Hello and welcome to the third year of Harry Potter and his evil twin, Charles. I greatly sugest you read the first two fanfics if you haven't already.

Updates may come a little bit slower this time around since I'm working on another project at the same time.

Have fun with the chapter and please leave a review!

Azkaban was a very unfriendly place. Day after day I had to stare at the same blank walls. The smell of unwashed bodies and excreta was disgusting. There was no light whenever it was day or night. The only way I knew which date it was was by counting the meals they gave me – if it could indeed be called a meal.

Dementors patrolled the place frequently. Whenever one of them was coming closer I felt the cold. But the horrifying effect they had on people didn't reach me. Lunas amulet protected me.

Therefore the first few days were simply boring me. I was unable to get depressed but I was sure with this atmosphere normally I would have been already even without the dementors.

I had a plan. Of course I had a plan. The cells in block B had the conformation of an U. When I came in there were only three cells available; one next to Lestrange and two right at the entrance. I was put at the entrance, farthest away from the other prisoners but able to see all of them from my position. Not that there was much interaction. Most of them just sat huddled in a corner, weeping, crying, glaring, sleeping, drooling or simply lying there unmoving that one would think they were already dead. Which might actually be the case. But there was one prisoner who was constantly trying to get my attention. At night he would call out for me, never by name as to not alert the others. I ignored him.

Another week went past. I was receiving my first Daily Prophet and a bunch of letters from my friends.

After fifteen days of being imprisoned I ripped a band of cloth off my uniform. Together with some hair of myself I formed a long shape. Then I began to cut myself. I dug my fingernails into my skin until they drew blood. The blood drained the cloth and my magic healed the cut. I continued to do so until the cloth was completely red.

After one month I began phase one of my plan.

It was the middle of the night. The dementors had just passed by and I knew most of the prisoners would be out cold by now.

Slowly I began to chant in parseltongue. My goal was to transfigure the cloth that was drained with my blood and thus my magic into a living being. To be more precise, into a snake.

Several minutes passed. Wandless transfiguration was really advanced but with my parsel I might just manage. No, I had to manage.

Slowly the cloth began to wriggle and squirm under my hands. One end grew pointed, the other took the distinct shape of an head.

Whispering I gave the little creature its direction. Unnoticed it slithered through my bars and over into Black's cell. There it would slither into the pipe of the toilet that stood in the corner of every cell. And then, on my command, it would explode.

BANG!

The alarm woke the entire block. Within seconds the place was swarmed with dementors. The human guards where only minutes behind, trying to find out what all the commotion was about. Sirius Black stood in his cell and cackled manically. Water was splashing out of the destroyed pipe and the foul smell that coated the prison grew almost unbearable.

Black was shot with five stunners straight to the chest. A few of the guards even kicked his unmoving body. They tried to find out what caused the explosion but all they would ever find was blood and since several broken pieces of the toilet that were flying around had hit Black and hurt him they wouldn't think anything about it.

In the end I overheard from their whispered conversation that they believed the spell that kept the pipes clean to have malfunctioned. Black was brought into a different cell until the damage was repaired. In the end however the unmotivated guards didn't even bother to take Black back after the damage was dealt with. He remained in his new cell, which just so happened to be the one next to me.

Phase two could begin.

"Finally you're awake, huh?"

Black blinked sluggishly. He tried to sit up but his body was still tense from lying on the cold ground for so long. He only managed with the second try.

I was not able to see him very well what with the wall between us but I could hear his every move and catch a glimpse of him when I stood close to my bars. Currently I was sitting in the corner, one leg stretched out the other bent and with my head leaning against the bricks.

"The... The explosion...", Black said with a voice raw from misuse.

"That was me", I confirmed. "No need for people to listen in on us, is there?"
For a moment the wizard was speechless. Then there was a sound that sounded suspiciously like crying.

"It wasn't me", he whispered. "It wasn't me who betrayed your parents. Please, you have to believe me!"

I paused for a moment as if to think. "Then, who was it?"

