Secret Keeper

Chapter Seven:

October 26, 1981

Shaking slightly, Remus Lupin emerged from the fireplace in which he had previously been standing and surveyed his surroundings. He was in the lobby of the Ministry of Magic. He looked around, feeling slightly apprehensive.

“Hey! You!” shouted a security wizard behind Remus. “What are you doing here? You don’t work here! You're supposed to use the visitor’s entrance!”

Remus looked at the other man sharply. “It’s important business, Albus Dumbledore sent me, I need to see the Minister.” The urgency is his voice must have been obvious, because the wizard relented.

“Minister Bagnold is meeting with a few other people right now,” he explained to Remus, still looking at him slightly suspiciously. “I’ll tell her you’re waiting here to see her, shall I?”

“Er, thanks,” Remus stammered. Feeling quite lost, he sank into a plush armchair. Why, Peter, he thought, why? He could scarcely believe that Peter would do something like that, could scarcely believe that Peter would become a Death Eater, but then, all of them had seen the Dark Mark burned on Peter’s skin. This, in itself, was irrefutable evidence, Remus knew. This, added to the fact that Peter had been aware of Sirius’ location...

Remus shuddered. The filthy traitor had actually known that Sirius had been captured, he had known that Sirius was probably being tortured for information about the Potters, yet he had not said anything about it, and had feigned ignorance when questioned by James.

God, Peter knew, he thought to himself bitterly, Peter knew... Remus came to a horrible realization. It had been Peter. Peter had not just known about Sirius’ capture; he was the one who had given the information to Voldemort. He gave Sirius’ address to Voldemort, information that James had trusted us with... Remus’ stomach seemed to be filled with lead as he reflected on the evening’s events. God, I hate him!

“Lupin, a pleasure, as always.”

Remus looked up to see a stately elderly witch gazing upon him, her mouth set in a slight frown.

“Ah, Minister Bagnold, nice to see you again,” Remus shook her hand formally while giving the smallest of bows.

“You wanted to see me?” Bagnold asked curiously.

Remus nodded nervously. “Yes, Dumbledore sent me... he – he said-”

“This is about Sirius Black, isn’t it?” Minister Bagnold looked at him keenly.

Remus was surprised at how perceptive the Minister was. “Yes,” he said curtly, his throat feeling oddly dry. “He – we found out where he is being held. He’s currently at the old abandoned mansion, the one about 25 miles north of Hogsmeade.”

“I see.” Bagnold fidgeted uncomfortably. “How did you find out?”

Remus gave a crooked smile. “We captured a Death Eater tonight...” He paused slightly. “Peter Pettigrew...”

Minister Bagnold’s mouth dropped open, her expression one of fascination, horror, and disbelief. “Pettigrew? As in James Potter’s friend?”

Remus nodded. “One and the same. He was the one – the one who gave information about Sirius to Voldemort.” Bagnold flinched at hearing the name.

“Yes, well, thank Professor Dumbledore for me, will you, Lupin? I’ll be sending a few Aurors over towards that area. We’ll contact you if any news of Black turns up, shall we?”

Remus nodded in agreement, his throat feeling too hoarse for him to speak properly. “Thank you, Minister, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Remus was anxious as he watched Bagnold make he way toward the lifts, apparently heading towards the Auror headquarters. Help is coming Sirius, help is coming...

Sirius grimaced in pain as he shifted his weight on to the other side of his body. Although Voldemort had lifted the curse, Sirius still felt the aching remnants of the Cruciatus Curse all over his body. The soreness would never leave his bones. The fact that his arms and legs had been tightly bound didn’t help much either.

How did he find me so fast? Sirius wondered. How could he have known? Surely James could not have told, that idea was ridiculous. Sirius knew that James was a loyal friend, and would gladly sacrifice his own life in order to save his friend. Besides, Sirius thought to himself, telling anyone where I was would only put his life in danger. Surely he wouldn’t want that.

Suddenly, another shape had appeared close to Voldemort. A Death Eater had just Apparated. Sirius saw the man’s stooping figure as he approached Voldemort, his eyes lowered towards the ground.

“Master.”

Sirius almost gasped in surprise and shock. He recognized that voice. Rookwood? Augustus Rookwood of the Department of Mysteries? He couldn’t believe that Rookwood was a Death Eater. He leaned forward slightly, inching closer to Voldemort and the other Death Eaters. Whatever news Rookwood had to report, Sirius was interested in hearing it.

“They know, my Lord, they know about him,” Rookwood said, throwing a swift nod in Sirius’ direction.

“Black?” asked Voldemort sharply, looking at Rookwood through his gleaming red eyes. “They know that Black is here?”

“Yes, Lupin, that werewolf, came and alerted Bagnold about ten minutes ago,” Rookwood said, his eyes never leaving the ground. “I believe he was acting on Dumbledore’s orders. Bagnold’s already dispatched a team of Aurors here.”

“I see,” Voldemort said slowly.

