free Sirius, who was known throughout the wizarding world as a mass murderer.

    He broke school rules and wizard law to do it, an act that just might land him in Azkaban. The screaming voices of Lily and James echoed in the back of his head like a broken record player. If it weren't for the bed under him, his insides would surely have fallen out.

    "A very foolish thing, you three have done," said Dumbledore.

    "Prof-"

    "I'm not finished yet. Foolish, it was, but very brave. The most important thing, of course, is that you survived it. The mark must have leaked off of Harry and prevented any injuries from taking anyone's life. I will answer any questions if you have them. I hazard to guess your first question is why are you glowing?" There was something Harry wanted to say.

    "Yes," said Ron and Hermione in unison.

    "It's a form of the mark of ancients. Much, much weaker but still strong enough to do it's job. Harry's Firebolt was found in pieces. You must have hit a wall on it going quite fast because the four of you had bone fractures so severe they were..." He didn't need to finish the sentence and all four of them made a face at the thought.

    "Your bones have healed fully in the three days it has been. Of course, you are all excused from classes for the rest of today and tomorrow." Hermione looked rather upset, two whole days!

    "So how's Sirius," said Harry, the words coming out of his mouth uncontrollably. That was all that was on his mind since he saw him. He forgot what he wanted to say earlier, though, as Dumbledore's smile also peeled right off his face and went out the door screaming madly.

    "I'm afraid his condition is a little worse. A dementor tried to kiss him and was partway through it, it seems, when a Patronus had stopped it. We found a humongous Patronus, in the shape of James' stag, which means that you, Harry, called it."

    "But we were all unconscious," said Hermione, just as confused as Harry and Ron.

    "You were knocked unconscious. The mark - was not. You remember... that once before the mark faded and you thought it was disappearing... when in turn, it was responsible for saving you." They still couldn't smile.

    Dumbledore took a copy of the Daily Prophet out from inside his cloak. Hermione and Ron got up and walked over to Harry's bed, taking a seat on either side.

    "Here," said Dumbledore, handing the paper to Harry, "I'm sure this will cheer you up."

AZKABAN OUTING

Three children, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and the famous Harry Potter, all at the age of fifteen, broke into Azkaban late at night two days ago, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Corespondent.

    "Professor," started Harry bleakly, "this isn't going to cheer anyone up."

    "Continue reading."

Potter and three friends seemed to have been trying to rescue a prisoner from Azkaban, one Sirius Black. Such an offense is one that has on more than on occasion gotten the offender a cell in Azkaban for themselves.

"Brave little souls," says Professor Sprout of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, of which Potter, Granger and Weasley all attend. "Could have been killed! They almost were!"

Potter, Weasley, Black and Granger were reported unconscious with a humongous Patronus, far bigger than any noted, inside Azkaban with life-threatening injuries. Mr. Potter is, as widely known, blessed with the Mark of Ancients, a condition of glittering or glowing skin which may cause unusual magic phenomenon to occur. It is thought the mark prevented any deaths and the Patronus prevented any dementor from successfully parting Black with his own soul. Black is, as of now, unconscious in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries as are Potter, Weasley and Granger.

"I do not know how they did it," says Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, "but a great deal of good did come out of it." There was, however, a great black dog that a prisoner in a cell next to Black says was transfigured. Several severed arms of prisoners were found in the halls of Azkaban.

On a strange twist of fate, Sirius Black's name has been cleared through the efforts of the staff at Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic. It was thought, fourteen years ago, that Black was responsible for the death of about a dozen muggles and one Peter Pettigrew. Many heads turned, however, when these three attempted a death-defying rescue and the case was looked into.

    Harry felt his heart skip a few beats. A big smile crossed his face. Sirius, safe! He could hardly contain himself.

It has come to the attention of the greater wizarding world that Pettigrew is alive and kicking as a servant to You-Know-Who. Potter, Weasley and Granger, as decided by Cornelius Fudge of the Ministry of Magic, will not be receiving any punishments as a result of their foolish, yet undoubtedly miraculous and brave actions.

    "Now all three of you are famous," said Dumbledore with a smile. It couldn't challenge Harry's. He was overcome with joy. Sirius, free at last!

    "But what's wrong with him?" said Harry, his smile dulling a little.

