Truths

By Neurotica

Five

The interrogation room inside the prison of Azkaban was stunned into a tense silence. All of its occupants seemed to have momentarily stopped breathing; you could literally hear a pin drop and echo in the uneasy silence. Nobody could find anything to say after what had just been found out. Sirius Black—convicted murderer, Death Eater, and traitor—was innocent. Innocent and framed...

A clearing of a throat interrupted the quiet. "D-did you get all that, Johnson?" Cornelius Fudge asked his assistant in a hoarse whisper.

Johnson looked at his parchment with wide eyes, reread his notes, and nodded.

"Very well," Fudge cleared his throat, and continued speaking, "I will return to the Ministry and send word of my decision shortly." He stood to leave; Johnson followed his example.

Dumbledore also stood; the twinkle was back in his eyes. "Thank you for your patience, Cornelius. We look forward to hearing your decision."

Fudge nodded once and left the room.

Remus, who until this point, sat with his head down in his arms on the table, came back to reality when the door clicked shut. He looked across the table to Sirius who was still unconscious from the Veritaserum, and then to Dumbledore.

He swallowed, though his throat was dry. "Sir," he began in a raspy, shaky voice, "w-what's going to happen to Sirius?"

Dumbledore turned to his former student and smiled. "Well, if I am correct in my assumptions, the Minister will return to his office, throw a small tantrum, and send an owl stating that Sirius is to be set free."

Free.

Sirius was going to be set free. He was innocent. Peter was the traitor. Peter was the reason Lily and James were dead. Peter was the reason Harry was an orphan and living with Muggles. And Peter was the reason Remus had been alone for five years. Anger and sadness, and most of all, guilt was flowing through Remus like a river. All of the bitterness and hatred he had, until just fifteen long minutes ago, held for Sirius was gone. Remus had one of his brothers back.

Like a breaking dam, tears began to flow from the werewolf's eyes before he'd noticed. Everything that had happened over the past five years—everything he'd felt over five years—came back to him at that very moment.

Once Remus had gotten himself under control, and wiped his face with the sleeve of his robe, he looked back at the Headmaster. Dumbledore, as it appeared, had looked away to allow Remus a moment, for which he was grateful.

Dumbledore looked back to Remus with a kind smile. "Are you all right, Remus?" he asked gently.

"Yes, sir, I'm fine," was the barely audible response from Remus.

A deep booming voice sounded from next to Remus. He jumped. "Well, this has been an interesting day," Kingsley said. He seemed just as stunned as the others in the room. Once the questioning had ended, Kingsley had to pull a chair to sit; Remus hadn't even noticed.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Indeed it has, Kingsley. Indeed it has."

The three wizards stared at one another for minutes, each stuck inside his own thoughts.

A groan made all three off them jump. Sirius was coming around.

He groggily opened his eyes, fighting against the bright lights of the room. Where am I? he wondered. He certainly wasn't in his cell, it was too damn bright. And then it hit him. Remus. Dumbledore. Fudge. Veritaserum.

Sirius opened his eyes wide, searching the room. Staring back at him was Albus Dumbledore, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Remus Lupin. Confusion set in—why was he here? Why was he being questioned after five years?

Dumbledore spoke in the kind voice Sirius remembered from his Hogwarts days. "Hello, Sirius. How do you feel?"

Sirius clenched his eyes shut and put a shaky hand to his head. "Like I could use a good sobering charm, sir," he replied in that same hoarse voice as before.

Shacklebolt snorted at, not only his humor, but the fact he was able to actually keep that humor after five years with dementors. Dumbledore chuckled, and Remus managed a slight smile—at least, he hoped he had. He felt strangely numb at the moment.

"Sir, what's going on? Why are you all here?" Sirius asked.

"Sirius, as I was just telling Remus, I believe that within the next hour you will be set free by the Ministry."

Sirius' eyes widened even more. "S-sorry, w-what?" he managed to speak. "But... h-how? Why?"

Dumbledore looked to his left to Remus; he was once again in his own little world. He looked across to Kingsley and asked, "Kingsley, I wonder if you could possibly step outside for a moment?"

The Auror stood, nodded, and said, "Of course, sir. Let me know if you need me." With a respectful bow of his head to Dumbledore, Kingsley left the room.

Once again, the closing of the door jolted Remus from his thoughts. He looked up only to find Dumbledore and Sirius looking back.

"Perhaps you would like to be the one to explain the recent events to Sirius, Remus?" Dumbledore asked.

Remus sighed and, for the first time in years, looked into the eyes of his old friend. They were hollow, dead-looking. Remus cleared his throat slightly and began. "Well, Sirius, the other night, during the full moon, the wolf caught Wormtail's scent. I think he was outside my house." Remus watched as Sirius stiffened in his chair. "The next morning, I had a dream that Wormtail came into my bedroom, covered me with a blanket, and apologized for something." Remus closed his eyes, and sighed heavily.

