So this one was really hard to write (and very long). I hope you like it anyway and I hope I haven't left any details out. Goblet of Fire coming up next.

Reviews would make my day! :)

10 July 1994

The students had left almost a week ago now, and most of the Professors had left the castle to visit family. Minerva meanwhile had decided to remain at the castle for the first few weeks of summer before the Quidditch World Cup. Her brother had managed to get his hands on several tickets to the game, quite by chance, and was expecting Minerva to join them. Not that she had even considered refusing the invite; she always had had a soft spot for Quidditch after all.

However with still another two weeks to go until she left for Caithness, Minerva had been helping Albus prepare for the next term. Mainly, she was writing letters to all prospective and returning students. Although repetitive work, it was not at all as frustrating as drafting advertisements for a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Minerva had still not forgiven Severus for his supposed slip of the tongue. Particularly, now that news of Remus' current position had come to her attention — with new laws in place it was nigh on impossible for him to get a job.

Minerva sighed again at the thought of Remus and rubbed her eyes. It was nearing 8 o'clock now, however, instead of sitting in her armchair by the fire and reading a book, Minerva was on her way to Albus' office. She hoped this meeting would clarify why he had been behaving strangely these past few days. She did not know if troubled was the word to describe it, or concerned? Either way, she had noticed a certain and distinct oddness in his behaviour which unsettled her.

Minerva told the gargoyle the password and was allowed through to the spiral staircase. When Minerva reached the top, she knocked lightly on the door.

"Come in," came Albus' familiar voice.

Minerva entered the room. "You wanted to see me?" she said.

He nodded and indicated that she should sit. "I was hoping to learn more about our Defence Against the Dark Arts situation?"

"Well," Minerva said, "I put the advert out a few days ago. So far, there has only been one reply from Alastor Moody."

Albus raised his eyebrows at the name and Minerva nodded.

"My thoughts exactly," she said. "Though, I was not aware that he was interested in a career in teaching."

"Nor was I," Dumbledore agreed. "But, people can surprise you."

"Indeed," Minerva said, crossing her legs. "I don't believe it would be such a bad idea," she said thoughtfully. "He certainly has experience although...well being a little eccentric does not really matter," she added, causing Albus to chuckle. "I think I will ask him to come in next week."

"I think that is an excellent idea," he said. "You worked with Alastor did you not?"

"Briefly," Minerva replied. "Our paths crossed for a few years," she added. "But then I came here and he continued at the Ministry."

Albus nodded. "And you worked together again when we set up the Order?" he reminded her.

"Yes," Minerva said, after faltering slightly. "Yes, we did. He has a lot of experience. I believe he could teach a lot to our students."

Albus nodded again. "Then it is settled," he said. "We can conduct the interviews next week," he added, "before you leave for Caithness."

"Yes," Minerva agreed, catching his eye, "before."

He smiled slightly then looked down and shuffled some papers. "I wanted to discuss another matter with you, my dear. Concerning Sirius Black."

Minerva sighed and shook her head. The topic had been on her mind a lot since she had learnt the full story. "I just cannot believe that happened," she said. "And the Auror department are no closer to catching him than they were one year ago."

"Actually," Albus interjected, "I wanted to speak about Granger, Weasley and Potter. Particularly what they believed happened that night."

"The effects of the confundus charm?" Minerva said. "I must say I am glad it wore off. Poppy told me it took them quite a while to..." she trailed away when she noticed Albus was not agreeing with her. "Is anything the matter?"

Albus sighed and sat up, as though he was bracing himself for a difficult conversation. "Minerva, do you remember all that Madame Pomfrey told you?"

Minerva nodded, her eyebrows furrowed slightly as she attempted to ascertain what was making Albus look so uneasy. "I was told Black confunded Potter, Granger and Weasley to believe that he was innocent. The name Peter Pettigrew cropped up but," she paused and shook her head. "It was simply a preposterous ruse."

A peculiar expression crossed Albus' features and Minerva's eyes widened slightly.

"You don't—Albus, please don't tell me you believe them?"

"Minerva," he began, "The evidence the three provided—"

"Evidence!" Minerva interrupted. "Albus, those children were put under a spell," she said. "How can we believe anything they have said?"

"They were not under a spell, Minerva," Albus said seriously. "Sirius is innocent, just as they said."

Minerva gaped at him. "But Severus told us what had happened."

"Severus entered the Shrieking Shack almost twenty minutes after Harry, Ron, Hermione," he said. "For that reason, he had not heard the full story."

Minerva stared at Albus for a while, and suddenly she remembered the small detail that had been in the back of her mind for the last few days.

"It was you," she said quietly, realisation dawning at last. "You asked me to tell the Dementors to leave and then a few hours later Black escaped," she added, so quietly now that she was almost whispering. Minerva covered her mouth with her hand. "Albus, what possessed you to do something like that? We have to—we have to—" she made a move to the door but Albus stood up.

"Minerva," he said imperiously, causing her to stop in her tracks. "I need you to understand."

"Understand?" she replied incredulously. "You made—I helped Lily and James' murderer escape."

"Sirius Black has never murdered anyone," Albus said firmly.

"You testified against him! Albus!" Minerva said weakly. "Albus the Order, the spy—you were there—you said it! Black had been leaking information to You-Know-Who for months!"

"It was not Sirius."

"Then who, pray tell?" she said, "Because no one could have passed on that information apart from—"

"Peter Pettigrew," interrupted Albus. Using Minerva's stunned silence to his advantage he continued, a little more calmly. "Peter had the same information as Sirius, Minerva. He was also James and Lily's Secret Keeper."

