The faint scent of agarwood permeated the silent room.
It was pitch black here, with only a faint glimmer emanating from the crystal ball on the table.
Inside that transparent crystal, a mist-like substance seemed to be constantly shifting shape, making it impossible to fathom.
Wearing a large black robe with a hood that covered most of her face, Hilke always wore this unchanging attire.
She had been sitting here, watching the crystal ball on the table for a full day, but the fate within the crystal ball remained unpredictable, having not settled for a long time.
This was a very rare phenomenon.
She was just a diviner, not a prophet, so naturally, there were times when she could not see clearly.
However, this time she saw something, but it was constantly changing.
Within just one day, it had already changed into tens of thousands of possibilities, which was even more confusing than those previous divinations that had been obscured by mist and could only be seen vaguely and indistinctly.
Just then, a green flame suddenly lit up in the cold fireplace, and the flames formed the face of a middle-aged Witch.
"I apologise for interrupting your divination, Miss Hilke, but the Department Head says there is something he needs you to come over for."
Hilke spoke coldly.
"What is it about?"
"The Memory Retrieval Unit has finished cracking Fedetick's memories. They have obtained the reason why that fear demon wanted to escape, and they have also uncovered the origin of the locket belonging to your friend."
...
Hogwarts, Forbidden Forest.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all watched the scene in disbelief.
That notorious murderer who had betrayed Harry's parents, defected to Lord Voldemort, and had now broken out of prison to kill Harry was actually colluding with the two Defence Against the Dark Arts Professors they trusted the most and was pointing his wand at them!
"No! This isn't true, Professor!" Hermione cried, shaking her head with tears streaming down her face.
Ron's mouth hung open. His hands subconsciously gripped Scabbers tightly, and he remained stunned for a long time, unable to say a word.
The expression on Harry's face completely collapsed.
He recalled the moments he had spent with Sherlock: taking him on a trip to France, making time to celebrate his birthday even when he was busy with matters at the Ministry of Magic, and even catching a Dementor just to teach him the Patronus Charm.
So, was everything Professor Cavendish had done before just a disguise?
Was he showing his true colours now?
Was he also a lackey of the Dark Lord?
At that moment, Harry thought of so much. His heart was filled with despair, as though he had been betrayed by the whole world.
Just as the expressions on the three of them were frozen in shock, Sherlock gently beckoned, and the wands belonging to Ron and Hermione flew into the air, finally landing in his hands.
The wand in Harry's hand was not taken because he was gripping it too tightly.
"Why, Professor? Why are you helping Black?" Harry asked, holding up his wand with tears in his eyes.
Sherlock waved a hand at him, signalling him to stand aside and not cause trouble.
"Don't start adding your own drama and overthinking here, Harry. We are not here to catch you at all. Stand aside with Hermione and don't get in the way of our work."
Hearing his words, Harry finally noticed that Sherlock's and the others' wands had never been pointed at him from the beginning; they had been aimed at Ron the whole time!
"Don't delay! Hurry up and catch him! I can't wait any longer!" Sirius said eagerly.
The three of them surrounded Ron in a pincer movement, leaving Harry and Hermione aside.
The despair on Harry's face froze, and he looked blankly at the actions of Sherlock and the others.
Ron, whose expression had initially been one of shock, gradually turned to despair.
He subconsciously gripped Scabbers even tighter, as though clutching at a lifeline, refusing to let go even as the rat screamed and bit frantically.
"Your target is me!" Ron shouted in disbelief. "What did I do?"
Lupin's gaze remained fixed on the rat in Ron's hands, his voice as gentle as ever.
"No, Ron, don't be nervous. We are not here for Harry, and we are not here for you. Give me the rat in your hands. Hold him tightly, then hand him over to me."
His words stunned Ron, Hermione, and Harry.
"Scabbers." Ron tightened his grip on the rat. "What do you want with him? He's just a poor, old, wretched rat!"
Black was full of impatience. Seeing his enemy right before his eyes, he could wait no longer. He did not want to wait even another second.
He strode forward, making a move to snatch Scabbers from Ron's hands, but Lupin stopped him.
"We need to explain it clearly to them, Sirius! They have the right to know everything!"
"We can explain afterwards!"
"Petrificus Totalus."
The sudden incantation caused Lupin and Sirius to stop arguing.
