𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲, Sirius Black

seventy-eight

~Oh, how I wished I would be free as a bird~
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Talea had no idea, how much time had passed. At first, she thought it had been a few days but after a while she had lost even the tiniest bit of orientation she still possessed. The only way she was able to tell day from night was the tiny window at the end of the cell.

It was freezing down there, her ripped clothes didn't kept her from getting a cold and sometimes when she was conscious, she was able to make out snowflakes falling outside through the window. She felt more exhausted than ever, it was not only the physical torture that made her body collapse but also the stress. She was never safe and always had to keep her walls up, she was afraid to sleep and the only rest she got was when she blacked out from pain.

When she would wake up, her wounds were tended roughly, even though the pain was still there, she was grateful for the small help.

Bellatrix and Abraxas took their turns in the pleasure of making her scream in agony. While the older Malfoy was clearly enjoying her pain, Bellatrix was another level. Abraxas had a small, satisfied grin on his face as he watched her torture, but at some point he stopped making her suffer in pain and on worse days she would pass out when she was back in the dungeons.

But Talea realised that Bellatrix wasn't cruel or mean, she was consumed in madness. She would use every possible torture spell on her and more. She would use harmless spells, like a cooking spell to burn her arms and if magic failed her, she would find other methods to hurt her, a constant, crazy laugh would mix with the sounds of Talea's pain. Every time Talea would see her face it was as if she raised all of hell's fires to make her insides burn in fear.

Talea didn't knew if she shivered at the thought or at the cold. Her body was curled up in a corner, near the metal door. She knew that she had to escape at some point but the time was not perfect...yet.

She heard the door being pushed open and looked up to see a woman in the door frame. Her sight was slightly blurry but the image got a little bit clearer as the woman stepped closer.

Talea never knew if Narcissa turned this place into heaven or hell as she stepped into the room. There were only two reasons. Option one, the good one, was that she would bring her a little bit of food and water. Option two, what Talea dreaded the most, was to bring her upstairs.

But even though Narcissa was a part of her suffering, she was still the person Talea liked the most in this house. She didn't seemed to be fully convinced of the whole death eater stuff like the others and she seemed to have at least some amount of common sense that made her understand how wrong this whole situation is.

"Stand up, the dark Lord wants to see you." Oh, it was the second option. Narcissa seemed to be in a hurry as she walked up to Talea, grabbed her arm and pulled her up. Talea felt dizzy at the sudden motion but managed to fall back to the ground. She blinked a few times and tried to prepare herself for what was about to come as she was pulled into the small hallway of the dungeons.