Veritas 14
They enter the wellspring…Liz finally learns the truth about Padfoot…and they discover what lurks behind the wards.
This is a big piece – so no more for a few days!
***
On Wednesday morning Sirius woke up feeling strangely energized. And in a better mood than he had been in weeks. He dressed quickly in warm dark muggle trousers and jumper, then grabbed his boots and padded downstairs to the kitchen. Whatever had been building to a fever pitch between Remus and himself had dissipated once the Lupins returned from London. They had agreed that they were not going to solve all of life's problems having a screaming fit at each other, so called a truce and refocused all of their energy on finishing off the business at the hidden encampment once and for all.
Sirius entered the kitchen to find Remus and Malcolm. Remus was busy getting Malcolm his breakfast.
"Letting Katie have a lie in?" asked Sirius, picking up Malcolm. His heart soared as usual when Malcolm laughed and smiled at him as he did this.
"She'll be left to manage on her own for a few days while we're gone, so it seems fair I take care of most of this before we go. So magnanimous of me because it's such a chore…." Remus grinned.
"Uh huh. Can I help? I'll give him his bottle, if that's alright."
Remus smiled and handed Sirius a cloth and a bottle. "Of course it is. And that leaves me conveniently free to fix you a little breakfast. What do you want?"
"Full English."
Remus laughed. "Why is it when you cook we tend to get magiced oatmeal?"
"Because that's about what I can handle. You really want a go at my attempt at eggs?"
Remus shook his head. "No. Remember I have been subject to your cooking. It may have been 15 years ago, but the memory lingers."
Sirius looked at Malcolm. "Daddy can be a ungracious prat at times, my little marauder, but I'll forgive him while he's preparing my food. Dangerous to upset the cook, you know."
"Very. We're out of kippers, so you're going to have to settle for sausages. Will that be acceptable, my Lord Black?"
Sirius laughed. "Can you just imagine if timing in our family had been a little different and in fact I was my Lord Black?"
Katie walked in at that moment. She gave Sirius an amused look as she walked over to Remus. "There's a title in your family?" she asked sleepily, wrapping her arms around her husband as he worked.
"Just a little muggle one. But the way some family members took it you'd think it was the most important thing on the earth. My grandfather was the only one who vocally expressed distaste at the whole concept. I loved that man. My role model in life."
Remus chuckled. "Sirius' grandfather was a truly fantastic old chap. Came up with some of our best pranks. He relished living vicariously through us, once he discovered we couldn't resist a challenge. Just a little hint to Sirius in a letter, then in a week or so he'd get a full account of just how we'd managed to pull it all off."
Sirius smiled, shifting Malcolm slightly. "After my grandfather passed, my dad found all our letters. Grandfather had kept them all. That was a very unhappy night. They had never got on as it was, and now he had proof that the man had been contributing to the 'continued problem' of my 'boorish behaviour'." Sirius sighed. "Maybe that was the night my dad realized that I just didn't like him. You're a lucky one Malcolm. Not all of us get the chance to have parents they actually like."
Katie gave him a knowing wink as she came to sit next to him at the table with a cup of coffee.
Remus started to say something, but stopped and greeted Liz instead as she came into the kitchen.
"Good morning. I hope you slept well, as it's going to be a long day. I'm busy making full English. Would you like one, or something else?"
"Oh, full English, absolutely. Thank you."
Remus handed her a cup of coffee as she passed him and went to sit at the large old wooden table with Sirius and Katie. Sirius winked at her.
"Well I am happy to see that lovely green shirt again."
Liz smiled at him. "Thank you. It's been reinforced this time with a few extra layers. I have a feeling it is going to be bitterly cold in those caves."
Sirius grimaced. "Yes. And probably very wet as well. Have you charmed your boots and clothes yet to repel water? It helps somewhat."
"Remind me before we leave. Hadn't thought of that."
The adults ate their breakfast in relative silence. Sirius fought to think about nothing but how good his breakfast tasted, because he could feel he was getting very tense and wound up again, and knew from Remus' glances that the anxiety must just be pouring out of him. Sirius finished eating first, and picked Malcolm up again, just to hold him.
"Well, shall we run over this once more?"
Remus nodded. "I think we just get down there as quickly as possible. We'll be able to tell pretty quickly if they have moved the spells, or even noticed that they were reset by us as we left. If it's the same as before, we'll be able to make it down faster because we know where everything is, and what to expect." He looked at Sirius. "Including the dementors."
Sirius frowned and shook his head. "Remus, I've tried to get my Patronus back up to speed, but I really just don't have it in me. Not like I used to. You and Liz really need to take the lead on those."
Remus smiled. "I know that. Not a problem, so don't fret. I'm more concerned with keeping them away from you at all. You got a nasty shock last time, but I also suspect that we very much surprised them, so that's why Liz and I managed to drive them out reasonably quickly."
"Remus," said Liz, "do you think that we will just have the four dementors to deal with again?"
"I think that those were dementors who lived naturally in that cave, and they tend to live in small groups. It's just very convenient for the Death Eaters that you have to cross their territory to get to the wellspring. You don't exactly strike alliances with these creatures, so there is no reason for them to be there at the request of Malfoy or something. They guard Azkaban because it suits them, not because the Ministry has anything to offer them."
Remus stopped and stood up to take his dishes to the sink, and then looked at Sirius. Then Sirius saw him give a sideways glance at Katie before he went on. What's he up to?
