Sirius's voice came through the earring, with a clamor of protests in the background.
"Douglas, how are things on your end? Someone picked up a rock to throw at us. Remus just knocked one out. Things are getting a little out of hand."
"I've caught almost all of them. You're still not done over there?"
"Don't rush me. Almost there."
Douglas quickened his pace.
He rounded the final bend, and the enormous central courtyard lay below him.
The scene was indeed spectacular.
Nearly a hundred ragged, skeletal prisoners had all been herded into the middle of the courtyard.
They huddled together like startled birds.
Their eyes held a longing for freedom and a fear of the unknown.
More than anything, though, they held suspicion toward the three so-called "escape organizers" around them.
Bill stood on a tall rock, his wand pointed skyward, sustaining an enormous Lumos.
Lupin guarded the only exit, lightly tapping the short metal baton in his hand against his palm with rhythmic smacks.
He looked quite convincing, though who knew which Werewolf Leader he had learned that from.
Sirius sat on the head of a collapsed gargoyle, impatiently picking dirt from beneath his nails with his wand.
"Everyone shut up! Get in line!"
Sirius roared at the crowd.
"If anyone moves again, I'll leave him here to feed the rats!"
"Black! You said you'd take us out of here!"
A Dark Wizard missing two front teeth shouted from the crowd, clutching a sharp stone.
"You said the Ministry of Magic had fallen and we were going to build a new order! But where's your boat? This doesn't look like an evacuation at all. It looks more like an... execution!"
"An execution? Oh, what an imagination you have."
A gentle voice drifted down from above, silencing all the