Week of Jane Day 6 - Mistress of Azkaban

"I heard yer clearance was finalized just before we left. I don't know what strings ye pulled to get this promotion, but ye will soon regret it."
Jane wrapped her robes tighter around herself. She was on a deck of a small enchanted ship, just staring into the sea. The person talking to her was the ship's current captain and his only duty was to transport people to the most unpleasant place in the world.
The captain walked next to Jane and leaned on the handrail and looked out to the sea.
"Everyone seems to think so." Jane said with a monotone uninterested tone, she didn't bother herself with what everyone said about her new post.
"Aye, there might be a reason why everyone says so."
Jane turned to look at the older man. Calling this man a ship captain was a bit far-fetched, the man knew nothing about sailing. This was just a ministry appointed wizard, whose only job was to operate an enchanted ship that didn't require any nautical skills. The man clearly took his job with a bit of humor or in a sadder case pride, because he was wearing a striped shirt and a captain's hat.
"Are we getting close?"
The man looked out in the horizon.
"The nature of our destination is such that it's impossible to tell when we're there, but because the seas are calm we're not close."
Jane looked around to the sea.
"I see."
"Aye... The island never seems to have calm seas around it, I've sailed to it more times than I care to recollect and it has never been pleasant. But don't ye worry, Lass, yer in capable hands, and this here ship is enchanted to be unsinkable."
Jane scoffed and went back inside and sat down. The captain stayed behind and tried to look important, scanning the horizon for something.
Jane took out some papers from her bag and began reading, the papers detailed her new duties and what was expected of her in her new post. It wasn't much, all she had to do was oversee transportations and the small contingent of Aurors also posted on the island.
She started filling up forms when the seas suddenly got roughter, she looked outside the window and the skies had also turned gray.
The captain walked in and sat near Jane and looked at her.
"We're getting closer, notice how the seas suddenly got rougher?"
"I am aware of Azkaban's safety measures."
"hum... Right."
The captain seemed a bit miffed that Jane wasn't at all impressed or interested in hearing about the sea around Azkaban. Jane went back to filling out her forms, she would've liked if she got her appointment sooner, but things seemed to move at a snail's pace. Luckily she was the only ministry employee who asked to be transferred to Azkaban, after the previous overseer begged to be transferred back to mainland.
It was a common occurrence, most people couldn't last a year in Azkaban even if they weren't in constant contact with the original inhabitants of the island. The only people who were in constant contact were the Aurors, whose duties involved transporting the prisoners in and out of  the gaol and the few staffmembers who operated the kitchen and other facilities. And all of those personnel were in constant rotation, usual posting was a week in the prison and week off. Otherwise the stress of being so near to dementors began taking serious toll. And most people who got posted to Azkaban couldn't last a day on the island.
But Jane wasn't worried about her destination, she had just finished filling up the forms and placed them in an envelope that she sealed with her wand.
She looked up and saw the captain turning slightly pale. When he realized she was looking at him he tried to look confident. But it was clear the man was afraid of the destination.
"Yer awfully calm for someone about to enter hell on earth."
"Oh, I'm sure it's not that bad."
The man looked at Jane and had his mouth wide open before composing himself.
"Never seen a lass with such bravado. Usually it is the lads who pretend to be brave."
Jane ignored the captain and walked outside and watched the stormy seas. She always felt cozy near the sea, especially in a storm, she felt a strange calling to just jump overboard and let the current take her to where she truly belonged. But she stifled that longing.
She noticed the captain had followed her again and was looking in the distance.
"There it is... Azkaban, never get used to the sight of it."
Jane looked up at the imposing tall and angular fortress looming in the horizon.
"Once you get to the island, follow the path around the fortress itself to the building away from the fortress itself, the overseer will meet you there."
"Have you ever been on the island itself?"
The captain was getting paler and more on edge the closer they got to the magical island. He didn't even act brave anymore, the man wanted to be anywhere else but there.
"No, thank Merlin they don't need me there and I am not a curious sort."
The ship stopped at a pier leading up to a path that diverged into two, one that lead to the fortress itself and the other to a smaller building built as far from the fortress as possible.
Jane stepped off the ship and looked around, there was an auror and some other staffmember approaching.
The captain threw some packages on the pier, never stepping out of the ship.
"Well, good luck, lass... I'll come back tomorrow to pick you up and take you back to your comfy office desk in the mainland."
Jane ignored the scared wizard and his negativity and turned to look at the welcoming party. The auror was a mess, his hair was thin and his hairline was receeding and his eyes had dark bags under them and his cheeks were concave. Not even being a prisoner in Azkaban had this kind of effect on a person.
The staffmember that was with him looked even worse and went to pick up the packets left behind by the ship.
The auror walked up to Jane and bowed to her.
