Sirius rubbed at the right side of his neck, fingers digging in as if he could knead the tension out by force alone. It didn't help. He felt wound too tight, every nerve humming. Cold streets, bad hours, nothing to do but think. Being a Patrol Captain wasn't the cushiest of assignments.
James should have been here. The thought came uninvited and lingered. With James beside him, even the ugliest patrol could have been laughed into something survivable. Maybe not pleasant, but lighter. Quieter in the head.
Instead, James had walked away from the Aurors the moment Lily told him she was pregnant. Sensible. Right, even. Sirius knew that, respected it, had said all the correct things. Still, knowing didn't stop the hollow feeling from settling in his chest. The corps felt lonelier without him, the silence heavier, like a watch that dragged on just long enough for every thought Sirius didn't want to have to catch up.
Arriving at his apartment, he swept his eyes from top to bottom of the door frame, checking for any tampering of the runes or any sign of break in. Satisfied with the check, he twisted the doorknob. The runes recognized his magic, and the door swung open. Stepping inside, he removed his overcoat, put it on his hanger, and collapsed onto the sofa.
So much had changed since they had graduated from Hogwarts.
The Marauders had all chosen to take part in the war; Dumbledore had offered them a place in his organization, the Order of the Phoenix as well. At the time, it had all seemed too exciting. The feeling of being worthy enough to be chosen by Albus Dumbledore himself.....it had made them all feel special. It had made him feel special. Sirius may have been a hardcore Gryffindor at school, but the shadow of his family followed him everywhere despite that. Suspicious glances, poorly hidden flinches, the not-so-subtle whispering- he was well aware of the reputation his last name carried. Bellatrix had helped foster much of it after she joined up with the Death Eaters.
He grimaced. What an utter bitch his cousin was.
He had been afraid that people would start seeing him with the same eyes they looked upon at Bellatrix- scared, terrified out of their wits that he would curse them and their entire family. If only they could see beyond his family name, as his friends and Dumbledore did.
He stood up and went to take a shower. This apartment was something that he and James had rented together. It was a comfortable place to stay for two bachelors trying to make their way in the world. Being from considerably well-off families, their trust funds gave them enough of a breathing room till they started earning for themselves.
Sirius had loved living with James. Not only at the Potter house- a kindness he would remain grateful for all his life- but here too, in this apartment they had made their own. They had been unbearable to each other as roommates. James scolded him endlessly for leaving clothes wherever they happened to fall. Sirius, in turn, bristled every time James disrupted the careful order of his kitchen. There were dozens of small irritations like that, petty and constant, woven into their days.
And yet, the two years they spent here together had given Sirius some of his best memories. Laughter echoing down narrow hallways, late study nights that blurred into early mornings, the quiet comfort of knowing someone was always on the other side of the door. He wistfully let his hand brush over the door that had remained closed for the past 4 months.
Coming out of his shower, he swiftly fixed himself some sandwiches. Grabbing a book on illusions, he sat down to relax a little. Sirius had surprised himself with how eager to learn he was, especially after he had left Hogwarts. Like almost everything, it happened because of James. Of all the Marauders, Remus was the most studious and academically apt of them all. By comparison, he, Peter and James were slackers. However, by no means were they mediocre students. James excelled in transfiguration. Peter was a dab hand at potions. Sirius's talents lay in defence against the dark arts and, surprisingly, his family magic.
It was no surprise to any of them that Lily wanted to maintain her focus on further education after graduation. To her credit, she had managed to get an apprenticeship under Flitwick for a charms mastery. James, the love-sick bastard, the guy who'd rather debate the Quidditch league than sit down to study, actually decided to follow her lead.
He went ahead and applied to get into the ministry's mastery education program for transfiguration, and actually succeeded in getting in. It was one of the few times when Sirius was left utterly baffled by the actions of his best friend.
Sirius could tolerate being left behind by Lily. She was already the brightest witch of their generation. That much made sense. But being left behind by James? That was another matter entirely. Bafflement or not, Sirius Black was nothing if not competitive. He might not have been studious, but there was no universe in which he was going to be the one without a subject mastery.
