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"Wait, Dursley, do not rush. I think there must be some misunderstanding here," Lupin hurriedly said.
He had only acted subconsciously just now. In his heart, he trusted Sirius very much.
Lupin had always felt that something about what happened back then was strange. Sirius's betrayal had been too unbelievable and too sudden. After spending so much time with him, Lupin did not believe his closest friend would betray another friend, betray and sell out James, and to Voldemort of all people.
However, his doubts had meant nothing.
He was a werewolf, a werewolf deeply discriminated against by the wizarding world. The Ministry of Magic would not listen to any of his opinions. If he dared speak for Sirius, the Ministry would most likely treat him as an accomplice and throw him into Azkaban as well.
The problem was that Voldemort truly did have werewolves under his command.
"Sirius, explain quickly."
Facing Lupin's urging, Sirius did not seem anxious. First, he looked at Harry for a long while, then said, "You look so much like James. Your father."
"So you killed him," Harry said, calmer than expected.
Unexpectedly, Sirius gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "I will not deny that. I did harm James. He did die because of me."
"But if you knew the whole truth..."
Sirius still did not get straight to the point.
"The truth is that you killed him, and now you came to kill me."
Harry interrupted him, his voice gradually turning cold.
Listening to the exchange between Sirius and Harry, Lupin's face nearly turned green.
What was this man doing?
Why could he not say everything clearly in one breath? Why did he have to play at being mysterious here?
Could he not even say, "I was not the one who betrayed your parents"?
Did he think he had already won?
Arrogant, reckless, proud. Even after so many years in Azkaban, he had not changed that old habit.
"Professor Lupin, are you certain you want to stand on the side of this fugitive?"
Dudley looked calmly at Lupin.
His words drew Sirius's attention again. Only then did Sirius realize his surname.
"Dursley? I remember now. You are the child of Sister Lily's... the one who married that fat man? Looks like you are a wizard now too. Which House are you in? Hufflepuff?"
"I am in Slytherin. You really are exactly as my mother described: crude, rude, and completely lacking manners."
After Lily graduated, under her introduction, Petunia and Vernon had once met James and Sirius. It had not been a pleasant meeting. At the time, the two sides parted on very bad terms, and it was because of that incident that the sisters Lily and Petunia completely broke off contact and never interacted again.
How should one describe James and Sirius in their youth?
They were rather unconventional. In the eyes of the Dursleys, that behavior made them idle street punks who did not study and did not work.
As the older sister, Petunia was naturally worried. As the brother-in-law, Vernon also believed he should do something.
Then, unsurprisingly, the two wizards taught him a lesson.
Even Snape could not avoid being targeted by those people at school, let alone Vernon, who was an ordinary person.
"Oh, Slytherin."
After hearing that, Sirius's dislike rose sharply. "A gathering place for criminals. You are as disgusting as that pig of a father of yours."
The moment those words came out, Lupin knew things were going to go badly.
Sure enough, a spell struck Sirius and sent him flying. His body slammed heavily into the wall.
"Do not insult my uncle, you damned criminal."
Harry's face was dark, and his tone was extremely cold.
"Expelliarmus!" x2
Hermione and Lupin cast at the same time, and the two spells canceled each other out.
"Please wait. Sirius did not mean it," Lupin shouted hurriedly.
"If he did not mean it, he can casually insult other people's parents? Also, Slytherin is a gathering place for evil people? You may not know this, but the first recorded Dark wizard in Hogwarts history came from Gryffindor."
"Put away that arrogance, Mr. Prisoner of Azkaban."
Dudley stood up from his seat. The explosive power in his body and his mountain-like bulk put tremendous pressure on both Lupin and Sirius.
Sirius admitted that the moment his gaze met Dudley's eyes, he felt a little afraid.
"Originally, I wanted to let you explain yourself, but your stupidity has disappointed me deeply."
He had given Sirius a chance to explain, and Sirius himself had been useless.
Dudley's gaze swept over him, and he said one word at a time, seriously, "You are not qualified to be my brother's godfather."
"You know?" Sirius froze.
Dudley ignored him and said to Harry, "Harry, the person who betrayed Aunt Lily was not this fool. It was someone else. But Aunt Lily did indeed die because of this idiot."
"Back then, Voldemort very much wanted to kill Aunt Lily and the others, but they were protected by the Fidelius Charm. As long as the Secret-Keeper did not reveal the secret, Voldemort would never be able to find the Potter house. And the original Secret-Keeper was this prisoner here."
"If things had simply been dragged out like that, nothing would have happened."
"But this great idiot wanted to play a clever trick. He smartly changed the Secret-Keeper. In his view, even if Voldemort and his allies caught him, they still would not be able to find Aunt Lily and the others. What a genius idea. I imagine you came up with that brilliant plan after squeezing every last drop out of a brain not much larger than an amoeba."
Dudley looked at Sirius with a cold smile.
"Unsurprisingly, the new Secret-Keeper told Voldemort."
"Mr. Prisoner, calling you one of the murderers who killed Aunt Lily and the others is not unfair at all."
Sirius's self-righteousness had killed his closest friend and caused Harry to lose his parents.
He was not the direct murderer, but he was an indirect one. Everything had started because of him.
After Dudley exposed the reason, Sirius knelt on the ground and said in self-blame, "Yes. It was all my fault. I killed James and the others."
"But why? How do you know all this?"
Dudley's description just now had sounded as if he had seen it with his own eyes, but that was impossible.
"Of course, because I caught the one who leaked the secret."
Sirius froze when he heard that. Then wild joy appeared on his face, and he lunged toward Dudley like a madman.
"Give him to me! Give him to me!"
"Sirius, don't!" Lupin tried to stop him, but it was already too late.
Before Sirius could even touch Dudley, a large wooden hand pressed him firmly to the ground.
"I think this should make you behave a little, Mr. Prisoner of Azkaban."
Dudley was too lazy to even look at him.
This man was the greatest failure as a friend, a godfather, and even as a son.
"Harry."
Dudley shook his sleeve. A tightly bound rat fell out. It was Ron's pet rat, Scabbers. Then Dudley threw a spell at it, and the rat rapidly grew larger at an astonishing speed. An ugly man appeared before everyone.
Of course, he was still bound tightly. The vines grew along with him.
"His name is Peter Pettigrew."
Dudley kicked him. Peter's body curled like a cooked prawn, and the intense pain woke him from unconsciousness.
"He is the one who killed Aunt Lily. The one who killed your parents."
"Now... you can do whatever you want with him."
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