"Ms.Court... They sent us a letter telling of your arrival, I don't know who you pissed off to get this posting, but welcome to Azkaban. My name is Cecil Redquill, I answer for the aurors posted on the island."
"Thank you." Jane said dryly and walked past the Auror and looked at the fortress.
"Take me to the supervisor, I'll ask him to show me around."
The auror looked at Jane for a while.
"Miss, that is not a good idea, we have no idea how you will react to seeing a dementor for the first time, we'll clear out the paperwork first and then we'll bring in a dementor."
Jane didn't turn her eyes from the fortress. She gripped her robes tighter around her, but it wasn't because she was cold, the site was having an effect on her.
"I can assure you, that wont be necessary."
"I've worked here for two years and seen no less than eight supervisors come and go, and not one of them had your confidence coming here. I don't know how you remain so calm here, but I am starting to believe the rumors."
Jane turned to look at the Auror.
"What rumors?"
"That you actually asked to be transfered here."
"I did."
The auror scoffed and shook his head.
"I don't know what you were thinking, I understand some people sometimes get the stupid idea of accepting a posting on Azkaban in hopes of getting promotions when they're out of rotation, but absolutely nothing is worth this. And those people are the ones who lose their minds first."
Jane started walking towards the island.
"Let's go see the current supervisor then."
The auror nodded to the staffmember and went after Jane.
"Look, you need to be prepared when we get closer to the fortress itself, I've seen two visitors try to swim away from the island and neither of them went inside the fortress itself."
"I am fully prepared, and we can skip orientation as well. I'd like to get to work as soon as possible."
"look, Court, don't make the supervisor show you around the fortress, we'll show you around tomorrow."
Jane turned to walk towards the building the staff lived in.
"Why would he be against showing me the fortress?"
"He's not doing great, he can't go in the fortress anymore, he needs to get off the island."
"He had half a year left in his posting, the only reason I am here is because his transference was accepted."
"It's a less known truth about Azkaban supervisors and aurors who are stationed here, the moment you ask for transference it's automatically accepted when a replacement is found. It's due to the nature of this posting."
"Sounds inefficient to train new staff everytime someone gets weakened by the dementors."
The auror coughed.
"It's easy for you to say that, you've never seen a dementor."
"That is pretty presumptious of you."
"Yeah well, I feel it's justified, because no one who accepts a post here had never seen a dementor before. I know I wouldn't have accepted this if I had."
When Jane and the auror arrived at the small building, the auror went to open the door for her. When she entered the building she realized the living conditions for the staff in the island weren't very good to begin with.
"Why is this place so dirty?"
"Look, the longer you stay on the island the less motivated you are to do chores, none of us see the point in cleaning the dust from the floors."
"That is unacceptable, also why is there an office desk in the middle of the common room?"
The auror coughed a bit uneasily.
"It's the supervisor's office."
Jane looked at the desk with her eyebrows raised
"I was under the impression the supervisor's offices were on the top level of the fortress."
"Originally yeah, but no one could last a week doing work in the fortress itself..."
Jane sighed.
"So you're telling me that most of the time, the fortress only has the dementors and the prisoners and no staff?"
"Well, yeah, the dementors keep the prisoners under control, there really isn't much else that needs to be done."
Jane was about to voice her concerns when the supervisor walked in the room and sat down at his desk.
"Welcome to Azkaban, Ms.Court. I was a bit surprised they selected someone so young to replace me, but I am not going to argue with it, so long as I get out of here."
Jane looked at the man for a while, he looked absolutely miserable. he had white thin hair and the thin skin on his face looked like it had been streched on his skull. The man had a weak moustache and a hint of beard, probably left from neglecting shaving, but it made him look decrepid. And the worst part about the man was, he wasn't even that old, he was only 43 according to the papers Jane had about Azkaban's "permanent" staff.
"I applied for the transfer myself, but enough about that. I'd like a tour of the fortress as soon as possible."
The supervisor's eyes got wide and he turned paler if that was even possible.
"You want to go to the fortress right away?"
"Yes, I need to see the premises."
The auror coughed again.
"Ms.Court, it's unwise to go into the fortress so soon, we'll finish the paperwork first and then I'll bring one dementor here and see how you handle it's presence."
Jane took out the papers from her bag and placed them infront of the supervisor.
"I filled out the paperwork already, all I need is your signature. And then you will show me around the fortress."
The supervisor looked at the papers for a bit and took a deep breath. He opened his desk and took out an inkwell and a quill. Then he turned to look at the auror.
"Warn the others and bring one dementor out."
He then turned to look at Jane.
"I am hoping seeing one with your own eyes will put a bit of a dink in your overconfidence, there is no place for that in Azkaban, you need to learn to take things slowly and trust that you really have no control over anything."
The auror bowed stiffly and went to warn people in the house.
Jane pulled out a chair and sat down infront her predecessor.
