Late at night, and the darkened streets were quiet. It seemed like the whole world had gone to bed, and just for now, it was peaceful. In the distance, a barking dog broke the silence, but here, there was only the quiet crunch of footsteps coming along the road just as the fog started to thicken and the distant buildings faded from view.
Two figures, dressed all in black, and each carrying a large bag over one shoulder, were making their way towards the centre of town. The shorter of the two kept looking behind them, seemingly worried that they might be being followed.
"Relax, Wormtail, we'll be fine." The taller one grinned, and as if to demonstrate how safe they were, he turned a full pirouette almost without breaking his stride.
Peter shrugged, shifting the strap of his bag. "I suppose so, I just get worried on these supply runs." He looked up at the sky, the stars starting to fade from view in the fog. "I mean, what if we run into trouble, Padfoot?"
With a playful boop on his friend's nose, Sirius laughed, turning to walk backwards in front of Peter. "Not too far to go now, anyway, and then we can get back to somewhere warm." His bag swung wide as he spun around again.
As they made their way, the street lights started to become fewer, or at least there were wider gaps in between the few lights still working. Combined with the thickening fog, and the buildings gradually getting larger, more commercial, the night seemed to be pressing in on them. Still, at least there was nobody on the street to bother them, or to wonder at Sirius's antics, and still the only noise was their footsteps.
Sirius stopped just outside a butcher's shop, glancing through the window in case there might be anything of interest within. Then, he stepped over to the alley next to the building, and grinned at Peter. "Why don't we just cut through here? It'd knock a bunch of time off the trip."
"I don't know if that's such a good idea..." Peter moved closer, looking down the alleyway. "It's pretty dark in there, we don't know who might be waiting with a surprise. I think we should just keep going the long way."
But he was too late, Sirius was already heading along the darkened path, with its single flickering light. Every few steps, he gave a little skip. Peter sighed, and followed him, though he readied his wand just in case.
Just as Peter was catching up, there was a crashing noise, and the only light in the alley exploded. Sirius ducked low as the broken glass rained down on them, grabbing for his wand, while Peter turned quickly, trying to find where the attack had come from.
At the far end of the alley, and coming towards them quickly, were two wizards, in black cloaks and hoods, with bone-white masks underneath. Death Eaters.
They raised their wands. Peter pulled Sirius towards him, the curse skimming past, missing him by inches. Another curse came in, Sirius's wand flicked upwards. "Protego!"
Peter ducked to the side. Another curse skimmed past his ear. He aimed his wand towards them. "Confringo!"
A bolt of orange fire shot from his wand towards the Death Eaters. They quickly cast a shield charm, and the blasting curse exploded against it. Bricks and rubble fell from the walls to either side.
The Death Eaters stepped forward, sending more curses down the alley. Peter and Sirius responded in kind. Shield charms and counter-curses. Narrow escapes and dodges. Still the Death Eaters stood firm, even as the curses were flying thick and fast.
A jet of fire roared past Peter. He twisted out of the way, but his bag wasn't so lucky. Black smoke poured from it, orange flames started to spread, the bottles inside cracked in the heat. Peter dodged behind Sirius, and tried to put the flames out with a whispered "Aguamenti."
It was no good. The bag was ruined, its contents reduced to shards of glass and ashes. He tugged on Sirius's robe, then started to edge away from the Death Eaters, launching spells down the alleyway as he went.
The pair emerged from the alley, taking cover behind the corners of wall. After the noise of the fight, the night seemed almost eerily quiet. When no pursuit came, Peter looked around the corner carefully.
"They're gone."
Sirius laughed, sitting down against the wall. "Do you suppose they're circling around, or..."
With a shake of his head, Peter replied, "I don't think so. I think they heard we were delivering a package, and it was the real target." He looked at his bag, little more than charred canvas and shattered bottles.
The bag dropped to the ground, with a thump, and Peter smiled at Sirius. "Good thing I had the decoy bag, I guess. Come on, let's get where we're going, and maybe no shortcuts this time."