Chapter 12 - Voldemort's Death Eaters

"You're meeting Wormtail?!" Sirius had said, staring at his friend incredulously.

Wormtail. Wormtail?! The evil, twisted rat who had sold out him, James and Lily to save his own pathetic skin?

Had Remus not suffered too from what he'd done? He'd spent twelve years friendless and alone. How different might his life have been if Sirius and James had still been there to look out for him?

Sirius knew it couldn't have been easy for his friend. He'd lived on the outskirts of society, money was tight and he had surely been so lonely. Sirius wondered if he'd fallen into his old habits of self-neglect and blame that sometimes overcame him in their youth. The poor bloke seemed to think being a werewolf was somehow his fault and would act accordingly. How had he managed without Sirius and James' persistent affirmation of his worth and value?

"I think you're weak." He'd told him the day before he went to meet the sordid killer. "You want to believe the best in people because you can't see how fucking twisted he really is."

Remus had always been like that, Sirius realised. He'd say things like 'they didn't really mean that' or else rationalise a person's behaviour with context to try and justify their actions. He didn't seem able to see that some people just wanted to watch the world burn. Perhaps it was easier for him simply to close his eyes to it.

Sirius, however, had known all his life that evil existed and living back in his parents' old house it was impossible to forget. The portraits on the walls were constant reminders.

"I think you're blinded by hate." Remus told him. "You let it ruin your life."

"I'm not the blind one Moony. You're the one who can't see what's right in front of your bloody nose."

Remus held up the piece of parchment with Wormtail's words on it. "What, this? Is it really that bad?"

Sirius shook his head. "Don't try and rationalise it." He snapped. "You know full well how messed up this is."

"I sometimes think James was right about you." Remus said, looking at Sirius coolly now. "He said you could never really see how wrong your family was."

Sirius stared at him. "What's that got to do with anything?!"

"You seem to think everyone's like them."

"That's a load of bollocks!" Sirius retorted hotly. "I don't think everyone's like them." Only about half the population…

"Not everyone who makes a mistake or has some pro-pureblood leanings wants to hurt you." Remus said more gently now.

Oh for Merlin's sake. "Don't go there again, Moony." He said irritably. "And you can't really just call what Wormtail did a mistake. What's more, he doesn't give a toss about blood purity, he just does whatever who's most powerful tells him and I hate to break it to you mate, but that's not you."

"Right. So you think I'm weak."

"I didn't say that."

"Yes you did. It's fine. I know you think it half the time anyway. But I'd appreciate it if you'd let me make my own mind up on who I do and don't trust."

And so, though it had killed him to watch Remus walking into that pub alone and undefended, Sirius had let him do it.

He was sure he'd be proven right about Wormtail. It was just a matter of when and where.

And, (as he was sure it was here and now), he had brought reinforcements.

"You're sure this is it?" Mad-Eye Moody said, frowning up at the outside of the rather dingy looking pub.

"No." Sirius admitted. "But it's the most likely candidate."

Since Remus had told him where he, Peter and (though Sirius had little interest in her) Martha Midgen had met for drinks the summer after graduation, he'd been scouting out pubs in the area. There were no magical drinking establishments nearby, and so, by process of elimination (the other two in the area had closed in the mid-80s) Sirius assumed the Duke of Marlborough must be the one to which Peter referred in his letter.

Fortunately, Remus was always early everywhere he went, so they were able to confirm his location before the rat that was Peter Pettigrew pitched up.

"Bloody hell." Mad-Eye said incredulously as the two of them watched Remus enter the pub from their hiding place a few feet away.

Sirius had of course told Moody straight away that Wormtail had written to Remus. The auror had been furious Remus hadn't reported it himself, but agreed with Sirius that the best thing to do was to say nothing, at least for now. Sirius had no doubt their boss would haul him over the coals for it later.

"Bloody idiot." Moody continued, confirming Sirius' train of thought.

He glanced over to where Tonks and Kingsley were hiding too. They were both watching the pub intently with their wands out.

Nothing happened for a few minutes and then the person they'd all been waiting for appeared.

Sirius felt the familiar hot pool of hatred as the treacherous rat came into view.

Though he wanted nothing more than to abandon his hiding place and punch the man squarely on the nose, he kept hidden, training his wand on the back of his head as he entered the pub.

"Come on." Moody whispered and, pulling on his invisibility cloak and tapping Sirius with a disillusionment charm, they followed him, leaving Tonks and Kingsley to guard from the outside.

Obviously entering a muggle pub while invisible has its challenges.

"Bloody hell!" A man at the bar swore as the door opened of its own accord.

The other men turned to look too. Sirius and Moody hastily entered and let the door close shut behind them.

"Did you see that, mate?"

"The door just opened by itself!"