Both of them split their study time and auror training. That single year after Hogwarts was the hardest Sirius had ever applied himself academically, and that was with keeping in mind their NEWT year. He had thrown himself into dark and defensive magic with a zeal that surprised not only himself, but his family as well. A mastery in defence against the dark arts required one to extensively study the dark arts. It was the one subject that his family excelled at.
Sirius had taken numerous books out of the family library to aid in his studying. Curses, counter-curses, protective charms, the mind arts, runic enchantments, curse-breaking, warding....for once, Sirius was thankful for being a part of the Black Family.
It was not easy work at all. Auror training left both of them exhausted by the time they returned to their apartment, with neither of them having the will or the energy to pick up their research. And yet, their competitive nature was what propelled both of them. If one of them picked up a book, the other would do so out of sheer pettiness to not be left behind. It was what made their convocation ceremony all the more special. More than his NEWTs, Sirius was proud of having achieved his defence mastery, and being one of the youngest to ever do so in the program's history.
He finished his sandwiches and closed the book. He needed to get a massage, preferably at the hands of a lovely woman. He scowled to himself as he washed the plates. It had been a whole two weeks since he'd gotten laid. That hadn't happened since his sixth year.
All the more evidence that being an auror tended to suck the life out of anyone. He needed to do something, and fast. Perhaps a visit to the local pub was in order?
Just as he was contemplating, his auror badge vibrated from the doorside bowl. Sirius groaned and resisted the urge to vanish that thing. His shift was over, dammit!
He crossed the room and snatched it up, the device flaring to life at his touch.
"Calling all available Aurors! Repeat, calling all available Aurors! The Longbottom residence has been attacked by Death Eaters. All available Aurors are to Apparate immediately!"
The words landed like a blow. Dread bloomed in his chest, sharp and immediate. Frank and Alice. Neville. The Order had known that the Potters and the Longbottoms were being targeted, but they didn't know who would be picked as the first target.
James and Lily were safe, he told himself. Fidelius. Untouchable. He clung to the thought, forced it to steady him. There was no time for anything else. "This is Auror Captain Sirius Black, badge 31159, acknowledging the call! Log in for overtime!"
A quick switching spell, robes snapping into place, instinct taking over where thought threatened to falter. He stepped forward and disapparated, the echo of the call still ringing in his ears. There was no time to waste.
The Longbottom residence was a manor whose grounds were surrounded by dense forests. It wasn't under the protection of the fidelius, but was still protected enough to be nearly unplottable. Only one road lead up to the manor, at the end of which was the apparition point. It worked in favour of the Longbottoms from a safety standpoint- any witch or wizard who was visiting had to apparate to that point and walk up half a kilometre to the manor. Anyone who tried to apparate closer would have a rather nasty bounce off.
The apparition point worked against the aurors tonight.
Sirius knew of it beforehand, which is why he didn't bother jumping over to it. Instead, he appeared with a soft pop in the forests behind the manor, a bit farther from the manor than the apparition point. He held his badge to his mouth as he walked. "This is Auror Captain Black reporting at Longbottom manor. Present team?"
"Senior Auror Rudolph here. I copy."
"Senior Auror Scott copying!"
"Junior Auror Adams here. I copy!"
"Report your status, Aurors."
"Scott here. The three of us are en route to the manor. ETA one minute. Orders, captain?"
"Silence and invisible approach, three-point formation. Watch out for alert wards and hidden Death Eaters. I'm approaching from the rear. If spotted, go for the kill. Let's keep this swift and clean, eh boys?"
"Roger that, captain."
"Roger that!"
"Roger."
Getting the confirmation, Sirius sent off a quick Patronus message to Dumbledore as well. He only hoped Dumbledore acted fast. Sirius pinned his badge back into place and broke into a run, shifting in the middle of a leap. That was another reason for taking the longer route. He didn't want even the Aurors catching on to the fact that he was an Animagus.
The change rippled through him, swift and familiar. By the time his feet hit the ground, he was no longer human but a great black shape moving on four limbs. A little-known fact was that Padfoot was less dog than wolf, all dark muscle and silent intent, tall enough at the shoulder to match an average man. He didn't slow, didn't look back. He simply ran. His speed was such that it didn't matter that he had appeared further from the manor.
