Fate

Chapter 27 - You're Not My Son

Sirius had never been a patient person. His one major pet peeve was sitting around while others did the work, or played the game or, at the very least, got into trouble.

It took all his willpower not to leave the castle and go get Arianna himself.

But it wasn't his place, no, he knew that much. But sending out his two young versions of his best friends and his younger self took all the willpower that Sirius had.

It was all up to them at the moment.

And all Sirius could do was sit...sit and wait.

----

They crept silently....stealthily, towards the run down house on the almost completely abandoned street. Three Marauders. That had been Sirius' great plan.

'Sirius' himself could see it working, as he had the same impossibility thinking as his older counterpart. But he also could see it not working, as all plans go, and so he still had doubts.

Neither James nor 'Remus' had yet to make any smart comments about the impossibility of the plan, for which 'Sirius' was grateful. Even with Emily still lying very weak in the hospital bed back in Hogwarts and Arianna in Cetus' clutches, 'Sirius' had to have the faith that things would still work out. The time travelers had been optimistic when the Young Marauders had left, but 'Sirius' could see the fear in his older self's face and his silent pleading that all would go off smoothly.

Well, 'Sirius' didn't have to be told twice. This plan was either going to come off without a hinge, or he knew right now that he wouldn't be able to comprehend the consequences.

Finally making it to number sixty-six, all three of them paused in the shadows of the flickering streetlamp.

"Ready?" Sirius whispered without looking back at the other two.

----

The words all blurred together on the page that Harry was trying to read and he felt his headache becoming increasingly worse. The eerie silence of the school was unnerving to him and he could practically see the shadows from the tall walls of book jumping out to grab him.

Glancing at his watch once more, Harry sighed deeply, wondering just how far along 'Sirius', 'Remus' and James were. According to plan, they would just be getting to the house.

Though Harry knew from experience, that things like this rarely went according to plan.

----

They began systematically checking the house, careful to not use traceable spells. 'Sirius' and 'James' handled most of this, being experienced because of their Auror training. They found that Cetus must have at least had some dignity, as there appeared to be only two people in the building.

'Sirius' prayed that one of them was Arianna.

Finally, after doing as much as they could in ways of protecting the house and 'Sirius' they split up: 'Remus' staying in the shadows in the front and keeping a watch, and James tracking around to the back, staying in clear view of a basement window so that 'Sirius' could send him a signal if things went wrong.

But most of the plan was left to 'Sirius' and he entered the house cautiously, hoping with all his might that he would be able to pull this off.

----

Remus sat in a chair in the hospital room, exhaustion covering his face as he continued to stare out the window into the dark Friday night. He turned slightly when he heard something, but saw that Emily had merely groaned in her sleep softly.

His eyes moved all the way down to her face and he felt another jolt of anxiety as he saw her tattered frame. Yes, she had woken up, but she still hadn't said a word and she had fallen unconscious again almost twelve hours ago, Remus keeping a silent vigil by her bed as the memories from his time with her flooded back into his mind.

He moved his hand to cover hers, giving it a soft squeeze that she didn't return.

His eyes moved back to the window and he sat still again. Waiting.

----

"Hello, blood traitor."

'Sirius' at once had to stop himself from lashing out as he heard his father's voice. He hadn't communicated with his father in nearly three years and thrust into such a perilous situation with him was not only trying his patience, but his temper.

There was a reason he had run away all those years ago.

"You've got a lot of nerve," 'Sirius' hissed out, furious with the man who now stood before him. The Blacks might have been more human than Voldemort, but Sirius still had trouble thinking of them as living, breathing human beings. They certainly had never acted like it. "Prey upon the weak to control the powerful, is that Voldemort's new teachings to you?"

Cetus stepped out of the shadows, chuckling deeply at his son's temper no doubt. "Weak? I'd hardly call the Mudblood weak, blood traitor. No, she did put up a good fight, but we all knew who was going to win in the end." He snapped his fingers and two torches sprang to life behind him, illuminating a bloodied and beaten Arianna, crumpled on the floor.

'Sirius' cried out, starting to rush towards her, but was blocked by a magical shield five feet from where she lay. His eyes were wild and wide as he simply looked at her, almost shouting for joy as she moved slightly, moaning in pain.

"I don't like to beat around the bush," Cetus said carelessly, coming up behind 'Sirius' and grabbing him by the shoulder to spin him around.

