If he was honest with himself, Stephen was way too excited to be plotting the breakout out a convicted felon.
A map of the largest British wizarding prison, known to all as 'Azkaban', was spread across Dumbledore's desk. The two men had spent hours devising schemes and ideas to sneak inside, and compared notes over each other's abilities and knowledge of the magical world.
An idea clicked in the sorcerer's mind. "Wait a second. The Dementors guarding the cells have to allow some people in, right? Like, guards, and the government and all of that."
Dumbledore popped one of those yellow candies into his mouth, nodding gently. "To an extent. Only the most important members among the Ministry are allowed access, and the guards only go into the cell blocks when the Dementors report a problem."
"So why don't we just use that Polly-juice thing you said before-"
"The Polyjuice Potion," Dumbledore corrected. "Takes several difficult months to brew, and impossible to buy from anywhere except the Ministry, which requires a four-hour interview to determine what you intend to use the potion for. The entire time, you are held under a truth potion, and should you prove to desire to use the potion for undesirable purposes, you are imprisoned for a total of eight and a half months.
"Aside from that," the old man said. "It requires a physical sample of the person you would imitate, and Azkaban has several defenses against such disguises."
Stephen cursed under his breath. The Cloak swiped one of Dumbledore's quills.
"Hypnosis?" He suggested. "We could get one of the guards to come by, unlock the cell, let him out. Easy."
"Both Compulsion charms and the Imperius are rendered inert inside Azkaban's defenses." Dumbledore said. "And besides, I think you would have an extremely large amount of trouble finding someone who is willing to use one of the three Unforgivables."
Stephen glared at the Cloak until it returned Dumbledore's quill. When he tried to put it away, the quill snapped in his hand. He fought the temptation to break something else in frustration.
"Invisibility, then!" The sorcerer said exasperatedly, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat. "Come on, it's not anyone can notice that!"
"Dementors are blind creatures, Mister Strange. They detect emotions for location."
"Oh, then we're all good." Stephen said. "I'll ask Wong to do it."
Dumbledore leaned forward. "I'm sorry?"
The Sorcerer Supreme blinked. "Oh. Yeah. Wong. You know, the Hong Kong Sanctum librarian?"
"I'm afraid I have no inkling as to who that is." Dumbledore said. His eyes suddenly twinkled with inspiration. "However, you stated earlier that you had excellent teleportation abilities, yes?"
Stephen nodded. "Yeah, the Sling Ring. Anyone can use it, really, you just need to train." He frowned. "And before you ask, no, I can't just open a portal there and solve this. I need to have been in the place before I can go there. Otherwise I end up in Iceland."
"Every time?"
"Without fail." He said gravely. "Every. Single. Time."
Dumbledore settled back in his chair. Stephen could practically see the ideas and plans going through the older man's mind.
Finally, the old man's focus shifted back into reality. "If we are to accomplish this task," He began. "We will need to enlist the help of several others."
Stephen squinted. "Won't it be a little bit hard to find people willing to break into a top-security prison?"
Dumbledore smiled. "Of course not! Why would you ever think that was the case?"
The American sorcerer rubbed his temples. He had a feeling that this would be one of the most frustrating things he had ever signed up for.
O-O-O-O-O
Alastor Moody's false eye swiveled to face Stephen suspiciously. "Black?" He asked. "You want to free Sirius Black?!"
The sorcerer nodded. "Pretty much."
The next thing he knew, Moody had flipped him upside down against a table, and he was wrapped in heavy, thick cords.
Stephen struggled. Behind him, the Cloak nipped at his ear angrily, as if it was chastising him for getting the pair of them in this mess.
"Albus!" He called out, but then Moody had hit him with some kind of spell and sound couldn't come out of his mouth.
Moody bent down until he was directly in Stephen's face. "I don't know how you and your Death Eater buddy managed to Polyjuice Dumbledore, but there's no chance in hell you're pulling the wool over ol' Mad-Eye." He hissed.
Stephen wished he move his arms, if only to wipe the spittle that had landed on his face. Very unhygienic.
"Bloody hell!" He heard someone cry out. Stephen wriggled to see who is was, but it was nigh-impossible to do such a thing at the horrendous angle he was stuck at.
"Moody, what have I told you about holding visitors hostage?!" The newcomer asked. The voice sounded feminine.
The grizzled man paused, wand still pointed at Stephen's nose. "Ah… Only if they're Death Eaters?"
"And if they're not?" The woman asked, as if talking to an impertinent child.
Moody slumped ever so slightly. "… Don't do it?"
"There we go!" The woman said cheerfully. "So, let the lad off and we can have a chat about all this, alright?"
