Chapter 12: The Chase
Sirius Black knew something was wrong. Only moments before he had been standing in Dumbledore's office with the portkey in hand. Now he had no idea where he was. In the fading hours of daylight he was able to see that he was in a large field surrounded by a dense forest. The wind blew slightly, making the tall grass seemingly roll and crest like the waves of an ocean. The rustling of the grass was the only noise that Sirius heard, and that was what concerned him. He knew he should be able to hear animals in the forest or birds in the air, but all was silent. Sirius stood rigid, but prepared to move quickly in case any challenge presented itself. His eyes scanned the area before him and in the distance he saw something blowing in the wind. Sirius approached the object cautiously, wand gripped tightly in his hand.
After a few yards, he realized that the object was cloth and he picked up his pace. Upon getting closer he immediately recognized it as being Selene's cloak. Sirius picked it up and examined it. There were no holes or tears, it appeared that it had merely been discarded, but Sirius knew that was impossible. Selene never went anywhere without that cloak. The cloak had been a gift from Lily, and it was quite rare in that between the layers of cloth, was a thin layer of dragon hide. Although the cloak was thin, it was extremely warm and impervious to the elements. "They must have stripped her of it." Sirius thought to himself. He surveyed the area around him and found obvious signs of a struggle. The grass and been trampled and the soil displaced, and were also a few scraps of black material on the ground.
"Death Eater robes." Sirius said aloud. He knew Selene would never willingly go with them, and they must have taken off her cloak in order to get control of her. The air was brisk, but not cold. Still it would have weakened Selene enough for the Death Eaters to manage her.
Sirius gripped the fabric tightly, trying to control a renewed anger and hatred for the things that took Harry and Selene. He stood up, rolled up the cloak, and wrapped it within his own robes. Instinct told him that they had headed into the forest, and since there was no evidence to the contrary, he started that way. He had almost reached the edge of the forest when the attack came.
Sirius felt something hit him on his back which knocked him to the ground. He had let go of his wand in the fall and it lay about a foot in front of him. Without thinking he reached for it and felt a boot come down on his hand grinding his knuckles into the earth. Sirius screamed, more in anger than pain, and looked up at the owner of the boot. He then realized the he was face to face with a Death Eater.
He heard a scratchy laugh radiating from somewhere within that dark hood, and watched as the Death Eater brought his wand up and pointed it at Sirius' face. Sirius felt for the small dagger that he had hidden underneath his robes.
"I could have killed you." The Death Eater said.
Sirius made no reply.
"We knew you would find a way here sooner or later. All we had to do was wait."
"We?" Sirius thought, "That means there is at least one more." He reached into his robes with his left hand, still looking for the dagger, his right was still under the boot of his adversary.
"We watched you find the girl's cloak and then walk right to us. I could have killed you at any time, but this way is more fun. Don't you agree Mr. Black?"
Sirius looked up at the Death Eater, but made no reply. All his efforts focused on retrieving his blade.
The Death Eater knelt down, adding more pressure and pain to Sirius' hand. Sirius clenched his teeth. He suddenly felt the knife and began to pull it slowly out.
"You're not the conversationalist are you?" the Death Eater taunted, "Oh well, maybe this will make you talk."
Sirius was about to make a move when a purplish light radiated from the Death Eaters' wand and when it hit Sirius, he felt his whole body convulse, feeling every muscle in his body spasm. It felt like his insides were being pulled together in one ball and the muscles in his limbs felt like they were tearing. He dropped the knife, unable to hold on to anything. He was at the verge of passing out when the Death Eater stopped.
"Didn't like that did you?"
Sirius spat into the ground, he tried to regain control of his body, but it was shaking uncontrollably from the spell.
"The girl didn't either. She was a little more resilient than you though. Took her a whole thirty minutes to loose consciousness. At the end, she was pleading for us to kill her."
That was perhaps the worst thing that the Death Eater could have said to Sirius. He took a deep breath and through his rage was able to tame his shaking body.
