The Depravity of the Dog and the Doe

Dumbledore's way to keep Lily and James safe without protecting them was to make sure that anytime they left their house besides work, they were being tailed. Sirius, Remus, and Doe had signed up for as many patrolling times as possible, knowing it would be easier on them then having unfamiliar faces. Both Lily and James apologized profusely but none of listened to them. They were their friends, it was their job to take care of them. None of them wanted another incident like what had happened in the baby store. Lily was getting even more pregnant by the day, and nobody wanted anything to happen to her or the baby, so they tried to patrol as often as they could.

One of the major reasons, the three of them patrolled so often was they knew that any one of them would take a killing curse to protect them, something that they couldn't guarantee from all of the other Order members.

However, Moody kept Sirius and Doe so busy that they couldn't protect them as much as they wanted too.

With all of the disappearances and attacks that were occurring, they were always out in the field. It was obvious Moody trusted them the most, so whenever someone very important went missing or was attacked he always sent them.

One morning he strode over to their desks looking very nervous.

" Meadowes, Black" he snapped, " Ollivander has gone missing, I need you to go to Diagon Alley and investigate it"

" Ollivander? the wand maker?" Doe asked him.

Moody nodded and turned on his heels, walking back to his office.

She turned to Sirius, the fear written on her face. He tried to offer her a small smile of confidence, but even that reflected the grim attitude he felt about it.

" It'll be fine, come on, beautiful" he said slinging his arm around her shoulder. They walked through the elevator and found Otto Bagman was standing in it.

" Hey Otto" Sirius said cheerfully, pressing the eighth floor button.

Otto looked solemn but he smiled anyway.

" Hey Sirius, Doe" he said, " how are you?"

" Good" I told him, " and you?"

Otto shrugged, " Trying to take care of Ludo's life for him"

" Is he still playing for England?" Sirius asked.

Otto shook his head, " No, he switched to the Holyhead Harpies"

Sirius nodded, and they talked for a few minutes about the team's winning streak and the new chasers, until the door opened to the atrium.

" See you, Otto" Sirius called to him as they left.

Otto waved quickly to us as the doors closed and the elevators disappeared.

Sirius and Doe walked through the atrium and disapparated to the Leaky Cauldron. It was empty today.

All of the chairs were stacked on the tables and even Tom was missing from behind the counter.

Doe looked to Sirius, who looked just as confused by this as she was.

They walked to the back of the pub and tapped the bricks to get into Diagon Alley.

The street was dead empty. Doe had never seen it without anyone in it. It looked so much darker.

Several of the shop windows were boarded up and a few had broken windows.

" What happened?" Doe asked Sirius, eyeing the place in disbelief.

" A war" Sirius answered quietly.

They walked down the street, looking at all of the shops. Further down the alley, a few shops like Flourish and Blotts and several apothecary's were still open, but were dark and empty.

Several rickety stands were also set up, claiming to sell items that would protect people from all sorts of dark arts and creatures.

The one closest to her read " AMULETS: KEEP YOU SAFE FROM WEREWOLF ATTACKS'

Doe eyed it darkly.

" Don't worry about it" Sirius said putting his hand on her shoulder and leading her away from it, " it's not worth the time"

They walked further until they got to Ollivander's. It looked like it was in bad shape. The windows were blocked with several boards and door looked broken. It was just a frame with half of the broken glass still in it.

Doe held up her wand and vanished the rest of the glass from the door, so that Sirius and Doe could crawl through it.

The inside was even worse than the outside.

The only time she had ever been to Ollivander's was when she was eleven, to buy her first wand.

The store then had been organized. Hundreds of wands and wand boxes had lined the shelves behind the counter.

Now, it was hard to tell what was what. Hundreds of wands and boxes were strewn across the floor. Several of them were broken. It looked like a war zone. There was no way Ollivander had just gone on vacation. He would never have left his shop like this.

Doe picked up a wand that was lying on the floor. It was beautifully carved, with flowers up and down one side. I put it back in an empty box and placed it on the counter.

Someone someday would need that wand. It would produce beautiful magic, and it didn't deserve to be strewn about on the floor.

" So he definitely was taken then" Sirius said eyeing the rubble around them.

