Author's Note/ Disclaimer
Change of pace with part four. A short part with a healthy dose of angst. This is taking place after Sirius's has been in Azkaban for about six years. I own none of the characters, blah blah, and the lyrics are from the Dixie Chicks' "Not Ready to Make Nice".

1987
Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I'm not sure I could
They say, time heals everything
But I'm still waiting

"Describe yourself in three words" goes the familiar line.

Alone, empty, cold.
And maybe 'betrayed'.

But even then Remus doesn't have the heart to say it aloud. Something told him it was wrong. It felt heavy and poisonous on his tongue. It felt shameful to think about it.
This anger though, it was fierce. It swelled up in his heart and made his stomach lurch. It accompanied their memories, James and Lily's, making it hard to imagine even the happiest of times.
When Sirius didn't come home that night, six years ago, everything went wrong.

At first, time drug itself out. Minutes stretching into hours at an impossibly slow pace. Hours turning into another long day in which he'd have to hear the news again, look at the pictures. Seeing his best friends' faces plastered on the fronts of newspapers, screaming at him from the telly, haunting his sleep.

But then those days turned into weeks, into months, into years. And he's still here.

Alone, empty, cold, and betrayed.

"Describe yourself in three words" people used to ask.

Alone, empty, cold.
And maybe betrayed.

Yes, definitely betrayed. Betrayed by a person he thought was a friend, by someone he thought knew better than that. They say things happen when you're least expecting them. 'Well,' Sirius thinks, 'that at least has some truth to it.'

In Azkaban, there is nothing. There are no people there, just empty bodies. Dried husks of what used to be human beings. People who laughed, cried, and lived. People who murdered, raped, and stole. He hears them, all the time, in the cells around him. Deploring their fates, or just screaming because it's really the only thing you've got left to do.

'This is wrong, they are wrong. I'm right. I'm innocent.'
'I'm alive.'
'Does he believe them?'