"Just hurry up and kill Black. I'm ready to leave." Sirius heard a voice say. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another hooded figure emerge from the woods.
"I'm just having some fun. A cat with his rat." The Death Eater spit out the last word harshly into Sirius' face.
"Did anybody follow you?" The second Death Eater said, reaching down and picking up Sirius' fallen wand. He examined it, and then broke it in half.
Sirius looked at him with fury.
The first Death Eater released Sirius' hand, but only to administer a hard kick to his ribs. The force caused Sirius to roll over on his fallen knife. At first Sirius thought the weapon might be discovered, but luckily it was still concealed underneath his robe. "He asked you a question!" The first Death Eater barked.
"Of course no one followed me! The second portkey is here with me. You would have seen anyone else come through with me!" Sirius lied.
The Death Eaters exchanged glances. "Very well." said the second who then turned to his accomplice, "finish him."
The first nodded and turned back to Sirius. "I will enjoy this." He raised his arm but before he was able to get a word out, Sirius was able to get a grip on his knife and with his good hand he plunged it into the leg of his attacker.
The Death Eater howled and fell to the ground. Sirius tore the dagger out of his assailant's leg and retreated to the trees. The second Death Eater sent a whirl of curses at him, and Sirius only just managed to get out of the way.
The second figure kicked the one on the ground. "Idiot!" he yelled. He then ran into the forest after Sirius and hissed, "Black, you are only making this harder on yourself. We were just going to kill you, but I guarantee that I will cause you to scream before this night is over!"
Sirius moved swiftly and in silence. When Sirius had led the Death Eater deeper into the forest, he doubled back. His plan was to sneak around the Death Eater and to catch him off guard. He clutched his only weapon to his side and turned to follow the Death Eater who in turn thought he was following Sirius. "The rat has become the cat." he mused silently to himself.
The Death Eater was constantly tripping over fallen limbs. Sirius on the other hand moved like a hunter through the woods. His days in his animagus form had taught him some of the finer aspects of tracking….and hunting. Finally Sirius was able to make his move. As the Death Eater picked himself of the ground once more, Sirius threw a fallen branch to the right of him that made the Death Eater turn and point his wand. The Eater cackled, believing he had found his prey. Suddenly Sirius appeared from the left and plunged his small knife into the back of the Death Eater. With a howl he fell to the ground, and Sirius was soon on top of him.
The Death Eater's robes made it hard for Sirius to see how bad he had wounded him. He took the knife out and saw a small but constant stream of blood dampen the black robes. Sirius thought for a moment about plunging the knife back into the Death Eater, but instead placed the blade underneath the hood and up against the neck of the black figure. "Where are they?" Sirius asked.
When the Death Eater made no reply he pressed the knife in and felt a small trickle of blood fall onto his fingers. The Death Eater hissed, "I can't tell you…he would…"
"Do you think your situation is any improved with me?" Sirius asked.
"Kill me then."
"Tell me where they are."
"No."
"Fine." Sirius considered killing the man, but decided against it. With his blade securely against his neck, he forced the Death Eater to his feet. "Where's your wand?"
The Death Eater stood still. Sirius rummaged through his robes and fished out the wand. He preformed a binding curse on the Death Eater and then broke the wand in half, aware of the irony that the Death Eater had done the same to his only a short time before. He then started walking back towards the opening of the forest.
"What are you doing?" the Eater asked.
"Leaving you for your master…" Sirius said with a wry smile.
"You can't."
"Watch me."
The Death Eater started laughing and Sirius started to turn towards him, but decided against it, and kept walking. The Death Eater continued to laugh as he grabbed for a second wand within the folds of his robe.
Sirius heard the binds of Death Eater break and he barely managed to get out of the way of the Avada Kedavra curse that was hurled towards him. He turned and threw his knife. Through skill and a little luck, the blade landed within the dark hood and the Death Eater went down. Sirius cautiously approached his enemy and when he was sure he was dead, retrieved his blade and left to find the other.
