It had been a very long time since Sirius had Apparated anywhere so he had forgotten about the strange sensation of dizziness and disorientation that usually accompanied the snappy fading in and out. The sudden metamorphosing of Ariadne's cottage into wild, open, eerily silent, moonlit hillside had left him feeling headachy and very nauseous. He slumped down onto the grass, his head between his knees, groaning and grasping at his stomach as though he'd had too much Firewhisky. Ariadne had to give him some anti motion-sickness draught that she had made up that afternoon in anticipation of the way he might feel.

'We're flying up on Buckbeak or at the very least, we're sharing a broom the next time,' he told her as they started up the hill.

'It'll have to be the broom. You're not risking bringing Beaky up here, exposing him to people who would rather see his head mounted on a mahogany plate above the fireplace than on his shoulders.'

'Hey, I was joking,' he panted, picking his way over the uneven, heather-covered ground.

'I know,' she grinned.

They continued the rest of the way in pregnant silence until they reached the boundary wall, stopping just outside the gate.

'Listen, I think maybe it's best if you wait here, Sirius. Let me assess things first, plus it'll make them think we arrived separately.'

'They probably know I'm staying with you anyway. Malfoy's not stupid, Ari. They don't know where your house is though, do they?'

'No, there's no way they could. If Severus had told Lucius, he would have told Narcissa and she wouldn't have been able to resist the urge of telling me. I don't think anyone even noticed when I disappeared. As Narcissa so kindly pointed out the last time I saw her, most people are under the impression that I took to living in a cave in France.'

Sirius laughed, but his amusement never quite reached the bark-like sound that it usually did. It sounded more nervous and forced than anything else.

'I'll tell you what. I'll do a Disillusionment charm and stay behind you. That way, they think you're on your own and I'll be there should you need me.'

She didn't look convinced, but she supposed it was probably the best option under the circumstances.

'It's a pity you don't have James' invisibility cloak. That would have been more reliable. They might have some kind of protection charm on the place, it might recognise an enchantment.'

'Harry has it, and we don't have time to ask him for it now. It would take days to owl him and anyway, it wouldn't be fair. He doesn't have much to remember his parents by and if I lost it or anything happened to it, I'd never forgive myself.'

'I suppose you're right,' she agreed, then shrugged resignedly. 'Well, in that case, we're doing the best we can. Go ahead then.'

Sirius nodded, pulled out his wand, tapped himself on the head and said, 'Latibulum.'

Slowly, from the point at which the wand touched his head, his body began to take on the silvery-hued colour of the moonlit grass, heather and trees behind him. He shimmered indistinctly for a few seconds before disappearing completely.

'You still there?' Ariadne said, extending her hand and groping around in the air where he had just been standing.

He remained silent, watching her glancing around, trying to detect a hint of movement. He smiled to himself, before gently patting her on the backside.

'Still here,' he whispered.

'Sirius!' she whirled around. 'Cut that out! Now behave yourself.'

'Just trying to lighten the mood.' He took her hand.

'This feels so strange,' she said, looking down at her hand wrapped around what looked like fresh air, 'but at least I know where you are now. You ready?'

'As ready as I'll ever be.'

Sirius followed her through the cemetery, the brambles still scratching at his face even though he was invisible. She paused outside the church, letting go of his hand as she whispered, 'They're just inside. Stay behind me.'

'Don't worry about me. I'm right here. Behaving.'

She frowned at the space where she thought his face should be and turned to push through the doors.

The fire was roaring, the armchairs in place and the Death Eaters already assembled in their places. As Ariadne burst through the door, all heads turned to watch her as she strode across the flagstones towards Lucius Malfoy who stood beside the fire, smoking what looked a large, Native American peace-pipe.

'Ah, Ariadne,' he drawled, knocking ash from the pipe into the fire, 'it's good to see you again.'

She nodded curtly, taking one of the empty armchairs in the semi-circle.

Malfoy looked past her, his brow furrowed. 'You are alone?'