"Actually, Liz, there are other ways of dealing with Dementors besides a Patronus…."
Sirius stood as quickly as he dared and handed Malcolm to Remus, taking the opportunity of standing so close to glare directly into his eyes. Stop it.
"Trying to distract me Padfoot?" Remus said, very softly.
"Yes, damn it. What are you doing? Let me deal with this on my own," Sirius replied in an angry whisper.
"Do it now," said Remus, still in a very soft voice, cradling Malcolm and brushing the bangs off his forehead. He smiled as Malcolm smiled at him and grabbed at his hand.
"No. When we get back, I promise. I think we have enough on our minds today, don't you?"
"Sirius, it occurred to me last night that you might have a better time of this if, when we get to the cave with those things, that you take Padfoot down there, as he doesn't have the same problems you do. You said yourself…."
"Remus, please."
"Why are you being so stubborn?"
Sirius sighed and rubbed his hands across his face. "I don't know. Look, this is bad timing; just leave it all. What if she is angry with me over this? We need to be focused on what we're doing. Her mad, me upset – that's not ideal is it?"
Remus sighed this time. "Alright. But do me one favour. When we do get there, Liz and I will go on ahead and deal with them. Four dementors between he two of us isn't that bad. You hang back in the tunnel, and you do transform. I'll come back to get you once they've gone. Deal?"
"Deal," agreed Sirius. "Actually, that does make sense."
The finally broke their huddle and walked back across the kitchen to the table where the women sat.
"So, are we about ready then?" asked Remus, keeping his voice light. But Sirius saw his eyes darken a bit as Katie stood up to take Malcolm from him. We're ready, Remus. And we'll be home soon.
***
They apparated into the woods near the entrance to the wellspring cave. Just in case, they chose not to return directly to the cave entrance. They were still reasonably certain that their last visit was undetected, but Liz had insisted they take this extra precaution. They walked in silence the short distance to the cave entrance. The snow in the area looked like a large number of people had gone inside last night or the day before. Sirius frowned.
"Our hosts?"
Remus shook his head. "Muggles. The Death Eaters would have erased this evidence. The question is, are they still inside?"
Remus stepped forward into the cave, lighting his wand. Liz followed with Sirius. He noticed she had a dark expression.
"What is it?"
"I can't help but worry if these muggles stumble across the Death Eaters. I can't imagine that would be good."
Sirius shook his head and took her hand. "They don't want any detection. I suspect they'd ignore them or find some way to scare them off. Conjure up a fake ghost or something. James did that once to scare some muggles away from his favourite fishing spot. Not very sporting, but he wasn't in the mood to 'act muggle' and share."
They heard Remus call out just ahead around he corner. They moved into the large chamber before the entrance to the shaft that led to the wellspring. The 'ceremonial markings' were still all over the walls, as they had been in the fall. Only now there was also an impressive collection of beer cans, bottles, and evidence that muggles had been burning wood fires in the chamber.
"They could suffocate!" said Liz. "There must be an opening up in the ceiling somewhere."
Remus gave a bottle a kick, frowning. Sirius couldn't resist.
"Poor Remus, how can you stand this mess!?"
Remus just smiled dangerously at him over his shoulder as he took out his wand. "Oh, I don't know. Makes me feel rather nostalgic for your old flat. All we need is a beautiful antique table strewn with oily motorbike parts and I'd hardly be able to tell them apart."
"Liz, don't you dare pay any attention to that drivel."
Remus waved his wand and said an incantation Sirius didn't recognize. Suddenly, all of the cans and bottles floated into the air, and started to drift back and forth across the ceiling in lazy circles. Remus smiled, and moved forward to the shaft entrance.
Liz laughed. "Um, Remus, are you going to leave those like that?"
"He's trying to scare the muggles, Liz. Teach them a lesson. If you don't pick up after yourself, your own trash will come to life. They won't actually dive at anyone, will they, Remus?"
Remus shook his head. "No. Odd enough to worry about, innocuous enough so that muggles who are determined to believe that everything can be explained with 'science' will be able to justify that with a long winded tale of magnetism or air drafts from the caves. Coming?"
Sirius smiled. "See Liz? I've always told you there is a creative and rather vindictive streak in this man."
They made their way down the shaft fairly quickly. No one had been in there since they had come back from their last visit, so it was easier to move and break their own spells as they went. It was soaking, however, and bitterly cold. Sirius' teeth kept chattering and he could see his breath clouding in front of him as he moved. Even through his gloves his fingers lost their feeling about halfway down.
Finally, they reached the end of the shaft and stood at the tunnel that led to the cave where they had met with the dementors last time. Sirius couldn't tell if it felt colder because they were close, or because it was actually colder down here. Remus caught his eye, and Sirius nodded at him.
"Liz," said Remus quietly, turning to her. "You and I will go forward and clear the dementors off, alright? I think the less we expose Sirius to them, the better."
"Yes. Let's go." Liz gave Sirius a smile before she followed Remus forward. Sirius waited until he couldn't hear them, then changed in the total darkness of the tunnel. He didn't exactly relax, but as he lay down on the floor and rested his head in his paws, he did feel better as the less complicated mind of the dog clouded over all the thoughts that had bothered him as a human.
He had no sense of time here in the pitch black tunnel. Finally, he caught a familiar sent. His tail started to wag as Remus suddenly appeared a ways in front of him. He jumped up and ran over, not thinking, just relieved not to be alone in that dark place anymore….