The first Death Eater was no longer where he had fallen. However, because of his leg, he had made tracks that even a blind person could follow. Sirius smiled. That is exactly what he had wanted.
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Ron hit the ground with a thud. He hated traveling by portkeys, he never managed to land softly and he always had a sense of queasiness to go along with it. He pulled himself to his feet and looked around at his surroundings. They had landed in a large field surrounded by large trees. Although it was still light outside, night was quickly approaching and the air was becoming colder. Worse yet, there were no signs of Hogwarts, or anything that Ron could see that was familiar to him. He felt Hermione come up beside him, holding the invisibility cloak.
"It's a good thing there were no Death Eaters around, considering our only protection fell off on the way here." he said.
Hermione nodded. "Any sign of Sirius?"
"I don't see a sign of anyone. Do you have any idea where we are?"
"Not a clue."
"Me either. Let's head that way, over towards the trees." Ron said.
"Why that way?"
"Because it is the creepiest place around, so of course we have to go that way. It makes sense."
"Only to you Ron."
"Well I'm open for suggestions!" Ron said defensively.
Hermione looked around thoughtfully. "There has to be some sign of Sirius around here somewhere, he didn't have that much of a head start…an hour…and hour and half at most. The ground is damp and should have held his footprints. Look around and see if you can find any."
Soon the young wizard and witch were searching the field, guided only by the light their wands provided. After searching for about twenty minutes, Hermione began to think that her plan hadn't been a good one. She glanced behind her at Ron who was bent over studying at something on the ground. For a minute Hermione thought he had found something, but then Ron stood up and continued to look in a different direction.
Hermione turned back to her own search, and suddenly she felt the need to hurry. Time was running out for Harry and Selene, and they were doing nothing to help by searching a large field for what might or might not lead them to Sirius. She looked up and realized that she had reached the edges of the forest. She knew that Ron was probably right about the forest (although she would never admit it), and although all her intelligence told her that she should stay the hell out, her instincts told her that the answers were in there. Hermione took a deep breath and entered the forest. She had walked about twenty yards in was about to give up when she tripped over something that caused her to hit the ground hard.
When she was finally able to catch her breath, she stood up to see what she had tripped over. She was convinced that it was a root or a fallen tree branch perhaps, but what she saw was neither. It was an arm. Surprised at her discovery, she backed away quickly and called out for Ron.
"What is it?" Ron asked reaching her and panting for breath.
Hermione said nothing and cautiously approached the arm again. Ron followed her and she could hear his sharp intake of breath when he saw what she had seen. For the first time Hermione saw that the arm was attached to a larger figure draped in black robes and laying on its stomach. For a minute Hermione thought that it was Sirius until Hermione saw the partially hidden Death Eater's tattoo on the figure's arm.
"It's a Death Eater." Ron said, finishing her thought.
Hermione nodded. "Do you think he's dead? Did Sirius kill him?"
"He's dead alright." Ron said and held his illuminated wand closer to the fallen Death Eater motioning at the pool of blood that had formed underneath its hood.
Ron (quite bravely Hermione thought) moved in closer to the figure and picked up something near the body. "Look at this." he said.
Ron held two wands. One broken, one not. "Two wands?" Hermione asked.
Ron nodded, "And look over there." Hermione looked and saw a fresh set of footprints leading away from the Death Eater. They followed them and found that they joined another set of footprints that went deeper into the forest.
"Well?" Ron asked.
"What choice do we have?" Hermione asked.
"Right then. Dark scary forest here we come." Ron replied and the two wrapped the invisibility cloak around themselves, more so for the comfort of each other than the slight protection that it offered them, and they began to follow the new set of footprints deeper into the forest.