The wards were obviously down, so he didn't bother changing back once he entered the grounds. He ran straight and true towards the back of the manor. His nose sniffed the air as he ran, picking apart the air for scents of hidden enemies. Finding none on the grounds, Sirius quickly reached the back entrance of the manor.
His ears caught screams from inside, a growl rising in his throat as he realised they were Frank and Alice. He also picked up laughter tinged with insanity. A woman's laughter.
So his deranged bitch of a cousin was here too. Right then.
He shifted back, casting silently at himself. He didn't want to be heard or seen. He made his way to the front, wand pointed ahead. The main hall came into the view, and Sirius had to take a moment to steady himself.
Bellatrix had her wand trained on Frank, a gleeful madness in her eyes as she kept him under the Cruciatus. Alice was also writhing on the ground, under the same curse by a man whose face had Sirius reeling.
Barty Crouch Jr. was a fucking Death Eater. Senior was going to lose his head when he learnt of this.
The screams were thinning, fraying at the edges, and with a sick certainty Sirius knew it had already gone on too long. The Cruciatus did that. It tore at more than flesh. Their throats would be ruined by now, voices shredded raw, and it wouldn't be long before pain finished what the curse had started and broke their minds entirely. There was no time to wait for for his team. If he hesitated, they would lose everything.
He moved.
"It's the Aurors!"
The shout rang out from outside, sharp and sudden. Both Death Eaters faltered, their attention snapping away as they turned in unison.
Perfect timing.
A wide-area Banishing Charm slammed into them, hurling Bellatrix and Crouch Jr. bodily into the far wall. They were good, Sirius gave them that much. Both managed a cushioning charm on instinct, saving bones if not dignity. Sirius didn't give them a second to recover. A blasting curse targeted beneath Crouch Jr.'s feet, the force launching him upward in a brutal arc. He hit the ceiling headfirst and went limp, unconscious before gravity reclaimed him and sent him crashing back to the floor. He wouldn't be walking for a while, that was for certain.
In the meanwhile, Sirius had summoned both Frank and Alice, directing them into kitchen and charming the door shut. They'd be relatively safe for now. He'd check for the residual curse damage later.
Bellatrix had gotten her feet beneath her in the meantime too, sending a purple curse at him with deadly accuracy. Sirius conjured a large block of wood in front of him which shattered into pieces upon being hit by the bone-exploding curse.
His cousin sure didn't play around.
He transfigured the broken pieces and splinters into a more circular, disc-like shape, and charmed them to orbit around him in an elliptical path. A dynamic shield which would actively intercept any spells, allowing him to focus on ramping up the offensive.
Bellatrix was twirling her hair with her wand, a sick smile on her face. "Hello little cousin. Fancy seeing you here."
Sirius nodded back. "Bitch."
*****
Bellatrix had been honoured when her lord had charged her with the attack on the Longbottom family. He trusted her so, so much. She would not betray his trust, oh she would not. The Longbottoms would suffer before they died, that was her vow to her master.
It wasn't long before they had the couple at their mercy. It infuriated her how they had the nerve to disrespect her lord so easily. The grandmother had taken the baby and hid herself somewhere in the manor. It was fine. They would get them eventually.
Holding them beneath the Cruciatus for daring to disrespect her Lord sent a shiver of delight straight through her. This was the best part. The point of it all. When a victim was helpless, when there was nowhere left to run, it became playtime. Killing with the curse was crude, almost boring. Too quick. No, the real artistry lay in patience, in drawing the sound out of them, in sculpting screams until they cracked into something raw and ruined. That was her gift, and she indulged it without restraint.
They'd stationed a few lesser Death Eaters outside, sentries more symbolic than useful. Bellatrix doubted they'd slow anyone for long, but it hardly mattered. Aurors would come too late, as they always did. Frank and Alice Longbottom would be finished well before then.
She laughed giddily as Frank's screams began to falter, thinning into broken, hoarse sounds. His throat was nearly destroyed now; soon his mind would follow, splintering under the weight of it. Breaking them was her charge, her sacred duty for those foolish enough to stand against her Lord. The Dark Lord would triumph. Of that, she had never doubted.
"It's the Aurors!"