Doe nodded, " I think so"

They walked to the back of the store. The hundreds of shelves that had once housed all of the different wands were now broken and the wands were falling everywhere. Behind the counter was a thick black book. Doe opened it, and was surprised to see it was a record of all the wands he had ever sold and to who.

The last one read

Macmillan, Henry - 13 inches Dragon Heartstring- July 13th

So that was the last wand he had sold.

Doe flipped through the book, going back eight years and read through the names. Stopping when she found the one she wanted to see.

Meadowes, Dorcas - 11 inches, Oak, Unicorn Tail Hair - August 15th 1971

Sirius came up behind her and looked at what she was reading.

He smiled and ran his hand up a few lines higher, pointing to another name.

Black, Sirius - 13 inches, Fernwood, Phoenix feather - August 15th 1971

" We went to Diagon Alley that day together, with your dad" Sirius told her.

Doe nodded. She remembered that day clearly. Sirius' parents had refused to take him, claiming that he had misbehaved. So her father had invited him to come with them. That was back when Sirius and Doe had been attached at the hip, before Lily and before the marauders.

It seemed strange to think about how long ago that was. She smiled at the page and closed the book.

" Seems like a lifetime ago" Sirius commented, looking behind one of the shelves.

" Thats because it was" Doe told him, helping him move a large shelf out of the way.

Sirius and Doe had been so preoccupied looking at their names in the book, that they hadn't noticed someone slip in the store.

They hadn't noticed them while they moved the shelves aside either, and she didn't notice when their friend joined them.

Had they turned around even a half a second earlier, they would have noticed that they were cloaked and were wearing masks. And they could have noticed that both of their wands drawn.

Instead, they only noticed their presence when they heard them utter the incantation together.

" Stupefy!"

Sirius and Doe both whirled around, wands drawn in just enough time to see the stunning spells hit them both in the chests.

They fell to the ground on the piles of wands, unconscious.

When she finally came too, she knew she had been stunned. She felt the familiar shaky feeling in her head that she had felt so many times during auror training.

But she was surprised by the magical ropes she seemed to be bound by.

Her eyes shot open quickly. She was bound by magical ropes on the floor of a very large ornate sitting room. From the window, she could tell it was pitch black outside, making her wonder how long they had been here.

Beside her, was Sirius who was also bound and also coming too. His eyes widened in shock as he took in their surroundings. His eyes flew to her.

Their wands were missing. No doubt taken by whoever had stunned them.

She tried to apparate and felt the tug, but nothing happened. They must have used Meven.

Doe eyed Sirius, She knew wherever they were, this couldn't be good.

Sirius looked like he was about to say something, but clamped his mouth shut as soon as the door opened and twelve masked and cloaked individuals walked into the room. Death Eaters.

Now Doe was really starting to panic.

The thirteenth person to walk into the room didn't need a mask. His face put the fear of Death in everyone who saw it anyway.

Voldemort.

" My guests, look who we have here" he said starting to smile.

He eyed our robes, " Aurors, I see"

He didn't know who they were. She looked to Sirius quickly , that was a good thing.

The Death Eaters around them removed their masks. Doe flinched as she recognized the faces.

Bellatrix. Rodolphus. Rabastan. Lucius. Mulciber. Nott. Crouch. Goyle. Crabbe. Avery. Wilkes. and Snape.

Snape. She knew he couldn't break his character. There was nothing he could do.

" I recognize them from that shop with Lily and James" Voldemort said eyeing both Sirius and herself carefully.

" My Lord" Bellatrix said practically jumping with excitement, " That is my cousin Sirius Black and Dorcas Meadowes"

Doe had to suppress the urge to correct her to 'Doe'.

Voldemort smiled coldly, " Thank you Bellatrix, that is most useful"

He stopped in front of Sirius eyeing him darkly, " So this is the young Blood Traitor Black" he said inches from Sirius' face, " I've had the pleasure of killing your brother"

Sirius struggled slightly against his ropes.

Voldemort just smiled again and turned to her, " And ah yes, this is Dorcas Meadowes, the auror who caught Rosier and McNair"

His cold fingers stroked the side of her face, " You've caused me quite a bit of trouble haven't you?"

She flinched away from his grasp.

" My Lord" Rabastan said, " she is the one we tortured in the shop"

He looked thrilled like he was reliving the memory.

Voldemort nodded, " Yes, of course"

Sirius struggled again, looking at Rabastan like nothing would please him more than to rip him limb from limb.