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A/N: Hope you liked this chapter. It was so tempting to leave it as a cliffhanger at several points, but since I'm such a nice author I decided to leave you with a little closure….this time. -R
Sirius Black knew something was wrong. Only moments before he had been standing in Dumbledore's office with the portkey in hand. Now he had no idea where he was. In the fading hours of daylight he was able to see that he was in a large field surrounded by a dense forest. The wind blew slightly, making the tall grass seemingly roll and crest like the waves of an ocean. The rustling of the grass was the only noise that Sirius heard, and that was what concerned him. He knew he should be able to hear animals in the forest or birds in the air, but all was silent. Sirius stood rigid, but prepared to move quickly in case any challenge presented itself. His eyes scanned the area before him and in the distance he saw something blowing in the wind. Sirius approached the object cautiously, wand gripped tightly in his hand.
After a few yards, he realized that the object was cloth and he picked up his pace. Upon getting closer he immediately recognized it as being Selene's cloak. Sirius picked it up and examined it. There were no holes or tears, it appeared that it had merely been discarded, but Sirius knew that was impossible. Selene never went anywhere without that cloak. The cloak had been a gift from Lily, and it was quite rare in that between the layers of cloth, was a thin layer of dragon hide. Although the cloak was thin, it was extremely warm and impervious to the elements. "They must have stripped her of it." Sirius thought to himself. He surveyed the area around him and found obvious signs of a struggle. The grass and been trampled and the soil displaced, and were also a few scraps of black material on the ground.
"Death Eater robes." Sirius said aloud. He knew Selene would never willingly go with them, and they must have taken off her cloak in order to get control of her. The air was brisk, but not cold. Still it would have weakened Selene enough for the Death Eaters to manage her.
Sirius gripped the fabric tightly, trying to control a renewed anger and hatred for the things that took Harry and Selene. He stood up, rolled up the cloak, and wrapped it within his own robes. Instinct told him that they had headed into the forest, and since there was no evidence to the contrary, he started that way. He had almost reached the edge of the forest when the attack came.
Sirius felt something hit him on his back which knocked him to the ground. He had let go of his wand in the fall and it lay about a foot in front of him. Without thinking he reached for it and felt a boot come down on his hand grinding his knuckles into the earth. Sirius screamed, more in anger than pain, and looked up at the owner of the boot. He then realized the he was face to face with a Death Eater.
He heard a scratchy laugh radiating from somewhere within that dark hood, and watched as the Death Eater brought his wand up and pointed it at Sirius' face. Sirius felt for the small dagger that he had hidden underneath his robes.
"I could have killed you." The Death Eater said.
Sirius made no reply.
"We knew you would find a way here sooner or later. All we had to do was wait."
"We?" Sirius thought, "That means there is at least one more." He reached into his robes with his left hand, still looking for the dagger, his right was still under the boot of his adversary.
"We watched you find the girl's cloak and then walk right to us. I could have killed you at any time, but this way is more fun. Don't you agree Mr. Black?"
Sirius looked up at the Death Eater, but made no reply. All his efforts focused on retrieving his blade.
The Death Eater knelt down, adding more pressure and pain to Sirius' hand. Sirius clenched his teeth. He suddenly felt the knife and began to pull it slowly out.
"You're not the conversationalist are you?" the Death Eater taunted, "Oh well, maybe this will make you talk."
Sirius was about to make a move when a purplish light radiated from the Death Eaters' wand and when it hit Sirius, he felt his whole body convulse, feeling every muscle in his body spasm. It felt like his insides were being pulled together in one ball and the muscles in his limbs felt like they were tearing. He dropped the knife, unable to hold on to anything. He was at the verge of passing out when the Death Eater stopped.
"Didn't like that did you?"
Sirius spat into the ground, he tried to regain control of his body, but it was shaking uncontrollably from the spell.
"The girl didn't either. She was a little more resilient than you though. Took her a whole thirty minutes to loose consciousness. At the end, she was pleading for us to kill her."
That was perhaps the worst thing that the Death Eater could have said to Sirius. He took a deep breath and through his rage was able to tame his shaking body.
