AN: This one is a little bit longer than the others, anyway - please review!

Disclaimer: None of the characters except Lanie Peters, her mother, her mother's hair stylist, Mrs. Figg's vetaranarian, and the veteranarian's dentist belong to me. The rest are JK Rowling's creations!

The Inside Scoop

Summer 96

Petunia woke up extra early that morning. Something had seemed different about the boy this week. Each morning he seemed a bit more cheerful than he had the day before. Not much, mind you. Just a little.

She wondered briefly what on earth could make him so happy. Just as she was thinking this, she heard a door squeak at the end of the hall. It was HIS door, he was sneaking into the bathroom for an early shower.

Curiosity suddenly overtook her. As soon as Petunia was certain the boy was indeed in the bathroom, she crept out of her bedroom, down the hall, and into his.

She glanced around, looking for a sign of something different. Nothing had changed; everything, from the calendar on the wall to the rumpled bedcovers to the piles of letters had changed.

Petunia looked around, wondering. What had happened to make him so happy? Surely it hadn't been the talk she'd had with him last week? She took another look at the bed. Of course. If the boy had anything to hide he'd have put it under that loose floorboard. She'd discovered it while cleaning in here a few months ago.

Petunia got down on her knees and leaned forward, her hand stretched out on the floor in front of her. She felt her way around until she found the crack in the floor. She groped around and managed to pull up the board.

It was paper.

He was keeping an extra supply of paper under his bed. She felt around in the hole, trying to find something else, something more important, but there was nothing. Sighing impatiently, Petunia pulled out the pieces of strange, thick, yellow paper. They weren't spare at all, he had written what looked like letters on them. The letters looked well worn, as if they'd been read far too often. She began to read:

"Dear Sirius,

"I'm fine. The Dursleys are staying away from me, because Moody said the Order'd come after them if they touched me. My aunt's getting all weird, though. You know, sentimental? I guess the thought of Voldemort returning hit her pretty hard. She was the only one who ever met my mum, I think.

"My summer's been pretty boring, stuck in the house all day. I don't mind. I'd rather face Voldemort later, after I've had a chance to learn how to defend myself against him. Because I want to live. I haven't really kissed anyone yet, except Cho, and she didn't count because ... I dunno, she was practice or something. She doesn't matter to me. And I've never even done it. I definitely don't want to die without having done it. What would Ron think?

"I want to know everything that's been going on. I heard some things on the Muggle radio the other day ... three kids kidnapped out of a London flat and things like that. Is Voldemort behind any of it?

"Let me know what's happening and when I can get out of here.
Harry"

Petunia smiled grimly. She was "getting all weird"? She checked the date; yes, he had written this the day after she'd talked with him. And who was Sirius? It wasn't a normal name.

"Because I want to live"? He was afraid this ... Voldemort was coming after him? Well of course, that's what that Mumbledumble fellow had told her about. Harry was safe inside the house. So he must have told the boy as well. She laid the first paper aside and picked up the second.

"Dear Sirius,

"Here's something to make you laugh. This morning I drew pig tails, ears, and noses on Dudley in some old photos I found. He actually looks quite handsome. I think you would have laughed if you had seen them.

"A pig in a wig if there ever was one.

"Hah! Serves him right, he was picking on a bunch of little kids yesterday. Saw him out the window. Like Malfoy, only Malfoy's worse because he can use magic.

"Ooooh, Dudley with a wand. I shudder.

"You liked laughing, didn't you, Sirius? You were laughing when Lestrange's curse hit you, you were laughing at her. Is that the way you dealt with things, Sirius, by laughing? Maybe I should try that.
Harry"

Petunia looked up from the letter, shocked. He'd drawn ...

Something else caught her eye. "You liked laughing ... you dealt ..." Everything in the past tense. As if ... as if this Sirius was dead.

"Dear Sirius,

"When was the first time you fell in love? I've seen the most gorgeous girl ever, Sirius. Her name's Lanie. She lives next door, and her bedroom window is right next to mine. I can see her sometimes ... she's got pretty friends, but they're nothing compared to her. She's a brunette and has dark green eyes and a great laugh. I just noticed her today, and I heard Aunt Petunia talking about her at breakfast this morning.

"She said Lanie goes to school in France and one of the French boys over there got her pregnant, but her parents made her give up the baby. I don't think that's true. I mean, any idiot could tell it wasn't true, just by looking at her room ... she has it decorated with butterflies, Sirius. Do you honestly think a girl who would decorate her room with butterflies would get pregnant?

"How come you never got married, Sirius? Did you have a girlfriend, before Azkaban? I wish I knew her name. It'd have been cool to meet her.
Harry"

Petunia sniffed. She had it on good conscious from Mrs. Figg's cats' veterinarian's dentist, who was sisters with Lanie's mother's hair stylist, that Lanie Peters had indeed gotten pregnant over in France. All the boys in Little Whinging had their eyes on Lanie, who was the boy to think he'd actually be the one to get her?

"Dear Sirius,

"Have you heard about the examinations? They've examined all those Death Eaters we caught at the Ministry last month, you remember, Malfoy and Avery and Nott and all the others. It was in the Daily Prophet. They found the Dark Mark on all their bodies, and Snape – yeah, Snape – gave testimony that those were the signs of a Death Eater, and then they brought out your examination records, Sirius, and found nothing about a Dark Mark anywhere on your body.

"Dumbledore even got them to admit, under Veritaserum, that Wormtail was the Secret Keeper, not you.

"Of course, this doesn't help now, but your name is clear. That's what's terrible about all this, we don't get to see Fudge apologize to your face, now that'd be funny.

"Oh yeah, Fudge got run out of office, along with Umbridge! Wish I'd have been there, I could have thrown them a Good Riddence party!
Harry"

There was a tear mark on the paper.

Petunia couldn't understand much of this letter. She now remembered who this Sirius was – the boy's godfather. He had been charged with murder, only now it seemed he was cleared.

She happened to glance up at the boy's clock. She had been in his room nearly ten minutes, she should be getting out soon, but she was too intrigued by the letters. So it seemed as if Sirius had died ... what was the boy doing writing to him?

The last two letters were the same, sometimes written in a humorous tone, sometimes serious. Petunia quickly returned them to their hiding spot when she heard the boy shut off the water in the bathroom.

Instead of going back to her room, she went downstairs to her writing desk.