"Retrieve his wand?"
Avada asked in confusion, "A prisoner's wand stays in Azkaban too?"
"In most cases, yes. That way, when a prisoner completes their sentence, the wand can be returned as quickly as possible."
Belby nodded. "Except for prisoners serving life sentences—their wands are sealed away in the Ministry of Magic. If it were that kind of case, things would be far more troublesome… Luckily, Lockhart is only imprisoned for twenty years. His wand should still be kept in Azkaban."
"To make this happen, we've been searching the sea where Azkaban is located since last year. I have to say, it was hidden unbelievably well… It wasn't until a few months ago, when Sirius Black's escape triggered a magical reaction outside the standard procedures, that we finally managed to pinpoint the location."
"…"
Avada hadn't expected Sirius's breakout to be useful in such an odd way.
"So you're saying you can break Azkaban's protective magic, and at the same time avoid—or instantly knock down—the Dementors and Aurors stationed there?"
Avada pressed further. If that was true, then he had to reassess just how ridiculous this university's combat capability really was.
"That's Professor Taft's doing."
Belby said with admiration. "He once served as the Minister for Magic. Later, he was forced to step down because of a dangerous plan. After that, under the persuasion of his successor—the old headmaster—he joined us in secret. And the dangerous plan that brought him down was closely tied to Dementors."
"The plan to breed Dementors on a massive scale and push them into more areas?"
Avada recalled the man at once. Back when History of Magic covered that minister, Avada had honestly wondered what kind of mind could come up with something like that.
"Yes—him. And precisely because of that, Professor Taft understands Dementors far better than anyone else. That plan ran for a period of time, and during it they conducted extensive research on Dementors, gaining knowledge that had never been obtained before. On top of that, he also used his position to learn quite a bit about Azkaban's structure."
"Our confidence in drafting this plan depends almost entirely on the information he provided—among it, many little-known methods of dealing with Dementors…"
"For example: Dementors are surprisingly insensitive to minds that are simple and sluggish. That's probably because such minds produce so little happiness that it isn't even worth their interest. It's easy to test—they're almost not hostile toward animals at all."
"So as long as we brew some emotion-suppressing potions and take them beforehand, we can minimize the chance of being targeted by Dementors. And as for the Aurors who live next door to Dementors year-round… believe me, they'll be easier to handle than you'd think."
Avada was quietly surprised. He hadn't expected them to actually dig out a lesser-known weakness of Dementors.
"A simple and sluggish mind… does that include Animagi?"
After thinking for a moment, he decided to give them a small reminder. They already had the crucial information—making the connection to Animagi was only a matter of time.
"Animagi?"
Belby froze for a beat, then his eyes brightened.
"That's an excellent idea, Professor Clarke!"
"In an Animagus state, a wizard's emotions really do weaken significantly. Some witches and wizards even have records of staying in animal form for years at a time—something no ordinary person could endure. It's entirely possible that such a state could fool Dementors… Your hypothesis is very valuable!"
"Glad I could help."
Avada offered a polite smile.
"Unfortunately, we don't have the conditions to verify it right now. Otherwise, the plan would gain another layer of security. I have researched Animagi before, but my focus was mainly Transfiguration and Curses—trying to find an angle to solve the werewolf problem… Oh, right. Speaking of werewolves, I wonder how a berserk werewolf would 'get along' with a Dementor…"
Only after the spark of inspiration faded did Belby realize he'd left the person beside him hanging for quite a while. He hurriedly turned back and apologized.
"Oh—sorry. My thoughts wandered. Professor Clarke, that's the full outline of the Azkaban infiltration plan. Is there anything else you want to know?"
"Those potions."
Belby didn't look like he had anything urgent on his hands, so Avada didn't hold back. He pointed to the bottles on a nearby shelf that looked freshly brewed.
"I heard you say you're studying controllable berserk transformation. Are those your results?"
"Ah, not exactly, Professor Clarke."
The moment the topic came up, Belby's face visibly darkened.
"Since you joined to investigate the recent werewolf attacks, you must already know this: that group of werewolves has been using that 'anytime berserk' technique, together with the Wolfsbane Potion I invented with my own hands, to threaten their victims and force them to do their bidding… Damn it. How did I never think it could be used in such a vile way?"
"Whew… sorry. I got a bit worked up. Let me continue—what you might not know is that most cases of werewolf infection, especially infections involving children, weren't caused by berserk werewolves. Because a werewolf in that state has no reason. It won't deliberately infect someone—it only acts for slaughter and destruction."
"In fact, before Fenrir Greyback appeared, werewolves were practically on the verge of dying out."
"But Greyback came up with an exceptionally vicious method. On full moon nights, he would store saliva from his werewolf form in advance, then after he regained clarity, he would use it to carry out attacks."
"That method shattered the limitations of the full moon and the loss of reason, causing Britain's werewolf population to surge explosively… That was also the main reason I devoted myself to werewolf research."
"So after studying the blood of these victims, I discovered that their so-called 'controllable berserk transformation technique' is likely achieved by mixing several other potions into werewolf saliva—ensuring the infection effect isn't disrupted, while adding a function that can be triggered by external commands."
"I'm trying to break that technique apart and find a way to block it—or treat it—Professor Clarke."
"…Have you figured out the principle behind the remote triggering yet?"
"Regrettably, no."
Belby shook his head. "That's the hardest part of the entire research. Unless we crack the exact formula of that potion, we have no way of knowing…"
"Can you take me to see the victims you're studying?"
(End of Chapter)