"You're finally here, Lucius. I knew I hadn't misjudged you."
Inside the cell, Elijah leaned against the damp stone wall, projecting an ease he didn't entirely feel.
He had gambled on Malfoy's self-preservation, but he had prepared Sirius as a backup.
These days, he spent his hours submerged in the Pensieve-like depths of his own memories, refining his plan in the silence of his mind.
"Master..." Malfoy prostrated himself on the freezing floor, his head bowed in a display of frantic humility. He asked no questions; he simply waited.
Elijah stepped toward the bars. With a flick of his fingers, he commanded the dust and sand on the floor to swirl, forming elegant lines of text in the air between them. "I need you to procure these items, Lucius."
Lucius didn't even squint at the list. His concern was more practical. "Master... the Ministry's security is absolute. They permit nothing to be brought into Azkaban. I fear I may fail you."
"Do not worry. Black will assist you."
"Black? Sirius Black?" Lucius looked up, his pale face flickering with surprise. He remembered the rumors of Black's loyalty, though the memory of a certain fat, stuttering man named Peter Pettigrew clouded the history. "But he is a prisoner himself..."
"Heh~ I have a way to get him out," Elijah said, his voice dropping into a register of profound mystery. "And a way for him to bring the items back in."
He paused, a thought striking him. "Lucius, can a House-elf's Apparition penetrate these walls?"
"I am afraid not, Master," Lucius replied instantly. "Azkaban was built to be a void. If such a loophole existed, the Ministry would have sealed it centuries ago. But if you require Dobby's service, I will send him the moment you are free."
"We will discuss that later. Do your part. Black will find you."
Lucius bowed one last time and retreated into the shadows. He had barely vanished when Sirius came charging to the bars, clutching a crumpled newspaper with trembling hands.
"He's alive! He's alive!" Sirius paced the narrow corridor, his bare feet slapping against the stone. His eyes were bloodshot, fixed on the photograph of the Weasley family.
"I told you," Elijah said, his voice a cool contrast to Sirius's heat.
He reached through the bars, took the paper, and smoothed it out. The one-fingered rat sat mockingly on the boy's shoulder.
"And as it happens, this Weasley boy is Harry's roommate. For two years, Harry has slept in the same room as the man who betrayed his parents. Fortunately, Peter is a coward; he won't strike unless he is certain of success."
"I'm going to kill him!" Sirius roared, the sound echoing off the high ceiling.
"Naturally. But if you break your vow to me, you will drop dead before you reach the shore, and Peter will simply scurry back to the Dark Lord. Complete my task first."
The fury in Sirius's eyes cooled into a desperate focus. He wasn't afraid of the Vow's price; he was afraid of failing Harry again. "I will do it."
"There is no rush. Return with Malfoy's items before the next full moon. In the meantime..."
Elijah looked at the man with a touch of calculated leniency. "Go to Privet Drive. See the boy. It is a pity, isn't it? Every wizard celebrates the day he became an orphan."
Sirius choked on a sob, unable to speak.
"You are.. right."
His body hunched, his skin sprouted coarse fur, and in an instant, a massive black dog stood where the man had been.
"Since you are leaving," Elijah added, casting a silent waterproofing charm on the dog's pelt to aid his swim, "leave the paper. I find the crossword puzzles help pass the time."
The dog vanished into the darkness. Sirius Black had escaped.
...
"He's gone!" Rufus Scrimgeour slammed the report onto Fudge's desk. "I don't understand how you allowed Malfoy to visit him!"
Fudge nearly fell out of his chair. "What? Tom Riddle escaped?"
"What are you talking about?" Scrimgeour barked. "Sirius Black! He's vanished from his cell!"
Fudge let out a long, shaky breath, dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief. "Ahem—yes, Sirius. Of course. Malfoy was merely visiting a relative, discussing the Black inheritance. But how? How did he get past the Dementors?"