"The problem Azkaban is facing, is really the thought process that we can't control the dementors, if we can't do that the fortress possess a security risk."
"Lady, the fortress was always a security risk, it's easy to sleep well when you know all the worst scum are locked here and being tortured by the nightmares we wouldn't even scare our children with. But the simple fact is, the fortress will only hold as long as the dementors are happy, and the thing that makes the dementors happy is a fresh supply of people to suck happiness from."
Jane shifted on her chair and crossed her arms.
"Look, the bureucrats on the mainland like to think the prison is escape proof and that we are coordinating our efforts with the dementors, but the fact is, the dementors are running the show around here. We are simply guests."
"That is about to change."
"We'll see how long you will keep your confidence when the dementors start testing you."
"What do you mean?"
The supervisor put down the quill and was silent for a while.
"...They will test you."
He turned to look at Jane with a expression of genuine terror.
"They say the dementors leave the staff alone, that they wont suck your happiness, but that is a lie, the dementors can't control it, everytime you enter the fortress, all of the dementors will suck the happiness from you... You need to steel yourself every time you step on the island. You are young, maybe you have a fresh happy memory, you need to cling to that... Because you might forget it soon."
The supervisor sighed and picked the quill back and signed all the papers but one.
"I forgot mine, I don't think I will ever be the same I was before I entered the island."
Jane looked at the papers.
"Sign the last one and you'll be free of this place."
The supervisor laughed, a cold and cruel laughter.
"I should, my predecessor did... But I am not that evil, you'll meet one of them before and if you're still so confident, I will sign the paper."

Jane was looking at her pocket watch and waiting for the auror to be back, when she realized the mood around the house had changed, all the staffmembers and the other aurors suddenly went silent. The supervisor had a glum look on his face and he was staring into the distance.
"He brought one now, time to see how you handle it..."
"Alright then, let's get this out of the way."
Jane got up and walked out of the house and saw the Auror completely pale and with him was a creature described as the most foul of them all, the only way to describe one would be to call is a shrouded cloud of misery. The dementor floated next to the auror and made a strange sucking noises as it was feeding on what little happiness the people in the house had.
Jane approached the auror and the creature, she noticed the supervisor stayed back. When she got close to the dementor it leaned closer but stopped.
The auror stared at Jane, unable to believe his eyes. The girl didn't seem to be affected by the dark creature. He had never seen anything like it, and what's more, the creature seemed to be wary around her.
"leave us, go to the house."
The auror looked at Jane.
"But miss..."
"If I have to prove I can handle a few dementors, then you need to give me the chance, just leave me alone with it."
The auror couldn't think of any reasons to deny Jane, and wanted to take any excuse to get away from the creature, so he just rushed to the supervisor who was watching at the doorstep of the house.
When the auror was away, Jane turned back to look at the dementor.
The creature shifted back and forth around Jane, it tried to understand the nature of the creature infront of it, it tried in vein to suck out emotions.
"I run Azkaban from now on, you and your bretheren will answer to me."
The dementor got closer to Jane in defiance, but was frozen when the girl stared at it, the dementor started looking around as if worried.
"Go back in the fortress, I will soon join you and all of your kind... If you're still defiant I will teach you all."
The dementor turned around and floated in the fortress.
Jane walked back to the supervisor and the auror, who were both staring at her with their mouths wide open. She walked past them and went to sit behind the supervisor's desk, she took out the last paper from the stack and placed it infront of her.
Her predecessor walked in and took the quill and shakily signed it. He had never seen anything like that, the girl was unaffected by the dementors and had clearly told it to go back in the fortress.
"D-do you want the tour now?"
Jane crossed her hands infront of her and thought about it for a while.
"I think I will go inspect the fortress alone, you may return to the mainland right away."
The supervisor stared at the young woman, he didn't know whether or not be more scared of the dementors or her successor anymore.
"Thank you."
Jane got up and shook the man's bony hand and smiled.
"I hope you do well in your next posting."
The man laughed uneasily.
"I think I will just retire..."

Jane decided to go trough the paperwork in the supervisor's office before going to the fortress. The auror sat infront of her, waiting.
Jane didn't raise her eyes off the documents she was going trough when she adressed the auror.
"The paperwork here is incomplete."
The auror looked at the shelves that weren't really meant for archiving paperwork.
"Most of the paperwork is in the original office in the fortress, whenever a prisoner is brought in the paperwork was left in the fortress, after a while the supervisor simply filled the paperwork here and didn't go to the offices in the prison itself."
Jane put the papers down and rubbed her temples.
"Unacceptable, we will transfer the supervisor's offices and all the paperwork back into the office in the fortress, and then the staffmembers will clean this house up."
"As you wish madam Court. Do you want me to show you to your room?"
Jane collected the papers and put them back in the folder.
