The Master of Death

Chapter52: Espionage

Harry woke with a gasp, lungs burning and with freezing limbs and aching joints where his body had hit the ground when his consciousness had already been ripped away. For a moment, he breathed in the familiar scent of dust and smoke before he opened his eyes and sat up.

He found himself on the floor in Grimmauld Place's cavernous kitchen, Sirius and Kreacher both standing in front of the glimmering fireplace, looking at him. Death was next to them - invisible to everyone but Harry - his looming shadowless figure making the arch of the fireplace almost seem like a gate to hell from which he'd just emerged. For a moment, Harry saw a flicker of lightless tendrils filling every corner, crawling towards him over the floor and grimy ceiling - eyes, teeth and feathers blinking at him from the dark.

Then his attention was pulled away because he was unwittingly reminded of the cooling wet stain on his pants when he shifted. "Ew," Harry exclaimed grimacing, pulling at the fabric to get it as far away from his skin as possible. The house-elf immediately hurried to aid him up while Sirius just stood frozen. He looked upon Harry with an unreadable expression.

Once the issue was solved as far as possible with a cleaning charm and the glamours on Harry's appearance had been reversed, he looked up with a grin.

"Well, that was certainly something."

"You fucking died!" Sirius yelled, magic whirling. "And don't even get me started on the Unbreakable Vow! What the fuck, Harry?!"

Harry stared incredulously at Sirius. This was the last reaction he had expected. His godfather, meanwhile, held his own forearm in an iron grip. Harry's eyes trailed down where his mark had to be carved into Sirius skin.

Oh. "Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'," Sirius snapped. "What in Merlin's name was that?!"

"Well, in my defence, you were about to fuck up the mission," Harry replied, while Kreacher insistently aided him in pulling on his school robe.

"The mission?!" Sirius stalked forward in a way that made him embody Bellatrix in all but his stone-cold expression.

It came with an unsettling note and the realization that he might've really fucked up.

Some old ingrained instinct back from when he'd endured Vernon and Petunia on a daily basis made Harry want to step back, while another darker part of him reared up its head in interest with bared teeth and unblinking eyes.

"I thought we might fuck up some Death Eaters, show Voldemort we aren't meek sheep who hide in the freaking shadows like he. But you stormed in head-first to what - declare your freaking loyalty to that monster?!" Sirius dug his bony hand into his shirt above his tattooed sternum. "I'm bound to him now! Do you get that?!" Harry then really took a step back as Sirius crowded him against the table and grabbed his shoulder.

Suddenly Death was there.

He stood, looming behind Sirius, a dark and cold presence that made the light in the fireplace dim even though the flames flickered still as high as before. Kreacher, whom Harry had almost forgotten about disapparated with a crack.

Sirius froze and Harry watched how his lips parted in a silent gasp. Then he seemed to deflate. He took a step back and wiped a hand over his face.

When he raised his head again he stared somewhere into the room with a faraway expression. "I feel like- This isn't a game. I kinda thought it was. Everything always was..." He trailed off. After a moment Sirius turned to look at Harry.

Perhaps for the first time, Harry could only see perfect and sharp clarity in Sirius' steely eyes. "It's a game to you, isn't it? All this." The Animagus made a rough gesture encircling the room. "You know, I haven't really thought about it before, but... you could kill him, couldn't you? Just like that. With a snap of your fingers." Sirius laughed a manic laugh. "You're literally the Master of Death. A few Horcruxes shouldn't make much difference to you. Not if you could just send out your hound to fetch them, or am I wrong?"