"The guards heard him screaming 'He's alive' before he went quiet," Scrimgeour said grimly. "We suspect he's going after Harry Potter."
...
Azkaban remained a world of eternal twilight, but the departure of Sirius had changed the atmosphere.
Fudge had withdrawn a significant portion of the Dementors to join the manhunt, and for the first time in centuries, the clouds over the North Sea began to thin.
Elijah sat in his cell, the clock in his mind ticking toward the second full moon.
A wet, heavy thud sounded on the stones outside.
A large black dog shook itself dry, a small enchanted bag clutched in its teeth. Sirius transformed back into a man, looking even more haggard and wind-beaten than before.
"You finally get out and you don't even think to wash?" Elijah remarked, waving a hand. "Let me give you a hand."
The filth and stench vanished from Sirius's clothes.
"I didn't have time for a bath. The charms you cast failed the moment I hit the water."
"Dumbledore's magic," Elijah mused. "It keeps my influence within these four walls." He opened the bag. Inside, Malfoy had been meticulous: a yew wand with a phoenix feather core, a Nimbus 2000, dew, a Hawkmoth chrysalis, and a tiny, glittering vial of Felix Felicis.
"You're going to attempt the Animagus transformation here?" Sirius asked, his voice full of disbelief. "Without moonlight? In this hole?"
"I need your help for that." Elijah spat out the Mandrake leaf he had held for a month and handed the ingredients to Sirius. "Dumbledore's wards stop my spells from leaving the cell, but they don't stop you. Take these above the clouds. Let the moonlight strike the vial as you add the final components."
"And in exchange?"
"Information about your brother, Regulus."
Sirius froze, his face twisting into a sneer. "Regulus? I don't care about that Death Eater coward."
"He wasn't a coward, Sirius. He was a boy who found his way back from the dark. He died a hero, and he holds the key to destroying Voldemort."
For thirty minutes, Elijah spoke of a lake, a cave, and a house-elf named Kreacher. He watched the skepticism on Sirius's face turn to a hollow, aching grief.
"He gave the elf the chance to live?" Sirius whispered. "Regulus did that?"
"He did. If you want to finish what he started, you'll do this for me."
Sirius didn't hesitate. He took the broom and the ingredients, shifted back into his canine form, and vanished upward.
High above the fortress, the silver dog broke through the storm clouds. Riding the Nimbus into the pure, unobstructed light of the full moon, Sirius performed the delicate alchemical dance—adding the hair, the dew, and the chrysalis to the vial in the exact, ancient order.
He returned an hour later, dropping a vial of blood-red potion at Elijah's feet. "It's done. Now you just wait for the first thunder of a storm."
"No need to wait," Elijah said, sensing the heavy humidity in the air. "Azkaban is nothing if not a storm magnet."
Sirius turned to leave, his mind already on the hunt for Pettigrew. "Good luck, Elijah. If you truly aren't him... I hope you make it out."
Left alone, Elijah felt the clock in his mind hit three in the morning.
Sunrise was approaching. He uncorked the Felix Felicis and swallowed a drop. A golden warmth flooded his chest, a sense of infinite, soaring confidence.
An inspiration hit him like a lightning bolt.
The ancient spell—Amato, Animo, Animado, Animagus—felt wrong.
Under the influence of the luck potion, a different phrase whispered in his ear.
He pointed the yew wand at his heart. "Amato, Animo, Animado, Animagus... Imago Magus."
Woosh!
A second heartbeat thudded in his chest, so loud it drowned out the crashing waves. The magic in the cell began to swirl into a golden vortex.
Outside, the first bolt of lightning tore through the sky, and the roar of thunder shook the tower to its foundations.
Elijah downed the blood-red potion in a single gulp.
The pain was a white-hot explosion.
His handsome face began to twist, his mouth protruding forward, turning into a sharp beak; his ears became beautiful feathers on both sides; his hands became wings, and two smaller pairs of wings grew on his back; his legs also became huge claws…
His massive body instantly filled the entire cell.