They know, Sirius thought, they know, I’m saved. Relief flooded his body. He would be saved, James’ secret would be safe – James! As quickly as it had come, all the relief he had felt upon knowing he would be saved promptly left him and a panicky nervousness began to set in. Would James be foolish enough to come and try to rescue him? Oh God, he thought to himself, if Prongs is really stupid enough to come here to try and get me then his head’s a lot bigger than any of us would have thought.

The more Sirius thought about this, the sicker he felt. A nauseous sensation was beginning to arise in his stomach, something he was sure had nothing to do with the Cruciatus Curse that had been performed on him. If James came, he would be endangering his own life. After all, wasn’t that the reason that Sirius had been captured in the first place? To find information about James?

And Remus. Rookwood had mentioned Remus. Sirius scowled as he thought of the condescending tones that the Death Eater had used when he said the word ‘werewolf.’ But how would Remus know that Sirius had been captured? It hadn’t even been a whole day since the Death Eaters had taken him. For a few seconds, Sirius wondered if Remus had been working for Voldemort. But no, that did not seem possible now, especially judging by the conversation that Rookwood had just had with Voldemort...

A sharp pain shot through his side. Someone had just kicked Sirius in the stomach.

“Get up!” He heard the familiar hiss that he knew must have been from his cousin Bellatrix. Wincing in pain, he raised his shoulders a few inches off the ground.

“Well, Bellatrix,” Sirius said nastily, “fancy seeing you here. What a surprise,” he added sarcastically.

“Shut up, Black!” Bellatrix kicked him again. She reached down, grabbed him by the collar of his torn shirt, and hoisted him roughly to his feet. Sirius choked slightly as the cloth of the shirt pressed into his neck.

“So kind, aren’t you, even after all these years?” Sirius asked his cousin tauntingly. He glanced at her with an amused look in his eye. “Did you miss me after you left school, dear cousin?” He said the word ‘dear’ like it was the harshest insult he could heap upon her.

“Why don’t you keep quiet for once, Black?” Bellatrix said harshly. “My Lord has requested that you be moved, so get to your feet, now! I’m not going to drag you around, I’ve got better things to do.”

“Better things like what, Bellatrix?” Sirius spat poisonously. “Torture young children, murder innocent people?” He stumbled to his feet, his weak knees almost collapsing from having to support his weight.

With a wave of her wand, Bellatrix loosened his bonds slightly so that he was able to walk independently, but could not run or make use of his arms. “Just keep quiet and follow me,” she said, jabbing her wand painfully into his back.

So much for my getting rescued, Sirius thought dejectedly. Oh well. At least this way, he was sure that James would be safe, wouldn’t have the opportunity to do anything stupid. Ignoring the aches and pains that shot up his legs when he walked, Sirius stumbled across the room, following Bellatrix, whose wand stuck painfully into the area between his shoulder blades. It hurt, but he would not give her the satisfaction of knowing that she had caused him pain.

“Bellatrix!” another voice hissed softly. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like, Malfoy?” Bellatrix retorted. “I’m making sure Black doesn’t try anything funny.”

“You fool!” said Malfoy furiously. “Don’t leave him conscious for God’s sake. Who knows what kind of trouble the idiot will cause?” He raised his wand and pointed it at Sirius. “Stupefy!”

And again, Sirius fell into unconsciousness.

James... James...

James Potter sat on his living room couch glaring murderously at the figure of a small man who had been bound in black cords cowering in the corner of the room. He was restrained by his wife and former professor, and this was the only thing that prevented him from leaping on to Peter Pettigrew and thrashing the life out of him.

While James struggled to bring his rage under control, Dumbledore looked at the newly captured Death Eater with a keen, perceptive look in his eyes.

“Peter, suppose you tell us exactly how long you’ve been working for Voldemort. When did you start?” Dumbledore asked coolly.

Peters entire body seemed to be trembling. “Er... l-last year, Pro – Professor D-Dumbledore, s-sir...”

“A year? Peter, you’ve been working for him for a year?!” James, if possible, looked even madder than before. “And to think I trusted you...” He looked disgusted at the very thought.

Lily, in sharp contrast to her husband, had gotten paler and quieter. “My God,” she murmured softly to James, “and to think Sirius wanted us to use Peter as our Secret-Keeper...”

The use of the words ‘Sirius’, ‘Peter’, and ‘Secret-Keeper’ in the same sentence was too much for James. “What the hell were you thinking, Peter? No, actually, don’t answer that question. I really don’t want to know.”

“I-I – I’m s-sorry, f-forgive – forgive me-“

“FORGIVE YOU? HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO FORGIVE YOU?” James bellowed again as Lily put a comforting hand on his arm. He glared at Peter, the resentment burning behind his eyes.

“I’m warning you, Pettigrew,” he spat the name as if it were a curse, “if anything happens to Sirius, if he doesn’t make it, I will personally kill you. I will personally torture and disembowel you myself.”

So my guess wasn’t that far off, Peter thought to himself. Disembowelment. How ironic.

“Jesus Christ...” James said weakly, clutching his heart as if it were about to break. Tears had almost begun to form in his eyes. “Sirius... Sirius...” he moaned feebly.

Lily blew her nose into a tissue. “I know James, I know,” she said softly, rubbing her husband’s arm soothingly. “I’m worried about him too...”