Click. It was so quiet that Petunia could hear the digital alarm clock on the bedside table switch to a new number. 2:34 am. She had been in bed for over four hours, and not a second of sleep seemed probable, possible. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and her mind was racing. She knew why. She knew because, just as she was about to switch off the lights, a menacing thought ran through her: There was something about Lily's death that was not yet set right. Her mind kept replaying snippets from a conversation she had had with Remus weeks earlier on the floor of Harry's bedroom while he was absent-mindedly playing with the boy. He had tried to explain what happened to Lily and James.

"It was something we agreed on together, that Sirius was to be made secret keeper. We knew - I mean, we thought - that he was the safest bet. He is a skilled wizard, headstrong, and obstinate. We thought if someone had the power to keep a secret from You-Know-Who, it would be him."

"How does that work, keeping the secret? Aren't there also spells to read other people's minds?" Petunia asked, confused.

Remus smiled wearily. "You are right. There are, indeed. But, you see, a Fidelius Charm secret can only be divulged voluntarily. This means the secret keeper can not be coerced or tortured into telling the secret. And that means that …"

"… Sirius was not taken by surprise. He voluntarily chose to give this information away."

Remus stared at his feet and swallowed audibly.

"Yes, this is exactly what it means," he said, his jaw clenched.

She hadn't questioned it at the time. On that particular day, Remus had seemed tense and raw in a way that every word Petunia, even so much as thought of, felt like walking on eggshells, trying not to aggravate him. Besides, there was so much new information to take in, so many people she had never heard of before, that it took her mind some time to connect the dots. But now, she saw it. Something about the whole story was not correct. Something about this puzzle was not solved. It was like the puzzle pieces had come from two different boxes, put together with brute force in an attempt to make them fit.

A few months ago, she would have told herself she did not care about it, that she did not care about Lily's death at all, but in reality, she did care. She cared a whole lot. She cared in a way that siblings care about each other, even in hatred. And now, in the safety of her bed, with the only sounds being the ticking of the alarm clocks on the nightstands and Vernon's faint snoring, her brain had figured it out, figured out which of the pieces was amiss. Their supposed murderer had no motive.

Sirius had supposedly betrayed his friends willingly and knowingly. He supposedly switched sides. Petunia could not help but wonder: what had been in it for him? What was the reason? And the more she thought about it, the less sense it made. From what Remus had told her, Sirius technically came from a very old wizarding family that valued its pure magical bloodline, but he had broken with them and was now regarded by them as a traitor. He had inherited a large sum of money from his uncle, which made him financially independent. What in the world could have possibly changed his mind? What was there to gain for him from switching sides?

She came to the conclusion that there were three possible explanations: either Remus had withheld a crucial piece of information from her, or some crucial part of information had been withheld from Remus - and, of course, there was the terrifying and, unfortunately, very logical third explanation: Sirius Black was innocent.

She had no reason to favor any of these explanations over another, but with a gut-wrenchingly clear intuition, she knew which one it was. She knew this man was rotting away in prison for no reason, and the person responsible for her sister's death was still out there. Her heart was pounding so violently in her chest that she feared it might wake Vernon. Was that someone still after them? Were they not safe after all?

She slipped into a fitful sleep, waking at every indistinct sound in the house: the fridge in the kitchen starting its monotonous humming, a floorboard in the hallway creaking as tension in the wood released, the wind blowing softly around the corners of the house. When morning came, she felt like she had not slept a single minute, and a glance into the mirror in the bathroom showed her she looked the part.

She contacted Remus as soon as Vernon had left the house to go to work, pacing back and forth in the living room while she waited for him to arrive. When he finally did, and she explained her thoughts to him, he was quiet for a long time.

"Petunia," he said, at last, his voice rough. "I understand why you might think that. But the evidence against Sirius was overwhelming. There were witnesses. There was Sirius, in the middle of the street, laughing - like the maniac he is, like the monster that -"

"I know, I know all of that," Petunia said impatiently. "But it still doesn't make sense. You said it yourself - why would Sirius do that? Why would he betray his friends? What was in it for him?"

"I don't know," Remus admitted, his voice heavy. "I've asked myself that question a hundred times. But the fact remains that he did. And he's been sent to Azkaban for it."

"Can I ask you something else?" She asked, trying hard to keep the nervousness in her voice down.

Remus's mouth said, "Sure, go ahead," even though his facial expression exclaimed We have talked about this at length, please don't make me explain it to you again. Petunia understood. She wouldn't want to listen to it again, either.

