"… but the choice is not mine, the Choice Is Yours."

The image on the TV screen blurred, showing static before switching off. At the same moment, a digital clock turned on on top of the TV, the red numbers showing one minute. As Snape watched, the timer started to count down. The game had begun.

Snape looked back at Malcolm Sedgwick, and Sedgwick stared back at him pleadingly, trying to speak despite the fact that his mouth was stitched shut. The result was that he made a host of incomprehensible noises through the stitches. Snape looked at him thoughtfully, slowly pacing around him. He saw that Sedgwick's hands were bound together in front of him by a length of rope, so that it looked almost as if he was praying. He also saw that the device that held him in place had a padlock at the back, to which no doubt the key that the puppet had promised would be in Snape's pocket would fit. The two chains Sedgwick was shackled to bore padlocks as well and Snape had to assume that the key would work on all three, should he choose to use it.

Ten seconds were already gone.

The Choice Is Yours.

Snape pondered on the puppet's last words. Personally, Snape felt no regret whatsoever in letting Sedgwick die, even if it was in such a twisted manner. Sedgwick was no saint. Snape knew for a fact that Sedgwick had taken great pleasure in murdering the innocent, be it man, woman or child.

So had I...

This time it was his conscience that spoke to him, and it sounded eerily like the distorted voice that came from the puppet. He was no better than Sedgwick. He knew that. But did he deserve a chance? The puppet's voice echoed in his ears again...

… Everybody deserves a Chance…

Snape glanced at the countdown to find that twenty seconds had passed. He sighed and put his hands inside the two pockets of the robes he was wearing.

To his surprise, he found that there was something in both his pockets. He had assumed to find a key in one of them, and then maybe, choose to free Sedgwick. Apparently it wasn't going to be that simple.

With a feeling of dread, Snape pulled both items out of his pocket. His left hand held a key rapped in a small, white piece of paper, just as the puppet had promised. His right hand held a knife.

Snape looked at Sedgwick again to find him staring aghast at the knife Snape held. Then Snape turned his attention to the key. He carefully unfolded the piece of paper and took the key out. He was about to drop the piece of paper when he noticed that there was something written on it. He opened it fully and held it closer, squinting to see what it was.

A single sentence was printed in small black lettering in the centre of the piece of paper.

"Nothing is what it seems"

What did that mean? Another glance at the clock told Snape that he had to decide quickly. Should he save Sedgwick or should he not? Surely it wasn't that simple? The piece of paper in Snape's hand told him that something was not right.

Sedgwick grunted loudly, the panic obvious in his voice. Snape looked up at the countdown.

15… 14… 13… 12…

"To hell with it," Snape muttered to himself, hurrying forwards with the key in his hands.

Sedgwick is no guiltier than I am. He thought. He deserves a chance.

He went behind Sedgwick and inserted the key into the padlock in the neck restraint. He was about to turn the key when it finally struck him. He knew what was strange.

Why is his mouth stitched shut?

Sedgwick sensed that he had stopped, and started to grunt pleadingly again. Snape was immersed in suspicion, but he had no time to ponder over it. He had to choose and he had to choose now.

Snape turned the key and the padlock clicked open, releasing Sedgwick from his neck restraint. Shape then made to crouch down in order to unlock the padlocks that shackled him, but surprisingly, Sedgwick grunted in protest, shaking his head vigorously and holding out his bound hands in front of him in an imploring manner. His message was clear: free my hands!

Snape looked at the knife. He walked in front of Sedgwick and inserted the blade of the knife between Sedgwick's wrists and quickly cut the ropes that bound them. The knife was sharp, and it didn't take long.

As soon as Sedgwick's hands were free, the unthinkable happened.

Now free except for the chains that shackled his legs, Sedgwick turned, his hands reaching inside his robes, gropping at something close to his lower back. With five seconds on the clock, Sedgwick turned back towards Snape, pulling something out of his robes. Snape, utterly bewildered, looked down at Sedgwicks hands and saw a wand.

In that Snape realized what their captor must have told Sedgwick to do. This had been Sedgwick's game as well as his own.

Sedgwick had been instructed to kill him. That was the only explanation. And now he was going to die. Sedgwick was armed, and he was not. Sure, he had the knife, but that would be no use against a Wand.

