A/N: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS A TORTURE SCENE. It is not really graphic, but it's definitely one of my more disturbing chapters in this story. If that makes you uncomfortable in any way, please refrain from reading this part, though there will be details that are significant to the rest of the story.

Sirius paced the small cell in the basement of Malfoy Manor an hour later, trying to think of a way to escape. "We can't apparate, there are no objects to create a portkey, and even if there were, I don't have my wand. Our only chance is if they send an oaf down here and we can sneak past them. Otherwise, we just have to wait for the Order…" Sirius mumbled, slumping down against the wall and putting his head in his hands.

"Dad?" Harry asked, moving to sit beside his father.

"I'm okay," Sirius said, turning to face his son. "I just wish they hadn't gotten you… this is bad."

"You're right cousin, it is bad - for you, at least." Bellatrix said, stepping out of the shadows with an evil grin on her face.

Harry felt his father tense up beside him and wondered vaguely why his cousin brought out that reaction in him.

Before Sirius could retort, Bellatrix shot a spell at Harry, binding the boy to the wall. Sirius turned to his son, trying to rip the chains off, but his attempts were futile. Bellatrix laughed at Sirius's bewildered expression. "What's wrong, Siri? We're just having a little fun…"

Sirius stood to face Bellatrix and approached her, despite not having a wand. "You know I don't approve of your kind of fun. Let him go, now." Harry noticed that, even unarmed, Sirius was extremely intimidating. He towered over Bellatrix; if he wanted to physically attack her, he would definitely have the upperhand.

Bellatrix cackled; her laugh sent shivers down Harry's spine. "My my, cousin. Are you going to resort to muggle dueling? Going to try and hit me?"

"If you don't let Harry go now, yes, I will." Sirius said, his voice deathly quiet.

"Hmm, let me think for a second…" Bellatrix said, looking at her cousin with crazed eyes. "Oh… I don't think so-"

Sirius swung at that moment, hitting her in the face hard. She flew to the side - then, with a animalistic yell, she knocked Sirius backward with magic, causing him to fall to the ground. With another swing of her wand, Sirius was chained to the floor, sprawled out on his back directly in front of Harry.

"Hmm," Bellatrix said, standing and approaching Sirius, who was straining to look up from his position. "Doesn't this look familiar, Siri? Too bad Uncle Orion isn't here, he was much better at the curses than I am… oh well." She laughed evilly, then bent over Sirius, getting close to his face. He didn't move, meeting her gaze with a ferocious one of his own. He spit in her face, causing her to get up and wipe her eye. "Now now, behaving so immaturely will only cause the punishment to be worse, or do you not remember the rules, Siri?"

Harry was confused as to what Bellatrix was talking about, but then he remembered what Sirius had told him about his worst childhood punishment, right after his first term at Hogwarts - that must have been what Bellatrix was referring to…

Harry watched as his father's breath hitched, and a hint of fear appeared in his eyes.

"Do I detect a flicker of fear? Not so much of a brave Gryffindor now, are you cousin?" Bellatrix said with a laugh, circling the man.

"You don't scare me, Bella," Sirius said bracingly; however, even Harry could tell Sirius was only being this defiant for his son's sake. Harry could see the way his chains were shaking - his father was actually terrified.

"Hmm," Bellatrix said, bending back over her cousin, but this time keeping enough distance to avoid Sirius spitting at her again. "I think I'm forgetting something. Oh, that's right-" she said with an evil grin. She flicked her wand again and this time Sirius's clothes disappeared, save for his boxers.

Harry's heart was racing; even he knew what she was about to do. She was making Sirius relive one of his worst memories of his childhood abuse, right in front of his son. Harry tried his best to pull from the chains, wanting more than anything to save Sirius from what he was about to face. "Stop!" Harry choked out, but Bellatrix paid him no mind.

"Still a pretty boy, aren't you, Siri?" Bellatrix said, leaning over him, her facial expression looking as if she were about to consume a feast. Sirius looked as though he were going to be sick. "Except these ugly marks," Bellatrix said, running one of her long, slender fingers across the thin, pink scars on Sirius's abdomen. The man shuddered, letting a few stray tears fall down. Bellatrix cackled, and wiped the tears off his face. "Now, now, it's not the time to cry yet. You were so proud of being a Gryffindor, where's that courage you always bragged about?"

Sirius didn't speak, keeping his eyes closed instead. Bellatrix smiled wickedly. "That's what I thought - let's see how long it takes you to break."

"Please," Sirius croaked out, opening his eyes. "Not in front of Harry. Do what you want with me, but don't make him watch this-"

"Oh, but where's the fun in that? After all, Uncle Orion always made sure he had an audience when he punished you, why should I be denied that luxury?" Bellatrix said, pointing her wand over the first scar on his abdomen. "Secare!"

