Crucio: The Curse of Torture

This story tells the tale of the origin of the well known Cruciatus Curse, one of the three Unforgivable Curses. It is not sure if it really happened this way, but it is the only clue of how such a dark and sinister curse, came into existence.

It all begun somewhere in the 7th century in the kingdom of Essex, one of the former kingdoms of England. It was a cold and dark night, where the two brothers Edwin and Charles decided to break into a bakery to steal some bread for their poor wizard family.
"Did you hear that?" a muggle said, surprised from the noise that came from the storage. "Damn it, we got to run Edwin! Take as much as you can and let us get out of here." Charles said with worry in his voice. It has not been the first time that they broke into the bakery, but until this very day they always had the luck of being undetected. As both of them take a good amount of bread in a basket, they jumped out of the window and started to run across the field. The muggle baker entered the room and quickly followed the two young thieves through the window. "I will catch you, you Rats!" the muggle screamed while chasing the two brothers. "Aghh" Charles stumbled over some small stones and he fell on his knees. Edwin, a little bit further away, saw his brother on the ground and stopped running. "Go Edwin!" Charles screamed as the muggle baker closed in. "I have you now, Boy! You will pay for what you did. It's not the first time I noticed that some of my wares are missing, and now you will pay for your actions."
"Noo!" Edwin shouted, while the muggle drew a knife from his pocked and held down Charles's arm. "You are lucky, that I am merciful today." the muggle said with anger in his voice. He started to rip into Charles' arm with his sharp knife. Blood of Charles' arm filled the ground and the sound of his screams filled the emptiness of the night. Edwin could not just stand there and see his brother being tortured by some muggle. With anger, he drew his magic wand and spoke the words Wingardium Leviosa. The knife flew out of the muggle's hand and was now levitating above his head. "What kind of wizardry is this?". The angry voice of the muggle had now turned into fear and terror. Before the muggle could react, the knife was pushed into his chest right into his heart. Charles quickly stood up and wiped away his tears. "What did you do? You just killed a muggle, do you know in how much trouble we are now?" Edwin was upset and answered his brother in a madding tone: "He almost killed you! Look at your arm. It is fully covered with blood." Charles was still stunned by his brother's action. "Now, let us get out of here!". The two brothers run off to their home, but in the absence of their knowledge, their act didn't go unnoticed. The baker's wife had seen it all from the distance, including the faces of the brothers.

As the brothers arrived at home, they sneaked back into their beds after putting the bread into the kitchen without their father knowing. After they had calmed down, both of them sat on their beds and thought about what just happened. "How is your arm, Charles?" Edwin asked. "I can't believe that you just killed a muggle. He was right, we stole from him and you killed him for it." Charles regretted what he did, even questioned why they broke in and stole in the first place. Edwin on the other hand, had a different point of view. In his opinion he did nothing wrong. "I did what I had to do. Look at your arm Charles. Your bed is covered in your own blood and I couldn't just let him do that. Besides, what have the muggle ever done for us? We did good bringing Berta bread. You know how much she will love it." Charles didn't know what to say. He knew it was good for Berta, but the fact that his brother had just killed, persevered. "Hasn't she been through enough, Charles? My love for her is sometimes the only thing that's keeping me sane. To see such lovely a person suffer, is the worst thing I can imagine in this cruel world." To tired and exhausted to keep the conversation going, both went to bed. They had much to think about, but mostly they were worried about what their father might say, once he would discover what they did.

The next day has come and their Father was awake early and was furious as he saw the bread on the kitchen table. He went to the room of his sons and confronted them. "How dare you, stealing again! We went over this, we don't steal from muggles. You don't know what they are capable of!" The father was in rage as his sons were still tired in their beds. "But Father, we really need it! Berta is starving, she hasn't eaten a good meal in days." Charles tried to protect their actions, but his efforts were in vain. He still didn't agree with killing a muggle, but he now understood that stealing the bread for Berta was right. "Don't bring your little sister into this! She has nothing to do with your actions." Their father was shocked and disappointed about his children. He didn't raise them to become thieves. "And Charles, what happened to your arm? Why are you bleeding?" "It was a muggle" Edwin answered quickly, "he cut Charles in the arm because he saw us. They are the reason we needed to steal in the first place and they scarred my brother for it. It is not fair!" Edwin's agony grew larger and larger, but his father didn't stop. "You were seen? How were you seen? O, Lord, what did I do to deserve such careless children." Their father was not only worried about the cuts the muggle left on his son, he was also worried about the consequences the muggle will give to his family, once they would find out about the magic in their family. "Where you seen using magic?"
"Why do you fear the muggle so much? We can easily take over this village so we don't have to steal anymore. The muggle are weak and we let them step on us!" Edwin was angry with his dad, he knew he was right but his father would not listen. "Mind your tone boy! Did you forget what happened to your mother? The magic authority tortured her and left her in a dungeon to rot for only thinking of what you just said." Before their father could continue his speech, muggle guards broke down their door. The wizard family was surprised and stunned. "It's them officer, the wizard who killed my husband!" a woman said. The wive of the baker stood in the door and pointed at Edwin. "What? A murderer? My son? You must be mistaken." Their father was disturbed by the these allegations against his youngest son. "What is happening?" Berta, Edwin's 8 year old sister came out of her room and was confused by the noise. "Take them away, all of them! There is investigation to be done." The guards drew their swords and grabbed the family of four. The father, Charles and Berta barely resisted but Edwin could not let the muggles do this. They are responsible for them being poor and having to pay heavy taxes to their landlord and now they want to lock away his family for his actions of righteousness? He could not let them do this and he drew his wand once again. His father saw it and screamed "Edwin no, don't do this! You will only make it worse." Edwin didn't listen and pushed the guards out of the way. He quickly run outside past the guards and called his broom with the Accio spell. Without looking back, he flew away on his broomstick. Full of regret and filled with the pain of knowing that his family will suffer because of his actions, he made his way away from the village. "I will not let you suffer because of my actions. Maybe some time away from them will help the situation." he whispered to himself while flying away.

