As the eerie fortress, shrouded in thin sea mist, faintly appeared on the horizon, Snape raised his wrist. The watch face was overcast, and the hand had just pointed to five o'clock.
"It's still early," he lowered his arm, his voice a little muffled by the sea breeze. "According to the plan, we move at six."
The trio stopped using magic to propel the raft, letting it drift with the surging waves, waiting in silence. Without a word, that familiar chill, emanating from the depths of the soul, permeated from Azkaban in waves. Fortunately, the Dementors had not detected their hidden presence and were not approaching them. They resisted the invasion of negative emotions brought by the Dementors with sheer willpower, not immediately summoning their Patronuses.
Time ticked by. Snape's gaze fell back to his wristwatch; the hand finally pointed firmly to six o'clock. "It's time," he said. The trio once again wielded their wands, propelling the raft to cut through the dark water, heading straight for the fortress.
As the distance rapidly closed, the biting cold of despair intensified silently. The vague black figures that had been aimlessly patrolling the sea surface now, like moths drawn to a flame, glided down from the towering spires of the fortress in the howling wind, swooping directly towards the small wooden raft on the sea.
Snape violently flicked his wand, and the large invisibility cloak covering the raft was instantly ripped away, revealing their figures. They seemed to become the only light in the vast ocean, completely igniting the Dementors' interest.
Their vision was filled with swirling black rags and hoods. Facing this overwhelming and terrifying sight, Snape didn't hesitate:
"Expecto Patronum!"
---
### The Silver Serpent of Protection
In an instant, the colossal serpent made of searing silver light shot skyward from Snape's wand tip. Its body was so immense, so solid, radiating a warm and potent glow that instantly dispelled the surrounding darkness and chill. Wherever the giant serpent passed, the black air seemed to let out a sizzling wail. The confined sea area was illuminated, and the attacking Dementors were startled by the sudden intense light, their forward momentum sharply checked. Their featureless hooded black holes were stung by the bright light, and then, as if instinctively fearing it, they let out silent shrieks, actually attempting to turn and flee.
But the silver serpent was faster. Like a living creature with sentience, its massive head darted forward, its huge maw wide open, colliding with the dark creatures that had moments ago descended like reapers. As the silver serpent's light touched the foremost Dementors, black smoke instantly billowed from their tattered cloaks.
Their twisted black forms writhed and convulsed madly in the air, trying to shake off or annihilate the lethal silver light. In just a few breaths, several Dementors completely disintegrated, turning into charred fragments, powerless rags that drifted downward, fluttering towards the cold sea surface.
Emmeline Vance had already raised her wand, ready to summon her own Patronus to assist in defense, but she was stunned by the scene unfolding before her. She merely stared blankly at the silver flame raging in the air, her grip on her wand loosening slightly. The overwhelming power and speed of Snape's Patronus, in the moment of its true display, far exceeded her comprehension.
"It's alright, you'll get used to it, Emmeline," Moody said in a low voice, noticing her reaction while still struggling to maintain the raft's speed. "I've seen it once before, though it wasn't quite this exaggerated back then."
In Emmeline's brief moment of distraction, the raft's speed, no longer continuously propelled by their magic, visibly slowed. A fragment of a Dementor's cloak, its edges still emitting wisps of black smoke, spun and drifted down, landing squarely on the raft deck not far in front of Snape, wet and clinging. He disgustedly nudged the foul remains away with the tip of his foot, as if flicking away a speck of dust, letting it fall into the sea.
"Don't stop," he said. "Accelerate."
Emmeline then shuddered, as if waking from a dream, raising her wand and quickly concentrating to propel the raft forward. The raft surged forward like it had been violently whipped, accelerating once more, cutting through the waves, and charging towards Azkaban's black stone fortress. Above them, Dementor after Dementor, unable to escape in time, disintegrated in mid-air, turning into fragments that drifted softly from the sky, only to be swallowed by the sea. The scattered black debris became the final backdrop for their raft as it surged towards Azkaban.
The raft struck the decayed wooden piles of the dock with a dull thud. The trio agilely leaped onto the damp, slippery stone shore.