Voldemort stood and eyed both Sirius and Doe carefully, " You are both great witches and wizards" he pointed out, " I do not wish to shed useful magical blood"

Sirius and Doe eyed each other carefully. It had to be a trap.

" Join me," Voldemort said brandishing his arms wide to show them all of his followers, " and I won't have too"

"Never" Sirius snapped from beside her. He was struggling widely.

Voldemort clicked his tongue, " Wrong answer, my dear boy"

He turned to Doe, inches from her face, " And the pretty little witch?" he asked.

She recoiled from him, " Death first" she snapped.

He laughed, " Well young Dorcas, that can be arranged" he said smiling.

Sirius struggled again. She froze.

" First, however" Voldemort said in a voice that sent shivers down her spine, " you are going to tell me where your little friends Lily and James are"

She looked straight into the glowing red eyes in front of her and said " Never"

" CRUCIO!"

From somewhere close she heard Bellatrix shout the incantation and her entire body was swelled up with pain. She screamed the highest scream she could muster.

" STOP IT! YOU BLOODY-" Sirius yelled but was cut off by Bellatrix curse at him. They were both screaming in agony.

She would have gladly taken another torture curse than watch Sirius suffer it. His eyes widened and almost rolled back in his head, while his face stretched and contorted in pain.

" Im going to kill you" Voldemort said to Doe his lips just about on her ear, " unless, you tell me where your little friend Lily is"

" I don't know" she lied quickly.

" LIAR!" he shouted and she felt the cruciatus curse once more. Once again, her body contorted feeling the effects.

" If you do not tell me, I promise to kill you slowly and painfully" he said angrily.

" Then you'll have to kill me" she snapped.

He saw the anger in his eyes. His lips turned into a snarl.

" You, Dorcas Meadowes, are about to learn what happens to those who defy me. Death

will be a good thing for you." He said and a smile crossed his lips. He raised his wand.

" NO!" Sirius roared, " KILL ME! NOT HER! She knows nothing! Its me you want! DONT KILL HER!" he shouted.

Voldemort lowered his wand. He strode towards Sirius.

" He's lying!" Doe shouted. She couldn't believe Sirius was trying to do this. She couldn't let Voldemort kill him.

" Its me you want!" Doe shouted.

Voldemort's lips curled into a snarl again as he turned towards Doe.

" What is this? Chivalry? Affection?" he demanded of her. She pursed her lips tightly.

" Bravery is not something I admire, Dorcas" his voice was cold as he pronounced her name. His eyes flew to her hand. Where her engagement ring laid.

He actually smiled.

" So am I looking at the future Mrs. Black?" He asked, a malicious grin appearing on his face.

" Hardly" Bellatrix answered coming into view. " My cousin doesn't commit"

Sirius let out a noise mixed between a growl and a snarl.

He was silenced by another cruciatus curse. Doe cringed at each one of his screams.

Bellatrix was at Voldemort's side now.

"No. She probably got it from that filthy little werewolf of hers" Bellatrix scowled,

she turned to her " Lupin, was it?"

"Yes, I'm almost positive. She's been with him for years" She said to Voldemort.

He smiled, if you could call it that.

" Well, maybe we'll pay him a little visit after we finished with her" he said.

" NO!" Doe roared and struggled within her restrains.

He was in front of her in seconds. " You foolish girl!" he yelled.

" You think it wise? To fight? You're going to die exactly as you lived! Foolish!" he shouted and he raised his wand.

" Crucio!"

Doe was paralyzed the pain. It seemed worse when he did it, than when Bellatrix did it, like it was more powerful. And more painful.

Doe heard Sirius raging at each one of her screams.

" No one defies me Dorcas" Voldemort said firmly, he was so close to her now. She felt her chest rising and falling from the pain.

" Someone will" she managed to say, " it may not be me, or Dumbledore, but you are weak and someone will find that weakness"

Voldemort rose and for the first time she saw anger rise on his face. True anger.

He raised his wand at her, and she knew that this would not be the cruciatus curse. This would be the killing curse.

There was nothing she could do. She let her eyes slip shut and prepared for it.

But it didn't come.

Instead she opened her eyes to see a great black dog leaping from its ropes towards Voldemort.

Padfoot.

Just as it did, the door opened and Dumbledore appeared.