"After that dream, I had another one. It was about you and James and Lily. You were discussing switching Secret-Keepers. You wanted them to switch to Peter because you thought it was the perfect bluff. And then, I guess it was a different day, Peter was there in your place. I supposed they'd just made him Secret-Keeper." He opened his eyes again and looked back at Sirius. He looked like he was about to cry as well, but was fighting hard not to. "This morning, I went to Dumbledore and told him about the dreams. And then we came here."

Sirius broke the eye contact and looked at the metal table. Slowly, he looked back to Remus with a pained expression on his face. "You... dreamed all that? About James and Lily?" he asked quietly. Remus nodded slowly. "Wow. I suppose I should thank you, then, eh?" He attempted a smile, but only managed a small, strained grin. "Thank you, Remus," he said sincerely. Sirius then stuck out a shaking hand for Remus to shake.

For a moment, Remus made no movement. He sat considering Sirius' thin hand, and then abruptly stood. He walked to the other side of the table. Sirius seem startled by the sudden movement before Remus put out his own hand, and pulled Sirius into a long embrace. "I'm sorry, Sirius," he whispered.

Both knew that there was so much more to say, but for the moment, decided to keep it to themselves.

They released each other at the same moment, both man's eyes shining with tears. A heavy weight was lifted off both pairs of shoulders for the time being.

The door opened once more and Kingsley Shacklebolt reentered, holding a thick envelope. "Sorry to interrupt," he said, "but I thought you might want to see this. Just arrived from the Ministry."

Sirius and Remus exchanged a look and looked at Dumbledore. The old man's eyes were still sparkling and there was a small smile on his lips. He nodded for Kingsley to open the envelope. Inside were many pieces of parchment. Kingsley opened and read the first silently to himself. He looked back to the other three who were all looking back eagerly and anxiously. Well, maybe not Dumbledore; he seemed to know what was in that parchment already.

Kingsley cleared his throat and read aloud, "'I, Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister of Magic, hereby grant Sirius Orion Black immediate release from Azkaban. Mister Black will receive retribution in the amount of 638,419 galleons for his wrongful imprisonment. The Ministry deeply regrets and apologizes for this terrible mistake. Signed, Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic.' And these are Sirius' release papers." He handed the remaining pieces of parchment to Sirius. "I have to go have a word with the dementors. I'll be back in a moment, and we can get out of this bloody place." Kingsley shuddered at the thought of having to go near the dementors and excused himself from the room.

Dumbledore, for the third time that afternoon, reached into his robes, this time to hand Sirius a quill. "I believe you'll need this, Sirius."

Sirius took the quill, hands still shaking, and looked at the papers. This is really happening, right? he wondered. I'm almost free! This is what I've been dreaming of for five bloody years!

Ten minutes later, the papers were signed, and the three wizards were awaiting Kingsley's return. Nobody had said a word since Dumbledore offered Sirius the quill. Remus and Sirius were both trying to fully comprehend exactly what was happening. Dumbledore was watching the two with interest.

"I have one question for the both of you," he began in a serious voice. Remus and Sirius looked at their former Headmaster and waited for him to continue. "Who would like to explain about becoming Animagi?"

The two younger wizards stared at one another in surprise. He knew. They were busted. Both of them would be sent to Azkaban. Perhaps not Remus; he wasn't an Animagi—he was a werewolf. But could it be possible that he would be sent to prison, as well, since he had been the reason three of his friends had broken wizarding law in fifth year?

When they looked back at Dumbledore, however, something told Remus that the old man already knew everything. He had a large smile on his face and the brightest twinkle in his eyes that either of them had seen in many, many years.

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere...

Wormtail had been traveling all day and night. He wasn't used to all this exercise; he was used to lying on a pillow and eating all day. He was used to being a fat and lazy rat.

He'd finally gotten out of the sewers and found himself in the middle of a field somewhere. Lost… Again. That rat from the sewer had no idea what he was talking about.

So far on his trip, he'd encountered idiot rats, nasty sewers, and a very hungry cat—which he very narrowly escaped.

But wait... Wormtail could see city lights in the distance. The sun was setting and the rat decided it was time for a quick rest. A few hours, and he could figure out what city he was in (hoping it was somewhere near Surrey...). He settled himself down in a patch of grass beneath some bushes, curled up, and closed his beady eyes. Maybe after he slept, he could scavenge the dumpsters in the city for some food.

Things were looking better already for Wormtail. In a few days time, he would have Harry Potter in his grasp, and he could pay a visit to his fellow Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy, to present the boy and reap his rewards.

Nope, nothing could go wrong any longer.

At least that's what he thought...

Luckily, he wouldn't be able to read the newspapers that night...