Written for the students of the International Wizarding Schools Championship, to show them how the final round will play out. Us heads decided to use the round six -Defense Against The Dark Arts. This will be five stories that are linked to each other. The prompt I chose for my story was, 'Cruciatus.' - pain as the theme. I've written Sirius in Azkaban. I am Headmistress of Durmstrang.
The pain was too much to bear. His heart had shattered into a million little pieces, much like his life. His best friend and his wife had been murdered, his Godson was safe in Hagrid's care for now, and as for Peter, the very thought of that traitious rat made his blood boil. How could Peter have done that? More importantly: Why? Why? Did he himself, James and Remus not treat him like an equal? Like a brother in arms? Okay, he wasn't always the brightest Lumos out of the group, but they had still treated him like a brother.
Now all Sirius could do was rot in Azkaban.
At first, Sirius held on to the hope that maybe Remus or even Dumbledore might come through and spring him free, but after the first month, he gave up hope, and the pain of abandonment consumed him whole.
Nights were the worst. The recurring nightmares kept him awake and screaming. He knew it was the effects of the Dementors, but he no longer had a wand, so he couldn't shield himself. All he wanted was to die, the pain was just too much to take. If he could have, he'd have cudgeled his brain out just to make it all stop.
Eventually, the pain turned into anguish. After the first two months of being in Azkaban, when everything had been processed in his mind, Sirius felt truly alone. The dam gave way, and Sirius broke. He cried like he'd never cried before. Not even when his father had taken his belt to him. Where was Remus? Why hadn't he try to get Sirius out of Azkaban? Did he really believe that he would betray the Order and his best friend like that? But then his thoughts wandered—what if Remus was dead too? That thought was too much to take, and the pain washed over him in waves, causing Sirius to claw at his own skin until he was a bloody mess.
Soon, Sirius found a way to deal with his pain and the Dementors by turning into his Animagus form. The emotions were less complex and made them easier to deal with, and over time, Sirius' all consuming thought became escaping Azkaban, finding his Godson and finding out about all of his friends.
Rumours had spread through from the prisoners sane enough to convey news that the Longbottoms had been tortured into insanity, by none other than his dear cousin Bellatrix, and Barty Crouch JR. That lit a fire within Sirius; a fire that would sustain him until the day he was able to escape the hell he was in.
The pain of everything that had gone before would never leave him, but it would be what fuelled his hate fire and kept him alive in the years to come.