CHAPTER 10
Dig, Bury, and Burn
The day of the burials arrived too soon for Sirius Black. At 4:30 in the morning the cells opened up and three menacing looking Wizards came into each cell to yank the prisoners out to the graveyard. These wizards were brandishing wands that could only peform on spell: The Cruciatus Curse.
Within minutes Sirius found himself ouside with the other prisoners. As always, the prisoners were grouped according to security levels. As the aurors briefed the other prisoners on what to do, (the dementors were not allowed to supervise the work because the Warden wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible) the Warden walked over to the high security group and gave them a speech of his own.
"I don't care how weak or how mad you are, and I sure don't care about how healthy or sickly you are, no matter what sort of problems you might have, you will work. If you are caught not working or working at a slow pace, these highly skilled Aurors will be forced to administor the Cruciatus Curse."
"I hope and pray," he continued, not sounding sympathetic at all, "that you do not force any of these aurors to curse you. And, if you die on the job, you don't have to worry because you died in a graveyard."
He finished his speech, gave an evil smile, and strolled off toward the other groups of prisoners.
The work was painful, the prisoners were vomiting and passing out, and the aurors shouted "Crucio" upon seeing the exausted pass out and the weak in stomach vomit all over themselves. The low security prisoners that had died during the epidemic were the only ones that the warden thought worth the time to bury.
That meant that the first part of the work was digging up the bodies of those that the warden thought should be burned, this was a grusome and sickening task for Sirius and the other prisoners. They found out quickly that there were hardly any bodies buried by themselves. Most of the bodies they found had been placed in mass graves with a dozen others. The first mass grave that Sirius had come across proved to be too much for his already weak stomach, he vomited into the grave and accidently sprayed himself while he did this. A few moments after he finished throwing up, he was hit with the cruciatus curse. Prisoners were not permitted to waste time, and vomiting was considered to be a waste of time.
All throughout the painful day of work, Aurors who were not muttering the incantation for the cruciatus curse were shouting at the prisoners that WERE working at the required pace. They would push these hard workers to work even faster, and if they faltered or slowed down, were given the cruciatus curse. Some aurors even amused themselves by pushing some of the working prisoners into the deep graves that they had just unearthed. And, once the prisoner was almost out of the hole, they would curse them, sending them back to the bottom of the pit, screaming with pain. This is beyond cruelty, Sirius thought when he saw two aurors costantly cursing a prisoner for no reason whatsoever, this is just inhuman.
Finally the bodies that the warden wanted dug up were out of the earth. The day was at its hottest as they began to throw the newly made dead into the mass graves. Sirius helped throw these bodies in for a while, but for no reason whatsoever, he was given the cruciatus curse. The auror that had cursed him then shouted, "GO AND HELP BURN THE BODIES BLACK, OR ELSE I'LL CURSE YOU AGAIN!" Three large fires were hastily made and the prisoners selected for the job of burning the prisoners were grouped into pairs. Both he and his partner, a woman, seemed too weak to pick up even the lightest of corpses. Twice the exaustion nearly caused Sirius to stumble into the raging inferno that rose into the sky before him. And, as the work became too hard, and the day became even hotter, some of the prisoners were seriously thinking about ending it by jumping into the inferno. Some did, three in all. They leapt into the fire, screamed in pain for about a minute, and then fell silent.
The days work had been tiring, and five prisoners had died, not counting the suicides of the three that jumped into the fire. Finally, just after mid-night, the job was done, and the Warden ordered the prisoners back into the castle. Most of the prisoners fell asleep as soon as they got into their cells, but Sirius Black waited a little while before conceding to the exaustion that covered his entire body. He was dripping with sweat and his own bodily fluids, mostly vomit. He could not stop thinking about Marcus and Jason, who's bodies he had seen burned in the massive, controlled fire. Why them? Why did God have to take his friends? If there was a god than why was he so cruel to him? Out of all the people to die in the epidemic why did his only friends in Azkaban prison have to be taken? He now had lost all hope, and indeed, Sirius Black was never the same again after that night. He no longer made the occasional joke to the other prisoners, he no longer tried to help the prisoners cope with their problems, he only cared about one person now...himself.
It was now September 1st in the year 1991. Sirius realized that Harry Potter, the son of his BEST FRIEND, would be starting at Hogwarts in about fifteen hours time. He smiled slightly at this final comforting thought and fell into an uneasy sleep.
