Lily found herself sitting at a dimly lit table in the Head Auror’s office. Papers laid strewn in random messes over it, but before her laid a neat stack of papers newly printed. “He-who-must-not-be-named has begun taking muggles, ordering them dead with the killing curse.” Rufus said, his face so grim it made gargoyles look friendly.

“What?” Lily exclaimed. “Voldemort? Impossible, he’s dead.”

“Do not say his name! No, he is not, I saw him breaking out the death eaters at Azkaban. They were following him, those dementors. Trailing him like a ghost wherever he went, and he herded them like sheep with his patronus. I still remember it. It was like a silvery cloud, chasing any dementor that disobeyed him down. Sometimes I wonder if it was a god that swept by as the death eaters ran loose, a storm came to life.” He said, shivering.

Lily felt a chill run down her spine, almost as if the cold were infecting her. To see others respond in such a way was one thing, but Rufus, with a lion’s mane and a lion’s heart. Who fought dark wizards for years on end. That was something else entirely. She gasped as an image came to mind, Harry waving his wand, a storm forming as Lily bloomed in happiness. No! That had to be a coincidence, it had to be!

“A storm? Vol-, I mean, He-who-must-not-be-named?” Lily repeated, unable to keep her voice calm. “What storm? Is that even possible?”

Rufus shrugged. “I don’t know, Lily. Believe me, I don’t. If he didn’t utter the spell I may have thought it something else entirely, but it was no normal patronum, nothing I’ve seen was so powerful. It looked as if it could have leveled Azkaban on it’s own, with how the dementors ran. I saw no animal, but a thousand wouldn’t be so strong together. His face too, that snake face, nobody else has that Lily. Nobody.”

He pushed the stacks of paper towards her as she sunk in her chair. “It took a few days to sort through these, but I can confirm that of the ninety three prisoners of Azkaban, only six remain. I believe that they had escaped in the chaos, or worse, joined He-who-must-not-be-named. I do not know if those who were left on the island were offered a chance to join the death eaters, as they seemed weak wizards and witches.” Rufus took a breath.

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“This is a disaster, Lily. The greatest crisis the Aurors, no, the Ministry of Magic has faced since the wizarding war. This may be the beginning of the second, and you are coming back in the middle of it.” He said, almost choking as he said the words.

Lily’s jaw fell open as she viewed the papers. The Lestranges, along with several other death eaters. Some of the most powerful dark wizards and witches in the world, all in one place. All escaped. Azkaban in ruins, the dementors running amuck in the muggle world. Notable wizards from powerful families having gone missing. “How?” She whispered.

“Fudge visited Dumbledore at Hogwarts just this morning. Kingsley was with him. I heard that Fudge seemed shocked. No, shocked doesn’t tell you half the story. I don’t think he believes us, not yet anyways. A dozen of us rushed on scene, and.” He swallowed. “Only two of us survived, Mad-eye and me. The rest were dead.”

Silence fell as Lily stared. “That’s what was happening!” She said, realization dawning on her. “How much has everyone been sleeping?”

“Not at all, since the day of the breakout. Three, almost four days ago.” Rufus said. He shook his head again. “Sleep is the least of our worries, Lily, and you know it. Look at this, this is what Fudge is trying to tell anyone, can you believe it?”

Lily looked down at the paper. It was from the Daily Prophet, a draft if she were to guess. “Security breach in Azkaban being investigated by Aurors, no recorded escapes. Slight increases in death eater activity-”Lily’s voice trailed off.

“You cannot be serious! Attempted escape? No confirmed successes? And this, slight increase in death eater activity? How is one hundred dark marks appearing, well over that amount of wands, and dark magic, slight? No confirmed successes? Nearly all the prisoners have escaped already!” Lily realized that she was shouting.

Rubus put his arm on her shoulder. “Calm down, Lily. Not all is lost.” He tried.

She shook him off. “Not all is lost? Calm down? The second wizarding war is upon us, and Fudge is sitting around the table eating chocolate frogs!” She said, pounding her fist on the table so hard the papers jumped.

Rufus winced. “You can’t blame Fudge so much, Lily. We fought him for eleven years. It was enough work for all of wizardkind, and we had to do it all ourselves. Don’t be too hard on him, it will take some time for him to accept, for everyone.”

“We do not have time.” Lily said flatly. “He-who-must-not-be-named will kill us slowly, like untreated dragon pox left to reign over a sick wizard. We have to stop him now, before it is too late.”

“Lily, there’s no need to panic, we have you.” Rufus said. “You destroyed him once, you can do it again.”

She almost laughed. So that was why her colleagues had reacted that way. They saw her as a savior. “I wish I could, but I can't.” She said at last. “Let me speak with Dumbledore, he may know a way.”

His eyes brightened. “Yes, of course. You need his permission to reveal your spell, don’t you? Follow me.” He said, almost skipping as he dashed for the nearest fireplace.

Lily sighed. She had no answers, but Dumbledore did, he had to. Only Merlin knows what the wizarding world would do if he didn’t.