Scars and Bruises

The Truth

ALEX.

Cloaked silhouette grabbed Alex's hair in a fist and pulled her backwards, she was on her knees in a room where she thought she had spent eternity. Now she looked at the dirty ceiling with tears in her eyes from all the pain she felt, seemed like she could lose half of her scalp.

"What do you know about Sirius Black? Where is he?" sharp voice asked right in her ear.

"I know nothing," Alex gasped.

"Nothing?! You are lying. You are his girlfriend, how can you know nothing?" voice was very insistent.

"No," Alex gasped once again, it was hard to talk. "I am not his girlfriend, I don't know anything!"

"I don't believe you," figure let her go. "We will try again later." Alex fell to the ground, she panted rapidly.

"Crucio!" said another voice what Alex hadn't heard before. Her body contorted in unnatural way and pain rushed through her body, once again she felt like there existed nothing but pain in this world.

Alex was on her basement floor once again. It was so cold but she had no strength to get up, not right away at least. She lingered in the nightmare memory; she knew that she was ready to die before she betrayed anyone she loved. And Alex had almost died, she had thought for so much moments that that room would be the place where she would die. Nevertheless, she survived.

These kind of mornings and days after every full moon was a reminder that she almost died but still managed somehow save her own life. But this evening she would probably get some answers to what exactly happened, things she didn't knew and hadn't asked Dumbledore. She wasn't ready for this evening, but she had no choice. And she always knew that this day would come.

Alex slowly got up and climbed the stairs to get all her potions, which would make pain disappear and feel her better. She opened the wooden cabinet and realized that she had made a mistake – with Dumbledore's visit she had forgotten to brew potion for pain. There was just a little left in a vile, and it was most definitely not enough. Now she had no strength to brew some more.

She unceremoniously drank potion leftovers and some other potions to make herself feel better. Then she took from other shelf firewhiskey, bad combination but she needed something to take the edge off the pain.

She walked to the living room and fell on the couch; Alex moaned in pain, her back was on fire. She drank a couple big gulps of firewhiskey, wrapped herself in the blanket and fell asleep.

Alex felt someone kick her in the stomach, she screamed in pain, but she could not move because her body was barely functioning.

"Oh, you are awake," she heard cold voice. "Tell me what Dumbledore is plotting against the Dark Lord?"

"I don't know," Alex tried to convince her capturer, but could not say anything more because her body once again was under the Cruciatus Curse.

"And now? Do you know now?" other man asked her, when they stopped torturing her.

"How many times do I need to tell you that I don't know anything?" Alex tried to scream, but she was unsuccessful. And for the countless time she felt the pain overtake her body, twisting and turning it.

Alex sharply opened her eyes, she had slept too little and her body hurt way too much, but there was nothing to do about it. It was almost evening and she needed to get ready. She sat on the couch and tried to get in a mindset for this evening. And then she felt nauseous, she hurried to the kitchen sink where she emptied her stomach contents. It had been a while since the last time she threw up after the full moon.