After breakfast the next morning, Serenity was a bit frantic and nervous while Remus talked to her to reassure her.
"It'll be fine," Remus kissed her wrists, "Relax. If anything goes wrong, Madame Bones will be there. And you have your patronus."
Serenity took a couple of breaths to calm down, "You're right. I'll be back later."
"Yes you will," Remus chuckled and nuzzled her neck before shoving her in the direction of the floo.
Serenity waved to him and tossed in some floo powder, called out for the ministry and was gone. Just as she stepped from the flames in the ministry atrium, she was met by Amelia Bones.
"Serenity Tsukino," Amelia grinned.
"Amelia. Thank you for agreeing to this for me," Serenity smiled.
"No problem. I always thought the situation was fishy," Amelia chuckled and held out her arm, "Shall we?"
Serenity nodded and took Amelia's outstretched arm. Amelia then apparated them both to Azkaban. Serenity was in awe at the size of the place as it was her first time seeing it.
"Come on," Amelia led the way inside and stopped at the desk, "Director Amelia Bones and Serenity Tsukino to visit Sirius Black."
The receptionist gave them the relevant badges to say they were visiting. Amelia helped Serenity put on hers before leading her through the prison to the room in which they would meet with Sirius. Both women had started shivering by the time they reached the visiting room. Serenity waited until they were in the room before casting her patronus to give them a bit of protection from the dementors for the duration of their visit. Sirius was already chained in his seat at the table on his side and hadn't looked up when they entered. The two women sat down on the opposite side and exchanged looks before Amelia nodded to Serenity to go ahead.
"Sirius," Serenity started.
"My mind must be playing tricks on me. I thought I heard Luna," Sirius barely lifted his head up.
"It's not playing tricks on you, Padfoot. I'm really here, you overgrown child," Serenity refrained from rolling her eyes.
Upon hearing her use a well known insult she used in their school days, Sirius looked up this time, "Luna, ol' girl. It really is you. How are you?"
"I'm good, Siri. I don't have to ask how you are," She frowned in concern.
"I'll be alright," He gave a short barking laugh, "Now what brings you here to this dreadful place?"
"A search for the truth. Sirius...I want to know the truth behind the day we lost Lily and James," Serenity leaned forward a bit, "I've got Amelia, or I should say Director Bones with me. She's as willing to hear you out on what really happened so we can potentially see about getting you out of here if you're truly innocent.."
Sirius' eyes widened at Serenity's explanation and he looked over to Amelia, "Is that true?"
Amelia nodded, "It is true. But to be sure, I'll need you to consent to the use of veritaserum before we get started."
"Anything if it means I might actually get out of here," Sirius sat back, "Let's do this."
Amelia nodded and stood up to walk over to stand next to Sirius, "Open your mouth."
"I know the procedure Amelia. I was an auror," Sirius grumbled before opening his mouth and sticking his tongue out.
Amelia shook her head and let three drops of the potion fall on Sirius' tongue before closing the bottle and putting it away in her pocket. Both Serenity and Amelia watched as Sirius' eyes glazed over as an effect of the potion.
"What is your full name?" Amelia questioned, starting the usual test questions to ensure the potion was truly working.
"Sirius Orion Black." Sirius answered.
"Date of birth?"
"November 3, 1959."
"Parents' names?"
"Orion and Walburga Black."
Amelia nodded in approval, "Go ahead with your questioning Serenity," She pulled out a quill and parchment as she sat back down so she could write things down.
Serenity nodded in understanding, "Sirius, were you really the secret keeper for the hiding place of the Potters?"
"No, I was just a decoy, though I had been the choice for secret keeper at first. It had been me who eventually suggested who they actually used.." Sirius answered in a monotone voice.
"Who was their real secret keeper?" Serenity pushed.
"Peter Pettigrew."
Serenity let out a soft growl before taking a breath to calm herself down, "Alright Siri, what really happened starting from October 31st 1981 all the way up to your arrest."
