September, 1978

When Olivia came around, she was chained to a ceiling, hanging by her wrists. She looked around the room. It was dark, cold, and nearly empty. There were a couple of grandly carved wooden chair in one corner and a single candle burning down in the center of the floor, its light barely reaching the cold, stone walls. There was only one other thing in the room: a man chained directly across from her, also hanging from his wrists. As her eyes adjusted to the near-dark she realized that the man she was captive with was Sirius.

She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could make a sound, he shook his head violently, his eyes pleading with her to stay silent. Perhaps she should even pretend she was still unconscious. How had she gotten here? What had she – what had they been doing before they were brought to this room and chained up?

A door opened and four people entered: two women, a man, and Lord Voldemort, who was, of course, a man, but barely looked like one anymore. He looked like a snake with legs and arms. The women were the cousins of the prisoners: Eva and Bellatrix. The man was Yaxley, who Olivia had not seen since she left school. His eyes lingered on Olivia greedily and she suppressed a shudder.

"I see you're both awake now. Good." Voldemort paced the room, looking back and forth between Sirius and Olivia. "Unfortunately, Bella was a little rough with you, but there doesn't seem to be any permanent damage done." He turned to face Olivia, his back to Sirius. "Now, I suppose you know why you're here, but just in case, I'll refresh your memories. I have two reasonable requests. The first is that you join me. The second is that you tell me where I can find Caradoc Dearborn. You first, dear," he said with a grin at Olivia. "Will you finally join me? I know you will be quite useful. You shall be given a place of honor amongst my followers, despite your previous hardheadedness."

She could hardly believe he was bothering to ask again. He must know by now that she would never – but then, some had proven weaker than she would have thought. After all, word out of the Order was that they had a spy. Perhaps he was hoping she had some weakness he had yet to discover. She smiled as best she could through the pain in her arms.

"I'm perfectly happy with my place in the Order, thank you. I don't need your honor."

He frowned.

"I thought you might continue to be stubborn. Well," he turned to Sirius, "how about you? You were raised in the right of things, Sirius. Perhaps you could talk some sense into your precious Olivia."

Sirius's face looked gaunt and wild in the near-darkness. His eyes glinted fiercely. Eva was watching him with a quiet reverence that was all-consuming, her eyes brimming with a desire to be close to him that Olivia could smell. The same look was on Bellatrix's face as she regarded Voldemort. Sirius looked over at Olivia and growled, "You may as well kill me now, because I'm not joining you and I'm not telling you anything."

Voldemort's once-lips curled into a snarl-like grin as he hissed, "That remains to be seen. I see you are eager to throw away your own life, but what of hers?" He signaled Bellatrix, who eagerly raised her wand at Olivia. Sirius winced. "Still so eager?"

"You'll not shake me."

"I see. Well, Bella, give Olivia a taste of our hospitality."

Olivia felt the Cruciatus Curse hit her like so many times before and suppressed the scream welling up behind her lips. It took an incredible amount of energy and she could not keep herself from writhing in pain, swinging from her chained wrists. Yaxley frowned, but Bellatrix's eyes gleamed with excitement.

Sirius was able to watch this without a flinch. This wasn't the first time, and they had known that this might happen, that Voldemort might try to use their relationship to aid his coercive tactics. They had sworn they wouldn't let him. Voldemort could see it wasn't working, so he tried something different.

"That's enough for now, Bella. Yaxley, how about you show our guest some hospitality now?"

At this, Yaxley's frown melted away and his eyes glowed evilly.

"With pleasure, my Lord," he whispered reverently as he moved slowly toward Olivia, one hand outstretched slightly. She couldn't run away, but she tried to swing herself away from his touch. There was only so much she could do. He held her steady with his hands at her waist, then pinned her to the wall with his body to hold her still. One hand remained at her waist while the other moved to stroke her hair. "It doesn't matter if you come willingly or not," he whispered in her ear. "He's promised you to me, one way or another."

It took all her remaining strength not to cry out in disgust and horror. She looked at Sirius, knowing that in the near-darkness, her terror would still be clear in her eyes. He began to shake violently when their eyes met, attempting to break his chains in vain and yelling in anger. Voldemort's snarl-like grin deepened.

"Have you changed your mind, Sirius? Have you got something to tell me now?"

Sirius panted, clearly furiously upset with the futility of the situation. Olivia opened her mind to his, sensing that he wanted to show her something. I love you, she heard his mind think, and he thought of their first kiss, the day they first met, their first date, the first time he said he loved her. Tears filled her eyes. She nodded, letting him know she had seen.

