Perhaps sensing some emotion hidden beneath Dumbledore's calm words, Hermione didn't continue commenting on that matter. Instead, she waved her wand at the ground.
Eight small spherical objects flew up from the floor—brown pellets for Transfiguration spells generated by Hermione's left-hand device.
These were backup measures Hermione had secretly left after binding Peter Pettigrew with the Incarcerous spell, in case he tried to escape by transforming into his Animagus form. But she hadn't expected Glenn to arrive so quickly, violently break through the window, and knock the villain unconscious, making her backup plan unnecessary.
Better clean up. It was so dark—what if Professor Dumbledore accidentally stepped on one?
Hermione thought amusedly, then destroyed the eight brown pellets.
Glenn noticed Hermione's actions but didn't react much. He chose to cast a Stunning Spell on Peter Pettigrew, who was already unconscious from brain trauma, then used alchemy to fuse the shattered glass and rubble on the ground into a special fiber restraint suit with no openings, leaving only a fine mesh face mask for air circulation. He covered and bound Peter Pettigrew with it to prevent escape.
The form-fitting restraint suit was fitted onto Peter Pettigrew through alchemy. Hermione quietly looked away, planning to wash her eyes afterward.
It was truly eye-searing. Completely unacceptable.
With defensive measures somewhat complete, Glenn covered his earpiece with his left hand, injected magic to adjust the communication channel, and connected to Snape's earpiece.
"Professor Dumbledore saw Peter Pettigrew."
To notify Snape of the entire situation's outcome as quickly as possible, Glenn chose the most straightforward approach.
Straight to the bombshell. On the other side of the communication channel, Snape remained silent for a long time.
Glenn present + Dumbledore seeing Peter Pettigrew = Peter Pettigrew under control.
Very good, very concise, but I don't like it.
"Crackle."
"I've notified Professor Snape about what happened here. I'll leave the rest to you two."
Static came through the earpiece as Snape directly turned off his device, ending the call. Glenn removed his earpiece and looked toward Dumbledore.
"Professor Dumbledore, if what happened back then was truly a misjudgment, can Sirius Black's charges be dropped and compensation provided?"
"After all... no matter how you look at it, Sirius suffered twelve years of injustice because he was framed, enduring so much abuse from people."
Hermione looked up at Dumbledore. Since Peter Pettigrew had been captured and the past couldn't be changed, they should at least lift the burden hanging over Sirius—otherwise he was too pitiful.
"Naturally. If there are no errors in this matter, I'll do my best to secure that for Sirius."
Dumbledore nodded, giving Hermione a definitive answer.
Getting the response she wanted to hear from Dumbledore, Hermione blinked and felt relieved. She then smoothed her hair, which had become messy from her earlier battle with Peter Pettigrew, and patted the dust from her clothes, feeling somewhat dejected.
"I worked up a sweat, and now I'm all dirty. I'll have to take another bath before sleeping... Hmph! It's all that villain's fault. Now I'm almost... yawn—almost dead tired..."
Speaking of sleep, Hermione's drowsiness—which she'd repeatedly suppressed through excitement and potions—surged back with doubled intensity. Who knew how many times this had happened tonight? The girl said this resentfully.
"Well then, Professor Dumbledore, Hermione and I will take our leave."
Seeing this, Glenn didn't plan to continue staying here with Hermione and immediately bid farewell to Dumbledore.
"Very well, go rest. You've both worked hard today. Without your help, we probably wouldn't have discovered the truth from back then so quickly or captured the real culprit who'd been on the run for twelve years."
Glenn naturally wasn't one for pleasantries. After informing Dumbledore and getting his response, he turned and pulled Hermione along. The girl was more polite—she turned to wave at Dumbledore, said "Good night, Professor," then called to Crookshanks, who was vigorously shaking dust from his fur, and left with Glenn.
Glenn and Hermione walked side by side through the ruined corridor. The girl held the dusty Crookshanks with one hand, using her wand to cast Scouring Charms on him, initially cleaning the dust from the cat's fur to make him more comfortable.
"You're our great hero too. If you hadn't noticed something strange about Ron's rat, we probably would've been fooled by that villain for who knows how long."
"I scolded you before for not bullying other people's pets—I'm really sorry... Though you really shouldn't bully other people's pets, if Crookshanks discovers strange things like this time in the future, I'll definitely observe carefully before judging."
"Of course, Glenn will do the same, right Glenn?"
Rubbing Crookshanks' head, the girl lifted the cat up, holding him in front of her and smiling at his persimmon-shaped face, then held him up to Glenn.
"Right."
Glenn nodded in response and took out specially customized nutritious treats for Crookshanks from his black ring, extending them toward the cat as both apology and reward.
Crookshanks was indeed a smart cat—Glenn had always thought so.
Crookshanks meowed disdainfully and turned his head away, then extended a paw to swipe the treats from Glenn's palm, stuffing them in his mouth and chewing.
Well, considering how delicious the treats are and how sincerely servants number one and two apologized, this cat will magnanimously forgive them.
The two discussed each other's experiences. When Hermione learned from Glenn more detailed information about what he and Snape had faced with Sirius Black at the Shrieking Shack, her mouth couldn't help twitching several times.
Though she already knew Professor Snape had a personal grudge against Sirius and would inevitably be ruthless during the arrest, hearing about the professor's actions toward Sirius still made Hermione feel she was too kind-hearted.
"It's fine. Sirius Black won't know anything afterward. Snape cast Stunning Spells and Memory Charms on him after using Veritaserum to force him to tell the truth. He won't face too much trouble for illegally using Veritaserum."
"Should I praise Professor Snape for being thorough and decisive, or call him a devil..."
"Doesn't matter. He's on our side."
"True enough."
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