Chapter 77.2- Doom Days

“He said it was, and I quote here, ‘extremely worrying’. Pardon me if I ask for some clarification. We’ve seen what you-know-who has been doing for the past few weeks now. Senseless violence isn’t new to him. So I want to know why this feels different to the Headmaster” He clarified, not backing down from the grizzled auror. There was a time when Alastor Moody would have scared the crap out of him, but that time had passed.

He had an immortal alchemist in his house who threw around lava for fun when he got bored, and his godson seemed to be turning into some sort of god of magic in the past few weeks. And then there was Perenelle. In short, Sirius lived with scarier.

“Enough, Alastor. Sirius is right. The reason I find this extremely worrying is because it goes against everything I have known Tom to be. While never one to shy away from senseless displays of violence and depravity, he has a general preference for recruiting wizarding blood as opposed to spilling it. A lot of these people were killed before they even left their cells. Some were kissed in their sleep from their position. He did not even try to recruit the most of them” Dumbledore said, taking a breath before pushing his glasses further to his face.

“But he would only do that if he had enough soldiers for his cause already or if he decided he did not need them at all.”

“Fudge. You think Fudge is compromised.” Remus deduced.

“I think the Ministry itself has already fallen. The Daily Prophet has been burned to the ground in Diagon Alley, and just like with this site, the Ministry has ordered all its people to turn their eyes away from it.” Dumbledore completed.

“I thought you pulled some strings to get us this look”

“It was not difficult. There is to be no investigation into the attack on Azkaban. The official decision has been that the wards controlling and restraining the dementors failed and they turned on both the guards and the prisoners.” Moody said with a scoff.

“There’s a dark mark carved into the side of the building” Arthur Weasley pointed out, ever helpfully.

“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” Dumbledore said with a sigh.

“What?” Sirius was clearly not the only one wondering where that had come from.

“Of course no one here has read Orwell” Remus cut in with a sigh.

“Who?”