Avery showed up at the Lestrange manor the next day. He used a floo call rather than apparition, his head appearing in the hearth in the main parlor. No one was expecting him, and he shouted several times before Posy noticed and came to alert Sirius, who had been napping in his sound-proofed room. Sirius was not in a particularly good mood when he slouched downstairs with his arm in a sling to see what Avery wanted.

Funnily enough, Avery's head was still the only part of him present. Sirius smirked at it. "How long have you been there? Your knees must be dying."

"Ten minutes, I think. They are. Your house elf never came back."

"And yet you didn't give up. Come on through, then," Sirius invited him. He took a chair as Avery stumbled out of the fire. "Cigarette?" he offered.

"Aren't those for muggles?"

"You've never seen a wizard smoking in a pub?"

"Pipes, sure."

"These are more convenient."

Avery took one. Sirius pulled another from the almost-empty pack for himself, stuck it in his mouth, and touched the end of it to light it. He took a long draw to help wake himself up. Avery copied him and coughed. "This is disgusting," he said.

Sirius shrugged. "I don't smoke them for the taste. Put it in the ash tray if you don't want it. Or vanish it. Why are you here?"

"You saved my life yesterday."

"Yeah. And?"

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

Avery gestured towards Sirius' bum arm. "I remember seeing that happen. My mum says you managed to keep fighting despite it."

"What would your mum know about it?" Sirius asked, honestly surprised.

"She's close with Evan Rosier. He was there when you were telling the Dark Lord what happened. Sounds like you impressed him." Sirius grunted non-committedly. He couldn't remember if he'd told Moody Rosier's name before, although it wasn't exactly a surprise to hear. He might even be wanted by the Ministry, Sirius wasn't sure. There were a lot of people wanted by the Ministry. "He told mum the Dark Lord himself healed you."

Sirius grinned. "That was only fair. He dislocated my shoulder with the Cruciatus first."

Avery's eyes widened. "You were tortured?" he whispered.

"That is what the Cruciatus does."

"Why?"

Sirius looked at him strangely. Avery was one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, and not one of the 'nice,' blood-traitorish families like the Weasleys and Potters. Surely the Blacks weren't the only family to threaten their children with Unforgivables once they were old enough. "Does it really surprise you?"

"But... you were hurt, kept fighting, broke through the anti-apparition jinx, and saved me!"

"Sure, and I failed to save five other chaps who, no offense, are regarded as rather more useful than you. Still got a promotion out of it."

Avery frowned at him and abruptly said, "Let's go for a walk."

Sirius raised one eyebrow and nodded. Avery was a bit whiney, but he was a minimally competent Slytherin. He clearly had something to say he didn't want overheard, and he was wise enough to be cautious of Bella's or Rodolphus' leaving any listening spells around. Sirius had yet to find any, but the only room in the mansion he'd really thoroughly checked was his own.

Sirius led the way through the house and out onto the terrace, and thence into the grounds. There was a formal garden, but it was relatively small. Most of the grounds were well-kept woodlands, which included multiple valuable trees of wand-quality wood.

Avery kept pace with him, occasionally drawing on his cigarette and coughing.

"Don't you have other friends to hang out with on your day off?" Sirius asked when Avery failed to pick up the conversation again.

"Don't you?" Avery shot back.

"Nope. They were all Dumbledore-worshipping Gryffindors who'd probably hex me on sight now." And he hadn't seen Regulus all summer either, presumably because of their parents' influence. Not that he wanted to see Regulus. Seeing Regulus would mean one of two things: that Sirius was back in Grimmauld where he didn't want to be, or that Regulus was in a Death Eater stronghold, where Sirius didn't want him to be. He'd much rather Regulus keep nurturing his brotherly resentment and stay well away from the war.

"I haven't seen Felix since -"

"Who?"

"Felix." Avery paused and looked at him incredulously. "Felix Mulciber? Merlin, Sirius, we went to school with him for seven years!"

"I know his name. Just yanking your wand."

"Wanker. Anyway, I haven't seen Felix since graduation, even though I know he joined up. And of course, can't see Severus either."

"Mmm. Whatever happened with him?" Sirius asked idly, though he was intensely curious to find out.

"I don't know," Avery admitted. "When you ruined his chances here, he didn't really have a plan, since, ah, we'd all been secretly sabotaging any of his other opportunities up 'till then. I think he managed to line something up by the end of the year, but he wouldn't tell me what it was. He was awfully nervous. Felix and I thought that meant he'd either be leaving the country or gotten patronage and protection from someone on the Light side. Or nothing, and was just playing cool." He eyed Sirius. "Er..."

"Spit it out, man."

"Why did you join? You ran away from your parents, and everyone said it was because you hated their stance on blood purity. Even you said that. Even expelled, you had plenty of support in blood traitor families. You were out and could have stayed out. Why'd you come back?"

