Authors' Note: Well, this is the sequel to James and Jade North and the Philosopher's Stone. It deals with James and Jade's second year at Hogwarts. Unlike the previous fic, it won't follow canon so much. Some events that happened in the third book will actually happen now, because of the ideas we have in mind for third year. Ginny Weasley will not get Riddle's diary. Lucius Malfoy will see fit to give it to someone else, which is a mistake on his part. The person getting the diary will not be naive like Ginny was, and won't end up being possessed byTom Riddleand start Petrifying students.

Disclaimer for entire fic: We do not own Harry Potter. It belongs to the fantastic author J.K. Rowling.

This fic is dedicated to Knight25, who came up with the title.

James sighed and looked enviously at Jade, who was playing one of his video games. This was the final day of the twins' week-long grounding. He couldn't spend every hour of the day doing his summer homework, so he read much of the time. At least his mother hadn't forbidden him from reading for pleasure. Jade, on the other hand, couldn't read for pleasure, so she had taken up playing video games when she wasn't doing homework or spending time with Hermione.

"Dinner!" called Mrs. North from the kitchen. James set down Magic's Promise and Jade saved and turned off the game. The two went into the kitchen, where they set the table.

During dessert, an owl flew in with an edition of the Evening Prophet. Mrs. North paid the owl for the delivery and looked at the front page. "Hmm, it looks like Larry Anton had his trial today."

The twins looked up. "Really?" asked Jade with interest. "What happened?'

"Well, the entire Wizengamot found him guilty to passing off his son as Harry Potter," responded Mrs. North. "Mr. Anton was fined two hundred Galleons. As he's American, the American equvilent of the Wizengamot will decide if there should be any further punishment, like a prison term. His son, Darryl, will not be allowed to return to Hogwarts, and it doesn't seem likely that any other wizarding school will take him unless he manages to convince them that his father was completely behind the whole thing."

"Serves him right," muttered James. "He was a horrible person, anyway."

Mrs. North raised a brow. "You shouldn't talk like that, James. Darryl Anton isn't Voldemort or any of his Death Eaters."

"Sorry, Mum. Is there anything else that's interesting in the paper?"

"Not much. The search for the real Harry Potter has resumed, but so far there's been no luck. This time, anyone who claims to be Harry Potter will have to undergo a blood test and some questioning under influence of Veritserum. Oh, and Cornelius Fudge, the Minister, had his yearly inspection of Azkaban today. You can read the paper after you've done the dishes, James and Jade."

Jade and James were playing a game of chess when an ancient owl flew in and fell on the table. James removed the letter attatched to the leg and then Jade carefully moved the owl to perch and gave him some water.

The letter turned out to be from Ron, and the owl was Errol, the family owl. Included in the letter was a clipping from that day's edition of the Daily Prophet, which was about Arthur Weasley winning the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw. The money would be spent on the entire family visiting Ron's brother Bill in Egypt for a few weeks. Ron wasn't sure if he would be able to make it to James and Jade's birthday party, but he promised to send his presents for them if he was unable to attend.

"Well, the Weasleys definitely deserve something like this," commented Jade when she was done reading the letter.

Three days later, the entire wizarding world was in an uproar over mass murderer Sirius Black escaping from Azkaban. From the article about his escape, it mentioned that the Azkaban guards had heard him mutter "He's at Hogwarts," in his sleep. Nobody knew who Sirius was referring to, except that it wasn't Harry Potter. When the Minister had come for his inspection, Sirius had asked for the newspaper, and therefore would have read that the search for Harry Potter was going on.

That evening, Mrs. North sat the twins down. "I have something to tell you about Sirius Black, James. As you know, I was in the year above your parents at Hogwarts. Well, Sirius Black was your father's best friend. I believe he was best man at your parents' wedding and was named as your godfather. Sirius Black and James Potter often got into mischief at school, but they were both good people. However, it appears that Sirius joined Voldemort sometime after graduating and revealed the Potters' location, resulting in Voldemort killing your parents and trying to kill you, James."

"You mean the escaped convict is my godfather and betrayed my parents?" demanded James, shocked.

"It looks like it, but I find it hard to believe. In any case, another friend of your father's Peter Pettigrew, went after Sirius. He shouted for the whole street to hear that Sirius was basically responsible for the deaths of Lily and James Potter. Then it seems that Sirius took out his wand and blasted the street up. Twelve Muggles were killed, along with Peter Pettigrew. The largest part of his body that they could find was his finger. He was posthumously awarded an Order of Merlin, which was given to his mother. Since all evidence points for Sirius killing Pettigrew and the Muggles, I suppose he really did so. I'm not so sure about his joining Voldemort and betraying your parents, however. Sirius never showed any liking for the Dark Arts while at Hogwarts."

"So what do we do about Sirius?" asked Jade. "And how in the world did he escape anyway, Mum?"

"Nobody has figured that out yet, Jade," answered Mrs. North. "As for Sirius, what I would like to do is question him and find out if he really was responsible for everything or if he was just framed. It wasn't like he was given a trial to ascertain if he was inoocent or not. The Ministry just assumed that he was guilty and tossed him into Azkaban for life. Added to the fact that he came from a family with a reputation of believing in pureblood supremecy, nobody thought he could be innocent."

Jade looked thoughtful. After a minute, "Couldn't you make a Portkey and have Hedwig send it to Sirius Black? The instant he touched it, he'd appear here. You'd have to tie him up so he couldn't escape and then question him under Veritserum. If he's guilty, you can contact the Ministry and have him hauled back to Azkaban."

