Make No Mistake

Chapter One:

"I have your back, Sirius," Remus growled.

Sirius didn't bother to make his usual comment as they approached the doors of the vast Snape Manor.

Dumbledore's death had proved to be the work of an insider, and from the moment he had come back to work for the Order, he had his suspicions about one Severus Snape. He had always been working with the darkest members of Slytherin House, and took over for Lucius Malfoy in leading them when they were all in school. He had had no reason to trust the man, and after the war began in earnest, he continued playing the double agent. According to Dumbledore, he was to be trusted.

Obviously, he who knew all and saw all, had turned out to be wrong. That lapse in judgement had been his downfall.

With a growl, Sirius kicked in the door. It gave way, and a number of house elves scattered as he, Remus, and a few other trusted Aurors entered the House. Arabella Figg gave him an intense stare, and moved into the upstairs, as Moody and Fletcher moved through the ground floor. Minerva McGonagall, who didn't have to be at the school for another solid week, had shifted into her feline form and followed Figg up the stairs, seeking things with her eyes that wouldn't otherwise be found.

That left he and Remus to explore the basement of the house.

Sirius pulled his hair out of his face and accepted the leather holder from Remus as they moved through the house. It was a twisty thing of labyrinthine corridors that they moved through as naturally as though they had been the ones living there rather than Snape. He made the slightest crook of his finger, and Remus moved from behind to stand beside him. They peered at the magical map of the manor, and without words, determined the best course to take to get there, then nodded, deactivated it, and moved onward.

There were a few more twists and turns before they ended up at a door the map claimed lead to the basement. Remus tried various charms to unlock the door when they found it locked, but when that didn't work, they looked at each other and rammed their shoulders against the door, and nearly tumbled inside when it opened easier than they had expected.

When they tumbled inside, Sirius felt himself tumble down a couple of stairs, and Remus was within arm's reach. However, he felt one of the stairs jutting painfully into his back, and grumbled before sitting up. One sharp inhale brought the smell of dust and stagnant air to his lungs, in addition to a stench like old sweat, or old potions. There was something else, though, something he couldn't describe.

Then Remus spoke, and he knew what it was.

"Pads," the voice was harsh and worried. "I smell blood."

Sirius was on his feet in an instant after that. Remus was right behind him, and he turned to murmur, "Can you tell if it's recent?

Remus just looked at him for a moment, then stilled. Sirius looked at him intently, and Remus just nodded. They both launched into motion again, moving as quietly as they could down the stairs. When they reached the landing, everything was thrown into darkness, as though it was bespelled to be that way.

Sirius grumbled, "Can you still scent magic, Moony?"

"Yes," he responded, and Sirius wasn't certain whether it was to his spoken question or his unspoken one until there was a shift that he took to be his lover raising his wand. "Finite Incantatem."

The darkness was a great deal less severe, then, and Sirius looked around. It looked to be where the slimy git mixed up his potions when he was here. There was the faint look of a cauldron large enough to hold a grown man along a far wall, and shelves beside it holding all nature of things for use in any potion known to wizardkind. Dimly, against a far wall was a short bookcase holding thick texts that Sirius had to assume was either various Potions or Dark Arts texts.

He snarled a bit; they would have to come back and check through those, but later.

"Wait," came Remus's voice, drenched in wariness. "What is that?"

"What's--?"

"There," and he moved past him. Sirius fell behind him as they moved through the area of the room devoted to the bastard's potions. Remus tensed suddenly as they approached the stairs, and he placed a hand on his shoulder. They were right against the stairs again, but on the ground this time.

Sirius looked up to make certain nobody was coming, then back at his lover, "Here?"

"Here."

Sirius moved forward again, and Remus peered upwards as he himself had done. That much was unspoken. They watched each other's backs, and this one was Sirius's. He'd asked Remus for that beforehand, and he had agreed. They both held tense as Sirius checked the door. It was locked, but the simplest locking charm undid it. It was a locking charm a first year Hogwarts student would have known.

It was as though Snape had never expected anyone to get past the initial locking charms, so he didn't have to take nearly as much care with the ones on this door. Sirius lowered his wand for a moment, feeling a wary tension creep though his stomach. He wasn't going to like what he found here, but it would be important. It was uncertain how he knew this, but he did.

He didn't have to be a star student at Divination while at school to know that.

Then the door swung inward, and Sirius was surprised.

He had seen a lot of things while working with the Aurors, but this wasn't among them. The room was more vast than he should have expected, with it tucked under the stairs as it was. It seemed at least as large as the entire basement, with all manner of instruments scattered across the walls. The stench of blood overwhelmed him, and he turned his face away for a moment, gritting his teeth against it for a moment.

"Sirius... it's impossible, but..."

"What is it?"

"It's James."

Sirius whirled and peered at his mate in shock, who was peering at him in equal shock. He shook his head, but Remus started talking rapidly, "You know, everyone smells different, everyone tastes different, each and every part. We were so close for so long, I could know from the scent alone who was the one bleeding. You remember, I would grumble to Dari about it when she was doing the female bleeding, how she would stare at me and wonder how I knew. James was the worst among us, too. He came back with the most injuries from the field, from the Quidditch pitch. I don't know how it's possible, Pads, but it is James. It is."

"It could be a fake. It could be there to fool us, to distract us. If the bastard knew we were coming..."

"There are some things that can't be faked, even magically. This is one of them."

Remus paused for a moment, then quietly continued, "They never had him, Sirius. Even if they wanted to do something like this, create a way to fool us, then they'd have to've had him at one point. They'd have to know what his blood was like, and they didn't have it. They never had him."

"So, Snape's had him all this time?"