Bellatrix broke the curse and turned with a scowl, as did Crouch. That was earlier than they expected. It seemed that the Aurors had stepped up their game a little. In any case, playtime was over. Just as she was turning to finish them, a banishing charm caught her in the back, throwing her straight into the walls. In the corner of her eye, she saw that Crouch had been thrown as well.
She hastily cast a cushioning charm to prevent herself from becoming a smear on the wall. She would have landed on her feet had it not been for the explosion beneath Crouch's feet. It threw her off balance, and she landed right on her shoulder. She twisted towards the back with a snarl, disregarding the pain. She fired off a bone-exploding curse on pure instinct at the figure standing at the back who had summoned the couple back with his wand, putting them into the dining room.
She got up and paused, a delighted smile slowly spreading on her face as she recognized who it was. Her wand came up to play with her hair, twirling it at the end as if it were a drawing room reunion instead of a crime scene. "Hello little cousin. Fancy seeing you here."
"Bitch."
She laughed. "Is that the best you can come up with, Siri?"
Her younger cousin stared at her with fury burning in his eyes. She liked that. She liked that very much. She noted the circular-shaped pieces of wood orbiting him. Neat trick, that. "I see you've been busy. Mind telling me where you learnt that?"
"How's old Voldy doing these days?"
She snarled and fired off a killing curse. "Keep his name out of your filthy mouth, blood-traitor!"
One of the discs orbiting him snapped straight into the curse's path, getting destroyed well before it reached him. Her cousin was smiling now, all teeth. "I do like the sound of that. Better than being the dark fucker's lapdog."
Bellatrix snapped off three curses in under a second, all launched with nothing more than a snarl. There was no laughter this time, no teasing preamble. Instinct and intent guided her hand.
For all her fondness for toying with Dumbledore's precious Order, Bellatrix had learned her lesson where Sirius was concerned. Somewhere along the way, her little cousin had become dangerous. Not in the loud, blundering way of lesser Aurors, but in the quiet, infuriating way of someone who learned, adapted, and refused to die when he was supposed to.
Twice now he had come close to turning the tables on her alone. Twice she had escaped only because something else had pulled his attention away at exactly the right moment. She did not delude herself about what that meant. Had those distractions not come, she would have paid for it in blood, bone, and curses she might never fully shake.
Bellatrix's grin returned, thinner now, edged with anticipation rather than mockery. Playtime was over. This was no longer indulgence or spectacle.
This was a duel.
Her cousin's shield did what it was charmed to- intercept any spell before it could reach him. Sirius answered with exploding hexes and cutting curses. Bellatrix had to both dodge and shield. Her cousin's advantage over her was that his entire focus was on his offensive, leaving his rotating shield to intercept the spells for him. His attention wasn't divided, unlike hers. She did note though, that the number of those discs had significantly reduced.
She'll have to strip him of his shield first. Then she'll corner him.
Ducking behind the sofa, she pointed at a broken off piece from the wall, transfiguring it into a hyena and animating it to charge at her cousin. Another piece of furniture transformed into a warthog that did the same from his other side. To top it off, she hurled a large ball of cursed fire at him too.
Sirius hadn't been idle while she worked her magic. In one smooth motion, he transfigured the remaining discs, their edges stretching and sharpening into pointed wooden cones. Half of them tore through the charging hyena, arresting it mid-stride. The rest punched cleanly into the warthog, dropping it in a heap of ruined flesh.
He didn't pause. His arms came together, left hand cupped as if grasping something unseen, right crossing it with deliberate force, like smashing two objects into the same space.
Even Bellatrix had to blink at what happened next.
The impaled bodies wrenched free of the ground and slammed together in front of him, bursting into a wet, violent collision. Flesh twisted and fused, bone grinding against bone as the mass reshaped itself into something wrong, a grotesque chimera that was neither hyena nor warthog and far worse than either. The thing barreled forward, plowing straight through her fireball and scattering it. Flames clung to it, but Sirius's protection and animation charms drove it on regardless, burning and relentless.
Bellatrix's wand was already moving to vanish it when Sirius's explosive hex struck home. The detonation tore the creature apart in a storm of blood, shattered bone, and mangled tissue, the force of it spraying her where she stood.
