Chapter Two: Azkaban

'Hello, Sirius.'

His heart was beating to the rhythm of a jackhammer; his hands sweating to the point of dripping. Remus had never been so nervous in all of his life. He swallowed hard.

'It's been a long time,' he said lamely.

The gaunt man in front of him stared, his eyes surveying him up and down. It unnerved Remus. Then Sirius took a step forward, breathing hard. He stretched out a trembling hand toward him, his unblinking eyes never once leaving Remus as though he were afraid that if he closed his eyes for even a fraction of a second then Remus would disappear. Did he think he was hallucinating? Remus took a step back, he could not bear to have Sirius touch him; there was nothing but evil inside of him. This caused Sirius to drop his arm to his side with an audible hiss as though he had actually been physically stung.

There had been many a time over the past decade where Remus had found himself imagining what he would say to Sirius if he ever found himself face to face with him again. Even on the boat ride there, Remus had built himself up for this moment, ready to confidently demand answers, to finally understand why he had betrayed James and Lily. Except now he was actually there in the flesh, he was speechless. His voice had abandoned him.

From the corner of his eye, Remus could see Savage standing in the corner, arms crossed over his chest, stoically watching the pair of them. There was a part of Remus which hoped that Savage would announce that time was up and force him away, but the Auror was merely a spectator and bodyguard, ready at a moments notice if things were to turn ugly; his fingers were lightly brushing the top of his wand, which was held in a holster just above his waist.

There was silence, with the exception of their breathing - Remus and Savage's were calm and controlled, while Sirius' was hard and ragged; the past decade in prison had taken its toll on his body. He was frail; the bones in his chest were all too visible, the skin covering them as thin as a sheet of cling film covering leftovers of last night's dinner, and his eyes were sunken in their sockets. Sirius looked like one small gust of wind would snap his bones. His body looked broken.

Their eyes were locked on each other, their gazes unwavering. It was a waiting game now. Just as Remus was convincing himself that this was a terrible idea (his father always told him no good decisions were ever born from the bottom of a bottle; perhaps next year he would give the alcohol a miss), there was a whisper of his name. It took Remus a split second to realise it had come from the man in front of him. He was slightly taken aback at this; he wanted Sirius to speak, to say absolutely anything while he was there as reason to justify his visit, but he didn't really expect him to talk. It surprised him greatly that it was Sirius who broke the silence.

Sirius coughed once and tried again.

'Remus.' His voice was still hoarse but a bit more discernible the second time around. 'What -' he coughed again, '- what are you doing here?'

Remus' breath caught in his chest. His mouth opened but no sound came out. It was obvious, wasn't it? He wanted and needed answers to a decade long question that had been burning holes in his mind since that Halloween night. He wanted to hear the truth, but, at the same time, did he really? Could Remus really stand there and listen to why Sirius betrayed them? No truth or lie that could spew out of his mouth can really justify the loss of lives that occurred on and around the thirty first of October. Remus took another deep breath to try and calm the onslaughter of thoughts and the fast paced fluttering of his heartbeat. It was then he found the courage to speak.

'I'm here to ask why.'

Sirius let out a bark of sardonical laughter. 'You wouldn't believe me even if I told you.'

'Well I'm here and I'm asking. I'm willing to listen. So, why did you betray James and Lily?' Now that he was actively engaging in a conversation, Remus had this newfound confidence, which was evident in the calm and commanding tone in his unwavering voice. He maintained eye contact, stood up straighter, and squared his shoulders as he patiently waited for Sirius to explain himself.

Instead there was silence once again.

'You were quick to tell Voldemort where they were, but you're suddenly shy when it comes to explaining why. Unbelievable.'

'What's the point?' Sirius spat bitterly. 'You've already decided I'm guilty.'

'What's that supposed to mean? You were their Secret Keeper, you were the only one who could tell Voldemort their whereabouts. And are you also forgetting how you murdered Peter? What about those innocent Muggles you massacred? You have a lot to be guilty for.' Really who was Sirius trying to fool? There were witnesses to his killing, of course he was guilty.

Sirius smiled, exposing broken, yellow teeth. 'That's where you're wrong. I wasn't James and Lily's Secret Keeper. We switched a couple of days before they died.'

But that would mean...