"I ran away from home because I fucking hate my folks," Sirius said honestly. Then he lied, "that has nothing to do with blood purity." It was only partly to do with blood purity. The biggest reason was that he was afraid of his parents. Bella and Voldemort he could handle, terrifying as they were. They would only torture and kill him if they found out he was betraying them. Not Orion and Walburga Black. His parents would crush him if they got the chance, never kill him.

"You were friends with mudbloods, and you weren't faking it," Avery said flatly. "You're not here for the glory of the Sacred Twenty-Eight."

"Can you picture me doing anything else?" Sirius asked, dodging the question now he'd been so effectively called out.

Avery's breath hissed out. "Honestly? No. It's like you were made for this. Nothing scares you, not the opinion of your family - the Black family - not killing, not fighting, not even the Dark Lord's Cruciatus. It's like you get off on it."

"Gryffindor is the House of bravery, is it not?"

"I don't know if it's bravery to voluntarily sign up for a job where your boss might torture you for doing better than everyone else did when it all went to shite."

Sirius grinned at Avery's impression his was a completely voluntary position. "If that isn't bravery, what is it?"

"Madness?"

"Don't let Bella hear you talk that way."

"I'm not an idiot."

"No, you're not, but you're out of your depth, oh Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Avery. Why'd you let me hear you talk that way, if you think I've got the Black madness? You trying to get me to hex you or something?"

Avery looked away. "Because... I don't think you care enough to tell anyone. You don't care about me. You don't care about the cause, not really. You'd have been just as happy fighting on the other side, only they wouldn't take you after you tipped your hand and showed them what you really are. That's why you joined up with us." A chill ran down Sirius' spine, and his wand hand twitched. Avery was hitting awfully close to home. The younger wizard continued obliviously, "And now you're my boss."

It took a beat to remember what he was talking about, and to release the urge to curse him. "Oh, yeah... And?"

Avery took a deep breath. "And so I'm trying to level with you so we don't both end up dead. I'm scared, even if you're not. It's all too real, Sirius! We could have died, or gone to Azkaban yesterday!"

"Keep your voice down," Sirius ordered.

His tirade fell to a whisper. "My parents are the ones who wanted me to be here. It wasn't even a question of whether I'd join, it was a foregone conclusion since third year. I told them that was fine, that I wanted it. I told myself I wanted it... If I'd been brave enough to run away like you did, I wouldn't have come back. But now I can't get out, and I can't do this! I won't be able to just sit there and take it like you did if the Dark Lord decides to torture me. I don't want to fight with aurors. I- I still haven't even killed any muggles."

"I know."

Avery stopped short. "You do?"

"It's pretty obvious. Lucius definitely knew."

"Dark Lord probably does too," he said wretchedly.

"Probably," Sirius agreed. "That's probably why he hasn't marked you yet. He knows you're not ready for it. He's not stupid, Avery."

"Richard."

"He's not going to torture and kill you just because you find it hard to kill people. That's not the way to win his war. He'll find other uses for you."

"Then why'd he torture you?"

"Because the mission failed."

"That wasn't your fault."

"It wasn't yours either. It wasn't even Lucius' fault, it was all of ours, for being unprepared to get caught."

"There's only the two of us now, Sirius. How the bloody hell are we going to do the work of seven people and 'be prepared' the next time half the auror department shows up to stop us? How are we going to survive the next few months?"

He was pale and shaking again. Sirius calmly took the cigarette butt from his trembling fingers before it burned him and stomped it into the ground. It was easy for him to be calm when he knew that he and he alone had the power to bring the Ministry down on top of them as had happened yesterday. He hadn't realized what an advantage that was, the respect he could earn amongst Voldemort's followers, simply by looking like the epitome of a true goddamn Gryffindor in their midst. "I don't know yet, but I will figure it out. The Dark Lord wants us to succeed, and we will. We'll just have to be cleverer than Lucius was. Quicker maybe, harder to track."

"We were already choosing our targets randomly," Avery muttered.

"I'll think about it tonight. Come by tomorrow or the day after and we'll plan." Sirius wriggled his right fingers. "We have until this is working again to figure it out."

"Right. You'll forgive me for wishing you a slow recovery."

Sirius grinned at him. "You're not so bad, for a Slytherin, Richard."

"No," Avery sighed. "I'm not. That's the problem."


"Siri, how would you like to visit Cissy for awhile?"

Sirius glanced up from his breakfast and looked at Bella suspiciously. "Why?"

Bella sighed dramatically. "Poor dear is ever so lonely without Lucius to keep her company, all by herself in that huge, solemn house."