She couldn't get her shield up in time and hissed as fragments bit into her flesh, sharp pain blooming across her arms and shoulder. First blood to him.
Bellatrix smiled anyway, teeth red, eyes bright with approval. That, she had to admit, was wonderfully brutal of Sirius.
She twisted her wand into a reverse grip and drove the tip into the floor of the living room. The concrete erupted from the point in a tidal wave, heading towards her opponent. She gleefully laughed as Sirius failed to react to it in time and was tossed right up, yelping and limbs flailing.
Neither of them waited for him to land to cast their next magic. Bellatrix was fast and her target was Sirius, the entrail-expelling curse erupting from her wand. Sirius was already in motion, somehow faster even while weightless and off-balance. He didn't aim for her. He aimed upward. A Reductor curse detonated against the ceiling, shattering it into a rain of stone and timber that collapsed between them in a roaring cascade. Her curse crossed the room before the ceiling came down, but she wasn't sure if it struck Sirius or not.
Dust from the debris obscured her vision, and she hurried to press her advantage. She ran around from a side, moving to cast lightning where Sirius had likely fallen. Instead, she almost didn't shield in time as her cousin's next spell tore a hole right through the fallen ceiling. She banished the pieces of the ceiling caught by her shield back at him, charming them to explode as they reached him.
They passed right through his crouched form, blowing up the empty space. The next moment, spells came flying at her from three different directions. She snarled and pulsed her magic, ripping apart the illusions. She deflected the one spell that reached her to the side. "Your petty light tricks won't work on me this time, Siri!"
"They already have."
The voice came from her left flank. The bone-breaker was cast before the words even ended, but again it passed right through. Another illusion. A pulse shattered it easily.
In the split second she had glanced left, a spell came speeding at her from the opposite corner of the room. Sirius and her had essentially switched positions. Her shield came up well in time, but the curse passed right through it.....and through her. Her mind took a pause, processing the fact that it was just another illusion. It was a subconscious freeze rather than a magical one, the mind taking a moment to make sure that no damage had occurred.
It was a snap reboot of her being, taking place in an instant. However, her shield also had collapsed in that instant.
She felt an invisible spell collide with her mid-section, pushing her back a step. She pulsed her magic once more, shattering any and all other illusions that were in place. Sirius appeared into existence in the opposite corner, casting the concussion hex at her position. Dust was still floating in the air from the ceiling collapse, which is why his aim was a little off. The spell was targeting her left shoulder instead of her mid-section. She didn't know what he hit her with, so she'd have to end the fight fast.
She chose to counter-attack instead of shield. She stepped to the right, firing off a laceration hex at him.
.....or she would have, had she not twisted to the left instead of right, right into the concussion hex. Her eyes widened in panic as the hex collided cleanly with her throwing her right off her feet, into the wall behind her off which she bounced and landed painfully on the floor. The effects hit her right away, her vision blurring and her ears deafening. If she attempted to move, she was sure that she would slip into unconsciousness.
Only dimly did it register, as Sirius approached, that she had been outplayed. He'd cast two illusions.
The first was the illusion of having fired a spell, one that passed right through her and lowered her guard for that split second. The second was subtler, and far more dangerous. He'd wrapped the entire room in illusion, smoothing reality just enough to make it appear as though no second spell had ever been cast at all. A masterful deception meant to sell absence itself. He couldn't render the actual spell invisible so instead, he made everything else lie.
The 'invisible' spell that hit her was probably the inversion hex, causing her to move in the opposite direction of her intent.
She felt her lips upturn just a little even in defeat. That was very well played, little Siri.
Sirius breathed hard and slow, trying to keep his food contained in his guts. Bellatrix's entrail-expeller had landed cleanly, faster than he had collapsed the ceiling to shield himself. Had it not been for his knowledge of its counter-curse, the fight and his life would have already been over.
Even though he'd cast the counter curse in time, he was still feeling a little queasy. He walked towards her with steady steps. He didn't want to risk vomiting due to sudden movement. Swift waves of his wand had Bellatrix sitting upright and bound tightly in magical cuffs. He charmed the cuffs to be unbreakable, and to burn her if she attempted to use any magic as further precaution, and summoned her wand to himself.
