Event: Balance Beam

Mount: (Object) A Dagger; Acrobatics: (Dialogue) "Off with her head.", (Dialogue) "They're always so sincere when they say that!", (Dialogue) "The universe has a wicked sense of humour."; Turns: (Word) Torture, (Word) Destiny, (Word) Devotion; Leaps and Jumps:(Location) Star Bucks at Kings Cross, (Location) Hyde Park, London, (Location) Malfoy Manor; Dismount:(Scenario) Falsely accused of a crime

Chocolate Frog: Bronze – Norvel Twonk – Prompts – Muggle, Rescue

Word Count: 4226


Captured

Sirius sighed heavily, realising how well and truly screwed he was.

There was absolutely no way out of his current predicament, and no hope of a rescue, that much was completely clear to him. He had been stitched up like a kipper by someone he had grown to call one of his best friends in the few short months they had known each other.

If only he had known then, what he knew now, he would have acted very differently upon their first meeting.

~o~o~o~

He rushed into the coffee shop, stamping his feet at the entrance and pulled down the hood of his raincoat.

It was raining heavily outside, so rather than go further afield like he normally did on his lunch, he had opted to go to the quaint, quiet cafe on the corner of the street and keep a close eye on the comings and goings from the office.

As he was under-cover on assignment, he was on a no magic ban until further notice whilst out and about in Muggle London; until this very moment he hadn't realised how much he relied on the flick of wand for the simplest things.

He strutted towards the counter, admiring several of the Muggle girls as he went. There may have been a war going on, but that didn't mean he couldn't look and appreciate their fine figures.

Sirius ordered his coffee and a scone and he was soon seated on the leather couch in the corner of the shop by the window where he had a fantastic view of the street.

"Umm, excuse me," someone said, "may I join you? Or are you waiting for someone?"

Sirius glanced up from the book he was pretending to read and took in the young man stood before him.

He wore…

"Yeah, sure," Sirius answered, knowing that if he was going to keep up the appearance of a Muggle man he had no other choice. It was one of the few Muggle customs that he didn't particularly enjoy.

"Thank you," the man said. "I'm Peter by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Peter," he replied with a smile. "I'm Sir—Simon."

Sirius hated his Muggle pseudonym with a passion, and couldn't believe he had almost slipped up with this stranger.

He returned his gaze to his book and turned the page, pretending to continue reading.

"So, Simon, do you work around here?" Peter asked.

Sirius sighed to himself and glanced out of the window.

This Peter was a chatty Muggle, the worst kind of Muggle he could have encountered when he was keeping an eye on his office.

"Yes," he answered, planting a forced grin on his face. "And yourself?"

"No, in fact I'm new in town so I—"

CRASH!

Sirius' head snapped towards the window just in time to see a familiar greasy haired man sneer as an innocent bystander went flying through the window.

He watched on, helpless to do anything, as the man raised his wand and fired another curse at the man.

I can't just sit here and do nothing, Sirius thought to himself, but I cannot expose myself as a wizard and ruin all of my months of undercover work. The best I can hope for is to be able to obliviate anyone who witnessed this—starting with this chatty Muggle.

He reached into his pocket and felt around for his wand, and slowly pulled it out whilst his 'companion' was otherwise occupied staring at the action on the street.

Deciding to let the slimy git on the street know that someone was watching, Sirius silently cast a slightly altered stinging hex and fired it at him suppressing a smirk when it hit him on the back.

Sirius watched on as the greasy haired prick looked around with a confused look on his face, before disapparating from sight.

Right, now to deal with the Muggle, Sirius thought.

Sirius raised his wand slightly so that it was pointing directly at Peter, but before he had the chance to utter the spell, he heard the Muggle say, "Obli—"

"You aren't seriously going to obliviate me, are you?" Sirius hissed in outrage, realising that the man who had joined him wasn't a Muggle at all.

"You—you're a wizard too?" he whispered across the table.

"I have to go," Sirius announced, standing up, grabbing his and darting from the coffee shop.