"Padfoot! Stop! Change back right now." Remus had grabbed him by the ruff of his neck as Padfoot had started to push past him, suddenly eager to get out of the tunnel.
Sirius came back, catching himself as he swayed, off balance from the sudden change. Remus held on to the collar of his jacket and made sure he was alright before he let go.
"I take it you were successful?"
"Yes; just the four like last time. Let's go quickly, though."
They came back to the end of the tunnel, and jumped down into the open chamber. Liz sat quietly on one of the boulders, cupping her hands around a dim blue fireball. She smiled at Sirius when he came over and extinguished the fireball.
"Good. Let's go."
Sirius put an arm around her shoulders as they moved to enter the tunnel that led to the spell circle.
"I owe you, Miss Harker."
"Think nothing of it, Mr. Black. Happy to oblige."
They stopped before turning the corner to the spell circle, and extinguished their wands. Sirius took the lead in stepping forward to peer into the darkness. Last time there had been light coming form the chamber as people were inside working. This time, there was nothing. He moved well around the corner, and quickly transformed, sniffing the air. Nothing. Just as quickly he switched back and lit his wand, so that Remus and Liz knew it was okay to come.
Sirius moved to the edge of the spell circle. It seemed to look even more dangerous and ominous now, as they stood there in the dim light of their wands gazing down at it. Wordlessly, Liz opened her pack and started to remove her ingredients.
"Do you need us to do anything?" asked Remus quietly.
"Just keep giving me enough light to see. I want to double check all of this, to make sure the ghost image didn't miss anything."
Liz reviewed the spell, taking various ingredients and checking them as she did so. Finally, she stood up.
"Okay, here goes nothing. We have covered all of the ingredients. I must say, I'm extremely grateful that you got the right earth with the hidden water. This spell is very strong and if we had attempted to do this with anything else, I'm not sure we would be successful."
"Are there any guardians?" Asked Sirius, watching as she started to mix her ingredients in preparation for pouring them onto the spell marker.
"Yes. Fire guardians. So keep your wands ready."
She started to mutter a spell under her breath, slowly pouring out her ingredients over the spell marker, completely covering the area. As she poured, Sirius saw the blue grey mixture melt and turn yellow as it hit Malfoy's handiwork. Soon the whole marker was covered, and looked like the top of a cauldron, bubbling and steaming. Suddenly, beads of the yellow liquid seemed to jump up and start to roll out down the sides of the spell circle.
The spell circle began to smoulder; wisps of smoke curled and snaked upwards. Sirius watched, hypnotized. It almost seems alive. Suddenly they heard small popping sounds. The smoke turned red, and began to flow faster. They heard a soft whining sound start, like log that was too green put on the fire. Remus grabbed them both by the arm.
"Step back! It's going to flare…."
They had stepped back only a short distance when the circle burst into an inferno in a single second. Fire roared; the flames reaching so high they spread out along the ceiling. Sirius heard Remus say an incantation, and suddenly something shimmered in front of them. Sirius could no longer feel the intense heat from the flames. Suddenly, though, an arm of flame seemed to leap from the circle towards them. It hit Remus' spell, and snaked upwards and around. They seemed to be closed in a room of fire. Remus had gone very pale, and he continued to mutter his spell under his breath, finally closing his eyes so he didn't see how close they were to the flames. Liz had closed her hand firmly on Remus' arm. She seemed to be incanting something as well.
Finally, the flames disappeared. As suddenly as they had risen, they vanished. They were plunged into total darkness, and Sirius quickly muttered 'Lumos', just so he could get a handle on what had occurred. Remus' eyes flew open, and he sank to his knees, gasping for breath. Liz bent down to have a look at him. He did manage to smile weakly at her and reached up to run a hand through his hair while his breathing slowed.
"Thanks, Liz. I needed that extra support. That was the most intense ignis vehemens I've seen in a while."
"You alright? Look, the circle is destroyed, at least. We can get over there."
"I'm fine. Sirius, can you see anything?"
Sirius stared into the darkness, dimming his wand more and more so that it didn't distract him with its glare.
"No, Moony. Looks pretty empty. You wait here, and I'll go and get a quick look."
Sirius crept forward soundlessly. He hesitated for a second before he stepped onto the remains of the spell, but once he had placed a foot in the circle, and nothing happened, he moved forward after flashing a quick grin back at Liz. The end of the tunnel was a few paces after the circle ended. Very slowly he looked into the cave on the other side.
He heard the running water of the well spring, and could see, very faintly the water flowing off to his left. Stepping forward a little, he knelt to inspect the ground. The dirt was covered in any number of old footprints, from a number of different people, covering the floor. Obviously people moved about freely in here, so he doubted there were any spells. He stepped to the edge of the water and peered into the darkness on the other side. He could just make out what looked very much like a wooden staircase rising up along the cave wall and seeming to disappear into the wall around a corner of the rock. He followed the water forward a bit and found where the ward spells were cast, on a small islet of rock in the middle of the water flow just before it disappeared into the ground again.
Sirius looked once more in the direction of the stairs, then went back to the tunnel. Remus was standing now, though he still looked a little more pale than usual.
"Long day old friend?"
"You might say that. Well?"
"Come and see. The ward spells are in the middle of the stream in there, and there's a staircase leading up to something."