"It's been three days. And she's hardly alone with Abraxas and Lucretia Malfoy there and all the Malfoy retainers and business associates popping in all day," Sirius pointed out. He'd spent enough time at the Malfoy residence this summer to know it remained a busy beehive of activity from dawn till dusk. The Lestrange Manor was only so silent most of the time because both Bella and Rodolphus took their business elsewhere, mostly to the Dark Lord's headquarters. Rabastan occasionally hosted business partners or a lady friend for a few hours, but not often. The family was mostly getting by on their extensive long-term investment income. Unlike the Malfoys' and Blacks', the Lestrange fortune was, in fact, dwindling slightly as the war dragged on. Sirius did not mind being an extra drain on it in the least. "I get it. Time to kick out the unwanted moocher cousin."

"Not at all, Siri, we love having you here, of course we do. It's just, Cissy needs her family," Bella said delicately.

Sirius raised one eyebrow and asked again, "Why?"

"Trust me. She does."

If that was the case, it wasn't for emotional support after her husband's arrest. Bella didn't understand that concept, and Narcissa was just as much of a strong-willed Black as her sisters. Nor was Narcissa in danger of being arrested like Lucius; Sirius' presence wouldn't exactly help with that in any case. Which meant there were only two options: Bella was worried about Narcissa's physical safety, or she was worried about Narcissa turning on them like Andromeda the blood traitor. Neither made much sense to him, but the latter seemed even less likely. "You think she's in danger?" Sirius asked quietly. Reluctantly, Bella nodded. Sirius thought for a moment, trying to figure out what danger Narcissa could face from inside a household as well-to-do and heavily warded as the Malfoys. The answer came to him eventually. "She's pregnant, isn't she? With a daughter."

Bella exhaled and finally took the chair across from him. "Yes. Lucius knew she was pregnant, but not the gender. She told him it was too early to know. And as everyone knows, the Heir to the Ancient and Most Noble House of Malfoy is always male, and yet always first-born."

"And here I thought the rumors of abortion were all dirty lies." It was a horrible practice of course, and he was not surprised Bella and Narcissa would dare to cross Abraxas Malfoy about it, coming from a brood of only girls themselves. "I'm happy to help, of course. No trouble for me to move. I'm not sure what you expect me to do though. Surely she can't keep it secret from Abraxas much longer?"

"No, she's already three months along, almost four. She'll be showing soon," Bella agreed. "But she will tell him that it is a boy. Your task will be to help get her and our niece out of there after the birth, when the secret can no longer be kept."

"Why not leave earlier? Like now?"

"Because she will be under siege wherever she goes. She wants to delay that as long as possible, for the baby's sake."

A wave of nausea struck him. Narcissa thought it would be easier to hide a live, anonymous baby than a pregnant mother; her own fate was immaterial. Merlin, he hated the Noble Houses sometimes. "This is a terrible plan."

"You said you'd help," she reminded him.

"And I will, but it's still a terrible plan. Does anyone else in the family know?"

Bella shook her head. "Not yet. Cissy told me this week, after Lucius was arrested. She's miscarried before, you know, real miscarriage, so she thought she might be able to sway him, particularly if she delayed long enough. But she knows better than to hope against his father, if Lucius stays in Azkaban too long. Abraxas is very traditional, and Lucretia follows her husband as if she were a house elf, not a wife. Cissy doesn't have anyone in that house whose loyalty is primarily to her."

Sirius drummed his fingers on the table for a moment. "We should sound out the older Blacks," he said reluctantly. "Your father, my parents, Uncle Alphard. Bringing Narcissa here will be too obvious, and this place isn't nearly so well protected as Grimmauld." Not to mention, Rodolphus or Rabastan might side with Abraxas.

Bella nodded thoughtfully. "I'll mention it to Narcissa. Perhaps there can be a family get-together after she breaks the news."

"We could arrange a Black-only baby shower and just kidnap her," he suggested. "Abraxas can't blame her for that."

"Now, now, Siri, we have to win the civil war between the Dark Lord and the blood traitors and mudbloods before we start another one between the Blacks and Malfoys."

"Hmm. Good to know our options are open if the Dark Lord happens to win sometime in the next five months, though. I hate being bored."

Bella cackled and reached across the table to tousle his hair. "You naughty thing."

"What's he done now?" Rodolphus asked around a yawn as he trudged into the morning room as well.

"Just an inside joke between cousins," Bella informed her husband.

"What are you doing up so early anyway, Sirius?" Rodolphus asked.

"It's eight o'clock."

"For you, that's basically the crack of dawn."

Sirius shrugged. "I'm meeting with Avery later, to plan our strategy."

"Ah, the joys of leadership. Arm's all better?" Rodolphus asked as Posy appeared at his elbow with a full English breakfast for him.

"Not yet, but should be ready by Saturday."

"You and I will duel on Friday, then," Bella decided.