'So it would appear,' she replied, fixing him with a cold stare. 'I wanted to ensure that this gathering tonight was everything it appeared to be before I informed Sirius.'

A thin smile slashed Malfoy's face as he inclined his head towards her in a small gesture of growing respect. 'How judicious of you. I trust that you are satisfied?'

'I would not be here if I wasn't.'

Narcissa shifted uncomfortably in her chair and shot a nasty, withering glance towards Ariadne as she saw the expression that crossed her husbands' face as he looked at his old flame. A mix of excitement, desire and veneration.

'I think you have the potential to go far in our organisation,' Malfoy told her, completely oblivious to the poison in Narcissa's eyes. 'I like you, Ariadne. I hope you live up to what I, and indeed the Dark Lord, will expect.'

'I will endeavour to do my best.'

'Now, to business. Where is Sirius, Ariadne?'

'Finite Incantatum,' said a rough, hoarse, deep voice, seemingly from nowhere. From behind Ariadne, a shimmering mass glided steadily across the floor, growing in structure and solidity.

Ariadne smiled as a murmur went around the room while everyone watched the incandescent shape stop beside Malfoy and gradually coalesce into Sirius Black.

'Good evening, Malfoy,' he said, his lip curling with satisfaction at the expression of shock and uncertainty etched into Malfoy's thin, pointed face, 'I can't say I'm particularly satisfied with your security arrangements if a wizard can gain access to the seat of your organisation with such a simple charm.'

Malfoy shook himself, doing his best to appear impassive. 'An impressive feat to produce such a thorough Disillusionment charm. That was quite an entrance. But then, I forgot, you do like to make an impression, don't you? Tell me something though: Just what, exactly, makes you think this is the seat?'

'I hope, for your sake, it isn't.'

'Forgive me, Black, if I reserve just a small amount of protection for ourselves. If this was the Headquarters of the Dark Lord, I assure you, you would not have travelled to within one hundred yards of the door.'

'I'm glad to hear it,' Sirius said as he looked over at the other witches and wizards gathered there who seemed to be regarding him with something between uncertainty and outright fear. 'We are rather small in number, aren't we? Having trouble gathering followers these days?'

'Our numbers grow daily. We have here a representative selection. Allow me to introduce Walden Macnair.' A thin, wiry man with a twisted, scarred face and long, tangled hair glowered through his one remaining eye. 'Romulus and Ophelia Crabbe.' A portly couple with small, cruel eyes nodded. 'Jacob and Shana Goyle.' An equally rotund couple offered him wide, but ice-cold smiles. 'Bertrand Floris.' The elderly wizard looking surprisingly like Dumbledore who had seemed so suspicious of Ariadne in the first meeting raised his pipe in acknowledgement. 'Eloise Jessop.' A very pretty young witch whose features were spoiled by the indifferent glare with which she fixed everyone nodded curtly. 'Altair and Lyra Bulstrode.' A well-to-do, apathetic couple probably about the same age as Sirius nodded in greeting. 'And of course, my own dear wife, Narcissa.' She didn't even bother to raise her head. 'There are also others who could not be here tonight.'

'And the Dark Lord? Is he expected to return soon?'

'Not yet, but he rises. Our duty is to pave the way.'

'Indeed,' Sirius said, raising a scornful eyebrow. 'Then it seems as though you need all the help you can get.' He ignored Malfoy's glare and pulled out his wand again. With a vague flick of his wrist, the high-backed, wooden chair appeared, complete with restraints. Sirius holstered the wand beneath his robes and sat down. 'You had better proceed with the initiation.'

Malfoy pursed his lips as though he'd just bitten into a whole lemon as he came around to Sirius' side and pulled out his own wand to close the restraints. Sirius' arm shot out, his fingers closing around Malfoy's wrist.

'I've had enough of manacles and chains, Malfoy. I won't be restrained. My faith and loyalty to the Dark Lord are without question. That trust does not, however, extend to you.'