The Death Eater's hissed and Doe watched as Dumbledore sent a powerful wind from his wand at all of them. It looked like sand was everywhere. She couldn't see anything, but she felt a wand in front of her. She gripped it and realized instantly it was her. There was another one. It was Sirius'. She grabbed it too.

She felt someone grab her hand and she realized it was Sirius. She handed him his wand quickly as he pulled her to her feet.

They had to duel, she knew that. So when Rabastan stepped out in front of her, she was prepared.

" Dorcas,.." He drawled, " It's been too long". She missed the green flash of light he sent, by inches.

" Stupefy!" she shouted hitting him squarely in the chest. He fell to the floor clearly stunned. Doe turned. Sirius was dueling with Dolohov. He grinned and turned to look at her.

" DOE!"

Doe turned. Bellatrix's killing curse went right where she was 3 seconds before. She sent a curse at her. She dodged it.

" Im going to kill you, Dorcas, and save the dark lord the hassle" She screeched.

" Like hell you are" she snapped. She wasn't there to see her reaction.

Sirius latched onto her wrist and pulled her to her feet, and ran to a door to the left of the room. Doe hadn't seen the door before and wondered how Sirius had known it was there.

As soon as they were out of the room, Sirius grabbed her hand and disapparated.

They landed on an empty cobblestone street.

Sirius turned to Doe, " Are you mentally ill?" he demanded of her, " what were you doing in there? I was trying to save your life!"

" I was trying to save yours!" Doe yelled at him. Her cheeks were covered in tears.

Sirius' face changed from anger to something softer. He got back up to his feet and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

" I thought he was going to kill us" she sobbed into his shoulder. Sirius wrapped his arms around her tighter.

" He didn't" he said quietly stroking her hair. She buried her face tighter into Sirius' shoulder and sobbed. Sirius ran his hands down her back trying to calm her down.

" It's okay" he whispered.

They broke apart and she wiped the tears from her face.

" You're my best friend" she told him, hiccupping slightly, " I couldn't be there for that"

" That's good because I don't plan on letting anything happen to you, either" Sirius assured her.

She turned to him quickly, " How did you know about that door?" she asked him.

Sirius frowned, " I'd been there before. That was Bellatrix's childhood home"

Doe scowled, leave it to her to torture people in her living room.

A new thought occurred to her, " Sirius, he saw my ring. He threatened Remus" she said softly.

Sirius frowned, " You don't really think that's going to change anything, do you? You're still going to marry Moony" he said as they approached the little gate to Headquarters.

" I love him" Doe said quietly, hoping Sirius was right.

" He loves you too" Sirius said knocking on the door to Headquarters.

The door swung open without questioning and someone grabbed her and hugged her roughly.

" Procedures, Lupin!" Moody roared behind him.

Remus ignored him and hugged her tighter. She clung to him, trying not to bawl into his shoulder.

" I was so worried about you," Remus said choking slightly, " when you didn't come back and Moody told me what happened, I didn't know what to think"

Doe grabbed his face and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her waist.

Moody opened the door and Sirius, Remus and Doe filed into the living room. She clung to Remus tightly.

" He had us" Doe managed to choke out to Remus, " Voldemort"

Remus shuddered.

" He almost killed us, Mate" Sirius said sitting down beside them, " Dumbledore saved our asses"

" Because Sirius wouldn't let me die trying to save him!" Doe implored.

" Good" Remus said quickly, " that's why he's my best mate"

There were very few Order members here right now. Only Arabella Figg, Deadleus Diggle, Moody and Mundungus Fletcher.

The door opened again and Severus came in looking highly disheveled. Sirius was on his feet in an instant.

" YOU SLIMY FILTHY GIT! YOU DID NOTHING! YOU WERE JUST GOING TO LET HER DIE!" he roared, trying to grab Severus by the collar of his robes, his wand pointed at his throat.

Severus bared his teeth.

" Sirius, stop!" Doe said pulling him off of Severus, " there was nothing he could do, his character is everything!"

Sirius ignored her protests. He started directly into Severus' eyes.

" You are very lucky that nothing happened tonight" Sirius said coldly, " because if he killed her and you did nothing, I would make sure you had a very slow, painful death"

The other Order members started pouring in then, and Arthur Weasley and Remus managed to pull Sirius away from Severus.