"You always have my best interests at heart, Bella."

"I do," she agreed, beaming at him.

"Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy."

Rodolphus shook his head. "Nah, that's the Imperius curse she's got on you." Sirius threw the crusts from his toast at him. Bella cackled.

"I imagine Abraxas is planning to bribe Lucius back out of Azkaban soon enough," Sirius ventured, as if that was all he and Bella had been discussing before Rodolphus' arrival. Half the reason the war had lasted this long - most of the decade - was because Voldemort's relatively small army was bankrolled by the wealthiest families in the wizarding world. The Ministry could crack down all it wanted with harsh sentencing, outlaw any contact with known Death Eaters, draft more and more aurors and hit wizards, requisition a dedicated unit in St. Mungo's for aurors' war injuries, and boast Albus Dumbledore himself leading the charge... all that had so far proved only a minor inconvenience to Voldemort's richest, most indispensable supporters, as were most things short of death. The ones who weren't rich enough to buy their way out of trouble also didn't cause as much of it.

Bella huffed. "Of course he is, only his first offer, a very generous one the day after the arrest, was rebuffed immediately."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "When did the Ministry become so flush with galleons?" he wondered aloud. Malfoy bribes were the stuff of legend, so large even Blacks would hesitate to refuse them.

Rodolphus grunted. "They didn't, but Barty Crouch is obsessed with winning, and he's not like Minchum. He knows how we work." Ah, yes, because the Crouches were pureblood and independently wealthy. Unlike the Minister for Magic Harold Minchum, who was only moderately well-to-do, had a halfblood grandmother, and made up for these deficits by politicking. "Minchum probably would have bowed to Abraxas, but Crouch is becoming the real power at the Ministry. He's the mind behind all the war-related policies lately; Minchum just goes along for fear of losing his support and consequently his own position." He scowled. "Rumor has it Crouch is pushing to legalize Unforgivables against Death Eaters next."

"That's not very pious and noble of him," Sirius commented lightly. Inwardly, he was quite taken aback. Yes, it might be a better winning strategy to permanently take people like Lucius and Bella and Rodolphus out of action where possible, but at the same time, Bella especially was the vindictive type. Deaths would be multiplying on both sides if the Ministry did that, and it would be harder to argue the moral high ground.

"He's not the noble type," Rodolphus informed them. "Pious, though, in an arrogant, self-righteous way. He was always like that. Head Boy in my second year, you know. Brilliant Ravenclaw, got all O's, stickler for enforcing even the most anal rules, speaks twelve languages and all that."

"What a swot," Sirius said.

Rodolphus grinned at him. So did Bella, before turning to look at Rodolphus coyly. "Should I kill him for you, darling? He's not a blood traitor, but he sounds so disagreeable, I could make an exception."

Rodolphus kissed her fingertips. "Not yet. I'm working on him myself. He'd be very useful if we could get him to see reason. But if he stays stubborn, I'll let you take him." Not for the first time, Sirius wondered what Rodolphus' specialty in the organization was. By the sounds of it, it wasn't murder, or at least not only murder, which left Sirius fairly clueless. The Death Eaters were a lot more complicated than he had vaguely supposed back at Hogwarts.

"When does his son graduate?" Bella asked.

Rodolphus frowned slightly and glanced at Sirius. "Two years, I believe," he answered.

"Is the son a swot, too, Siri?"

Sirius thought back. Barty Crouch Junior was two years younger than him, and a Ravenclaw like his father. Eventually, he shrugged. "I hardly knew him. Must have kept his head down. I don't even remember jinxing him."

"Twelve O.W.L.s," Rodolphus mumbled around a mouthful of toast. "Like father in that respect, at least."

Sirius felt suddenly cold, remembering Bella's intimate knowledge of his own grades, and the mentions of the reports the Death Eaters would get about Snape. Barty Crouch Jr. had just taken O.W.L.s this year, results would have been out for barely a month. There was no doubt in his mind, the younger Barty was being targeted for recruitment.

Because that's how the Death Eaters were so successful, especially amongst purebloods. They infiltrated families, marking one to eventually bind them all. It was obvious. Sirius had already known it, experienced it himself. He just hadn't realized it was quite so deliberate a strategy. Hopefully, it wasn't too late for Dumbledore to save Barty. He made a mental note to himself to see what Avery might know about other current Hogwarts students that might be under pressure. Much safer to pump Avery for information than Bella and Rodolphus.

Author's Note: it's creepier when they're acting like regular people most of the time. The whole Malfoy heir thing is made up... sort of. For some reason, all of the recent Malfoys are only-child boys, and the only other historical Malfoys are all men. There's some nasty misogyny in that family, and I wouldn't put it past them to select "wanted" pregnancies in order to better secure the male line and family fortune.