'Sirius' eyes were filled with tears when he locked eyes with his father and he suddenly felt unyielding fear well up inside of him, the entire plan rushing out of his mind as he hurriedly fought to remember the things that Sirius had told him.

"He taunted me for almost thirty minutes before he actually...before he killed her. Taunted me by torturing her..." Sirius voice cracked. "If you want to save her, you've got to figure out a way to keep his attention on you and not her."

Cetus laughed at 'Sirius'' tears. "Why so sad, Sirius? She's only a mudblood after all..."

Before 'Sirius' could react, Cetus had already started the taunting and Arianna's screams tore through his heart.

----

Lily watched 'Harry' play in front of her, watching, but not really watching.

She thought of Arianna.

She thought of Sirius.

She thought of James.

She thought of Harry.

"Mommy?"

She turned to 'Harry's' small voice and found him to be right in front of her, holding out one of his magical blocks for her to take. She smiled at him slightly, taking it and holding it out so that he could take it back if he wanted. Maybe it was all babies, but 'Harry' always seemed to have a hard time deciding what toy he wanted to play with and what toy he wanted her to play with.

'Harry', though, seemed to be in rare form today and merely toddled off again, going back to the rest of his blocks. Her eyes followed his movements and she felt them filling with tears as he babbled on and on to himself and his toys, not realizing anything

Not realizing anything.

As he broke out into childish laughter about a tower of blocks falling down, Lily hung her head, tears flowing freely down her face and her shoulder bobbing as she sobbed.

----

"STOP IT! LET HER BE!" 'Sirius' cried out, cursing loudly and practically tackling his father, turning his wand away from his fiancé, dying inside as he heard her lingering whimpers and sobs, even though the curse had been lifted from her. 'Sirius' wanted to sob himself, realizing for the first time why it had been so difficult for Sirius to remember the details.

'Sirius' wanted to forget already.

Cetus just chuckled again, pulling away from his son and smiling evilly at him. "You know, your mother and I never understood you, from the first time you could walk and talk. We had always wondered what we had done wrong." He was talking in a mocking voice, acting as if it was 'Sirius' who had strayed down the dark road.

'Sirius' had turned again and had both his hand up on the invisible shield that kept him from Arianna. His mind was racing. Sirius had said nothing about a shield. In fact, several times Sirius had mentioned that he had taken curses for Arianna, that is, until Cetus had bound him to a chair and made him watch. He was also racking his brain, trying to figure out how Cetus' curses made it through the shield, but 'Sirius' himself couldn't.

"I guess I was just lucky enough to not listen as a child," 'Sirius' bit back, turning to face his father once more, deciding to not give him the pleasure of seeing his son so heartbroken.

Cetus smirked. "Distracting will not help you. Or her."

He fired off another Crucio, and this time 'Sirius' was ready for it. He threw himself in line of the red light, trying, but failing to bite back his screams as an unforgivable curse struck his body.

----

James used all his willpower not to rush into the house as he heard 'Sirius'' screams echoed from the house. Hearing Arianna's screams had been bad enough. This was driving James crazy and he didn't know how much longer his willpower would hold out against his loyalty to his best friend.

He tried to distract himself by glancing around the darkened woods behind the house. As 'Sirius'' screams finally stopped, James breathed out in relief and hoped that 'Sirius' would be able to get the upper hand soon.

Not soon enough though...

James raised his wand slightly as he saw a shadow of a man creeping its way through the forest towards sixty-six Bishop's Mews.

---

'Sirius' bit back another cry as he was thrown against the wall, stars dancing in his vision as he tried to stay conscious, all the time relishing in the fact that Cetus was now focused on him rather than Emily. He felt his wand, which was still hidden in a holster on his upper left arm, dig into his side and he started forming a plan as to how he would send James the signal. It had to be when Cetus least expected it, that's for sure. And for that, 'Sirius' needed to taunt him a little more.

"Loosing your touch, old man," he croaked out, picking himself up off the floor where Cetus had dropped him too and wiping the blood off his lips, trying to look defiant. "You'd never last a minute in the Auror Divison."

But instead of cursing him again, as 'Sirius' had been intending, Cetus turned his wand back to Arianna.

'Sirius' tried to jump forward again, but Cetus flicked his wand carelessly, flinging him into one of the rickety chairs and causing ropes to spring up, binding him to the chair.