"I swear I'm not making it up."

"No, I saw it too!"

Leaving the men to their incredulity, Sirius and Moody edged quietly over to the table Remus and Wormtail were at.

They were talking. It turned Sirius' stomach to see it. How could Remus bear to sit here with this traitor?

He felt a hand on his arm. "Black." He heard Moody's voice whisper.

He jumped. Of course he hadn't seen the auror. They were both invisible. "What is it?" He whispered back, hoping the man could hear him.

"We've got company." Came Moody's quiet voice.

Sirius looked around and, sure enough, someone, or maybe a couple of people, were moving out of the shadows from the wall behind the table the men were seated at.

Sirius moved closer to Remus. The figures came nearer too. He could see them more clearly now. They were wearing robes, but as their hoods were up and their faces were in shadow he couldn't make out their identities.

The way they were moving towards the two wizards though surely meant nothing good. He raised his wand, ready to defend himself and Remus if necessary, when several things happened at once.

One of the men suddenly raised his wand and pointed it at the back of Remus' head. "Avada kedav-"

Without thinking, Sirius hurtled over to Remus and forced his friend to the floor. The spell flew directly over them, narrowly missing Pettigrew.

"Stupefy!" Sirius shouted, pointing his wand back to where the spell had come from.

It hit someone and there was a loud thud as a heavy body fell to the floor.

"Nice one!" He heard Tonks shout. He wondered when she had joined them.

"Expelliarmus!" Someone shouted.

"Stupefy!"

"Incarcerous!"

Sirius turned to Wormtail, the man they were here for in the first place. He was looking petrified. He hadn't even pulled out his wand. Sirius couldn't help it. He strode over to him and punched him hard in the face. If he hadn't been so angry, it might have been comical. He stared around frantically looking for the source of the attack.

Sirius quickly reversed the disillusionment charm, bringing himself back into view. "Hello, Wormtail." He said, relishing the look of terror on the blond man's rat-like face. "So pleased we have a chance to meet again. You pathetic, double-crossing, cowardly..."

He drew back his fist again but was distracted by a sudden shout from behind him.

Spinning around, he saw Tonks clutching a hand to her cheek. She was staring at someone, her eyes wide.

Sirius turned to see who she was looking at. A second wave of hatred and fury overwhelmed him. It was Snivellus.

He pointed his wand at the man but Snape was too quick for him. He yelled as his spell hit him on the shoulder, ripping his shirt and causing hot blood to trickle down his arm.

"You sly bastard!" He yelled at the man, transferring his wand to his other hand and pointing his wand back at him, but Moody got there first.

"Stupefy!" He yelled and Snape fell.

Sirius looked at the ground. "Remus!" He cried, suddenly realising his friend hadn't got up from where he'd fallen earlier. He turned desperately to Tonks. "What's the matter with him?!"

There was a sudden scrambling and then another flash of red light. "Don't you dare, laddy!"

Moody had stunned Wormtail too.

Sirius looked around the pub. There was the stunned death eater, who Sirius now recognised as Rodolphus Lestrange, Snape and Wormtail. Moody had come back into view, and Tonks was crouched by Remus' side, talking desperately to him.

"Where's Kingsley?!" He asked her.

"Outside." Tonks said, turning to him with a hand still on Remus' forehead. "Him and Dolohov had a fight. He managed to stun him though."

"A tidy job." Moody said before noticing Remus on the ground. "What happened to Lupin?"

"I don't know!" Tonks said, turning a tortured face to the auror now. "He's still breathing, but he's unconscious. I think we should take him to St Mungo's."

"Yes, go." Moody said. "The rest of us will take this scum in for questioning. Ah, but before we do…" he turned to the men at the bar who were staring at them looking as though they'd just seen a ghost.

"Hello, chaps!" Moody said brightly, grinning at them. "In case you hadn't already guessed, we're all wizards. But as there's a little something called the statute of secrecy, I'm going to need to erase your memories now… Obliviate."

As the men's faces became suddenly blank, he turned back to Sirius. "Bit of a pickle we're in here now mate." He said with a frown.

"What do you mean?!" Sirius said. Why wasn't Moody organising for them to disapparate with the men back to the ministry already?

Moody gestured at Snape on the ground. "Well… what do we do about him?"

"What do you mean? We take him in too!"

"Black, you know he's a spy, don't you?"

Oh for Merlin's sake. What did this idiot need to do for them all to see his true colours?

"Moody, he cursed both Tonks and me." He showed Moody the deep gash on his shoulder. "How much more proof that he's a death eater do you need?!"

"Well, he had to stay in character." Moody said distractedly, clearly still thinking.

"I'm taking Remus now, Mad-Eye." Tonks said, conjuring a stretcher with her wand and levitating Remus onto it.

