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Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 216: Dolohov
James was about to charge at the Death Eaters before they noticed his presence, but then he looked down at Regulus.
The boy was alive but not in great shape. He could not just leave him here and go after those guys.
"Simulacrum." James summoned a couple of copies of himself to keep him safe while he took care of this.
Ahead of him were two masked men. One of them was helping Walburga walk, as the woman appeared to be half-conscious, while the other turned toward him and shouted something while pointing his wand in his direction.
James was faster, sending a piercing hex well-aimed at the Death Eater's head.
Much to his surprise, this one deflected the spell before responding with a series of three quick charms to disable him.
James had little room to dodge, so he placed a barrier in front of him to block them.
"You must be Potter. Our Lord warned us about you." The Death Eater spoke in a soft tone as he took his mask off. "But we weren't expecting to find you here… I am Anthony Dolohov, by the way."
James recognized the man, although he looked much younger than the one he remembered. Dolohov had been one of Voldemort's most dangerous and skilled followers. A former duelist champion nonetheless.
"You already know who I am, so I won't introduce myself." James pointed at Walburga. "Leave her here."
"I'm afraid we can't do that. We have orders, you know?" Dolohov pointed his wand, but not at James.
"What are you doing?!" Walburga regained her wits and panicked when she saw the man aiming for her instead.
James was also a bit confused. Didn't they come here to rescue her? Why would they kill her now?
"Stand back, Mister Potter. Or I will kill this woman," Dolohov threatened. "If I see even a little spark of magic coming from you… she is dead."
"Stop! I'm a loyal follower of the Lord!" Walburga complained and tried to free herself, but the other Death Eater was holding her with a tight grip.
"Don't flatter yourself, woman." Dolohov scoffed. "You were hardly our main reason for coming here. Just a side quest. And if we cannot take you with us, it would be better to kill you before you give away any important information."
"But… I served the Dark Lord… I did everything he asked me to." Walburga couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"And you failed…" Dolohov turned to James. "So, what is it going to be? Are you going to tell your best friend that he also lost his mother because of you? And yes, we know everything about you already… don't look too surprised."
James frowned. For once, he wasn't sure what would be the best thing to do.
He didn't want to let these people escape, but he also didn't want to be the one responsible for the death of Sirius's mother. Even if they didn't get along, and Sirius said over and over that he didn't care… James knew that deep down, he still did.
James raised his hands up as a sign of peace. "You are only delaying the inevitable." He will get them all eventually, so there was no need to take extreme actions right now. Not if they lead to the death of Sirius's last parent.
Dolohov grinned. "We will see about that."
"We should just kill the boy!" the other Death Eater demanded.
Dolohov chuckled. "Wanna give it a try? Go ahead… I'll wait."
The other man huffed something under his breath but did not move.
"Let us go then. We have wasted enough time." Dolohov ordered before they turned around to leave.
James was wondering who they actually came here to save, if Walburga was nothing but a side target.
There would have been little point in asking Dolohov, as he was not going to tell him anything, so he didn't ask.
"I'm looking forward to having a proper duel with you, Mister Potter." Dolohov added as his silhouette disappeared into the darkness.
James then heard loud footsteps and realized that the Aurors were getting closer to his position.
He could guess that if it took them this long to get here, it must have been because there were more dementors blocking their path on the lower levels.
The Death Eaters must have sent them there to delay them as much as possible while they got what they wanted.
James would rather not deal with the authorities again, and there was no sign of the remaining Death Eaters, so he retrieved Regulus from his clone and promptly jumped out of the same hole he had used to enter.
After a long free fall, he reapplied his levitation spell and went through the hole he had initially burned in the window.
"James!" Sirius exclaimed.
"You are back alrea—?" Andromeda saw the boy he was carrying. "Is he okay?"
Sirius gasped when he saw his brother's state. "What happened to him?"
"Dementors got him for a bit." James responded. "His life is not in danger. He just needs some good rest and perhaps a bit of chocolate when he wakes up."
He glanced at the room.
"Where is the Auror from before?"
"He told us not to move and rushed up the stairs… I think he went looking for you." Andromeda told him.
"He was very mad…" Sirius added.
"Let's get out of here." James suggested.
"Wait, did you… Did you see my mother?" Sirius decided to ask.
"I believe she has successfully run away with the people who caused this mess." James didn't want to expand on that explanation.
"She escaped from prison?!" Andromeda looked shocked.
"Who did all of this? Don't tell me it was the same people who attacked our house… those masked men?" Sirius took his brother from James as he walked. "I'll carry him."
"This is just the beginning of a war." James simply responded. "Are you carrying the portkey I gave you?"
"Of course! You told us to always bring it with us." Sirius pulled a necklace from beneath his shirt.
"Use it and bring your brother home. Call my mother… she worked for a bit as a nurse. She knows how to handle a dementor's victim."
"Right… but where are you going?" Sirius said.
"Andromeda and I still have some business to take care of." He glanced at her. "If you are still up to it."
"I am…" Andromeda said. "I'd better take any chances I still have." She had realized that things were just going to get worse from now on, so she was not going to waste the opportunity to see the person she loved.
"Wise choice." James said as the group walked outside the prison.
"Whoa! I can see a huge hole at the top!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Don't delay in activating that portkey. You don't want the Aurors to catch you and get tangled in this mess." James advised him before holding his wand up.
Andromeda held onto his robes, and a moment later, they were gone.
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