Malfoy may have been an exceptional wizard, but he was certainly no match for Sirius in physical strength. The tension in Malfoy's face was matched only by that in his arm as he tried, and failed, to twist it from Sirius' vice-like grip. In reluctant defeat, he nodded. Sirius let him go and he replaced the wand, turning instead to retrieve the brand from the fire.

Sirius rolled up his own sleeve and laid the back of his arm against the wooden brace of the chair. He looked briefly at Ariadne as Malfoy advanced on him with Voldemort's brand. She met his eyes, her anxiety for him burning clearly within her own. He reassured her with a barely perceptible nod. She smiled nervously in acknowledgement as the brand met his skin.

He didn't flinch, not even for a second. Sirius kept Malfoy's penetrative gaze, even though he seemed to be keeping the brand against Sirius' arm for what seemed like an inordinate amount of time - certainly far longer than was necessary, much to Ariadne's barely contained distress. The pain was severe, but not more than he could withstand...not after almost losing his soul to a Dementor. He bore it without even breaking into a sweat. Malfoy tired of waiting for him to react and pulled the brand away before touching the tip of his wand to the blistering wound, both to heal it and to set the Apparation magic within it.

'Do you swear eternal allegiance to the Dark Lord, under penalty of the Dementors' Kiss?' asked Malfoy.

Sirius glared up at Malfoy from behind the slash of dark hair obscuring one side of his face. 'I swear it.'

'Then the Dark Lord bids you welcome to the Death Eaters, Sirius Black.' Malfoy extended his hand.

Sirius grasped it, grinding Malfoy's fingers beneath his own and enjoying the look of pain that suddenly fired behind his eyes.

There was, again, a brief moment of applause, but instead of rising to greet the newest member of their circle, the other Death Eaters just sat there, watching Malfoy and Sirius, varying degrees of apprehension and fear still etched into their faces. Perhaps, thought Sirius, they had never witnessed such a direct attack on Malfoy's leadership before and they were uncertain about this stranger in their midst.

'I'm sure that there is a certain level of concern in this room surrounding my induction,' said Sirius. 'Allow me to make something clear. When I found Peter Pettigrew, it was my intention to kill him for betraying my friends. Unfortunately, I failed. At least, I failed to kill him. I did not fail to kill the Muggles who mistakenly tried to interfere. Neither will I fail to kill anyone responsible for making Ariadne suffer all these years. The man who entered Azkaban twelve years ago is dead. Never make the mistake of doubting what I am capable of. If there is any person here who still doubts me, speak now. Because if I hear whisperings later, I will destroy you.'

A hushed and fearful silence fell over the group. None of them would meet Sirius' eyes.

'Good,' he said. 'Then let us begin to discuss how we may speed the Dark Lord's return.'

Sirius sat down, glancing around to make sure that everyone's attention was fixed back on Malfoy before he reached for Ariadne's hand. She was shaking, her fingers like ice as he squeezed them. Sirius wished that he'd been a bit more adept at legilimency so that he could let her know in a more tangible way that he really was okay, but as it was, all he could do was keep her hand tightly enclosed within his, hoping that the contact alone would be enough.

'Perhaps our first order of business should be to let our newest members know where our Headquarters are. Bertrand is our Secret Keeper.' Malfoy turned to the elderly wizard. 'Bertrand…if you would be so kind?'

Floris grabbed his walking stick and got shakily to his feet. He shuffled over to Sirius and Ariadne, one hand bracing the small of his back, the other leaning heavily on the walking stick while his white and grey peppery beard dragged on the floor alongside his long purple robes. Stopping beside Sirius, he fumbled inside the tapered sleeves of his robe for his wand and two small pieces of parchment. He handed one to Ariadne, one to Sirius and, wheezing like an old set of bagpipes, he muttered something under his breath as he tapped his wand on the parchments. As he pocketed the wand and started shuffling back to his armchair, black ink began to well up, seemingly from withinthe parchments. It flowed like blood oozing across the surface and eventually coalesced to form the words, 'Wallencroft Manor, Muggington, Derbyshire.'