Harry watched in horror as the first of Sirius's thin, pink scars turned into an angry, red line. His father winced, but bit his lip to avoid crying out.

"Not so bad, yet, is it cousin? I'm sure you remember what happens next though - all you must do is tell me the information I want to know, and I'll let you go." Bellatrix whispered into Sirius's ear.

"N-no," Sirius croaked out.

"Of course, Potter could always tell me…" Bellatrix said, standing and approaching Harry as a second line began to form over another one of Sirius's scars. "I'll stop hurting your daddy if you tell me what I want to know, ickle Potter."

Harry looked worriedly at his father. Sirius's tear filled eyes met his own. "Don't Harry - just look away, please." There was naked pleading in his dad's voice and it broke Harry's heart. He couldn't just watch Sirius be tortured, or maybe worse… could the curse actually kill him?

"Please stop!" Harry begged, turning to their captor.

"I will, I just need you to tell me about the prophecy…" Bellatrix said, reaching out to cup Harry's cheek.

"Don't touch him!" Sirius said harshly, his voice cracking from the pain as a third line appeared over a scar. They weren't deep enough to do lasting damage… yet. "Harry, don't say a word!"

"But, dad-" Harry attempted to protest, tears stinging his eyes. What if Bellatrix let the cuts go deep enough to kill Sirius?

"No, Harry. No matter what happens to me, don't give in," Sirius said as firmly as he could, given the circumstances. "Look away, please…"

But Harry couldn't look away, he had to know if Bellatrix was going to let the cuts get too deep; if she did, he'd have to tell her the prophecy, he wasn't going to lose Sirius this way.

Harry watched in horror as the cuts slowly grew deeper, and Sirius grunts turned into full on screams. He couldn't stand it; every once in a while, Sirius would tilt his face up to make sure Harry wasn't watching, but he couldn't articulate his words anymore to tell his son to look away.

Eventually his voice started cracking and he couldn't scream, instead just lying there writhing in pain. Bellatrix laughed evilly, perched beside Harry. "This can all stop, Siri, if one of you just tells me what I want to know. You can save your precious daddy, Potter, if you just tell me."

Harry looked at Sirius's red, tear-stained face; his godfather was coughing up blood. He wouldn't be able to survive much longer, Harry knew it.

"Stop!" Harry decided, trying to think of a plan. "Stop, and I'll tell you!"

Sirius, despite his injuries, tilted his head up to look at Harry, anger and fear etched into his eyes.

"Tell me, then I'll stop," Bellatrix said, an evil grin on her features.

Harry looked at his dad, hoping to convey to him what he couldn't say out loud. "No," Harry said defiantly. "Stop now, and I'll tell you. If you end up killing him, I'll keep my mouth shut, and you'll never know."

Bellatrix looked as if she wanted to argue, to see if Harry was bluffing; however, she must have decided to take the risk because she lifted the curse off of his father. Harry could hear Sirius's attempt to breathe, but he could tell his father was in a lot of pain. His eyes, however, were trained on Harry, as if daring the boy to actually do what he claimed he was going to do.

"The prophecy says…" Harry started, ignoring his father's wheezing attempts to tell him to stop. "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. The Dark Lord will mark him a target, though the one with the power will not be able to stop him. He must find an artifact, a physical weakness of the Dark Lord, if he hopes to end the war."

When he finished, Harry looked up to Bellatrix to see if she believed him or not, double checking to make sure he was employing occlumency. If she caught his lie, Sirius would be doomed… but if he could make it believable…

"An artifact, you say?" Bellatrix started slowly, her eyes widening. "That's what you were looking for with Dumbledore! Tell me, Potter, did you find it? Tell me or I'll kill your father right now!"

"If I tell you," Harry said, "you have to leave him alone."

"I will, I will, just tell me!" Bellatrix said, a crazed look coming over her features.

"No, we did not find it. We went to the country outside of Yorkshire because Dumbledore had a lead that the object I could use to defeat him could be found there, but we didn't find it. We had planned to go search in Scotland next week, but that was before Dumbledore was murdered…" Harry said, feeling the pain from that wash over him. Dumbledore had become a trusted figure and leader, despite all the secrets he was keeping for the greater good. Harry never wanted him to die, and knew that the Order could very well fall apart without him.

Bellatrix let out a victory screech before turning to Sirius and poorly healing his wounds, simultaneously banishing the blood. "I need to keep you alive cousin, I might be using this method again to get more information out of Potter-"

"You said you'd leave him alone!" Harry said indignantly, feeling anger boil up inside him.

