the_debt_of_time

Though still bound, Padfoot snapped his jaws at Bellatrix who only laughed at him,
swishing her wand in the air to constrict the ropes that bound his body even more tightly.
He whined loudly as pain crushed in on his ribs.
"Oh, the Dark Lord will be so pleased! If the brat in the other room really is Potter,
I will have such fun letting you watch him die in front of you. Or perhaps I should kill you
in front of him? Again." She grinned and levitated Padfoot's body, floating him after her
into the other room where Draco and Lucius were inspecting the prisoners, a look of fear
on the younger wizard's face.
"Is it him, Draco?" Bellatrix demanded.
Draco flinched at the sound of her voice. "I can't be sure," he whispered.
"But surely," she inquired quietly, "this is the Mudblood girl? This is Granger?"
"Yes, yes, it's Granger!" Lucius insisted. "There beside her is Potter, we think! Potter
and his friends, caught at last!"
"Of course it's them," Bellatrix said. "And I've just caught myself a wayward blood-
traitor." She gestured to Padfoot, suspended in mid-air behind her. "Sirius Black, back from
the dead."
Narcissa studied him with wide blue eyes. "Sirius?" she whispered, staring at him,
fear and pity in her gaze.
Bellatrix dragged back her left sleeve: they all saw the Dark Mark burnt into the
flesh of her arm and knew that she was about to touch it, to summon her beloved master.
"I was about to call him!" Lucius claimed, and his hand actually closed upon
Bellatrix's wrist, preventing her from touching the Mark. "I shall summon him, Bella. Potter
has been brought to my house, and it is therefore upon my authority."
"Your authority?!" she sneered, attempting to wrench her hand from his grasp. "You
lost your authority when you lost your wand, Lucius! How dare you! Take your hands off
me!" She stopped struggling when her dark eyes fixed upon something in the corner where
the remaining Snatchers stood, presumably waiting for payment.
Jubilant expression on his face, Lucius threw her hand from him and ripped up his
own sleeve.
"STOP!" Bellatrix shrieked "Do not touch it. We shall all perish if the Dark Lord
comes now!"
Lucius froze, his index finger hovering over his own Mark.