Life Is But A Dream by Pondering.
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.
III. Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily.
“Accio wands!”
The two wands flew out of the grasps of their owners, and into Voldemort’s outstretched hand. He let out a cruel, chilling laugh as he pocketed the wands in his robes.
Sirius breathed through his nose heavily. Why was this happening? This wasn’t a dream, this was a nightmare! He could hear James, also breathing loudly next to him. James had lost his wand as well. His arms were shaking, but he did his best to try and keep them steady.
Voldemort turned to Peter who inclined his head towards his master. “M-my L-lord,” he murmured. Snape did the same.
Voldemort waited until Peter had stood up again, before saying lazily, “Your services are no longer required, but your hard work will be recognized.” There was no question as to what this statement meant.
Peter backed slightly further away from Voldemort. “I-I thought y-you needed H-Harry!” he stuttered, nearly tripping over as he walked backwards over himself.
“You dare question your Lord?” Voldemort asked, he walked closer to Peter, and drew his wand from within his robes. “Maybe I should put it in terms your brain will understand. I need the Potter’s hiding place…” his scarlet eyes travelled to where James was standing, and he smirked, “…but I no longer need you to come with me. I wish to do this alone.”
“Yes, my Lord.” Peter bowed his head. “I understand.” Peter scuttled away from his master.
“I also cannot have you betray me.” Voldemort continued, lazily flicking his wand at some pieces of loose parchment and setting them alight. Snape was shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, still trying to hide, probably not wanting to attract his master’s attention and facing his wrath.
Peter backed even further away in alarm. His watery blue eyes widened in surprise. “I would never betray you!” he exclaimed, nearly tripping over the hem of his black Death Eater robes.
There was a silence. The only sounds they heard were the ticking of a cheap, plastic clock and the rumble of thunder in the distance. Voldemort idly waved his wand at the walls of the room, and Sirius knew what he was doing.
Voldemort was soundproofing the room. His blood red eyes glittered with malice as he finished his charm and turned to face Sirius and James. “It just would not do to let the Muggle scum hear your screams.”
“Since when have you cared about Muggles?” James asked hotly, his face clearly showing his intense dislike for the dark wizard’s attitude towards Muggles.
Voldemort stared at James for a few brief seconds. “There will only be five deaths tonight,” he stated confidently, twirling his yew wand between his long white fingers.
“How can you be so sure?” James replied angrily, looking more flustered by the moment.
The smirk on Voldemort’s face showed that he did not think that such a question needed an answer, because it should have been readily apparent what the answer would be.
“The Dark Lord knows everything,” Snape declared, stepping out of his spot in the shadowed corner.
“You filthy Gryffindor muggle-lovers will die tonight, begging for Lord Voldemort’s mercy!” A cruel smile played across Voldemort’s lips at this moment, as his pale hands stopped weaving his wand in between his fingers. The wand was now pointed directly at Sirius’s chest.
Sirius felt his blood boil. How could he just remain there and not do anything? Before he knew what he was doing, he ran towards Voldemort, with every intention to head butt the smirking crocodile. He hadn’t even made half the distance before he heard Voldemort scream out “Crucio!”
It was pain beyond pain. White hot knives were stabbing him everywhere they could reach. His screams became not his own, but those of someone else, or so it seemed. When it ended, it felt like it had been years. In reality, it most possibly had not even been a minute.
“Now, now, Black, this is no time to be falling back on old Muggle tricks just because you, unlike me, are incompetent in the area of wandless magic. I will have to…punish…you for that little misdemeanour. “Incarcerous.” Slender cords erupted out of the end of Voldemort’s wand, and wrapped around Sirius’s arms and legs, binding them together. A grunt from the other side of the room had told him that James had received a similar treatment.
Sirius struggled to sit in a position where he could get a better look at James, but a hand forced his face to the floor. Snape had snuck up behind him. Sirius cursed under his breath.
“How does it feel to be the losing side for once, Black?” Snape whispered into his ear. The pressure on the back of his head was alleviated as Snape went to resume his place beside Voldemort. A tense silence ensued.
James was the first to speak. “We thought you’d never betray us, Peter.” The smoke from the burning parchment was getting thicker, the greenish-red magical flame was curling up the leg of the chair of the wooden desk, and it caught fire too. Sirius coughed, and held his sleeve up to his nose. If only he had held onto his wand tighter! He could at least have performed a Bubble Head charm! How pathetic would it to be to die of smoke inhalation?
“I never meant for it to happen, James, I really didn’t!” Peter squeaked, backing away even further, and doing a half turn, so his back was facing Sirius.
“Of course you didn’t mean it to happen. That’s why it did happen of course. You couldn’t do anything right…not even at school…” James lamented bitterly.
Sirius could see the beads of sweat slipping down Peter’s forehead. “You don’t understand! The Dark Lord is everywhere! What good could have come out of defying him? He could crush us like flobberworms in a cabbage patch!”
