Oblivion
By K. Cloak
Chapter 3: The Puzzle Solved
Severus Apparated into the circle of Death Eaters to find that luck had, perhaps, paid him a visit. To his left stood his wife, who had apparently deemed a Death Eater meeting important enough to attend even if she had skipped out on the party. To his right stood a Death Eater that Severus didn't know – the only Death Eater that Severus didn't know.
For the first time in quite a while, Severus felt confident that something was going to go right, and smirked in a manner very similar to Lucius behind his mask. He was dead wrong, of course, but had no reason to suspect it.
-o-o-o-
The meeting was brief, and Severus spent most of his time thinking about how he'd get the Death Eater next to him to have a heart-to-heart chat with him. He couldn't just grab the man, Apparate him to his basement, knock him out, and interrogate him the way he had suggested to Lucius. No, Severus needed to get his information with a minimum of violence - it was the only way he'd find out what he needed to know without the possibility of bad consequences for himself. If the man was, by some chance, actually working for Voldemort behind the backs of the other Death Eaters, Severus had to make sure he looked loyal despite his prying, and that meant keeping Mr. Mysterious in one piece.
Lucius, of course, would simply have clapped the man on his back, smiled like a shark, and invited the man to go out for a few drinks – not an option for the perpetually unpleasant Potions master. Trying to lure the man in with friendliness would have been akin to wearing a giant enchanted sign on his head with the words "Look how suspiciously I'm acting, please investigate" flashing on it. Severus was the type of man to catch his flies with vinegar.
Severus sighed; the meeting was almost over. This Death Eater was a Gryffindor, and nearly all of the other Death Eaters had been in Slytherin. How did a Slytherin usually get a Gryffindor to do what the Slytherin wanted?
Taunt him, of course.
Severus looked over at man at his side. It wasn't as if Severus really doubted his identity – he had to be Sirius Black. He stood an inch taller than Severus and managed to stand apart from the group even as they stood in a circle, as if convinced of his own superiority.
By the time the meeting ended several minutes later, Severus knew what he was going to do. Reaching out with his right hand, he gripped the man firmly by the arm and, before the Death Eater could react, stretched his Apparation spell around the both of them and disappeared.
A heartbeat later, the two of them appeared in another forest, this one older and sparser. A gravel path led forward through the trees. Over the years, Severus had become more and more comfortable with his family's anti-Apparation ward. Whereas he'd started out materializing a quarter mile from the ward's border, tonight he appeared a hair's breadth from a magical field that would likely have torn him to shreds. Before the disoriented man could even move, Severus shoved him forward over the ward's border.
Removing his mask, Severus smiled predatorily and stepped forward to where the man sat on the ground. He reached a hand down to help the man up.
"I didn't think that Gryffindors were such cowards," he said condescendingly. "Usually, when I want to speak with one of the other Death Eaters, I just have to, oh, owl them, or send them a Floo message, or go to their homes. But then again, they don't usually hide from us as well as you have."
The other man looked back at Severus from behind his mask.
"You- you seem to have an- an unusual interest in me," replied the man, stammering. His voice was familiar, but, to Severus's dismay, it wasn't the voice of Sirius Black.
"If I do, it's only because you seem to have so little interest in us. What are you hiding?" As Severus spoke, the man took a step backward. Severus stepped forward, advancing on him.
"N- nothing."
"Then take that off," he ordered, gesturing to the man's mask. "You wear a Death Eater's mask as a symbol of respect to the Dark Lord, not to hide from your fellows."
The man hesitated, then whipped out his wand and made a snapping gesture with it; Severus could practically feel his confusion when the Apparation spell failed. Severus snorted at him condescendingly.
"Ah, I knew you were going to try that," he sneered. "How predictable." Taking a decisive step forward, Severus grabbed the man's mask by its base and pulled it up over his eyes, revealing a narrow face with dark, expressive eyebrows and a full, almost feminine mouth. It was the face of a man whom Severus had thought to be dead. In fact, Severus knew him to be dead. Severus had been to his funeral.
Severus gave a short laugh as realization hit him.
"Wearing a mask beneath the mask? Whatever for? There's no way that you're Evan Rosier. "
The man frowned at Severus's words.
"It- doesn't matter. The point is, everyone thinks I look like this."
"And who are you really?"
"You think I'll tell you?"
"No," said Severus. "But that Polyjuice Potion's going to run out at any minute." He smiled again. Severus smiled the most when he had an advantage over others.
As if on cue, the man's face rippled, looking as if a parasitic worm had just ventured out for an excursion under his skin. He immediately reached for his pocket.
"Accio potion!" cried Severus. A small bottle flew from under the man's fingertips; Severus caught it.
