The Next Great Adventure (A Marauders Fan Fic)

Chapter Seventy Two

Still, this would turn the tables on them and wipe that smug look off Snape's face for once; he hadn't brought any information like this back, no matter how good he was at inventing hexes and fighting Aurors. This was a different kind of cunning, one which he doubted Snape had.

Towards the end of the meeting, Voldemort turned to Wormtail. "Now, Wormtail," he hissed, "do you have anything to prove for our... trust in you?" The Death Eaters sniggered, and Wormtail suddenly had a vision of what it would have been like for him had James, Sirius and Remus decided to pick on him instead of protect him.

"Yes my Lord, I have news," he said desperately, wondering if Bellatrix would torture him again.

"Oh yes?" asked Voldemort. "I hope it is of worth this time Wormtail," he continued. The Death Eaters laughed, jeering at him and he distinguished Bellatrix's cackle soaring high above the others; a shiver ran down his back, and he remembered the last time he had heard her laugh.

"Oh yes, of course it is my Lord! It is about the Potters! They have made Black their Secret-Keeper!"

This seemed to please Voldemort and a terrifying expression which was perhaps supposed to be a smile crossed his face. "Ah... you have done well for once Wormtail. Black... Sirius Black I assume?"

"Yes my Lord." Wormtail peered through the darkness, pleased to see that none of the Death Eaters were looking amused anymore. If this was what it took for them to protect and respect him, he would do it.

"Is he not a member of your dear family, Bellatrix?" Voldemort asked, turning to his favourite. She scoffed and shook her head, letting the candlelight flicker on her unruly hair as it tumbled down her back and over her shoulders. "He is no family of mine, my Lord. I would sooner have him dead than associated with me." As if to emphasise her desire to kill her cousin, she twirled her wand in her hands, pressing one fingertip against its end and smiling maliciously.

"Well Bellatrix, perhaps you will soon have that chance..."

"Please my Lord," she begged, her eyes alight with fervour, "at the first chance!"

"And you shall have it Bellatrix, you have served me faithfully and well, and I like to reward my followers. Well done Wormtail, for once you have proved your worth. Perhaps there is still hope for you yet," Voldemort said as the Death Eaters around him laughed mockingly once again.

Unaware of the meeting that was happening that very evening, Sirius had Apparated to Godric's Hollow to talk to James. "I've been thinking; surely You-Know-Who will immediately assume that it's me... whereas if it was someone else, he might not go after them as quickly because he wouldn't realise." Sirius had been thinking about this for days, and he thought it might work. They had told everybody that he was their Secret-Keeper, so if Voldemort interrogated anyone that they knew, they would tell him that the Secret-Keeper was Sirius. Sirius himself had decided that Cassie and he ought to go into hiding; they were planning to move in the next couple of days, and if he was found... well at least he would have protected James, Lily and Harry.

"Who did you have in mind?" James asked, understanding him immediately.

"Do you trust Wormtail?" It hurt him to ask but, since Sirius had come to suspect that someone in the Order was a traitor, he couldn't be too careful. Even though James would never not trust a friend, Sirius was becoming warier. For a second he considered Remus but... he had been spending so much time away, who knew what he had been doing.

"Of course, he was over here just before Harry's birthday," Lily replied.

"Well he never truly fit in with us when we were in school," Sirius said slowly, "so maybe You-Know-Who wouldn't realise that he's your Secret-Keeper."