"You're lucky I'm healing him now and letting him live, Potter. I could have gone against my word and killed him right then. Besides, surely the Dark Lord will want to know more information once I tell him what I've discovered. I'll be back tomorrow to do this again." She said, stepping towards the door. Once she had locked it behind her, she flicked her wand, releasing Harry and Sirius from their chains for the time being.

Harry immediately shot up and ran to Sirius to check on him. Sirius did not move from where he was lying on the ground, still unclothed. His weak, tortured gaze met Harry's blazing green one. "Dad," Harry mumbled, kneeling down. "What can I do?"

Sirius shook his head, turning away from his son. Harry could tell his father was ashamed, but he was worried; regardless of Bellatrix healing him, the man had lost a lot of blood, and who knows what the torture had done to his mind. He had to get him out of there as soon as possible.

Harry felt in his pockets, desperately searching for something to get them out of there. He felt a sharp pain in his hand, then felt blood oozing out of him. "What the hell," Harry mumbled, pulling the sharp object out of his pocket. It was the mirror Sirius had in his pocket earlier, from the mission. Harry didn't know how it had ended up in his pants, nor how it was shattered. Glimmering hope was rising inside him. The other mirror had been given to Dumbledore, in case the three were separated in their mission, but perhaps someone had removed it from the deceased headmaster's robes? It was worth a shot, Harry decided, looking into the glass shard and announcing "Professor Dumbledore!" into it.

Harry waited a few agonizing minutes, his hope slowly going out of him. No one knew about the mirrors beyond Remus, Sirius, Dumbledore, and him, so no one would know to look for it, except perhaps Remus, but he wouldn't know that it had been in Dumbledore's possession. Just as he was about to place the mirror back in his pocket, however, an amber eye appeared in it.

"Harry?" Remus's voice said, sounding bewildered.

"Yes! It's me! Sirius and I are in Malfoy Manor and we can't escape or apparate. Send help, please! Sirius is hurt, really badly." Harry said quickly, his heart racing. "There's not much time, just do something!"

"Harry, we're planning an attack on the Manor, but there's something I want to try to get the two of you out of there before we do; wait, and if you don't hear back from me in twenty minutes call for me again. If anything changes, call for me as soon as possible. We're doing everything we can, just hang in there." Remus said, before shoving the mirror into his pocket and ending the call.

"They're coming, dad, just hold on. We'll get out of here and get help, okay? Just please be okay," Harry said, reaching for his dad's hand and squeezing it. Sirius's normally warm, rough hand was freezing cold. The man let out a whimper, closing his eyes.

Harry's heart was pounding; had Sirius gone mad during the torture? It lasted a long time and the wounds had been pretty deep.

"Dad," Harry said urgently when Sirius didn't open his eyes again. "Dad… Sirius! Keep your eyes open, please. I need to know you're okay." Harry's voice quivered and he felt tears sting his eyes; he wished he had thought of the occlumency plan much sooner, so his dad wouldn't have had to endure what he did.

"I'm okay," Sirius slurred, keeping his eyes shut as he curled into himself. "It just... hurts," he whispered, and the brokenness with which he spoke the words frightened Harry; never had he seen the man so vulnerable, save for the time he told Harry of his abuse.

Harry sat there for a moment, staring helplessly at the man, praying that Remus's plan would work and they'd escape soon. Then, Sirius stirred, tilting his head to look Harry in the eye. "The… false prophecy… brilliant…"

Harry nodded. "Good thing she's not a great legilimens… I don't think I could have lied like that to Voldemort."

Sirius blinked twice at him, and the thought of the man going mad crossed Harry's mind again; however, after a second, a minuscule grin appeared on his godfather's handsome face. "Proud… of… you," he managed to croak out.

Harry squeezed Sirius's hand once, but before he could respond, the sound of footsteps in the dungeon caught him off guard.

Harry turned, worried another death eater would be coming to torment them, but then was shocked to see Ron and Dobby. "Ron? Dobby? What are you doing here? How did you even get in here?"

"The deluminator!" Ron exclaimed, pulling it out of his pocket. I was with my parents, McGonagall, and Remus, and all of the sudden I heard your voice inside it. I-" Ron stopped, his face turning pale at the sight of Sirius. "Blimey mate, we can talk about this later! I brought Dobby here because-"

"House elves can do magic that wizards cannot!" Dobby interrupted. "Remus Lupin said that Harry Potter needed help, and Dobby is here to help!"

Harry grinned. "Can you take all three of us at the same time? Just back to the hospital wing? He's really hurt…"

Dobby nodded and walked over. Harry and Ron stood on either side of Sirius, helping to hold up his limp form. Dobby grabbed onto Harry's arm. Harry felt the sensation of being squeezed through a tube, then they were in the hospital wing, Ron and him still lifting Sirius. Remus, McGonagall, Tonks, Madam Pomfrey, and Mrs. Weasley all immediately rushed forward.