A/N: I decided to throw up the first chapter today, along with the prologue. I didn't feel right just leaving 300ish words up. Let me know what you think.
Chapter 1: Old Friends
The dementors led the way for Hagrid and his human guard, Hagrid's giant blood usually helped ward off the effects of the Azkaban guards, but he could feel their magic creeping in, filling him with despair. The man guiding him held a large key and a small book, "Hagrid, is it?" the man said, surprisingly pleasant considering the sheer amount of time he must spend near dementors, "Most folks come through here are either crying or shitting their pants, or both. You must be some kind of tough." Hagrid could place the man's accent almost immediately, American. "Really, this island isn't half as bad as the one I worked at before. Alcatraz is the worst. No dementors, but it's the damned tourists that drove me crazy. Always running around, coming dangerously close to finding things they shouldn't. The no maj's are convinced the place is haunted, but really they just sometimes find themselves too close to one of the underground cells when a prisoner is getting interrogated." He paused in front of a cell, looking puzzled for a moment, then seemed to regain himself, moving to the next cell and pulling the gate open. "This'll do, I reckon. Dementors probably won't bother you too much if you're truly innocent. At least that's what they told me, the things don't really bother me so maybe it's just all bullshit because I'm no saint."
Hagrid stepped into his cell and realized quickly that the cells here had not been made with a man his size in mind. The guard waved his wand and the cell expanded so that Hagrid could fit inside comfortably. Another wave made a large enough cot for him to sleep on appear from nowhere. He thanked the guard, who responded with a still too cheery "Don't mention it." and walked away from the cell, leaving Hagrid alone with his thoughts.
It was unclear to Hagrid how long he spent in complete silence before he heard it, someone, or something pacing in the cell adjacent to his. He stood, curious, and walked to the barred gate of his cell and looked across. What he saw astounded him. There was a dog, large but nearly starved, padding around in the adjacent cell. He stared as the dog turned to face him, head cocked to the side, and began to transform into a human.
The man across from him looked strangely familiar, but Hagrid couldn't place him. That is until he spoke, the voice was unmistakable and brought forth an anger that Hagrid hadn't felt in many years. "Hello Hagrid," said a very confused looking Sirius Black.
"Yer still alive? 'Course you are, I han't killed you yet." Hagrid said, snarling at the man who caused Harry to be left an orphan and Peter Pettigrew to be left in pieces on a muggle street.
"I know why you're angry, old friend, but yo-" Sirius began, before Hagrid cut him off.
"Old friend?! Yer no friend of mine, I wonder how many more of yer friends you'd've given over to He Who Must Not Be Named if Peter hadn't caught on!" Hagrid yelled, as he spoke, he saw a look of pure hatred come over Sirius' face, he guessed it was mirrored in his own expression.
"Peter Pettigrew is a rat, and probably alive if I had to guess. I would have died rather than betray Lily and James." Sirius spoke calmly, but his face was a storm.
"Yer lying, you killed all of em. Even Dumbledore says yer guilty and he always assumes the best in folks." Hagrid said, he had been on the receiving end of Albus Dumbledore's presumptions of innocence many times including the offense that had landed him in Azkaban.
"Oh Hagrid, you may be correct about me killing Lily and James, but not because I betrayed them to Voldemort. Lily and James asked me to be their secret keeper, but I thought it would be too obvious if it was me. I convinced them to go with Peter and we told no one. Not even Albus, Peter was the least likely to be used in such an important role, so we thought he would be the safest option." Sirius said, with a look of genuine sadness in his eyes. "We never even suspected that Peter would go to Voldemort and give them up immediately. We knew there was a spy in the order, but Peter was completely out of the question, he was too much of a coward to be the spy." Sirius stopped there. Looking out of his cell but seeing nothing, he continued, "So, you are right, I killed Lily and James, but only by telling them to put their trust in the wrong person."
"So that's why you killed Pettigrew then?" Hagrid asked, still unsure whether he believed any of Sirius' words. "Why wouldn't you tell Dumbledore all of this as soon as the murders happened? He would have been able to help you stop him."
"I was furious when I realized what had happened. Once I saw that Harry was safe, I went after Peter, looking for answers. I would have killed him, too, but the rat blew up an entire street, cut off his own finger and transformed to escape." Sirius said, all the anger that Hagrid had seen earlier back in his voice. "I suppose you could put all of the muggles that Peter killed on my hands also, considering I confronted him and caused that reaction."
"You still haven't told me why you wouldn't tell anyone this before now," Hagrid said, part of him wanting to believe all of it. "Dumbledore would have believed you if you told him the truth."
"I didn't get a trial, Hagrid, and I didn't get to see anyone before being shipped here. I suppose they forgot about me soon after, in all the celebrations and other trials." Sirius lifted the tattered sleeve of his robe, now and held out his arm. Hagrid had seen many death eaters during the war, and knew that where there should be a dark mark tattooed into his skin, there was only skin. "I know this may not convince you, Hagrid, but I was never a death eater, and I hate Voldemort with my entire being." He rolled his sleeve down now, and Hagrid looked down thoughtfully.
"You said Pettigrew cut off his own finger and transformed?" Hagrid asked.
"Yes, we all spent nearly a year becoming animagi, Peter took a bit longer than the rest of us, but eventually he became one also." Sirius said.
"So he should be registered as one then, no one thought of this before?" Hagrid asked.
"We never registered, we planned on doing it after we got done at Hogwarts, but never got around to it with the war in full swing. We thought it would help us in the effort too, because Voldemort wouldn't know we were animagi. I guess that was pointless though, Peter probably told him everything." Sirius said.
"What could pettigrew turn into, then?" Hagrid asked.
"Haven't you guessed, it should have been obvious to us from the start. A rat." Sirius said, Hagrid puzzled over this for a moment before the most unsettling thought passed over him.
"What finger did he cut off?" Hagrid asked, scared for the answer.
"I'm not sure anymore, why?" Sirius asked, confusion clear on his face.
"Because the Weasleys have a rat, been missing a finger for as long as I've known 'em. Lived a damn long time, too. Longer 'an any rat I've ever seen." Hagrid said. Sirius looked up at him with an expression of pure terror.
"Does that mean?" Sirius started.
"Pettigrew is in Hogwarts." Hagrid finished. He had to warn Dumbledore.