'The next meeting will be held at that location. I am hoping that the Dark Lord himself shall be in attendance in order to address us with some matters of great import concerning the upcoming Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts. I have been informed that he is gaining strength rapidly and that preparations are being made for the re-birthing ritual. I can say nothing further at this early stage, but I urge you all to ensure your attendance. Tardiness or absence will not be excusable.'

'Who 'informed' you of all this, Lucius?' Sirius asked, much to the surprise of all the others who turned to gape at the boldness of his interruption. 'Are you in direct contact with the Dark Lord now?'

Malfoy seemed a bit wrong-footed by the confrontation. Clearly, he was not used to being questioned.

'No,' he admitted, recovering quickly to offer Sirius his familiar thin-lipped, cruel smile, 'I am not. I am, however, in contact with his messenger who is currently in personal service to the Dark Lord while he is recuperating. I trust that is sufficient for you, Black?'

'No. It is not. I want to know who this servant is. I want to know if he can be trusted. We have many enemies, Malfoy - clever, resourceful enemies.'

'It is not your concern whom the Dark Lord chooses. I think you underestimate him if you believe he would ever allow anyone close to him who would betray him. He can see what lies beneath masks to the blackness of the heart that beats within.'

Sirius chuckled. 'If Pettigrew is the servant, Malfoy, then I would be worried if I were you.'

A collective exclamation went up from the other witches and wizards. Whether their shock resulted from Sirius' comments themselves or the boldness of the pronouncement, Ariadne didn't know, but her heart was beginning to pound dully in her throat as he fingers tightened around Sirius'. She couldn't help but feel that he was pushing Malfoy too far.

'As I said, it is not your concern. Perhaps it is Pettigrew, perhaps it is not. As I said, there are many more Death Eaters who are not here tonight. Are you questioning the Dark Lord's judgement?'

'No. I am questioning yours. By helping me, you have announced Pettigrew to the world as not only being alive, but also the Dark Lord's servant. The Dark Lord is weak now, and Pettigrew has been compromised.'

Malfoy looked as though he'd just swallowed a wasp. 'It is strange that this didn't occur to you before you asked for my help.'

'Ariadne asked you to prove my innocence. You may have done so any way you wished to. The way you chose could potentially threaten the Dark Lord's safety. I would be failing in my duty to him if I didn't point that out.'

'The Dark Lord is my sole concern,' spat Malfoy. 'He is well protected.'

'Not well enough. I don't trust Pettigrew. I never will. I want him dead, Malfoy. I will take his place.'

Whispers broke the reverent silence. A bead of sweat traced down Malfoy's forehead.

'What the Dark Lord desires is up to him, Black. He knows that Pettigrew will be sacrificed in the end. He does not make his reasons for his choices known to me and I know better than to ask. You overstate your importance.'

Sirius rose to his feet. 'Then he can be sacrificed now. The Dark Lord does not need him. Pettigrew's dead body will do just as well to give to the Ministry. I want him, Malfoy. He took twelve years of my life away from me, and that bastard is going to pay for it.'

'Sirius,' Ariadne whispered in warning, unable to contain the panic that was drying her throat to sand. She had never heard Sirius speak with such vicious, cruel coldness in his voice before. She was starting to believe him herself.

He ignored her. She doubted that he had even remembered she was there.

'You place your own desire for revenge above the needs of the Dark Lord! Do you think he will thank you for that? The Dark Lord has his own plans for Pettigrew and it is not for you or I to question them! In any case, you have yet to prove yourself, Black. Perhaps we should be testing you before we bow to your judgement regarding Pettigrew.'

'I'm not some bloody lab rat. I passed your test, Malfoy.'

'Not quite.'

What bothered Ariadne more than anything was the superior satisfaction that lay beneath Malfoy's smile. She shivered, beginning to wish that they had never involved themselves in any of this. Surely she wasn't on her own in believing that they were rapidly losing control of this situation? Maybe there had been another way…

'A man who betrayed the Dark Lord in the past still lives. He escaped Azkaban, renounced our ways and the Dark Lord himself under questioning. He needs to be punished, but not before he has been brought back to the circle to suffer our judgement. You are now in a perfect place to be able to win his trust and bring him here.'