Liz and Remus followed him into the chamber. Remus immediately went to have a look at the ward spells while Liz followed Sirius to get a look at the staircase. She glanced at the water flowing in the stream.
"Water repelling charms or no, I'm not wading through that to get over there." With that, she raised her wand, and looked at Sirius with a raised eyebrow. Sirius nodded and she waved her wand at the water. "Praeficio"
Sirius chuckled as a small thin plank popped into existence and stretched across the stream. Liz gave him a questioning look as she stepped over the stream.
"Remind me when we aren't quite so preoccupied with other matters to tell you about the time James mispronounced that spell."
Liz smiled and waved Remus over. Remus looked at the plank, then at Sirius, and laughed very quietly. Sirius nodded and walked over, followed by Remus.
Liz erased the plank and they stepped forward to the staircase. Remus tentatively reached out to run his hand along the banister and peer closely at the work.
"This is very old. And it's been made by muggles, look."
Sirius glanced at the joins. "Remus, you now what I think? I bet this is one of those old muggle smuggler's caves. There's a lot of room here to keep things hidden in, and it's not exactly an accessible place. That means that there is probably a house at the top of these stairs. There was an old road running nearby, remember. It may not be used now, but it probably was once one of the few paths through the forest."
"I thought smuggler' caves were mostly along the sea coast."
"Mostly, yeah, but we're right down near the coast, and they had to move the goods around somehow. Where better than here? We're directly on the line, really, between Southampton and Bournemouth. And if you go north, you'll hit Salisbury. Perfect spot to manage a little smuggling from."
"Well, the question really still is what are the Death Eaters doing with it? Let's go upstairs, shall we?"
Liz stopped them. "Do we need to? Perhaps we should just destroy the ward spells and get out of here."
Sirius shook his head. "Liz, we need to know what's going on here. And we need to destroy the house, if it is a house. Bringing down the wards won't stop them just…."
"Delay them. Good point. You'll need to actually set fire to the house. It's the only thing that will harm it with those wards in place. Maybe we can destroy the wards first, then go upstairs?"
Remus put one foot tentatively on the first step and looked up into the darkness. "I don't recommend that. We have no idea how many people are up there, and if they'll notice the wards are down. We need all the advantage we can get. Let's just be very careful not to set any fires if we can help it without bringing the wards down or we might get trapped. I didn't see any binding spells over there, but who knows what's up here."
Remus slowly started up the stairs, looking for any spells. Sirius sent Liz next and brought up the rear himself. He glanced back occasionally to see if anything might have come up behind them, but nothing moved other than the water. Finally, Remus stopped. Sirius could see a large wooden door in front of him.
"Is it locked?" whispered Liz.
Remus shook his head. "Oddly enough, no. Are we ready?"
Sirius and Liz both nodded. Sirius couldn't help but think it wasn't locked because they were waiting for them….
Remus tapped the door with his wand and it opened silently. They stepped forward into a dank room lined with panelling that was cracked and had paint peeling from it. The walls had once been white, but now were a filthy tired grey. The carpet on the floor looked like it was home to any number of creatures, and it gave Sirius the creeps to even be standing on it. Unable to help himself, he stepped off the carpet onto the hearth as he finished looking around the room. There was no furniture, no decorations of any kind. The windows had their shutters sealed, and little light came in, although it appeared to be dusk outside.
Remus glanced at him, and then nodded towards the other door across the room. Sirius reluctantly stepped back onto the filthy old rug and moved to stand next to Remus. Liz came up with them and they stopped at the door. Remus leaned forward, head tilted, as he stared at the door.
"Hear anything? Smell anything?"
Remus shook his head. "I don't think I could smell anything over this disgusting carpet anyway. Not at this time of the month at least. I'll just open this slightly. Liz, you and Sirius go stand there on the other side of the door. Unfortunately it opens outwards into the hall, so we won't get a clear look down the other way without risking being seen. Ready?"
Sirius and Liz held their wands in front of them and nodded. Remus reached out to grasp the door handle, but suddenly pulled his hand back and gave a slight gasp. Sirius gave Liz a quick look to tell her to stay where she was, and stepped over to Remus. His mouth was twisted in a grimace as he clutched his hand and rubbed it, shaking his head.
"Remus?"
"Well, that was a stupid thing to do. The door handle, under all that filth, would appear to be solid silver. Guess these smugglers were doing alright." He held up his hand and Sirius could make out a nasty looking burn. He took Remus' hand, muttered a spell, and watched the burn vanish. Remus relaxed. "Thank you. Why don't you open the door, dear Padfoot?"
Sirius grinned. "Certainly. Step out of the way, would you, dear Moony?"
Sirius gave Liz a wink as he went to open the door. "We're going to try this again. All set?"
"All set."
Sirius opened the door. He could see nothing, save a red carpet running down a red walled hall. Dark mahogany wainscoting rose about two feet off the walls, and the floor that was visible looked like it was white marble. Ornate lamps made out of black wrought iron hung, dimly lit, every few feet from the red ceiling.
He heard Remus whisper, "see anything?"
"Nothing except an appalling lack of design taste."
He heard Remus give a small groan then felt him step up close on his side. Remus shoved him a bit and looked down the opposite side of the hall.
"Well, you're right about that at least. Where now?"
Sirius pointed to the door at the far end of the hallway, which seemed to be ajar. "That looks promising."
