The jailor bringing Sirius his daily meal whistled as he entered his jail.

"Black! You got fan mail! Very moving and inspirational. Coincidentally, the Daily Prophet headline was also exciting. So I will leave them to you and hope you take the hint." The Auror said cruelly before throwing him his bowl, the newspaper, and the letter before turning around and slamming the cat flap shut.

Sirius Black only had fourteen minutes of human times left before the Aurors were gone and the dementors were back, forcing him to shift into Padfoot to protect his sanity. And his dog eyes were not suited to read, so he grabbed the Daily Prophet first and started reading.

⌜GRINDELWALD'S DEATH!⌟ said the headline.

⌜Yesterday evening, at 7:03 PM, unconscious Gellert Grindelwald, the most infamous dark wizard of the century, was found in his cell at Nurmengard. A mediwizard confirmed his death ninety-three minutes later, at 8:36 PM.

An early autopsy revealed that the cause of death was probably suicide by accidental magic, an impressive feat knowing that a one-of-a-kind anti-magic field surrounded the dark wizard prison to prevent any jailbreak attempt from Grindelwald sympathizers or the man himself.

According to his jailors' testimonies, Gellert Grindelwald showed signs of mental and physical decline, including loss of appetite, dissociative disorder, and bouts of dementia. Yet, even on his death bed, the man remained the number one threat to wizardkind for his sheer magical power and uncompromising nature, which he demonstrated even in his last moment.

Gellert Grindelwald will be buried on Nurmengard ground. The German Minister of Magic has already made a statement about turning the former prison into a memorial and museum dedicated to Grindelwald's atrocities and his threat to the status of secrecy, so the young generation would not forget.

Gellert Grindelwald's biography on page 8.

Nurmengard's prison and its memorial project on page 12. ⌟

So that's what the jailor meant by taking the hints. Sirius shrugged it off. Though he felt responsible for James and Lily's death, he never once considered committing suicide as he knew that despite being wrongly accused of Peter's murder, Wormtails was very much alive.

The rat should be somewhere, hiding, bidding his time, and so was Sirius. But, no matter how much a coward he was, Peter could not hide forever, and the day he found a clue of his whereabouts would be the time he would escape this hellhole and go on the hunt.

In the meanwhile, he was atoning for his sins. For doubting Remus cause he was a werewolf. For shying from his duty and convincing Lily and James to change the secret keeper cause he was too obvious. For failing to avenge the death of his friends and failing the godson that he left behind.

He might be the only one this deep into Azkaban not to be a Deatheater, but he did not change the fact that his stupidity and foolhardiness served Voldemort's purpose just as good as if he had been the one to betray the Potters. If there was a lesson he was supposed to learn from that tragic night, he felt he had yet to learn from it.

Sirius then read the hate mail that the jailor had so thoughtfully left for him. So little did the jailor know, but he read every single one. How else would he know that people thought he was Voldemort's right-hand man or that he was suspected to be behind half of the unsolved cases from the war?

⌜Serious Black,

You murdered my parents, and for that, I ate you. I wish you to die, shocking on Wormtails, like the rabid dog you are and feed the ratlings of Azkapan. ⌟

Drawings accompanied the short letter. One was a giant rat with a missing finger chewing on his skull with a strange house in the background. One was of a black dog watching his dead body hanging on a distorted tree, reminding him of Whomping Willow. The last one was a Manneken Pis with round glasses and a lightning bolt scar on his forehead, peeing on his corpse. But what was surprising was that all the bodies that were supposed to be him had red hair.

Sirius immediately knew something was off with this letter. It was not just some hate mail from a kid with awful spelling and drawings. Instead, this letter had a meaning that only he could understand.

Wormtail. The Rat. The Black Dog. The Whomping Willow. Those were things that meant something that would not make sense for his jailors but make all too much sense for him.

He read a second time and paid attention to the details. The calligraphy was terrible, as expected from a young kid. But only some letters had been crossed and repeatedly rewrote as if one purpose.

And when put together, those miswritten letters formed an entirely different message:

RAT WEASLEY HELP

Someone knew about the marauders' secret. They knew he was innocent and where to find wormtails. Could it be Remus Lupin after all those years? It was the only thing that made sense, yet it was impossible.

Remus never knew they changed the secret keeper and had no reason to doubt that Sirius brutally murdered Peter. He probably even expected him to be next if Sirius escaped Azkaban.

It could also be a trap from Peter Pettigrew but to what purpose? He was already at Azkaban, sentenced to life, though he never had a trial. As he was right now, his death would only benefit Narcissa Malfoy. And he could not think of any other reason someone would want him to go after Peter, except if the letter was genuine.

Someone knew everything and needed his help after all those years. To be precise, five years, nine months, and a handful of days. In the end, it did not matter if it was a trap. Sirius had been waiting all that time for that exact opportunity. So there was no snowball chance in hell he would not take it.