'And this man would be?'

The smile was still wide and satisfied, his eyes alight with excitement.

'Severus Snape.'

Ariadne squeezed Sirius' fingers so tightly that he felt something crunch beneath her grip. A small, thin whine of terror escaped her lips, but the others were murmuring among themselves at Malfoy's words and so, thankfully, it went unnoticed by all except Sirius, but it would cost him his life to react.

'You may as well ask me to kill Dumbledore himself. You know Snape will never trust me, and you also know that Hogwarts is impenetrable. It's early days for me, people will still be suspicious.'

'But Snape won't be. Dumbledore knows the truth and Snape trusts him. This is the assignment that you and Ariadne have been given. It is the reason you were inducted into the Death Eaters. You will do whatever the Dark Lord desires or you will be given to the Dementors. He desires the death of Severus Snape.'

'I don't believe you, Malfoy. I wish to hear it from the Dark Lord himself.'

'I speak for the Dark Lord. Bertrand, show the instructions.'

Bertrand Floris took out his wand and waved it through the air. A thick trail of smoke billowed from the end and as it cleared, a piece of parchment hung in the air. Written in bright red ink that looked disturbingly like blood were the words,

Welcome to the Death Eaters, Sirius Black and Ariadne Snape. Your induction will be concluded upon successful completion of your first assignment. Severus Snape betrayed me and so far has been beyond my reach. I wish for you to bring him to me so that I may demonstrate the penalty for betrayal. You have a limited time in which to accomplish this. I look forward to seeing you in person soon.

In blood,

Lord Voldemort.

As Sirius finished reading, the parchment burst into bright green flames.

He felt sick.

'Satisfied?' asked Malfoy.

'Quite,' Sirius replied. He didn't need to be good at legilimency to know what Ariadne was thinking at that moment. He also knew that they would have to leave soon because the act was becoming too hard for her to maintain. 'If this is what the Dark Lord requires of me, then it will be done.'

'Good. By the next meeting then, which we shall set for next week - Wednesday evening, at the location you've been given. I trust you will be done by then?'

'I told you, Malfoy, it will be done.'

Malfoy nodded, his smile even more supercilious than ever as he closed the meeting and the gathered witches and wizards began to Disapparate.

'Not here. Not now,' Sirius hissed at Ariadne as they stood for Malfoy to remove the chairs with a flick of his wand. When he was done, just before he extinguished the fire, Sirius approached him.

'I hope you understand that my sole concern was the Dark Lord's welfare, Malfoy. I apologise for questioning you. Snape is already dead.'

'I'm glad to hear it. As I mentioned in the letter, it will be safe for you by tomorrow, the day after at the very latest. Keep checking The Prophet, but I will be sending you an owl, too.'

'Good. Well then, until next week.'

Sirius grabbed Ariadne's shaking hand and led her away from the fire to the Apparation point.

'Sirius,' she sputtered frantically, 'we can't - '

'Quiet, Ariadne!' he snapped. 'Get us out of here. Now.'

Still sucking in sharp, panicky breaths, she held on to Sirius' arm and together, they Apparated back to her cottage. Before Sirius had even opened his eyes, he felt her hand ripping away from his.

'My god, we should never have got involved in this,' she said as she tore off her cloak, threw it onto the sofa and started pacing up and down her living room. 'You were right, this was a stupid idea. I should have listened to you. We should have found another way - '

'Ariadne, calm down,' he told her, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her around to face him. 'We can handle this. Do you hear me? But we're dead if you can't control yourself.'

'Control myself?' she screamed at him. 'They're going to torture and kill my brother, Sirius! Just how the hell am I supposed to control myself?'

'You think I'd allow that to happen? He might be an asshole, but that doesn't mean I want him dead. What the hell do you think I am?'