"You'll never find him," Sirius said, his voice more resolute than before. Olivia bit her lip, horrified. He was saying goodbye. They were going to be killed. They were going to be tortured and killed. Well, Sirius was going to be tortured and killed. She was going to be raped, tortured, and held prisoner until she was no longer of use, and then they would kill her. What a way to end it all.

"Yaxley, stand back. Let's let Bella have another try."

Olivia was momentarily relieved when the pressure of Yaxley's body was removed, but she was almost instantly hit with Bellatrix's curse again, this time unable to hold in the screams. She hadn't screamed so much since they found Mary MacDonald's body. That was a deeper, less familiar sort of pain. Sirius had been there then as well. Sirius was always there.

Now, she was aware that he was crying. He was writhing against his chains, growling and making noises of despair.

"Oh, I shall kill you, Sirius," said Voldemort, loud enough that she could hear over her own cries of agony. "Don't worry about that. But first, I shall make you beg for another chance, you and your precious love. In fact, you'll probably be the first to break. It seems to truly bother you to see her in pain, doesn't it? What things that weakness love does to even the strongest of men!"

For a moment, Olivia could hear nothing but her own gasps and cries of pain. Then Eva said, in a cool and even voice, "My Lord, the torture of the girl is producing little in the way of results. Perhaps there is something else, some other course we might try."

Voldemort nodded, waving Bellatrix to stop.

"I think you're right, Eva. She cannot do me any good if we drive her out of her mind." Olivia's screams faded and her body went weak, limp with exhaustion from the pain. He turned to face Sirius. "We shall take another course. Bella, torture your dear cousin."

Eva took a step back in spite of herself, the fear spreading out of her eyes to the rest of her face, and then throughout her body, causing her to tremble with the strength of it. Yaxley's greedy eyes turned and watched as Bellatrix hit Sirius with a curse and he began to whimper and moa, twitching where he was dangling from the ceiling.

Olivia watched in horror. She had very nearly fainted when the curse on her had been released, but now she wished she had. She watched Sirius, smelling his pain and hearing his moans, which soon turned to cries as Bellatrix added force. They had never gotten on, Sirius and Bellatrix.

Unable to cope with the exhaustion and her own pain, much less the weight of Sirius's pain, Olivia began to weep again. At first, no one took heed of the sound. They were all watching Sirius's torture, Eva with fear, the others with greed and glee. Yet after a short time, her sobs became louder, still fairly well masked by the cries of her love, but audible to a careful listener, and Voldemort was such a listener. He turned to her, and Eva and Yaxley turned soon after.

"Not crying for him, are you? Your precious love" – he spat the words – "let you be tortured, would have let you be raped. He would have even offered up your lives, refusing to give a tiny bit of information to spare you. And still you cry for him you foolish, sentimental girl?"

But Olivia didn't answer. She just watched Sirius crying and tried not to think about what she was seeing, remembering that she loved him, that he loved her, and that he would do anything to protect her in any other circumstance. Eva was looking equally fearful, trembling as she was. And then Olivia remembered that Eva loved him too and Olivia realized how this must be bothering her cousin. She gazed at the Death Eater, eyes still filled with tears, heart desperate.

"Eva!" she screamed. "Eva, please! Please help him!"

But there was no help from Eva. She was in pain, yes, but her fear of Voldemort was greater. She bit her lip and excused herself from the room, leaving the sterner, stronger hearts to deal with the messy business of torture. Olivia screamed after her, pleading for help, hoping against hope that Eva would come back. As her cries grew weaker with defeat, Sirius's cries grew stronger with pain.

Voldemort rounded on Olivia again.

"So tell me, Olivia, are you ready to end all of this? Just tell me where Dearborn is and all the pain stops."

For just a moment, she wanted to tell him everything, tears still pouring down her face, the cries of her love echoing madly through the old stone room. But she looked over at Yaxley who was still staring longingly at her, hoping that the torture would be over so that he could commence his own brand of torture. She realized that no matter if she sold out Caradoc or not, the pain wouldn't stop. She shook her head, too weak to speak and too pained to look at Sirius anymore. She shut her eyes, shook her head, and tried to lose herself in her happiest memories, though they all felt so slippery in this time and place.

And then she heard a horrifying sound that made her eyes snap back open. Sirius had suddenly stopped crying out and was simply sobbing. His eyes were still closed and he was still writhing in pain, but he didn't even have the strength to yell anymore. He kept muttering something under his breath, and after a few moments of him repeating it she realized he was saying, "Kill me, kill me, don't do this to her. Kill me."

Foolish man! How would she feel better if he died? True, there didn't seem to be a way out. He would die eventually, anyway, but maybe it was better to suffer like this together than to die and never have any hope again. She felt selfish for thinking that, but before she could dwell on her selfishness, the candle in the center of the room burned out.

