'The Ministry has announced that they are going to brew this potion for all muggleborns and half-bloods, who have muggle born parents.' Hermione explained.
'That would be great.' Harry beamed.
And they chattered about the various relations that the purebloods had thrust upon them, and the fact that almost all of them were very unhappy with their long lost relatives, whom they had thrown out of their families in the first place.
The Wizarding World was rocked upside down, as the next few days went by in a spate of discussions and Ministry of Magic announcements about the Potion that the Ministry was planning to brew for everyone. The fact muggleborns would not longer be an issue with the purebloods was the most important thing they discussed.
The Malfoys, Bulstrodes, the Parkinsons, Zabinis, Goyles, Crabbes, Nott and other Slytherin pureblood families were very unhappy about knowing they had relations among the muggles. They did not want to acknowledge the fact that they had muggle relations who were magical and they also did not want to recognize that they had in their family, squibs that could no longer be ignored, because their descendents had re-integrated into the magical world again.
Slowly the School settled and though potions, magical relatives and the discussion of the fact that the word muggleborn was no longer an issue, crept up from time to time, the days went on normally.
Hermione wrote to Sirius, who wrote back warmly to her, apologizing fro not meeting her and invited her with her family to Grimmauld Place in the holidays. Draco sulked magnificently for a while, and then never looked at Colin Creevy again. Colin, after he knew his magical relations were the Malfoys went out of his way to smile and be friendly to Draco, but that unfortunately only got on Draco's nerves.
He also did not like Colin taking photographs of him and Colin took photos of whom he called his relative and clicked away when ever he could. When Draco shouted at him once, unable to keep in his anger and frustration, Colin beamed and told him that he was sending these photos to his parents and also invited Draco and his parents to spend summer at his muggle home and also promised to write to Lucius and Narcissa as well. Draco blanched in horror and did not answer. He avoided Colin like the plague after that.
The days went by pleasantly; Harry enjoyed himself thoroughly, participating in the discussions as much as he could. He met with Snape in what was officially his detention and spoke to him, teased him a bit; not too much, this was Snape after all, but riled him up a little and generally got on Snape's nerves before he left.
The Ministry had already sanctioned a huge amount of money to brew the potion for every one who was a muggleborn or a half blood with a muggleborn parent. The brewing would start shortly and already people were accepting the no muggleborn theory.
The second year slowly came to an end. Spring holidays came and went and this time Harry went to Grimmauld Place, inviting Hermione, Neville and Draco. Draco had been hesitant at first, but had later asked for permission from his parents and having received it, came to Grimmauld Place. He was quiet the first two days, watching Remus and Sirius and also Hermione's parents who came to meet with Sirius. A few days later, he settled down and had a lot of fun, though he would never admit it. He also spoke to Mrs. Black the first day he came and she wept buckets over Draco and talked pureblood superiority to him.
After the first five minutes of hearing the greatness of the Blacks, Draco was thoroughly bored. He kept the politeness and nodded a few times and then, left all pretence and yawned continuously until she sent dear Narcissa's boy away to rest, because he was so tired. She told him to come and see her everyday and from then onwards Draco was the quietest when crossing the portraits. If anyone would by chance trip off something and wake her up, Draco would run and hide.
Neville and Hermione enjoyed themselves and Harry did not invite the Weasleys that time. He decided to do so in the summer. Once spring break was over, they left for Hogwarts. Sirius was more or less reconciled to the fact his Godson was never going to listen to him about a few things, like Slytherin, Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape. He had tried his best to talk down Snape whenever the subject came up, but Harry always avoided it neatly, twisting and turning Sirius's words to admiration.
Second year came to a close, with no more drama and no tense situations. Lockhart was still safely in the School and Harry had been wondering about this, when he read in the Daily Prophet some two weeks after School closed, that in a great fight against an innocuous man by name Smith, Lockhart had lost his memory. This Smith had escaped and there was a search on, for him. He was never found.
Harry snorted as he read this. More like Lockhart had tried to take that man's memories and oblivate him, when he got oblivated himself. So that part had worked out once again, though in a different manner. Harry was pensive for a few days and then he shrugged it off. There was nothing he could do about it.
He had a great holiday, visiting Hermione and Neville for a week, and inviting them and Draco for a couple of weeks, where they went to Diagon Alley every day and browsed through the shops. After Draco left, Harry invited Ron and the Twins and had a rollicking time. Second year holidays came to a close without Aunt Marge, Minister Fudge or the Knight's Bus.
It was time for third year and Harry would leave in a week.
The wholly magical island of Azkaban is situated in the cold North Sea, where the climate is terribly cold, stormy and windy. The island itself is bare and rocky, bleak and exhibits an aura of severe unhappiness and darkness. There is a prison on the island which is under the control of the Ministry of Magic. The prisoners in that dreadful prison go quietly mad after sometime, unable to relive their worst memories all the time. The prison was guarded by dementors.