"I will be using the supervisor's quarters in the fortress."
The auror made a weird noise, something between a cough and choking.
"...You want to sleep in the fortress?"
Jane looked at the scared auror.
"I will be working from the offices, I do not wish to walk all the way up to the fortress and climb all the stairs up to my offices every morning."
The auror seemed to remember something.
"Oh, I nearly forgot!"
The auror walked to a cuboard and took out a bar of chocolate and put it on the table infront of Jane.
"I don't know if you need that, it seemed like the dementor had no effect on you. I've never seen anyone with that kind of resolve."
Jane looked at the bar of chocolate annoyed.
"No thanks, I am trying to watch my weight..."
The auror looked uneasy.
"Atleast keep some in your office, if you're serious about moving up to the fortress."
"Fine, have the staff bring them in with the paperwork. I am going to go inspect the fortress now."
The auror took a deep breath.
"Alone."
"But, I can't let you go in the fortress alone."
"Don't worry about me, I will be fine. Just help the staff with transfering the paperwork to boxes."
The auror looked like he wanted to argue, but the relief in his face was clear.
"As you wish, madam."

Jane went to the fortress and when she walked to the gates she pointed her wand at it and the magical locks began shifting with loud clicks and ratchetting noises. The transferal of power had gone trough and she now held the ultimate power in the fortress. But it wasn't like she didn't have that power before even entering the island, no, this was just bureucracy.
The first thing she noticed was being assaulted by the most horrible smell imaginable, the prisoners were subjected to inhuman conditions and the fortress smelled like it hadn't been cleaned for ages. When she walked inside the holding areas the dementors there immediately turned to look at her.
She closed her eyes and concentrated for a bit, none of the staffmembers had followed her, not even the auror that was so worried about her. She took off her robes and folded them neatly and placed them inside her magically enlarged bag. Then she took a deep breath and opened her eyes.
All of them...
The dementors started looking around, every single shadow in the gaol had come alive with piercing eyes staring at everything.
The prisoners that had even a shred of sanity left at that point started screaming. Jane didn't concern herself with that, she knew they would chalk it down as new kind of mental effect of staying so close to dementors, but for a few minutes the horrors in the gaol were even worse than a place full of thousands of dementors.
The dementors were shifting and turning, they tried to understand the situation, but nothing could prepare them for this. There was even more powerfully dark creature in the prison now, and it dominated everything inside.
After a while, Jane closed her eyes again and smiled at the dementors who were closest to her."
The dementors immediately lowered their heads and bowed to her as she walked past them, inspecting the premises.
She wasn't happy with what she saw, the prisoners were wrung completely dry of every emotion.
"Inefficient..."
And the smell was horrible, none of the prisoners there cared about anything, they were constantly in such a horrible mental state that they couldn't do anything.
"Disgusting..."
Jane walked past a cell that housed a large black dog, she looked into the cell curiously.
"That is interesting..."
The dog was whimpering in a corner and tried to get away from Jane. Jane pointed her wand at the dog.
"Obliviate."
The dog's eyes went wide and glassed for a while as Jane walked away and continued her inspection.
The dementors there stared as she walked past them, but none would show the defiance of the first one.
She arrived in her office and pointed her wand at a nameplate that  was years out of date and changed it to display her name.
Jane entered the neglected office and pointed her wand at the desk and chair, cleaning them up before sitting down.
She looked around the desk for a bit, until she found an empty requisition form and started filling it up.

Jane spent the rest of the day cleaning the office of dust and taking out folders of paperwork and going trough them.
After a while She heard a knock on the door.
"Enter."
The door opened and two staffmembers entered the room as quickly as they could, breathing uneasily.
"Ah, good, put the boxes on the table there, I will go trough them when I have the time."
The staffmembers stared at Jane terrified.
"How can you be so calm inside Azkaban?"
Jane looked at the staffmember.
"The dementors are bothering you?"
"Yes, everytime we enter the prison to bring food to the inmates we have to take breaks, because otherwise it gets mentally taxing."
"I will make sure that wont happen in the future. Is that all the paperwork?"
The staffmembers stared at Jane, who was annoyed at the pause.
"Are there more boxes of papers?"
The staffmember snapped out of it.
"Yes, there is two more boxes, we will bring it soon, just please let us take a break."
Jane went back to reading the papers.
"Alright, take your time."
The staffmembers sat down on a sofa and started eating chocolate, veinly hoping it would help, but it never did. Not around this many dementors atleast.
"The conditions in the prison are unacceptable, we will need to clean this place up."
"B-but, Madam, cleaning up the prison is impossible."
"Why is that?"
"We don't have the staff, and the dementors make it impossible to stay inside the fortress for long enough to clean anything."
"We need more staff then..."
The staffmember snorted.
