"Obliviate!"
White light flickered, and Peter Pettigrew suddenly awoke. Looking at his surroundings, he immediately recalled that he had just been fleeing from Sirius Black's pursuit. He had escaped to the Forbidden Forest and accidentally fallen into this pit, where he had been unconscious for a while. Fortunately, Sirius Black hadn't caught up yet, or it would have been real trouble.
Thinking this, Peter Pettigrew continued fleeing forward. Suddenly he saw Lupin standing ahead. He immediately thought he could use Lupin to block Sirius and quickly rushed over.
But just then, Lupin suddenly turned to look at him...
"Obliviate!"
White light swept past, and Peter Pettigrew awoke. Looking at his surroundings, this was a pit. He vaguely felt this pit was somewhat familiar, but he couldn't worry about that now. Sirius would catch up soon, and he had to escape quickly.
Leaving the pit, Peter Pettigrew hadn't run far when he suddenly saw Lupin standing ahead...
"Obliviate!"
White light flickered, and Peter Pettigrew awoke...
Time after time, Peter Pettigrew woke from unconsciousness, experiencing again and again the fears from deep within his heart, ultimately being defeated by Sean, having his joy and happiness drained away, drowning in painful memories.
Peter Pettigrew didn't know how many times he had experienced this. Each time he felt it was the first, and though many places had a sense of déjà vu, amid the intense fear, illusions, and Sean's attacks, Peter Pettigrew had no time to think about these things. He could only experience them again and again, despair again and again, and have his memories wiped by Sean again and again to start over.
Like the endless hell of continuous painful reincarnation, never awakening, forever sinking.
Once again, Peter Pettigrew collapsed before Sean. He stared blankly, feeling what little joy and happiness remained being drawn away by Sean, yet inexplicably couldn't summon any strength to resist.
Sean looked at the intermittent threads that seemed ready to break at any moment, knowing his continuous use of Pain Absorption had completely drained Peter Pettigrew. If he continued, he could only absorb Peter Pettigrew's soul. Sean felt this wasn't good. One should understand sustainable development. It was time to return him and let him recover, then find another time to continue.
If he continued, Sean felt that Peter Pettigrew, whose joyful and happy memories had been completely absorbed, would probably choose to calmly face death.
Gently raising his wand, he ceased using Pain Absorption.
Sean habitually checked his panel. When he saw the content on the panel, his previously expressionless face finally showed a hint of a smile.
[Duel Won!]
[Conditions Met: Victory Against Magical Opponent.]
[System Commencing Random Ability Extraction from Defeated Target: Peter Pettigrew.]
[Opponent Strength Assessment: Above Average. Drawing Two Abilities.]
[Extracting...]
Sean felt a strange dual sensation—first, a gentle flow of water magic trickling through his consciousness, followed by a profound shift in his very essence, as if his body suddenly remembered it could take on entirely different forms.
[Extraction Complete!]
[New Spell Acquired: Aguamenti LV3]
[New Ability Acquired: Animagus LV3]
Finally got it. Animagus!
Animagus, in terms of Transfiguration difficulty and technique, belonged to the fourth stage of Transfiguration. But this didn't mean that anyone who learned Animagus necessarily had fourth-stage Transfiguration mastery.
In fact, when Peter Pettigrew and his group of four originally learned Animagus, they used magical rituals for assistance. The four of them did indeed have certain Transfiguration skills before learning their respective Animagus forms.
Even so, Peter Pettigrew, whose luck and ability weren't great, nearly failed even with the magical ritual's assistance and was almost killed when incompletely transformed body parts threatened to burst his rat form. Thanks to the other three's help, he survived. This made Peter Pettigrew's betrayal all the more despicable.
If Professor McGonagall's learning of Animagus was a natural progression, then Peter Pettigrew and the others were taking desperate risks. They were just very lucky.
Originally, Peter Pettigrew wasn't particularly skilled with Animagus, but after twelve years of continuous transformation, maintaining Animagus form for twelve years had elevated Peter Pettigrew's shallow Animagus mastery to the third level.
Sean felt the acquired Animagus transformation but didn't rush to transform immediately. Instead, he waved his wand and erased all of Peter Pettigrew's memories. He could certainly kill Peter Pettigrew outright, but Harry, his friend, obviously had more right to kill Peter Pettigrew.
Gently waving his wand, Peter Pettigrew was placed by Sean into an ordinary bag he carried. Then he used the Disillusionment Charm again and returned to Hogwarts from the Forbidden Forest's edge.
Near Gryffindor Tower, Sean found a corner and dumped the memory-wiped Peter Pettigrew there. After confirming Peter Pettigrew wasn't dead, he turned and left. Having just obtained Animagus transformation, Sean was already somewhat impatient.
He quickly returned to the common room, declining Blaise's invitation to play wizard chess, Andy's invitation to chat, and Jansen's invitation to unwrap gifts, and went straight to his room.
At this moment, Kulkan emerged from Sean's sleeve, looking at Sean with a strange expression: "Sean, you repeatedly tortured that rat earlier. You're not just a pervert, are you?"
"I'm certainly not a pervert."
"Don't miss the point. I'm asking why you repeatedly tortured that rat!"
"Mm, thank you for today."
"Sean!!!"
"Alright, alright, I'll tell you."
Turning to look at Kulkan, Sean realized their relationship had reached the point where there were no distinctions between them. Regarding the panel, Sean could modify it into an explanation that would be easier for Kulkan to accept.
After brief consideration, Sean said to Kulkan: "Actually, I've always had a magic that allows me to extract abilities from someone's memory after defeating them. These abilities can be magic or talents, and they're converted to suit me and grant me corresponding abilities. Do you understand?"
"?" Kulkan looked at Sean with complete bewilderment. She hesitated: "You're not lying to me?"
"Of course not."
"Then, what did you get from that rat this time?"
"Animagus."
"That works too?"
"Want to see?"
"What animal is your Animagus?"
"Look and you'll know, right?"
As his words fell, Sean's body suddenly began to swell, along with his clothes. His continuously expanding body rapidly twisted and stretched. Under Kulkan's surprised and helpless gaze, Sean's swelling body directly pressed against Kulkan, pinning her against the wall.
"What the hell!" said Kulkan, pressed against the wall.