Moody carefully scanned his surroundings,愣 for a very rare moment. He took a deep breath of the air, which smelled of the sea but was unusually "clean," and commented hoarsely, "This is the first time I've breathed such 'normal' air in Azkaban." He looked back at the sea. The giant silver serpent was still relentlessly pursuing the scattered Dementors, and wherever it passed, the black mist dispersed, and the once deathly oppressive sky regained some clarity.
"Let's go in," Snape said, turning first and heading towards the heavy prison gate made of black iron. With a flick of his wand, the thick chains on the door clattered and fell with a screech.
---
### Empty Cells and Familiar Faces
The interior of the prison was still the same century-old cold and dampness, and the rock walls covered in mold. But as Moody said, without the Dementors' pervasive mental assault, although still oppressive, it was no longer a will-shattering dungeon.
They hurried along the dimly lit corridor, their footsteps echoing in the empty passage. On both sides were cold, dark iron-barred cells. Moody's glass eye spun wildly, and his good eye scanned the empty prison interiors. His scarred face grew increasingly grim, eventually turning almost purple.
"Empty? This one's empty too!" His suppressed roar echoed between the stone walls. "Where are those Death Eater scum I personally caught? Those murderers, those dark wizards? All gone! Damn Ministry of Magic, they've almost cleared out the entire prison!"
"The Ministry of Magic has become the Dark Lord's image," Snape responded, his gaze sweeping over a deeper cell in the corner. He paused slightly, stopping at the cell door, observing the familiar layout inside. "Mulciber isn't here either."
As they quickly searched, Emmeline, who was leading the way, let out a short gasp: "Professor! Someone's here!"
Snape immediately strode forward, the light from his wand illuminating the cell. In a similarly cramped cell at the front of the corridor, a slender, small figure was curled up in the corner of the cold stone floor. She wore ragged prison robes, her body trembling slightly. Most striking was her hair, which looked as if it had been bleached and then splashed with grey, giving it a withered, decaying grey-white appearance. The girl's face was buried in her arms, her exposed skin appearing morbidly pale in the dim light of the wand.
Snape pointed his wand at the cell door lock, and the latch sprang open. He stepped into the cell, and at the same time, a thought crossed his mind. The huge silver serpent, chasing the remaining enemies in the air above the sea, received the command and instantly transformed into a stream of light, passing through walls and breaking through obstacles, returning to Snape's side in an instant. The condensed serpent shadow gracefully circled above his head, then shrank in size, like a docile band of light, coiling around the unconscious Tonks, gently wrapping her and driving away the lingering chill.
Snape was about to lean down when Emmeline recognized the girl's identity.
"Nymphadora!" she exclaimed, immediately squeezing in and carefully picking up the weak Tonks.
---
### A Family Reunited
Feeling the warm light and touch, Tonks' eyelashes fluttered a few times, and she laboriously opened a slit. The eyes that had once sparkled with quick wit were now clouded with a thick layer of confusion and lifelessness. But when her blurred vision focused on Snape and Moody's faces, a faint glimmer of light flashed.
Snape immediately pulled out a large chunk of chocolate, broke off a generous piece, and offered it to Tonks. "Eat some; it will make you feel better."
Tonks' chapped lips trembled, not noticing the offering, but she used all her strength to utter a faint, tearful plea: "Snape, Mr. Moody... please... save my mom and dad, they..."
"We will save them," Snape said, his outstretched hand not retracting. "Eat this first. We will go rescue your parents right after." Tonks weakly nodded, her fingers feebly pointing towards the deeper part of the cell. Snape, without hesitation, broke off the larger half of the chocolate and forcefully placed it into Tonks' slightly open hand: "Eat!"
Tonks held the chocolate in her hand but didn't eat it.
There was no time to wait. Emmeline held the weak Tonks, and the group continued to push downward and inward along the cold stone corridor. They passed cell after cell, most of which were still empty. Occasionally, they would see one or two unfamiliar, emaciated prisoners curled up in corners.
"Mom—?"