As he walked at a brisk pace down the street back towards the office, he berated himself internally at how stupid he had been to expose himself—especially to someone whose allegiances he did not know; for all he knew 'Peter' could be working for the other side. It would make sense; Sirius was confident that he knew every witch and wizard around his age in England, good and bad, and he did not recognise 'Peter's' face, which meant one of two things, someone on the dark side had used Polyjuice Potion, or Lord Voldemort had found followers from further afield.

How could he have been so foolish?

He should have just silently cast an anti-obliviation charm.

There was no way that he could continue his undercover work for the Order now.

Suddenly, Sirius tripped up over thin air and landed flat on his face.

He reached into his pocket for his wand as he rolled over onto his back, only to find that it wasn't there.

How could he have been so stupid as to lose his wand, especially at a time like this?

"Fancy seeing you here, Black," a familiar, smug voice said, as the towering figure of Severus Snape loomed, casting a shadow over him.

Sirius moved to stand up.

"A—a—ahh, we'll have none of that," Severus said, and with a wave of his wand Sirius felt an invisible barrier prevent him from moving. "I knew one of your lot was lurking when I got hit by that hex; I was expecting it to be someone like McKinnon or Vance, given how tame it was. I never thought for a second it would be you—you the great Sirius Black using a spell for girls. The only question left is, what to do with you now that I have you here?"

Sirius couldn't believe his luck; not only was he trapped, but he was trapped by Snivellus of all people.

"Hey, you," a voice called loudly. "Get away from him. Now!"

Severus went flying off to the side, and Sirius squinted his eyes to see the face of his saviour—Peter—who was offering him a hand.

Sirius grimaced and nodded his head at the invisible barrier barring him from getting up. With a wave of his wand, Peter vanished the barrier and Sirius straightened himself up, ignoring the hand that was still being offered.

"And you," Peter hissed, turning around to face Severus who had stood up, "why don't you run along home to mummy?"

Sirius stifled a laugh as an image of 'Snivelly' running towards his mum crying.

"You'll regret this," Severus yelled. "One day, you'll regret helping that filthy blood traitor."

"I don't think so."

Peter flicked his wand and sent a curse flying at Severus, who ducked it just in time for to fly over his head, before spinning on the spot and disapparating with a quiet 'crack'.

"Hey, Simon," Peter said, turning back towards Sirius. "You dropped this."

Peter held out a wand to Sirius, which he quickly snatched away from him gratefully.

"Thanks," he whispered, "and the name's actually Black, Sirius Black."

"But you—"

"I know, but you have to understand we live in dangerous times, Peter," Sirius said, cocking his head to the left indicating that they should walk. "I didn't know you from Adam. For all I knew you could have been one of their lot, but after this, I know you're one of the good guys."

"Yeah, I am," Peter answered with a smile. "I mean if I wasn't I wouldn't have returned your wand."

~o~o~o~

That should have been the time when the alarm bells started ringing; in hindsight everything was too coincidental, with Peter showing up when he did and just happening to 'find' his wand along the way. It wouldn't surprise Sirius if Peter had pick pocketed him in his haste to leave the coffee shop.

Plus, if there was one thing he knew about Severus Snape, it was that he very rarely backed down from a fight, and he had conceded to Peter far too easily.

How could I have been so stupid? Sirius berated himself, pulling at the ropes that bound him.

He heard the sound of a door opening and closing, and then footsteps on the stairs. He knew what that meant—a fresh wave of torture, questioning and accusations.

~o~o~o~

In the days that followed, Sirius introduced Peter to the rest of the Order and he was quickly accepted into the group and was after he was joining Sirius undercover. It had taken some persuading on his part given that he was so new, but upon Sirius stating that he would take full responsibility for Peter and convincing Albus that an extra pair of eyes and ears in The Home Office would be extremely beneficial.

Over that time, Sirius got to learn a lot more about Peter particularly in the quiet of the Starbucks at King's Cross Station during the early hours of the morning before the commuters started to arrive.

"So, Peter," he said as they sat down at an empty table. "I never asked you where you were educated. You're about my age, right? So how come I never saw you around Hogwarts?"

Sirius noticed Peter freeze; the lip of his cup was barely touching his lips. He hesitated for a moment before placing his cup back on his saucer.

"I—I was—um," Peter started.

