The Everlasting Day

8

'...I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye...'

- 'The Catcher In The Rye', J.D Salinger

************************************************************************************************

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 slow 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. 'You know what he means to me. You don't seriously think I'd really endanger him like that, do you?'

'No, of course not,' she reassured him with a gentle shove, 'I'm nervous and babbling. Just ignore me.'

'I usually do,' he grinned back.

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,' she said. '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.

'Look, 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.'

'Yeah...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 and tapped himself on the head, muttering, '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 and he shimmered indistinctly for a few seconds before disappearing completely.

'You still there?' Ariadne said, extending her hand and groping around in the air at the point at which 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 said sulkily as he grasped her fingers.

'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,' he added roguishly.

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 her, watching 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. 'Are you 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?'

She threw an equally obsequious smile straight back at him. '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, gradually growing in structure and solidity.

Ariadne smiled knowingly as a murmur went around the room while everyone watched the incandescent shape stop beside Malfoy. Eventually, from the feet upwards, Sirius' form appeared.

'Good evening, Malfoy,' he said gravely, 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. 'Quite an entrance. But then, I forgot, you do like to make an impression, don't you? So what makes you think this is the seat, Black?' he responded, a touch defensively.

'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 approvingly 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, Black. 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 an eyebrow in disapproving scorn. 'Then it seems as though you need all the help you can get, doesn't it?' 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 to stop him.

'You won't be needing to do that. I've had enough of manacles and chains, Malfoy, where I've been the past twelve years. I won't be restrained. I don't need to be, I won't be moving. 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, despite his time in prison. 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 sighed and 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. Even without words, he understood her and 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. Actually, it was like a leisurely stroll along a beach compared to contact with 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.

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

'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 abilities before and they were uncertain about this stranger in their midst.

Eventually, Sirius released Malfoys' grip and turned to the last armchair beside Ariadne. He sat down, glancing around to make sure that everyone's attention was fixed back on Malfoy before he reached for her hand. She was shaking, her fingers like ice as he squeezed them reassuringly, desperate to stop the tears that were welling in her eyes from falling as she looked at him. 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...' Malfoy nodded towards Sirius and Ariadne, '...know where our Headquarters are. Bertrand Floris 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 within the parchments as Sirius and Ariadne held them. 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 disdainfully, much to the surprise of all the others who turned to gape at the forthright 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,' Sirius replied, openly mocking Malfoy with his flippant tone, '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 for his attendants, Black. 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 darkly. '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, Black?' Malfoy asked sinuously.

'Not at all. I am merely registering my concern because I, more than anyone else here, am aware of how Pettigrew is capable of playing one side off against the other. The Dark Lord will not be able to see his intentions because they change according to who has the upper hand at the time. I am sure that Wormtail is very loyal at the moment, but if he is captured, he will betray us all. He is weak and cowardly. He betrayed me, he betrayed the Dark Lord when confronted. He is a liability and he has to be exterminated like the vermin he is. Sooner rather than later. He is more of a liability than ever now that you have revealed that he still lives and have blackened his name to the Ministry.'

Malfoy paused, considering. After a tense few seconds, he blinked slowly, glanced sideways at Narcissa and then sucked in a sharp breath through barely parted lips.

'Perhaps you have a point,' he admitted carefully, 'Wormtail has been known to be weak in the past, but the Dark Lord is aware of his deceit. It is within our plans to give him to the Ministry in order to give you your freedom, Black. The Dark Lord has his own reasons.'

'But he will still betray us, Malfoy. You told the Ministry that you have seen him and they believe you because of the power and influence you have. We don't need Wormtail any longer. Give him to me. The Dark Lord does not need him. There are others here who may be used whose loyalty is without question. It will make no difference to you either way. Pettigrew's dead body will do just as well to give to the Ministry as his live one. I want him, Malfoy. I owe him for taking the last twelve years of my life away from me.'

'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, toxic venom in his voice before.

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

'I think we are getting ahead of ourselves, Black. You forget that your own loyalty has not been tested yet. 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,' he smiled coldly.

What bothered Ariadne more than anything was the superior satisfaction that lay beneath that smile and she shivered involuntarily, 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.'

'Who?' Sirius asked, sounding a little unsettled himself now.

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

'Severus Snape.'

Ariadne squeezed Sirius' fingers so tightly that he felt something crunching 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.

'I'm not sure that would be wise, Malfoy,' Sirius said in the strongest voice he could find. 'It's early days for me, people will still be suspicious.'

'But Snape won't be. Dumbledore knows the truth and Snape trusts him. When you go to Dumbledore, there won't be any problems. You and Ariadne were allowed in to the Death Eaters on the premise that you would infiltrate Hogwarts - you are not rescinding on that now, are you?'

'No. Of course not.'

'Well then, there are no problems, are there?' Malfoy said triumphantly.

'No,' Sirius was forced to admit. He didn't need to be good at legilimency to know what Ariadne was thinking at that moment though and he knew that they would have to leave soon because the act was becoming too hard to maintain. '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. You can accomplish the mission by then, Black?'

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

Malfoy nodded victoriously, 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 whispered urgently to 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.

'Good meeting, Malfoy,' he said, shaking his hand, 'I just wanted you to convey my thanks to the Dark Lord on his hospitality.'

'Of course. You will be useful to him. As I mentioned in the letter, it will be safe for you by tomorrow, the day after at the very least. 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...'

'Not now, 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, her voice thin, high and terrified as she tore off her cloak, threw it onto the sofa and started pacing up and down her living room. 'You were right...I should have listened to you...'

'Calm down, Ariadne,' he said authoritatively, coming up behind her, taking her by the shoulders and turning her around to face him. 'We can handle this. We have a week. We can sort it out.'

'How?' she demanded. 'They're going to torture and kill my brother, Sirius! Even if we don't do it, he's been marked and someone else will! He's my brother for god's sake...how the hell are we supposed to sort this out?'

'Look, you know how I feel about him, but I'm not going to give him to the Death Eaters - what on earth kind of person would that make me?'

'You shouldn't have pushed Malfoy,' she said, shrugging herself out of his arms. 'You and that bloody ego of yours...you pushed him...you goaded him...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?'

'Yes, I do, Sirius! Banging on about your wanting Peter dead, 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 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,' he retorted defensively. '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 sat back and done nothing for long enough, Ariadne! 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 want 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? Nothing...he never was. 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 was my brother, Sirius! He's my brother! How dare you play games with my family?'

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

'I'm not going to listen to this, Ariadne. 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'm risking just as much as you are!' he added angrily, turning back to face her. 'You knew that it was going to be like this, I warned you. If anyone thinks this is a game, it's you! How dare you say things like that to me when I sat in that cell for twelve 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 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? The mental and physical torture I endured? Like hell you do! So if I am "self absorbed" and "vain",' he spat the words as though they left a foul taste in his mouth, 'then I think I've got every bloody right to be!'

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.