“Friendship is not just about enjoying the good times together, but fighting through the worst times together as well. I’m sorry we couldn’t teach you that.”
Sirius frowned. This was not how he and James were going to die, lying on the floor at the feet of a traitor, a childhood enemy, and the most feared wizard in Britain. He struggled to sit up again, and finally managed to do so, panting as he rested his head against the wall.
“I do not have time to listen to the reminisces of childhood…friends. Tell me the name of the residence. We have to attack today…otherwise Mr Potter’s untimely death may be some sort of warning to his Mudblood wife that something had gone tragically wrong.” A cruel grin unfurled on Voldemort’s face as he said this, implying that James may as well be already dead.
Sirius coughed, some more of the smoke from the burning corner of the room had come into his lungs. This whole thing was ridiculous. All they had to do was lock them in the room and they would probably die a horrible, fiery death anyway.
A look of annoyance crossed James’s face. He wiped his glasses with the sleeve of his robes. “I’m right here you know,” he said irritably.
Voldemort turned to look at him; his red eyes, the colour of blood, danced with anticipation of a new murder. “If I were you, Mr Potter, which I certainly would not want to be, I would rather not draw attention to that fact. I cannot kill you if I do not know you are here. It’s good you’ve finally drawn back on that Gryffindor ‘courage’ you so admire. You’ve escaped me three times, and that number is not going to rise in the near or far future.”
James looked from the burning corner of the room to Voldemort’s menacing face, to Snape’s indifferent one, to Peter’s scared, pale one, then his eyes finally rested on Sirius. “Why?” he scoffed.
“Why what, Potter?” Voldemort sneered. Peter was still standing in front of Sirius, and it took all of his self-control not to throttle him.
“Why won’t that number rise to four?” James replied as he nervously eyed the desk again. “You said it yourself. I’ve defied you three times, I can do it again,” he said confidently.
The fire was showing no signs of stopping.
Voldemort didn’t reply to James, as if realising he was wasting time. “Tell me now, Peter.” He walked towards Peter, his wand drawn and pointing directly at him. “Prove you loyalty to me.”
Peter backed away even further, nearly squashing Sirius against the wall. “I…” His words were drowned out in a rumble of thunder.
More silence. This was not merely tense silence, but dangerous silence. It seemed to entail threats more than mere words could ever do. Peter stood there, shaking, not sure of what to do. Voldemort had the wand…
Sirius looked at the orange clock on the wall to avoid his hands balling into fists whenever he thought about Peter. The flames licked towards it. He saw both the little hand and the big hand reach the number twelve. It was the thirty-first of October and he had not gotten very far at all. In fact, he had gone backwards.
Voldemort obviously took Peter’s silence as defiance. “You dare defy me?” Voldemort asked. “I won’t hesitate to drag it out by force--”
“Severus!” he exclaimed, turning to Snape. “You are the example of one who has done well in my service. Your information has led me to this day, when those, who are…prophesised…to defeat me, will be defeated!” He turned his head to Peter’s snivelling form. “Would you like to do the honours?”
Snape bowed his head, some of his greasy black hair falling in front of his face. “Yes, my Lord.” He drew his wand out and yelled, “CRUCIO!”
Voldemort’s eyes glittered as Peter’s screams filled the air. They just listened. They heard the sound of Peter’s screams and the rumble of thunder outside. They heard the sound of rain slapping the windows. And yet, there seemed to be silence. Finally, James yelled, “STOP IT!” His hands were balled up into fists. “He doesn’t deserve it!”
Voldemort turned to Snape. “I think you would do well to stop,” he said, “An insane Peter Pettigrew would not be able to tell us the location of the dwelling of the Potters.”
Snape lifted the curse, but there seemed to be a malicious glint in his eyes, which suggested that he didn’t want to stop.
“I-It’s…Godric’s…Hollow…” Peter breathed out. “It doesn’t have an…actual address, but…you can get there by Floo Powder…it’s…the only magical dwelling…in the village.” He tried to sit up, but his limbs trembled and he fell back down again.
Voldemort’s eyes travelled to the window, and he smirked as he eyed the weather with disdain. He turned back to Peter, trembling and blubbering at Sirius’s feet. “I think you have outlived your purpose, Peter.”
“You’re going to kill me?” Peter asked horrified. “But I have been a good servant; it was I who told you where to find the Potters! It was me!” he yelled, his voice now holding a hysterical note in it.
“If he didn’t, I would, you rat,” Sirius spat.
If it were possible, Peter looked even more terrified. “You wouldn’t…your best friend…” he trailed off, quailing under the furious look Sirius had given him.
The irrational urge to punch Peter’s face in struck Sirius at that time, but the binds that held his hands behind his back made it impossible to do so. But Peter was right in front of him…no Harry to save him now…
“You’re a traitor, Pettigrew, that much is obvious. You’ve managed to attract the attention of both sides, and it’s bad enough when one wants you dead!” Snape yelled.