"Just hurry up and kill Black. I'm ready to leave." Sirius heard a voice say. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another hooded figure emerge from the woods.
"I'm just having some fun. A cat with his rat." The Death Eater spit out the last word harshly into Sirius' face.
"Did anybody follow you?" The second Death Eater said, reaching down and picking up Sirius' fallen wand. He examined it, and then broke it in half.
Sirius looked at him with fury.
The first Death Eater released Sirius' hand, but only to administer a hard kick to his ribs. The force caused Sirius to roll over on his fallen knife. At first Sirius thought the weapon might be discovered, but luckily it was still concealed underneath his robe. "He asked you a question!" The first Death Eater barked.
"Of course no one followed me! The second portkey is here with me. You would have seen anyone else come through with me!" Sirius lied.
The Death Eaters exchanged glances. "Very well." said the second who then turned to his accomplice, "finish him."
The first nodded and turned back to Sirius. "I will enjoy this." He raised his arm but before he was able to get a word out, Sirius was able to get a grip on his knife and with his good hand he plunged it into the leg of his attacker.
The Death Eater howled and fell to the ground. Sirius tore the dagger out of his assailant's leg and retreated to the trees. The second Death Eater sent a whirl of curses at him, and Sirius only just managed to get out of the way.
The second figure kicked the one on the ground. "Idiot!" he yelled. He then ran into the forest after Sirius and hissed, "Black, you are only making this harder on yourself. We were just going to kill you, but I guarantee that I will cause you to scream before this night is over!"
Sirius moved swiftly and in silence. When Sirius had led the Death Eater deeper into the forest, he doubled back. His plan was to sneak around the Death Eater and to catch him off guard. He clutched his only weapon to his side and turned to follow the Death Eater who in turn thought he was following Sirius. "The rat has become the cat." he mused silently to himself.
The Death Eater was constantly tripping over fallen limbs. Sirius on the other hand moved like a hunter through the woods. His days in his animagus form had taught him some of the finer aspects of tracking….and hunting. Finally Sirius was able to make his move. As the Death Eater picked himself of the ground once more, Sirius threw a fallen branch to the right of him that made the Death Eater turn and point his wand. The Eater cackled, believing he had found his prey. Suddenly Sirius appeared from the left and plunged his small knife into the back of the Death Eater. With a howl he fell to the ground, and Sirius was soon on top of him.
The Death Eater's robes made it hard for Sirius to see how bad he had wounded him. He took the knife out and saw a small but constant stream of blood dampen the black robes. Sirius thought for a moment about plunging the knife back into the Death Eater, but instead placed the blade underneath the hood and up against the neck of the black figure. "Where are they?" Sirius asked.
When the Death Eater made no reply he pressed the knife in and felt a small trickle of blood fall onto his fingers. The Death Eater hissed, "I can't tell you…he would…"
"Do you think your situation is any improved with me?" Sirius asked.
"Kill me then."
"Tell me where they are."
"No."
"Fine." Sirius considered killing the man, but decided against it. With his blade securely against his neck, he forced the Death Eater to his feet. "Where's your wand?"
The Death Eater stood still. Sirius rummaged through his robes and fished out the wand. He preformed a binding curse on the Death Eater and then broke the wand in half, aware of the irony that the Death Eater had done the same to his only a short time before. He then started walking back towards the opening of the forest.
"What are you doing?" the Eater asked.
"Leaving you for your master…" Sirius said with a wry smile.
"You can't."
"Watch me."
The Death Eater started laughing and Sirius started to turn towards him, but decided against it, and kept walking. The Death Eater continued to laugh as he grabbed for a second wand within the folds of his robe.
Sirius heard the binds of Death Eater break and he barely managed to get out of the way of the Avada Kedavra curse that was hurled towards him. He turned and threw his knife. Through skill and a little luck, the blade landed within the dark hood and the Death Eater went down. Sirius cautiously approached his enemy and when he was sure he was dead, retrieved his blade and left to find the other.
