Sirius sat quietly, his finger plucking each string softly and quickly, trying to get through the song as quickly as possible. His arms were starting to ache and he could feel the skin on his fingers begin to break apart. He didn’t know how long he’d been playing, but he gathered that it must’ve been a few hours based on the way his body felt. Thankfully, the song came to a close and Sirius dropped his arms to his sides, relishing in the relief his arms felt.
“Sirius!” His mother barks.
Sirius knows better than to talk back when his mother yells at him, he knows better than to flinch or shrink away. But he was confused, why was his mother yelling? Had he missed a note at the end? Had he played the wrong song?
“Did I say you could stop playing?” She asks.
“Mother, the song is-.” Sirius tries.
“Did I say you could stop playing, Sirius?” Walburga snaps at him.
“No.” Sirius answers while shaking his head.
“Then keep playing. Play until your fingers bleed.”
Sirius nods and lifts his arms, again. He places his fingers on the strings, again. He plays the song again. He plays it over and over, until his fingers bleed, but even then, he keeps playing. He played the whole night, while his mother sat and watched. Slowly, sunlight started to creep into the room.
“Stop.” Walburga says, turning toward the window.
Sirius stops playing, but keeps his hands on the strings. Walburga turns away from the window and faces Sirius, smiling her toxic and vile smile. She glides over to Sirius and places a kiss on his cheek as he tries not to cringe away as she touches him. The large door slams behind her, leaving Sirius and the harp alone. He dropped his arms once again, he could feel the ache in his bones and his eyes were heavy. Slowly, he looked at his hands, they were covered in blood and so were the strings on the harp. Sirius knows he should get bandages or at least lie down in his bed but he couldn’t move, it hurt too much. Instead, Sirius slumps down in the wooden chair he had been in for what felt like an eternity and falls asleep with the harp still against his shoulder and his hands on his legs, dripping blood.