"Sirius - what was he like?" she asked instead, unsure how to probe the subject.

Remus scoffed. "Which version do you want? The person I grew up with, or the monster that was hiding in plain sight all the time?"

"The person you grew up with. Who did you believe him to be?"

Remus looked at the floorboard for a while, gently moving his brows as if having an entire discussion with himself in quiet.

"Well, he was… Sirius," he suddenly broke the silence. "You had to experience him. He had a way of becoming the center of attention without looking attention-seeking. He always found a way to make people laugh. But he was also very opinionated and would defend his opinions vigorously, no matter how others tried to convince him otherwise. If you got real convincing points, he'd change his mind a few days after a debate and make it seem like he was the one to come up with this new opinion all on his own."

"Was he good at… school?" Petunia asked.

Remus chuckled. "He could have been better had he focused on studying instead of dallying about with other students. But he was an alright student, yeah. He had a way of convincing the teachers to give him extensions – I think it must have been his charm – so he didn't get into too much trouble for missing classes or lagging behind in homework."

"So you were part of the popular kids?" Petunia ventured.

"I suppose you could say so," Remus smiled until he suddenly flinched as if the act of smiling had become painful. "Although I must admit, it was mostly James and Sirius who were popular with the other kids. I was more of the teacher's pet, in a way."

"Wasn't there a fourth guy?"

"Oh, Peter." Remus sighed. "He always just … tagged along, I suppose."

"And wasn't he … wasn't he the one who went to challenge Sirius after the - you know?" She couldn't bring herself to utter the words.

Remus nodded grimly. "Yes, he was the one who went after Sirius. None of us knew why he did it - it was like he was trying to prove himself, trying to prove that he was just as brave as the rest of us."

Petunia furrowed her brow, deep in thought. "Let me ask you a very simple, straightforward question. "How do you know it was Sirius?"

"That is simple indeed. Because that's what was decided."

"And where you there when the spell was spoken?"

"What do you mean?" Remus furrowed his brows.

"Oh my, it's as if you're being handed this wand at the age of eleven, and you forget how to think critically. Have you personally seen the spell being cast? Do you have personal experience as proof that it actually happened the way you thought it was going to happen?"

"Petunia, where are you aiming with this?" Remus looked stricken at her implications.

Petunia shifted her weight and leaned in, her face close to Remus' ear.

"What if…" she whispered, "What if Peter framed Sirius? What if he was the one who betrayed James and Lily?"

Remus pulled back, his eyes wide. "That's… that's impossible. Peter was our friend. He would never do something like that."

"But you said yourself that he always just tagged along," Petunia pointed out, remembering the words Remus had said mere minutes prior. "He could have been jealous of James and Sirius' popularity, of their talents, their charm. Maybe he felt he needed to prove something, to show that he was just as important as they were."

Remus shook his head vehemently. "No, I can't believe that. Peter was always loyal to us. He was a part of our group, our family."

"Was he, though?" Petunia pressed. "Or was he always the outsider, the one who never quite fit in?"

Remus fell silent, his eyes darkening with thought.

"Listen, Remus. I think either you have knowingly withheld information from me, or somebody has knowingly withheld information from you." She straightened up, looking Remus straight into the eyes. "In either case, as Lily's sister and Harry's caretaker, I believe I have a right to know the truth."

"I can't say for sure what happened that night, Petunia," he said. "All I know is that we were betrayed, and James and Lily paid the ultimate price. Our plan didn't work, You-Know-Who found them, and that is all we need to know."

Petunia felt a surge of frustration as she realized that Remus was content with accepting the official story of what happened. She had expected him to be just as eager and willing to uncover the truth until they had the answers they sought. She wanted to know the truth, no matter how difficult it would be to get there. She balled her hands into fists at her sides and spoke firmly.

"What if we investigate? It might be our only chance to find out what really happened and who was really behind it all."

Remus looked stunned, as if he hadn't expected her to say such a thing. He paused for a moment before asking, "What are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting that we - as in, you and me - find out what really happened that night," Petunia said, her voice rising in determination. "There must be people we can talk to, people who might know something. We won't stop until we find the truth."

Remus' eyes widened slightly, and he opened his mouth as if to speak, but only silence came out. He finally took a deep breath and said, "But...but if the truth is that Sirius is innocent, then what?"

"Then we fight for his freedom," Petunia said fiercely. "We owe it to him, and we owe it to my sister."

Remus stared at her for a few moments before slowly nodding his head in agreement. "Alright," he said, his voice barely audible. "Let's do it.