Sirius watched Remus as he leaned forward to get a good look. Remus glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and smiled. "Well, it certainly looks the most promising to get us in trouble. And you claim you've changed."
Remus retook the lead, moving past Sirius without a sound to walk slowly forward. Sirius glanced back at Liz, who moved forward next to him and then started after Remus. Glancing back once in the other direction, Sirius followed them both. They stopped around the door. Remus, with a very intense look now as Sirius recognized him concentrating every sense on what he was doing, gave the door a very small push. No light came from under the door, Sirius noted, so it was safe to assume nobody was in the room. Remus got the door open just enough to get his head around it to see what was up. When he pulled back he had a wide grin on his face.
Remus stepped forward and pushed the door open completely. Then he stepped forward, motioning for Sirius and Liz to follow. "Well, well, well. Look at what we have here."
The room had probably once been the main dining room of the house, as it was long with a high ceiling and a huge fireplace in the centre. Its walls and the ceiling had once been painted sky blue, and the fireplace was the same white marble all the floors seemed to be made of. This room was now, however, lined with a number of long thin tables. One the tables were any number of fascinating and dangerous looking things. Even the books seem ominous.
Remus and Liz hurriedly moved forward, inspecting. They were whispering excitedly to themselves as Sirius busied himself with setting a charm on the door behind them so they would know if anyone was trying to come in after them. Finally he went over to Liz.
"There seems to be enough illegal dark arts ingredients in here to stock Knocturn Alley for a year."
"There is. Very unpleasant things. And look at this," she said in a whisper, holding up a book that looked like some sort of ledger. "Roll call. People ranked according to their suspected loyalties and susceptibilities. Here, 'Southworth, Corvainious' primary school teacher, transfiguration expert. Able to resist the imperious curse."
Sirius stared at the book. "Corvainious is a primary school teacher?"
Liz closed the book and put it in her pack. "You knew him?"
"He was the captain of the Hufflepuff quiddich team my first three years at Hogwarts. Barely seemed to be able to string two words together in a sentence he was so shy. But he was a great player."
"People who have difficulty talking to adults sometimes are exceptional with children. I suspect he's a great teacher. And if he can resist the imperious curse he is certainly a powerful wizard in his own right."
Sirius nodded and looked back up at Remus, who had worked his way down to the end of the tables. Sirius went over to him.
"Look, Liz took that book listing people and families. Should we grab anything else before we get out of here? Like very, very soon?"
Remus smiled. "I'd love to find a ledger that says who's behind all this. But you're right we need to…."
Suddenly they froze as they heard a noise in the room above them. Someone was walking across the floor. Remus grabbed Sirius' arm and turned him back towards the entrance to the room.
"That's it. Let's get out. We're too small a group to tackle any Death Eaters. The purpose of all this was to destroy this place, so let's do just that." But he stopped as he reached the door, putting his ear to it.
"Damn; I think the stairwell opens up at the other end of this corridor and our company is coming down that way. We'll have to go out that other door and circle back."
They ran as quietly as they could to the other side of the room. Sirius opened the door silently and led them into the next room. This was another large open room, with a circle of chairs set up around an enchanted fire in the middle of the floor. Liz looked wary when she saw this set up.
"Move very slowly, you two. That fire is dark magic, and kept burning for a reason, and we have no idea where it leads to. If we move too quickly it might open up a channel and tell someone we're here. We used to keep one at our house."
Sirius gave her a surprised look. Liz just smiled sadly. "My grandfather was a Death Eater. Didn't Dumbledore tell you? How do you think I became so adept at dark arts? I'm sorry, I thought Dumbledore would have said…." Now she looked upset. "I'm not trying to keep secrets from you, Sirius."
Sirius shook his head and stopped her. "Doesn't matter, Liz. I'm grateful you know a thing or two."
Remus, being Remus, looked fairly nonplussed over this information, and continued to walk slowly around the circle, keeping against the wall as he did so. But once Sirius was back at his side he whispered in his ear. "Well, maybe you won't get into so much trouble for keeping secrets after all."
"Shut up, Moony."
Sirius reached to hold the door handle, looking at Remus as he did so. Remus wore a curious expression now, but after a moment, nodded. Sirius opened the door, stepped into the hall, and almost immediately felt everything go black.
***
Sirius came to lying on the floor. He saw Liz next to him and could feel that Remus was behind him. His mouth was very dry and his head ached. He was also shaking from the cold, or at least he felt that cold. Where?
He reached out and shook Liz by the shoulder. She sat up very quickly and tried to pull away, but Sirius held her. She stopped moving as she suddenly focused on him, giving a shaky smile. Sirius rose to sit on his knees and glanced over her shoulder. About a foot away from her he could see the edge of the spell circle that held them. He smiled at her.
"Good thing you didn't pull back just then. You may have hit the edge."
She glanced over her shoulder and instinctively moved even closer to him away from the edge. Liz rested her head in her hand for a moment before looking back up at him.
"Remus?"
Sirius jerked his head in Remus' direction. "These sorts of things take a worse toll on him, as you know. Let's have a look about before we wake him up."
They stood, after Sirius gave Remus a quick check to make certain he was in fact alright, just badly stunned. They were in a room where all the furniture seemed to have been shoved to one end. Sirius could just make out a huge old four-poster bed and some chests. Even the rug had been rolled up and lay heavily on the top of the bed covers. The room was in the same state of filthy disrepair as the room they had come out of the tunnel into. A fire blazed, but that was it.
