The sun still shone brilliantly over their heads, its golden rays were pouring down from the cloudless azure sky with almost mocking cheerfulness. Yet despite the warm afternoon light, Sirius and the others felt an icy chill enveloping them.
For a moment, it seemed as though the entire world had dimmed into darkness despite the blazing sunshine.
Azkaban had fallen.
The question of who was responsible need not be asked—everyone present in that tight circle understood the answer all too well. There was only one wizard with the power and drive to orchestrate such an audacious attack.
"I'm sorry, Dumbledore, Bryan—" Madam Bones began, her voice was tight with stress.
She pressed her lips together firmly struggling to maintain her composure. She was aware that many curious eyes were watching them now from the stands and viewing areas, that people were trying to read their body language and expressions to understand what had occurred.
She had to maintain her professional bearing despite the shock. "The Ministry must be in complete chaos right now. I need to return immediately and take control of the situation before it spirals further out of hand."
"Wait a moment, Amelia," Bryan said calmly.
As if destiny itself had ordained this moment, the horn of war had finally sounded its first note.
Bryan felt a strange weight lift from his chest. Though he experienced no sense of agitation or panic.
He turned his gaze to Scrimgeour and asked calmly, "Has it been confirmed yet how many prisoners have escaped from Azkaban?"
One familiar name after another spilled from Scrimgeour's lips like drops of poison.
Sirius and Remus unconsciously clenched their fists tighter and tighter as they listened. Their faces turned increasingly paler with each criminal named.
These were the most stubborn and hardened Death Eaters from the previous war. The most dangerous, the most fanatical, the most committed to Voldemort's cause.
"And there's also Adam Vogel and Jasna Rosier, whom you personally arrested in Germany last year," Scrimgeour continued.
"Along with some remnants of their dark organization who were also imprisoned. And—" he paused, the name was caught in his throat, "Cliodna was also rescued from her cell."
Scrimgeour stared directly at Bryan, his breathing was irregular and ragged. Sweat continued to appear on his forehead.
These were all extremely dangerous dark wizards. Each individual had the capability to inflict serious, lasting harm on wizarding society through their magical power and willingness to use it without moral restraint.
And now, with this large group of dark wizards united and acting together under Voldemort's command, it was genuinely difficult to imagine what kind of upheaval and terror would befall the British magical world in the coming days and weeks.
Bryan fell silent for a moment, his expression was blank as he processed the information. No one in the anxious circle around him noticed the fleeting glimmer of satisfaction that flashed briefly in his eyes.
"What I'm more concerned about is—" Mr. Weasley asked in a shrill, off-key voice that showed his rising panic.
His usually pleasant face had gone pale, his hands were trembling. "How did they manage all this? Does this mean You-Know-Who personally led the Death Eaters in a direct attack on the Ministry of Magic itself? How did they even get to Azkaban?"
"According to the preliminary investigation conducted by the Aurors who responded to the scene," Scrimgeour explained, his expression was darkening further with each word.
"A group of Death Eaters somehow controlled one of the Unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries through the Imperius Curse or some other means. That person led them into Azkaban, bypassing all the normal security protocols and checkpoints."
His jaw clenched with suppressed anger. "The Unspeakable possessed something critically important. So Azkaban's defenses were rendered almost completely useless against the breach."
A flash of lightning-quick understanding streaked through Bryan's mind. He, who had been listening silently and calmly until this crucial moment, immediately opened his eyes wider with interest.
He asked in a solemn tone, "What exactly did the Unspeakable possess?"
Scrimgeour fell into uncertain silence, looking toward Madam Bones for guidance. This was core Ministry intelligence. It wasn't something he had the personal authority to disclose.
"A contract," Madam Bones answered Bryan's question.
"An ancient magical contract. It's the key to the Ministry's ability to command and control the Dementors who guard Azkaban. That contract has been passed down through generations of Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries for centuries."
Bryan nodded slightly in acknowledgment, his face revealed nothing of his inner thoughts.
