"Wha—no trial?!" yelled all three at once.

"No." Dumbledore smiled. "But there may be a legal pardon."

"Don't scare us like that!" Ron said indignantly. "Besides, what does that even mean?"

"It means that Mr. Laffer is going to investigate the crime, the way it should have been investigated thirteen years ago," Dumbledore explained. "If there is sufficient evidence in Sirius's favor, Amelia Bones will pardon him, and his name will be cleared. There is no need for a trial at this point."

"Can we see?" Harry asked. Dumbledore nodded, and the three friends read Louis Laffer's letter.

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

Upon receipt of your letter, Madam Bones has forwarded it to me. After carefully scrutinizing your request, I have decided to accept it, and my department will conduct an investigation. If Mr. Black is indeed proven innocent, Madam Bones will issue him a full legal pardon, therefore clearing him of all charges. You may expect to hear from Madam Bones by Saturday, January 7, 1995.

Sincerely,

Mr. Louis Laffer

Wrongful Imprisonment Office

Ministry of Magic

"It sounded to me as if Mr. Laffer wanted to give Sirius a chance," Dumbledore continued. "You see, he's quite new to the Ministry of Magic. The office itself was set up in early 1983, shortly after Barty-Crouch-Jr.-Gate, but Mr. Laffer has only been there since late 1989. I daresay he has not been there long enough for his mind to get too corrupted by power."

"What do you mean?" asked Ron.

"Mr. Laffer doesn't seem to have the same kind of bias some older Ministry employees may have developed," said Hermione, and Dumbledore nodded again.

…

When Harry, Ron and Hermione rushed to the Gryffindor common room after class that day, they were glad to find Sirius waiting for them there.

"You've gotten a letter back, Sirius!" Harry panted. "Read it!"

Sirius read the letter quickly once Harry handed it to him. When he put it down, his eyes looked brighter than they had in a long time as he bent down to give Harry a hug.

"Not quite in the clear just yet, but we're getting there," Sirius said happily. The group cheered. Not too long after, Ginny Weasley walked over to them with a grin on her face.

"What is this rumpus?" she asked jokingly.

"Sirius might get a pardon!" said Harry, and this time he actually did kiss Ginny on the cheek.

"The problem is," said Sirius, "the fact that we don't have Peter hasn't changed. Mr. Laffer's investigation isn't going to go very well without him. How else are we going to prove that I didn't do it?"

"I'm sure we can find something," Hermione told her. "I love watching crime shows at home, and it's surprising what you can learn about criminal law and cold cases from—wait a moment, that's it!"

"What's it?" Ron looked stumped—but then again, he had looked stumped for a long time by now.

"Sirius, where did this happen? I mean, where was it that Peter framed you?" Hermione asked.

"Somewhere around where Harry's parents used to live," Sirius told her.

"Wasn't it in a densely populated area? Busy street? Lots of shops?"

"Yeah, real busy Muggle area. I remember it was right in front of a Walgreens—"

"All right." Hermione snapped her fingers. "So we need to visit the Muggle police station in that area."

"Why, though?" said Ron.

"Obviously, the Ministry of Magic thinks they solved the crime with Sirius," Hermione began. "But when the Muggle police did their investigation, they had no culprit. The case went cold for them."

"But the Ministry of Magic just told the Muggles it was a gas explosion, didn't they?" said Harry.

"And you think the police aren't going to investigate something big like that?" Hermione scoffed. "Don't you think they got a little suspicious when they figured out there was no gas explosion? I guarantee you they investigated it further. So even though they never actually solved the crime, the records from that day in 1981 are still going to be in their case files—includingthe video tape surveillance from that Walgreens store, which will have recorded exactly what happened."

Ron, Ginny, and Sirius all looked confounded. Only Harry knew what Hermione was talking about.

"Just one problem, Hermione," he said. "How are we going to convince the police to give us their cold case files? We're just a bunch of kids to them."

"Well…" Hermione frowned. "We might need to see Mr. Laffer a little bit before Saturday."