'Who was their Secret Keeper then?' Remus demanded. His heart had taken up a sprint.

'The one and only Peter Pettigrew. Oh, and guess what? He's still alive.'

Remus was seething. How could Sirius use Remus' dead friend to blame his heinous crimes on? What evidence did he have to support his claims? Remus could answer that. Sirius had destroyed Peter - they could only find pieces of him for his mother to bury. It was absurd to even think poor, simple Peter could be responsible and it made Remus see red.

'How dare you,' hissed Remus. 'You killed Peter and now you want to blame him!'

'I said you weren't going to believe me,' Sirius sighed, seemingly more exhausted than before. 'Peter is still alive. That little rat betrayed us all and you're blind to it. You all are.'

'You blew him apart! All they could find was his -'

'His finger,' interrupted Sirius, his voice breaking as he strained it. No doubt this was the most he had used it in ten years if what Savage said was true. If he never screamed, if the Dementors did not effect him, then the hoarseness of his voice was due to lack of use. 'All they found was a finger. The dirty little rat cut the goddamn thing off himself, then he transformed, but not before blowing up the street and killing all those Muggles. It was perfect. I was framed.'

Remus' head was spinning. 'This is ridiculous. How can you expect me to believe you?'

'Did you know I was sent to prison without a trial?'

'There were witnesses!'

'They didn't see the whole thing,' Sirius stressed. 'I am innocent. A trial would have proved that.'

Was it possible? Could Sirius really be innocent? Remus' head ached; there was a pain behind his eyes that was extremely uncomfortable and all he wanted to do was close them. He needed to lie down, to process all the information he had been given. Could an innocent man have been wrongly imprisoned for ten years?

'Remus - Moony - listen to me. You and Prongs were brothers to me. Hell, even Wormtail was. Harry is my godson. I adored that little boy like he was my own kid. You were my family. There was no way I would jeopardise that. I would rather die than betray any of you! You know me.'

'I thought I knew you.'

There was one thing, however, that wasn't making much sense to Remus.

'Answer me this: why did you change Secret Keeper? You were James' best friend.'

'Therefore I was the obvious choice,' Sirius explained. 'The Death Eaters knew this. They were closing in on me, and if they had captured me then I would have been able to distract them, to keep them from Prongs and Lily for as long as I could. It was supposed to give Peter time to get safe.'

Remus swallowed the lump in his throat. There was a question he was dreading to ask but knew he needed to. 'Why did you choose Peter over me as Secret Keeper?'

'We thought you were the spy. I'm sorry we didn't trust you.' The sincerity in his voice was causing conflicting emotions in Remus. 'We put our faith in the wrong person and it backfired. I am sorry.'

'You and me both,' Remus muttered bitterly.

They thought he was the spy. No doubt because of his status as a werewolf. Before James and Lily's deaths, it was true he had been deep underground mixing with others who had also been infected with lycanthropy, but these men and women were more animal than human. They believed in embracing the new life, new abilities, and giving in to the wolf. They believed in everything that Remus had spent his entire life fighting against. Remus wanted to be as human as he could given his circumstance. Was he human? It was a question he asked himself daily. Human or monster. The pack he had been infiltrating were being pursued by Voldemort. Most werewolves were, as were the giants. There had been no hesitation when Remus politely declined the offer. Clearly his friends did not have any faith in him whatsoever. Remus would never give in. They should have known that. Providing that Sirius was telling him the truth of course.

Remus didn't know what to believe. There was no evidence to back up any of Sirius' claims. Peter as a Death Eater? The whole thing was absurd. Peter was small and timid and sweated buckets when confronted by anyone with an ounce of authority. He would have wetted himself should he have ever come face to face with Voldemort. Remus wasn't being mean; that's just who Peter was. What reason did Peter have for joining the Death Eaters anyway? Why would he want James, Lily, and Harry dead for? There was only one out of the five of them who had a pureblood supremacy background; one of them who didn't think murder was cruel...

'Moony,' Sirius pleaded desperately, 'I swear to you I am innocent. Get me a trial and I will prove it to you. Either I'm found guilty and come straight back here to rot, or I'm found innocent and walk free. We can't let Wormtail get away with it. We owe it to James and Lily to get the truth.'

