Disclaimer: I still do not own Harry Potter.
To KamiKaze Black: Thank you so much! I'm glad you like it so far!
To Eos-fiordineve: Thank you! I hope you don't hate me for giving Sirius another little torture session in this chapter. Thanks again!
Chapter 3
"Albus, it's been over two weeks since our last contact with Sirius," Remus said for what felt like the thousandth time. "He was supposed to be here. Something must have happened to him."
"The Daily Prophet would have mentioned him if the Ministry found him," the old headmaster retorted. "All of our letters were sent in code words. Perhaps he simply confused the date."
"But we haven't heard from him. He's never gone this long without as much as a letter," Remus explained. "Even Harry wrote to you about not receiving any messages from Sirius. And all of the letters we've sent have returned unopened."
"Sirius is likely taking precautions to ensure that either the Ministry does not locate him or that Voldemort and the Death Eaters do not learn where the Order will be meeting. I am certain that he has not been caught."
Remus hardly felt reassured. Maybe Sirius could protect himself from the Ministry and all of Azkaban's Dementors, but a war was brewing. There were many other things out there that could hurt him and Sirius was all alone.
o
When food and water were finally delivered to Sirius, he refused to eat or drink. He decided that if Voldemort wasn't going to kill him, he would take the matter into his own hands. Hopefully, starvation and dehydration would consume him sooner than a deadly infection or something else caused by the gashes and cuts over his body.
"You have to be hungry," the Dark Lord taunted during their next torture session. "Was the food not appetizing enough? I thought our cook had prepared quite a lovely dish."
The food had been a plate of stale bread and a bowl of some brown soupy mixture that smelled awful. It still would have been a bit appetizing to a man who'd hardly eaten anything for a week or two. Sirius almost wished he took advantage of that when he had the chance.
"I'll make sure the next one is better," Voldemort assured even though he hadn't replied. "Anyway, how did you like your company last night? We didn't want you to be lonely so I had the pleasure of inviting a few of your old friends."
Sirius kept silent. He wouldn't give the evil bastard the satisfaction to hear him angrily shouting back or fearfully pleading for the Dementors disappearance. In attempts to keep himself distracted, he messed with the chains placed around his wrists until Voldemort grabbed his chin and forced him to look up.
"Not speaking?" The wizard questioned him. "I could take out your tongue since you're not using it now. Or perhaps even your teeth instead."
"No! No! Please!" Sirius hurriedly begged. "Please don't!"
"Yes, yes," Voldemort smirked. "I agree. Removing those perfect teeth would take away from your beauty. We'll take the tongue."
"No!" Sirius jerked free and pushed himself further back, but two Death Eaters were prepared at his sides.
Each held one of his arms. He kicked and swung at them, but together they were able to immobilize him with a spell and force him onto a table Voldemort set up. Straps bound him, going over his legs, stomach, chest, arms, wrists, and forehead. He struggled against them and clamped his mouth shut as the Dark Lord brought a knife to his face.
"Open your mouth," he commanded, covering Sirius's nose so he couldn't breath. "Open."
Sirius tried not to give in, thinking that maybe he could die from the lack of oxygen. He might have managed to if Voldemort didn't hit him roughly in the stomach. The blow caused him to instinctively gasp for breath and his mouth was spelled so it stayed open.
It felt like it happened in slow motion. His tongue was pinched and pulled so it stretched out as far as it possibly could. The knife first slit the small part that attached to the bottom of his mouth and then was brought up and over to the center of his tongue. Voldemort cut agonizingly slow, rubbing the knife back and forth. Sirius let out awful pained cries and choked sounds as blood filled his mouth. When it was done, all of the straps binding him to the table except for the few around his legs were released.
Sirius lurched forward, coughing. Blood spattered out and a mixture of it and drool drizzled down his chin. He sobbed and whimpered, not even bothering to try to pull the straps around his legs away.
"Lucius, do you have the potion I asked for?" Voldemort asked one of the Death Eaters. "Hand it over."
"Yes, my lord," the man lightly bowed and quickly handed a glass vial over.
"We can't have you bleeding out, can we?" The Dark Lord spoke as he opened the vial. "This is both a healing and nutrition potion. There was a bit in your food that would've helped you more if you ate that, but I guess we'll have to do it this way. It won't heal you entirely, but enough to keep you alive so the fun goes on." He brought the potion to Sirius's lips. "Drink. Or something even worse than your tongue being cut out will happen."
Sirius obeyed.
o
"There has to be something we can do!" Remus yelled to the astonish of everyone else in the headmaster's office. He thought he even saw Snape smirk. "He's been with Voldemort for two weeks. He probably thinks we've abandoned him. Albus, you have to know something we can do to save him. Severus, is there anything else you can tell us?"
"I've said everything I know," Snape replied with an obnoxious eye roll. "I don't know where the Dark Lord has him or what they're doing with him. And I will not get the opportunity to find out until I am summoned."
"I'm afraid Severus is right," Albus said solemnly. "We'll do all we can, but there's really not much until we find out where they've taken Sirius."
"So we just wait?" Remus asked, looking at every face in the room. "We wait and let Voldemort torture Sirius. By the time someone tells Severus where Sirius is, he could be -" He couldn't say it. Sirius would not die. He would not allow it to happen.
"Remus, Sirius is a strong, brave man. He will be okay," Dumbledore's voice calmed him. "And we will do everything we can to find him and rescue him. However, we have no idea where he is right now."
"We could search for him! Send groups of us out and check every Death Eater home and every other place Severus knows Voldemort has used before. We can't just do nothing."
"If we raided every place the Dark Lord has ever used for headquarters, we'll reveal my position as a spy," Snape snapped aggressively. "Then we'll never find him."
Remus glared. One of the greatest friends he ever had was missing and Snape was worried about revealing his position as a spy. Dumbledore continued to make excuses on why they couldn't do anything. Did they not care that an innocent man, an innocent man who had already lost everything and been put through hell for twelve years, was in the hands of the evilest wizard who ever lived? Sirius was all Remus had left. James was dead. Peter was a traitor. He couldn't lose another friend.
AN: So there's the third chapter. They're getting longer and longer. I feel I made Dumbledore a bit out of character here and the Remus parts might look out of place, but it felt essential to the plot. I'm posting pretty fast now, but I don't know if I'll be able to do that from now on. I'll try to get another chapter posted within a day or two, but I apologize if one isn't up for another week. Thanks for reading!
