Piece By Piece

Chapter Fourteen: Escape from Malfoy Manor

      Harry took a deep breath, stepped forward, and opened the door.

TW: Same as previous chapter; description of bodily harm by beating, near starvation, possible mentions/allusions to current/past abuse. Another bolded line will mark the end of the section.

      What he saw inside the dark, cold cell of a room made him nearly scream. There was Sirius, partially curled up into himself facing away from the door; a move Harry recognized as one that captives used when anyone came into their cell. What prevented Sirius from being completely turned away was that a chain shackled around one of his arms was too short. Instead that arm was held up and out behind him, revealing a red mark on his wrist from being chained up for so long. 

      Otherwise, Sirius looked exactly like how Regulus had described him. Every inch of exposed skin was either black and blue or bleeding red. His hair was matted and greasy and covered his face, which Harry didn't need to see to know how awful it must look. Sirius was thin, too; Harry could see every bone in his body very clearly. The clothes he was wearing were tattered and torn and still hung off his thin frame as if they were five sizes too big. A small plate placed a foot or so away from him told Harry that Sirius was being given just enough food to not die of starvation.

      "Bloody Hell," Ron blurted as he closed the door behind them. Harry was so caught up in assessing Sirius' injuries that the sudden noise startled him. He jumped at the sound of Ron's voice. 

      "Sorry," Ron apologized. "Uhm... he's..."

      "Yeah," Harry said. "I... I've got this." He knelt on the floor next to Sirius. His training as an Auror had prepared him to deal with traumatized captives. But when it was someone he loved the training seemed to run away from the front of his mind. He held his hand over Sirius' shoulder, but didn't dare to touch him for fear of startling him and drawing attention. "Sirius," he said softly, doing his best to keep his voice from shaking.

      Sirius lifted his head up slowly and turned it to meet Harry's gaze. The two locked eyes, and Sirius' expression changed from that of fear to one of pleasant surprise and relief. He opened his mouth to speak, but Harry pressed a finger to his own lips as a warning to keep quiet. 

      "Harry," Sirius whispered. His voice was damaged and raspy, but his face told a different story. Harry could see in his eyes and on his body how much he'd suffered, but the faint smile that arose despite all of it told Harry that Sirius felt immense joy upon seeing him.

      Harry couldn't help but smile sadly. "We're gonna get you out of here," he said quietly. Tears began to push themselves out of his eyes.

      Sirius adjusted himself so that his whole body faced Harry. The latter tried to stifle a gasp. Sirius' face was covered in cuts and bruises. His shirt was ripped in several places to reveal large gashes on his chest. Harry now noticed several spots of dry blood on the walls and floor around him. 

      Sirius frowned at Harry's expression. "Don't look at me like that," He said, raising a weak hand to ruffle Harry's hair. "I'm fine." But the tone behind his voice betrayed him. Harry could tell, more so than physically, that Sirius was not fine. At all.

END TW. Please note that the rest of the chapter may contain traces (i.e. a phrase or descriptor here and there) of the themes mentioned above.

      Harry distracted himself by beginning to break Sirius' chains. He took Sirius' right wrist and aimed his wand at the cuff. "This might hurt a bit," Harry warned. "But I need you to try and stay quiet. Can you do that?"