Swallowed in the Sea

Chapter Six: Dive In At The Deep End

'First thing we shall need to discuss,' Dumbledore started, 'is the murder of Peter Pettigrew. Hestia, I believe you were in charge of the investigation?'

'Yes, Albus,' she said and took out a heavy-looking file. 'A team of Healers performed the autopsy this morning and were able to tell us that he died approximately twenty to twenty-four hours ago and that he did not die because of Avada Kedavra, but that he was tortured to death with Cruciatus.'

James and Remus looked at each other and sighed. Peter had betrayed them, yes, but he'd been their friend for seven years too.

'What is even more interesting to me,' Hestia continued as she took a few pictures out of the file, 'is that Pettigrew was not murdered in the alley behind the café and most probably, not even in Sheffield.'

'How do we know all this?' Minerva McGonagall asked.

'They found the livor mortis, which are big red-purplish spots on the skin because of the blood that's settling in the dependent parts of the body, on his right side,' she said simply and used her wand to project a few of the pictures on one of the walls which actually showed them. 'These spots occur after someone has been dead for 20 minutes, with maximum lividity within six to twelve hours.'

'Another thing is that the rigor mortis had already occurred,' Hestia went on, showing other pictures of Peter's body. James averted his eyes, he'd seen enough. 'It only subsides after about 36 hours. He was found on his back with his left arm hanging over his chest and his right pressed into his side.'

'This proves that he died lying on his side,' Hestia finished, 'and was placed in the alley. He was moved there.'

'Why?' Remus said, looking utterly nauseated. 'Why would anyone do something like that?'

'It's You-know-who,' Kingsley said in a heavy voice. 'Why wouldn't he?'

'Can they tell us when he was moved?' Dumbledore asked.

'Taking in account that he's been dead for, say, twenty-two hours and the maximum lividity of livor mortis occurs at six to twelve hours,' Hestia said as she read something off one of the papers in her file, '-so make that nine on average- it would've been approximately thirteen hours ago. Give or take an hour or two.'

'That is about three hours before we did the raid at Malfoy Manor,' Remus said as he checked his pocket watch. 'They knew.'

'Which actually bring us to the next point on the agenda,' Dumbledore said hoarsely. 'The raid. Why do you say such a thing, Remus?'

'Well, I find it hard to believe that someone like Lucius Malfoy would not know that the Order would check for loose floorboards,' Remus said. 'He wanted us to find some proof he was a Death Eater so he would get trialled.'

'Y'can't believe that, Remus,' Elphias Doge said in his wheezy voice. 'How could that be of any advantage to him?'

'Come on, Elphias,' Hestia said, looking annoyed. 'We're talking about Lucius Malfoy. The very rich Lucius Malfoy, the very powerful Lucius Malfoy-'

'The bastard, Lucius Malfoy,' Kingsley added dryly.

'-do you think he'd be ashamed to bribe or buy out the Wizengamot?'

'We'll have to do something about that, then,' Arabella Figg said.

'We can't,' Remus told her. 'The only thing we could consider doing is watching the members of the Wizengamot and we don't have enough people to do that.'

'Let us not forget the actual topic here,' Dumbledore cut in. 'If we still want to discuss Lucius after the meeting, we can, but for now, let us focus on the murder and how it relates to the raid.'

'You're right, Albus,' James said, feeling kind of nervous for stepping into the meeting so suddenly, but he'd been a watcher long enough. 'Remus told us you found a diary and an address book with the Dark Mark on it.'

'Yes,' Elphias said. 'I found 'em, together with Severus. I'll go get 'em.'

'Severus?' James asked, as he watched the wizard leave the room. 'Snape? He's supposed to be a spy, why would he go on raids with you?'

'Ever since Voldemort's fall,' Remus said calmly, 'all of us found it was safe for him to come out. He was very grateful, there had been enough investigations against him.'

'Speaking of Snape,' Kingsley said slowly, 'where is he? I haven't seen him all morning.'

'That would be my fault,' Dumbledore said and smiled. 'I have asked him to do one more thing before joining us for the meeting. I do believe I underestimated the duration of it.'

'Here's the address book,' Elphias grunted while sauntering back into the conference room. 'Can't find the ruddy diary.'

'And that too,' Dumbledore said with a chuckle, 'is my doing. However, I choose to keep the reason why I took it to myself for the moment. I hope you will all understand.'

