"Sirius?" He started laughing, because the idea was ridiculous. Sirius couldn't sound stuck up if he tried. "No, Sirius is... he's brilliant and reckless and fun, and he gets things. He's more... like me."
James looked at her, frowned at her. "You and your magazines," he said affectionately. "I like more the manly and athletic way, but to each his own."
He nodded as she spoke, because there was nothing good one could say about that. "It looks very painful." He turned his head to look at her. "It's not the actual curse. With the Cruciatus, it ends when the caster ends it. They were kept under the Cruciatus for too long. It affects the nerve endings and your brain, if you stay under for too long, you go mad. This resembles the curse in so far of the pain and result, but it doesn't stop because it's not a real curse. They feed us potions to stop it. I suppose he wanted me to die like this. I would have gone mad and then the pain would have been too much and I'd have died."