raised by dementor

chapter 42

"I have grave news ladies and gentlemen, it seems our favoured assassin and puppet has been captured by the Ministry of Magic," the figure announced, once again every member of the organization had been summoned and while they once looked annoyed now they were terrified. James Potter knew a lot about them, he could lead the entire Ministry to this room and the moment he was captured they knew they had lost their best weapon.
"How could this have happened?" Molly Weasley demanded and the figure for a few moments considered killing her, she had obviously outlived most of her usefulness and was pushing her luck by speaking in this way, but for now she would leave her alone. The children would be more inclined to join if their mother was alive,
"It appears Mr Potter was far more competent than we believed and the man he thought to be his father was not the emotional blockade we had hoped; now under normal circumstances I would have James Potter destroyed but that seems to be impossible due to Azkaban security. Instead I have decided that no more assassination attempts are to take place," The figure explained darkly looking around the room with evident anger and distaste. As if it was blaming them for James's failure
"Why?" Dumbledore asked looking genuinely surprised, he had been fine with the idea; he would lose some students but Harry would be under their control if his friends were gone
"Because I have decreed it, you should not question me Albus. This decision has not been taken lightly and we must hope James Potter's withstanding methods are just as effective as his interrogating ones, now it is also time to tie up a loose end that we he allowed to live but I now fear it is too dangerous. Peter Pettigrew must be destroyed but I don't think any of us should do it," the figure barked but then trailed off with a slight smile hidden behind the hood.
"Then who?" the question was asked by one brave soul at one end of the table,
"Harry Potter,"
The skies above Diagon Alley
Lucy and Harry flew through the air, both of them were stressed but for different reasons. Harry had spent hours trying to work out what was going on and why his friends had been targeted by an assassin and Lucy was overworked. She was part of the team looking for Sirius and Bella and while Harry knew she had escaped a few times to speak to a certain prisoner but at least she was getting some time off. The clouds offered a stunning view as the golden ray's of the sun seeped into them like a river but the view was not the main thing on either of their minds.
"Are you sure your ok Harry?" she asked for what felt to Harry like the eighteen time, she had not been the only one either, the Malfoy's, other Dementors and pretty much every else he spoke to asked him that question. Each and every time he responded but every time no one could understand why he was not hurt or upset, he had been far more upset and angry when Sirius and Bella had run off and yet his supposed father being alive and a manic had not really bothered him at all. The only person who seemed to understand was Draco, he had not asked much about the incident at all other that why someone would target them. He had taken it will his usual attitude obviously and seemed unworried by the idea an assassin was after him, or was after him. Actually this morning Draco had been concerned with a very different thing. They had received the new care of magical creatures books which everyone would be taking up this year but before Harry had a chance to open his he heard screaming. He then saw Draco running through the manor halls being chased by a hungry book with its mouth open, Draco had called for help but Harry had been too busy laughing to actually help his friend out. Lucius and Narcissa had both laughed too, Draco just scowled and warned then he may put the book in their bedroom at night.
"I'm fine mum, I never knew him and besides it's hard to feel betrayed when he's not actually your father," Harry assured her knowing exactly what she was referring to. The only thing she could be, the press had referred to nothing else for the last week and it seemed every nut job with something to say was getting a chance to shout it. Speculations, accusations and more flew through the air and yet James had said nothing. He had quietly resigned himself to his fate and revealed no information, the trial if there was going to be one had not been arranged and now the media were getting their chance to swarm. Harry hoped it would all blow over soon but he had to admit to himself that it was very unlikely. The Azkaban escape had almost taken a backseat with the news and Harry found it incredible people were less concerned with a prison escape than someone being put in prison.
"Oh Harry, trust me he is not going to be living the high life, literally we've put him in some of the underground cells surrounded almost twenty-four hours a day, he is not living well," Lucy soothed with the anger brimming in her voice. Harry looked slightly surprised she could be that malicious, then again it was no less than what the man deserved,
"Anyway how's the search going?" Harry asked trying to change the subject to something that would not end with Lucy detailing how much pain James Potter was going to end up in.
"Not good, both Sirius and Bellatrix have vanished into thin air, we get about nine different calls an hour from that hotline the ministry set up and every time we check their either not there or someone who looks very slightly like them is, I must say they have done very well," Lucy grumbled, Harry almost smiled but decided not to say what he knew about the escape,
"I know you know what happened Harry, we both do! I'm not stupid but I must say I commend you for not telling anyone, it's not an easy secret to keep and both of us know that one of them is innocent, the other we both know has changed slightly but enough said," Lucy commented suddenly causing Harry to turn to her in shock. She knew? Of course she did! She was the one who knew he was playing outside and she had ears. Off course she did, she was one of the few Dementors who went outside the prison a lot back then and that was to look after him, off course she knew? Harry was kicking himself for not working it out.