Quickly Black launched into a full-blown, if slightly woozily explanation, occasionally interrupted by a sob.

When he was finished I called to ten slowly, deliberately keeping him in suspense.

Then I said: "I had noticed that there were... abnormalities in your case before. It didn't seem right..."

"You... you saw it? Does that mean... Does that mean you believe me?", he sounded so incredulous and hopeful it was almost ridiculous.

"I've been looking through the investigation files. The position of the crater the spell caused compared to where the muggles saw you standing. The fact that you were oh so obviously a very immature adult who broke up with his family, all of that being an act was unlikely. On the other hand Pettigrew was not exactly considered brave before his supposed death, it would be far easier to threaten him. I noticed all these strange inconsistencies and I decided that I wanted to know the truth. Your story does make a lot of sense but of course I couldn't believe it without proof."
"Of course", Black said, slumping down a bit in disappointment. "You have no reason to believe me."

"On the opposite. I actually want to believe you. You see, I have been researching what I believe may be one great conspiracy against my brother and myself. Your case may be just another part of this."

"What are you talking about?", Black wanted to know. At the beginning he had sounded like an emotional wrack but as the conversation continued he seemed to be calmed by my professional behavior and and calm logic. That was good. I needed him to be sane.

"You probably won't be up-to-date so I'll explain the current political climate to you. After we survived Moldyshorts curse and destroyed him people celebrated the Potter twins, Harry and me, Charles, as the boys-who-lived. We became living legends over night. Some thought we had killed the Dark Lord, others thought he'd come back one day and we were the chosen ones, the ones who'd defeat him for good one day. You can imagine that with such high expectations we'd have a lot of influence. Of course now this influence only concerns the school but later one we'll be politically powerful. But even though everybody knows that Moldyshorts is out to get us we never received any sort of training to enable us to defend ourselves, if not from the Dark Lord himself then at least from his Death Eaters who may want to take their anger out on us. This didn't even change when we started Hogwarts." I paused for a moment to make sure I still had his undivided attention. "That's not all, though. Being boy-heroes one would think they'd give us a new family. One would think they'd give us to people who would love and cherish us. People who taught us about our parents, their noble sacrifice and the world they lived in. However what we got was the exact opposite."

"Where... Where did you grow up?", Black asked when I was silent for a long time. He sounded as if he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer.

"We grew up with our mothers relatives, the Dursleys."

A sharp intake of breath.

"I don't know if you've ever met them. They hate magic. They saw us as filthy freaks tainting their family. We were what squibs are in a dark pureblood family. We were treated like house elves, pushed around and forced to do chores beginning at the tender age of four. We didn't even have our own room – they just stuffed us into the cupboard under the stairs that we had to share with stinking old socks and a small army of spiders. We were forced to watch as they pampered their own fat son Dudley while we were refused at least one meal a day for some mistake or another regularly. Until we were old enough to suppress our accidentally magic or control it on purpose to defend ourselves our life there was hell." I purposefully let out that I had been able to control accidentally magic when I was six and thus the rest of my life there had been quite normal.

"Even then they continued to make sure we had a miserable childhood by isolating us and making sure we never found any friends at school." By this point Black was a little piece of misery on the ground, quietly sobbing and asking for forgiveness for not being there. Yes, I did make it sound a lot worse then it had actually been – at least this time around. But none of it was actually a lie.

"Until we got our letters we weren't even told that there was such a thing as a wizard. We were told that our parents died in a car crash because Dad was just so stupid and drunk he got himself and Mum killed."

Here I had to interrupt my explanation because Black let out a an angry howl. Curses filled his cell and I had to remind him to be quiet lest they found out we talked to each other. Finally I was able to continue my speech.

"I did not tell you this to make you feel guilty. No, I'm blaming someone else entirely and I want to make you understand. My suspicion is outlandish and just as unbelievable as yours. Which is why you're the first one I'm telling it to.