"That's checkmate, cousin."
"Haaaa...." Bellatrix wheezed out, her head tilted back. That demented smile hadn't fled her face even as she was beat. "Siri is goooood....he beat big bad Bella....."
Sirius ignored her ramblings and knelt before her. "It's over for you, Bellatrix. And pretty soon, it'll be over for your master as well."
His cousin just wheezed out a chuckle, head rolling from side to side. She was truly out of it, and Sirius had no intention of casting the counter-hex just yet. He turned to the other side of the room, where Crouch Jr. was still lying unconscious. He quickly bound him up as well.
"Man down!"
His head snapped towards the entrance, outside of which the fight was still going on. He quickly disillusioned himself and hurried outside, where the Aurors were down to two against four. Two death eaters were lying to the side, most probably dead. One of the Aurors had fallen on his back, eyes wide but breathing.
Sirius was completely out of patience with these fuckers.
The Death Eaters were far too occupied to properly react in time to the blast of white fire that raced towards them from the side. All four were instantly incinerated. Sirius hurried to the downed Auror. He was waving his wand even as he yelled out. "Status!"
Adams responded. "Hit by an unknown curse."
"More like the blood-freezing curse," Sirius muttered out as he finished his diagnosis. Scott had turned an alarming shade of blue by now, body temperature dropping by second due to the blood-flow slowing down. He leaned so that he could see into the Auror's eyes. "Scott, you've been hit by the blood-freezing curse. I can counter it, but your magic is very erratic right now and we have very little time. Use your occlumency and calm down."
There was panic in Scott's eyes, but he gave a shaky nod and closed them. Sirius began waving his wand in looped infinity pattern across Scott's heart, muttering the counter-curse chant. A red wave of sparkling magic became visible as Sirius neared the end of the chant. Softly tapping in the middle the imaginary infinity, he finished the chant.
"Sanguis moveat, calor redeat, vita fluat".
The red magic seeped right into the body, and colour rapidly began to return to Scott. Sirius and Rudolph helped him sit up. "Alright man?"
Scott shakily nodded. "I'm fine."
Sirius clapped him on the back. "You will be, though I advise you not to use magic for at least the next hour."
Turning to the others, he relayed the situation. "Call the office and tell them that the situation is under control. Bellatrix and Crouch Jr. have been subdued. Also call St. Mungos and call for two healers. Frank and Alice have had prolonged exposure to the Cruciatus. I'm going to go and check on them."
Adams and Rudolph gaped at him. "Crouch Jr.? As in, Barty Crouch Jr.?! He's a Death Eater too?!"
Sirius nodded as he got up. "Call it in, will ya?"
He moved briskly back into the manor. Bellatrix had slumped against the wall, apparently dozing, her head lolled at an awkward angle. Crouch was still unconscious, exactly where he had fallen.
Sirius unlocked the dining room door and dropped to one knee beside the table. It wasn't a pretty sight. Frank and Alice were awake, bodies trembling uncontrollably, small, broken sounds of pain slipping from them despite their efforts to hold it in. But they were awake. They were reacting.
That mattered.
Shaking, whimpering, still able to feel and express pain. Those were signs he clung to with fierce relief. After the Cruciatus, it meant the curse hadn't taken everything. Their minds were battered, but unbroken.
It will be a long road to recovery, but Neville would still grow up with his parents alive.
The popping outside had him up on his guard, but he relaxed a little upon seeing the healers entering the house. "Can you confirm the correct procedure for a kettle that won't stop screaming?"
The healers paused. The one on the left furrowed her brow, causing Sirius to grip his wand a little tighter. The one on the right stepped forward. "Unplug it, reassure it that it isn't dying, and check whether it's actually a teapot under a hex. If it bites, file form seventeen-B and fetch the burn salve."
Sirius tilted his head, gaze flickering to the left one who was now blushing. The healer on the right flatly responded. "Greenhorn."
Ah, a freshie. Understandable. Code phrases weren't exactly simple.
He let the healers get busy and called Adams inside. "Keep in eye on them. Escort them to St. Mungos accordingly."
"Understood captain."