While observing a figure in a cell, Tonks, in Emmeline's arms, suddenly struggled, letting out a nearly whimpering call. Almost at the moment the sound fell, a woman in the cell, who had been facing the wall, lying on the ground as if dead, suddenly stiffened. The next second, she burst out with astonishing strength, scrambling up on all fours, and then kneeling and lunging towards the iron bars. A pale, haggard face, smudged with dirt but still faintly showing the dignified contours of the past, was pressed tightly against the cold iron bars.
"Nymphadora? Nymphadora!" The voice was sharp and hoarse. "My child! Is that you?!"
"Mom!" Tonks in Emmeline's arms excitedly tried to struggle free, but Emmeline gently held her.
"Andromeda!" Snape immediately flicked his wand, and the cell door sprang open. Snape and Moody rushed in, almost carrying Andromeda out together. The moment Andromeda burst out of the cell, she broke free from their grasp. Emmeline quickly handed the Tonks in her arms to the rushing Andromeda. Andromeda tightly embraced her recovered daughter, tears streaming down her face, her body trembling violently from excitement and weakness.
Young Tonks laboriously raised the chocolate in her hand to her mother's mouth, her voice weak but comforting: "Mommy, don't cry... chocolate, Mr. Snape gave it—"
Andromeda, holding Tonks, cried even harder.
"There's more," Snape broke off another piece of chocolate and offered it. Andromeda took the chocolate through her tears, carefully feeding it to her daughter. Tonks took a small bite. A faint trace of color seemed to subtly return to her grey-white hair.
"Where's Ted?" Snape asked then.
"Downstairs, separated, locked up alone—and others..." Andromeda, tightly holding her daughter, gasped laboriously, pointing her finger towards the steep stone steps leading down.
They continued downwards. As they passed each cell, the group carefully scanned its interior.
---
### A Desperate Rescue
"Wait!" As they passed through a wider section of the prison, Andromeda suddenly gasped, her eyes fixed on a gaunt man sitting against the wall in a cell to their front left. She urgently told Snape and Moody, "This man, I remember him! I saw him at the Ministry of Magic's Wizarding Lineage Registration Committee! He must be Muggle-born."
Snape and Moody exchanged glances. The man also seemed to sense the commotion and slightly raised his head, too weak to speak, his eyes seemingly devoid of even pleading.
"We'll take them when we come back," Snape said. "First, let's find our people."
Finally, they found Ted Tonks at the end of a secluded side wing on the lowest level. When the disheveled man, also wearing ragged prison robes, was released and saw his daughter tightly held in his wife's arms, the strong man's eyes instantly welled up. He rushed forward, his trembling hands open, embracing both his wife and daughter tightly.
"No time to waste," Snape interrupted the Tonks family after they had calmed down somewhat, pulling out two spare wands and handing them to Ted and Andromeda. "Take these."
"Thank you," Ted released his family and turned to Snape and the others. He took the wands, his eyes filled with complex gratitude. "We meet again... I... can I join you?"
"Of course, Ted," Snape nodded, patting his shoulder. "It's not too late for you to join now."
Next, they quickly found Frank and Alice Longbottom in a nearby area. Fortunately, they had not received any "special attention"; although weak, they were still mentally lucid. After giving wands to both of them, Snape's group began to retrace their steps. Since the dark wizards were not being held there, they released all other still-breathing prisoners they encountered along the way.
The group swelled to over a dozen people, but trust, after all, requires time and testing. Besides chocolate, Snape did not distribute wands to the newly released, unfamiliar prisoners.
As they escorted this ragged, stumbling, yet hopeful group to within a dozen yards of the prison gate, voices were heard from ahead. Snape raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop. The people outside the door had clearly heard them and stopped talking.
"Listen, you inside! You are surrounded! Immediately drop your wands, disarm yourselves, and come out to surrender! Repeat, drop your wands, surrender immediately!"
The warning came from outside the iron door.
---Feed stories—vote now or the story starves 😭"
Want 2 chapters a day? You know what to do!
Request your favorite story too!
Pat-reon: ilham20
I actually finish stories (miracle, right?)