Though internally, his mind was in absolute turmoil.
The contract left behind by Rowena Ravenclaw nearly a thousand years ago was indeed in the Ministry's hands!
While this particular contract to control Dementors held relatively little practical use for Bryan himself, this revelation confirmed another of his long-held suspicions.
The stone door.
He had seen it once before in the underground caverns beneath Azkaban Island during his investigation. And a second time in the memories left behind by Helga Hufflepuff. That mysterious stone door capable of opening pathways to the stars should also be preserved somewhere in the Department of Mysteries.
And that artifact, that was what Bryan was absolutely determined to obtain.
Dumbledore looked thoughtfully at the silent Bryan. Then he asked his own most pressing question.
"I presume Cornelius has already learned of everything that's happened. Rufus, what exactly is he doing about this crisis? What's his response?"
"He's ordered all available Hit Wizards to immediately begin hunting down the criminals who escaped from Azkaban," Scrimgeour reported, his mouth was twitching with disgust.
"And then—then he's attempting to completely suppress the news."
Scrimgeour's frustration was apparent in every word.
"But the pursuit is impossible to conduct successfully. Those escaped Death Eaters killed the Unspeakable who'd helped them after they got what they needed, then used a pre-prepared Portkey to leave Azkaban directly."
He spread his hands helplessly. "We can't even confirm with any certainty whether they're still in the country or if they've fled abroad. They could be anywhere in the world by now."
His voice grew more bitter. "As for suppressing the news of the breakout—that's also completely impossible. Nearly everyone working in the Ministry today has heard about this disaster through one channel or another.
Many employees filed immediate leave requests on the spot. I'm absolutely certain that by tomorrow morning at the latest, the entire wizarding world will know what's happened. You can't hide something this big."
Fudge was finished.
In that moment, everyone in the circle mentally pronounced a death sentence on the Minister for Magic's tenure. In nearly a decade and a half, since Voldemort's first defeat, such a terrible, catastrophic incident had never occurred under any administration.
The public, upon learning of this massive security failure, would immediately fall into uncontrollable panic unless the Ministry could somehow miraculously recapture all the escaped criminals within days.
But everyone present knew that outcome was impossible.
"Those Dementors!" Sirius burst out suddenly, a terrible thought was occurring to him.
Having spent more than a dozen years imprisoned in Azkaban himself, he'd suddenly thought of a critical problem that no one else had addressed.
He asked urgently, "The Death Eaters obtained that magical contract, didn't they? The one that commands the Dementors? That means the Dementors are no longer bound to serve the Ministry. They no longer obey the Ministry's commands or orders. So how will the remaining prisoners still in Azkaban be guarded?"
After Sirius voiced his alarming question, aside from Bryan who remained calm and Dumbledore whose already-furrowed brow deepened even further with concern, everyone else in the group showed varying degrees of shock and alarm.
This included even Scrimgeour, who had personally delivered the catastrophic news and should have thought of this himself.
"They... remain in Azkaban guarding the prisoners," Scrimgeour said slowly, the realization of the problem appeared across his face.
The color drained completely from his already-pale face, leaving him looking almost gray. Clearly, in the midst of the chaos at the Ministry, in the panic and confusion of responding to the breakout, they had indeed completely overlooked this critical security issue.
"But you're right—without the binding contract, the Dementors are no longer reliable guardians. We can't trust them to maintain their posts or follow orders," Scrimgeour admitted, his voice was shaking slightly.
"We must alert the Ministry immediately about this vulnerability. We need to discuss whether to emergency-transfer the remaining prisoners to a different facility first, before something else goes wrong."
"I'll go with you immediately, Rufus!" Madam Bones said with a resolute, determined expression.
"I need to speak with Cornelius as soon as possible, whether he wants to hear it or not. Now is absolutely not the time to let him continue being willful and stubborn, burying his head in the sand. He needs to face reality."
"I don't recommend you do that, Amelia," Bryan interjected calmly, his voice sliced through her building determination.