'This is your fault!' she yelled again, crying now. She shrugged his hands away. 'You shouldn't have pushed Malfoy. You and that bloody ego of yours…determined to get the upper hand...what the hell kind of game did you think you were playing?'

That stung. Badly. He took a step back from her, trying to catch her eye but she was refusing to look at him, continuing to pace. 'Is that what you really think of me?'

'Banging on about wanting Peter dead, wanting to take his place, for god's sake! Why couldn't you have just left it at the initiation? What the hell was that thinly veiled leadership challenge about if not to feed this self-absorbed thirst for confrontation that you seem to need enough to be willing to risk everything for? What the hell are you trying to do?'

'I was trying to unsettle him, to convince him that you and I were more than any of those other cowards sitting in that room! We need him to trust us enough to let us right into the heart of Voldemort's little quagmire and he's never going to do that if we're happy to sit on the sidelines and take orders. I've had enough, don't you understand that? I've had enough of other people controlling my own bloody life! I want respect, I want veneration, I want - '

'You really do want Peter dead, don't you?'

'Yes!' he snarled, his dark eyes like burning embers of a deep and abiding hatred that she had never believed him capable of. 'Is that so hard to understand? That bastard ruined my life! Don't you think I'm entitled to some restitution?'

'My god,' she sobbed, sinking down onto the sofa, 'you're turning into one of them. I don't know you anymore. I can't believe you just said that.'

'Do you know what it was like in that place? Do you know what it does to you? How it gets into your head and your dreams and eats away at your insides like a bloody tumour? No. How could you? How could anyone? How dare you judge me?'

'Don't blame Azkaban for your desire to feed your damned ego. You think this is all some kind of childish little game and now Severus is going to pay for your vanity. What is he to you anyway? Just some sad, lonely little kid who you and James could make fun of and bully whenever you had nothing better to occupy yourselves with, but he is my brother, Sirius! My brother!'

That was the second time she'd said such a thing and although he knew that she was frightened and that was the reason for her anger, all the same, it hurt. He grabbed his cloak from the sofa and headed for the door.

'I'm not listening to this. It's not fair and you bloody well know it,' he muttered, yanking the door open so hard that it slammed back in its frame, knocking chunks of plaster from the wall. 'I warned you this would happen! And now you're balking at what is expected of us? These are the bloody Death Eaters, Ariadne! Did you think we could just sit there and they'd give us everything we wanted?'

'I thought that they would clear you and we could leave before they needed us to do anything, I thought - '

'You don't play games with these people! I knew that, which is why I did what I did. If Peter's death means we can be free, that Harry can be free, then it's a small price. Don't you dare judge me for that! When you've been in Azkaban for twelve years, then maybe you'll be in a position to criticise. I sat in that cell for all those years, paying for every single mistake I ever made, going over and over them in my head because I had nothing else to think about in there - including the things I did to your bloody brother, not to mention trying to live with the knowledge that I was as good as responsible for Lily and James' deaths. Do you have any idea of what that was like?'

'That doesn't excuse - '

'Go to hell, Ariadne.'

He slammed the door behind him as he strode through the flowers and past the fence, heading down towards the pool.

He heard the door opening behind him, but he carried on.

'Where are you going, Sirius?' she yelled after him, 'Sirius? Sirius!'

'What the bloody hell do you care?' he muttered under his breath, continuing to ignore her all the way down to the pump house.

Buckbeak was curled up asleep on a bed of hay in the corner of the stone building. He lifted his head from the floor as he heard Sirius blowing in through the doorway and called softly in the back of his throat.

'Beaky…looks like it's just you and me tonight, old friend,' said Sirius, settling down beside the hippogriff among the hay. 'Just like the old days…things were easier then, weren't they, boy? Huh?'

He could almost believe that Buckbeak understood as he extended his wing over Sirius like a blanket before lowering his head back to the hay and closing his eyes again. Sirius lay awake, cosy beneath the huge feathered wing, for only a few minutes more before his temper and his hurt began to fade away beneath a wave of heavy fatigue that eventually carried him to a restless sleep.