The Necromancer

Chapter 44

Later that evening, right before midnight, Harry and Tom left their castle and got ready to apparate to Britain. Tom carried a leather bag which held a generous amount of magic masking potion, and Harry checked to make sure he had his invisibility cloak stuffed in the pocket of his fur cloak. V hopped up and down a few times on Harry's shoulder in nervous anticipation.

"For now, we're giving the Lestranges the potion, just like everyone else," Tom said as he stared off into the distance. "We pretend we're planning to free them just like we'll do the rest of my followers."

"So they won't give the whole game away as an act of vengeance," Harry guessed in a quiet voice. He understood this must be very difficult for Tom, to basically betray some of the people who were once completely loyal to him. But Tom was no longer the Dark Lord he'd once been. These loyal followers would sooner turn on Tom than accept living peacefully among muggleborns and werewolves.

"Exactly." Tom inhaled a deep breath and released it slowly, clearly torn by the decisions he was now forced to make. "And then next week, when we go to Azkaban to actually free the prisoners, I'd like you to take their souls and make it look like they died suddenly, perhaps as a side-effect of taking the potion. I'll make sure I'll look properly shocked and dismayed."

Harry couldn't hold back a chuckle, even though he knew Tom was being utterly serious about these plans. "Don't worry. No one will notice me reaping their souls. They'll just drop dead on the spot without anyone being any the wiser."

"Thank you," Tom whispered and held out his hand. Harry placed his own hand in it and without further delay, Tom apparated them to the east coast of Britain. "The approach towards Azkaban is warded against boats and brooms and flying carpets," Tom said as a cold wind whipped around them, tousling their hair and ruffling V's feathers. "But since everyone is convinced that wizards and witches cannot swim this far or fly without tools, it's not warded against magical individuals."

"Why not?" Harry asked, thinking it was rather stupid to not ward a prison against people sneaking in.

Tom gave him a wide grin, looking thoroughly amused by the Ministry's incompetence. "It would make changing the guards too complicated. Wards that can filter individuals like that are complicated and very expensive to maintain. Ward Masters expecting to work around dementors demand a generous amount of hazard pay. So the Ministry bets on just the dementors to keep any unwelcome visitors away."

"Yeah, those won't be a problem for us." In fact, Harry hoped some of the dementors would be foolish enough to attack them, so he could rip a few more of them apart. Those soul-sucking creatures, whatever they truly were, didn't belong in the world, Harry was sure of that.

"Exactly." And with that, Tom rose into the air and shot forwards into the dark, windy night. Harry followed at once, with V bringing up the rear. V cursed and complained because his light body had the hardest time flying against the wind, but he did manage to keep up as they flew across the choppy waves.

It took them perhaps an hour to make it to the wizarding prison. Azkaban loomed tall on the horizon, a crumbling black silhouette against the starry sky. The whole building looked rather decrepit, as though the dementors' presence caused even the stone walls to decay.

They touched down on the rocky shores right beside a small pier. "We'll step through the wards here, where the guards usually dock when they change shifts," Tom whispered, urging Harry along quickly. "Once we're through, we can fly up to the roof, where the ventilation openings are only protected by very weak wards."

They did just that and before long they stood on a small piece of flat roof, right beside a larger, slanted roof covered in slate tiles. Tom flicked his wand a few times, easily dismantling the wards without raising any alarm. Then he enlarged the vent's opening so it became wide enough to allow them through. Harry held V against his body with one arm as he followed Tom inside. They still had to duck as they crab-walked through the tight tunnel, but they soon came upon an exit that opened up into a dark corridor. V hopped up onto Harry's shoulder the second Harry could stand upright again.