The Inner Circle death eaters as well as other prisoners were all imprisoned in this dreary place with no chance of seeing the light. After a while they lost themselves in their worst memories and then lost their minds. There were a few exceptions to the rule, though. Sirius Black was one of them, who did not lose his mind, because he was innocent of his crimes and he was an animagus, turning into his animagus form, whenever it all got a bit too much for him.
Bellatrix was another death eater with an animagus form and she used it like Sirius whenever it all got a bit too much for her. Her animagus form was a snake, a deadly viper. She changed into a snake whenever the dementors came too close to her and retained a part of her sanity even after spending almost twelve years in Azkaban. But she was fed up, and she somehow wanted to escape and search out her Lord and bring him back to life again.
She planned to escape, but executing the plan was not so easy. The dementors overwhelmed her and it was all she could do to keep her mind in their presence. Occlumency helped to an extent, but it still wasn't enough. But Bellatrix was not Voldemort most feared death eater and his foremost trusted follower for nothing. She waited for almost 12 years, intending to break out of Azkaban biding her chance.
Her chance came one day when a dementor came to keep the food. She usually turned into her animagus form when it did come, because the effects would be dulled. She was trying to shut down her mind even as a snake, when the dementor turned towards some noise from the next cell. That time was enough for Bellatrix and she slithered out, her heart beating wildly in her chest and hoping against hope that she would not be discovered until she truly escaped.
She went slowly; it was very dark and she could barely see, and think. But she went on for what seemed hours, before she came to the door of the great prison. It was stormy outside and she slithered out through a largish crack between the door and the wall. She was outside the prison. She slithered slowly, very tired but not daring to stop, until she was out of this hell hole.
The heavens were pouring down and the winds were raging, the noise they made together was terrifying, but Bellatrix went on, until she reached the turbulent sea. She went this way and that until she noticed a boat house. Then she went to the boat house that was well warded. Next to the boat house was a small cottage. The auror in charge of the boat house lived there. Bellatrix went slowly, very slowly, because her strength was all but exhausted, and slithered carefully to the cottage that was not more than a room, to shelter the auror from the storm, rain and the wind and looked around to gain entry from somewhere. The cottage was closed securely and the auror was inside.
There was nothing she could do and there was no way she could enter the cottage and she waited for him to open the door, hiding in a dark place, so that she would not be found out. It was a few hours later that the auror opened the door to leave, his wand at the ready, and cautiously peeped out and Bellatrix wasted no time. She slithered in as fast as she could, and hid behind a cupboard, completely exhausted.
The auror came back a few hours later and went about his work. Bellatrix stayed where she was behind the smelly cupboard, watching him all the while. She waited until he went to sleep, not knowing that the dementors had already found out her disappearance and that there was a manhunt being ordered for her at that very time by the Ministry.
She went up to him and using all her strength, changed back, and took his wand that was on the table next to him and she woke him up. The auror got up startled and before he could make a noise, she pointed his wand on him and spoke, her voice all rusty and hoarse from disuse and screaming, ' Imperio !'
His eyes glazed over and she smiled tiredly, but victoriously. 'What is the way to get out of here safely? Answer me.' She ordered, wasting no time and getting to the point.
'There is the boat that is spelled to reach the mainland.' He said, still under the spell.
'How long will it take?' she asked.
'A few hours. I really don't know how many exactly.' He replied.
'Who has the authority to open the boathouse and release the boat?' she asked him next, praying that it would be him. It was.
'I have.' He said.
'You will release that boat for me and then come back here and forget all about it. Come.' She said and watched him walk out. She followed him, casting a disillusionment charm upon herself, and slipped in to the boathouse behind the auror. She waited impatiently as he stood there, by the boat, blankly, until she realized he had no wand to cast the release spell on the boat. She took a deep breath and cast the imperio again on him. 'You will take this wand, release the boat and return the wand to me and then go back to your cottage and forget all about me. You will also say, that your wand was lost in the storm, the wind carrying it away from your hand and get a new one.'
And her heart in her mouth, she handed over the wand to the auror. But the imperio held and auror followed her instructions to the book and handed over the wand to her and turned to leave. Bellatrix wasted no more time and she got into the small boat, which was very sturdy, though and cast a notice-me-not charm at the whole boat. It took her a few tries to get the whole boat and herself under the charm, but she managed and heaved a sigh of relief as the boat set off without any alarms going off.
She lay down in the boat completely exhausted for sometime and then slowly got up to check the navigation dials of the small boat. They were set for the Ministry of Magic magical harbour in Scotland. Alarmed, she started working through the wards to see if she could change it, but with her mental state and her physical tiredness not to mention exhaustion, she soon gave it up as a bad job, and conjuring a clock and setting an alarm to go off after a couple of hours, Bellatrix went to sleep.
She woke up when the alarm screeched and looked around wildly, firing a few curses, but she was still at sea and safe. Her heart stopped beating wildly with fear and she slowly calmed down, and breathed deeply her first taste of freedom in almost 13 years. Even as a fugitive who could be captured any moment, this freedom was very sweet to her. She made a vow to herself that she would rather be killed than be captured once again and placed into Azkaban, where this time she would surely be kissed.
