Sirius and jail

[Annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 167398

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "cubfanbudwoman" 
<susiequsie23 at ...> wrote:
>
> Marion:
> > So they meet, they sling hexes and curses at eachother, enough to 
> > blow up the street and kill thirteen Muggles. Peter does his chop-
> > the-finger disappearing act and when the smoke clears, the street 
> > is littered with dead and dying Muggles and Peter's bloody robes 
> > plus finger. And then the Aurors turn up.
> > Of course Sirius didn't defend himself, Sirius thought he had 
> > killed Peter and several Muggles. 
> 
<snip>
 
> SSSusan:
> I know that you said you *think* this, but I just don't see where 
we 
> have canon for it.<snip>
> 
> Fudge says, "...and I was one of the first on the scene after Black 
> murdered all those people.  ...A crater in the middle of the 
street, 
> so deep it had cracked the sewere below.  Bodies everywhere.  
> Muggles screaming." [PoA, US hardback, p. 208]
> 
> SSSusan again:
> To me, reference to *a* crater (singular) certainly indicates one 
> big, powerful spell.
> 
> Also, unless you feel that we cannot trust Sirius' account for some 
> reason, we have his own words:
> 
> "When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that 
> I'd betrayed Lily and James.  Then, before I could curse him, he 
> blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed 
everyone 
> within twenty feet of himself -- and sped down into the sewer with 
> the other rats...." [ibid, p. 363]
<snip>

Annemehr:
There are also these word of Sirius's [PoA ch. 19, p. 371 US]:

"I think the only reason I never lost my mind [in Azkaban] is that I 
knew I was innocent. [...]"

And further down the same page:
"But then I saw Peter in that picture...I realized he was at Hogwarts 
with Harry...perfectly positioned to act, if one hint reached his 
ears that the Dark Siode was gathering strength again...."

Sirius always knew he hadn't killed Peter.  As SSSusan says, he left 
Azkaban when he found out where Peter *was*, not that he was still 
alive, which he knew all along.

Annemehr