James frowned. It was like the headmaster to do things without explaining them or to be mysterious about absolutely everything, and he was right in doing so most of the time. But keeping an exhibit of this importance to himself struck James as odd, anyway.

'Of course, Albus,' Lily said. It never ceased to amaze James how much she trusted him.

'Yes,' he agreed. 'My question here is: why these two things? Why this diary and why this address book? He could've put a number of things in there that proved he was involved with Voldemort.'

'Good question,' Kingsley said.

'Well, my guess is,' Remus told them, with a pensive look on his face, 'and this is assuming he's been working together with other Death Eaters, that they wanted us to check those addresses, that they wanted us to find Peter.'

'But why go through the trouble of moving him all the way to Sheffield?' Hestia asked. 'Why not put him in one of the laboratories in London, or drop him in Malfoy Manor itself if it was so important.'

'Because they wanted you out of the way,' James said as realisation set in, feeling like he could hit himself. 'They didn't want you to find Peter, they wanted you out of the London area.'

'What?' Elphias groaned. 'I'm afraid I'm not following.'

'Think about it,' James said, looking to Lily and Remus for understanding and confirmation. 'What in the name of heaven could be so important about little Peter Pettigrew who failed to give Voldemort what he needed, that he would have to be dropped so far from the centre of it all?'

Remus rolled his eyes and sighed. 'Nothing, of course,' he said. 'You're right, James. They wanted us out of there. They must've been planning on all of this.'

'Albus, do you know if something else has happened after the raid?' James asked quickly. 'Any attacks or sudden disappearances of Death Eaters, anything?'

'Not that I am aware of,' Dumbledore said, but James could see he was worried.

Suddenly, the doors burst open and a very haggard-looking Severus Snape rushed in.

*

'Severus!' Lily yelled and quickly offered her chair to him, even though there were about fifteen empty ones.

He still looked exactly the same, James thought. Still greasy and slimy and pale and still looking as if his shoes were two sizes too small.

'Severus, what happened?' Lily said, and summoned a glass of water from seemingly nowhere.

'There was-' Snape stopped talking and gasped for air. His hair was sticking at odd ends. James only now noticed the tear in his robes and the huge, gaping cut on his back. 'There were-'

'For heaven's sake,' Lily said angrily. 'Does anyone know how to heal this cut properly?'

'You're a mother,' Elphias said. 'Don't you?'

'I know how to heal paper cuts and scraped knees!' Lily spat. 'This needs stitches.'

'I'll fetch Poppy,' Minerva McGonagall said sternly, and left.

'They're going to get someone, Severus,' Lily said again. 'Just stay calm, breathe.'

The rest of the Order had just gathered around him and was staring at him with blank faces. James dared a look at Dumbledore, who looked extremely worried and -was that really- guilty?

Snape, too, had his eyes fixed on the headmaster when he spoke.

'You were right,' he said, still panting heavily. 'The whole Pettigrew-thing, it's- set-up. A ruse. They came.'

'Came where?' James asked. 'Where did they come?'

Snape blinked twice and looked around the room; it seemed that -however impossible it may seem- he had totally forgotten about the rest of the Order standing around him. He was so out of it he didn't even remember to sneer when he answered, 'Mungo's- St Mungo's.'

Lily, who'd been trying to clean the cut, promptly dropped her wand and her head snapped up. James swallowed hard, feeling as if the bottom had just dropped out of his stomach. He turned to look at Remus, who looked as if he might faint any second. He'd turned extremely pale and didn't even move, in fact, James was quite sure he wasn't even breathing. His knees bent slightly, as if he was going to collapse and James prepared himself to catch Remus, should he fall, hoping that his own body would hold out that long.

If they've done anything to Sirius...

But instead of falling, Remus just ran out of the room so fast that anyone had hardly seen it. James made to go after him, poking Lily rapidly as he went so she would come too.

Hestia, who'd taken over Snape's care, took hold of his sleeve and looked him right in the eye. 'What ever you do, James,' she said severely, 'don't let him Apparate.'

*

James ran outside and tried thinking rationally. Remus shouldn't Apparate. He shouldn't Apparate. Lily shouldn't either. He heard her footsteps approach, took a deep breath and looked for Remus.

'Moony!' he yelled as he spotted him, standing near one of the trees which surrounded the area. 'Remus, wait!'

Remus looked up, wand ready for Apparating. James had rarely seen him like this, so utterly lost he was hardly even recognisable as Remus.

