Disclaimer: You all know the deal. I'm not JK Rowling, so I won't take credite for any people/places except Jimmy, Wallace and Pondex.
Sirius fell asleep almost instantly, dreaming of the sort of meal he would be eating if he weren't in Azkaban. It wasn't long, however, before the pieces of his past life started to come back to him.
He saw the faces he recognized, and many that were as foreign to him as Wizards to the Muggle way of life. The pieces never fit correctly together, but overlapped so that one memory was corrupted by another.
Sirius slept badly that night, and for many afterwards. He stopped talking to the other men around him. He withstood the Dementors, but he barely knew how he managed to do so. He felt sick every time he woke up, and tired throughout the day. He watched Pondex from the corner of his cell, like a cat waiting to pounce on its prey.
Pondex was indeed crazy. It became evident to Sirius very quickly. He was always talking to himself, and shooting fearful glances around him. He had stopped eating, but merely stared at his tray of food when it was brought to him. He often times threw off his robes and stood naked in the thing beam of sun that came in through his own small window.
Wallace and Jimmy never said anything to show that they seriously cared about Pondex's state. Sirius began to doubt if they ever cared that he was going crazy. In fact, he sometimes woke up in the night thinking he's heard them laughing and talking about how crazy Pondex actually was.
Sirius watched Pondex a lot. Even if there had been more to be seen from his cell, he still would have watched Pondex the way he did. He knew that Pondex was crazy, and that if he remained in Azkaban long enough he would also go crazy. This was a thought that scared him, for he had never been anything but serious minded that he could remember.
He also tried to watch Jimmy as much as often. Jimmy was starting to show more signs of his own craziness. He barely talked anymore, but when he did, his speech was jumbled. Not only did he include a lot of "uhhs" in his sentences, but he also began to stutter terribly, and often times Sirius couldn't even make him out because he slurred so terribly bad.
The only one aside from himself who reminded rational on the cellblock was Wallace, but Sirius knew it was only a matter of time before he began to go slowly crazy.
Sirius feared for that day; the day when he would be alone in sanity, which would probably be enough to drive himself insane. He worried that he would go crazy before he remembered why he was here, and worried that he would never know what had happened to the people in his memories.
His only wish was that he would remember before he succumbed to the fate that was always hanging over his head.
Sirius didn't know how long he'd been in his cell. How many days and nights had passed, or how many nights he passed sleeplessly. All he knew was that death would be welcome over this torture.
While Sirius sat in his cell wishing for death one dreary evening just after sunset, he heard the large door leading out open. He looked up, in hopes of it being someone he recognized, but it wasn't.
He looked away almost instantly; it was a Dementor. He half expected it to come over and stand outside his cell as they often did, just waiting for him to collapse. Tonight was different though.
The Dementor turned directly left and walked to the front of Pondex's cell. Sirius noticed that he wasn't feeling anything terribly drastic, even with the Dementor being so close.
That's when he realized...
"NO!" He screamed, "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIM!"
He heard Wallace and Jimmy grumbling in their sleep, as he frantically kept trying to call the Dementor off.
Finally, Wallace woke up, and saw what was going on outside of his cell. He stared blankly at the scene that was taking place just ten feet away from him.
The Dementor had reached out one of its long, thing, and slimy hands and was slowly opening Pondex's cell. Pondex stood there stupidly; not having enough sense left to realize what was going on.
The next thing Sirius knew, Wallace's voice had joined his own in attempts to stop the Dementor.
Jimmy, on the other hand, had awoken as well, but was doing nothing to stop the scene before him. He stood at his cell door, his head mashed between the bars, watching what was happening with extreme fear and excitement in his eyes. He knew this might happen to him, but he was crazy enough to enjoy it happening to someone else.
Even if Pondex was crazy, Sirius still liked the guy, he provided a lot of entertainment, and he had a feeling that Wallace was rather fond of him as well. They where utterly helpless, standing dumbfounded inside their cells, watching the terrible scene unfold in front of them.
Sirius stopped yelling, and stood watching, just as Jimmy was. Wallace was the only one who remained making any attempt to try and help the poor man.
"Think happy thoughts, Pondex! HAPPY! Do you hear me? HAPPY!" He was screaming rabidly, but to no affect, Pondex seemed too far-gone.
Sirius barely blinked, even though he knew what was about to happen, he found it impossible to look away. He started intently at the back of the Dementor's robes, almost willing it to turn around so he could perfectly see what was going on.
Wallace was still screaming, and Sirius almost wanted to throw something at him to knock him out, but found himself too intrigued by what was happening to look away to tell Wallace off.
Suddenly, the Dementor gripped Pondex's clothes with both hands and almost effortlessly pulled him out of the room, the door magically shutting behind the two figures.
The heavy steel door, however, was not enough to block out Pondex's last moments. Sirius cringed with every deafening scream that Pondex delivered, until everything was silent.
Suddenly, the whole building around Sirius seemed to erupt in cheering. He looked around, wondering why, and saw that Wallace was crying.
"What?" Wallace practically spit at him.
"Well... It's not your fault, you know... You couldn't stop it." Sirius muttered.
"You don't get it, mate! You just DON'T GET IT!" Wallace bellowed, as he tore off into the darkness of his cell.
Sirius stared dumbly at the spot where Wallace had just been standing, and heard Jimmy behind him.
"P-P-P-Pondex, uhh, he was, uhh, W-W-W-Wallace's, uhh brother." He managed to sputter out.
"Oh..." Sirius managed to reply, as he turned to Jimmy. "Why do they cheer?" He asked.
"B-B-B-Because that means, uhh, that they won't, uhh, dies t-t-t-tonight."
"But they don't really die..." Sirius replied.
"N-N-No, b-b-but, it keeps, uhh, everyone, uhh, else s-s-safe." Pondex coughed. Sirius noted that he still did have enough sense left to realize that he could very well be next.
"They also cheer because they're criminals, mate. It's in their blood to cheer for anyone in pain, or dying." Wallace said from Sirius's right. "It's their natural instinct, to outlive is the ultimate payoff."
"I didn't know that he was your brother, why didn't you tell me?" Sirius asked, gravely.
"You never asked, mate. Besides, family is a big thing to Wizards, one shame in a family is bad, and two is the Devil." He merely smiled.
"He won't be coming back to his cell then, will he?" Sirius asked.
"No... No one knows where they go, but they're never seen again..."
Sirius went back to his familiar corner, with the images from the evening's events running across his eyes. He knew that he would forever be taunted by the sound of Pondex's last screams...
Sorry, my spoiler from my last update stank. There wasn't anything extremly crazy about Pondex... God rest his soul :(
Icequeen99: Like I said, sorry, sucky spoiler.
AMG: Remus? I don't know. I'll touch on this at the end. Yes, only three times a week. The Dementors don't have all that much energy to cook ;)
Sword and Magic: Would you rather I didn't keep you involved? Because,I can manage that I do believe. You want to see Remus vist him too? Sheesh. What is it with the Werewolf that everyone loves?
Which is everyone this time around.
Anyhow, I decided to update again so quickly because A) I had some chapter written and B) It's my Birthday today! (Happy Birthday, me!) And I'm just in a great mood!
Anyways. I thought you all might say Remus, so I was a little hesitant to even ask. But, I did. I wasn't planning on writing Remus coming to visit, because it wasn't something I thought he would do, However, I've given it some SIRIUS though (hehe), and Remus will be appearing in at LEAST two chapters sometime down the road.
Alas, no questions tonight!