"If only it was that easy, most people can't handle being near dementors. Even we, who have enough resolve to actually live on the island for a week at a time are nervous wrecks."
The other staffmember who was silent the whole time looked at Jane.
"Except you, it seems, what's your secret? How can someone have that happy memory."
Jane placed the papers she was going trough back in the folders and went to archive them again.
"Oh, I don't know, I just have naturally good way around dementors."
"That is scary in itself."
Jane turned to look at the two staffmembers, who immediately turned their gazes down and went back to eating chocolate.
"Finish your chocolate and go back to work, I want the paperwork to be sorted out."
"Yes, Madam..."
Jane walked up to the desk and took the requisition forms.
"Oh yeah, and give these to Redquill and tell him I want them forwarded as soon as possible."
The staffmember looked at the papers and nodded before taking a deep breath and going back trough the prison of nightmares.
Jane went back to fixing the paperwork.

Jane woke up the next morning annoyed, the bed was in unacceptable condition, she had taken new sheets with her and some furniture that she tried to cosy up the place. But even cleaning the room did little to make it comfortable. The supervisor's quarters had an enchanted shower, because of the lack of real plumbing in the fortress, but it had been neglected and completely unusable. One of the staffmembers would have to fix it.
Jane went to walk around the prison, the dementors were still uneasy about her presence there, and most of them were utterly confused about this new situation.
Jane stopped at a large group of dementors, who loomed around her menacingly.
"From this moment forward, you will stop drinking emotions from the staffmembers, whenever they enter the facility. It is detrimental to the operation of this place and in large part detrimental for your influx of positive thoughts."
The dementors were quiet and seemed to listen to Jane, although some of them were still shifting around defiantly.
Jane closed her eyes and sighed.
"Alright, get it out of the way, I knew my display wasn't enough to convince all of you."
One of the dementors pulled back it's hood and attacked Jane, but when she opened her eyes the dementor started writhing in pain.
"I am not here to play games with you, you will all submit to me or I will destroy you."
Jane closed her eyes again and the dementor floated back.
"When you all do as I say, things here will be better for everyone, most of these prisoners are in such condition that you will not get anything out of them."
Jane smiled at the dementors.
"But first things first, you will leave my staffmembers alone, or your punishment will be more severe."
She continued her inspection and when she was done she opened the large gates of Azkaban and went into the house the other inhabitants of the island lived in.
She entered the common room and noticed the office had been cleared up and the room looked more sensible.
The auror walked out of his room and looked at Jane.
"Ah, madam Court, how was your first night in Azkaban?"
Jane ignored the auror's tone.
"The shower in my quarters is broken, I want a staffmember to go there and inspect it. If it needs new parts, they will be requisitioned and the shower to be fixed. This is to be highest priority right now."
The auror looked at Jane smiling in disbelief.
"You just spent a night in the highest concentration of dementors in the world and you're worried about showering?"
"It is important to stay hygienic, and related to that, the jail's conditions are unacceptable. I requisitioned some cleaning products..."
The auror interrupted Jane.
"Ah, yes, but there appears to be a bit of a mistake here."
The auror took out the papers.
Jane took out the papers from the auror.
"yes, there is."
She added more cleaning products to be ordered.
The auror stared at the papers.
"But what do we need with that many cleaning tools, there isn't enough staff."
"Just order then and leave the rest to me."
"But..."
"Do it, I'll write a message to go with them."
"As you wish, Madam."


After a few days the cleaning products, the replacement parts for Jane's shower arrived and other things Jane had ordered from mainland arrived.
The staffmembers were unloading the ship when Jane walked out of the fortress and went to inspect the items that arrived.
She carefully inventorised everything that arrived and had the staffmembers take them to the fortress.
The staffmembers who left the fortress were amazed that they weren't constantly assaulted by the dementors, they could just freely walk into the fortress and out of it.
The auror walked to Jane, who was still filling paperwork at the pier.
"How did you manage that, the dementors stop sucking emotions whenever the staffmembers pass them."
Jane went trough the paperwork.
"I told them it was in their best interest to leave my staff alone."
"How?"
Jane looked at the auror.
"Explaining it would take too long, just trust me, the dementors will leave the staff alone."
The auror scratched his neck in disbelief and left Jane to her paperwork.
Jane went to the fortress before joining the other staff for dinner.
"I can't believe you go the dementors to leave us alone when we enter the jail."
Jane was eating the barely acceptable food one of the staffmembers had prepared.
"None of my predecessors took a hard enough stance with the dementors, it's important to be firm."
The staff around the table just stared at Jane, who glanced around.
"I see we're missing one."
one of the staffmembers looked out of the window at the fortress.
"He's fixing your shower, he should come back any second now. I can't believe he actually decided to go in the fortress alone."
Everyone was quiet for a while. Until they heard someone running along the dirt road and opening the door heaving heavily.