She was beginning to feel hungry, she realized, but there was nothing in that small boat and she conjured a hot cp of tea and some sandwiches and slowly ate them. She could not manage more than a few bites and a few sips of tea, but even that was wonderful to her and as she banished the tea and sandwiches, she knew what she had missed the most. Her wand. Her wand was broken by the Ministry and they would pay for that, she thought darkly, as she remembered how the aurors laughed as they broke her wand.
But, she smirked; they could not break her sprit, her loyalty or her devotion to her Lord. And they never would. She had started on her mission to resurrect her Master and together they would destroy all those who were not worthy of her Master, starting with Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter. Her lips curled in contempt, rage and hatred. They would all pay.
She lost herself in memories of the past, and it was a while before she came back to the present. She looked around, but she was still at sea, the storm had subsided and she had not even noticed that the boat had stopped shaking violently. If it weren't for the strong charms and wards, the boat would have capsized within minutes. But with magic, Bellatrix thought, most impossible things were possible. Like bringing back her Lord from a place, that no one usually returned.
She got up and started applying the disillusionment charms on the boat, and on herself and sat down, ready to transform into a snake and slither away, if need be. Some more time later, Bellatrix could see the land and the adrenalin started pumping strongly again. She kept a lookout and as the boat got nearer the land, she gasped in dismay. Those were dementors, surely. She cast the disillusionment charm on her once again and another notice me not charm, tucked her borrowed wand securely into her tattered robes and changed into a snake. She slowly went to the edge of the boat that she could not see, and hoping that her charms would not break, waited.
The boat went and stopped at a place it probably would every time. And there was some alarm that went off even as the boat which could not be seen at all came to a stop. The dementors swarmed to the boat, and the aurors were not far behind. Before they could come ahead of the dementors, whose presence was getting to her again, Bellatrix slithered down the side of the boat and on to the jetty. She carefully slithered mindful of not getting in the way of dementors and aurors and went towards the gate. She was still not visible, but the aurors had removed all spells from the boat and many of them were now jumping into the cold waters to search for her.
Bellatrix did not lose her concentration and went onwards, inch by inch and soon she reached the gates and slithered out. She went on that way for some more time, a bit faster now, because there were no aurors or magical wards. Had she not been an animagus, she would have found it very difficult to cross the wards, without detection, but as a snake, it was very easy. There were no wards for detection and for stopping an animagus, and Bellatrix was finally free.
It was just a week before Harry was to start his third year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He got up that morning exactly a week before he would have to leave for King's Cross, to board the Hogwarts Express. He came down to find Sirius and Remus very tense and worried and Harry became tense and alert as well.
'Morning, Siri, and Remy!' he said cheerfully and sat down, grabbing the paper that was lying beside Sirius's plate. Sirius and Remus mumbled something that Harry took to be an equally cheery good morning from them. Fully alert now, Harry opened the paper that had been folded, and saw the headlines and his eyes widened.
Bellatrix Lestrange Escapes Azkaban Prison….Manhunt ordered by the Ministry of Magic
Bellatrix Lestrange has escaped Azkaban, in what is said to be a shocking incident. She had somehow escaped the dementors, and had released the emergency boat from the boathouse and has now escaped. The death eater most feared next only to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is at large. She was responsible for the torture of the Longbottoms and many, many other atrocities during the first war with You-Know-Who.
How did a woman who was under the influence of the dementors for almost thirteen years escape the prison, dementors and aurors? It is truly a mystery and the ministry has ordered a large scale investigation into the whole affair. The Ministry has now ordered her to be kissed on capture.
Harry looked at her photo, which was almost like the one Kreacher had had with him and Harry repressed a shudder as he looked at the strong, striking, handsome face. He looked up at Sirius and Remus who were looking glum.
'How could she?' he asked knowing it was possible. Perhaps she was an animagus or she was immune against the dementors and could escape them. Whatever it was, Harry knew it was a huge headache.
'Don't know Harry.' Sirius said. 'She was one of those truly crazy people, who actually believed in Voldemort's ideals and joined him because of that. She's crazy, and crazy people are dangerous people Harry, because they don't act according to the norm. I feel very worried for you.'
'For me? But why Sirius?' Harry asked, putting on a puzzled look.
'Because she is Voldemort's deputy and she was reputed to be as sadistic as Voldemort himself. She knows that Voldemort was defeated by you and would come after you. I know that.' Sirius told him.
They spent the rest of the morning talking about Bellatrix and when they finally got up to leave to attend to their work, Harry was very thoughtful indeed. Last time in his third year Sirius had escaped from Azkaban and Harry had thought that possible because Sirius was innocent. Now, Bellatrix had escaped and she certainly wasn't and if she was half as crazy as she had been the last time, then Harry would have to be very careful, very careful indeed.