Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [87]
“Well, we had originally planned to go out through the main entrance, but since Voldemort’s here, we don’t stand a chance of surviving if we go that way… whoa!” Lupin tripped over a body on the floor. He quickly got back to his feet, and brushed himself off.
“That’s Jack, this corridor’s human guard,” said Sirius. “If he’s dead, Voldemort, or at least on of his servants, is around here somewhere.”
“Then we have got to get out of here quick!” squeaked Hermione.
“My idea exactly!” said Sirius. He was reaching into Jack’s pocket, and he pulled out a small leather bag.
“What’s that?” asked Ron, trying not to cough.
“Floo powder,” said Sirius. “Azkaban’s corridors are linked through a system of fireplaces. Since you can’t Apparate inside, the guards use Floo Power to get from one place to another quickly.”
“So what?” asked Ron through a cough.
“Come on Ron, use your brain,” said Harry, catching on to what Sirius was talking about. “We can use the powder to get out of here! We can use the Floo Powder to go right back to Hogwarts.”
“Exactly!” said Lupin, taking a handful of multicolored power from the bag. “Now all we need is a fireplace. Scout around for one!” Harry, Ron, and Hermione started walking down one direction of the corridor, and Sirius and Lupin started down the other.
“See anything?” asked Harry.
“I can barely see my hand in this smoke,” said Hermione.
“There’s no way we can find a fireplace in this!” said Ron. They wandered the hallway, trying to ignore the smells of the dead bodies around them. Suddenly, Harry heard footsteps coming from the opposite direction. They were coming closer and closer. Harry spun around, and took his wand out, the steps were coming faster now. Whoever was coming, it couldn’t be anyone good, Harry had to do something.
“Stupefy!” yelled Harry. A beam shot out of his wand, and he heard one of the bodies hit the floor. The other body stopped running, and started dragging the other body. It soon came into focus who it was. It was Sirius.
“Harry! What did you do!” he yelled as he dragged Lupin’s body behind him. Harry felt like an idiot. “They’re right behind us! Run!”
“Who’s behind us?” asked Harry.
“Some Death Eaters and dementors,” said Sirius as he picked up Lupin’s body, swing it over his shoulder, and started running with it.
“They’ve already recruited them?” asked Harry, running.
“Oh yeah,” said Sirius. “Voldemort brought some fresh people with him, and the dementors just lapped them up. They joined him immediately afterwards when he said he could give them even more…. Did you find a fireplace?” Harry was about to answer when Hermione interrupted,
“There’s one!” she yelled, pointing straight ahead. At the intersection ahead there was a giant and very elegant furnace. It seemed to be made out of black marble, and was intricately carved with demonic figures that seemed to be popping out of the fireplace. The four of them stopped in front of it. Sirius took the bag of Floo Powder out of his pocket, and opened it. He took out a handful of the multicolored powder and offered it to Harry.
“Go Harry, take it and go back to Hogwarts!” Harry was about to take it when a thought came to him.
“No, you go Sirius. Lupin needs immediate attention, a second’s delay may make a difference.” Sirius looked for a second as though he was going to say something against Harry’s statement, but instead shot a flame out of his wand and into the fireplace. He threw the powder into it making it turn green, and then gave the bag to Harry.
“Don’t send me any owls Harry, I don’t want any risk of being caught. We think we’ve found the location of the last phoenix, but we’re not sure. We’ll contact you.” He nodded at Harry, and yelled into the flames. “Arabella Figg’s House”. He stepped into the flames and disappeared.
The ceiling above Harry, Ron, and Hermione began to shake and stones fell from it. The smoke was thickening with the collapsing causing dust to fly everywhere. Harry quickly took some powder out of the bag, and threw it into