Chapter 318: Ministry Inspection
"No, we did not notice anything unusual," Dudley said, shaking his head.
"Yeah, we do not know anything," Harry added quickly.
"You see? Told you they would not know a thing," one of the wizards behind Kingsley muttered.
Asking two kids about something like this was never going to yield much.
"Dudley, not even you sensed anything?" Kingsley asked, a hint of disappointment in his tone.
"Er... if I have to say something, then I did feel the temperature drop, and my emotions went strange. It felt like I could not be happy anymore," Dudley answered honestly.
"That is the Dementor's influence. Looks like it really did come through here," a witch explained.
"As expected..." Kingsley said quietly.
He had been sure that, if there was anything to discover here, Dudley would be the one to find it. Last time there had been trouble, Dudley had helped them a great deal.
At that thought, Kingsley's mouth twitched.
Last time trouble had broken out, Dudley had been nearby. Now, with this incident, Dudley was here again. The coincidence was almost unnerving.
"What is a Dementor?" Harry asked, unable to hold back his curiosity.
"They are the guards of Azkaban," Kingsley said. "Dark magical creatures that feed on a person's happy memories and drag them into despair."
"So they came here to hunt the fugitive?" Dudley asked, though he already knew the answer.
"Correct," Kingsley said with a nod. "The problem is, we have not caught the fugitive, and one Dementor has gone missing."
"Looks like we will not be getting any rest this month," a witch grumbled.
"Could a Dementor go rogue?" Dudley asked. "They do not seem the sort to obediently guard Azkaban forever."
"No. Dementors do not just mutiny. And they do not simply vanish either. As far as we know, there is no spell in existence that can kill them," Kingsley said.
"So they are unkillable?" Dudley frowned.
"Near enough," Kingsley replied. "No wizard has ever managed it. Maybe Dumbledore could, but the cost would be high. When we encounter Dementors, we normally use the Patronus Charm to drive them off. We cannot destroy them. Most magic has no real effect on them."
Dudley's eyes narrowed.
He had just killed something that supposedly could not be killed.
Thinking back, if not for the Solar Halo, it really would have been hard for him to finish one off. Many of his other Beyonder abilities would have done little against the creature.
"Dementors do not have souls, so the Killing Curse does not work on them," the witch added.
"I see," Dudley said with a nod.
If they truly lacked souls, then they would naturally be immune to many conventional killing spells.
"If you have not noticed anything else, we will..." Kingsley began.
Before he could finish, several sharp cracks echoed in the night.
Everyone turned towards the sound.
Out on the road beyond the garden of Number Four, several figures had appeared.
The man in front looked like an old lion. His tawny hair and thick brows were streaked with grey, and behind his gold-rimmed glasses his sharp eyes gleamed. Though he walked with a slight limp, there was a long-striding, confident air about him that made it clear he was a keen, hard sort of wizard.
"Scrimgeour—what are you doing here?" one of the Aurors blurted.
At the sight of the newcomer, Kingsley's expression grew serious. Scrimgeour would not have come in person unless there had been a development, and almost certainly not a good one.
"What's happened?" Kingsley asked, his voice low.
Dudley and Harry both turned to look at the newcomer. From the way the others reacted to him, Dudley understood at once who he was: the wizard in charge of the Auror Office at the Ministry.
"The missing Dementor has been found," said Rufus Scrimgeour grimly. "It's dead."
"It has been confirmed that the missing Dementor is dead," Rufus Scrimgeour said grimly.
"It has been confirmed that the missing Dementor is dead," Rufus Scrimgeour said grimly.
"What?"
Every wizard present gaped in shock.
Only moments ago, they had been explaining to Dudley and Harry that Dementors could not be killed. Now their superior had arrived to announce that the one missing Dementor was dead.
It was a slap in the face, and none of them could understand how such a thing was possible.
"We do not yet know exactly what happened," Scrimgeour went on. "According to several witnesses, they saw something fly up into the sky, and then there was a flash of light."
Dudley felt a twinge in his chest.
He had not bothered with concealment when he flew up earlier. It was entirely possible someone had seen him. Fortunately, he had moved fast. No one should have gotten a clear look at his face.
"You mean, someone flew up there and killed a Dementor?" the witch behind Kingsley said, her voice filled with disbelief.
"If I am relaying the statements correctly, that is what they claim," Scrimgeour replied coolly, giving her a brief look.
"Every wizard in this area will have to be questioned," he said, his gaze shifting to rest on Harry and Dudley.
"Scrimgeour, surely we can spare these two?" Kingsley said quickly. "They are underage. If they had used magic, the Trace would have picked it up."
"No one is exempt from inspection. Those are the rules," Scrimgeour said in a tone that brooked no argument.
"We do not know how the Dementor died. It may be that whatever spell was used would not trigger the Trace at all," he added, looking directly at Harry and Dudley.
"Scrimgeour, this is Harry Potter and his brother. Do you truly understand what such an accusation implies?" Kingsley said, frowning.
There was nothing wrong with following protocol, but Scrimgeour was being excessively rigid. To suspect two underage wizards was one thing. To suspect these two was another entirely. This was Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, the wizard who had defeated Lord Voldemort.
"I understand your point," Scrimgeour said, "but we still need to check their wands as a matter of procedure."
Seeing that Scrimgeour had made up his mind, Kingsley could only fall silent. He glanced apologetically at Dudley and Harry.
"All right. We have no objection. You can examine our wands," Dudley said with a shrug.
Who needed a wand to cast every spell, anyway?
"I am fine with it too," Harry said, nodding.