159Chapter 12
Hecate's messengers
Harry stepped into Azkaban, humming a cheerful tune as he surveyed his surroundings. He knew that the Ministry was still scratching their heads over the disappearances of dementors. Of course, there were dementors had tried to escape Azkaban. Unfortunately for them, the ministry had set up perimeter wards that prevented it. Even with the ramped up security, nothing could stop him from his daily quest. Harry had learned that the case was assigned to the Department of Mysteries. He could not get more information on this department's movements from his D-phone since wizards had seen fit to protect the entire department with a magical information barrier that worked similar to the Fidelius charm.
His trips to Azkaban were usually very brief, lasting less than a minute to minimize his exposure to the vile creatures. He had bought a small charm from Olympus that considerably reduced the Dementors' effect on him on his second week of hunting after an accident when he got closer to a dementor than he was comfortable. Harry was not worried about safety since he always arrived at Azkaban with Greater Invisibility and Lesser Intangibility activated. He was confident that very few things could harm him when these abilities were at work. He could maintain the combined abilities for a few minutes at most.
Locating a few dementors nearby, he fired two strikes of Lance of Lightning. He watched with satisfaction as the Dementors seared into ashes. The dementors had not affected Sirius as much as many other inmates of Azkaban, but he was still traumatized by this place. Harry saw this job as an opportunity to have his own revenge against them. This was why he always hunted on Azkaban, although there were some other places with a Dementor population.
As Harry prepared to create a portal back, he noticed that he was surrounded by a faintly glowing circle. He was approximately at its centre, and the circle was about ten meters in diameter. He was alarmed to note that someone seemed to have scribbled many inscriptions on the earth surrounding him, and they were all starting to glow slowly. The intricate patterns and runic inscriptions made him realize that he was standing in a runic circle. He had read about them in the Library of Olympus. Magi widely used it up until the late ninth century, but it was thought to be a forgotten art in modern times. However, it appeared that it was not forgotten enough.
Harry had gained some insight into runes and magic circles, enough to realize that the one he was standing on was intended to manipulate time magic within the area of the circle. That was definitely bad news. Acting fast, he brought his hand down to create one of Hermes' portals in front of him. Harry felt the briefest tingle of magic behind him as he lunged inside the portal. He turned around and watched the activated magic circle in fascination from the other side of the portal.
"Close one, hmm?" Peitho spoke up beside him.
"Yeah." Harry heaved a sigh of relief, plopping into his chair. He was back in Olympus. He watched the portal dissipate, catching one last glimpse of the magic circle.
"What was that?"
"I'm no magic expert," Peitho shrugged, "But I'm pretty sure that's a time-freezing circle."
"Does that mean what I think it means?"
"Roughly." She nodded. "It freezes the time within the circle until the power channelled into it runs out. Wizards used it before to contain incidents -magical or otherwise- that they couldn't deal with directly."
Harry gulped. "Would it have worked on me?"
Peitho's face darkened. "If you didn't get out in time, yes. In my knowledge, a minor god appointed to the Norse pantheon was caught by this technique a few centuries ago. The Wizards didn't know that he was a god, of course. We did manage to save him, but it was a huge black mark in his career."
"But can it affect me since I'm intangible?"
"Lesser intangibility is not strong enough to stop it. You will need to upgrade it to Greater Intangibility if you want to stop time magic from affecting you."
Harry let out a frustrated sigh. "Do you know how they found out that I'd arrive there?"
Peitho closed her eyes. Harry recognized that she was trying to Divine the information, so he kept quiet. Her modesty aside, Peitho was fairly skilled in the magical arts.
Peitho grimaced. "I can't find out much due to that annoying information barrier, but I believe they had done extensive preparations. In this case, I'm guessing that they knew that an attack on dementors happened every night. So they would have prepared many magic circles at different locations within the prison. They would have waited for weeks, hoping you would land within one of those circles. Once you land on one of them and see your attack being fired, they would activate that circle and trap you there."
"It can't be that easy to set up so many magic circles, can it?" Harry asked, shocked.
"They would have used up a lot of resources." Peitho nodded. "But I understand that they are desperate to stop the dementors from disappearing. They're free guards, after all."