'Sirius' could only cry out in horror as Arianna's screams filled the air again.

----

Dumbledore paced his study, careful to not let his footsteps make a sound as he reviewed the plan again, trying to rationalize his decision to let the three boys go on their own. Sirius had pointed out that if 'Sirius' brought back-up, Cetus would most likely kill Arianna instantly. Also, the fact that Sirius had tried to curse Cetus on sight when he had gone through this and that had only resulted in a destroyed wand before Sirius had a chance to do anything of value made reason for 'Sirius'' wand needing to be hid.

A soft trill from Fawkes brought him out of his musings and he padded over to the beautiful bird, reaching up to stroke his long feathers softly. Fawkes trilled again, bringing a wave of comfort that washed over Dumbledore as he stood alone in his office.

A distant cry from a wolf caused Dumbledore to look back out of his window into the still August night.

Albus Dumbledore considered himself a relatively clever and smart man, able to read people and situations quite easily due to his years of experience. But if anyone had asked him days ago what he would be doing, he would never have imagined this.

Anything but this.

----

The last time that 'Sirius' could remember doing wandless magic had been right before his fourth year, accidentally, but purposefully, making him mother go mute for a while day and causing his father to be able to speak in nothing but bubbles. He had received such a terrible punishment for it that since then he had never allowed himself to get so wound up. It only ended bad.

But he couldn't hold his power back anymore. For almost a full minute Arianna's screams had torn him to shreds and he knew that if he didn't stop it soon he was going to pass out from the mixture of fear, hate, anger and rage.

So he wasn't too surprised as the ropes binding him shrived away from existence and how a powerful wind swept through the room, knocking both him and his father to the ground.

Thankfully Arianna's cries ceased.

'Sirius' scrambled up, about to reach for his hidden wand before saw a wand pointed directly at his heart and he looked up, seeing his father's fuming face glaring at him.

The tricks were done. Time for the trump card.

----

Remembering his Auror training, James managed to stay unseen from the shadow until he knew he could surprise him. His wand was continually trained on the form and only lowered after James fired off a stunning spell and rushed forward as the figure dodged it easily, like he knew it was coming.

Too frustrated to be startled, James used the old fashion method and leapt on his opponent, wrestling him almost too easily to the ground and only stopping as the person's hood flipped back and he saw who it was.

"Peter!?"

----

"Enough of this!" Cetus bellowed in his face, spewing him with spit. "I want your answer now!"

'Sirius' heart raced with fear. "I-I..."

"Sirius....Siri...no..." 'Sirius' gasped in horror upon hearing Arianna's gasping and scratchy voice. He whipped his head up to look at her and they connected gazes for a full second.

Cetus flicked his wand casually over at Arianna, sending a lethal cutting curse that tore through her leg violently and she screamed loudly. On instinct, 'Sirius' moved towards her, but was stopped by the sharp point of his father's wand in his chest.

"Now, Sirius," he said maliciously, wildness dancing in his eyes that 'Sirius' could only compare to insanity. "Your love or your allegiance? Of course if you choose love, it won't make much of a difference." He glanced casually back at a sobbing Arianna who couldn't seem to move. Turning back to 'Sirius' he grinned again. "She'll probably bleed to death anyway."

Rage like a giant wave tore through 'Sirius' and he felt the unseen power of magic crackling in him again as he heard his father's taunting words. But he did not need the magic, no not this time. Without thinking of the consequences, 'Sirius' hand came up faster than lightning, punching his father straight in the face.

----

"Peter!?"

James could only gape for a moment as he looked down at the man beneath him. It surly was Peter, his eyes wide in surprise as he looked at James who was poised on top of him. Too late for his liking, James snapped out of it and his fist came up, punching Peter right in the face two or three times before he scrambled up off of him, pulling the ex-marauder up with him and punching him once again for good measure, causing him to fall back to the ground, whimpering in pain.

James was too enraged to care.

"How dare you!? How dare you!?" He cried in rage, forgetting the detail of secrecy that they were supposed to be taking into account on this mission. All rationality went out the door as James came face to face with Peter, trying to remember why only five days ago they had been best friends and now they were sworn enemies.

"James....James, please..." Peter whimpered pitifully, cowering on the ground, his nose bleeding from James' punches.

But James wasn't going to fall for it. There was no way. He whipped out his wand again and with a shaky hand, pointed it at his one-time brother, his one-time friend.