'You're insane. Peter is dead. You killed him!'

'He's still alive! You have to believe me. Please.'

Honestly, Remus was unsure what to believe. His head was spinning. He needed time to think.

'Goodbye, Sirius.'

As Remus turned his back to leave, he felt Sirius grab hold of his arm with as much strength as his weak bones could muster. There was fear and panic in his eyes.

'Remus, please!'

'It's okay,' Remus said to Savage, who had moved from his position in the corner to one of defence, with his wand pointed at Sirius, ready to fire off a stunning spell. Remus had almost forgotten the Auror was there. He looked back at Sirius and snarled, 'Get off me!'

Sirius' arm dropped to his side. 'Remus... Moony...'

'Look,' Remus sighed, 'I don't know what to believe. There's little evidence to support your claim that Peter was a Death Eater. Peter, of all people! There were witnesses who say they saw you blow up the street. It's a lot to take in. I need to think about it, okay?'

'Bring some Veritaserum with you next time. I will gladly take some,' said Sirius quickly. 'No guilty man professing his innocence would willingly offer to down some truth juice.' Sirius was obviously getting desperate.

'I need time to think. Goodbye, Sirius.'

Remus did not turn back to look at Sirius as he left the cell, but he could feel his old friend's eyes digging a hole in his back, following him down through the corridor until he turned the corner out of sight. Just as he did when he entered, Remus kept his eyes averted from the other cells, not wanting to catch a glimpse of the other inmates. Visiting Sirius had been horrifying in itself. What he needed was a shower and a decent size bar of Honeydukes' finest chocolate.

'Did he really get sent to Azkaban without a trial?' Remus asked Savage on the boat trip back.

As soon as news broke to Remus about the murders of his three best friends, he had completely turned his back on Sirius; he wanted nothing to do with him and that included hearing about him. He had even unsubscribed from the Daily Prophet. Remus needed time to grieve for his dead friends, and had spent the first few months after their deaths as a recluse. He had to get used to being alone. Most of his other friends had died in the war. No one came knocking on his door.

Savage sighed. 'I shouldn't be telling you this, but a lot of it is public knowledge now. From what I know about the case, the first responders on the scene that day questioned everyone who was there - mostly Muggles - before wiping their memories. Majority of them described Black pointing his wand, and then the next second there were bodies on the floor. Black was still standing. No trial is needed in a situation like that one.'

All they found was a finger. The dirty little rat cut the goddamn thing off himself, then he transformed, but not before blowing up the street and killing all those Muggles. It was perfect. I was framed.

'What conditions were the other bodies in when they were found?' Remus asked curiously.

'Bits and pieces mainly. There were a few who caught the end of the blast who were still intact, but those who caught the direct wave had to be picked up piece by piece.'

Remus felt sick. None of them deserved to die like that.

'Do you know if all pieces of their bodies were found?' Remus had to know. A finger that was all they found of Peter. Just one stubby finger.

'Aside from an arm or a leg here and there, most of them were identified and released to their families. The only body that was never fully recovered was Pettigrew.'

Remus remained quiet for the rest of the journey back, mulling over everything both Savage and Sirius had said to him, as well as trying to quell his queasiness. There was a lot not adding up. The explanation Sirius had given him for changing Secret Keepers would have made sense. It was common knowledge Sirius and James were the best of friends - brothers. The obvious choice would have been Sirius. It would have been an excellent decoy to use someone else, and honestly no one would really have suspected Peter, he wasn't the best wizard but he was a great friend... Or maybe he wasn't. There was a seed of doubt that had been planted, albeit by a convicted murderer, and while Remus was kicking himself for even thinking these terrible thoughts, tarnishing the memory of his deceased friend, he needed to know the truth, at the very least for James and Lily. More selfishly, he wanted to know for himself. Was Peter really capable of being a Death Eater? Could Sirius be as innocent as he's claiming?

It was curious how Peter's body was never recovered. Very curious indeed.

Thank you all for your reviews. I'm very bad at replying to them all, but I do appreciate them.

My laptop has been sent for repair and should be back next week, so this entire chapter had to be typed up on a tablet which has a horrific autocorrect feature, so if you see any errors despite my efforts to get them all, could you kindly let me know please.

Enjoy!