"That is a good idea," said Mrs. North in mild surprise. "You know, I think I'll carry it out. It's a good thing I set up a Potions lab in the basement last year and brewed some Veritserum a couple of months ago."

While she went to arrange things, James and Jade discussed what their mother had told them about Sirius Black. They hoped that Sirius was innocent of his crimes, but were doubtful, because all the evidence pointed to him being guilty.

Two evenings later, Hedwig must have found Sirius Black, for he appeared in a heap on the floor in the living room, a bright gold-colored rock in his hand. His black hair was long and shaggy and his once-handsome face was gaunt. The grey robes he was wearing were worn, dirty, and somewhat tattered. A look of complete puzzlement was on face, replaced by fear a second later as Mrs. North pointed her wand at him and magically bound him with ropes.

"I am Sylvia Bradshaw North," she said sternly. "I see you remember me, Black. Anyway, I was discussing you with my children and expressed the wish that I could question you and find out if you were really guilty of all your crimes. So my daughter suggested I send out an owl looking for you, with a Portkey that would bring you to our house. So here you are."

James poured some apple juice from a pitcher into four glasses. However, the one meant for Sirius had three drops of Veritserum in it. "Drink this," said Mrs. North curtly, holding the glass with the Veritserum to Sirius's lips. The twins took a long draft from thier glasses to prove that the juice was harmless.

Sirius downed the contents of the cup and then Mrs. North drank her juice. After, she continued, "What is your name?"

"Sirius Orion Black," answered Sirius.

"Were you ever a Death Eater, or at least supported Voldemort's ideas and aims?"

"No to either one."

"Did you betray the Potters' location to Voldemort?"

"No."

"Then who did?"

"Peter Pettigrew did. I thought that Voldemort would go after me as I would be the obvious person made the Potters' Secret-Keeper, so I convinced Lily and James to switch to Peter."

"What really happened that day Peter Pettigrew and twelve Muggles died?"

"I went looking for Peter, because he'd betrayed the Potters. However, Peter turned out to be too crafty. He basically shouted that I was responsible for Lily and James's deaths. His wand was hidden behind him and he did the spell that blasted the street apart and killed the Muggles. Peter is an unregistered Animagus, with the form of a rat. He removed one of his fingers, then transformed into his rat form and escaped. The Ministry caught up with me then and arrested me."

Jade dropped the cup in her hand in shock. As the living room was carpeted, it didn't break. "So you're innocent!"

Mrs. North ignored her and asked, "Sirius, how and why did you escape from Azkaban? And how did you remain sane?"

"I am also an unregistered Animagus," he answered. "My form is a large black dog. I was able to keep my mind around the Dementors by thinking that I was innocent, which isn't a happy thought and couldn't be sucked out of me. Because of that, sometimes I would be able to turn into a dog to lessen the effects of the Dementors. When I saw the article in the Daily Prophet about Arthur Weasley winning the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon and the picture next to it, I realized that Peter was still alive."

James dug out the clipping and looked at the picture again. On Ron's shoulder was his rat, Scabbers. James gasped. "You don't mean that Pettigrew was masquerading as my friend Ron's pet rat?"

Sirius nodded. "I recognized Wormtail's Animagus form. Oh, Wormtail is the nickname our friends called him at Hogwarts. Since I knew that he was alive, I was concerned about finding him and bringing him to justice. That's why I decided to escape. I slipped out in my Animagus form."

Mrs. North removed the bindings and said, "Sirius Black, we believe you. Your drink had a few drops of Veritserum in it, so all your answers would be true. Oh, and the potion was in your cup, not in the pitcher of juice. Now, you are going to be cleaned up, and you can borrow my late husband's wand until your name is cleared and you can get a proper wand of your own. Once you've bathed and had something to eat, there are some things that we have to discuss."

Mrs. North dug out a set of her late husband's robes, and transfigured a piece of cloth into underwear. She handed them to Sirius and directed him to the upstairs bathroom. Forty-five minutes later, he emerged, clean and neatly dressed, with his long hair trimmed. He was shown into the kitchen, where he was given some soup and bread.

After Sirius was done eating, Mrs. North removed the Glamour on James. She proceeded to explain that James was really Harry Potter and how she had adopted him almost eleven years ago. Sirius was very surprised to hear this. After he'd recovered, he pulled James into a bear hug and promised to keep the secret. Once the Glamour was resumed, Jade and James explained that Ron was their friend and once he returned from his vacation in Egypt, they would ask him to bring Scabbers over. Mrs. North would arrange for Pettigrew to be brought into the Ministry for questioning.

For the time being, Sirius would stay at the North home. There was no guest room for him to stay in, but he had no objection to sharing a room with his godson. Mrs. North gave permission for Hermione to be told the truth about Sirius Black the next day, but she had to be sworn to secrecy. James and Jade could also write to Neville about it via their notebooks, but nothing was to be said to Ron in case Scabbers aka Wormtail read the notebook while Ron was using it.

After Sirius told James and Jade about the Marauders and the reason why he was an unregistered Animagus, they all went to bed. James felt his head still spinning a little from the events of the evening. He'd discovered that his godfather was innocent of his crimes, and now steps were going to be taken to bring Wormtail to justice and clear Sirius's name. James drifted off to sleep, wondering what the future days would bring.

Author's Note: When Hedwig found Sirius, she dropped the rock on him. He bent down to see what it was that hit him. The instant Sirius touched the rock, the Portkey was activated and he was transported to the North home.