It seemed that luck was on Snape's side. Sedgwick turned to look at the timer, thereby wasting time, and that was all Snape needed. He lept forwards and pushed the knife into Sedgwick's chest, right over his heart. Snape pulled back, staring at Sedgwick, whose eyes were on the hilt of the knife sticking out of his chest. Slowly, his gaze lifted and fixed on Snape instead, and Snape, who had expected to see cold fury, saw to his surprise that Sedgwick's gaze only contained sadness.

4… 3… 2… 1…

Sedgwick's time had run out, and despite the fact that he had a knife in his heart, he was still alive.

Not for long, thought Snape. He was right. With a hum, the mechanisms at either end of the room whirred to a start. They began rapidly pulling the chains attatched to Sedgwick's feet. Snape watched as Sedgwick began to run out of time. The chains tightened as the machines pulled more of them in, and in that instant there was a bloodcurdling scream.

Snape watched, wide eyed, unsure whether he should feel any remorse. As the machines continued to suck in the chains, Sedgwick's legs parted. There was a crack as his legs got pulled in a perfect 180 degree angle. Sedgwick was now screaming hysterically, his mouth opening despite the stitches. Blood poured from his groin area. With a sickening noise, his body began to rip apart at his crotch. The rip continued up to his stomach, his intestines falling in a slimy bunch as blood spurted endlessly from his insides.

Sedgwick stopped struggling when the rip reached his chest. He heaved one last breath, blood expelling from his mouth, before the top part of his body fell backwards. The chains continued to pull until his body was in two pieces. Snape stared, feeling sick, at Malcolm Sedgwick's mutilated remains.

Half a dozen florescent bulbs turned on, illuminating the whole room. Snape tore his gaze away from the bloody mass and looked around. He could now clearly see the old TV that stood on a stand a few steps away. A timing device which had counted down the last minute of Sedgwick's life, lay on top of the Television set. Snape made to turn back, but then he noticed something else; something he had not seen when the room was in darkness.

A small grey tape recorder lay on top of the timing device. Feeling ominous, Snape walked to the TV and picked up the tape recorder. Its play button was on, and the small tape that was inside seemed to have reached it's end. Slowly, Snape pressed the rewind button. His heart thumped a little faster. When the tape had rewound, he pressed the playbutton.

"Hello Malcolm," the distorted voice said. Snape stopped the tape. He had expected this. Before, he had suspected that this had been Sedgwick's game as well, and he was right. This tape undoubtedly dictated the rules of Sedgwick's game. Snape thought he knew what the tape said.

But there was something else that bothered him. How had the tape played when it had been well out of Sedgwick's reach? And even if he had by some miracle been able to reach it, Malcolm Sedgwick was a Pureblood; he couldn't identify a tape recorder from a TV remote. The only plausible explanation was that someone had played it for him, possibly a few minutes before Snape had entered the room. That someone was responsible for this.

Snape rewound the tape and played it from the beginning, just in case there was a clue as to what was next.

"Hello Malcolm. I want to play a game. A wizard you are all too familiar with will enter this room shortly. He will have to make a choice, and if his decision is in your favour, your game begins. There are four restraints binding you. Unfortunately that wizard will only have means of releasing you from two of your restraints. The means to release yourself from the remaining restraints is taped to your lower back. Better be careful, because he might misinterpret your intentions. Live Or Die, Make Your Choice."

The tape went silent. Snape found that his hands were shaking. The tape recorder in his hand clattered to the floor. The tape inside was still playing. Ignoring it, Snape stumbled towards Sedgwick's remains. He located the padlock in one of Sedgwick's legs and tried to fit the key he had into it. It didn't fit.

Snape saw the wand, covered in Sedgwick's blood, still gripped in the corpse's stiff hand.

Oh no.

In a flashback, Snape remembered wondering why Sedgwick's mouth was sewn shut.

He felt cheated. Hoodwinked. The rules in his game had said nothing about this.

Suddenly, something clicked in his head. He looked down at his hands, one gripping the key and the other gripping a now crumpled piece of paper that had been wrapped around the key.

He smoothed it out with a feeling of dread and read the single sentence once again. Too late, Snape realized what the words meant as his voice came out in a hoarse whisper. The still playing tape recorder issued a high pitched repetitive chuckle, as though the puppet was snickering at his realization.

"Nothing is what it seems"