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In the end, none of them escaped.
Half of them didn't have their wands. Half of them still had children at Hogwarts or at home. And none of them had the means to get an international portkey or reach a Muggle airport.
Mrs Cattermole was caught right there in the toilet. She was still reeling from her apparent husband apparating away and abandoning her when Yaxley turned towards her, his eyes dark and homicidal with pure rage. He tortured her for some good five minutes to vent before recalling he had duties that needed attending.
He dragged Mrs Cattermole back into the Ministry, where her real husband had already been arrested, as well as Mulbery, who'd been responsible for closing the Floos. It was just as well that he'd failed.
The Aurors and Death Eaters immediately used the Floos to go after the escaped Muggle-borns. Most of them were caught right in their homes, without enough time to even pack. Elington got the farthest since he didn't have family, and he'd immediately abandoned his house and belongings. It only took one hour to capture him, too.
Mafalda Hopkirk was found stunned in a nearby alley, and Albert Runcorn in his home, where he was trying to ineffectively staunch a heavy nosebleed and becoming increasingly anaemic. They, too, were arrested and dragged into the basement level at the Ministry.
They sat chained in the perpetual chill of the sentinel Dementors. Runcorn called out indignant protests at his treatment until he realised he wasn't getting free, and started spitting out threats and demands. Mr and Mrs Cattermole whispered tearful, confused conversations about what had happened that day. Others pleaded for their children at least. Some tried to bargain their half-blood, Muggle-born, or squib children in exchange for their own lives.
Then two days later, their children were dragged to the basement and chained as well.
Their offences were read. Collaborating with undesirables. Conspiracy to escape. Contempt of court. The list went on until finally their sentence was read.
Dementor's Kiss.
The last thing any of them saw wasn't freedom, or the faces of their loved ones, or even the face of the wizarding world's hero, their shining beacon of hope. It was the gaping mouths of Dementors as the horde descended on them.
Afterwards, Umbridge pattered around the empty bodies with distaste. She poked some of them with her wand as if to check their souls were truly gone. Then she ordered them carted off to the Department of Mysteries. No sense letting the bodies go to waste.