----

Cetus obviously hadn't been expecting 'Sirius' resort to the so-called "muggle technique" of fighting back, so he practically went down with one punch. His head jerked violently back and thought he didn't loose grip on his wand, 'Sirius' wondered if he was actually going to fall backwards.

But there was no such luck. Cetus recovered quicker than 'Sirius' expected and he lunged towards 'Sirius' obviously resorting to the muggle technique as well. 'Sirius' managed to back away enough to that Cetus could only grab his arm, but that seemed to be enough for the elder Black.

Just as 'Sirius' was about to break free, Cetus' grip tightened forcefully, causing 'Sirius' to gasp in pain. Not stopping there, Cetus jerked his arm sharply, twisting it around and forcing 'Sirius' to his knees, wincing in pain as his father held his arm behind his back, his nails digging into 'Sirius' skin so hard that they drew blood.

Cetus leaned down right next to 'Sirius' ear, whispering maliciously.

"Right about now is when you beg me for mercy."

----

'Remus'' head perked up as he heard muffled cries from the backyard and he at once jumped to his feet, forgetting his own watch and rushing towards James.

As he rounded the corner, the first thing he saw was a livid James, standing up tall with his wand pointed downward at a withering form curled up in a ball below him. 'Remus' might have called out to him, but he suddenly got close enough to hear the person's voice.

"Mercy! Mercy, please!! James! Please! I didn't mean it!"

A surge of anger went through his heart, so unlike the calm, collected disposition that he normally had, and 'Remus' at once whipped out his wand, running up to James' side. James turned just barely as he came up to him, but he already seemed to have sensed that it was Remus there and he merely gave him a chilling look before turning back to the sobbing form of their former best friend lying on the ground before them.

Peter seemed positively horrified at seeing both of them there. He seemed to have lost his voice for he simply gaped at them, trying his best to blend in with the ground below him.

James and 'Remus' couldn't seem to find words either. This confrontation had been coming long enough and they both knew what they wanted to do. The only piece missing was...

Both their thoughts were interrupted by a blood-curdling scream from the house behind them. A very familiar scream.

----

"Never," 'Sirius' managed to gasp out as he felt his arm being literally torn in two. He would never have believed his father to be so strong,

He didn't see Cetus move, but he heard more of Arianna's screams in the background and Cetus twisted his arm even further, making him gasp in pain again.

"Wrong answer son..."

"Leave. Her. Alone." He said through gritted teeth, wondering why James and 'Remus' hadn't come in yet. If he hadn't given the signal by fifteen minutes, they were supposed to take that as a sign that he really needed help. Where were they? Surly it had been at least fifteen minutes?

"You know what I think?" Cetus' voice purred in his ear.

"What?" 'Sirius' spat out.

"I think that even if I kill this girl you won't turn." He paused and 'Sirius' didn't dare hope that he was actually not going to kill Arianna. "I think that you've been around those bloody Order members for too long, not to mention that Potter boy." 'Sirius' felt his nails dig further into his skin as he said James' name. "I think that you're too bloody noble for your own good."

"How nice," 'Sirius' said sarcastically. "Glad you finally noticed. I was put into Gryffindor you know-"

Cetus growled loudly, jerking 'Sirius' back to his feet and cutting off his words. 'Sirius' arm groaned in protest and he felt tears come into his eyes at the sharp actions. He tried vainly to jerk away, but Cetus seemed to have more power than he thought and his grip was too strong. Only then did 'Sirius' realize that in the kafuffle, Cetus had managed to freeze his other arm so he couldn't use that one to break free either.

"You're not my son!" Cetus bellowed. "You will never be my son! A pansy Gryffindor who relies on courage and bravery to save him in every option!" Cetus slammed 'Sirius' up against the wall again, half by strength and half by magic. "Where is your Gryffindor bravery now? Where is the courage that will save you from this!"

'Sirius' vision was swirling from so many blows to the heard, but he could still make out Cetus shoving the sleeve of his robe up his arm, which was surly broken somewhere and seemed to not be responding to his commands, and he watched in horror as Cetus raised his wand to 'Sirius' upper arm and said one cruel word.

Pain beyond pain coursed through 'Sirius' arm and through the other parts of his body and as soon as he managed to inhale again, he did the first thing he could think of.

He screamed.