'Don't,' James said, as he came closer. Lily'd grabbed hold of his arm and followed. 'You can't Apparate like this. You'll get splinched.'

Remus didn't react.

'Remus, don't Apparate,' he repeated slowly. 'Use the Floo, use a Portkey, use a bloody broom if you want to, but don't Apparate.'

Remus stared at his wand for a while before saying, 'You do it, then.' His voice was hollow and desperate. 'Get me there, James.'

'I can't-' James started, feeling so helpless it hurt. 'I'm not in a state to move three of us all over the country.'

'I am,' Kingsley Shacklebolt said. 'I can get the two of you there. I can come back for Lily.'

'If you give me a minute to calm down,' Lily said slowly, 'I can Apparate myself.'

'You sure, honey?' James asked.

'Yes.' She nodded. 'I'm sure. Go. I'll be right there.'

'Be careful,' James told her, not knowing where these words were coming from. 'If you feel you can't, then stay, or let Hestia Apparate you.'

'Go.'

James forced a smile, turned around and took hold of Kingsley's robes clenching his fists so hard he was sure there were going to be tears in them when they arrived in London.

*

It worried James horribly that, even though he knew it took about two seconds to Apparate, getting to St. Mungo's could just as well have taken a lifetime.

When they finally set foot to the ground again, James closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt sick and nauseous and tired. He tried to make himself believe it was because of not Apparating himself, but he'd never been a good liar.

'Dumbledore's coming,' Kingsley said. 'He was only-'

But James didn't hear. He'd already stormed into St. Mungo's, following Remus. Up one staircase and up another, feeling as if he was running in place.

They finally got to the ward where Sirius was staying and some part of James almost hoped they hadn't.

There were about fifty people standing in the corridor, obstructing the doorway. On their left, two Healers with bloody hands were helping a third with an open wound on the back of her head. Part of the wall had been blown off.

Remus stopped walking and looked around, shaking slightly. His eyes were watery and he seemed to have totally lost all notion of time and place. James was just about to say something to him when he saw Sarah, the Healer, walk out of the crowd with open arms.

'Oh, Remus,' she sighed and gave him a hug. 'Do you want to sit down? Should I get you anything?'

Remus blinked and a few tears ran down his cheeks and dropped onto his shirt. He shook his head.

'And you, James?' Sarah asked and James only now noticed she looked rather shaken herself.

'I'm- er,' James croaked. 'What happened?'

'He attacked,' she said with a shrug. 'I don't know how he got in or why we didn't notice, I-'

'And Sirius, he's er-' James couldn't bring himself to say it. 'He's-'

'Sirius is fine,' Sarah said. 'Professor Snape got here before he could harm Sirius in any way.'

James took a deep breath and felt like crying himself, like letting all the tension that had been building up inside him loose. He smiled and looked at the ground. Just as he was about to ask Sarah who'd been the one to attack, he heard Lily's voice from behind,

'James! Help Remus!'

And as he looked to his right, where his friend was standing, he saw Remus collapse to the ground.

*

'Help him, help him up,' Sarah said, while taking Remus by the arm. 'You got him?'

'Yeah,' James said. 'Lily, get him a glass of water.'

They helped Remus walk toward a bench in the corridor and sat him down. Sarah crouched in front of him and checked his pupils and pulse.

'I'm sorry,' Remus whispered. 'I couldn't-'

'Hey, that's fine,' Lily smiled as she handed him a paper cup filled to the brim with water. 'It's okay.'

'Yeah,' James said and patted him on the back. 'I was on the verge of doing that myself. And you were up early.'

'I am tired.' Remus frowned.

'That's because of the stress,' Sarah said. 'It's normal, you'll be just fine.'

'Thank you.'

'Yes, Sarah,' James managed. 'Thanks.'

She got up, nodded and smiled. 'Anytime.'

'Can we-' Lily started a little insecurely. 'Can we see Sirius?'

'Sure,' she answered. 'They're still looking for fingerprints, but I'm quite sure they're almost done.'

'Who did it, d'you know?' James asked quickly.

'I don't know his name,' Sarah said while staring into the corridor at the mob of people still trampling around by Sirius's room. 'But I think that Georgina said she- Oh! There he is!'

James, Lily and Remus followed her gaze and James immediately felt a chill go through his body.

Three Aurors in dirty maroon robes were walking down the hallway, dragging a handcuffed and exhausted-looking Regulus Black with them.