The first Death Eater was no longer where he had fallen. However, because of his leg, he had made tracks that even a blind person could follow. Sirius smiled. That is exactly what he had wanted.
*****************************************
Ron hit the ground with a thud. He hated traveling by portkeys, he never managed to land softly and he always had a sense of queasiness to go along with it. He pulled himself to his feet and looked around at his surroundings. They had landed in a large field surrounded by large trees. Although it was still light outside, night was quickly approaching and the air was becoming colder. Worse yet, there were no signs of Hogwarts, or anything that Ron could see that was familiar to him. He felt Hermione come up beside him, holding the invisibility cloak.
"It's a good thing there were no Death Eaters around, considering our only protection fell off on the way here." he said.
Hermione nodded. "Any sign of Sirius?"
"I don't see a sign of anyone. Do you have any idea where we are?"
"Not a clue."
"Me either. Let's head that way, over towards the trees." Ron said.
"Why that way?"
"Because it is the creepiest place around, so of course we have to go that way. It makes sense."
"Only to you Ron."
"Well I'm open for suggestions!" Ron said defensively.
Hermione looked around thoughtfully. "There has to be some sign of Sirius around here somewhere, he didn't have that much of a head start…an hour…and hour and half at most. The ground is damp and should have held his footprints. Look around and see if you can find any."
Soon the young wizard and witch were searching the field, guided only by the light their wands provided. After searching for about twenty minutes, Hermione began to think that her plan hadn't been a good one. She glanced behind her at Ron who was bent over studying at something on the ground. For a minute Hermione thought he had found something, but then Ron stood up and continued to look in a different direction.
Hermione turned back to her own search, and suddenly she felt the need to hurry. Time was running out for Harry and Selene, and they were doing nothing to help by searching a large field for what might or might not lead them to Sirius. She looked up and realized that she had reached the edges of the forest. She knew that Ron was probably right about the forest (although she would never admit it), and although all her intelligence told her that she should stay the hell out, her instincts told her that the answers were in there. Hermione took a deep breath and entered the forest. She had walked about twenty yards in was about to give up when she tripped over something that caused her to hit the ground hard.
When she was finally able to catch her breath, she stood up to see what she had tripped over. She was convinced that it was a root or a fallen tree branch perhaps, but what she saw was neither. It was an arm. Surprised at her discovery, she backed away quickly and called out for Ron.
"What is it?" Ron asked reaching her and panting for breath.
Hermione said nothing and cautiously approached the arm again. Ron followed her and she could hear his sharp intake of breath when he saw what she had seen. For the first time Hermione saw that the arm was attached to a larger figure draped in black robes and laying on its stomach. For a minute Hermione thought that it was Sirius until Hermione saw the partially hidden Death Eater's tattoo on the figure's arm.
"It's a Death Eater." Ron said, finishing her thought.
Hermione nodded. "Do you think he's dead? Did Sirius kill him?"
"He's dead alright." Ron said and held his illuminated wand closer to the fallen Death Eater motioning at the pool of blood that had formed underneath its hood.
Ron (quite bravely Hermione thought) moved in closer to the figure and picked up something near the body. "Look at this." he said.
Ron held two wands. One broken, one not. "Two wands?" Hermione asked.
Ron nodded, "And look over there." Hermione looked and saw a fresh set of footprints leading away from the Death Eater. They followed them and found that they joined another set of footprints that went deeper into the forest.
"Well?" Ron asked.
"What choice do we have?" Hermione asked.
"Right then. Dark scary forest here we come." Ron replied and the two wrapped the invisibility cloak around themselves, more so for the comfort of each other than the slight protection that it offered them, and they began to follow the new set of footprints deeper into the forest.
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A/N: Hope you liked this chapter. It was so tempting to leave it as a cliffhanger at several points, but since I'm such a nice author I decided to leave you with a little closure….this time. -R