"Go on," Sirius urged, wondering what on earth could be so bad that he was hesitating.

"IwaseducatedatDurmstrang," Peter said quickly.

"Come again," Sirius said, furrowing his eyebrows, wondering if he had heard correctly.

"I was educated at Durmstrang," Peter repeated slowly, lowering his eyes to the ground. "You hate me now, don't you?"

"No, of course not," Sirius answered. "Why would you think that?"

"Because it has a bad reputation," Peter explained. "I swear it wasn't my choice—it was my father's. He—he told my mother he wanted me closer to him so I could go to his during the school holidays. Him and mum split up when I was five and he rarely visited—too busy with his 'new family'."

"Oh Peter, I'm sorry," Sirius said, realising that his father was a sore spot. "And I would never judge you on which school you went to; I've been judged harshly before because of who my family is, so believe me when I tell you that judging people is not very high on my list."

~o~o~o~

That had been Sirius' second clue, albeit not as big as the first. He had known the reputation of Durmstrang and yet he had allowed himself to be suckered in by Peter's sob story. Sirius wondered if any of that had been true—probably not, it was hard to believe anything that he had said during their brief friendship, no matter how sincere he had seemed at the time.

The footsteps reached the bottom of the steps and Sirius felt the first wave of pain shoot through his body.

He was used to it by now, but that didn't mean it hurt any less.

As he flung his head back when the next wave of the cruciatus curse him, Sirius recalled the fateful day when reality gave him a slap in the face.

~o~o~o~

They had finished work earlier than usual, which was a huge feat at The Home Office these days with the amount of paperwork that came their way, but rather than going straight home, Peter had suggested they find a safe spot and apparate to Hyde Park, an area of London he had yet to see.

Ordinarily, Sirius would vehemently object knowing the chances of exposure would be high, but he was in an unusually placid mood and convinced himself there was limited risk.

And so here they were, walking through the picturesque park without a care in the world.

"Hey, Sirius, I'm just going to nip to the toilet," Peter said as they passed by the public restroom. "I knew that third coffee was a mistake."

Sirius nodded his head and allowed a chuckle to escape his lips. He was no stranger to Peter's unexpected toilet breaks when he'd had too much coffee.

When would the man ever learn his limits?

"Okay, I'll just sit over there and wait for you," Sirius answered, before ambling over to the vacant white bench.

He whistled a quiet tune to himself as he waited for Peter to return, every so often glancing at his Muggle watch. Peter was certainly taking his time in there.

The door to the restroom opened and Sirius hopped up, expecting it to be Peter, only to be disappointed when he saw that it was just some man with shoulder length black hair—who looked a little bit like him—only not as handsome.

The man rested against the wall and looked around. He appeared to be waiting for someone.

Sirius diverted his attention from the man and decided to take the opportunity to take in the scenery around him.

As he glanced to his right, he noticed a familiar person heading in his direction—James.

Before he could react to seeing his best friend, the man who was leaning against the wall swiftly moved towards the approaching wizard, drawing a dagger from the inside of his cloak and grabbed James. He quickly moved the dagger across the width of James' throat, before throwing him to the ground, and running away from the scene.

Sirius jumped up from the bench and dashed over to his friend who was lying on the ground with blood spilling out of his neck, creating a pool around his head and shoulders.

Passers-by stopped and stared as Sirius cradled his friend in his arms, wishing that he could whip his wand out and seal the wound, but even that would not be enough to save James—he was gone before Sirius had reached him.

"James—no," he sobbed, pressing his hand against the wound. "Please let this be one of your less humorous pranks. Open your eyes and look at me."

He knew that it was pointless to even consider the option, but Sirius was attempting to cling on to any small piece of hope.

Sirens could just about here the soft murmurings of the gathering crowd over the approaching sirens.

"Did you see that?"

"He killed him."

"Just slit his throat."

"He did it in cold blood."

"What a monster."

Sirius couldn't agree more with them. Whoever had done this deserved to die a slow and painful death and Sirius would hand it out himself.

"Out of our way," a voice boomed.

Sirius glanced up momentarily to see two police officers making their way through the separating crowd, closely followed by a group of paramedics.

