Fading Shadows

X: Caught in a Mess

Oh look. It's the next chapter.   
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Sirius Black woke up with a groan. His body felt terrible. It was numb all over and yet it still ached. All in all it wasn't a pleasant feeling. Running his hand over his face he slowly got up. Opening his eyes he saw that he was in a dimly lit place.

His senses slowly started working. He felt the hard floor under him instead of his soft Gryffindor bed. His eyes widened, all sleep gone as he looked around frantically, trying to figure out where he was, as the memories of last night came back to him.

A low voice drawled next to him, "Awake Black?". The noise caused him to jump. He saw Snape sitting next to him, clutching his chest, a grimace present on his face, which he quickly schooled.

Sirius finally noticed the sleeping forms of James and Remus as well. He frowned. 'Where's Wormtail?', the thought crossed his mind. Getting worried he turned towards the only person awake. "Snape? Wha- what's going on? Where are we?"

"I wouldn't know the exact whereabouts but at the current moment I can tell we are in some sort of dungeons."

"Dungeons? What happened Snape? Where did you come from? Did you have something to do with this? ", his voice rose. He failed to notice his friends stirring.

"I didn't do anything. If you want to blame anyone, blame Pettigrew.", Snape replied in a monotone voice.

Sirius hated not knowing anything. It was making him more frustrated and Snape wasn't helping. "What are you talking about? Where is Peter?"

"He's the reason we're here. Your 'friend'- Snape spat out the word- "wasn't as loyal as you thought."

If Sirius was frustrated before he was mad now. 'How dare Snape say something like that about Peter?'. He grabbed Snape's collar, who blankly let him do so, and was about to hit him when James' voice called out. "Stop Sirius. He's telling the truth."

This caused both of them to turn towards the other occupants of the cell. Snape still had a blank look while Remus and Sirius could only look in shock and disbelief.

"What happened James?", Remus asked.

oOo

Remus instantly knew something was wrong as his eyes opened. He got up quickly and looked to see James doing the same. There was something wrong with James, he had an air of grief around him.

His eyes searched around the cell, catching sight of Sirius and Severus. Severus had his hand around his ribs. 'Where was Peter?'. His feet became cold and his stomach dropped. 'Did something happen to him?'

"Where's Peter?", he heard Sirius ask.

"He's the reason we're here. Your 'friend' wasn't as loyal as you thought." Remus' mind did a double-take. 'Why did Severus say that?"

He saw Sirius move to hit Severus and was just about to tell him to stop, before he did anything rash, when James beat him to it.

"Stop Sirius. He's telling the truth."

Remus vaguely wondered how many times he would be shocked today as his mind went numb at the news. He stared at James, shocked and horrified. Finally he asked, "What happened James?"

The sigh he received sounded as if James was burdened with the responsibility of the whole world on his shoulder. He finally looked up, and Remus noticed that his eyes had lost all light and when he spoke it was filled with bitter resentment.

"Snape's telling the truth. Peter betrayed us. He led us there. He-," James chocked, then taking a deep breath continued , "It was Mulciber, Avery and him. It was their plan to deliver us to Voldemort. He said it was to gain his favor."