"I guess I'll have to be more careful."
"That goes without saying." Peitho nodded seriously. "If Lady Aphrodite or I had to step in, other deities would still know about it, and it would be seen as carelessness from your part. So we need to prepare before you go there again."
Harry nodded thoughtfully. There was a limit to how much Peitho could help him since the gods were expected to be independent. He would lose respect among his peers if he was seen to rely on his friends to solve his problems. This was also why he couldn't borrow blessings from Peitho, although she had suggested it on a few occasions.
"Maybe it's better to try other places for the hunt until we have a solution for this."
Declining Dementor population sparks concerns
"News reaches us from Azkaban Prison, the place notorious for one of the largest concentrations of Dementors in the world, that their number have fallen to below three hundred. This is just half of the population as compared to last year. The ministry has given us their utmost assurance that the dementors have not moved out of Azkaban, and no sightings of rogue dementors have been reported. This deepens the mystery, however, as the species is known to be extremely resilient, long-lived, and nigh-unkillable.
The only recorded event of the death of a dementor is in the year 611 After Merlin, when a horde of dragons crossed the now-Azkaban prison area and engaged dementors in battle. More than fifty dementors perished in the battle after prolonged exposure to Dragonfire. To this date, this is the only known method to kill dementors. A conflict of species such as this is impossible in the present age, as most dragons in Europe are in captivity of either the magical governments or the goblins.
Minister Cornelius Fudge is expected to brief the Wizengmot on the findings of the investigation later this week."
Harry put down the newspaper, keeping a straight face as he did so. It was his first day of classes for the second year, and breakfast had brought a rather interesting article in the Daily Prophet. The ministry did not understand what was killing the Dementors. They had just observed bright flashes of lightning, but they knew that there was no wizarding magic capable of doing that. They assumed it was an intelligent being and had set up the time freezing array to stop it. Since their trap had failed, they realized that they may not be able to stop this as fast as they had hoped. The ministry could no longer sweep the problem under the rug, so they intended to brief the Wizengmot while giving the public minimal information.
"It's really strange," Hermione told him from above his shoulder. "I've never heard of Dementors being killed. Many think they're non-beings."
"Dad says the ministry's terrified," Ron said in a hushed voice. "He said the minister's banned anyone from saying the word Dementor inside the ministry."
"Well, that's hardly conducive." Hermione frowned. "He can't do that, can he?"
"As long as he keeps the Wizengmot happy." Ron shrugged. "And gold keeps them that way. Usually."
Hermione pursed her lips. "I don't know how you put up with such a corrupt system." She muttered.
"So," Harry said, hurrying to change the topic. "Looking forward to the defence class?"
Hermione brightened at the prospect of an actual defence class. She loved their little defence club, of course, but she was still looking forward to seeing how a competent instructor would handle the class. She was introduced to Remus Lupin last Christmas at Sirius' place. She had a positive impression of the man, and she hoped the classes would only improve it.
"Yes." She grinned as they made their way to the first class of the day. "I still hope everyone wants to continue our club, though."
"No objections from our end." Daphne's piped up, walking up from behind them. Harry noticed that Tracey was with her as well.
"How about the others?" Harry asked.
"I've exchanged a few letters. No one wants to quit." Daphne turned towards Harry. "Speaking of, you took your sweet time to reply to my letter."
"I told you, a house-elf had intercepted your letter. All letters, as a matter of fact. I replied as soon as I got them back."
Daphne stared at him for a solid minute. "You're serious?!"
"No, that's my godfather." Harry suppressed a grin as the others groaned. "But really, it's true. I can call him here to vouch for me."
"It's cute that you think it'd help." Daphne snorted. "House-elves say what their masters want them to say. But I'll take your word for it."
"He's not really my house-elf, so he's not obliged to lie for me." Harry winced at Hermione's narrowed eyes. "He belonged to the Malfoys."
"Okay, I sense a story." Tracey grinned. "How did you end up getting Malfoy's elf?"
"Well, it happened last July, about a week after term ended." Harry began to recount a heavily edited version of last summer's events.
Harry sat down next to the Gryffindor and Slytherin club members in the defence class. Hogwarts Classes with all four houses together were rare, but he would rendezvous with the whole club later in the evening.
