A/N: I have the rest of the story planned out (for the most part) from here, thanks to Kaylin…it will be wrapped up by the end of June at the latest. Yes, the rating did go up, due to swearing. I can't write proper rage if I feel that I'm confined to polite language. Don't worry, there isn't a lot of it…yet…
~Katameran
Sirius stared voicelessly at the death eater, who glanced over his shoulder once as though nervous.
"Get up. My master wishes to speak with you. Now."
"What does he want with me?" Sirius asked, trying to keep the growing fear from his tone.
"It is for my lord to tell. We will go now."
"And if I refuse to move?" Sirius asked, knowing that he was being an idiot.
The death eater seemed to draw himself up. "If you refuse to move, things will only be worse for you before Lord Voldemort!"
"Avery, this man is our guest of honor. When you yell, you are not being polite." The voice came softly from the shadows behind the masked pawn. Sirius shuddered involuntarily and resisted the urge to curl up.
"I am sorry, my lord, I-"
"Away with you, before I lose my patience." The voice did not rise, but the effect was still great.
Avery gave a clumsy bow. "Yes, master." He quickly moved off into the shadows.
"Hello, Sirius."
Sirius sat silently, shaking ever so slightly. The disembodied voice was worse then all of the dementors of Azkaban.
"To think, I give Avery lessons on politeness, yet I am rude myself, by not coming forth from these shadows. Would you like me to step forward, Sirius?" The tone mocking, if only so slightly. Sirius gave no reply.
"It seems I am not the only impolite one. Very well, the decision is mine."
Lord Voldemort moved out of the shadows. Sirius felt himself break out in a cold sweat; new shudders ran down his spine. The appearance of the Dark Lord was more frightening then he could have imagined. The unnaturally white skin, the red eyes, the hands that were not quite human…it all gave new meaning to the word 'terror'.
"Have you still nothing to say?" Voldemort inquired, his voice openly mocking now. "A pity, that. I was going to ask your opinion on several items."
"What do you want with me?" Sirius asked hoarsely, his voice low.
"What do I want with you? Why, Sirius, I want to help you."
"How could you possibly help me?"
"Look at the life you once had among muggle-loving wizards. At the first sign that you might be working for me, it is all taken away from you. You were betrayed by your own kind, Sirius, as was I. My servants are my family now; they are forever loyal. They will not betray me."
"And?" Sirius asked through clenched teeth.
"I am offering you the chance to be a part of all of that. Join our ranks, take your revenge."
"Who said I wanted revenge?" His mind raced. Why would Lord Voldemort want him to be a death eater?
"Don't you?" The voice was scornful. "It's obvious, Sirius. It shows in your eyes. You escape Azkaban with your life, and try to rejoin your old friends. They won't accept you though; they'll make you crawl first. Remus Lupin doesn't believe anything you say. He's told Harry Potter all about you. All about how you betrayed his parents. He never had proof, but he told those stories anyway. Now the wizarding world will not include you. By turning to us, you are brought into a powerful group. We grow stronger every day. By joining our ranks, you can make those who would betray you pay, just as I did."
Sirius closed his eyes briefly, trying to sort his thoughts.
"Why do you want me? It is known that I am not a death eater. You don't want me to join just because you want me to take revenge. What is it?"
"You were named legal godfather of Harry Potter, were you not?"
"Remus is his godfather."
"But not by law." Voldemort hissed. "Let's say you surface yet again in the wizarding world – but this time you have Peter Pettigrew with you. You can prove your innocence, and collect your godson. Once you have him, you bring him to me. It is simple."
"Yeah, it's simple." Sirius said slowly. Then the enormity of what the dark lord was saying hit him.
"Well, Sirius? Are you prepared to join us?"
"Am I prepared to join you?" Sirius asked, slowly rising to look directly into Lord Voldemort's face.
"You will be on the winning side. What is there to be gained by backing Albus Dumbledore forever?"
"Honor." Sirius spat. "Decency. Equality."
"Am I to accept this as your answer?" Voldemort's voice seemed to grow colder.
"No." Sirius said fiercely, rage fueling his courage. "Here's my answer: Go to hell. I'll die before I'll betray my friends, no matter what they believe. Fuck you."
The stillness that draped over them was agonizing. Lord Voldemort stood silently, motionlessly, just watching Sirius.
Sirius tried to meet the Dark Lord's eyes, but began to shake. Finally, unable to take it anymore, he dropped his eyes.
The tension immediately broke as Voldemort laughed; a quiet, ruthless laugh. "Now, Black, that's better."
Sirius kept his head down, not daring to even mumble the words bursting to escape his mouth.
"I will return later to repeat my offer. Should you choose, once again, not to accept, the consequences will be more painful. Consider what you have; consider what I could give you."
Sirius stood, unmoving, until Voldemort was out of sight. Then he dropped to a sitting position on the floor, pulling his knees up to his chest. The shaking grew worse. The dark lord himself was asking Sirius to betray everything he wanted to stand for – had tried to stand for. Like that would ever happen.
But it did happen…a small voice spoke inside his head.
'No, it didn't happen. I never went bad. Ever.' Sirius argued silently, shutting his eyes tightly.
