Prologue

�Things don�t have to be this hard, Black. Just tell us you murdered those people and we�ll let you free.�

Sirius Black�s malevolent brown eyes stared up at the faceless people in front of him. �You lie.�

�Of course not.�

�Give me a trial.�

The faces only laughed at him. Cold, mirthless laughs that mocked him. His heart sank even lower. He was facing years upon years stuck in Azkaban for something he didn�t do.

His mind wandered onto different things. Things he couldn�t control thinking about. What had happened the night he�d been wrongfully convicted? It seemed like it was such a jumble. Then it hit him. It was that rat, that bastard� Friend? FRIEND? He wasn�t a friend. He was the Dark Lord�s right hand man. How could he do it? How could he?

�Just tell us, Black, and you�ll get a shorter term. How�s that?�

�I�m not going to say it because I didn�t do it.�

�Eyewitnesses said you did.�

Sirius narrowed his eyes at the faceless morons in front of him. Eyewitnesses? Everyone on that street died in that blast. How could he explain when Wormtail had escaped into the sewer and there was absolutely no way of tracking him down? How could anyone know?

�I didn�t do it.�

�We�ll see about that. Stupefy!�

Sirius woke up later in a cold, dark jail cell. He was in Azkaban. The one place he dreaded more than any� That was�

The Dementors were going to suck the life out of him. They were going to make him remember every single thing that happened to him in the course of the past year. He was going to relive every painful moment.

�Take my bike. I�m not going to be needing it.�

He remembered the cold feeling of complete dread and hopelessness he felt, knowing that James and Lily were dead because of him. He did it, it was all his fault. If he had not convinced James to switch the secret keeper to Peter, maybe they�d still be alive. Maybe he would be dead, but James and Lily wouldn�t be. That was all that mattered. They had a family. They had little Harry to take care of, and they had his whole life to look forward to. Who did Sirius have? His family had disowned him and he was no one�s parent. Not anymore.

�Let me take Harry, please��

He�d lost everything that night. He was sure he had picked up the pieces from Cassie and now he was faced with the possibility of not having anyone to love him. If he had Harry, maybe he�d feel like he was the father he never got to be with Cassie, the godfather he should have been.

�They�re gone��

James, his best friend, his brother, was dead. Lily, the girl who called him her �Tame Black Puppy� and helped him all the time with Cassie was gone. His homemade brother and his little know-it-all �sister.� They were dead. It was his fault. He was the one who had made the error in judgment, and he was the one who had gone irrational when he tracked that bastard Peter down. Maybe if he�d kept his emotions under control, he wouldn�t be here.

�James and Lily were in there!�

James� Lily� they had left little Harry behind, to a cold and cruel world. He was going to grow up, never knowing who his parents were and never knowing who he was. He was supposed to be Uncle Sirius, he was supposed to be the light in that child�s life. But now he was gone, and so were his best friends.

�I won�t grieve for you. I love you.�

Not to mention Cassie.

She loved him more than life itself, she had told him. He remembered those last few nights, how he�d nursed her to sleep as she lay sick in bed, how she�d lay nauseated all day long. He should have known then what was going on. He should have known. It was all too obvious.

�I love you, Sirius.�

The mere memory of her voice tugged at his heartstrings. Cold tears coursed down his cheeks and he wiped them away angrily. He couldn�t let the Dementors get to him. They couldn�t take his life force. He had to remain angry� Happy� Anything. Any kind of emotion was better than emptiness.

That�s what it had been like before he met Cassie. More tears dripped down his face. Cassiopeia Reye. He was so in love with her that he couldn�t even begin to miss her.

Why am I here? Why couldn�t I just be with Cassie?

He buried his head in his arms and felt cold misery pull at him. He couldn�t let them have her. Cassie was his memory. He had to get out so he could go see her again.

But there was no way. There was absolutely no way to escape this hellish domain. He stared through the bars, gazing off into space. Someday, he�d get out and he�d find Harry Potter, his godson. He�d visit Cassie again. Someday, he�d be out in the open, free world. Away from the Dementors, away from the bars.

He�d get revenge on Peter Pettigrew if it killed him.

It was just then that Cassie�s voice visited him.

Don�t let hatred and anger cloud your vision, Sirius Black. You still have life left.

His eyes shone with tears and he stared up into the ceiling of the small, dark cell. He had only one thing left. Hope.

And that�s where Cassie�s memory came in.