A flash.
James. James, please, no-
The thunder rolls.
Lily, beautiful Lily-
There's a shuddering breath and he curls up tighter as Bella begins to scream.
"Do you want to play, Siri? It's a fun game. Whoever falls into the mirror loses."
There's another flash and he lets out a cry against his will, gray eyes snapping open to come face to face with his nightmares come to life. It's a constant struggle, to stay alive; to stay sane, even as everyone deteriorates around him like mold on walls. Cobwebs line his mind in thick clusters, clouding his mind and slowing the previously genius currents of his brain waves. If he lets go for a second he knows he would be done for.
"Disgusting shame of my flesh, you faggot!"
"No- son- of- mine!"
"Sirius…"
It's so cold and so painfully loud, this endless silence. It's thick and it makes him squirm, heart beating too fast for it to be healthy, sweat cooling on his body faster than he can suck in his hurried breaths. He makes himself dizzy most nights, and the only thing that helps is when he presses his forehead against the cold bricks that house him, worn and probably dirtier than he is, but he gives that no thought. He can't afford to. The dirt makes him sick, but after a time- he can't tell how long- he becomes disgustingly used to it, coating every surface.
"Anything goes, Siri- I could use magic to push you into the mirror, if I felt like it."
She keeps creaming and he wants very much to hit her. It's not as if they couldn't do anything worse to him than what they've already done, he reasons. He glances up and it doesn't take any time for his eyes to adjust. It's lighter than normal because of the lightning, but he blinks and he's okay. Bella is in the cell beside him; clawing at her once gorgeous curls with her chipped, dirty nails. He narrows his eyes.
"You'll be godfather, right?" Anything, James.
She makes the mistake of falling against the bars, and he reaches quickly. Quick tug ensures that a clump of her hair comes away between his filthy fingers and her screams turn shrill and angry. He scoots away and she snarls, eyes clearing to focus on him with a frightening intensity.
Crash.
She laughs, and for a second he's five again and staring at her as she laughs at his failure. He's coated in blood and glass, the frame of the mirror quaking with the aftershocks of his fall behind him. His mother starts screaming somewhere in the house, loud and the sound grates on his eardrums like nails on a chalkboard. He winces and starts the cry, his wails being echoed by his brother from the other room. Bella laughs and laughs.
Harry's crying, somewhere. "James- James!"
"Can't get up, can you, Siri? Hurts, doesn't it, being shattered?"
Dear Merlin, yes, yes, it hurts more than anything. The hair falls out of his hands and he claps them over his ears, closing his eyes. He can feel the burn of her stare on him, violent and laced with fatal hatred.
"You'll know what that feels like someday, little cousin. To be shattered, that is."
James. Don't leave me.
She loses interest quite some time later, when the guards slam food into her cell. Her head snaps around and she stares at them, eyes wild and feral. It's dangerous in the same way her cold and calculating stare used to be, but it's got a different feel. What used to be controlled and evaluated carefully with Black-like precision is now nothing more than a shattered remnant of that deadly terror she used to instill so easily upon her victims. It makes him sick to think about, as he watches her eat with the fury of the sun, nothing like the delicate lady she was before the war.
Outside, the waves crash and cry, while the thunder rolls in anger and the lightning strikes with an outcry of pain.