Sirius Black

Sirius Black is a convicted murderer and accused Death Eater. His first appearance in *Slytherin's Legacy* was in Toujours Pur, the opening chapter of *A Rat in the Dark*.

#### The Accusations

In late 1981 or early 1982, Sirius Black was convicted without trial of murdering Peter Pettigrew and twelve muggle bystanders. He is believed to have been a Death Eater working under the orders of Lord Voldemort and serving as a double-agent within the Order of the Phoenix. As James Potter's childhood best friend, Sirius is believed to have been made James and Lily Potter's Secret Keeper, which allowed him to betray their location to Lord Voldemort and facilitate their murders on Halloween 1981. Had Rubeus Hagrid not arrived at the crime scene to collected the lone survivor, Harry Potter, it is widely believed that Sirius would have murdered the infant after Lord Voldemort's attempt to do so failed.

Sirius Black served over a decade of his life sentence in Azkaban from the years 1982 to 1993. His mysterious escape from Azkaban on 5 August, 1993 remains the only successful breakout from the prison, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

#### The Truth

As James Potter's childhood best friend, Sirius Black was the prime candidate to become James and Lily's Secret Keeper went their home went under the Fidelius Charm in 1980 or 1981. However, after deciding that Sirius was too obvious a candidate for this task, the Potters and Black came to the decision to use Peter Pettigrew as Secret Keeper instead. They did not share this information with anyone beyond the four of them, neglecting to inform Albus Dumbledore, Remus Lupin, or anyone else of the change. Sometime later, Peter betrayed the Potters and the Order of the Phoenix, possibly under the implicit or explicit threat of torture or murder if he refused, and he agreed to provide the location of the Potters to Lord Voldemort.

On Halloween 1981, Lord Voldemort went to James, Lily, and Harry Potter's home in Godric's Hallow to murder Harry. He killed James and Lily, but after his failed attempt on Harry's life, he disappeared. When Sirius Black arrived at the crime scene, he gave his flying motorcycle to Rubeus Hagrid, who had been instructed to take Harry to Albus Dumbledore. Sirius himself still did not inform anyone of the Secret Keeper switch, and so when he went after Peter Pettigrew to get revenge for his betrayal, no one besides Sirius or Peter knew that Peter was the culprit and Sirius the lone surviving witness. During the confrontation between Sirius and Pettigrew, Peter pretended that no such switch had occurred, and then he caused an explosion and severed one of his own fingers in order to fake his death. Twelve innocent muggle bystanders were caught in the blast, resulting in their deaths, and Peter disappeared with the help of his unregistered animagus form as a common rat.

With Peter supposedly dead and Black suffering a mental breakdown over what had happened, the Ministry quickly moved forward with prosecuting Sirius for the deaths of Peter and the twelve muggles. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban without trial, and he spent more than a decade imprisoned there before discovering by complete coincidence where he would be able to find Peter Pettigrew. Upon this discovery, he made an unprecedented escape from the prison with the help of his own unregistered animagus form as a dog.

Now hunting Peter Pettigrew for revenge once again, Sirius Black remains at large.