The Stag and The Harpy | James Potter

Pain

Far off in the Gryffindor common room, Sirius' ears perk.

"Did you hear that, Moony?" He wonders, furrowing his brow. It sounds like crying....screaming. That's screaming. Who is screaming? Remus looks up from his book at the sound, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"What the fuck?" James wonders, eyes widening at the faint sound. Fear suddenly freezes him to his spot on the sofa.

"Phoebe," He whispers. "Is she with the girls?"

Sirius jumps to his feet and yells up the girls stair case,
"Marlene, Alice, Lily!!!!!"

Red hair quickly pops over the side, Lily Evans' eyes blurry with sleep.

"What, you bloody git?!"

James stands too, his hands shaking as he asks, "Phoebe. Is she up there with you???"

Alice pops her head over the side, saying confusedly, "No, we thought she was with you."

"She's taking care of the thestrals."

James whirls around at the sound of Peter's voice. The mousy boy looks confused, flustered by the sudden attention.

"Kettleburn asked her to. She was talking to McGonagall about it earlier," Peter explains. He doesn't get a chance to say anything more because James flies out of the common room, Sirius and Remus hot on his tail. Peter and the girls make eye contact before they hurry from the common room to get help, fear hitting them too. Where was Phoebe?

James curses loudly, "Fuck! Where is she?! Where the fuck is that coming from?!"

Sirius and Remus share a grim look before Remus says firmly, "She has the mirror. Look through it and see if you can see anything to help."

James rips the mirror from his pocket, his hands shaking as he looks. His heart is skipping every other beat, his feet feeling like lead. He runs faster, harder. Only realizing he's crying when he sees a mess of blonde hair covered with red on the mirror. He can't look anymore. He quickly shoved the mirror in Sirius' hands, following the terrible sounds of screaming. They round the corner by the great hall and hurl themselves at the door to the castle, James yelling,

"Phoebe! Phoebe hold on!"

Sirius grunts and gives the door another hard shove.

"Crucio!!"

It hits her again, this time at the hands of Mulciber. They'd taken turns she thought when she would catch a second of relief. They'd had to because each time the curse hit her it felt different.

Bellatrix, the first one, felt like she was being torn in pieces. Rosier felt like fire, burning her from the inside out. Mulciber felt like her head was going to implode.

Another scream leaves her, raw and mixed with a sob of pain. She couldn't think, couldn't see, couldn't hear. All she could feel was pain. Pain. She would have prayed for death of that meant that this would be over. If it meant that she wouldn't have to feel her skin being peeled from her body layer by layer, or fire boiling her from the inside out.

She couldn't tell who's spell hit her next but it was worse, electricity arching her back. She felt like her spine was going to snap, every knuckle in her clenched fists like it would disintegrate.