Regardless of the ungodly hour, Kyle kicked open the door to Dumbledore's office.
Dumbledore wasn't asleep in his upstairs bedroom. Instead, dressed in his pajamas, he sat behind a desk piled high with various sweets and snacks, clearly waiting for Kyle to arrive.
Kyle wasn't the least bit curious about how Dumbledore had foreseen his arrival.
Long ago, Dumbledore had cast a detection barrier over the walls surrounding Hogwarts Castle.
This detection barrier was linked to the "Skynet" surveillance system that the Father-Grievers had previously helped Dumbledore build, establishing airtight monitoring from the Astronomy Tower all the way down to the Chamber of Secrets.
Even the Quidditch pitch and the section of the Forbidden Forest closest to the castle fell within the system's surveillance zone.
Holding fort in the Headmaster's office, the old man was like a spider at the center of its web—not a single rustle or stir in the castle could escape his notice.
Just moments ago, when those Acolytes led by Mads Mikkelsen scaled the school walls, they hadn't made the slightest effort to bypass the detection barrier.
Under these circumstances, it would have been stranger to Kyle if Dumbledore hadn't known about their movements.
"Dad."
Dumbledore nodded at Kyle, a slight smile appearing on his face.
Aside from causing havoc all day long, his son was actually quite reliable when it came to matters of vital importance.
A silvery-white Phoenix Patronus passed through the wall and flew out of the Headmaster's office, clearly on its way to notify the other professors.
Although the Skynet system included a broadcast function, Dumbledore still preferred using the more old-fashioned method to deliver messages.
Looking at the unconscious Peter Pettigrew on the floor, Kyle flicked his wand and shot a beam of scarlet light straight at him.
Pettigrew snapped out of his unconscious state immediately. He writhed frantically on the floor, his face twisted in agonizing pain.
Dumbledore was left completely exasperated by his son's hardcore method of waking someone up.
"You are not allowed to just use the Unforgivable Curses whenever you please from now on!"
"Got it, Dad," Kyle replied smoothly, though he didn't take Dumbledore's words to heart at all.
Using the Cruciatus Curse to torture an opponent might not compare to the legendary Ten Great Tortures of the Qing Dynasty in terms of pure visual horror, but its saving grace was sheer convenience.
A spell this useful didn't even corrode the user's soul like Avada Kedavra did, so how could he just stop using it?
Seeing Kyle's dismissive expression, Dumbledore knew his lecturing was entirely lost on him.
Forget it. After all, the boy didn't take his last name anyway. Dumbledore gave up the struggle.
Once the effects of the Cruciatus Curse subsided, Pettigrew caught his breath, looked around at his current surroundings, and squeezed out a trembling smile.
"Dum... Dumbledore! I've finally found you again!"
As he spoke, he tried to lunge forward to throw his arms around Dumbledore's legs and wail his grievances.
But because he was bound tightly in chains, he could only wriggle forward on the floor like a maggot.
Dumbledore had absolutely no intention of humoring him.
At that moment, Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, hurriedly scratching something onto a piece of parchment.
Seeing that Dumbledore was ignoring him, Pettigrew opened his mouth, preparing to wail miserably.
But the moment his mouth opened a crack, another spell flew over in the blink of an eye, binding his tongue to the roof of his mouth.
Since his son hadn't used Dark Magic this time, Dumbledore didn't even bother looking up.
After finishing the letter, Dumbledore pointed his wand, and the nearby fireplace erupted into roaring flames.
Slipping the letter into an envelope, he tossed it into the fire. Instantly, the crimson flames turned a sickly green, identical to the color of the Killing Curse.
In reality, that was simply the effect of the fireplace connecting to the Floo Network.
Only after finishing all of this did Dumbledore turn his gaze back to Peter, speaking coldly:
"Peter, don't you think you owe an explanation as to why you are still alive?"
Hearing this, Peter Pettigrew's caterpillar-like wriggling came to a sudden halt, his body freezing entirely.
The moment the Langlock curse was lifted, he immediately tore his throat open, wailing at the top of his lungs.
"It was because I was too scared! Dumbledore! I was terrified the Dark Lord's followers would kill me! Because I was the Potters' Secret-Keeper, they..."
A voice cut Peter Pettigrew off.
"You still have the nerve to bring up James and Lily?" Remus Lupin stormed through the door, furiously seizing Pettigrew by the collar.
Behind him, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, and the others filed into the room.
"Give it a rest, Peter," Kyle said, slowly twirling his wand with an intensely threatening undertone. "Everyone in this room knows that you are the vile traitor."
Snape's hand twitched at his side, clearly itching to pull Veritaserum from his robes and force it down Peter Pettigrew's throat.
Professor McGonagall's face was a picture of utter disappointment. "James and you were such close friends... Oh, you traitorous coward!"
"No! It was Sirius who betrayed them!" Pettigrew shrieked. "Sirius is the traitor!"
Hearing Pettigrew's words, the rage inside Lupin burned even hotter.
Veins bulging on his arms, Lupin violently hoisted Pettigrew up before slamming him viciously back down onto the floor.
Pettigrew's forehead struck the hard floorboards with a resounding thud.
The traitor's filthy blood welled from the gash on his forehead, dripping onto the floor and staining the clean wood.
Kyle extended a hand in disgust, a ball of eerie blue fire manifesting in his palm.
His casual display of Fiendfyre made Professor McGonagall's eyebrows twitch violently.
Under Kyle's absolute control, the flames condensed into a fiery serpent, which flicked its tongue and gently licked the wound on Peter Pettigrew's forehead.
The blistering heat of the Fiendfyre instantly scorched the wound black, perfectly cauterizing it and stopping the bleeding.
Naturally, it also caused Peter Pettigrew to scream in agonizing torment.
Peter Pettigrew cut a truly wretched figure right now, but not a single soul in the office felt an ounce of sympathy for him.
Having finished up, Kyle stretched his arms and let out a massive yawn.
"Dad, there's nothing left for me to do here. I'm going back to bed."
He couldn't be bothered to wait around in the Headmaster's office with the professors.
Dumbledore waved his hand, signaling that he could head back if he wished; after all, there was still a mountain of work left to handle.
The letter he had just written was addressed to Cornelius Fudge.
Fudge was likely reading it at this very moment and would soon arrive with a squad of Aurors.
Following that, they would have to administer Veritaserum to Peter Pettigrew right in front of the Ministry officials for a preliminary interrogation.
The remaining task would be to bring Sirius back from his hiding spot in the Shrieking Shack.
Afterward, they would still need to finalize all the details regarding a retrial for Sirius's case at the Ministry of Magic.
With such a massive pile of things to sort through, none of them would be getting any sleep tonight.
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