No light came at all from the shuttered windows here, and Sirius assumed it was now shortly after dusk. That also meant they had very little time before Dumbledore confronted Lucius. The plan had been to make the Death Eaters wait all day, then finally Dumbledore, a few hours after dark, would let them 'find' him. Quite alone, and quite within the means of the law. The companion with him they would assume was Sirius, was in fact a very eager to assist Mr. Treal, who had the same dark colouring as Sirius and was almost exactly the same build. Time is running out, if it hasn't already.
Sirius turned to Liz. "Do you hear anything?"
"No. Seems the house is still empty. Or almost empty, as they case may be."
"There's at least one death eater here…." He stopped as he saw Remus open his eyes and look up with a dazed expression. Sirius offered him a hand up. Remus stood up and rubbed the back of his neck, looking about.
"Well, sod it. We were so close…."
Sirius couldn't stop himself from laughing at this. "Moony! This just makes it a more exciting tale to tell!"
"Ah."
Sirius was about to continue when they heard footsteps in the hallway. Wordlessly they all stepped forward to the edge of the holding circle they had been placed in. A Death Eater walked in and stopped about three feet away from them. The figure stood there, its hood pulled over most of its face, obscuring any clear view of the person's features. They could see, however, that this person was smiling.
Finally, the figure moved. The Death Eater chuckled a bit, taking one slow lazy step forward and shaking its head slightly.
"Still getting in over your head and wrecking havoc, aren't you both?"
Sirius started when he heard the voice; it was very familiar. He looked at Remus, who was frowning, but had a similarly confused expression on his face. Obviously he's thinking the same thing.
"It's been quite the celebratory mood around here for a few days, you know. And to think, you almost ruined our happiness. But then, Sirius, you were always so good at mucking about with other people's lives, weren't you?"
Sirius felt a new wave of cold as suddenly he could place the voice. Same drawl, same exaggerated vowels, same nasty undertone….
"Pembroke?"
Impossible….
The Death Eater stepped forward, the small smile they could see under his hood twisting into a dark grin. He reached up finally and pushed back his hood. Sirius heard Liz gasp next to him; he knew why. This man was unmistakably related to Sirius. Same black hair, same black eyes. And if people had ever thought that Sirius had a habit of looking dark and dangerous, it was nothing compared to the expression worn by this man. I should have known; this one was always so screwed up. But such the 'proper' gentleman; the perfect Black. Well, well, father…what would you say to this?
He stepped up closely to them, laughing a little and shaking his head.
"Well, Sirius," he drawled in his smooth and bitter tone, "I can honestly say I am happy to see you. We've wondered where you got to, you know. I wasn't surprised to hear you had made it off Azkaban, though I would dearly love to know how you managed it. I doubt anyone who really knew you was. Were you, Remus? Did it surprise you?"
Remus said nothing, watching Pembroke closely.
Pembroke broke his gaze on Sirius to glance at Remus. "Oh come now, Remus. Still the sullen thing aren't you? Gods, Sirius, only you would have dared to bring a werewolf to your father's dinner table. Imagine if he'd known."
Sirius willed himself to neither move nor speak. This was an old game with Pembroke, one Pembroke had won many times when they were children. Not now. Remus, of course, did not move himself.
Pembroke made a small noise in his throat and shifted his gaze to Liz, stepping closer to her. Sirius saw his eyes flick quickly at him, and the smallest shadow of a sneer on his mouth; he's going to go after her, because he learned a long time ago that Remus isn't susceptible to him. Sirius willed Liz to remain silent; don't give him an inch….
"And who are you? Not one of my cousin's old crowd, I think. Of course, there's hardly any of them left is there? I'm not that surprised to find him with good old Remus, but I am surprised by you. My name is Pembroke Black, but I think you might have figured that out for yourself. I suspect that it was you who ruined Malfoy's handiwork back there, yes? Yes. Excellent, really. I watched him build the thing. Very complicated. Not that Sirius and Remus are fools, of course, they are actually very talented. Maybe a bit foolish…."
Sirius was amazed and relieved that Liz did not so much as twitch during Pembroke's 'chat'. He was also happy to note that this also surprised Pembroke. But Sirius wasn't going to let him get a chance to wear her down if he could help it.
"Shut up, Pembroke. What the hell are you doing here?"
"I'm not prone to crowing about myself, Sirius. You were the one who craved attention, not me. I'm here because I'm here. Soon others will be here as well. What a day for them; here they must thinking just now that they aren't going to get their hands on Sirius Black, but events have taken a turn. Malfoy in particular is going to be happy to see you." Pembroke turned to leave, but stopped and looked back just before he walked back out into the hallway.
"By the way, Sirius; I'd say your goodbyes to Remus there. Malfoy made it clear that he ever got his hands on Remus again he'd just kill him outright. Sadly, I think he has focused all of his anger and frustration over Dumbledore on him. He still can't believe that the old man let Remus in the school with the children. Or, rather, with the Slytherins. I think he'd not have kicked much fuss if Remus ate a few Gryffindors. Too bad. I always rather liked you, Remus. You were certainly more interesting than Potter." He vanished.
Liz turned to Sirius and looked like she was about to say something, but Sirius held up his hand.
"Liz, the first thing you need to know about Pembroke is that he is a master manipulator. He's saying what he thinks will upset me, and Remus."