" I understood why you didn't do anything, you couldn't" Doe told Severus quietly. He nodded slightly.

As much as she hated to admit it, she knew how important Severus' role was.

The door opened again and a very pregnant, very upset Lily burst in, clutching James by the hand.

" Doe!" She cried and pulled her into a hug. She was crying.

" Moody told us what happened, we thought you were dead!" She cried into her shoulder.

She squeezed her, " I'm okay Lily"

She saw James hug Sirius very tightly.

" You ok?" James asked her. She nodded weakly and pulled her into a tight hug.

" Aw, Prongs" she said patting his back.

" This is all our fault" Lily sobbed letting go of Sirius, " they took us because they wanted us"

She shook her head, " No, it's not your fault" she told her.

" They would've killed us regardless" Sirius told her.

Lily sniffed, wiping the tears from her eyes.

" He didn't find out where we were, did he?" she asked quietly.

" No" Sirius said quickly, " Doe made damn sure of that. Told him he'd have to kill her"

Lily gasped and Remus flinched at Sirius' words, pressing her tighter to him.

At that moment, Dumbledore strode into Headquarters looking very worn and tired. He walked over to Sirius and Doe.

" Are you two alright?" he asked.

Sirius and Doe nodded and Dumbledore turned to the rest of the group.

" We have much to discuss" he said, " but tonight is not the night. Go home and get some rest"

There was a shuffle as some people started to leave. Doe turned to Remus about to suggest they do the same, when Severus caught her arm.

" Doe, can I have a word?" he asked.

Both Sirius and Remus eyed him darkly, but she ignored him and followed him to the empty hallway off of the sitting room.

" What's going on, Severus?" she asked when they were alone.

Severus looked slightly worried.

" I have to discuss something with you, away from the ears of your little protectors" Severus said throwing a glance back at where Remus and Sirius were.

" What about?" Doe asked him.

Severus sighed, " Look Doe, you're a target now. A big one"

IDoe blinked at Severus' words and he continued to speak.

" He's furious with you. You refused him and challenged him. He knows you're a powerful witch, and now that you've made it clear that you won't join him, he wants you dead. Almost as much as Lily and James"

Doe was momentarily paralyzed with fear. She knew that eventually, they all would be major targets. But hearing that the most powerful dark wizard in the world wanted her dead, was making her knees shake.

" I know you" Severus said, " you don't like to be babysat. Which is why I didn't tell you in front of everyone else, but I told Dumbledore."

Severus now looked her directly in the eye, " Don't be stupid about this. Be careful and be watchful. Don't end up dead because you were lax about your safety"

Doe nodded, " I won't, I promise"

Severus looked very serious for a second and then he did something she never would have predicted.

He hugged her.

It was very short and he pulled away from her almost instantly but looked at her and said " Be careful".

He then disappeared down the hall. She walked back towards where Remus, Sirius, Peter, James and Lily were.

" What did Snivelly want?" James asked harshly.

Doe shook her head, " Nothing important"

She figured for now, she wanted to keep this information to herself until she could find a way to tell them all without causing worry and protection details.

Right now they needed to focus all of their attention on Lily and James' safety.

Remus brought her back to his chest again and whispered, " We should go home, you need some rest"

Doe nodded in agreement.

" Guys, I think I'm going to take Doe home. She's had a rough night" Remus told them.

" Of course" Lily said quickly.

She hugged her and then turned to Sirius, wrapping her arms around his neck.

" You're an idiot, you know that right?" she told him. He rolled his eyes laughing slightly and kissed the top of her head.

" Don't ever scare me like that again" she warned him, " and be careful getting home"

" I will, mom" he said rolling his eyes.

Doe took Remus' hand and they left Headquarters. The second the door closed behind them, Remus grabbed her and kissed her passionately.

She let him, echoing his enthusiasm as she held him closer to her.

" I was so scared" he said when they broke apart.

" I'm fine" she reminded him.

" How could you even suggest to him that he kill you?" Remus demanded, his eyes welling up with tears.

" Rem" she said wiping his eyes with her sleeves, " He was going to kill me anyway, and I couldn't let Sirius get dragged down with me"

Tears were starting to form in her eyes. Remus wiped them away and kissed her again.

" I love you" he told her.

She smiled, " I love you, too"

Remus brought her to his chest and apparatted back to their flat.