The Past is the Future

CHAPTER 8. - MORE EXPLANATIONS

2nd of September 1975, Hospital Wing, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

I closed my eyes and took yet another deep breath. This story was about to get ugly...

"On the evening of the 31. of October 1981, the evening of Halloween, Voldemort came to the Potters' house in Godric's Hollow. James and Lily were killed, but when Voldemort tried to kill Harry, his curse rebounded. Harry was only left with a scar but Voldemort disappeared. But Lily didn't have to die, Snape begged Voldemort to spare her and he agreed. But when Voldemort told Lily to step aside so he could kill Harry, she refused and got killed. But she didn't die in vain: her love protected Harry from a certain death."

I paused for a moment, to help proccess the information. McGonagall was weeping silently and Dumbledore had his eyes closed, as if in pain.

"But the Potters used the Fidelius charm and had a secret keeper: Sirius Black."

I heard McGonagall gasp, but before she could say anything, I continued.

"But they changed secret keepers at the last minute. Sirius thought that he would be the obvious choice, seeing as he and James were best friends and as close as brothers. Even if he had been captured by Voldemort and tortured, he would have stayed loyal and not betrayed the Potters. He would rather die than betray them. So without anyones knowledge, the changed secret keepers to Peter Pettigrew. The only people that knew about the change were Lily, James, Sirius and Peter. They thought that no one would suspect him. But little did they know, Peter was actually a spy for Voldemort and had been bringing information to Voldemort for more than a year before that. So on Halloween, Sirius decided to visit Peter. Although when he got to his home, he found the place deserted and with no sign of intrusion. Terrified, Sirius quickly headed to Godric's Hollow on his flying motorcycle, where his worst fears were confirmed. He found Lily and James both dead and baby Harry barely alive. He want to keep Harry, take him and raise him as his own. For Sirius was Harry's godfather and Lily and James wanted him to take care of Harry if anything happened to them. But then Hagrid appeared and told them he had strict orders from Dumbledore to take Harry to live with his mother's family, the only living relatives he had left, the Dursleys. Harry's aunt Petunia was Lily's older muggle sister and she and her husband Vernon raised Harry alongside their own son, Dudley. Sirius reluctantly gave Harry to Hagrid and also gave him his flying motorcycle, saying he wouldn't need it anymore. And without Harry to take care of, Sirius set out to find Peter." 

"Sirius found Peter and cornered him in a muggle street. Sirius was so angry, demanding why he betrayed his best friends, and threatening to kill Peter. But before he could draw his wand, Peter screamed that Sirius betrayed Lily and James Potter and that he was their secret keeper. For once, Peter was quicker and smarter than Sirius. He quickly took out his wand and cast an explosion charm, killing everyone within twenty feet. He then cut off one of his own fingers, turned into a rat and disappeared. Thirteen muggles were killed during that explosion. And Sirius just laughed. He stood in the middle of a street with dead muggles all around him and he laughed like a mad man. Everyone thought that he had caused the explosion and that he had killed Peter and all those muggles. Then ministry officials came and arrested him. Twenty skilled aurors dragged him to Azkaban without any trial. But the Dementors didn't really work on him as he knew he was innocent. It wasn't a happy thought, more of an obsession, but it kept him from going insane. Sirius rotted in Azkaban for nearly thirteen years before he escaped in the form of a big black dog." 

After I finished talking, there was a long and uncomfortable silence. Until...

"No!" cried McGonagall. "He... He wouldn't... It's... It's not true..."