What If Sirius Never Went to Azkaban?

The timeline where everything becomes SIRIUS-ly brighter

If you look back at the Harry Potter story, there are a few moments that feel like the universe took a wrong turn. Sirius Black being dragged to Azkaban without a trial is one of them. It is the kind of moment that doesn’t just ruin one man’s life, but quietly reshapes an entire generation.
So let’s imagine the version of the story where this never happens.
Let’s follow the timeline in which Sirius stays free, Peter fails to frame him, and Harry grows up with the family he was always meant to have.

It begins on that terrible Halloween night. In the original timeline, Peter creates chaos in the street, transforms into a rat, and disappears underground, leaving Sirius standing beside a crater he didn’t create.

But in this alternate version, Peter never gets that chance. Maybe Sirius corners him earlier. Maybe someone notices something off. Maybe Peter panics a second too soon. Whatever the cause, the explosion never happens. The street remains intact. No Muggles die. And because no crime scene is created, the Ministry has nothing to use against Sirius.

Peter escapes in rat form, frightened and directionless, but this time, he leaves no evidence behind. Sirius is not a wanted man. He is simply a grieving godfather holding a baby who has just lost his parents. And suddenly, the Wizarding World becomes a very different place.

Harry does not grow up in Privet Drive. He does not sleep in a cupboard or get bullied by Dudley. He does not grow up believing he is a burden or an inconvenience. Instead, he goes home with Sirius. The house might be messy, the kitchen might be full of burnt toast, and the furniture might occasionally catch fire from poorly practiced spells, but it is a home. It is a place where Harry hears stories about James and Lily from someone who actually loved them. It is a place where laughter replaces silence and where Remus drops by often enough that Harry grows up thinking of him as part of the family.

Harry knew about the Wizarding World long before he received his Hogwarts letter. He grows up seeing broomsticks leaning against doors and photos that move. He knows what Quidditch is. He knows what Gryffindor means. And most importantly, he knows he is loved.
So when he finally enters Hogwarts, he is excited instead of overwhelmed. He makes friends easily, because he isn’t defensive or insecure. Ron still becomes his best friend. Hermione still becomes part of their trio. But Harry isn’t searching for a family through them, because he already has one waiting for him back home.

Whenever something unusual happens at school, Harry doesn’t carry the burden alone. He writes to Sirius. He talks to Remus. And Sirius, being Sirius, probably shows up at Hogwarts the next morning and insists on having “a very friendly but extremely serious conversation” with Dumbledore about why there are trolls in the corridors or why his godson almost fell off a broom while being attacked by a teacher’s spell.
This alone changes everything. Harry doesn’t bottle things up. He doesn’t wander into danger because he feels like he has no one to turn to. He has guidance. He has support. And he has someone who checks on him, not someone who expects him to figure everything out by himself.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Wizarding World is shifting too. Sirius becomes an important part of the Order of the Phoenix from the very beginning. He is not a fugitive hiding in shadows. He is a respected war survivor. He works side by side with Dumbledore, Moody, Remus, and Kingsley without restrictions. And Remus never drifts into isolation, because he doesn’t feel the guilt of leaving Sirius alone.

Peter is still out there somewhere, but he is terrified and alone. Without the protection of his identity as Scabbers or the plan to resurrect Voldemort, he has no direction. Voldemort’s return is delayed, if it happens at all. One small shift in the timeline has taken away Voldemort’s most loyal servant and the person who is most responsible for bringing him back.

Years pass. The world remains relatively peaceful. Harry grows up, learns magic, plays Quidditch, survives his Hogwarts adventures with far fewer scars than in the original story, and always has Sirius waiting for him at the end of the year with a grin and a hug that seems to restart Harry’s entire world.
And then something even more important happens: Sirius lives.

That moment in the Department of Mysteries, the one that broke the hearts of half the fandom, never happens in this timeline. Sirius never becomes a fugitive. He never hides inside Grimmauld Place. He never steps into a battle distracted by restrictions and fear. He does not fall through the veil, because he isn’t fighting from the shadows. In this version, Sirius is alive, standing with Harry through every stage of his life.

Eventually, Voldemort might find another way back, because evil has a habit of crawling through cracks. But even if he does, he rises into a world that is ready for him. The Ministry does not deny it. The Order does not scatter. And Harry is not an angry, grieving teenager rushing into danger trying to fill the holes left in his life. He is steadier, clearer, calmer, and far better trained.

He fights Voldemort not as a frightened boy trying to survive tragedy after tragedy but as a young wizard who spent his childhood surrounded by the people who loved him most. And beside him stands Sirius, alive, fierce, and loyal, ready to fight the last battle that destiny once tried to steal from him.

So what does this alternate timeline give us?
It gives us a Harry who grows up whole.
A Wizarding World that stays united.
An Order that never loses its brightest heart.
And a Sirius Black who gets to be exactly what he always wanted to be: Harry’s family.

This is one of the happiest alternate universes the Harry Potter story can create, because it finally rewrites the one injustice that changed everything.

Stay tuned for more.