Remus walked into the class, doing a quick headcount as he did so.
"Welcome to Defence against the Dark arts." He began. "I'm Remus Lupin, your instructor for this year." He smiled a little at the inside joke. "I'd like to begin with a practical assessment."
Harry watched as he called the students asked them to demonstrate defensive or offensive spells they knew. Remus had prepared a training dummy for this purpose. When his turn came, Harry demonstrated around twenty spells from his repertoire. That was impressive by first-year standards, if not for the fact that most of the members of his defence club had managed similar numbers. To his credit, even Malfoy had managed to show eighteen spells. Hermione had, of course, outdone herself by demonstrating thirty-five.
"Before you go, Harry," Remus smiled. "Can you show us your Patronus charm?"
Harry winced as he heard sharp inhalations, especially from his club members. Sirius had gotten Remus to tutor him on it under the pretence of helping the latter hone his teaching skills. Harry wanted to learn it as an additional degree of protection against Dementors. Remus was highly sceptical since it was an advanced charm. But he consented to teach it since it required focus, not magical power.
"It's not a complete Patronus; this is just the first stage." He explained to the class at large. "Expecto Patronum!"
A silvery mist came out of the tip of his wand, dimly illuminating its immediate surroundings. It had taken a lot of practice to get it even to this level.
"That's it?" Harry could hear Malfoy's condescending voice. Like all things Malfoy, he ignored it.
"Thank you, Harry. That's very impressive, considering your age." Remus said, a little louder than usual. "Five points for your overall performance."
Harry grinned as he walked back to his seat. He could see that Malfoy wanted to protest, but he was awarded three points for his display. So, he had no right to complain.
"You will teach us that, won't you, Potter?" Daphne cracked her knuckles as Harry sat down. "You shouldn't hold out on your fellow club members."
"I just learned it over the summer," Harry said defensively. Of course, I'll teach all of you."
"You used magic in the summer?" Hermione asked in a harsh whisper.
"You're telling me that you didn't?" Daphne shot back.
"She's a muggleborn, so they'd detect it." Tracey supplied.
"The rule applies to all underage witches and wizards!" Hermione said indignantly.
"Yes, but for students who live in a magical household, the Trace can't detect who exactly performed the magic. For them, it's up to the parents to monitor underage magic." Tracey explained. "You can guess how much pureblood families would respect that."
Hermione looked like she was ready for mutiny. Thankfully, that conversation died down as Remus gently cleared his throat.
"Now, it looks like most of you know the spells mandated by the first-year syllabus and more. I'm told that your batch has shown good initiative at self-learning due to the unfortunate disappearance of your last teacher. I hope you keep up with such activities. The focus of this class, then, will shift more to the theoretical side of things. Of course, we will still have practicals. But I will also try to lay a solid foundation to base your spellwork on by imparting knowledge of appropriate magical theory."
Remus then explained the lesson plan for the rest of the year.
Harry found himself in the room of requirement later that evening. Hermione had called a club meeting, and they had hurried here as soon as dinner ended. Harry was a little confused as he spotted some new faces in the group. Ron's sister was among them, and so was Luna and Atë. They moved over to talk to him as soon as he spotted them.
"Hello!" Luna waved. Atë smiled next to her.
"What're you doing here?" Ron demanded, watching Ginny join them as well.
"Professor McGonagall told us that the Defence clubs would be accepting new members," Ginny said, casting a shy smile at Harry. Harry smiled back, gesturing them to sit in the chairs that just popped up.
"I guess that would be Hermione's announcement." He guessed. He was proved right when Hermione explained that their club was required to take new members from the first years. It looked like the teachers were interested in continuing last year's success story.
"I hope we won't be a bother," Atë said to the group at large.
"It's great to have so many new people." Susan grinned. "We'll wipe the floor with the other teams this time."
"We now have eighteen new members, making the total twenty-eight." Hermione continued after everyone had settled in. "The staff has asked us to come up with a name to distinguish each defence group. They also want a few members to coordinate the activities."
Daphne continued as Hermione fell silent. "The positions we need to fill are Club president, Duelling coordinator and year representatives. In addition, the senior members of the club would be expected to mentor one or two junior members. We can now vote on who should be the president."