"You wont believe what the dementors are doing..."
He managed to say past trying to catch his breath.
The aurors got up and went for their wands.
Jane didn't even raise her eyes off her soup.
"Calm down."
The aurors looked at Jane and then at the staffmember.
"They're using the products madam Court ordered and are now cleaning the place up. Cells an all."
"WHAT?"
Everyone on the table turned to look at Jane in disbelief.
"The place was in unacceptable condition, I told the dementors to clean it up a bit."
"HOW? The dementors don't take orders from anyone, how did you manage to get them to start washing floors?"
Jane looked at the aurors.
"I told them it was in their best interest."
The aurors slumped on their chairs and stared at Jane.
"I ordered enough cleaning products, clean this house up tonight. I also want the kitchens in the fortress cleaned. I am going to make changes to the food the inmates are offered."
"Why?"
"Because the living conditions are unacceptable. We will start feeding the prisoners better."
"Well, I am not going to start arguing with someone who can control thousands of dementors." One of the staffmembers said and made room for the person who just came back from fixing Jane's shower.
Jane finished her dinner and got up.
"I am going to go oversee the cleaning efforts on the fortress itself, I want to see this place clean tomorrow."
"As you wish, Madam Court."

When Jane entered the fortress, the dementors stopped cleaning and watched her walk past.
"I want the floors and walls spotless, and the roof, you wont have problems cleaning the roof too."
Jane went into her office and noticed there was a dementor waiting outside it.
She left the door open for it and sat down behind the desk.
"I'd tell you to sit, if you could."
The dementor stared at Jane.
"You act like children, you gorge yourselves on positive emotions and don't hold back, and now you've stopped thriving, because none of the prisoners have any happy thoughts left."
Jane stared down the dementor, which was shifting uneasily.
"I will make the conditions better for the prisoners, which will make them less weak and when they're less weak they will have more positive emotions, which you will able to take from them."
Jane smiled at the dementor trying to take everything in.
"You're confused, you can't tamper with my mind, you can't feed off my emotions. Trust me, you do not want to either way."
Jane watched the dementor float away from her office and close the door behind it, she knew most of the dementors weren't convinced the way she was going to run the prison was better, but none of them understood a thing about efficiency.
Jane went back to filling incomplete paperwork for a bit before finishing for the day and going to her living quarters. Which had started to look like they were in a livable condition, clean, but still a bit gloomy. She'd have to bring some nice curtains or other furniture the liven the place up a bit. The shower was clean and she was glad to be able to take a warm shower after work, before going to bed.

The next few days Jane went around profiling the prisoners and thinking of ways to rotate the dementors in a way that didn't keep every single prisoner in such hellish torment. Most of the prisoners there didn't deserve such torment, but Jane decided early on that she wouldn't question it. It was the wizards who ran the ministry that decided on it, and no matter what. She couldn't convince them otherwise. It was easier to throw everyone in and just forget about it and it kept the dementors relatively happy... If they could restrain themselves.
When she was done with walking around the fortress, she went to see how things progressed at the kitchen. The kitchens of Azkaban were build on the lowest level, near the entrance, as far from dementors as possible. But they were close enough for the presence of the creatures to hinder the efforts of feeding the prisoners, up till this point that is.
Jane walked in the kitchens and noticed there were two staffmembers working on food for the inmates. One of them was startled when she walked in the kitchens.
"Madam Court, you scared me."
Jane smiled at the startled staffmember cutting carrots and other vegetables for the more nourishing food the prisoners were being fed.
"It was not my intention, I simply wanted to see how things progressed here."
"I can't get used to the idea of you walking around the fortress without being bothered by anything. Not just the dementors, but the fortress walls themselves and the prisoners."
"Yes, the place is a bit gloomy, but atleast the stink is almost gone..."
The staffmember laughed uneasily.
"I still can't believe you managed to get the dementors to clean the place up. If I didn't know better, I'd say they respect you for some reason."
The other staffmember, who was stirring a stew in a large pan looked at Jane a bit scared.
Jane smiled at him and left the kitchen, she could tell the staffmembers looked at eachother scared when she left, but she decided to ignore them.
Jane walked out of the fortress and into the small house on the shore. When she entered the house she was immediately greeted by Redquill, who seemed to be doing somewhat better.
"Good evening, Madam Court."
"I'd like a report on the prisoner's conditions."
The auror rubbed his chin and looked at Jane.
"We'd have to start writing those reports first..."
"I am aware the reports don't exist, which is why I want you and your aurors to start doing weekly rounds around the prison and writing down any changes in the inmates. Or the dementors actually."
The auror put his hand down and raised his eyebrow.
"Are you concerned about the dementors now?"
"The dementors affect the prisoners, and while they're what's keeping the prisoners from escaping they're also subjecting them to horrors that tax people too much, if the dementors are too happy, then we're being lenient."
