Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Harry Potter. They are the property of J. K. Rowling.
The Great Hall was usually a bustling place at breakfast, but this morning, the place was almost dead silent. Everyone had their faces stuffed into newspapers; their eyes being caught by the front-page headlines:
Jailbreak at Azkaban. All Prisoners escaped.
Now this was enough to make anyone cringe, but what really made their skin crawl was the picture from the wizard prison. Because…above the broken stonewalls, floating in the sky like a demon, was the Dark Mark. Only one person used that mark - Voldemort.
"I don't believe it. How could anyone break into Azkaban?" shouted a sixth year Hufflepuff.
"Why is that ugly skull up in the sky?" a second year Ravenclaw asked fearfully.
"Is Voldemort really alive?" a fifth year Slytherin gasped. Several students cringed at the use of the dark wizard's name.
"Dammit!" Ron Weasley groaned and slammed down the newspaper he was reading. "How could this happen? That place is supposed to be impenetrable!"
"And it's guarded by those dementor things too isn't it?" Lavender stated with a shiver.
Hermione brushed some of her hair out of her face. Her eyes never left the picture of the Dark Mark. She'd seen that hideous thing before and had no call to see it again.
"Harry was right…he his alive. Think about it, You-Know-Who can offer the dementors anything they want. They feed off people's happy thoughts and emotions. He could give them a buffet of helpless victims just waiting to be sucked dry."
"Jeez Herm, did you have to be so blunt?" Ron gulped.
"Your attention please!" It was Professor McGonagall. All eyes turned towards the long table at the front of the hall. Professor Dumbledore stood from his chair.
"I ask that all of you try to remain calm. Yes, this incident is very serious, but you all must remain strong. The term will be over in few days, and each of you will be returning home. We have taken special measures to ensure your safety so do not be frightened."
You could have heard Draco Malfoy snickering from a mile away.
"In regards to graduation, it will still take place. It has been a tradition at Hogwarts that the Ministry of Magic be in attendance for the ceremony, but recent events have made that quite impossible. However, Minister Fudge has promised me that he himself will be here to congratulate our finishing students. I wish the sixth and seventh year students well on their exams. That is all."
After Dumbledore finished talking, most of the students calmed down, but everyone was still a little on edge.
That night, Hermione wrote a letter to Harry telling him the news about Azkaban. Telling him to be careful, she strapped it to Hedwig's leg, and the snowy owl flew out into the night.
Harry already knew about the events at Azkaban as Dumbledore had sent a message to Sirius and Lupin not more than five minutes after he himself had found out. Upon showing it to Moody, the three men increased the intensity of Harry's training a hundred-fold. By the end of each day, all four of them were exhausted, yet they got up and did it again the following morning.
At last, the final day of training had arrived.
Harry was locked into an all-out battle with his three friends. They didn't give him an inch and attacked with everything they had. Between shielding fireballs and thunderbolts from Remus and Moody, Harry was very busy. Add to the fact that Sirius was making the entire ground shake made it nearly impossible.
Giving up was not in his nature, and Harry set about eliminating his adversaries. First, he pointed his wand at the ground, and what seemed like a mole digging through the earth shot its way towards Sirius. Upon reaching his feet, the spell exploded upwards and flung the man back onto the grass.
Harry's next target was Remus. Swinging his wand in overhead arch, Harry shot a stream off water out of the fountain in the courtyard and proceeded to douse his former teacher with about a hundred gallons of water. By soaking his opponent's wand, it made it almost impossible for him to cast a good fire spell.
The final opponent was Moody, and he was the trickiest of all, but Harry had a little trick of his own planned. Waiting for the old man to attack, he reached into his robes for something. Moody threw a thunderbolt at him, and Harry pulled out a small piece of wire, which had a leather handle.
"What are you doing boy?" Moody demanded.
"Winning," and Harry blasted him with a wind spell, throwing him back into a nearby bush. The young man stopped to catch his breath. He looked to see his robes tattered and slightly charred, but he was alive - that was the important thing.
"Well, that's just about everything," Remus Lupin coughed as he tried to dry himself off.
"Good work, Harry, that's all we can teach you," Sirius said as he walked up.
"Blimey, ya dun good, Potter!" Moody laughed. "What did you use on me anyway?"
"Oh, just this," and he handed the wire to the old man.
"Wait a minute, is this a…"
"A lightning rod," Harry finished for him. "The leather handle kept me insulated."
"You mean I got beat by a Muggle invention!" Moody nearly shouted.
"Yes, my friend, you did," Remus laughed.
Harry put away his wand and cracked his neck; he was as stiff as a board. Man, what he wouldn't give for one of Hermione's massages. She had the best hands.
'Whoa, easy Potter, save it for another time,' he warned himself. Meanwhile, Sirius came up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you ready?"
Harry was tempted to say 'As ready as I'll ever be', but that wasn't something he wanted to say. For the first time in his life, Harry wasn't afraid of facing Voldemort. Sure he respected the dark wizard's abilities, but the old fear and apprehension that went along with fighting him was gone. Harry looked at his three trainers and said something that made them smile.
"I've been ready for this my whole life."