"What? A prisoner escaped from Azkaban?"
Professor McGonagall raised her voice. She stared at the Headmaster, her eyes widening in disbelief.
She didn't understand.
Wasn't a prisoner escaping from Azkaban a serious matter?
Dumbledore picked up another letter and said calmly, "Yes, a Death Eater escaped. His name is Dewey Jones.
Minerva, do you remember him?
Hmm, he was one of our Ravenclaw students. He must have taken your Transfiguration class."
McGonagall sat down and thought carefully. She remembered Dewey Jones: a gloomy boy who didn't like to talk much, but was clever, with black hair and bright blue eyes.
He was tall and thin.
"Yes, I remember him."
Professor McGonagall couldn't help asking, "But, Headmaster, how could anyone escape from Azkaban?"
Dumbledore looked at McGonagall serenely through his half-moon spectacles. "Nothing is absolutely impossible, Minerva.
I have a book here on topology and logic written by a Muggle professor. I think you might enjoy reading it.
I've found the insights in these books quite illuminating. Their wisdom can be very inspiring, don't you think?"
Dumbledore highly recommended them.
"No, thank you, Headmaster."
Professor McGonagall politely declined.
Hearing that a Death Eater had escaped, she thought of many things. Just before leaving, she hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Does this have anything to do with You-Know-Who—I mean, Voldemort? I'm talking about Dewey's escape."
Professor McGonagall struggled to say Voldemort's name.
Dumbledore put down the letter.
He looked Professor McGonagall in the eye and chose his words carefully. "Voldemort? It probably has nothing to do with him. He's badly weakened and should still be recovering.
This is probably an isolated incident.
My dear, don't worry about it. I'll take care of everything."
Dumbledore spoke in a deliberately casual tone, then said to Professor McGonagall, "Could you also ask Professor Snape to come here? I have something to ask him."
"Of course."
Professor McGonagall left. A little while later, Snape came in.
He was dressed as sternly as ever, with black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin. He always looked grim. His hair seemed not to have been washed in years, as greasy as Fudge's.
He hurried inside.
"What is it, Dumbledore? I'm in the middle of making Potions."
He addressed the Headmaster by name.
Dumbledore didn't mind.
"Severus," Dumbledore said gently, "I'd like to ask you something.
Do you remember Dewey Jones, the Death Eater?"
"Dewey Jones?"
Severus Snape thought carefully, then took out his wand and flicked it lightly at his own head, drawing out a thread of silvery thought and sending it into the Pensieve.
After carefully examining and reviewing the memory to make sure he hadn't missed anything, Snape said, "Yes, I remember him.
He joined the Death Eaters of his own accord partway through.
He was a timid man, but ambitious.
He was one among thousands of Death Eaters, but unlike those who had been coerced into joining the Dark Lord, once he became a Death Eater, he tried desperately to get close to Voldemort. He wanted to learn more Dark Magic at his side and gain greater power.
Yes, I remember the way he looked at the time: ambitious, desperately trying to climb the ranks.
Young, wild, and full of desire.
At first, he tried to ingratiate himself with the pure-blood Malfoy Family.
Lucius called him a hanger-on, a bootlicker, and a shameless flatterer.
After he was rejected, he tried one after another to get close to Antonin Dolohov, Rodolphus Lestrange, Goyle, and others.
They all rejected him.
Then, after that incident, Voldemort disappeared."
Snape paused briefly before continuing, "After Voldemort disappeared, he went with Bellatrix to find the Aurors and torture them for information about Voldemort's whereabouts. Once they were caught, he was thrown into Azkaban."
After recounting Dewey Jones's history, Snape asked, "What happened to him?"
"He escaped from Azkaban. Fudge is worried and wrote to ask what he should do," Dumbledore said.
"Escaped?"
It was impossible.
Snape was utterly shocked. He knew how terrifying Azkaban was, isolated on its island. Even if he were thrown in there, he wasn't sure he could get out.
How could someone as mediocre as Dewey escape Azkaban?
"How did he do it?" Snape couldn't help asking.
"I don't know, Severus. I don't know." Dumbledore shook his head and stood up. "The question now is, Severus, have you felt his summons?"
Snape shook his head.
"No. He's never summoned us."
Dumbledore had still suspected Voldemort.
Hearing that Voldemort hadn't summoned his followers, Dumbledore felt much more at ease.
He concluded that Dewey's escape might just have been an isolated incident and didn't seem to be anything serious.
Then someone arrived at Hogwarts by Floo Powder.
"Something terrible has happened, Dumbledore! Merlin's beard, it's hard to believe things could get this bad!"
Someone was shouting at the bottom of the spiral staircase in the Headmaster's Office.
A stone statue blocked his way.
Fudge looked utterly unlike the Minister for Magic. Sweat covered his forehead, but he didn't even have time to wipe it away with his handkerchief.
Dumbledore let him into the Headmaster's Office, and Fudge grabbed his hand in a panic.
His hand was clammy, slick with sweat and grease.
Dumbledore didn't mind. He looked kindly at Fudge and said, "Don't panic, Cornelius. Take your time."
"Something terrible has happened," Fudge wailed. "Black—Black has escaped! He's escaped from Azkaban too. The Dementors can't be trusted anymore."
He was in a panic. In less than three days, two Death Eaters had escaped in succession.
It was a scandal of enormous proportions.
Even if he wanted to cover up the two incidents with some other big story, he couldn't imagine anything more shocking.
Nothing could be worse.
If it had only been Dewey Jones who escaped,
it would have been easier to cover up.
Dewey Jones was a nobody.
Who would care about a hanger-on like him?
He was utterly overshadowed by Sirius Black. Sirius Black was one of the most famous Death Eaters of the modern age, and the last heir of the Black Family, a pure-blood family.
He was related to almost every surviving pure-blood family. Even the Malfoy Family, now at the height of its power, and the upstart Potter Family had less wealth and influence than the Black Family.
Even as a prisoner in Azkaban, Sirius still controlled the Black Family's remaining resources: its House-elves, wealth, personal property, and real estate.
His escape came like a thunderclap, leaving poor Fudge completely at a loss.
He'd lost his nerve and come in person to see Dumbledore.
Like a child who hadn't been weaned, running to his mother for help.
"It's all right, Cornelius. It's all right," Dumbledore reassured Fudge. He looked over at Snape and noticed the fire burning in his eyes.
He understood Snape's look.
Snape wanted revenge.
As far as those who had killed Lily were concerned, whether it was Voldemort or Sirius, he felt the same about them both.
"All right, Cornelius. Calm down." Dumbledore gestured for Fudge to sit. His call for calm wasn't meant only for Fudge; it was for Snape too.
"It's all right. It's all right." He made Fudge a cup of tea and urged him to take a sip and calm down.
"What measures have you taken, Fudge?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes, yes, I've taken action. I sent every Auror and Hit Wizard in the Ministry of Magic out to look for the two of them. I also spoke with the Muggle Prime Minister and put them on the wanted list nationwide.
By now, their pictures should be all over the Muggle newspapers and television."
Fudge was almost breathless. In his panic, he'd even come close to violating the International Statute of Secrecy. He'd issued dangerous wanted notices for both men, and now Muggles and wizards alike were hunting the two escapees.
What a spectacle.
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