"I can't tell a happy dementor from an unhappy one... The only thing I can tell is when dementor is furious... They will try to kiss you."
"How well can you communicate with them?"
The auror went pale and crossed his arms.
"You can't chat with dementors, they make their demands clear in other ways."
"I know, I am asking how well you specifically can communicate with them."
"Well, I can control one or two at a time, but I can't tell what they want, aside from eating happy thoughs. Honestly, I think you might be the only one who can control them properly, they're intelligent creatures, but they know they have the upper hand on Azkaban."
"Well, not anymore... I want those reports first thing tomorrow and after that on a weekly basis."
The auror looked at Jane and sighed.
"It will be done, Madam Court..."


Jane had been on Azkaban for a month and she noticed changes in the prison. The prisoners were starting to get stronger around feeding time, because the dementors stopped feeding when Jane's staffmembers were going around giving out food to the inmates. The dementors quickly realized the prisoners getting stronger meant they started getting more positive emotions, which in turn fed the dementors.
She was reading the reports the aurors had started writing and she noticed the conditions for the prisoners were probably getting better, but she had no way of knowing that for sure, none of her predecessors cared about the prison conditions. But what she could tell for sure, the dementors were starting to show sort of a gratitude for her way of running things. Sure the creatures weren't actually capable of showing emotions like that, but she had her own way of reading creatures like that.
Jane went on her usual rounds and then to the house on the beach for dinner and to hear anything her staff had to bring to her attention.
There was some discussion going on in the common room when she entered the house.
"I am telling you, it was doing something odd there!"
"It just strayed off and floated around in the kitchen, they don't care where they float in."
Jane sat down on the table and nodded to one of the staffmembers who brought her dinner.
"Is there a problem?"
Auror Redquill turned to Jane.
"He saw a dementor in the kitchens."
Jane was cutting her roast beef and glanced at the scared staffmember.
"Dementors in the kitchens shouldn't be a worry, they know to leave you alone."
"Yeah, but... This one was doing something in the kitchen, when I entered there to do the dishes it just turned to glance at me."
Jane focused on mixing the gravy with her mashed potatoes.
"Did you see what it was doing then?"
"N-no, It just stared me and I backed out, when I went back later, the dementor was gone."
"Did it suck your emotions or otherwise attack you?"
"No, it just stood there... I mean floated there."
Jane scoffed and went to eat her dinner.
The auror turned to the staffmember
"I think you should take a break from the kitchen duties for a while."
"If it's fine with, madam court..."
Jane looked at the staffmember.
"Alright, but you shouldn't get too startled about the dementors, they should leave you alone."
One of the other staffmembers looked at Jane.
"Words can't describe how much better it is now, but I still can't understand how you managed that."
"Just determination."
The rest of the dinner was in a bit of an awkward silence, the staffmembers seemed to be as uneasy around Jane as they were with dementors. But she didn't want to bother herself with it, so long as they did their duties everything went fine.

Jane walked back to her offices and noticed something on the table. She walked up to it and stared at it curiously. None of the staffmembers were told to bring her dinner to her office, so where did this soup come from?
Jane looked around and took a sip, it's not like she had anything to worry about eating a mysterious soup.
"Ugh, too much salt..."
Jane gagged a bit, the soup seemed to be made from whatever was in the fridge and a bunch of salt.
Jane put the spoon down and went to take a shower, she decided to read up on some paperwork she got from the mainland about incoming inmates, but when she went to her office the mysterious soup was gone. Jane felt a bit amused by it and decided to get the papers and went to bed to read them.

The next morning she got dressed and went to her office, only to be greeted with quite a sight.
"What, why!"
Her table was full of bowls of soup and there were bowls of soup on her shelves too. She went around and looked at all the bowls of soup that were in her office. Out of curiosity she took a sip of one and realized it had no salt. She then tasted another bowl out of curiosity and realized it had a bit of salt.
The soup wasn't bad, not really, when you consider it was made by a dementor. Jane didn't really know what to do, so she just politely ate one bowl and left the dish on her table.
When she went out of her office she realized there were a bunch of dementors just staring at her.
"I do not need that much soup, I appreciate the gesture, but you don't need to make me dinner."
Jane scoffed and walked past the dementors, who bowed at her as she walked past them. She had things to do, new inmates were being sent from mainland and the ministry decided to send someone to inspect the prison, so see how she has managed to get things running. Jane wanted to make a good impression, so she went out to wait for the ship and the inspector at the staff quarters.
She was sitting in the common room, reading her reports trough when the auror sat next to her.
"Worried about your first review?"
Jane didn't raise her eyes off the papers.
"No, the prison has never been run this efficiently."
"You're probably right, you're natural with handling the dementors... I don't know if I could call it a gift, but you certainly seem to be able to run the prison."
