In the afternoon, Sirius was initially recovering, of course, as in recovering.
If you ignored the splint on his neck.
"So, we still haven't found that bastard who framed Harry?" Sirius asked, carefully sipping a cup of tea.
"One could say that," Kayson replied faintly.
"Then what do we do? I mean, what about Harry?"
"There aren't any very good plans right now. There's only one: adding a Polyjuice Potion antidote to the dining hall to see if anyone at Hogwarts got in using Polyjuice Potion. The other few are wand detection, which doesn't feel very effective since he's already a Dark Wizard Death Eater, so he definitely has more than one wand."
"And then there's Imperio detection, which is also very difficult. Severus told me that Imperio can make people perform the required actions in two ways: one is to plant thoughts in the mind of the controlled person, and the other is to directly manipulate the body."
"The former can be investigated with Legilimency, but the latter is impossible," Kayson said helplessly.
"What about Nios? Why don't we just tie him up and directly give him Veritaserum?" Sirius went straight to the prime suspect, saying fiercely.
"You're a bit too extreme, truly," Kayson muttered faintly.
"But it's efficient, isn't it?" Sirius retorted.
"Perhaps... Tonight, I'll go to Severus to get some Veritaserum, and you go to St. Mungo's to find a man named Lockhart and bring him back." Kayson's eyes darted around, and he felt this could be considered the best plan.
And with a memory master like Lockhart, they could even have Nios return to his tent as if nothing happened after drinking the Veritaserum without issues.
"I remember Lupin is still working for him, right?" Sirius suddenly said.
"Perfect. Then we'll have Lupin trick Nios out."
Kayson's movements were so fast that Snape hadn't even finished the lunch a House-elf had brought him, even though it was already afternoon.
"Is there something?" he asked.
"I want to ask you for some Veritaserum. It's for a purpose."
"The only clear bottle on the second-to-last shelf behind me."
"Okay, thank you."
"Mm-hmm, what for? Never mind, you don't need to answer."
"Hehe," Kayson chuckled once and quietly exited his office.
When he returned to his office, Sirius hadn't come back yet, so he had to go to the Forbidden Forest again to tell Lupin the plan.
The latter quickly agreed, and now they just had to wait for Lockhart to be brought back and for nightfall.
In the evening, Kayson looked at Lockhart, whom he hadn't seen in a long time...
"Are you nearsighted?" he asked, puzzled.
"Uh..." Lockhart said somewhat awkwardly, "These are the glasses you made for me back when we were defending against the Basilisk. I haven't been able to take them off."
Kayson slapped himself on the forehead.
"You couldn't take them off and didn't tell me?" He somewhat helplessly pulled out a small grinding wheel and rubbed it on the glasses.
"Now you can."
Lockhart tentatively took off his glasses... they came off.
"Phew... I don't even know how long it's been since I washed my face... What's our plan?" Lockhart said with relief.
"You don't need to worry about anything. We'll take someone and force some information out of him using Veritaserum or Legilimency. You just need to erase that memory if he's innocent," Kayson explained.
"No problem, I'm good at this," Lockhart breathed a sigh of relief. He had originally thought Kayson's task for him would be something like sacrificing himself or clearing mines.
He didn't expect it to be so simple.
"Mm-hmm, it's that simple. You just need to follow along from behind." After Kayson finished speaking, he glanced at the clock on the office desk. It was still early.
....
Deep into the night.
"Is this the place?" Sirius whispered.
"Mm, this is where Lupin and I agreed... They're here."
"Please speak plainly, Remus, what is it that has so many of you waiting for me here?" A burly figure walked from a distance with Lupin, looking at Kayson and the others waiting there and asking.
"Just seeking peace of mind, Mr. Nios, could you give us a chance?" Kayson began.
"I have the right to refuse," Nios said gruffly.
"Expelliarmus." Lupin, who was closest to Nios, disarmed him directly.
"Oh... your plan is really... sloppy." Nios shrugged, and the next moment, he appeared in front of Kayson with a speed that seemed out of this world, after all, he was arguably the thinnest-looking of the group.
A fist that felt like it could snap a large tree came smashing towards Kayson, wrapped in fierce wind.
Bang!
"Please, you're so weak." Kayson rolled his eyes, blocking the punch with one hand.
Before Nios could even show a surprised expression, Kayson pressed one hand on his fist and the other on his shoulder, forcing Nios to his knees.
"Sirius, Veritaserum!"
Sirius quickly walked over and poured the pre-measured Veritaserum into Nios.
"Ask now." Kayson slightly loosened his grip on Nios: "Was it you who threw Harry's name into the goblet of fire?"
"No...."
"Are you a Death Eater?"
"No..."
"Are you a Dark Wizard?"
"No...."
"What's with the purple light spot in the bathroom?"
"I don't know..."
Kayson frowned. The answers were not what they wanted, but at this point, it also proved Nios was innocent. He was about to find Lockhart to give Nios an Obliviate.
Then he saw the fear in Lockhart's eyes and the surprise in Sirius's and Lupin's eyes next to him.
Kayson frowned and looked back, only to see the cunning in Nios's eyes. He had somehow broken free from the Veritaserum's effects.
Perhaps even more terrifying, he might not have been controlled by the Veritaserum's effects at all; he might have been faking it from the start.
And now, a never-before-seen wand had appeared in his hand at some point, pointing at Kayson.
"Avada Kedavra!"
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