"Essence of Rosier," he said mockingly as the man's skin continued to shift over his face. His black hair was lightening in the moonlight. "I'll bet you're ugly under there," he continued. If there was one think Severus knew about Gryffindors, it was that insults made them dangerously emotional – and likely to say too much.
"You- you-"
"Not very articulate, are we?"
Severus watched as the man's transformation continued. He wondered at the man's resolute desire not to be discovered – it wasn't as if Black didn't already have family in the Death Eaters. He probably didn't want his Gryffindor friends finding out until he'd stabbed them in the-
Severus's train of thought abruptly ended at the sight of the transformed man in front of him, now several inches shorter than Severus. His eyes widened in surprise. The man in front of him was not Sirius Black, but he was one of Potter's best friends.
"Pettigrew!" he asked, incredulous. Pettigrew, the innocuous little fat boy? A Death Eater?
"Snape," Pettigrew replied.
"I never would have guessed that a… Gryffindor like yourself would join us," he said mockingly. A brief look of fear flitted across Pettigrew's face; it was replaced by something unreadable before Severus could even ask himself why Pettigrew would be afraid of the word "Gryffindor."
"You- you have a problem with Gryffindors?" he asked.
"We just don't see too many of you in our little club," said Severus, now beginning to get distinctly grumpy. He'd just spent the past two weeks trailing a mysterious traitor only to find out the man was a bungling, stuttering Gryffindor without a functioning brain cell. He wasn't going to get anything else out of this idiot but his name – he figured that would be enough to satisfy Albus. Rolling his eyes, Severus turned his back on Pettigrew and threw his hands into the air.
"I can't believe I spent all this time following you," he muttered.
Not Black, he thought gloomily. I was really looking forward to seeing him put in Az-
Severus never finished his thought, as little Peter Pettigrew, Death Eater and supposed ally, picked up a rock from the gravel path and bashed Severus in the right temple, knocking him unconscious in one blow.
-o-o-o-
Severus awoke to find himself in the kitchen of a dismal Muggle-style apartment. Severus had been tied to a rickety kitchen chair; the rest of the chairs and a kitchen table had been pushed off to one side of the room. There was one window near the stove; on it was perched a small photograph of four teenagers dressed in Gryffindor colors: Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew. Picture-Pettigrew looked off into the room, where his living counterpart sat in a chair near Severus.
Dammit, he thought. Great job, Severus. You decide that knocking him unconscious, tying him down, and interrogating him is not a good idea, and he does it to you.
Severus spoke first, trying to ignore the pain in the side of his head. "Blood is so difficult to get out from between the tiles, Pettigrew. Why didn't you just use a curse? My back was turned."
Pettigrew, looking more at ease now that his companion was securely tied up, looked at Severus and shrugged.
"Nervous," he said. "It's why I didn't do so great at Hogwarts. I get nervous, I screw up spells. Besides, Snivellus, it was pretty satisfying to feel the crack as that rock contacted your skull."
The man's stammer was gone. Far too late, Severus realized he'd gravely underestimated Peter Pettigrew.
Almost nonchalantly, Pettigrew got to his feet and began to pace in front of Severus. "So tell me, Snivellus…"
"Stop calling me that, Prick." Somehow, Severus had the idea that Pettigrew's Slytherin nickname didn't sting as much as his own.
Pettigrew ignored him. "So tell me, Snivellus, why chase me down? Is it just because you are such a paranoid asshole that not knowing one of the Death Eaters drove you crazy? Or do you actually have a good reason?"
Severus glared up at Pettigrew, but made no move to answer. Pettigrew answered for him.
"Perhaps there have been rumors that there's a traitor in the Death Eaters." Severus felt his blood run cold as Pettigrew spoke those few words, realizing for the first time that perhaps he should have listened to Lucius. What if Pettigrew was an inquisitor? Severus had walked right up to him and placed his own head in the guillotine.
"Why don't you tell me why you're here, Snape." Pettigrew stopped in front of Severus and leaned down to look him in the eye. Severus glared back and said nothing, and Pettigrew's ears began to turn pink.
"I said, tell me!" Pettigrew's shout rattled the walls, but Severus said nothing.
"That's it, Snape," he muttered, "You really don't leave me much of a choice. VERITAS!"
Pettigrew's uncontrolled spell hit Severus like the Hogwarts Express, and intense pain flared in his head as the curse tore through him. Such power was unnecessary for the Veritas curse, but it had a profound effect. Severus drooped in his chair, completely floored.
Pettigrew shook Severus by the shoulders until he lifted his head; the Gryffindor came only part-way into focus.
"Why are you here?" he asked again, his eyes intense.
