diff --git a/querier.go b/querier.go
index dd5c160fe..d64f6129a 100644
--- a/querier.go
+++ b/querier.go
@@ -34,9 +34,9 @@ type Querier interface {
 
 // Series represents a single time series.
 type Series interface {
-	Labels() Labels
+	Labels() (Labels, error)
 	// Iterator returns a new iterator of the data of the series.
-	Iterator() SeriesIterator
+	Iterator() (SeriesIterator, error)
 }
 
 // SeriesIterator iterates over the data of a time series.
diff --git a/reader.go b/reader.go
index fa0dca9b5..c4c5dd721 100644
--- a/reader.go
+++ b/reader.go
@@ -188,18 +188,112 @@ func (r *indexReader) LabelValues(names ...string) (StringTuples, error) {
 	if flag != flagStd {
 		return nil, errInvalidFlag
 	}
-	if len(b) < 1 {
+	l, n := binary.Uvarint(b)
+	if n < 1 {
 		return nil, errInvalidSize
 	}
 
 	st := &serializedStringTuples{
-		l:      int(b[0]),
-		b:      b[1:],
+		l:      int(l),
+		b:      b[n:],
 		lookup: r.lookupSymbol,
 	}
 	return st, nil
 }
 
+func (r *indexReader) Series(ref uint32) (Series, error) {
+	k, n := binary.Uvarint(r.b[ref:])
+	if n < 1 {
+		return nil, errInvalidSize
+	}
+
+	b := r.b[int(ref)+n:]
+	offsets := make([]uint32, 0, k)
+
+	for i := 0; i < int(k); i++ {
+		o, n := binary.Uvarint(b)
+		if n < 1 {
+			return nil, errInvalidSize
+		}
+		offsets = append(offsets, uint32(o))
+
+		b = b[n:]
+	}
+	// Offests must occur in pairs representing name and value.
+	if len(offsets)&1 != 0 {
+		return nil, errInvalidSize
+	}
+
+	// TODO(fabxc): Fully materialize series for now. Figure out later if it
+	// makes sense to decode those lazily.
+	// The references are expected to be sorted and match the order of
+	// the underlying strings.
+	labels := make(Labels, 0, k)
+
+	for i := 0; i < int(k); i += 2 {
+		n, err := r.lookupSymbol(offsets[i])
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		v, err := r.lookupSymbol(offsets[i+1])
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		labels = append(labels, Label{
+			Name:  string(n),
+			Value: string(v),
+		})
+	}
+
+	// Read the chunk offsets.
+	k, n = binary.Uvarint(r.b[ref:])
+	if n < 1 {
+		return nil, errInvalidSize
+	}
+
+	b = b[n:]
+	coffsets := make([]ChunkOffset, 0, k)
+
+	for i := 0; i < int(k); i++ {
+		v, n := binary.Varint(b)
+		if n < 1 {
+			return nil, errInvalidSize
+		}
+		b = b[n:]
+
+		o, n := binary.Uvarint(b)
+		if n < 1 {
+			return nil, errInvalidSize
+		}
+		b = b[n:]
+
+		coffsets = append(coffsets, ChunkOffset{
+			Offset: uint32(o),
+			Value:  v,
+		})
+	}
+
+	s := &series{
+		labels:  labels,
+		offsets: coffsets,
+	}
+	return s, nil
+}
+
+type series struct {
+	labels  Labels
+	offsets []ChunkOffset
+}
+
+func (s *series) Labels() (Labels, error) {
+	return s.labels, nil
+}
+
+func (s *series) Iterator() (SeriesIterator, error) {
+	// dereference skiplist and construct from chunk iterators.
+	return nil, nil
+}
+
 type stringTuples struct {
 	l int      // tuple length
 	s []string // flattened tuple entries
diff --git a/writer.go b/writer.go
index 470746c4c..6bba27a50 100644
--- a/writer.go
+++ b/writer.go
@@ -295,18 +295,31 @@ func (w *indexWriter) writeSymbols() error {
 
 func (w *indexWriter) writeSeries() error {
 	b := make([]byte, 0, 4096)
-	buf := [binary.MaxVarintLen32]byte{}
+	buf := make([]byte, binary.MaxVarintLen64)
 
 	for _, s := range w.series {
+		// Write label set symbol references.
 		s.offset = uint32(w.n) + uint32(len(b))
 
-		n := binary.PutUvarint(buf[:], uint64(len(s.labels)))
+		n := binary.PutUvarint(buf, uint64(len(s.labels)))
 		b = append(b, buf[:n]...)
 
 		for _, l := range s.labels {
-			n = binary.PutUvarint(buf[:], uint64(w.symbols[l.Name]))
+			n = binary.PutUvarint(buf, uint64(w.symbols[l.Name]))
 			b = append(b, buf[:n]...)
-			n = binary.PutUvarint(buf[:], uint64(w.symbols[l.Value]))
+			n = binary.PutUvarint(buf, uint64(w.symbols[l.Value]))
+			b = append(b, buf[:n]...)
+		}
+
+		// Write skiplist to chunk offsets.
+		n = binary.PutUvarint(buf, uint64(len(s.chunks)))
+		b = append(b, buf[:n]...)
+
+		for _, c := range s.chunks {
+			n = binary.PutVarint(buf, c.Value)
+			b = append(b, buf[:n]...)
+
+			n = binary.PutUvarint(buf, uint64(c.Offset))
 			b = append(b, buf[:n]...)
 		}
 	}
@@ -330,14 +343,16 @@ func (w *indexWriter) WriteLabelIndex(names []string, values []string) error {
 		offset: uint32(w.n),
 	})
 
-	l := 1 + uint32(len(values)*4)
+	buf := make([]byte, binary.MaxVarintLen32)
+	n := binary.PutUvarint(buf, uint64(len(names)))
+
+	l := uint32(n) + uint32(len(values)*4)
 
 	return w.section(l, flagStd, func(wr io.Writer) error {
 		// First byte indicates tuple size for index.
-		if err := w.write(wr, []byte{byte(len(names))}); err != nil {
+		if err := w.write(wr, buf[:n]); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		buf := make([]byte, 4)
 
 		for _, v := range valt.s {
 			binary.BigEndian.PutUint32(buf, w.symbols[v])