But you almost did. And the whole world thinks that you're capable of it…why try to please them anymore? Look where that got you. Azkaban. And now here.
'Yes, here, Another Azkaban. Right now I am one of the only people in the world to know my innocence…Voldemort being another one. If I join him, it will all be true.' Your mother would have wished it.
'I'm not doing ANYTHING for her!' Sirius screamed silently in response. 'She was dark and look where it got our family! There's no good in any of it.'
Unless the dark side wins.
'If the dark side wins, I'll be rewarded by Voldemort. But hated by everyone that he enslaves or murders – including people who were once my friends. And…I would have to be responsible for the death of James' son. I can't do that. I CAN'T.'
You're starting to sound like you want to join, except for you can't kill the boy.
'No, it's not like that! Go away! Leave me alone!'
I can't go away, Sirius, I'm the side of you that wants to join Voldemort.
'Then you are not a part of me.'
But I am. And you know it. You're afraid of me, afraid that I will convince your weaker side to give in.
'I am not afraid of you. I hate you. I'm not listening to you anymore.' With that, Sirius began focusing energy on ignoring the voice and deciding on a course of action.
Back at Hogwarts…
"Well," Professor Dumbledore said finally, looking around the office at each of them, "I don't really think that we should even be worrying."
"What? Why?" Ron asked.
"Well, Sirius Black showed up at the castle and tried to convince us of his innocence. Then his death eater friends came to reclaim him. The only thing that I am concerned about is that they got in with the ministry. Fudge needs to be more alert, as do all of those who work for him. But as for the events of this evening…there is nothing we can do. They won't be back tonight, at least."
"There is one thing that I'm wondering about." Snape said unexpectedly from the other end of the table. "Why did they simply stun Minerva? That isn't death eater style. They killed the man from the ministry; they wouldn't have any qualms about killing a Hogwarts professor who is a known supporter of Albus. Especially if she is standing between them and one of their own."
A long silence followed. Once again, it was the headmaster that spoke first. "It certainly gives us something to think about."
"Maybe they were trying to kill the Professor, but messed up?" Hermione formed her opinion as a question.
"No." Snape answered shortly. "If they wanted to kill her, they would have."
"Here's something else to wonder about…" Harry said quietly. "Why did Sirius' story match what happened last year? The whole Wormtail thing…that doesn't make any sense."
Voldemort's lair…
Sirius paced around his cell, his mind and body tense with apprehension. When would Voldemort return?
The wait wasn't drawn out much longer. Voldemort appeared silently before the cell. Sirius turned, saw him, and gave a startled jump, cursing himself immediately. Voldemort made no comment, just stood silently.
"What?" Sirius snapped, the tension making him fearful.
"Have you made your decision?" Voldemort asked.
"Y-yes."
"And what will that be?"
"I will not betray my friends." Sirius responded firmly.
Voldemort seemed to smirk before him. "What friends? Name a friend."
Sirius raised his chin. "Remus Lupin."
Voldemort laughed icily. When he spoke again, his voice dripped with pity. "You are indeed misled…you can consider him a friend? Don't you remember what we discussed earlier?"
"Shut up." Sirius said quietly.
"He doesn't give a damn whether you live or die. You are prepared to die for this person? He will live out the rest of his life thinking that you were against him the entire time."
"No, he won't." Sirius responded.
"Oh?" Voldemort's sneer widened.
"No. I know the way you work. You'll meet up with him and you will tell him that I was innocent and I died because I wouldn't betray him, just so you can weaken his resolve and slam him with a guilt complex."
"Ah, your brain is fit for the workings of evil."
"No, it's not. It's not sick and twisted like yours. I will not join you." Sirius met Voldemort's gaze steadily. This time it was the dark lord who broke the eye contact, but he did it deliberately, his gaze now focusing on the wand in his hand.
"I think that you might reconsider shortly." He raised his wand. "Crucio!"
A/N: Well, there was chapter 6. Thanks to everyone who continues to review.
And now, as usual, are my thanks for last chapter's reviews…
Phoenix-flames – well, here's more! :o)
Tarawen - You are so cool. But anyway, about the review…yes. You were right, hehe. That's just what I have to say. Snape…I was writing, and he had something important to say, and I just didn't feel like making him be an asshole. After all, as you said, he and Remus have been working together for a few years now. There is still tension, as we saw in chapter 5, however...and you were also right about the crucios. I actually just wrote that part, and it was fun…describing pain is just enjoyable, in a very twisted sort of way…
Nicky – Oh, they'll find out eventually. Probably. And yes, there will be a meeting between Sirius and Pettigrew.
Wellduh – ok, ok, here's more…unfortunately, there's another cliffy. They're just so amusing, you know? Hey, it keeps you coming back, right?
Electus – muahahaha, everyone has a dark side. Although you were right, Sirius never was a death eater. As far as we know. I personally feel that he probably was mixed up in dark arts in his past, for reasons that I won't go into right here right now…if anyone is interested, IM me or email me. It's fun to discuss.
Kaylin – you'd better love it, you practically write the damn thing for me!
Shadow – glad you liked the chapter…was this fast enough? New posts should be pretty quick from now on, I'm hoping…no longer then a week. Shoot, now that I've said that something is BOUND to happen. Goddamnit, I hate those jinxes…