He disappeared for a few week, all alone. No one knows where he went, but one day he returned to his cursed home town. He had hoped that after the some time away from his family, they might have gotten out or at least a very mild punishment. First, he went to his house where everything was left like the day he left. Everything was still on the spot. Even Charles blood was now dried out on the ground and all over his bed. Even the old inscription table was untouched, with all the letters and notes of his father's spell book lying around. After a few minutes of nostalgic feelings, he made his way to the village square to look for his family. He hoped that they might be somewhere in the village. As he made his way to the town square, he saw something hanging in the distance on the walls outside the town-halls walls. He could not make it out from afar so he got closer. As he got closer and closer, he realized that he saw... human bodies? Yes it were human bodies. Two of them, headless hanging from the walls. To his horror he looked on top of the wall where he saw it. The head of his father and his brother stacked on a spike on the wall. Under their heads there was a writing saying: "No more Magic! Let them burn in Hell!". Edwin fell on his knees. He felt a pain that was greater than any physical pain he could imagine. "It is all my fault" he whispered to himself. "ALL MY FAULT" he screamed. As he tried to overcome his pain he took a look to his left, to the middle of the square, where a well stood. This look would soon change the world as we knew it. He saw his little sister, crucified above the well. All of this, done by muggle, the most cruel creatures the planet has ever seen. His mind was full of pain and tortured by the look at his sister. With all of his strength and all of his grief he started to scream. The pain in his voice suggested that he would rather die, than to take another look at his dead sister. In his torment, he started to destroy things. First some barrels, then some carriages. His rage grew larger and larger and he eventually started to pull out his wand and burn houses. The muggle became aware of his presents at night and came out of their houses to stop him, but all of it was in vain. He killed them all. Guards, men, women and even children. He could not stop his rage and his inner torment. He could not stop, until all of the muggle in his village were dead. All 53 muggle of this village had to die to make him forget the look at his crucified sister, even when it would only last for a brief moment. He got angrier and angrier and let his pain guide his wand. He waved his wand and cast spells filled with his torment. Wanting to make the muggle feel his pain, is everything he desired. A word, came to his tongue. A word, that could make others feel pain, his pain. "Crucio!" he screamed, as he cast a spell on a woman that ran from her doom. The woman fell on the ground and felt his pain, excruciating pain. Her body begun to shake and she begun to scream, as no one ever screamed before her. A dark spell was born this night. Crucio was born out of Edwin's pain.

After every house was burned, every man, woman and child were killed and every last bit of hope and goodness in the village were destroyed, he took the body of his sister back to his former house, where he meant to bury her. He could not let the muggle repeat this treachery. He wanted to keep the spell, to use it against the muggle that would stand against him. After he buried his sister, he went to the inscription table of his father. His grief was his weapon and he wanted use it as one. He took the spell book of his father, cut open a wound on his wrist and begun to inscribe the following words with his own blood in the book:

"Anyone, touched by this curse will suffer as I have. They will wish to make it end, they will wish to make it stop, they will wish to rather die, then to endure this pain. The pain will be all-consuming, the pain will be like knives piercing every inch of the skin, the pain will be excruciating. All of those, who will like to make someone suffer, really suffer, only have to weave their wand and speak the word, that shall strike fear in the hearts of all who hear it. If you use it, you have to mean it. This is the birth of a dark spell, the birth of Crucio!"

After writing these horrible words, he took his wand and bounded the spell book with his pain. All the horrible feelings, all of his pain is now buried in this curse. Combining emotions with this dark piece of magic, preserved the ultimate curse. A curse that shall make it's victim feel pain, that is indescribable to anyone who has not experienced it themselves. A bit of Edwin's soul died that night, but with it's death the Crutiatus Curse was born.