A/N: I found the quote in this story on a bumper sticker on facebook. Yeah, I know. So instead of working on my 53 other WIPs last night, this magically appeared.
Our story this evening will be told in four 100-word drabbles.
"Strength is nothing more than how well you hide the pain."
He'd read that somewhere, a long time ago. He forgot where...a book, a sign, a newspaper article, maybe. Hell, it might even have been his fortune in one of those ridiculous cookies from the local Chinese restaurant he'd visited often as a young man.
And here he knelt, at the feet of the Dark Lord, suffering from the last half-hour of torment at the end of the madman's wand. Praying he could hide the pain, praying he could hide any sign of weakness.
Weakness would get him killed.
A/N 2: I would like to issue oodles and boodles of thanks to my lovely beta, Lone Butterfly, who also helped me come up with the title. Isn't she grand?