The Last Marauder

Rescue...

Sirius cautiously approached the huge Manor. He knew that Harry was in there, it was the only possible explanation he had. He still didn't know how Voldemort had gotten hold of his godson but he'd bet his right hand that Lucius Malfoy had been involved in it.

He had to search for a way to enter and he knew that he could not do it in his human form.

Moments later, a bear sized dog ran across the grounds of Malfoy Manor, always keeping in the shadows, and searched for an entrance. It found a small window in one of the wings that seemed to be unused and tried to push it open. It didn't move.

With a low growl, the dog transformed back into human shape and soon a boot had forced the window open. Sirius waited for a moment and checked whether the breaking glass had alerted anybody. He slowly counted to fifty. Nothing happened. So he changed back into his canine form and crawled through the small opening.

He found himself in what appeared to be a storage room. The door was unlocked which made Sirius smirk.

'How very foolish Malfoy, how very foolish.'

He left the room and looked around. He had never been to Malfoy Manor before and therefore he didn't know where Harry was kept. He also could not smell his trace anywhere near. But he found another.

There were only few traces around. Some belonged to house elves, one belonged to a woman who wore too much of a horrible perfume, 'Narcissa', Sirius thought, and another belonged to Lucius. He would recognize that smell anywhere, it was dark and piercing. The traces were older but if he ran across the halls long enough he would soon find out where the freshest trace led to.

It took him more than half an hour but eventually Sirius stood in front of a wooden door, again in his human form. There was no mistaking, the trace had led him here. It was the freshest that had been in the house.

Sirius had been slightly surprised that he had not smelled the presence of other Death Eaters in the Manor. Could he have been wrong? Had they not brought Harry here?
There was only one way to find out.

Sirius grabbed firm hold on his wand and flung the doors open. There were two people standing in the room and when he stormed in they spun around immediately. It was Lucius Malfoy and his son Draco was standing next to him.

Sirius pointed his wand towards the apparently unarmed boy.

"I would not dare to move as much as a finger Lucius or your boy will be dead before he hits the ground! Throw your wand over!"

Lucius stared at him with eyes wide open, then shifted his eyes towards Draco who started shifting uncomfortably.

"You are unarmed Draco?!"

"Father..."

"Unarmed?" Lucius repeated, for a moment forgetting Sirius' presence at all. "Tell me what I have done wrong to be punished with a brainless idiot such as you are? Didn't I teach you enough lessons to learn that you should go Nowhere. Without. A. Wand!!!"

Draco flinched and Lucius turned his attention back at the intruder.
"How..."

"I'm not here to answer questions Lucius!" Sirius interrupted. "Throw your wand over or your son will regret it. And I'm not joking, do I have to prove that?"

Hesitantly, Lucius pulled out his wand and with a look of disgust towards his son he threw it towards Sirius who caught it.

"Fine." Sirius' heartbeat slowed down a little.

"Now tell me, where do you keep Harry?"

Lucius laughed harshly.

"And what makes you suppose that I hide precious little Harry Potter here? If you can't take care of him and don't know where to find him it's not my problem."

Sirius stepped closer towards Lucius, his face and voice an unmistakable threat.

"I know that you brought him here. I know that you've been present at the other Manor only an hour ago. What is it, are you scared that your Master won't forgive you if you're not able to keep Harry in custody? That he won't forgive you another betrayal? Tell me where Harry is!"

"Black, Black, Black. I think finally you've gone insane. I really don't know what you are talking about."

"I'm talking about Harry fighting your master Voldemort only a short time ago, forcing him to withdraw from the world for a while. I'm talking about your bunch of Death Eaters stunning me and kidnapping Harry."

Sirius now had grabbed the neck of Lucius' robe and pressed him hard against the wooden desk.

"I'm not making empty threats. Tell me, I don't have time to play a quiz with you!"

Lucius continued smirking.

"Really Black. I had thought that the Potters' death had thrown you off, then I thought Azkaban had finished you, but now I am sure that this werewolf's death has made you completely nuts. So many people and...creatures who are dead because of you, how can you live with that?"

"Lucius, I will ask you only once more. Where is Harry?"

Malfoy didn't respond. "Lucius, I'm serious. I'm going to kill you if you don't tell." Sirius pointed his wand at Malfoy's chest.

A smirk crawled over Malfoy's face. "If you kill me, you will never find out. Another death that you caused. Could you live with that?"

Sirius slapped Lucius' face with all his might. "Tell me where you have hidden Harry or I'll kill you. NOW!"

"Stop!" Draco yelled from behind Sirius. "Stop that! Potter is in the dungeons, I'll lead you there. Just leave him here, we don't have much time. The other Death Eaters will be here soon."

Lucius stared at his son in disbelief. "Draco, you're betraying me? Me and our master?"

"You and your master, yes. I'm fed up with the games you play. You cannot gamble with people's lives, you're not God! Black, we have to go that way." Draco pointed towards the staircase and Sirius nodded.

He stunned Lucius Malfoy, made sure there was no way for him to free himself and ran behind Draco.

"Are there any guards?"

Draco shook his head while running. "There are protective spells around which you cannot dodge if you don't know where they are. But I do. Part of the Malfoy Education." The sarcasm in his last words could not be hidden. For a short moment Sirius doubted if this boy would really lead him to Harry or if this was another trap but he pushed that thought aside. He had to trust him, there was no other chance.

They had reached the bottom of the staircase and Draco opened a secret passage behind the stone wall with a tip of his wand. More stairs were behind it and they hurried downwards.

Three times Draco stopped and removed obstacles and spells Sirius had not realized were there.

They reached a door which Draco unlocked with his wand.

"The spells will still be lifted when you leave. In case I won't be able to come along. Follow me."

They reached a corridor from which eight cells could be reached. Only two doors were closed.

Draco stepped towards the first one and unlocked it with his wand and with an old fashioned key which he conjured with a spell.

"Malfoy?" Harry's voice came from inside. "Sod off, I don't want you for company!"

"Potter, move your ass out of that cell. NOW! We don't have much time."

Harry stepped out of the cell and looked at Malfoy in a puzzled way. Then he saw his godfather.

"Sirius!"

He ran over towards his godfather and flung himself into Sirius' arms.

"I was so worried Sirius, I thought that they might have killed you."

"Are you injured?"

"No, I'm okay."

"Good. Harry, we have to get out of here immediately before the rat pack arrives. We'll have time for explanations later on when we're in safety.

Draco, who's in that second cell?"

Draco shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, honestly. I've not been allowed down here for a long time, not until today."

"Well, whoever is in there, we can't leave him or her."

He stepped in front of the door and tried to unlock it with different spells. Draco pushed him aside.

"Let me try. My father always is quite idealess when it comes to locking people up."

He waved his wand a couple of times and after the fifth attempt the lock indicated with a clicking sound that it was now open.

Sirius stormed inside...and froze immediately.

"Remus???"