“I know what I’m doing!” He squealed as a bolt of lightening clapped close to the window. The flames had licked away at nearly a wall of the house. Sirius was silently cursing under his breath. He needed to get out of here; he needed to do something…anything.
“Don’t do it, Sirius!” James exclaimed, his hazel eyes pleading at him. “You wouldn’t kill one of your friends…”
“I haven’t done anything!” he said furiously. “I thought I had a chance, a chance to change it all, the things that are going to happen in the future…he,” he nodded in Peter’s direction, “is the reason I spent twelve years in Azkaban.”
“Sirius,” James whispered, “it was a dream.” His eyes were clouded over. He looked scared, and Sirius just knew that James was restraining himself from trying to stand up and punch Voldemort right in the face. But running to their death wasn’t advisable in this situation, or really possible. Particularly because Sirius reckoned this situation didn’t even exist.
“I don’t think it was…” he trailed off. He scratched his chin, and to his astonishment, he had some stubble there. He had known for a fact he had shaved yesterday, under Remus's suggestion, but had this Sirius Black shaved recently?
“I don’t have all night to watch some blood-traitors bicker,” Voldemort hissed, and then turned to Peter. “As you may know,” he said, his high, cold voice putting fear into the depths of everyone’s stomachs, “Lord Voldemort does not appreciate traitors.” He looked around the room his eyes looked at James and Sirius’s faces, “and neither does anyone else, apparently. But rest assured, if I wanted you killed immediately, you would already be dead.”
Peter let out a small whimper and his eyes watered, and he tried again to stand up and he managed to get up onto his feet. He swayed on the spot slightly, but did not fall over.
Sirius was starting to feel dizzy, the smoke was getting thicker. He struggled to feel his pockets. Would the Portkey take them back to James’s house? He wouldn't be able to reach it even if he could remember what happened to it. A Droobles Best Blowing Gum wrapper fell out of his pocket.
“Of course, it has been fifteen minutes, and your time is up. Unless you decide to go through with one more betrayal...if you can draw your wand and kill him, I know you loyalty lies with me. However if you don't, I know you still consider him…Black, your friend….you have five seconds to make your choice...will you murder your best friend and side with Lord Voldemort, the most powerful wizard in the world, or will you side with them, the 'Light' side, consisting of Mudbloods and blood-traitors?”
Voldemort seemed to be the only one unaffected by the smoke. He probably wasn’t human enough to die from such normal means. Sirius could envision the Daily Prophet article in his mind. He Who Must Not Be Named Dead From Smoke Inhalation! He snorted aloud. Snape had the corner of his robes wrapped around his nose and mouth, and was taking short breaths. James was leaning against the wall, looking rather faint and pale, and he, Sirius, was sitting in a peculiar position, where he could feel Harry’s child sized Quaffle in his pocket through the material of his robes.
Peter drew his wand, his hand shaking, his eyes facing downwards. Sirius couldn't believe it. Not that it mattered, if Peter didn't kill him, Voldemort would.
Peter faced Sirius, and pointed his wand at Sirius’s chest. Sirius felt his breath get caught in his throat. Surely…surely Peter wouldn’t kill him? But…he had killed all those Muggles, just to frame Sirius.
“Av-ava-” Peter stuttered with the words of the curse.
Sirius tried to sit up straighter, and stand up. If he had to die, he would rather like to be standing up.
“Avada Kedavra!”
As soon as Sirius heard those words, he wriggled on the floor, doing anything he could to move out of the way.
That’s when he realised that the curse wasn’t Peter’s and it wasn’t coming towards him.
The green jet of light hit Peter in the back, and his body crumpled to the ground as if in slow motion.
Voldemort’s eyes glittered evilly. “He took too long,” he said softly. “When Lord Voldemort tells you he wants something done, it means it is to be done immediately.”
Snape, who had not been doing much during the last few exchanges, apart from giving Sirius and James a few contemptuous looks, walked over to Peter’s body and sneered.
Sirius had the doomed feeling that none of them were going to make it out alive. They hadn’t the first time round. Well, Peter lived...but forced hiding as a rat could not be called living anymore than being locked in a dingy cell in Azkaban could.
They had both been prisoners.
Sirius heard a few hacking coughs from James, and Sirius saw that he was trying not to cry, but was failing. James was staring straight ahead, trying to comprehend, to understand what had happened, but he was failing at that too. One of his best friends had turned out to be a spy who had betrayed James’s family. It was too much for him.
Voldemort smirked at the sight of Peter’s sprawled body and turned his wand to Sirius. “Now it’s your turn.”
Life is But A Dream by Pondering
Chapter Notes: Sorry this chapter has been taking so long. Second time lucky, I hope! Thanks to crazy_purple_hp_freak for all her help! :)