"Thank you."
The auror leaned back and laughed.
"You'll be happy to hear that they're sending in someone who can actually communicate with the dementors better than me."
Jane stopped reading trough her papers.
"Hmm?"
"Yeah, the person they're sending can do legilimency on dementors, or something... If they don't mess his head up, he should be able to tell you if the dementors are unhappy about your presence here."
Jane started thinking about the bowls of soup, what would the dementors tell a mortal anyway? She'd have to keep an eye on the inspector then.
After a while one of the staffmembers came in the room and told Jane about the ship arriving. Jane and the aurors got up and walked up to the pier.
"Once I sign the papers, take the prisoners to the cells I allocated for them and then take the papers to my office and leave them on my desk."
"Yes, Madam."
Jane watched the ship stop and heard the screaming from the hold.
"Ugh, they always start screaming when they realize their actions really did take them to Azkaban..."
Jane ignored the screams and shook hands with the inspector, a tall pale man with a crooked nose and black robes.
"Welcome to Azkaban."
"Thank you, Miss Court, My name is Simon Brunwich. Your ministry asks for my services whenever they want comprehensive reviews of the situation at Azkaban."
"I hear you can communicate with the dementors."
The tall man laughed.
"You can not communicate with them, you can give them orders and hope they obey. No, they do not talk like you and I, they communicate with eachother speechlessly. I can tap into that and catch glimpses."
Jane raised her eyebrows, she was curious how this would go down. She could communicate with the dementors the way they communicate with eachother. But she didn't concern herself with it too much, so long as they did her bidding.
"Well, Mr.Brunwich, we can go on a tour around the fortress right after I sign the paperwork, if you wish."
"That would be best, I do not pretend to have the fortitude that you inhabitants of Azkaban show, so I would like to make my visit as brief as possible."
Jane signed the paperwork and nodded to the aurors and then left for the tour with the inspector.
"Hmm... You've cleaned the place up, when I last visited the place was in horrendous condition."
Jane smiled at the tall man.
"Yes, I think the conditions were unacceptable... I do not wish to live in a place that smelled like that."
The tall man looked at Jane.
"You actually live in the fortress?"
"Yes, less walking to get my work done..."
"Well now, that is interesting, I need to write that down on my report. Most supervisors only enter the fortress to throw more prisoners in..."
"Well, that kind of attitude was inefficient on many ways, the prisoner conditions have improved somewhat since I started."
When they two of them reached the gates of Azkaban, Jane waved her wand at it and the gate started opening. She noticed the tall man was shaking a bit out of nervousness and taking deep breaths.
"Relax, Mr.Brunwich, the dementors are instructed to not harm any staffmembers, so long as you're with me, it's fine."
The tall man looked at Jane, he didn't seem convinced. But when they entered the premises he realized the dementors really did leave them alone, and they seemed to show respect to the young supervisor.
He stared at the dementors and the cleaner floors, and how the prisoners seemed to be healthier than ever before. The two went on a tour on all levels of Azkaban, save for the maximum security, where the inner circle of Voldemort was being held, it was the only place where Jane never gave the prisoners any pause from dementors.
After their rounds the tall man had written a lot of things on his memo.
"Well, Ms Court, it seems you're running the prison better than anyone has ever."
"Thank you, I try to make things run smoothly."
"I will just... Try to see how the dementors are doing."
The man said a bit scared of the thought of it.
The man concentrated a bit and stared at a dementor, who was watching him.
The man looked pale and scared. Jane went to hold the man from falling down.
"Are you okay?"
The man took a deep breath and started walking away from the dementor.
"I am fine, it is just... Taxing... And what I saw..."
"What did you see?"
"The dementors... They..."
The man paused when he looked at the wall above the hallway leading to the gate. Jane turned to look at what the man had seen and started to curse to herself.
There was a large crimson eye painted on the wall.
"What is that?"
"It seems we missed a spot when we cleaned the place up... I'll tell the staff to take care of it."
The tall man looked at Jane scared and started walking out of the fortress again.
"Thank you for the tour, Madam Court, I'll wait for the departure at the ship. And worry not, I have never given anyone such good report."
"Glad to hear that... I'll come see you off when the ship leaves, but first I need to take care of something."
The tall man bowed at Jane and hurried away from the fortress.
Jane concentrated on addressing all the dementors in the fortress. They all immediately stopped what they were doing and listened to her.
"That is the last time you scribble those symbols on the walls. I am not here to play goddess to you, and I am not interested in your offerings. I am purely here to further my career."
The dementors around Jane immediately bowed their heads deeply at her.
"The gall of you all, I should devour you all for this..."
Jane scoffed and walked out of the fortress. Her ears were keen from focusing that much and she caught the conversation of the terrified inspector and the head auror.
"The dementors... They... They call her the mother..."