Liz looked at Remus, who smiled and nodded at her. Sirius had to smile himself when she looked back at him with a very surprised look on her face.
"Come on, Liz; harassing Remus is hardly anything new, is it? And Pembroke has been harassing me all my life. You know he came to see me in Azkaban? Twice. I felt like asking the dementors to come back."
Now Remus' expression darkened and he glared at the door. "Wanted to see what he'd escaped? He was never even on the lists, Sirius! We never suspected…but we of all people should have."
Sirius shook his head, and then moved to look about the holding circle. "Not really. We just thought Pembroke was a gigantic ass…"
"He was a gigantic ass…." Grumbled Remus, joining Sirius in his inspection.
"True. But we assumed he was a simple and cowardly ass, too. Getting involved with Death Eaters? Too much for him. I would be interested to know when all this happened with him though. He works for the ministry, damn it. You know he's filtering information, poisoning Fudge's ear against Dumbledore and….and I'm willing to bet he's the one who's been working so hard to get Arthur and Dexter sacked. Of course, this is the wretched Pembroke; that's the sort of thing he'd do for sport, Death Eaters or no."
"Amazing that it was him we found here. That's what confused me when we were about to open the door. His scent was both familiar and too much like you, so I just thought I was having trouble focusing. Ah well. It's really just a minor side effect of the wolf. I'm hardly going to track people through bogs or anything…."
He stopped as he heard Liz clear her throat.
"Yes, Miss Harker?" asked Sirius.
"I'm trying to think that you two standing there discussing this calmly is just how you process stress."
Both Sirius and Remus chuckled.
"Actually, Liz," said Remus, "it is. I think if you had the chance to review some of the conversations we've had in some of the more stressful situations we'd been in you would think us either fools or made of ice."
"It's hardly an original tactic. Though I'm not as good at it myself."
Sirius grabbed her hand and gave it a quick kiss as he walked around her, looking at the spell circle. "Don't worry, we're going to get out of this. Just ignore my and Moony's prattle if you need to." He winked at her.
She still frowned and reached out to wipe at something on Sirius' temple. He winched.
"You're bleeding…."
"Liz, none of us are looking particularly tasty right now, but nothing major is broken or the like. Come on, girl. Just concentrate on getting out of here. I know you're a tough one."
Liz did actually smile, and gave him a light slap on the cheek.
"Indeed. I just don't seem to enjoy getting into these situations as much as you."
"Oh I love 'situations'…."
Remus suddenly turned to them and waved Sirius over. He pointed at the floor.
"Oh, Sirius; we're set - we can get out. Look at the spell he used to hold us."
Sirius stared at the markings. Simple and effective, something I've used a number of times myself to keep Death Eaters until the authorities arrived to take them away. Very useful indeed… for humans. He looked at Remus, who was gazing back at him with a quiet expression. The hint of a smile showed up as he looked back out into the gloom of the room, staring into the darkness of the hallway.
"Padfoot…" he whispered, shaking his head.
"I know," Sirius whispered back, not daring to look in Liz' direction. "I guess now I'll know if she's going to be mad about this." This is what I get for being an idiot and putting this off.
Remus gave him a sympathetic look. "We don't have time to tell her the whole story…."
"I know that too."
"If it's any consolation, remember that my hand was forced with Katie, too. And I had spent a lot of time working out just how to tell her." He looked in Liz's direction for a second. "Sorry I can't give you a little more space to do this."
Sirius gave him a small nudge in the ribs and smiled. "And everyone always thought I had such smooth timing with the ladies."
"Would you rather I did this?"
"That would make her mad, I think. She's already a little disconcerted that I've been…confused."
"Anxious. Look, we'll analyse it later," said Remus, stepping back now and looking again in Liz's direction. She still stood with her back to them. "Just be very quiet about it; we have no idea if anyone is listening. I'll think of what to do when you do get out."
Sirius stepped away from him and crossed over to Liz. "Liz, I need to talk to you. Put your arms around me."
She gave a small start. "What?"
Sirius moved forward and pulled her close. "This way I can speak as quietly as possible. Understand? Just nod."
She nodded hesitantly.
"Well, it's not the worst way to communicate, is it?"
He felt her smile and finally put her arms around his shoulders.
"Listen, Liz, I'm about to tell you a few things. Things we'll need to discuss in detail at a more appropriate time. Please, bear with me. I don't think you're going to be very happy with me; but please remember that I truly do love you. And I am not trying to do things deliberately to upset you." He stopped. She didn't move for a few moments; then she nodded again, and gave his shoulders a little squeeze.
"Pembroke said he'd love to know how I got off Azkaban. Obviously I'm not going to tell him, but I am going to tell you. This is something…I should have told you a while ago. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. We'll discuss it more when we get back home. Please, you might be angry with me. Just hold it until we can talk about it properly."
She nodded. "Sirius, what exactly did you do?" she whispered so low he almost couldn't hear her.
Sirius sighed. This was not the setting I envisioned doing this in. And for the life of me I still can't understand why it's been so difficult to do this. "I'm an animagus. An illegal one, obviously. I survived all those years, and I made it off the island, in my animagus form. I became one when I was 15; I did it for Remus. The spell holding us only holds humans, so I can transform and cross outside the spell. You'll understand all this later, I promise. I never said because…" he stopped. There is no way to say this without hurting her.