Severus fought for time, trying to find a way to speak the truth without betraying himself. He couldn't mention Dumbledore… what was his excuse? He'd been hunting Pettigrew because he thought the man was a traitor.
Of course. Lucius and the others also thought that Pettigrew was a traitor, but a traitor to the Death Eaters, not a traitor to Dumbledore.
"To find out if you're a traitor," Severus said, leaving out the fact that he meant a traitor to someone else. Unexpectedly for an inquisitor, Pettigrew paled at his words.
"Who sent you?"
"Our master," Severus choked, fighting to retain the twisted logic he needed for the half-truth. Dumbledore had once been Headmaster to both of them, and so Severus could say that he'd been send by "the master." Voldemort had threatened Severus not to continue his investigation, but Pettigrew didn't know that – it would be just like the Dark Lord to have two spies, neither of whom knew of the other's existence.
"And what's your verdict? Do you think I'm a traitor?"
Severus blinked. What?
Severus ran back over Pettigrew's question. Did he think Pettigrew was a traitor? Shouldn't Severus be asking that question about himself? Suddenly everything made sense. Severus though Pettigrew was an inquisitor sent to find Severus out – Pettigrew thought Severus was an inquisitor sent to find Pettigrew out. Pettigrew was having second thoughts, and thought that Severus was trying to expose him as a collaborator with Dumbledore.
Ha, thought Severus wryly. That's my job.
"Most definitely," replied Severus – the truth again, but not as Pettigrew saw it. "It's clear on your face that you're a traitor." If he chose the right words, Severus would be able to turn the situation to his advantage
"How long have you been tracking me?"
"Thirteen days."
Pettigrew was silent for a moment, and Severus decided to take the initiative. With a little manipulation, he'd be able to get out of this.
"That picture on your windowsill is appalling," he said, hoping to put Pettigrew on the defensive. "All followers of Dumbledore."
Pettigrew sneered at him. "I do have the upper hand here… I wouldn't sound so high and mighty if I were you."
"The Master would be very disappointed if I were to die. He'd find out it was you – he did send me, after all."
Pettigrew's sneer dissolved.
"Well," he said. "You might have to die anyway."
"That's completely stupid, Pettigrew. You couldn't lie to save your life." Severus couldn't help thinking, and here I am lying under the Veritas curse to save my own, you stupid moron.
"Look," Severus continued. "We're at a standoff here. You have me tied up, and I know the truth. If you kill me, you'll end up dying. But then again, if you let me go, I'll tell the Master about you, and you'll end up dying. You could try to kill me and hide my body, but I doubt someone as sloppy as you would get away with it. So why don't we make a deal? You let me go, and I won't tell anyone about that picture over there… or your misplaced loyalties. I'll even promise not to tell under the Veritas curse… but only if you untie me first."
Pettigrew looked at him silently.
"It's the only option that doesn't involve your death, Pettigrew. You really didn't plan this very well."
Pettigrew looked thoughtful for a moment, and then spoke. "You're right, Snape. I am going to let you go. And you aren't going to tell anyone about me. And after tonight, the Dark Lord will never doubt me again."
Severus frowned at Pettigrew. Never was never a good word to hear when tied up.
"You see, Snape, I have had second thoughts about being a Death Eater. It's dirty work, your colleagues are all murderers, and you have to be on call twenty-four hours a day. I've thought about turning on the Dark Lord, so you were right to suspect me. But you know what? You Slytherins are right. Ambition does pay off. I was always a nobody in Gryffindor house, even when I was doing what everybody wanted me to. Even you had more influence than me, because people were afraid of you. James, Lily, Sirius, Remus… they got ahead because in Gryffindor house, in the 'real world,' everything's a popularity contest, and I'm not very popular. Why should I go crawling back to them? Even being an antisocial recluse among the Death Eaters is better than trying to fit in among them, and when the Death Eaters wipe out everything but their own kind on this stinking planet, I'll be there on top with them.
"A week ago, James and Lily Potter decided that, since I was such an innocuous little guy, such a harmless, nice boy, that I'd make a perfect Secret Keeper for the Fidelius Charm protecting them. Who would ever suspect little Peter Pettigrew?" Pettigrew paused for a moment to smirk at Severus, who finally had all the pieces to his puzzle.
"I'm going to tell the Dark Lord where to find the Potters. They'll die, tonight, and he will never doubt me again. And you? You won't be providing any opposition."
Severus felt his face grow pale as Pettigrew raised his wand once more. Backed with his uncontrolled magic, Pettigrew's spell was quick, violent, and devastating; Severus never knew what hit him.
-o-o-o-o
Thanks to Silverthreads, Surlyse, snape ape, trickcy, TEC, and Athena Keating-Thomas for your detailed and very nice reviews of Chapter 2 – I really appreciate it.