"Does anyone know what happened here?"

"It was him," someone accused, pointing at Sirius. "He killed that man."

"What?" Sirius cried. "No I didn't. He's my best friend."

"Well we'll let the CCTV answer that question," the police officer said, moving closer to him. "But until then, you're going to have to come with us."

"The universe has a wicked sense of humour," Sirius muttered to himself as he was led away from the body of his best friend, towards the police car.

~o~o~o~

Three hours had passed since his best friend had been murdered right in front of his very eyes.

Three hours had passed since the crowds had wrongfully accused him of the crime.

Three hours had passed since he had been arrested by the Muggle police and carted off in handcuffs.

Sirius threw his head into his hands as the police officer re-entered the room to begin another round of questioning.

"So, Mr White," the police officer began, addressing him by his undercover name, "are you ready to finally confess to your crimes?"

"What crimes?" Sirius asked. "I'm innocent."

"They're always so sincere when they say that!" the police officer chuckled to his partner. "Unfortunately, for you Mr White, we have concrete evidence to the contrary."

He waved a video tape in front of Sirius.

"Shall we have a look at just how 'innocent' you are," he said, placing the tape into the potable television.

The police officer pressed play and began to play the footage from that afternoon.

"See, that right there, is you," he said, pausing the video. "That is you, holding the dagger—which by the way we have in evidence with your fingerprints on—about to slit the victim's throat. Do you still expect us to believe that you are innocent?"

Sirius shook his head, "No, no, that's not me. If you play it just a little longer, I run over to James from the other direction. Surely you saw that on the footage."

"Afraid not," the police officer grimaced, "the footage cuts out a few seconds from this moment. You may as well confess your guilt now, Mr White, and get this over and done with. If not for your sake, then for your victim's family."

"Why should I confess to something I didn't do?" Sirius asked, running his hands through his hair.

The police officer sighed.

"I can see we are getting nowhere with this, perhaps after a night in the cells you'll be more willing to admit your crime," he said. "Interview terminated at 6:05pm. Take him down to holding Inspector."

Sirius allowed the inspector to grab him by the arm and escort him down to cells without a fight.

~o~o~o~

Sirius got very little sleep that night.

He kept going over and over the events of the day and how it was possible that someone who looked exactly like him—but wasn't him—could be on the footage. Most of all Sirius couldn't figure out why this had happened to James, but one thing became sure of as the night progressed was that whoever had committed this crime had to have had some help. There was no other way that they could have caught James unaware like that.

The rattling of the door jolted Sirius back into reality.

"Okay White, you're free to go," the police officer from the previous night said. "May I offer you my sincerest apologies for keeping you overnight."

"What?" Sirius asked, unable to understand what was happening.

"I said, you're free to go, Mr White," the officer repeated. "You can collect your belongings at the front desk on your way out."

Sirius nodded head, realising that someone within the Order must have intervened on his behalf.

"Thank you."

The officer escorted Sirius up to the front desk and once all the necessary paperwork had been signed, he made his way out into the street where the sun was shining brightly.

As his eyes surveyed the street, they fell on the stocky figure of Peter Pettigrew and suddenly everything fell into place.

The man that looked like him—that was easily achievable by the means of Polyjuice Potion, and Peter had every opportunity to take a few of his hairs given how much time they had been spending together in recent weeks. Plus, he had come from the same place where Peter had gone moments ago.

It had been Peter's idea to go to Hyde Park by the means of apparition—something that Sirius would usually be dead set against; and now that Sirius thought about Peter had been within the vicinity when James had mentioned that he would be on assignment there.

And then there was how quickly the paperwork at The Home Office—it had almost been like magic—and if you're a wizard that is easily achieved.

Sirius couldn't believe it—everything that had transpired in the last twenty four hours had been Peter's doing.

"It was you," he whispered, reaching for his wand. "You killed James!"

Peter's face changed from a broad grin to a sneer in the blink of an eye.

"Well, it took you long enough to figure it out," he snarled. "Unfortunately, now that you know, I cannot have you revealing my allegiances to the Order—not after you worked so hard to get me accepted."

