Regency in Diagon Alley [Theodore Nott | Harry Potter AU]

Chapter Forty-Five

They came as soon as the letter from the Scamanders set foot in the house. Aurors banging on the door of Grimmauld Place, demanding for the Duke and for Sirius Black. Sirius putting up a fight as he tried to get away from them, and soon, Aurors flooded in the house and searched for any signs of Peter Pettigrew, someone had tipped them that the man was in there, trapped.

Luckily, the Goldsteins and Potters and the Scamanders were quick to hide in the catacombs where the Aurors will not see them and waited until the ruckus of Sirius' fight to be freed and Pettigrew's pathetic groveling finally turned quiet.

Sirius and Pettigrew were gagged and restrained and chucked into a carriage that would bring them to the Ministry of Magic where they would be put in cells. The entire journey, as they hovered in mid-air, bound, Sirius glared at Pettigrew, and the former did his best to avoid his eyes, but it was hard when they were purposely placed to face each other. A joke by the Aurors. One last laugh before they were out of their hold and were placed in the Ministry's holding cells.

They were blindfolded before being taken out, to keep their location unknown. But they forgot one thing, Sirius knew the Ministry inside and out, and by smell and hearing, he could identify where he was being brought by the Aurors. There was the sound of the fountain of the Attrium, the busting sounds of the people in the halls, the sound of footsteps on stone pavements and the temperature turning low as they descended. Then the wind turned damp and the dripping of water echoed around him. It was the cells below the Ministry. Far deeper into the earth. No windows were here, or else he would still feel the sun's warmth.

The levitation spell was removed, then the bounds and the gag, and the blindfold.

Before Sirius could register his surroundings, he was pushed into the dark cell lit by a single torch, and the cage was shut.

Pettigrew was putting more of a fight, rather he was begging as they pushed him in and shut the cage. Neither of the Aurors have removed the Ouroboros around the man's wrist, they couldn't without the key, and Carina had it.

Unless she lost it, which wasn't too bad. A life without magic is enough punishment for Pettigrew and for everything he has done.

As his groveling went on, Sirius stood and hit his hands on the irons, creating a loud clanging sound. "SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! AT LEAST HAVE SOME DIGNITY!" Sirius bellowed at Wormtail.

Finally, silence, but Pettigrew kept himself at the corner, still trying to will his body to change, to form to a rat and escape. Or maybe he was trying to cut off his bound wrist and slip the Ouroboros off him. Either way, at least he stopped groveling.

Sirius sighed and paced in his cell. It won't be long now before this becomes paradise because Azkaban awaits at the end of this road.

Pettigrew started whimpering again.

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

"He's a rat, it's instinct to him now." A hoarse voice spoke in the darkness.

Following the direction of the sound, he realized that they were not alone in the cells beneath the Ministry. In a cell adjacent to his, a silhouette of a figure slumped on the ground, back against the wall, legs stretched out.

Grabbing the torch, Sirius brought it closer to the figure's direction and –

"Theodore?" Sirius gasped.

Theodore Nott sat on the damp ground from both the dripping water and blood. The duke was badly hurt, a busted lip, a black and swollen eye, his face was swollen from the beating he must have gotten, and from how he clutched his side, he must have been injured badly. Theodore was the last person Sirius expected to see there, in fact, this was the last thing he expected to see of the duke. Down and broken, literally.