James POV
What's happened to Sirius? I know they think it was Sirius who betrayed us, so what have they done to him! I bet Peter is roaming free doing whatever he wants while Sirius is either dead or in Azkaban. I swear if I see Peter again, he's going to wish he was dead. We all knew he was a spineless rat, but going to Voldemort of all people! He disgusts me. I realise Dumbledore has started talking and look up at him.
"I'm sure you've worked out that Sirius betrayed you. As your secret keeper he gave your location away to Lord Voldemort. Unfortunately, he didn't stop there. In his escape he murdered twelve muggles…" That doesn't sound like Sirius at all. It must have been Peter. Peter must have set him up. "Then when he was confronted with Peter, he killed him as well. They only found a finger." If that really did happen Peter deserved every bit of it. "I know this is probably really hard to believe, none of us believed it at first..." Of course it's hard to believe that the gutless good-for-nothing did what he did. "However, we had witnesses come forward."
Well they were "lying!" My voice comes out husk and quiet. I don't realise I've said anything until a couple of moments after. Dumbledore sits, staring at me. I presume he doesn't know how to take what he's just heard me say.
"What do you mean James?"
Sirius "wasn't" our secret "keeper, Peter" was. He stares at me trying to piece together the few words I've said.
The door opens and a nurse walks in. "Oh, Mr. Potter. Mr. Lupin told us you were awake." She smiles at professor Dumbledore. "Sorry professor, but could you leave the room for a minute, we would like to run some tests on Mr. Potter."
He nods. "Of course." Then leaves.
Dursleys house
4 Privet Drive
Harry wakes up to the dust falling on his face as usual. He feels the space around him until he finds his glasses. Slowly he puts them on and removes the dust that has gathered over the night. Next comes the usual banging on the door. "Oih, freak!" the shrill voice of his aunt fills the small cupboard. "Freak get up and hurry up. You're uncle has a big day at work today, lots of orders or something. You need to stay in there until he's left!"
Then more knocking. "You hear what I said freak?"
"Yes aunt Petunia." The boy replies in a quiet voice.
He is used to these conditions. At the age of 5, Harry has already learnt that to disobey means consequences, to ask questions and talk when not spoken to, results in pain or hunger. The thing is, that no matter how hard he has tried bad things always happen to him or he makes things happen that he doesn't mean to. Aunt Petunia has just told him it is because he was born a freak. Unfortunately, aunt and uncle Dursley don't like unnatural things that aren't normal – and being a freak comes under that category. As a result Harry is given the bare minimum to stay alive and pushed out the way.
Harry grabs his clothes that are folded as neatly as they can be in the small space that is available. He realises that he isn't going to get breakfast this morning, but again, this is something that is familiar to the small boy.
James POV
St Mungo's
25th May 1986
I wake up and see Remus sat beside me. "Morning." I just about manage to muster the energy to say.
"Morning James, how are you?"
"F...fine." I'm pretty sure that Dumbledore has told him what I said yesterday.
"That's good. It's great that you're talking, even if it is only a little." Just get on with it. "Professor Dumbledore said that you mention something about someone lying and something about the secret keeper." There it is.
All I can do is nod.
"I know this is a lot to ask, but is there anything else you can tell us?"
"Sirius" thought that he would be the obvious "choice" for the "secret" keeper, so he suggested that we "switch" and make "Peter" the secret "keeper. Peter" must have been the one to "betray us".
I wander if he can actually gather what I meant with the few odd words that I actually said.
I lay there for a few minutes while I leave him to process what I said and try to make sense out of it. I just can't stand this – Sirius being punished for Peter's crimes. And Harry. I miss Harry so much. I can't wait to see him again and the thought of him being with those horrible people... Who knows what they're doing to him. Laying here, helpless, not being able to do anything, just makes things worse , because I can't do anything. I can't stop all these awful things from happening. I can't look after my baby. And what about Lily? She's like I was. Maybe if I could see her, maybe if she could hear my voice she might wake up. But how can that happen when I can barely speak.
Remus POV
I can't believe what James is saying, partly because it doesn't make sense but partly because I can't believe what it could mean. I mean if he meant what he could mean there's an innocent man who's been locked up in Azkaban. What about the witnesses that came forward? James could just be trying to protect Sirius. We always knew that he didn't like Peter as much as the rest of us. Would he really defend Sirius if he had betrayed them? We never believed that Sirius was capable of betraying James, not after everything James and his family had done for him. Maybe if Dumbledore can get the memory off of him, we could see if James is telling the truth. Or we could ask to have Sirius put under veritaserum. That way we would know for certain if he did it. I just don't know what to do. What happens if it was Peter? He's dead anyway. And Sirius holds grudges, what if he can't forgive us for believing the evidence? What about Harry? He would have been sent to live with his horrible aunt and uncle when there wasn't any need because his godfather was innocent and shouldn't have been imprisoned. This is a mess. I look back at James who's waiting for my answer...
James POV
I'm looking, waiting, and then it happens. He nods. That's all the signal I need to know that he understands what I'm saying, that he believes me. He believes...