"No!" Moody hissed vehemently, against the idea before the newcomer even finished talking. "Tonks, this guy wants to let Sirius Black loose! He's a Death Eater!"
Stephen would have liked to make a bitter response, but he since he was currently tied to a table and rendered mute, he opted to remain silent.
"He's a Death Eater, you say?"
The man nodded enthusiastically.
Tonks tapped her foot. "Did you check his sleeve, then?"
Made-Eye Moody froze. His magical prosthetic eye swiveled in its socket.
"No…" He trailed off.
Stephen's cords were suddenly torn apart by another spell, and before he could do anything, Moody's rough calloused hands were ripping up his sleeve. "You see!" Moody called out to Tonks. "He's a Death Eater! Just-"
That was when he realized that Stephen's bare arm was lacking anything resembling a tattoo.
"… Look." He finished glumly. "Right, get Albus in here. He better explain what's going on, or I'm having that bloody phoenix of his for dinner tonight."
O-O-O-O-O
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled behind his half-moon spectacles. "Do you understand my scenario now, my boy?"
Remus Lupin blearily stared at his old professor. He raised his Firewhiskey again, chugging down the rest of the bottle.
"Lemme get this straight," He slurred. "You want me to go'n help get goddamn Sirius Black outta jail, after what he did?" He drunkenly got to his feet. "He killed 'em, Professor. Black killed James, 'n Peter, 'n Lily, remember?"
"Actually," Dumbledore began carefully, swapping the fourth bottle Remus was whipping out with a glass of water, "I have very good evidence proving that Sirius Black, in fact, was completely innocent of his accused crimes."
Lupin blinked.
"Your friend didn't betray the rest of your 'Marauders', Remus." Dumbledore summarized.
"Then who did?" The werewolf asked, Summoning the bottle of alcohol out of his old professor's hands.
The Headmaster gave a long sigh, Vanishing the bottle before Remus could grab it. The young man sulked over the death of his Firewhiskey. "I don't know."
Remus frowned. "But Black didn't do it?"
"No," Dumbledore said gravely. "No, whoever betrayed the Potters to Lord Voldemort was somebody else."
The last remnants of Lupin's old Gryffindor courage shone in his eyes. "Then I don't care what I have to do. I'm gonna get Padfoot outta Azkaban or die trying."
O-O-O-O-O
Dumbledore, Moody, Tonks, Stephen and Lupin had all gathered up in the Headmaster's office. Schematics littered the desk, with schedules and lists and ideas all dotted around on various bits of parchment. The faint evening light, when combined with the flickering Everlasting Torches, gave everything a sinister, mysterious glow.
To an invisible onlooker, it would have looked exactly like they were planning a break in, or perhaps a robbery.
Of course, any invisible onlookers would most likely be dead or unconscious by that time, seeing as Alastor Moody was in the room.
Up on its pedestal, Fawkes the phoenix was having an extraordinarily difficult battle with the Cloak, which was currently chasing its tail feathers. The bright red and gold bird shrieked, snapping angrily at the red fabric.
Of course, the amazingly intense duel fought at the top of the room by the rest of the office's inhabitants. Dumbledore would never come to realize just how Fawkes lost four of the shiniest feathers in his plumage, and Stephen would never come to understand what the Cloak would ever want to do with some shiny appendages of a bird.
Dumbledore pointed a finger at the most central diagram, which was accompanied by several carefully written dot points.
"With Alastor and Nymphadora opening up that gates-"
"My name is Tonks."
"My apologies, dear girl. As I was saying, with Alastor and Tonks opening up the gates, we should be able to have my trusted ally Stephen here come through the entrance with them."
"I'm sorry, sir," Remus began. "But how can he do that? If Moody's coming through for a surveillance check, they won't allow anyone who isn't a qualified part of the Ministry."
Stephen looked down at the plans carefully, scanning everything he could see to make sure he would memorize it. "My magic has access to something called the Mirror Dimension. I still move around the normal world, but I'm completely invisible."
He frowned. "Of course, I also have a bit of a problem understanding what goes on in there. Everything's like an optical illusion to me, since I'd be the one who's open the portal."
Dumbledore waved a hand at Lupin. "And that's where you come in, young man. If you follow Stephen there, you should be exempt from at least a slight majority of the visions he sees. The two of you can follow Alastor and Tonks down to the South East cell wing, and hopefully be able to accompany Sirius Black out of there safely."
Tonks smiled. "Huh," She said happily. "What could go wrong?"
O-O-O-O-O
Hey guys, it's SaS again! Just so you all know, this chapter's planning isn't the big fat master plan for the end of the story. There's still more characters to come, including but not limited to Snape, Wong, and possibly even some Cloak on cloak action! See you soon!