"Let's go in there, and find out what kind of state he's in."

Sirius looked stricken then. "If we find him, and it's--"

Two fingers were laid upon his lips. "Don't think about it, Sirius. Just do it, or I'll do it for you. But this is your thing. I promised you. Let's just find out, and give him the proper respect he deserves, if it's too late, or to St. Mungos if it's not."

He closed his eyes for a moment, nodded, and felt those fingers leave his lips.

Sirius turned, then, and raised his wand. With a mutter of "Lumos" to light it, he pushed his way inside the door, with Remus right behind him.

When he found James, it was terrible. Sirius's heart twisted and ached for the boy he had known, for the man he had loved, and for one of only three people that he'd lay his life on the line for. He was strapped to a table of some kind, and there were bruises, horrible bruises on those ribs that looked as though they were the results of a boot being placed in the side.

Sirius Black had hated Severus Snape for many years, but never had he hated the man more than when he saw what he had done to his best friend.

There appeared to be more than one broken bone in his foot, various open gashes, which had explained the smell of blood, in addition to the bruises. The hair fell long and lank across his forehead, and in a moment of absolute inanity, Sirius noted that those glasses that had defined him for so long were missing. He probably wouldn't be able to see far beyond his face when he woke up.

...if he woke up...

Sirius's mind stopped there, just in time to see a slender hand reach across him and brush a strand of hair from his forehead. Somehow, that was the most powerful, the seeing the only person who loved James Potter like he did do exactly what he had wanted to do. There was knowledge in that touch, and Sirius wanted to cry.

The urge partially came from the power of that, but mostly, it was the realisation that there were shallow, shuddering breaths.

At that touch, there was the slightest of flinches, and those eyes flickered open.

Sirius never thought he'd see those eyes upon his own again, a shade somewhere between blue and green, and occasionally almost shocking in their blaze. He could cut through all the shit with that gaze, sometimes, but right now, right now they were foggy, confused, and filled with pain.

James flinched even as he ran his tongue over parched lips, and his voice was barely there when he asked, "Siri?"

Sirius felt his heart break at that tone, and he closed his eyes against it for the briefest of moments, then continued what Remus had started, brushing more of the hair away from his forehead, "It's me, James. It's me. We're here."

James's eyes flew shut, then opened again, "He told me... Azkaban. Where is he?"

The question came out with strength and enough fear that it broke his heart all over again. He parted his lips to answer, but Remus was one step ahead of him, "He's not here, James. The Aurors have him. He's not here."

James went limp with relief, "You have no idea..."

"I think I do," Sirius said, undoing the bonds. "We don't have to talk about it now, though. It can wait, everything else can wait.

Remus, being the stronger of the two of them was the one who carried James out. Sirius had his wand out, peering around warily. He looked back in the room, which shouldn't have been as large as it was, and he knew he didn't want to know what Snape had done to James. He knew this, because then there would be nothing preventing him from murdering the man.

They were halfway up the stairs when James spoke again. Sirius froze at the sound of it, "Love you. Both of you. Not very good at stopping that, was I?" then he coughed. "Loved Lily, miss her, hurts, but..."

"Shhh," Remus murmured. "Sleep, James. We'll worry about this later."

"But--"

Sirius managed a smile at that. "James, we can still Stupify you, after all."

He went silent at that.

Sirius sighed; some things had not changed, and would not change. When James Potter had something to say, he was determined to say it, whether he was actually capable of saying it, or of doing anything else, or not. Still, they had to get him out of there before anything else happened. The old guilt swept over him, that he'd left him there for far much longer than was necessary.

They all could have been better if they'd only known-- He stomped the guilt firmly into nonexistance. If they had known, which they hadn't, and there was no way to change that. End of story.

"Black? What happened?" Arabella Figg's steely voice met him as he peered into the brighter light of the house. "We were about to go after you."

"We, er, ran into something unexpected," he bit his lower lip and looked behind him for Remus.

"What?" came the Scottish-tinged tones of Minerva McGonagall, who froze when she saw Remus enter the main of the house, holding James in his arms. Her gaze darted back to Sirius, "How?"

"Snape had him down there," Sirius growled. "I don't know how, I don't know why, and I don't know who died in his place, Minerva. I swear, we'll find out, together if you want, but first, I want to get him out of here."

She nodded curtly. "Hand him to me, Lupin, and I'll get him to St. Mungo's, sharpish."

Remus looked reluctant, and she scowled, "Oh, honestly..."

"He's been through a great deal, Minerva," Remus said. "I think I would feel more comfortable if it was Sirius and I taking him."

"Why--" she started to say, then stopped. She waved them off, "Go on, then. Report in at Hogwarts later today, both of you."

Remus and Sirius gave her a curt nod, and stood together, pulling out their wands, and Apparating away just as Fletcher and Moody rounded a corner to join their group. Sirius didn't want to know what Moody would say, or think until much later. Within moments, they were just outside the anti-Apparition wards on the wizarding hospital, and looking at each other as they strode past them.

Remus was ahead of him, but since he was the one carrying James, Sirius was content to let him go ahead while he lingered behind. He had forgotten how many people actually knew about the Triad, as they had called the relationship at the time; they had tried to keep it secreted away from the public eye, but a few select people had known about it anyway.

Minerva McGonagall had always had a sharp eye for fine detail that others would miss. That explained the look she had given them, and the exasperated expression as she had sent them away.

Sirius grimaced, then headed into the hospital proper. When they reported in today, he knew they'd have a lot of explaining to do, and he wasn't looking forward to it in the slightest.

Still, he thought as he relished a few moments of sun on his face, it'll be worth it, just knowing we have James back.

-30-