"I nominate Hermione." Ron piped up. Harry could hear mutterings of agreement. It was a foregone conclusion among most of the group.
"Show of hands, please!" Daphne said as she shot her hand up. Harry looked around. Looked like the choice was unanimous.
"Alright," Hermione smiled, happy at the vote of confidence. "Can someone nominate the Duelling coordinator?"
All eyes fell on Daphne, though Tracey voiced the suggestion. Once again, the decision was unanimous. Daphne nodded, accepting the responsibility.
"First-year representative?"
"I nominate Atë," Luna said suddenly. Atë looked surprised at being pushed to the spotlight.
Harry could see that this was a little more contentious since the first years did not know each other, and there was inter-house rivalry to account for. Since he was a second year, it was not his place to voice his opinion.
"I'll vote for her as well," Ginny spoke up, breaking the impasse among the first years. Two other Gryffindors followed Ginny's choice, giving Atë half the votes. Since no one else was nominated, she was made the year representative.
"Second-year representative?" Hermione asked.
"Ron!" Harry half-shouted, pre-empting Ron's attempt to suggest him. He had enough things on his plate as it is. Ron looked torn between looking pleasantly surprised and annoyed.
"I'll nominate Susan, sorry." Daphne shot Harry an apologetic look.
Harry realized that Daphne was trying to balance out the houses evenly so that there would be one representative from each house. Susan looked thrilled at the prospect.
"I'll cede to Susan," Ron announced, and Daphne looked relieved. She did not want to antagonize Ron while doing what she thought was best for the group.
Ron shook his head as he sat down next to Harry. "I'm not good at this. Besides, Hermione would use it as an excuse to give me more work!"
Harry grinned. They had similar motives in evading that particular responsibility. He quickly composed his face upon realizing that Hermione was casting them a disappointed glance.
"Now, we'll pair up first years with mentors. Those who did not receive a responsibility will have to mentor two students. Those who did have the option of choosing just one." Hermione smiled impishly at the rapidly paling Ron and Harry. "I'm ready to mentor two students, so please don't complain that it's not fair."
"First years, you can choose your mentor. Though, if more than two people choose the same mentor, I'll have to reassign some of you." Daphne announced.
Harry blinked as he realized that Luna, Atë, and Ginny were all looking at him. Another Gryffindor boy was also eagerly heading his way. Ron snorted at his misfortune.
"Ginny, why don't you go to your brother," Daphne suggested, smoothly intercepting and redirecting the Gryffindor.
Ginny frowned in dismay and almost stomped over to Ron. The latter did not look as amused anymore. Daphne additionally assigned him a Slytherin first year and moved on to balance the other groups.
"Well, I'm not sure what I can teach the two of you," Harry said under his breath, looking over at the fallen deity and the legendary seer. He was quite happy with this turn of events. At least there were no great secrets between the three of them.
"I'm sure we can find something." Atë grinned. Luna nodded sagely.
"Now, finally, we need to decide on a club name," Hermione said after ensuring that all the mentees were mapped to mentors and introductions were exchanged. "I'll ask the first-year representative to suggest one if others have no objections?"
Everyone looked curiously at Atë, wondering what name she would come up with.
"Umm," Atë was surprised when she was put on the spot for the second time that day. "Hecate's messengers?" She suggested after a moment's consideration.
"Nice one!" Daphne whistled, impressed.
Hermione seemed amused at the reference to Greek mythology coming from Atë. "That's a great name! What does everyone think?"
There was a general chorus of agreement. Harry thought that the name was creative but maybe a little ambitious. He wondered if Atë was friends with the lesser-known minor deity associated with magic. Even as a supreme deity, Merlin did not have a monopoly over all magic since some believed in other deities like Hecate.
"It's decided then!" Hermione beamed. "Starting today, we are Hecate's messengers!"
A moment later, a large statue sprang to existence in the middle of the hall. It was that of a woman with three faces, sat on an ornate throne. Her six hands held a key, a dagger, a flail, a serpent, a torch and a spellbook. As everyone gazed at the statue in shock, Luna spoke up.
"I thought we might decorate the hall with her statue. If everyone agrees, of course..."