He turned to look at Dumbledore. He knew Dumbledore still harbored some hope, however faint, of somehow bringing Fudge to his senses and making him see reason.
"With an incident of this magnitude, the Minister for Magic must undoubtedly bear direct responsibility. Everyone will blame him, and rightly so," Bryan explained.
"At this moment, if you go to Fudge now, no matter what reasonable things you say, he will inevitably view it as you pressuring him to step down from his position as Minister as quickly as possible."
Bryan's eyes were grave. "That kind of pressure will drive Fudge to desperate extremes, make him even more irrational and defensive. Even though you're genuinely trying to do the right thing, he won't see it that way."
"Bryan—" Remus couldn't help himself. "Are we supposed to just do nothing at all? Just stand here and watch while the situation deteriorates?"
"Isn't the Ministry already conducting a manhunt for the fugitives?" Bryan countered reasonably, spreading his hands.
"They're doing something, even if it's inadequate. As for suppressing the news of the breakout... Of course, we all know this information will spread like wildfire soon enough. But if the Ministry remains officially silent, refuses to confirm or deny, many people will remain skeptical about the rumors. How should I put this?"
He paused. "For now, maintaining silence is indeed a method of containing the spread of panic, even if it's temporary."
Sirius nearly thought he had misheard, his eyes widened with disbelief.
Bryan was actually agreeing with Fudge's approach? When the two of them were normally bitter enemies!
However, upon further reflection, forcing himself to think it through logically, Sirius had to admit that Bryan's reasoning made some sense.
"The uncontrolled spread of panic and hysteria does us no good at all," Bryan continued.
"The best approach for us right now is to remain calm, and observe how the situation develops over."
The group reluctantly accepted Bryan's counsel. Dumbledore did not interfere which brought Bryan some internal relief.
The Azkaban breakout had long been within his expectations. Both he and Dumbledore tacitly understood this.
The reason both of them had allowed it to happen, had taken no preventive action despite their suspicions, was complex and twofold.
First and most obviously, with Fudge stubbornly refusing to acknowledge Voldemort's return to power, treating all warnings as political attacks, neither Bryan nor Dumbledore officially had the authority to intervene in such matters. They couldn't act without proof, and Fudge wouldn't accept their proof.
Second, Dumbledore secretly hoped to use this incident to finally wake Fudge up, to force him through sheer undeniable reality to face the truth of Voldemort's resurrection. But Bryan knew this was simply Dumbledore's old, persistent habit of always hoping to save people from their misguided paths.
As for Bryan's own reasons for permitting this breakout to occur without interference, he had multiple careful considerations that went far beyond Dumbledore's idealistic hopes.
The first and most important was to corner Fudge and Umbridge completely, then kick both of them from their positions of power. He had no patience to wait another full year for the next scheduled ministerial election.
But Bryan also understood that Voldemort certainly hoped Fudge would continue in office for a while longer—that way, he would have more precious time to accumulate power, recruit followers, and prepare for open war.
After all, as long as Dumbledore lived and remained active, Voldemort would not show himself publicly or make obvious moves.
"There's something important I need you to take responsibility for," Bryan said, turning to look at Sirius. His expression was stern.
"What is it?" Sirius responded with gravity, straightening unconsciously.
"Amelia's safety," Bryan stated flatly, his gaze moving between Sirius and Scrimgeour.
"In fact, from this very moment forward, the wizarding world has entered a state of war. We must ensure Amelia's safety at all costs."
Sirius naturally understood Madam Bones's special position within the Ministry. He nodded with serious commitment.
"Don't worry."
"I'll be careful, Bryan, but I believe what's more important is—"
Amelia assured him, understanding that Bryan was also warning her personally about the increased danger.
She accepted this protective concern, then turned her gaze away from the worried faces around her. She looked toward the edge of the Forbidden Forest in the distance, where one of the large magical screens stood.
On that gleaming screen, a black-haired, green-eyed boy with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead was doing everything he could to attract the attention of a monster.
"Harry Potter..."
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