"Black was the Secret Keeper," she countered automatically.

Albus shook his head. "The plan was changed. Peter was asked to be the Secret Keeper."

"But even if that happened, Pettigrew was murdered," Minerva said, though this time she was more hesitant. "You read the papers just as I did. Black killed him and those 12 other people. It does not make any sense."

"I thought so too," Albus sighed. "But it was brought to my attention a few nights ago that Pettigrew was not killed but rather he was the one that framed Sirius. The explosion was caused by Pettigrew when he was confronted by Sirius following Lily and James' deaths. The only reason his body was not found was because he disguised himself as a rat."

"Excuse me?" Minerva spluttered.

"James, Peter and Sirius were animagi."

Minerva's jaw almost dropped.

"A stag, a rat and a dog. Unregistered of course. That is how Sirius managed to get past the dementors. And how Peter Pettigrew managed to escape that street 12 years ago."

"Impossible," Minerva breathed.

"Unlikely, I grant you," Albus corrected, holding up his finger, "but very much possible. Do you remember those animagi books you reported missing from your office?"

Minerva was brought back to the time she had found four students in her office in the middle of the night searching through her books. A few weeks later and 3 of her books outlining animagi transformation had disappeared.

These events were etched in Minerva's mind. Not only because the night she had caught the 4 students was only a few days after her father had died, but because the books that had disappeared the subsequent week had been some of her most prized possessions at the time. As neither her mother nor her father had had a lot of money, Minerva had not been able to afford the specialised textbooks required to learn about animagi. When she had discussed this with Albus, or Professor Dumbledore at the time, he had given her three of his own books to help her. He had told her that she could keep them, seeing as he was not in need of them and would hate for them to go to waste. Minerva had treasured them after that up until they had mysteriously disappeared from her office. However, it appeared now that that mystery had been solved.

Dumbledore nodded when Minerva covered her mouth with her hand.

"Who told you this?" she asked.

"First Potter, Granger, and Weasley. I spoke to Sirius who confirmed the story."

Minerva walked back in and sat down. "This is a lot to take in, Albus," she said truthfully.

He nodded understandingly. "I know."

Minerva nodded mutely. It seemed so far-fetched yet, in some incredible way, it made sense. What was it Sherlock Holmes said, 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?' If Pettigrew had been Secret Keeper then Sirius could not have possibly passed that information to Voldemort.

Nevertheless, there was still the question of whether or not these facts were correct; after all, there was still the chance it was all a lie.

Minerva closed her eyes and rubbed her temples as she mulled things over. "This evidence is still based on the word of three 13-years olds," she said quietly. "Not that I believe they would lie," she added quickly, "especially Potter. But Poppy and Severus believed they could have been under a spell. Confunded or—or worse. Considering their ages it is possible that they were overpowered."

"I spoke to Remus who also confirmed the story," Albus said. "Minerva, there is sufficient proof. Unfortunately, it was not available at the time of Sirius' arrest."

Minerva swallowed. "So an innocent man was essentially locked up in Azkaban for 12 years?"

Albus didn't say anything, not that Minerva was really expecting an answer anyway.

"What will happen to him now?" she asked quietly.

Albus sighed. "With his unregistered animagus status, it means he can get past the Dementors without being recognised. We have agreed that he will remain in Hogsmeade for the most part."

Minerva raised an eyebrow. "Agreed? You've been in touch since he escaped the West Tower?"

Albus nodded. "To learn more about his story, and to provide shelter and food."

Minerva sat up a little straighter, her eyebrows slightly furrowed. "You haven't left the castle for weeks," she said, before closing her eyes and sighing. "Ah, Severus. I assume Severus has been privy to this information since the beginning?"

"I hope you can forgive me, my dear," he said.

Minerva shrugged, attempting to brush off the slight hurt that Severus appeared to be Albus' first port of call now. Or, rather the fact that Albus had left her in the dark for weeks. "There is nothing to forgive, Albus," she said. "I can't control who you decide to speak to first."

Albus looked sad but he didn't say anything.

"Do we know where Pettigrew is?" she asked him after a moment.

He shook his head. "With his disguise, it seems almost fruitless to even try searching for him."

"A man's freedom depends on Pettigrew's location, Albus," she reminded him. "I would not call an attempt to search for him as being fruitless," she added. "Do you have any idea where he might have gone?"

Albus hesitated before sighing. "No."

She raised an eyebrow, though did not persist. "Right. And I assume you have told me all of this for a reason?"

"Your niece, Minerva, is an Auror is she not?"

"She is," Minerva said suspiciously. "She is part of the team working on locating Sirius. You want me to ask her to manipulate evidence?" she added shrewdly.

Dumbledore shook his head quickly. "No, that would be most unfair," he said.

Minerva pursed her lips. "You want me to spy on her?"

"Not spy," Albus corrected. "Only—"

"Keep an eye out for any information to do with the investigation," Minerva finished. "Right."

They were silent for a moment, and all that could be heard was Fawkes cleaning his feathers and the ticking of the clock. Suddenly the bells rang marking four o'clock. Minerva looked at Albus for a minute before sighing and standing up.

"I have been asked to return the Time-Turner to the Ministry at ten past," she said.

"Would you like me to join you?" he asked her.

Minerva looked at him quizzically. "Do you want to?"

"One can never let an opportunity to visit the Ministry pass," he said, standing up too, with a distinct twinkle in his eyes.

He smiled as he walked to join her side, and despite the worry and uneasiness, Minerva briefly returned it.