Three steps east.

Three steps west.

Light striking through the pitted bars. White light. Moonlight.

Moonlight... Remus.

Don't think of Remus. Keep walking.

Three steps east.

Remus, young, smiling, always with that deep sadness in him. Laughing at me, laughing with me... Remus.

Three steps west.

Remus, writhing in agony in a boarded-up shack. Screaming and tearing at himself as his teeth and claws lengthen... shrieking and howling in the moonlight...

No! Don't think!

Turn. One step south.

Remus, alone in a hostile world, believing I betrayed him. Believing I killed his friends. Believing they died at my whim... alone. Remus hates to be alone.

One step north.

Hogwarts lies north; Hogwarts where my godson must be. Or maybe not. How long have I been here? A week, a month, a year, a decade? A century? Time has no meaning here. Dark follows light as day follows night. Months pass in a flash. A second can take a year to live through.

One step south.

South, away from the tiny futile window. Even the white moonlight, passing through that slit, is made grimy by the surroundings. A dark cowled shape is motionless outside the thick barred door... tonight, it is satiated with other dreams and hopes. Tonight, my thoughts are clear. How long will this last?

Three paces east, east to where the sun rises.

Where the sun used to rise. The sun will not rise on me. I killed James. I killed Lily. I don't deserve that warmth, that fleeting caress of gold across my face. Thick fog surrounds me, wherever I go. Only sometimes can the moon penetrate... the full moon. Remus... are you out there, my old friend? Howling your fury at the world - howling your loss, your dreadful grief? Or are you lying cold and dead in a silver casket, butchered by some would-be hero who doesn't know you, doesn't care about you, could only see you as a monster?

You'll never be a monster, Moony. I'm the only monster here.

Three steps west, west to where the sun sets.

That flaming ball of liquid fire, sinking gradually through the clouds, turning the skies purple and grey... James sank that way. James, who kept our lives in laughter... bright James, my Orion... Lily. Lily was my friend. Lily was the sunshine in our lives, and James was the exhilarating wind. Lily made it light when we were dark.

I was always dark.

And now Lily's light is blackened, and James' laughter snuffed. And I did that. I did it.

Now my darkness can never be lifted.

Three steps east.

Three steps west.

I killed them, but I did not betray them. One spark of light in the black gulf of my mind. I am not the traitor. I thought I was protecting them... I thought I was saving them. I should have seen the rat for what he was. I should have seen the rat. How could we have trusted their lives to a rat? He was a rat! Wasn't that a sign!? I didn't read it. I should have read it.

One step north.

The moon is fading, the dull strips of moonlight slowly recoiling from the horror and despair of this place.

What point anymore? This dark Hell, three paces by one. Slime and rot on the walls. Filthy bones on the floor. Wailing in the night, screaming prisoners.

I do not scream. I am innocent, the gods help me!

The gods cannot help me.

No-one can help me.

I killed them... I killed my two best friends.