Olivia shuddered as Voldemort's voice penetrated the air, hissing, "That's enough for tonight, Bella. We'll send someone with a bit of bread for them later and we'll try again in the morning." Olivia could hear some shuffling in the room and felt someone move close to her. Yaxley's voice was in her ear.

"It's only a matter of time, my pet. You'll be begging me to take you soon. Just a matter of time."

There was more shuffling and movement and then the door to the store room slammed shut and they were left alone. They hanged there in silence for what seemed like hours. Sirius was sobbing though Olivia could tell it was quietly as possible, trying to hide it from her. She sighed.

"Sirius, I love you, but stop trying to get yourself killed." He almost laughed at that. "Please, don't cry. We'll be all right. Who knows, me may even figure a way out of this thing, you and me. We're master escape artists. Think of how many ways we found to get out of Hogwarts unnoticed! This should be much easier. There's no Mrs. Norris." Another half-laugh sounded between sobs. "Sirius, please, don't give up yet. Even if he kills you, they're not going to kill me and…" Her voice caught in her throat and she could feel tears forming in her eyes. "I don't think I could do this without you, love. Please, don't give up."

The sobs slowed, but there was no laughter. When there was finally silence, she heard a small voice that was barely recognizable as Sirius say, "I love you, Livia. I wish I could save you. You have no idea how much it killed me to watch her hurt you. I'm so sorry, love."

Her heart nearly broke at his tender apology.

"It's not your fault, love. IT's not. This isn't about you. Besides, I do know. It's exactly how I felt when I watched them hurting you."

There was more silence and then, "Do you remember our first fight?"

She wasn't sure what he was referring to; they had fought so many times.

"I don't know. What was it?"

He laughed.

"If I remember correctly, you were angry at me because I defended your honor or something like that. You were mad that I didn't let you handle it on your own. We were just kids. I don't think you understood how much I loved you even then. I'm not sure I understood."

She smiled, vaguely recalling the incident in question. She had been furious.

"It doesn't matter now, love," she cooed. "We know now, and we're going to be okay, no matter what happens."

It seemed like forever went by as the two lovers went on sharing memories and stories of their childhood together, and the beginning of their love. Finally, Olivia sighed.

"Does it hurt, Sirius? Are you still in pain?"

At first, she wasn't sure he would answer. Then, slowly, he said, "A bit. I'm not going to lie, it still does hurt a bit. What about you?"

She laughed darkly.

"Ha, c'mon, Sirius, it's me! I'm always in pain, remember?"

"Olivia…"

"No, all joking aside, I feel like she's still cursing me. But I suppose it doesn't really matter. That'll just make the torture in the morning less of a shock to the system."

Just then the door opened again, timidly this time. Eva could be seen creeping in by the light of her wand, closing the door behind her. Without warning, she unchained Sirius, and then Olivia. She handed them the bread and their wands.

"Eat it, and eat it fast. Sirius, light your wand, please, so I can see what I'm doing."

They didn't ask, but Olivia was shocked. Actually, she was more shocked than Sirius smelled.

"All right, Sirius, hold still." Suddenly, he was disappearing. Eva had Disillusioned him. "Now, hold your wand steady, Sirius. Olivia, don't move, please. I'm not very good at this spell.

Olivia realized with a sudden lurch of her stomach that Eva was transfiguring her eyes so that they were blue, like Eva's, making them truly identical. Eva's wand was shaking a bit.

"Okay, I think I've done it. Now, I need one of you to chain me up where Olivia was, making it look like you somehow managed to overpower me and took off, leaving me here for someone to find in the morning. They won't be expecting this, since you'll go to my room and Disapparate. They won't come back until the morning and by then you'll be long gone. Now, my room is out the door, to the left up three flights of stairs, down the hall and the fifth door on your right, okay?"

Sirius had her repeat the directions a couple more times while he chained her to the ceiling. She let out a groan.

"What is it?"

"These really do hurt."

Olivia chuckled and remarked dryly, "The chains are nothing to Bellatrix's 'hospitality'. Try putting up with that for a night."

Eva whimpered. Sirius put out her wand and shoved it in her pocket. Olivia took out her own wand and lit it, just to get them out of the room.

"Good luck."

A/N: So this is the very first scene I ever wrote for the ENTIRE SERIES. :D Part of the reason I restructured how I was posting the Olivia years is so that I could get some of the chapters I had written last year up by the time this year was over. :D Maybe it's a little selfish, but I think it will be more interesting to readers this way too. Hope you all enjoyed! I certainly did.