The one who brought us to the Dursleys was Albus Dumbledore, with the knowledge of Minerva McGonogall and Rubeus Hagrid, but I think there might be more. They knew perfectly well what the Dursleys thought about magic and still they left us there on their doorstep, in the middle of a cold November night. Why? So that we wouldn't grow up with all the fame and become arrogant? Then why not put us with some nice wizarding family in a foreign country that never heard of Moldyshorts? Why keep us here where the Death Eaters were still strong in influence? And if it really had to be a muggle family, why not a nice and loving one? I was told during to my mothers sacrifice there are blood wards around the house, wards that protect us from Moldyshort. But he was gone and I can't imagine them protecting us from Death Eaters too. Even if they did, they don't protect us from our relatives. The house, this supposed safe place, is the one we spent the least time in. We're trying to avoid them at all cost, spending time in school, in parks or the library. If there was really someone out to hurt us the Dursleys would provide the least protection possible. Not only would they never willingly protect us themselves, nor could they even if they wanted. Hell, they'd probably throw a party for our murderers. So then, why give us to them?"

Black was shaking with guilt and anger. "I-I don't know. It's unacceptable. Why... why would anyone do something like that?"

"I have a suspicion", I whispered. "The idea came to me after watching my brother during our first year. You know, we're very different form each other, Harry and I. I always had a better grasp on my magic and thus I often protected him when we were little. I stole food for the both of us, sometimes money so we wouldn't have to wear rags. I learned how to scare children with my magic so they'd stop bulling us. That way I shielded him from the harsh world and he was able to... to maintain his innocence. He's in Gryffindor while I was sorted into Slytherin." I think I saw him flinch out of the corner of my eye but I couldn't be sure.

"That year the Philosopher's Stone was hidden inside of Hogwarts. It turned out that Moldyshorts bodyless spirit had attached itself onto the back of the head of our defense professor, who then tried to steal the stone to bring back his master. The whole year long Harry tried to figure out the secret around the stone as if it was some kind of great adventure out of a comic book. He even tried to get to the stone first and I had to rescue him. He was acting like a stereotypical, brash, idiotic, brave little Gryffindor hero. In shot, he acted exactly like little children where told the boy-hero acted in their bedtime-stories. But that's not what made me suspicious. No, what was suspicious was that getting to the stone was so easy. Protections and enchantment meant to hold the Dark Lord at bay, defeated by a couple of first years? The Cerberus protecting the trapdoor – the pet of Harrys best friend, the groundskeeper Hagrid. The Devils Snare – a deadly plant we actually spoke about in our first week in Herbology. Flying keys you had to catch – no problem for the youngest seeker of the century at Hogwarts. Even the mirror that held the final enchantment had an enscription that helped you to figure out its riddle. All of this just looks as if we were meant to go down there. As if all of this was just a test, a set-up. Every single challenge had some kind of trick, a weakness. If you knew about it even a squib could get through there. That's why I think someone wanted to test us on purpose."

Black had become very silent during my speech.

"Raising us to become children craving for any sort of love and approval, slightly uneducated but not stupid and completely unaware of our political power, making sure we'd jump over ourselves to fight an enemy ten times as strong as us and sacrificing ourselves for our friends... Someone was deliberately manipulating us to become the perfect weapons of the light against Moldyshorts. And part of this, I believe, contained taking you out of the picture. You, that you are not only a capable wizard but know all about wizarding customs during to your upbringing, you that you were the only person who was named by our parents to take care of us, who they trusted to love and to protect us. I believe someone wanted to make sure you wouldn't have that kind of influence on us. I believe someone wanted to get rid of you and did so by denying you a trial and branding you as a death eater. After all if what you're saying is true then simply viewing your memories in a pensive or applying Veritaserum would have been enough to determine the truth. Yet although you're a member of an ancient and noble house as well as the last heir of the Blacks, best friend of my father and a front line fighter against Moldyshorts they threw you into this cell without even listening to your story."

"Who?", was all the wizard wanted to know.

