Hogwarts Study Panel.

Chapter 633, Section 631: Fog Envelops

"They cast the Crucifixion on him, the Crucifixion for an hour."

Sirius finally raised his head; his eyes were red, but his eye sockets were dry.

"You have no idea what it means for the Crucifixion to last for an hour. That vicious curse can break a person in thirty seconds."

Ten minutes is enough to make someone try to bite off their own tongue — an hour —

He didn't continue.

Frank and Alice held out for an hour. They didn't beg for mercy, they didn't confess—in fact, they had no information to reveal.

They held out for an hour simply because Neville was next door.

Sirius Black turned to look at Frank Longbottom.

The man remained lying motionless on the bed, his eyes slowly moving, his mouth opening and closing slightly, but no sound came out.

Then he looked at Alice—she had folded the seventh flower and arranged them neatly, as if she were creating a pattern that only she could see.

"Later, the Ministry of Magic arrived. They captured some of the Death Eaters, including Bellatrix."

But Frank and Alice have already...

He paused for a long time;

"They're gone. They didn't die, but they'll never come back. Neville didn't even cry when he was carried out."

He was well protected and knew nothing. But he later cried, perhaps realizing that those low, guttural sounds were someone's painful growls.

As Frank was being lifted onto the stretcher, he called out Neville's name; that was the last meaningful word he uttered.

Since then, there have been none.

Sirius released his hand from the wound, opened his slightly trembling left hand, stared blankly at his palm: "Bellatrix Lestrange."

When he said that name, his voice suddenly became calm and subdued. "I know her too well. She's my cousin. We grew up together in the Blake family, in the same hallway, at the same table, on the same family tree, our names were next to each other."

He looked up at Sheen.

"You may know why I didn't go mad after escaping from Azkaban."

Every day, the Dementors suck away everything that makes me feel human—happiness, hope, courage. I've held on for twelve years without going mad.

Even though I didn't know Peter was still alive at the time, I didn't go crazy. Do you know why?

Sheen did not speak.

"Because I am guilty."

This statement is like a stone thrown into the water.

Lupin stood beside Frank's bed and closed his eyes.

"I deserve to be in Azkaban, I deserve to be tortured."

Sirius Black's voice trailed off, growing softer and slower, "I made all the wrong choices before James and Lily died. It was I who suggested James replace the Secret Service with Peter at the last minute. It was me. Voldemort didn't kill him; I killed them."

He looked at his palm, where five fingernail marks were etched deep and shallow on his skin.

"But what about Frank and Alice? They didn't make any wrong choices. The only thing they did was block Neville's door before he got home from school."

Sirius's voice suddenly stopped.

He stood up.

Sirius Black walked barefoot on the stone floor to Frank Longbottom's bedside.

He stood there, looking down at the man lying motionless on the bed, then slowly squatted down so that his face was at the same level as Frank's.

Frank,

He said, his voice hoarse, but every word was clear, "I am Sirius Black. I don't know if you can hear me, you may not recognize me."

But back when you were in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, on the day I was taken to Azkaban, you stopped the Auror escorting me in the corridor. You said to him a "7

He paused, his Adam's apple bobbing. "You tell him: give him a thicker prison robe. He's still a human being, even as a prisoner. Azkaban will freeze him to death."

Frank Longbottom’s eyes slowly rolled.

There was no focus, no sign of response.

But he turned around.

"He doesn't remember."

Lupin's voice came from the doorway, "But he was a good man, you remember that."

Sirius didn't stand up; he just squatted by Frank's bedside, staring at that blank face for a long time.

The sound of rain outside the window drowned out all the silence, and Alice's candy wrappers were still rustling.

She has already started picking the ninth flower.

Then Sirius stood up and turned to Sheehan.

His eyes finally welled up with tears.

He stood between the Longbottoms' beds, bandages wrapped around his waist and down his back, the claw marks on his thin face appearing particularly sharp in the gray light of the overcast day.

"You see,"

He said to Sheehan, his voice finally no longer hoarse, but with a calmness that had smoothed out all the rough edges, "This is what I must tell you: if you need us to do anything, anything, we will do it."

There is only one person in this world who can stop such a disaster, sir. With you here, we will never see anyone else become like them.

He looked at Alice, then at Frank.

The woman's fingers were still mechanically folding candy wrappers, while the man was still searching on the ceiling for something he could never find.

"They are waiting for Neville to come home from school."

Sirius said.

Lupin remained silent.

He stood at the foot of Frank's bed, his left hand, wrapped in bandages, hanging at his side, and his right hand resting on the bed rail.

Frank's head was lowered, his lips trembling slightly, as if he were muttering something to himself.

In a somewhat dazed state, Sheen listened carefully and realized that he was saying the same word.

The word is "Nawi".

The rain outside the window never stopped.

Maybe there's something I can do.

The idea popped into Sheen's head like a runaway horse, impossible to stop.

What is the principle behind the Heart-Piercing Mantra?

Sheen was thinking.

The Cruciatus Curse. One of the three unforgivable curses, along with the Killing Curse and the Imperius Curse, it is widely recognized as one of the most malevolent curses in the magical world.

The spell causes extreme and unbearable physical pain to the victim. Prolonged exposure to the spell can lead to extreme and irreversible brain damage, and may even cause mental instability or madness.

If its pain affects the body, then where does the soul that governs the wizard's body go?

Does this also mean that the wizard's soul was not damaged?

Sheehan suddenly thought of a possibility, and he slowly walked to the Longbottoms' bedside.

He looked at the two Aurors, at their emaciated bodies caused by years of inactivity.

White mist slowly seeped out from the broken stone slab on his chest.

Tonight, St. Mungo's Hospital is shrouded in mist.

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