Sirius shook his head once, rather briskly. "I know there's really nothing I can say to completely reassure you that things are different; I can only tell you how I feel, and hope that soon you will realise I'm speaking the truth. Right now I... feel as though I can finally think for the first time in so many years. That I can think clearly, and on my own, without any outside influence. Everything is crystal clear to me, now - almost like waking up from a hazy nightmare."
It was shocking, really, the disparity between the past and present, and the way he saw it all, and he was absolutely convinced that it was the work of the Order, that they had done something to him, subdued him, forced him into the pathetic shell he'd been, for all this time. There was no other explanation for it.