"Liz," he continued in an even quieter voice, "it was my one secret; the one chance I had if something happened. I couldn't talk about it, I didn't want to…. " She stopped him with a finger against his lips.
"You're right. We'll talk later. Get us out of here."
He pulled back and looked at her. She stood with her back to the fire and he could barely make out her face in the shadows, but her expression looked blank. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. His anxiety must have shown, however, because she finally gave a little smile and reached up to run one finger down his cheek.
"Sirius; it's okay. So you broke the law when you were 15. I'm neither surprised nor upset. We'll talk about it when we get home"
Sirius smiled and turned to walk back over to where Remus stood, still facing the hallway. Remus raised an eyebrow and Sirius gave him a small smile and shrugged. Remus started to say something, but Sirius just shook his head and gestured towards the doorway.
"Any ideas? So I get out and what?"
"Well I've got some floo powder in my pocket but I'm assuming it's too much to hope that fire's on the network. Obviously we need our wands in order to get Liz and me out of here. I know at least they haven't been broken. Yet."
"A simple Accio would work, but we don't know if they are sitting where someone would notice."
"We've no idea how many people are really here. Maybe we'll just need to risk it. I don't think you wandering the house, in any shape, is an acceptable option."
"Look, we've no time for any of this. We've got to get out, destroy this place, and get away before anyone else knows we're here. So far its just Pembroke…." He stopped as he heard a low growl that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. "What the hell was that?"
Remus glanced at the doorway. "I'm not sure. It's been out there a while, but I can't tell what it is. Smells like a dog, but it seems off somehow."
"Were you planning on telling me this?"
"Yes, Padfoot, before you went out. Now you know why roaming the halls isn't an option. I suspect that right now Pembroke is the only one in the house, and that's why he's put that animal out there in the hall. It hasn't come in here, though, and I can think of two good reasons why. One; it's sensitive to light. That gives us some idea of what it might be. So it also suggests that we can keep it at bay until we get our wands and stun it with a simple flame spell. I know you can do those without a wand."
"Best trick you ever taught me. What's the second reason?"
"It can smell a werewolf and doesn't want to come in."
"Oh, I don't know Moony, you don't smell so bad to me."
Remus did laugh quietly. "Look, it is actually valuable that I scare some animals. A pity I'll never go riding with Katie, but other than that it's not much of a problem."
"Uh huh. Look, any other options?"
"Always. But those two seem the strongest to be going forward on. Although…" he suddenly stopped. I don't like that look.
"Sirius," he continued in a tight voice, "What if it's Pembroke? Maybe you're not the only illegal animagus in the Black family. Best way to keep an eye on us, really. He can hear us, and if we do get out, we're unarmed against some sort of canine."
Sirius almost laughed but Remus' expression suggested that that would not be taken well. Okay, it's a reach but he's got a point.
"So what? Maybe that's better. He has no idea what I can do. I'm more than a match for him in my current mood, I can tell you," he said in a dangerous tone.
"So if he's got our wands on him, we can't get them back unless he transforms. And we can't force him to transform without the wands. Checkmate. Bloody hell."
Sirius raised his eyebrows. Remus only swore when he was really, really, upset and/or put out. No. This is no good. We have to try.
"Remus, I think you're well into over thinking now, as your lovely wife says." He turned and walked back to Liz, taking her by the hand and leading her over to stand next to Remus. "As soon as I step outside the circle, I'm going to summon the wands. Several things may happen. Hopefully, the wands will come up here. Liz, could you hear our conversation?"
"Some of it."
"Did you get the bit about something being in the hallway?"
"Yes."
"Look, I'm going to step out on the side opposite the door. If it does come in here, you two can at least try to blind it and hold it off a bit with some flame spells of your own. You can't cast them outside this circle, but there's no reason you can't give it a fright. That should buy some time for the wands to get here. I'll get them, transform back, and get them to you two. Obviously, it can cross right into the circle if it wants, so keep an eye on it. I'm actually hoping that it's scared of Remus."
Remus nodded and looked at Liz. "Liz, stay behind me away from it if you can. Even if it isn't frightened of me, it won't like the way I taste, so let it bite me."
"Remus!"
"Liz, really, that's the fact of it. Biting me will distract it. I am also a lot stronger than either of you, and can hold it off longer. You concentrate on getting the wands, and getting the circle down so we can finish it off properly." He smiled at her and Sirius. "Every now and again, the Wolf has its odd little uses, wouldn't you say?"
Sirius looked at Liz, who just shook her head.
"It's okay, Liz. Ready?", asked Remus.
Liz nodded and looked back at Sirius. Sirius leaned over and kissed her quietly. "Ready to meet Padfoot?"
"I knew there was something to that nickname. I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be."
Sirius willed the transformation; he felt the familiar pulling and twisting as he reshaped almost instantly into his animagus. He looked back up at Liz and Remus. Remus was smiling at him, Liz looked …stunned. Good or bad?
Liz looked back at Remus.
"Your patronus…."
"Yes. Told you it wasn't a wolf. Ready now, Sirius?" Sirius nodded, and Liz let out a small bark of laughter before she clamped her hands over her mouth.
"Sorry. That just looks so…."
"Odd," finished Remus, stepping to the very edge of the circle. "You'll get used to it. Trust me. That's still Sirius, so watch him."
Sirius gave Remus a small nip on the ankle before moving to the other side of the circle.
"See?"
***