Before Sirius could draw his wand from the inside of his jacket, he felt a fist connect with his face and then he succumbed to the darkness.

~o~o~o~

He had awoken hours later in the basement he was currently being held in, which he had quickly learnt was located at Malfoy Manor.

Ever since then, all he had known was torture, questions and agony.

"Oh come on Sirius," a voice drawled. "Save yourself from further pain and tell us what you know."

"Never!" Sirius spat at the blond man. "If you're so desperate for information, why don't you ask that filthy traitor?"

"There's only so much that Peter can ask about without arousing suspicion," he answered. "It would seem that the recent death of one of their own, coupled with you own 'disappearance' has got them quite on edge. Now, tell me Sirius, who is this undercover agent in our ranks that Peter has heard so much about?"

Sirius heard a fresh pair of footsteps coming down the stairs to the basement, and then a familiar voice say, "Oh, come on, can't we just kill him?"

"Nice to see you too, cousin," Sirius said.

"Bellatrix," snapped his torturer, "if you're going to be down here, you either sit down over there and keep quiet, or participate in the torture without engaging with him."

"Aww, you guys a no fun," pouted Bellatrix, drawing out her wand. "Crucio."

Sirius bit his tongue to keep the screams of pain that were begging to pass his lips at bay. This was by far the worst wave of cruciatus curse that he had experienced in his time in the basement.

"Lucius, this isn't going to work," a new arrival whispered from the side. "Look at him; the only way he will ever spill his guts is if Severus whips up and brings a batch of veritaserum over."

"An excellent idea, Peter, perhaps you aren't so thick after all," Lucius said. "Send for Severus immediately."

Sirius didn't know how long it was until Snape arrived; time had no meaning for him anymore. All he knew was that it was the most anxious he had felt in all his time at Malfoy Manor—torture he could deal with, but he didn't know how long he would be able to last fighting against the power of a truth potion.

"Ahh, Severus, did you bring the potion?" Lucius asked moments after he arrived.

Severus' mouth curled into a smile.

"Of course I did, and I see that it's for Black, how—interesting," he replied, uncorking the potion bottle. "May I do the honours?"

Lucius gave Severus a curt nod, and the black haired man stalked over towards him and forced his mouth open, tipping the contents of it in.

He felt Severus' hands clamp his mouth shut.

No matter how hard Sirius fought the urge to swallow, after less than a minute of fighting against it.

"How long before it takes effect?" Lucius asked impatiently.

"The potion should work almost instantaneously," Severus answered.

"Excellent," Lucius said, smiling. "Let's start with an easy question shall we, Black? Tell me, where else do the Order have undercover agents?"

Sirius bit down hard on his tongue; he couldn't expose his friends.

"I—I," Sirius started, deciding it was at least worth a try to lie, "I don't know."

What? I lied! How is that possible? Sirius thought to himself, his eyes flickering towards Severus Snape. It couldn't be, it shouldn't be, not unless—

Sirius barely managed to hold in the gasp as he realised who Dumbledore's secret undercover operative was.

"Very well, let's try another," Lucius said, seemingly disappointed. "Who does the prophecy refer to—surely Dumbledore has told you that at least?"

Sirius raised his chin and looked Lucius in the eye.

"Afraid not."

Sirius suppressed a smirk as he took note of Lucius' displeasure.

More questioning followed and Sirius found that he quite enjoyed being able to lie so freely and convincingly to the 'most trusted servants' of Lord Voldemort.

"Oh can we kill him now?" Bellatrix shrieked. "Look at him, the pathetic weasel knows nothing."

"Very well," Lucius sighed. "He's no use to the Dark Lord. It would appear as though Dumbledore is playing his cards closer to his chest that we anticipated."

Bellatrix danced around with glee.

"Off with her head—whoops, I mean his head."

"No Bella," snapped Lucius. "Make it quick and clean—any messes and you will be the one cleaning it up."

Sirius held his breath and turned his head towards Bellatrix, looking her directly in the eye. There was no way out for him now—if it was his destiny to die here and now, then at least he would know that his devotion to the Order would not be able to be called into question.

"Okay, fine," Bellatrix half whined. "Avada kedavra."