Dig, Bury, and Burn
The day of the burials arrived too soon for Sirius Black. At 4:30 in the morning the cells opened up and three menacing looking Wizards came into each cell to yank the prisoners out to the graveyard. These wizards were brandishing wands that could only peform on spell: The Cruciatus Curse.
Within minutes Sirius found himself ouside with the other prisoners. As always, the prisoners were grouped according to security levels. As the aurors briefed the other prisoners on what to do, (the dementors were not allowed to supervise the work because the Warden wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible) the Warden walked over to the high security group and gave them a speech of his own.
"I don't care how weak or how mad you are, and I sure don't care about how healthy or sickly you are, no matter what sort of problems you might have, you will work. If you are caught not working or working at a slow pace, these highly skilled Aurors will be forced to administor the Cruciatus Curse."
"I hope and pray," he continued, not sounding sympathetic at all, "that you do not force any of these aurors to curse you. And, if you die on the job, you don't have to worry because you died in a graveyard."
He finished his speech, gave an evil smile, and strolled off toward the other groups of prisoners.
The work was painful, the prisoners were vomiting and passing out, and the aurors shouted "Crucio" upon seeing the exausted pass out and the weak in stomach vomit all over themselves. The low security prisoners that had died during the epidemic were the only ones that the warden thought worth the time to bury.
That meant that the first part of the work was digging up the bodies of those that the warden thought should be burned, this was a grusome and sickening task for Sirius and the other prisoners. They found out quickly that there were hardly any bodies buried by themselves. Most of the bodies they found had been placed in mass graves with a dozen others. The first mass grave that Sirius had come across proved to be too much for his already weak stomach, he vomited into the grave and accidently sprayed himself while he did this. A few moments after he finished throwing up, he was hit with the cruciatus curse. Prisoners were not permitted to waste time, and vomiting was considered to be a waste of time.
All throughout the painful day of work, Aurors who were not muttering the incantation for the cruciatus curse were shouting at the prisoners that WERE working at the required pace. They would push these hard workers to work even faster, and if they faltered or slowed down, were given the cruciatus curse. Some aurors even amused themselves by pushing some of the working prisoners into the deep graves that they had just unearthed. And, once the prisoner was almost out of the hole, they would curse them, sending them back to the bottom of the pit, screaming with pain. This is beyond cruelty, Sirius thought when he saw two aurors costantly cursing a prisoner for no reason whatsoever, this is just inhuman.
Finally the bodies that the warden wanted dug up were out of the earth. The day was at its hottest as they began to throw the newly made dead into the mass graves. Sirius helped throw these bodies in for a while, but for no reason whatsoever, he was given the cruciatus curse. The auror that had cursed him then shouted, "GO AND HELP BURN THE BODIES BLACK, OR ELSE I'LL CURSE YOU AGAIN!" Three large fires were hastily made and the prisoners selected for the job of burning the prisoners were grouped into pairs. Both he and his partner, a woman, seemed too weak to pick up even the lightest of corpses. Twice the exaustion nearly caused Sirius to stumble into the raging inferno that rose into the sky before him. And, as the work became too hard, and the day became even hotter, some of the prisoners were seriously thinking about ending it by jumping into the inferno. Some did, three in all. They leapt into the fire, screamed in pain for about a minute, and then fell silent.
The days work had been tiring, and five prisoners had died, not counting the suicides of the three that jumped into the fire. Finally, just after mid-night, the job was done, and the Warden ordered the prisoners back into the castle. Most of the prisoners fell asleep as soon as they got into their cells, but Sirius Black waited a little while before conceding to the exaustion that covered his entire body. He was dripping with sweat and his own bodily fluids, mostly vomit. He could not stop thinking about Marcus and Jason, who's bodies he had seen burned in the massive, controlled fire. Why them? Why did God have to take his friends? If there was a god than why was he so cruel to him? Out of all the people to die in the epidemic why did his only friends in Azkaban prison have to be taken? He now had lost all hope, and indeed, Sirius Black was never the same again after that night. He no longer made the occasional joke to the other prisoners, he no longer tried to help the prisoners cope with their problems, he only cared about one person now...himself.
It was now September 1st in the year 1991. Sirius realized that Harry Potter, the son of his BEST FRIEND, would be starting at Hogwarts in about fifteen hours time. He smiled slightly at this final comforting thought and fell into an uneasy sleep.