Eventually, Sirius is deemed stable enough—or perhaps he merely asks one too many times—to be told what happened to the Longbottoms. He doesn’t quite remember what happens after that, only he wakes to find himself magically restrained and the room trashed. He spends an unknown amount of time laughing at his predicament, then another few moments trying desperately to have the healers understand that he is nothing like his cousin, nothing, she’s fucking crazy, and cruel, and enjoys that shit, she always had, she had laughed once when he was punished in front of the family, even offered to perform the curse for his mother...—but he isn’t like that, he would never, never,  you must understand, the Longbottoms were my friends —