"Do you need help?" Sirius asked her, looking at Remus' unconscious form.

Tonks shook her head. "We'll be fine. You stay and help Mad-Eye."

So Sirius, with Moody, took Lestrange and Dolohov to the ministry of magic for questioning by the auror department.

"They'll just assume Snape got away." Moody told Sirius. "Can I trust you to go back and revive him while Kingsley and I stay here? We'll need to come up with a good cover story for how we managed to catch them. You know what this lot think about the Order. They assume no one can do the job they do unless they're officially qualified." He rolled his eyes. "You don't mind, do you?"

Sirius wasn't sure where he'd rather be. At the ministry of magic with the incompetent aurors whose job it was to do this for them, or with his arch enemy back in a muggle pub.

"Revive him and tell him to think of a good cover story for how he got away." Moody repeated, more firmly now.

"But Mad-Eye, this is our chance to bring him in!" Sirius said, unable to help himself. "Let the aurors decide whose side he's really on!"

"We know whose side he's on." Moody said. "It's our side. And I'm not having one of our men locked up mistakenly."

"Merlin forbid…" Sirius muttered. "Alright. I'll go and wake the greasy git up."

"Be nice." Moody said with a grin. "I'll come round to headquarters when I'm done here. Oh and Black? Good job."

Sirius nodded. It was rare that he received a compliment from Moody, so he knew the auror must be satisfied with their day's work. He had to admit it hadn't gone too badly. Two captured death eaters and a rat wasn't bad going.

Three captured death eaters would have been better though.

"Rennervate." He said, pointing his wand at Snivellus, who was still knocked out on the pub floor. The landlord and punters were smiling vaguely into space.

Snape opened his eyes and on recognising Sirius, scrambled quickly upright. "Black." He spat, his dark eyes darting round the all but deserted pub. "Where are the others?"

"Ministry." Sirius said, choosing not to offer a hand to help the man to his feet.

"You going to tell me how to put this right?" He added, gesturing the gash on his shoulder.

"No." Snape replied.

"Bastard."

Snape smirked. "I had to stay in character. Fortunately that part didn't require too much acting."

Sirius drew out his wand. He pointed it directly between Snape's eyes. "You're a cowardly, double-crossing, venomous snake and if I didn't respect Moody enough to follow his instructions…"

"Let me guess, you'd curse me. Always your go to, isn't it, Black? Why bother with words when you can use brute force instead?"

"You're one to talk!" Sirius said, gesturing furiously at his shoulder again.

Snape smirked again. "Sorry we didn't have a chance to stop and chat earlier. If we had, I'd have told you Lupin was an idiot for meeting Pettigrew. The cowardly rat told the death eaters everything the moment the moronic werewolf wrote back."

"I'm warning you Snivellus…" Sirius said, raising his wand again.

"I'm just stating the facts."

"And what was your role in the whole sordid affair then? Were you the one who tried to kill Remus?"

"I have to admit I did little to stop them with that part."

"Foul git."

"Interfering berk."

"Go on. Piss off." Sirius was quite sure if he spent any longer in the man's odious company he would lose his temper and curse him, and he knew from much experience that never ended well.

Snape's lip curled again. "I'll be at headquarters tonight to report what I know. Will there be dinner?"

Sirius opened his mouth to offer an angry retort but forced himself to smile at the man instead. "Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to have you join us, Snivellus."

"I'll be there at seven."

"Wonderful."

Snape strode past him and made to leave the pub. He turned on the threshold and looked back at Sirius. "Not a bad day's work, Black." He said, his expression unreadable. "Delighted that ignoramus Pettigrew's back behind bars. And as for Dolohov and Lestrange? Well… I'll be sure to let the Dark Lord know exactly who was responsible for that…"

And, on that enigmatic note, he was gone.

Sirius went straight to St Mungo's after that. He had to know that Remus was OK.

He smiled as he entered the ward he was in to find Tonks by his bedside.

He'd eventually clocked the fact that his best mate fancied the young witch. He was sure James would have picked up on it quicker, but Remus was so cryptic about everything there were many lines he had to read between before he could put two and two together.

"Thanks for being with him." He said, squeezing her shoulders.

Tonks looked like she might have been crying. "It's OK." She said thickly, still looking at Remus' unconscious form. "I wanted to be."

"You're in the wrong place!" A healer said, hurrying over to Sirius. "Cuts and abrasions is third floor."

"Oh." Sirius said, quickly remembering his injured shoulder. He looked down to see most of the top of his shirt sleeve soaked in blood. "It's not that bad. I'll nip down on my way out."

The healer rolled her eyes. "Sit down." She said and she tapped her wand on his damaged shoulder.

He felt a wave of relief as the cut healed itself. He hadn't realised how much it had hurt until he no longer felt it.

