A few weeks later.
Having judged that the basic self-defense spells I had taught Harry were progressing well, I prepared to infiltrate Azkaban with him.
"Deek, did you find anything?"
"Oh, Master. Deek is so incompetent. Deek, a mere house-elf, was unable to find the location of Azkaban..."
A while ago, I had asked Deek to think about how we might find Azkaban's location, but it seems he took it as an order.
In the first place, how could a house-elf possibly find information about Azkaban, a prison secretly managed by the Ministry of Magic?
"However, Deek did find an object in Knockturn Alley that appears to be the journal of Ekrizdis."
...And yet, surprisingly, our Deek had managed to find something.
As expected of the competent house-elf who had managed the Knightly family's finances for ninety years. Oh, Deek.
I took the journal of Ekrizdis from Deek and gave it a quick look.
Ekrizdis. A dark wizard known to have been the first to build Azkaban, back when it was not a Ministry prison but a private fortress.
[T/N: Ekrizdis (에크리즈디스): An obscure but canonical dark wizard from the 15th century. He was the original inhabitant and creator of the fortress on the island that would later become Azkaban prison.]
He was also famous for having possessed dozens of dangerous magical creatures besides Dementors.
Skimming through the journal, it was mostly a diary written by Ekrizdis as he tortured people in his fortress.
[Today, I captured an ignorant Muggle ship that was passing in front of the island. The Muggles I kidnapped a while ago were almost all dead, so I was in a bit of a bind. This is a good thing. The Dementors will be pleased.]
The rest was more of the same.
It wasn't a pleasant read, so I furrowed a brow and scanned through it quickly.
The only information I wanted was the location of Azkaban.
After skimming through the diary for some time, I found a page with a crudely drawn map.
Ah, this is it.
It wasn't an easy map to read, but compared to the vague information of 'somewhere in the North Sea,' it was much more detailed.
With this much, I could find Azkaban just by searching the area.
Though the process itself would be just as tedious.
I let the next words slip out unconsciously.
"Ah, I wish an Auror who knows the location of Azkaban would just drop out of the sky."
...Come to think of it, Albus probably knows one or two such Aurors, but I decided against it since my purpose for going wasn't exactly honorable.
With a sigh, I called for Harry.
"Harry, let's get ready for our business trip! Bring Hedwig, too!"
At my words, Harry, who had been playing with Hedwig in the next room—for the record, I had cast a Shrinking Charm on her so we could stay together in the hotel—came running.
"Yes, Master!"
Above a certain point in the North Sea, the body of water between Great Britain and the European continent.
Grrrrrrr
The cry of a dragon echoed from somewhere.
If there had been a wizard skilled enough to observe it, they would have known that the source of that cry was two wizards riding a dragon as white as freshly fallen snow.
"Master, how much further do we have to go?"
"We've looked almost everywhere! It's probably over there."
An hour had already passed since we had started facing the cold North Sea wind.
Just as Harry, who, like most children, was sensitive to the cold, was starting to show signs of being chilly despite being wrapped in a blanket, Aisen smiled from atop Hedwig.
"Aha, here it is."
With an exaggerated gesture, as if conducting an orchestra, Aisen waved his wand and unleashed a spell in all directions.
[[—REVELIO!!]]
And then, something happened that made Harry gasp in surprise.
Swoosh.
In the middle of the North Sea, where great waves crashed, the sky peeled away.
Across the entirety of young Harry's field of vision, light began to refract wildly, revealing a scene that was not the sea.
As if a gigantic invisibility veil was being lifted, the magical curtain of light melted away in an instant.
Harry couldn't close his mouth, faced with a spectacle that surpassed even the most incredible scene he could have imagined.
"Wow, woooow."
And what was finally revealed was a giant island, and on it, a great, towering fortress.
And surrounding that tower, a strange, smoke-like black substance that was utterly chilling.
Even without Aisen's explanation, Harry knew at once.
That place was the wizards' graveyard, Azkaban.
Grrrrr!
Hedwig, carrying Harry and Aisen, lowered her altitude and landed on the island.
After jumping down from Hedwig, Aisen caught Harry, who was dismounting carefully, and said.
"Hmm, it'll be difficult to take Hedwig from here."
Indeed, it would be impossible to take the enormous Hedwig into Azkaban.
If we really had to, we could use a Shrinking Charm like at the hotel, but there was no reason to.
Due to the nature of animals having simpler emotions than humans, she probably wouldn't attract much of the Dementors' attention, but since she was a dragon and not an ordinary animal, it was hard to be certain.
And it's not as if a dragon would be of any help in fighting Dementors.
Aisen thought for a moment, then said to Hedwig.
"You've worked hard. Go wait with Deek, and we'll meet you there."
Once you've been to a place, you can always return via Apparition. Azkaban, of course, had Apparition restrictions, but such wards were useless against Aisen.
Explaining his reasoning, Aisen told Harry they should send Hedwig back.
Harry, who understood, said his farewells to Hedwig.
"Be careful on your way back! Wait with Deek, and we'll be there soon!"
Grarrara!
Hedwig let out a cry as if in response to Harry's farewell and then flew back up into the North Sea sky.
After sending Hedwig off, Harry finally looked around at his surroundings.
The first truly 'magical' place Harry had ever encountered.
The place he turned to look at with anticipation was not very beautiful.
Setting aside the natural environment of crashing waves, there was not a single living thing to be seen.
All the plants were withered and twisted, only their traces remaining, and it was difficult to find even insects, let alone birds.
Gulp. Harry swallowed hard at the hostile environment.
Just then.
Harry suddenly felt a chill, as if every single hair on his body was standing on end.
And in an instant, it felt as if the surrounding temperature had dropped by several degrees.
This was different from an ordinary chill.
Haaa.
Even the warm breath that Harry exhaled froze on the spot.
A cold that was even colder than the wind above the North Sea, a chill that seemed to seep deep into the marrow of his bones.
Harry lifted his head to find the source of that chill.
And what was there was something more than capable of inducing fear in Harry.
When Harry first saw it, he thought it was just smoke.
A very dark, black smoke.
But when a skeletal hand emerged from within that smoke, revealing a featureless face hidden by a smoke-like robe.
Harry finally knew.
That cursed thing was a Dementor.
Harry's mind went blank as he looked at the Dementor.
All the happy thoughts he could imagine.
Magic, the sense of accomplishment he felt while learning.
Family, Deek and Ardeura, his newfound home.
Parents, the memory of his proud parents.
And his master, the gratitude he felt for all that had been given to him.
All those feelings and thoughts began to disappear.
And what filled the void was solely the afterimage of an ominous green flash.
'Harry—!!'
And the sound of a woman's scream, somehow unfamiliar, yet familiar, ringing in his ears.
Just as Harry was about to be consumed by that inexplicably painful memory, he heard a very familiar voice in his ear.
"Harry, get behind me."
A small body, the same age as him, just eight years old. But the back he saw was that of a dependable adult.
A reliable adult who protected him from danger.
If I had a father... wouldn't he have been like this?
His mind in turmoil from the Dementor, Harry didn't even know what he was thinking.
Dizzy, Harry momentarily projected the image of the father he had never seen onto the back of his master, and feeling a wave of intense relief, he lost consciousness.