"I had a bad feeling, likely a result of the ritual connecting myself and Harry as godfather and godson. So I took my bike and rode to check on Peter since he'd told me he didn't plan on going out. When I got to Peter's, he wasn't there. But it did look like he'd taken off in a hurry," Sirius started, "I then hurried over to Godric's Hollow to check on James, Lily and Harry. When I got there… it was already too late. James was dead on the living room floor. Lily….was on the floor in front of Harry's crib. And poor Harry was crying in his crib, bleeding from the scar on his forehead. I picked him up to comfort him and prepare to take him to live with me."
The two women listened fully with Amelia's quill lightly scratching notes along the way.
"When I got outside of the wreckage, Hagrid was there waiting. He asked me to hand Harry over because he was there on Professor Dumbledore's orders. I refused at first, and there was a bit of verbal back and forth between us. But suddenly, I got the urge to go chase down Peter. So I handed Harry over to Hagrid, told him to take my motorbike and ran off to find Peter. It took me a while to find him. But when I did, it was in the middle of a bunch of muggles. He was waiting for me, shouting loudly how I'd given up Lily and James for the benefit of the crowd. Then he blew up the street, cut off his finger and transformed, diving into the sewers. I was in so much shock at how easily he'd managed to pull one over on me, that all I could do was laugh. Which was why when the aurors found me, I was laughing."
Serenity's eyes had watered and she cleared her throat, "We're almost done, Sirius. Just a couple more things. Why hadn't myself and Remus been informed in the change of plans to make Peter the secret keeper?"
"Because unfortunately, the long times of Remus being away with no contact made him suspicious as a possible spy. And since you were dating him, you were left out too. It was also the belief that the fewer people knew the actual truth, the less chance of the mole finding out," Sirius answered.
"And who was the person who cast the Fidelius charm over the Potter house in Godric's Hollow and would've known the actual identity of the secret keeper because of it?" Serenity asked, clenching her fists in anticipation.
"Professor Albus Dumbledore." Sirius answered.
"One more question, Sirius," Amelia cut in, "You said Peter transformed before diving into the sewers. What did he transform into?"
"His animagus form. A rat" Sirius said point blank.
Amelia stood up and administered the antidote to Sirius, "We've got enough here. I'll submit my memory of this meeting along with this statement that I need you to sign, Sirius." She set the piece of parchment she'd been writing out in front of Sirius and gave him a quill.
Sirius nodded and signed his full signature before handing both items back to Amelia.
"Obviously, you're innocent, Sirius. But Pettigrew having an animagus form changes things, as it means he's likely in hiding. But I don't remember seeing any paperwork mentioning that he was an animagus," Amelia pointed out.
"And there won't be," Serenity explained, "I did mention I had a feeling that Sirius' story was the truth for a while. There will be animagus registrations for myself, Sirius and James, but not for Peter. By the way, Peter's full form is a brown rat with a pink worm-like tail and missing a toe. But even then, I had the paperwork buried. I haven't trusted Peter at all honestly and I'm ashamed to say that I hadn't seen his animagus form for the truth about him that it was. Right now though, we need to focus on getting Sirius freed," She then pulled her own memory and bottled it before handing it over to Amelia.
Amelia nodded as she took the bottle from Serenity, "I'll go see now about fast tracking it so that Sirius can go home tonight."
"Take my memory too, specifically of that night," Sirius volunteered.
Amelia nodded and retrieved the memory from Sirius, bottling it in a separate bottle and pocketing both bottles.
Serenity smiled, "Thank you Amelia. Appeal to Fudge's ego and reputation," She winked, "Is it alright, if I wait here and talk to Sirius a bit more until you return?"
Amelia looked between Serenity and Sirius before looking to the auror posted in the room, "If she needs to leave for any reason, call another auror to escort her out."
The auror nodded, "Yes, Director Bones."
"I'll be back as soon as I can," Amelia disapparated.