"The one who brought us to the Dursleys, even before you supposedly killed those muggles and lost your right to care for us... The one who remained silent although he possessed the means of getting you out of prison during all those years... The one who positioned a squib next door to our house who watched us being abused and yet did nothing... The one who set up the test for us last year just so he could come in and save the day, earning our adoration once more – is Albs Dumbledore."

There is something very powerful about the truth. You can twist and turn it all you like and make a friend appear as a foe and your enemy dress up as your ally. Still the truth stays the truth and although my accusations were far-fetched, only half-proven and mainly based on fanfictions one wouldn't be able to deny the grain of truth they held. All intends and purposes aside all that mattered in this moment was that I did not and would never forgive Albus Dumbledore.

This alone was enough for Sirius Black to hate the man.

He did not say "I can't believe it" or even "I'd have never thought he'd do something like that". He said only one thing:

"I'll kill him."

It was said with so much hatred, so much disgust and passion that I believed him immediately. Yes, if he got the chance to do so, he'd kill the man.

For ten years Black had sat in this cell, relieving his worst nightmares. Being innocent was the only thing that kept him sane. Now not only was I the only other person on the world who believed in him too, I also provided him with a culprit. Someone other then Pettigrew, who was unreachable for him since he didn't know where he was or if he was even alive. Also unlike the rat Dumbledore posed a very real threat to the two people he had promised to protect. His fierce promise was an impulsive one and not that of a sane man but it was a beginning. I could build upon that hatred.

"You won't be able to do anything from in here", I reminded him darkly. "Neither of us will."

He shot me a wary glance. Anger seemed to overcome him again as he asked: "Is that why you're here too? Did he do this to you?"

"No", I replied although the temptation to lie was great. "I came here on my own in order to speak with you."

"I... I don't understand."
"At the beginning of my second year the Chamber of Secrets was opened. Apparently Moldyshorts possessed a student this time to command the creature within and attack several muggleborns. Because my brother and I are the only parselmouths at the school – an ability that might have passed over to us from Moldyshorts the night he tried to kill us the first time – we were the prime suspects. In the end a girl was abducted and brought into the chamber, only that in truth she had been the one possessed. Harry and I went down into the chamber but it collapsed, leaving me alone with the spirit of the Dark Lord. I managed to defeat it – it was weakened from bringing the girl down there – but I was too late to safe her. When I brought her back her brother accused me of being the heir of Slytherin, the one who killed her myself. There were some ministry officials present who heard him and took me into custody. I would have probably been able to talk my way out of it but the damage was already done, the whole school believed me to be the next Dark Lord. So I just kind of went with the flow. I arranged for myself to be brought to this block so that I could research your case. I doubt one would have allowed me to visit you to do so."

Again Black seemed to be close to tears again. "You shouldn't have done that, Charles! Nothing in the world, not even my innocence, is worth you staying at a place like this."

"It's only for a couple of weeks. Nothing compared to your sentence. Although that one will end too, once I get you out of here."

Black stared at me in shock. "Get me... out of here?"

"How else can I ever be sure I can trust you? You want to kill Dumbledore? I'll give you the chance to do so. When you come to Hogwarts everyone will think you're after my brother and me. He will be unprepared for an attack on his person. With your animagus form you can sneak on the grounds unnoticed. Dumbledore doesn't know you're an animagus and he can't detect that kind of magic." During the prologue he hadn't known that it was McGonogall sitting on that wall. "You can simply approach him as a nice little stray dog and then go straight for his throat. You have to manage on your first try, a wizard like him won't give you a second."

As I knew he would Black didn't look as sure anymore.

"Sirius, I want to work with you. I want to be your accomplice. If you do exactly what I tell you you'll be able to not only get your revenge but also to fulfill your role as my guardian and godfather. I need you to protect me but you won't be of much use if you're storming ahead on your own."

"Fine", Black said, now with fierce determination coating his words. "I will help you to the best of my ability. Together we'll kill that filthy traitor Dumbledore and then I'll go and find Pettigrew!"

"That's the spirit", I answered, allowing myself to slip my evil smirk back on. "But first we have to get you out of here. Now here's the plan..."