Walking out, he saw that a few more Aurors had arrived and were securing Bellatrix and Crouch Jr. Mad-eye was one of them, and he grinned when he saw Sirius walk out. "Smashing work Black! Bloody well done!"
He hobbled towards Sirius and and gave him two loud thumps on his back, nearly sending him sprawling to the ground. Old or not, he was built like a battering ram. But Sirius found himself grinning as he straightened up. That was the highest praise he'd ever received from Moody. "Not bad, eh head auror?"
"Not bad? You bloody well caught two of the dark lord's closest lieutenants."
He shook his head, eye whirling about and keeping a watch on everybody. "We've been chasing after Bellatrix for years, so this is a bloody big win. As for Crouch Jr...." he grimaced, causing his face to look even more gnarly. "Merlin help him when he finds out. Who would've thought the head of DMLE's son to be a Death Eater?"
"Not me, that's for sure. How do you figure about him being one of the tosser's closest lieutenants?"
Moody leaned in, close enough that Sirius could see his reflection in the whirling blue eye. "Because we've got a confirmed list of the Dark Lord's inner circle. Lestrange. Malfoy. Parkinson. Macnair. Names everyone knows, names that don't bother hiding." His voice dropped, rough and certain. "And Crouch Jr.'s not on it."
He straightened slightly, jaw tightening. "That doesn't mean he wasn't close. It means he was trusted. I'd wager my other leg that the Dark Lord went out of his way to keep the boy off the books."
Sirius nodded slowly, turning the facts over in his head. As Crouch's son, junior would have intimate access to the inner workings of the DMLE. Passing on invaluable information while not being suspected in the least due to being the head's son....it was a sick, twisted gamble that they did not know for how long had been working.
Another thought struck him. "Where was the Order? I sent the Patronus to Dumbledore ages ago."
Moody scowled. "Too busy, just like the Aurors. Death Eaters raided a few other places as well. Our numbers were too spread out to be of any real help."
"Siri~"
Bellatrix was singing his nickname as Aurors dragged her away. Moody patted him on the shoulder one last time. "Get some rest, Sirius. You've done enough for tonight." He limped towards the Aurors. It felt good to know that he was personally escorting her to the cells. Less chance of an accident occurring. "Alright you lot! Let's hurry up and get this bitch into a holding cell!"
Bellatrix laughed as Moody roughly grabbed her by the arm, dragging her to the apparition point. She leaned back enough that she looked at him upside down. "You have a rat in your nest, little Siri~"
Sirius froze. So did Moody, but he recovered faster and continued hauling her off but not before giving Sirius a look.
How....did Bellatrix know about Peter?
Slowly, he followed after the group to the apparition point. Thoughts were churning in his head like a maelstrom. What exactly did Bellatrix mean by that? Was she talking about Peter, or was there a spy within the Order's ranks, or was there a spy within the Auror office?
Neither of those possibilities were comforting to think about.
*****
Sirius popped back into his apartment, feeling more exhausted than he had in weeks. He tossed his overcoat on the hangar and went straight to the kitchen, pulling out a cold beer. He popped off the cap and took a long swig from the bottle, all but falling into the armchair in relief.
What a night.
After years of chasing ghosts and bleeding for inches, it had been Sirius who finally brought Bellatrix in. The irony wasn't lost on him. Fate, apparently, had a taste for cruelty, pitting family against family just to see who would break first. He snorted and took another pull from the bottle, the burn grounding him.
The fallout would be spectacular.
His mother would scream, of course. A torrent of outrage, betrayal, disgrace. She always screamed. His father was dead, having died from a disease two years ago. Sirius found he didn't care. Aunts and uncles barely registered. Let them bloody howl.
Regulus lingered at the edges of his thoughts. He hadn't heard from his brother in a while, and that absence sat wrong in his chest. On one hand, it was a relief. Regulus was a Death Eater, and Sirius was grimly thankful he hadn't been forced to cross paths with him yet. Regulus already hated him. Sirius had no desire to be the one who put the cuffs on him.
And yet, the silence worried him. Sirius usually heard things, fragments and whispers about what Regulus was doing, where he'd been seen. The war was loud that way. People left traces. That he'd heard nothing at all these past few weeks felt less like peace and more like the calm before something went terribly, irrevocably wrong.