"Thanks." He smiled at her.

"Did they say what's wrong with him?" He asked Tonks after the healer had left.

"They're trying to work out what spell the death eater used on him. I'm assuming it was Lestrange. Snape wouldn't have hurt him this badly. What he did to you and me was really just to stay in character."

Sirius opened his mouth to argue and then closed it again. Now wasn't the time or place.

"I'd better go back to headquarters." He said. "Let me know if anything changes, will you?"

Tonks promised him that she would, and he left the hospital.

Dumbledore was already at Grimmauld Place when he got back.

"Any news?" He asked the man, shrugging off his coat and coming to join him in the kitchen.

"As far as I'm aware Dolohov and Lestrange are still being questioned by aurors. Alastor and Kingsley are with them."

"And Wormtail?"

"The same I presume."

"It'll be all over the Daily Prophet by breakfast." Sirius said, a little bitterly. "No doubt Fudge will be claiming it as a personal victory."

"No doubt." Dumbledore said, smiling slightly.

"Doesn't it bother you?" He asked the headmaster, moving to the cellar to get them both drinks.

"It does and it doesn't." Dumbledore replied as Sirius re-emerged with the bottles. "Cheers." He said, taking his drink and toasting it to Sirius. "And well done."

"What do you mean it does and it doesn't bother you?" Sirius asked, sitting down himself now too.

"Exactly what I said." Dumbledore smiled back. "I'd obviously rather Fudge recognised our role in the events of today. I do miss sitting on the Wizengamot. But equally, it isn't for me to say what other men should or shouldn't believe. Fudge will realise the truth in time. And is something really the truth if we do not first discover it for ourselves to be true?"

"Oh I dunno." Sirius said tiredly. Couldn't the man just speak in plain English for once?

"Snape was there." He told Dumbledore instead, changing the subject. "He got Tonks and me."

"I am aware of it." Dumbledore said. "How do you feel now?"

"Vindicated. But I know you'll say he was just acting."

"And you won't like that."

"No, because it's not true." What was it the man had said earlier? "A truth I've discovered for myself."

"You don't have all the facts."

Dumbledore was looking at him seriously now. And Sirius suddenly remembered something. Dumbledore did know something he didn't about Snape.

"I gave him my word I wouldn't say." Dumbledore said, shaking his head at Sirius' inquisitive expression. "But believe me, he is sincere."

Of course Sirius didn't believe Dumbledore. Fighting an urge not to spit in the man's dinner, he served Snape as he did everyone else, and the gathered Order members discussed the events of the day.

"Moody's still at the ministry." Kingsley told them all in his deep, reassuring voice. "But we've got a fair amount of information from Dolohov and Lestrange. They've told the aurors that they've seen Voldemort. I've no idea how the ministry's going to deal with that information. I expect we'll find out in tomorrow's Daily Prophet."

They were just starting on pudding when Moody arrived. "They're just preparing to have the scum sent back to Azkaban." He said, grinning broadly. "Thought it was safe to get away for a bit. They've got it from here. Good job everyone."

Though the celebrations were marred somewhat by Remus' absence, Sirius had to admit it felt good to have something to feel cheerful about.

They were just opening another bottle of firewhisky when an owl arrived addressed to Moody.

Frowning, Moody took the parchment from it, unrolled it and read. And then all the colour drained from his face.

"What is it?" Sirius said, moving over to read too. And then he swore loudly.

Alastor,

I'm afraid Dolohov, Lestrange and Pettigrew managed to escape. They were left with Grant Flitwick, one of our most senior aurors, but we can only assume he must have had the imperius curse placed on him for when we returned they had all vanished. Flitwick is being questioned by aurors now but says he cannot remember anything.

This is of course incredibly disappointing news, but does not detract from yours and Shacklebolt's very good work helping to bring them in. And with the support of wizards such as yourselves I have no doubt they will be recaptured in time.

As I'm sure you understand we will be keeping this incident away from the press, and so kindly ask you not to speak of it with others.

I'm sorry, Alastor.

Yours sincerely,

Amelia

Amelia Bones - Head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement

Sirius turned to Moody. "What a bloody disaster."

He looked back at the others gathered at the table. Snape was watching them both with a calculated sort of expression on his pale face.

"You don't need to tell your dark lord anything, Snape." Sirius told the man. "Dolohov and Lestrange will tell him themselves. They've escaped."

"I'm sorry to hear it." Snape said.

Sirius looked at him again. His face was totally expressionless now.

"Are you?"

He had to prove the bastard was lying somehow. But then he realised, Snape was a very good legilimens. He was one of the best liars there was.

He fixed his black eyes on Sirius and held his gaze. "I don't know, Black." He said. "You tell me."