There weren't many people in the school who knew Sirius was innocent. At first, only five people knew: Dumbledore, Lupin, and Eda along with the twins.
Later, in order to report Eda's misbehavior, Dumbledore also told Professor McGonagall about it. So six people came to know the truth—but strangely, Dumbledore never told Snape.
All along, Dumbledore had trusted Snape deeply, yet he didn't tell him about this matter. Combined with how strangely he treated Harry, this left Eda very puzzled.
Snape had entered Hogwarts at the same time as Harry's parents. He had been classmates with the four Marauders, and Eda guessed that something significant must have happened between them.
That was why Snape treated Harry differently; and that was why Dumbledore, who usually trusted Snape, chose to keep Sirius's situation from him.
Snape following Lupin to the Whomping Willow made Eda uneasy, so she had the twins go notify Dumbledore, while she went ahead alone to check things out.
Once again, events unfolded just as Eda had unfortunately predicted. Although she still didn't know what had happened between Snape and the four Marauders, judging from Snape's loss of reason and his overwhelming desire for revenge, it definitely wasn't something trivial.
This was why the Twilight Shack ended up receiving so many "guests" in batches tonight. The word "coincidentally" ran through everything that happened tonight.
Coincidentally, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went to visit Hagrid; coincidentally, Hermione knocked over the jar and discovered the hidden Peter; coincidentally, Sirius and Lupin discovered Peter one after another; coincidentally, tonight was the full moon, and Snape went to deliver potion to Lupin; coincidentally, Eda and the twins had free time today and planned to test their new map.
All coincidences.. perhaps this was fate's guidance. If any link had been missing, especially Snape, things might have gone wrong.
Inside the Twilight Shack, Dumbledore's joking words left Sirius and Lupin somewhat ashamed. They had indeed acted impulsively today—especially Lupin, who had had the time to notify Dumbledore.
But Lupin was also a Gryffindor, and sometimes that meant acting without enough forethought.
Dumbledore, however, had no intention of blaming them. Looking at it from their perspective, Sirius and Lupin's impulsiveness was understandable. Fortunately, their actions hadn't led to any irreparable consequences.
Dumbledore also asked about the bound Snape, and Eda offered a brief explanation. What puzzled her was that Snape's irrational behavior seemed to be something Dumbledore had anticipated.
The headmaster neither criticized the Potions professor nor tried to console Snape, who was consumed by hatred. He simply removed the restraints binding him. Snape showed no reaction, remaining seated where he was, motionless and silent.
Including Dumbledore, the room was full of Gryffindors, with only Snape as a lone Slytherin. For some reason, it felt a little pitiful. But before Eda could feel sorry for him for even three seconds, Ron made her want to cry from sheer stupidity.
The moment Ron saw Dumbledore, it was as if he had seen a just and upright official—he was practically on the verge of hugging Dumbledore's leg and crying out for justice.
Ron held the rat up in front of Dumbledore and said pitifully, "Professor, they must be lying, right? Scabbers is just a rat. H-how could he possibly be Peter Pettigrew?"
Leaning against the wall and sitting on the floor, Eda and the twins covered their faces at the same time. My foolish little brother!
"I'm very sorry, my child, but what they said is true," Dumbledore said. "Some things are indeed hard to believe, but we must learn to accept them bravely. For you, this is also a very rare opportunity for growth."
Rare—this was truly rare. There were only seven registered Animagi in the Ministry of Magic. Anyone capable of becoming an Animagus—aside from that one exception—what wizard would willingly go and be someone's pet?
Dejection, sadness, perhaps even "Mom, am I going crazy?"—in short, Ron's expression was extremely complicated, like a full pie chart.
Dumbledore took the rat from Ron's hands and held it up in front of him, examining it carefully for a moment. Unexpectedly, instead of forcing the rat to reveal its true form, he handed it over to Lupin.
"I believe you've been waiting twelve years for this opportunity," Dumbledore said. "So you should do it yourselves."
Ever since entering the Twilight Shack, the rat that Peter had transformed into had been trembling nonstop. But as more people filled the room, it gradually grew quieter.
Snape's appearance—and his frenzied behavior—had given Peter a sliver of hope for survival. But that tiny spark was quickly extinguished by Eda, and Dumbledore's arrival pushed him into complete despair.
Now, with his only hope gone, Peter resigned himself to his fate and stopped struggling. He allowed himself to be passed around without any intention of escaping.
In front of Dumbledore, escape was nothing but a joke—there was no point even thinking about it.
Sirius picked up Snape's wand, which had fallen to the ground earlier, and asked softly, "Shall we?"
"I think so," Lupin replied, gripping the rat tightly in one hand while raising his wand with the other. "On three. One… two… three!"
Two wands emitted blue light at the same time. In an instant, the rat froze midair, its small gray body twisting uncontrollably. It fell to the ground, followed by a dazzling flash, and then—
Like a time-lapse of a tree growing, a head emerged, then limbs. Moments later, a man stood where the rat had been, cowering, wringing his hands.
Crookshanks roared from the sofa, hissing and spitting, the fur along its back standing on end. Garlon also barked loudly in imitation, adopting a forward-charging posture, though even without anyone holding him back, he didn't actually rush forward.
But the cries of the cat and dog drew little attention, because both were drowned out by Ron's voice. His scream made Eda think he might have been hit by the Cruciatus Curse—it was that miserable!
Seeing the man who had suddenly appeared in the room—and realizing that this man had been his pet—Ron was utterly shocked, enough to last him a hundred years!
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