His grandfather.....he had no idea how the old man would react. Arcturus Black was unpredictable like that, but Sirius hadn't spoken to him in years. He let Sirius live as he wanted, sending him letters to tell him what was going on within the family. Every month, Sirius was informed of a deposit made in his trust vault, courtesy of his grandfather. He had no idea why he still did, as Sirius was earning on his own, but he didn't think much of it. Sirius spent more from his salary these days anyway.
He took another swig, letting his head fall back against the chair. He should sleep. Merlin knew he was tired, every muscle aching, nerves still buzzing. But Bellatrix's words refused to stay buried, circling his thoughts like carrion birds.
A rat in the nest. That meant a spy. Simple as that.
The question was which nest.
If it was the Auror Office, then they were already compromised in ways Sirius didn't like to imagine. A mole hunt would have to start immediately. Everyone knew Voldemort had his tendrils sunk into the Ministry, but knowing and proving were two very different beasts. Too many protections, too many "safeguards." And too many purebloods hiding behind them.
Pureblood privacy laws made his teeth itch. A convenient shield, legally untouchable, that let suspected Death Eaters refuse Veritaserum without consequence. Sirius had half a mind to hunt down whoever had authored that piece of legislative stupidity and introduce their head to a wall, repeatedly.
Bellatrix hadn't said it outright, but she'd all but confirmed it. One of Voldemort's closest, moving unseen, protected, trusted. That kind of access didn't happen by accident. Crouch Jr. was living proof of that.
If there was one small mercy in it, it was this: a statement like that, coming from someone like her, might finally give Crouch and Moody the excuse they needed. Not just to investigate, but to tear the place apart properly. No half measures. No polite constraints.
On the other hand, if it was the Order then it was harder to tell. Sirius did have one suspect in mind though.
Sirius's thoughts took a darker turn as they drifted to one of his friends. He and Remus hadn't spoken properly in quite a while. Remus by nature was a little shy, even among the Marauders, but their last few talks had Remus not quite meet his eyes. He would always try to cut the conversation short, try to leave Sirius's presence as soon as he could. That kind of suspicious behaviour had alarms ringing in Sirius's mind.
Sirius too started keeping up his guard around Remus, which led to the further meetings become less of a talk between friends and more of cool greetings among acquaintances. War had changed all of them in the worst ways possible.
He didn't know where Remus was right now, but he didn't care to as of the moment. Probably somewhere secluded, preparing for the full moon night tomorrow.
By habit his thoughts turned to his other friend. Sirius trusted Peter far more than he did Remus right now. Not only did they meet up regularly, but also that Peter was far more open in his conversations with Sirius. Sure he was nervous whenever he spoke, whether it was information about Death Eaters or just his family being worried for him, but Sirius had never known Peter to not be nervous.
Peter was safe. He was hidden in a London safehouse which only a select few Order members knew, so Sirius wasn't too worried about him even if Bellatrix was talking about him, and that was a big if.
He set the bottle down on the table and pushed himself to his feet, fatigue finally winning out. Bed. That was all he wanted. James was safe, tucked away with his family in the cottage at Godric's Hollow, sealed under the Fidelius. There was no need to worry there at all.
Sirius slowed.
His hand came to rest on the doorknob, fingers curling around it without turning. The thought replayed, uninvited, and this time it didn't slide past so easily.
James was well-hidden with his family at his cottage in Godric's Hollow under the Fidelius charm.
Safe. Protected. Hidden.
The secret keeper was—
The world seemed to tilt.
Peter.
The word echoed, hollow and wrong.
Peter was their secret keeper.
A cold, crawling dread spread through Sirius's chest, each heartbeat making it worse, not better. His grip tightened on the doorknob until his knuckles went white.
No. No, no, no.
James was not well-hidden with his family at his cottage in Godric's Hollow under the Fidelius charm.
The realization slammed into him with brutal clarity, stealing the air from his lungs. He didn't reach for his coat. Didn't think, didn't hesitate. He disapparated with a violent crack, panic and certainty tearing him out of the room.
Something was terribly, terribly wrong.