"You should know better than to underestimate a mother's intuition by now Harry," Lucy scolded affectionately with a slight tone to her voice which almost resembled laughter.
"Maybe I should," Harry found himself agreeing and Lucy just shook her hooded head and the two of them dived towards Diagon Alley.
Flourish and Blots
"Harry," a high sweetly laced voice distracted Harry on his mission to find a potions book that seemed to be hiding from him. Lucy was in Gringotts just checking up on things but he had been surprised to see who had approached him. A youngish girl with long red hair whom he recognised immediately, she was taller sure but only slightly and the freckles were a dead giveaway.
"Ginny Weasley?" he remembered the name
"Yeah hi, look my brother is probably going to kill me for even talking to you but I wanted to say thanks; that diary was well we both know what it was doing and I wanted to say thanks for stopping it. Knowing Tom like we both do I think we both know that he was going to kill me," Ginny explained softly. Harry was taken aback for a moment, the girl he had seen last year was a terrified mess with a crush on him that couldn't be less evident. Now she seemed surer of herself and... Something was going on.
"It's fine, how do you know I met Tom?" Harry asked slightly intrigued
"Well you went inside the diary didn't you, or at least that's what Draco told me," Ginny answered with a smile
"What?" Harry asked immediately
"Yeah remember when he got detention for saying something to McGonagall, well I had detention the same night for skipping class and we got talking, he's funny and we've been writing to each other during the summer," Ginny explained happily as Harry's eyes and jaw got wider and wider.
"Ginny!" He heard the breaking voice of Ron Weasley suddenly and Ginny looked alarmed, her brother was an idiot at the best of times and he would be unbearable if he knew about this
"Ok see you, oh and I'm sorry for the times I was hiding behind the door when you were on the other side, I was really messed up last year, bye," Ginny spluttered before running off. Harry just gaped; Draco had been writing to her all summer had he? Well this was going to be interesting to say the least
"Oh My God," Harry chuckled, all it took was a lot of irritating sarcasm to break whatever spell Molly Weasley had put over her youngest daughter, oh he was going to have a lot of fun with this.
Meanwhile
"So where would he be?" Bella asked, she was sat on a log in the middle of a dense forest with a slowly shrinking fire between her and Sirius.
"Peter would have hidden in the most inconspicuous place, the moment Dumbledore had me imprisoned he would have ensured the little rat was well secured. Probably he's in the midst of one of his allies but I think we have a way," Sirius explained. A few weeks on the run had been better to them than all of Azkaban combined, both were eating more nutritional meats and vegetables than the practical slime everyone but Harry got in Azkaban. While their hair and nails were longer and wilder they were less hollow and the signs of malnutrition and years of being under the Dementors chill were wearing off.
"And your mentioning this now and not three miles back why?" Bellatrix asked, they were somewhere near Scarborough according to the signs, after reaching shore they had fled into the moors and were held up here.
"Because we need to get to Hogwarts," Sirius explained not looking up
"Ok, have you ever heard the term suicide?" Bellatrix asked looking sombre, Sirius shrugged.
"Look if you're going to act like Draco Malfoy then you can go the other way because sarcasm is far from productive," Sirius sighed
"Ok that wasn't sarcasm you see Hogwarts may be the worst place in the world to go right now because you know whose that guy who wants to put us in prison or kill us, that guy who you know frames people and manipulates them. I forget his name but doesn't he you know live at Hogwarts?" Bella asked her voice filled with sarcasm, Sirius just sighed and shook his head.
"I'm starting to see why Harry told us Cho always slaps Malfoy," he muttered before standing up,
"Try slapping me I dare you!" Bella warned looking fierce.
"Anyway, when we were kids me and the marauders made a map of Hogwarts that shows all of it and the people inside, if we can get hold of the map we can make the charm more powerful and use it locate Pettigrew," Sirius explained, he knew it was still there but he had no idea if term had resumed or not. He had not seen a newspaper or at least a wizarding one since he escaped and so had no idea if it was even still the holidays; he assumed it was.
"Ok, so that's operation suicide do we have any other suggestions?" Bella wondered, Sirius just glared at her.
"Fine let's go with that but I'm telling you its suicide," Bella warned again but Sirius had more than one reason for going; then again as of now so did she. Harry was obviously going to be there and if they could see him again then maybe it would be worth it if they got caught or were murdered by Dumbledore, both were very likely.