Crouch!Moody and the Unforgiveable Curses

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 96898

Geoff wrote:
<small snip> 
> Putting aside any thoughts from the conspiracy theorists and taking 
> what we are told at face value, it has been indicated on more than 
> one occasion in canon that the Longbottoms were tortured into 
> insanity using the Cruciatus curse. If the spell can only be 
> maintained by the wizard keeping their wand trained on the victim, 
> then for how long did someone lke Bellatrix have to stand over Frank 
> and his wife before they cracked? I think that in RW situations, 
> torture is methodically applied but usually using a number of people 
> and sometimes long periods of time before the person being 
> interrogated starts to talk - if in fact they do. How long would a 
> wizard have to stand pointing a wand in order to either get a result 
> or drive a victim into insanity? Just a thought.

Carol:
Harry and some of the DEs have felt the effects of the curse and
walked away seemingly unhurt (though probably sustaining some
unconsciooous mental and emotional damage--material for nightmares and
insomnia, at least. But it probably took hours of excruciating pain to
torture the Longbottoms into insanity, especially if they resisted
through some effort of will. That's probably why the DEs had a team of
four people, to take turns torturing Frank Longbottom, and when that
didn't work, torturing his wife as well. The others could be mere
spectators, even, if they were as sadistic as I think they were,
eating their lunch and watching the show until it was obvious that the
Longbottoms not only wouldn't but couldn't tell them anything. No
wonder the WW was furious. It was a terrible, cruel deed, worse than
murdering the Potters because it required sustained cruelty and
sadism. And Barty thought his father should set him free.

Carol