Worrying news

Hermione sat in her office. It was strange that Rose hadn't replied to her letter yet. It had been nearly four days with no word. She resisted the urge to check the device with the Trackers again. She couldn't check it every hour. Nothing bad would happen. But she couldn't help it. Maybe it had been a mistake allowing Rose to go to Azkaban. Harry certainly seemed to think so. She hadn't dared to tell Ron where she was, or what she was doing, and he hadn't asked. But Hermione had seen what Harry had refused to see. Rose would have gotten into Azkaban one way or another. She had the same stubborn look as Ginny or Harry had, when they had decided they needed to do something, and would do it no matter what others said. She probably had had the same look. And it was obvious that Rose needed something to occupy herself whilst Scorpius recovered. Why was she more worried today than any of the other days she had been away? It could just be the storm that was raging.

Ethel, her secretary, came into the room. "There is a man here wanting to see you, Minister. He says it is urgent, but he won't say what it is about."

Hermione frowned. This happened occasionally, someone who thought that if they talked to the Minister for Magic directly, their voice would be heard. Normally, she denied the request, when the person refused to say what it was about. But she had no pressing issues today, so she decided to be gracious. She just hoped it wouldn't be a complete waste of time. She had no patience to listen to people rant about something or other today. If the person had come to complain about something, she would quickly set them straight. It was amazing the sort of thing someone thought it fit for her to deal with personally. There was a reason she had a whole Ministry under her! She couldn't be involved in every little detail.

"Wait 5 minutes, then send him in, Ethel." Ethel nodded with a small smile. She understood her meaning. Letting the man wait showed that she couldn't always see an unannounced visitor straight away. It would also give the man time to calm down, if he was angry about something. Ethel was quite good at calming, yet awkward silences that made people hesitate if their cause for bothering her was not important. More than one complainer had left that way.

5 minutes later, however, a nervous man stood before her. He looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had seen him before. She would probably place him soon.

"Hello, sir. You claim to have an urgent need to talk to me? I have some time now, but please get to the point."

"I'll get right to the point, Madam Minister." the man said, "I am one of the guards from Azkaban, one of those you fired about a week ago."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. What was he doing here? Would he attack her?

"No, I'm not here to attack you or punish you for firing me. I have debated with myself whether I should come to you with this at all. I don't know if I am just imagining things, or if it is wishful thinking, but I have to speak. I have spoken to some of the others, and they feel the same, but they are still afraid."

Hermione frowned. "Please, sit down," she said. "Tell me everything."

The man sat down, looking grateful at being allowed to tell his story.

"Madam Minister, when you came to Azkaban and asked about the escaped Death Eaters, I had no recollection of such events. It came as a complete shock to me and everyone else that this had happened. But the moment you said it, it was as if I remembered something. It was as if it was a dream. I…I'm not able to explain this properly. What I am trying to say, Minister, is that I believe I was under some sort of Memory Charm, making me forget the escape. But the longer I am away from Azkaban, the more certain I am. And I felt that I needed to tell you that."

Hermione stared at him. Could it be true? Why had she not considered that possibility? Memory Charms could explain everything. But to a whole prison? It would have to be one of the other guards, or more than one. Had she just made another terrible mistake?

At that precise moment, Rose's owl landed on her desk. It was tired and the feathers were tattered. It had clearly been delayed due to bad weather or attacked on the way.

The letter was short, but Hermione understood the meaning right away, especially in context with what the man in front of her had just said. She leaped to her feet. The former guard seemed confused at this reaction.

"Thank you, sir, for bringing this to my attention. If you wish, I can have you taken to St. Mungo's for a check to verify your story. And to make sure your mind is not permanently damaged." Hermione said in a rush, while moving towards the door.

The guard nodded. He seemed surprised at being taken so seriously.

"Ethel!" Hermione yelled. "Get Harry in here now." Ethel sent an urgent message via paper plane. Harry was there in only a few minutes.

"Please," Hermione told the guard once she had given a brief overview to Harry. "Please, tell Potter the same you told me."

The guard told his story again, but with more details now that they seemed to believe him. It painted a horrible picture. Even worse for Hermione, when she had the letter from Rose, and knew that she had put the main instigator of this in charge of the prison.

When the guard was finished, Hermione showed Harry the letter. While he read it, Hermione apologised to the guard and thanked him for bringing this to their attention. Then she sent him with an escort to St. Mungo's, so that they could assess how bad the damage was.

Once they were alone, Harry rounded on Hermione. She forestalled him.

"I know. I know. What is even worse, Rose was onto Barnsby almost at once, but I didn't believe her."

"Why did you send her there in the first place, Hermione? She has little to no training! And she has so much else going on in her life. I know she said she wanted to go, but couldn't you at least have made her wait until after you made all these changes?"

Another owl arrived, preventing their argument from escalating. It was from Azkaban. Hermione read it and gasped. It was Barnsby's handwriting, and the message was clear: "Madam Minister, I am sorry to have to tell you that a serious security breach has once again occurred. One of the new guards helped the top-security prisoners escape. I am also sorry to say that in the process of this escape one guard was killed. We have locked down the entire prison and await further instructions on how to proceed."

Hermione passed clean out on the floor.