They both looked at Sherlock, who was leisurely lowering his wand, then glanced at Ron, who was breathing heavily with nerves but had not been petrified.
Finally, their gazes settled on Scabbers in Ron's hands, who had been struggling desperately just a moment ago but was now as motionless as a statue, with only his eyes darting around.
"You are too slow. I also agree that we should explain everything clearly to Harry and the others first, but before explaining, we need to take some precautions."
Sherlock shrugged, speaking to Harry and the others at the same time.
"So, do you want to hear a story? If you do, then sit down obediently and listen to Lupin and Sirius tell it. And Ron, you can stop gripping Scabbers so tightly now. Otherwise, if you accidentally strangle him, Sirius's hatred will be unleashed on you."
Harry shook his head, still looking incredulous, and kept saying,
"I can't understand... I still can't understand... Black is clearly a murderer. He killed my parents. The entire Wizarding World is hunting him. Why are you Professors with him... and why are you going after Ron's pet?"
"Because he is not a rat at all!" Sirius sneered.
"He is an Animagus," Lupin said calmly. "His name is Peter Pettigrew."
"You are all insane!" Ron thought they were talking nonsense.
Even Hermione said weakly, "Ridiculous!"
Sherlock did not participate in their storytelling because he seemed to hear a faint ticking sound, but he simply could not determine where it was coming from.
Lupin and Sirius told Harry and the others the true story of what had happened back then. Harry and the others, initially sceptical, gradually began to believe them as they answered each of their doubts one by one.
"...It was right here in this Forbidden Forest that Lupin and Sherlock caught me. I told them the whole truth, and in the end, they believed me and helped me catch Peter!"
While Sirius was speaking, his gaze never once left the rat in Ron's hands.
After spending more than a decade in Azkaban, escaping from prison, and spending an entire year avoiding pursuit while searching, his enemy was now right before his eyes.
He had never been a particularly patient person, and now he could barely restrain himself.
"Then how should we believe you?" Harry asked, staring into Sirius's eyes.
In truth, he already believed much of what Sirius had said, but he still needed concrete evidence before him.
"It's simple to get the evidence." Sirius held out his hand towards Ron.
"Give him to me, kid. Now."
Ron's face was full of panic. Deep down, he had already begun to believe the adults' words, but his long-standing attachment to Scabbers made him afraid to accept the truth.
Lupin spoke softly.
"Think about it, Ron. How long has this rat lived in your house? Would a normal rat live that long?"
"Our family has always taken good care of him!"
"But he behaved very strangely at the beginning of this school year, didn't he? After hearing that Black had escaped from Azkaban."
"If I give him to you, what will you do to him?" Ron asked nervously.
"Force him to reveal his true form," Lupin replied. "If he really is just a rat, it won't harm him."
Ron hesitated before finally handing Scabbers over.
Scabbers was still under the effects of Sherlock's Petrificus Totalus. His body was stiff and motionless, but in his tiny eyes was a very human look of terror and despair.
Lupin held him in one hand, and a fiery light appeared in Sirius's moist eyes.
They raised their wands.
"Want to join us, Sherlock?" Lupin asked.
Sherlock also aimed his wand at Scabbers.
"The Forced Transformation Spell?"
"Yes. This spell is very effective against Animagi."
Holding Scabbers firmly in one hand and his wand in the other, Lupin said, "I'll count to three. One, two, three!"
All three wands emitted a blue-white light. After about a minute, Scabbers was suspended in mid-air. The Petrificus Totalus seemed to have been lifted, and his small black body twisted frantically.
The rat fell to the ground. Another dazzling flash of light followed, and it was like watching a tree grow in fast-forward.
A head appeared, limbs stretched out, and after a few moments, a Wizard stood where Scabbers had just been, wringing his hands nervously.
The man was very short, not much taller than Harry or Hermione. His thin, pale hair was unkempt, with a large bald patch on the top of his head.
He looked like an overweight man who had lost a great deal of weight in a very short time. His skin appeared grimy, almost like Scabbers' fur, while his pointed nose and watery little eyes still retained the characteristics of a rat.
The moment Peter resumed his human form, Sherlock cast a binding spell.
Ropes conjured by magic wrapped tightly around Peter, completely eliminating any possibility of escape.