    "It would appear his soul has been removed, but only partially. He will become conscious within the next few days but it's also very likely he will slip in and out of consciousness at random. This condition, unfortunately... has never occurred before and there is no known cure." Harry's smile vanished instantly.

    "Some say a cure exists but it is fully known to be dark magic that is highly dangerous... which is why, I presume, it is not known. I ask that you do NOT go looking for it. I will not mention this again and I pray that you do not mention it. It is very possible an attempt, even with the mark, can have highly disastrous consequences." His face looked very stern and severe. The sparkle behind the half-moon spectacles was absent.

    Lucky they had two days off because Harry, Ron and Hermione decided to spend them in bed. Harry's head was sore where he most likely had nearly fractured his skull and his fingers were hurting a lot. Ron and Hermione complained of similar pains all over. Hermione had one stinging pain in her upper left arm where Dumbledore said a bone had been sticking out. He assured them all there were no lasting injuries and they wouldn't wake up during a thunderstorm to a sharp pain anywhere like Muggles usually complain of when they hurt a part of their body badly.

    Dumbledore's words echoed in the back of Harry's mind as he sat half conscious ready to go to sleep that night. Earlier, the three of them talked about what they could be missing in class. Hermione was most worried about two nights of O.W.L. study lost. Ron was keen on seeing the look on everyone's face, especially Malfoy's, when they got back to school. Harry thought he was a little nuts trying to prepare how to tell their story. Somehow he managed to include fire breathing dragons and them killing dementors by hand. Hermione convinced him not to tell it that way.

    Harry couldn't help feeling slightly sick but at least relieved that Sirius was no longer thought of as a threat. However, he would live as a half soulless zombie and that's no condition to have a godfather in...

    Tuesday afternoon rolled around and the four of them were awake. Sirius had shown no signs of behaving strangely and in fact he had been acting very normal all morning since he woke up.

    "Who's idea was it?" he asked.

    "Harry's," said Hermione and Ron together. Harry's cheek turned a deep pink matching perfectly with the color of the sheets on Hermione's bed. He remembered what he wanted to say. His face turned sulky and he felt his shoulders tense up.

    "I didn't do it for the fame. I never have. I just wanted you out." Harry felt another shock of tears from the mark. It was too strong to fight off, as it had been lately.

    "That mark has to be removed," said Sirius, sounding like a father. "Has to be done." Just hearing him speak calmed Harry down. Sirius bewitched a pair of gloves to give Harry a shoulder massage. "I'm torn between thanking the three of you or scolding you. Last time I was in Azkaban the dementors didn't affect me. I was innocent and I had nothing good to think of to begin with. But now... now I have a lot..."

    "What do we do?" said Hermione. "I read up on it. Needs at least fifteen very dedicated, very powerful wizards."

    "As I see it, we have fourteen. Dumbledore, Sprout, McGonagall, Binns, Snape, Trelawney, Vector, Hooch, Flitwick, Michelle, Arthur - your father Ron, a lot better at magic than you probably know - Cornelius, Figg and myself."

    "Figg? Figg who?"

    "Arabella Figg," he said, with a giant smile. "You know her better as Mrs. Figg, the nice old lady two streets from you."

    "Mrs. Figg? No, she's just an old lady who likes cats."

    "She's an old witch who likes cats," he said, still smiling. Harry could feel his mouth touching the floor.

    "I don't believe it," said Harry, not believing it.

    "Believe it. Arabella has quite the knack for magic."

    "Ok, if she is, but we have thirteen... not fourteen," said Harry. "Snape's missing. We think Voldemort has him."

    "And we know Voldemort is short of fifteen. How does he plan on doing it?" The four of them would be left wondering how later that day.

    "What about... the actual spell?" asked Hermione nervously. "I heard very, very few people actually know it."

    "There are two people I know that do," said Sirius, looking directly at Harry. "Want to tell me who I'm thinking of?" They all knew who without Harry actually answering but there was one question that stuck out like a sore thumb.

    "How?" asked Ron simply. Sirius looked at the three of them blankly, the very same expression they wore, before speaking.

    "I don't know."

    Michelle came later that day to pick them up. Sirius asked if they could stop at Hogsmeade first. Harry would be Apparating them.