Chapter 125: Lupin

"He used a secret passage on the edge of the Forbidden Forest to escape the school, the one marked on the map beneath the Whomping Willow," Lupin said slowly. "This might have some unusual implications."

"What implications?" Harry asked, confused. "That he just happened to know how to get past the Whomping Willow, and you don't?"

"Something like that. In fact, Professor Doudou also advised us not to pursue him too deeply," Lupin said hesitantly.

"That's right, Black is very likely to have set traps there," Professor Doudou appeared from nowhere. "For example, the secret passage might have an intricate teleportation device that sends us to some small island in the Pacific, or it might be ambushed with terrible dark creatures Black has collected."

"Actually, I think he might simply want to use the Whomping Willow to stall us," Lupin said tactfully.

"I'm telling you this because," Lupin turned back to Harry, "I hope to continue borrowing the Marauder's Map until we catch him."

"Of course, it belongs to you anyway," Harry said generously.

After returning to the castle, Harry didn't rush to attend the Gryffindor victory feast, but instead hurried to the Torchwood headquarters. On the map they had made themselves, the positions of people in the castle were updated in real-time, but those who left the castle would remain near the exit as they were last seen.

And for the secret passages recorded on the old version of the Marauder's Map, Torchwood had, of course, set up monitoring magic near the Whomping Willow.

From the sand table, Harry saw that at the exit of the secret passage represented by the Whomping Willow, there was a scruffy little figure. His appearance was seven or eight parts similar to the photo on the wanted poster, and above his head, a phantom image was displayed.

That phantom was a black dog.

This proved that Black was indeed an illegal Animagus; he sneaked into the school by disguising himself as an animal.

Harry looked at the phantom of the black dog. Although he didn't quite understand why a dog would be called "Padfoot," one thing was certain: the black dog he saw on the day of the first task was most likely Black in disguise.

"Harry? You're at headquarters at this time? Not going to the victory feast?" A voice came from behind.

"Oh, Ma Erfu." Harry came back to his senses. "Look here, Black entered the school today."

"Is that so?" Ma Erfu pretended to be very interested and examined it for a while, then changed his tone and said, "Regarding the evil soul wandering in the school, I think I have a clue."

"Oh?" Harry had almost forgotten about this, as the school had indeed been calm for a long time.

"I suspect it has been eyeing Zhang Qiu recently, though it could be my misjudgment," Ma Erfu continued. "Her recent behavior is really strange. Before the match, she even suggested that I take Gao Er and the others to disguise ourselves as Dementors to scare you."

"She should know that wouldn't scare me anymore; she was right there when I learned the Patronus Charm," Harry said, puzzled.

"Oh, I didn't expect you to have learned it already; I haven't even had a chance to congratulate you," Ma Erfu said politely. "Perhaps she hoped you could show off on the field, or maybe she's a bit jealous of our society? In any case, I suggest you have a good talk with her."

"I see. I also think it's best to talk to her as soon as possible." Harry had a headache. He could roughly guess that Zhang Qiu's confusing operations were to make the development of events align with the divination results, and he felt it necessary to persuade her to give up such boring behavior.

As the main Seeker, Harry missing the Gryffindor victory feast was a real mood-killer, so he planned to find Zhang Qiu tomorrow.

However, early the next morning, just as Harry was about to leave, he found Zhang Qiu guarding the dormitory entrance.

"Did anything happen last night?" she asked eagerly, her tone sounding as if something should have happened last night.

"Last night? I dreamed that I was chasing a white spot of light in the Forbidden Forest on my Firebolt. Does that count?"

"I'm not joking with you, this is very important..."

"Sorry to interrupt you two," Lupin appeared at the top of the stairs. "But Harry, I hope you can come with me. There's a new development regarding Black."

"I hope it's that you've discovered traces of him breaking into the castle," Zhang Qiu said in a prayer-like tone.

"Come with me, Harry." Lupin took him to the Defense Against the Dark Arts office without a word. Harry felt the atmosphere was a bit strange.

"Luo En keeps a rat, right?" Lupin's words obviously had nothing to do with Black.

"Yes, but I don't see what that has to do with Black."

"Black might be innocent." Lupin sighed. "Let me think, how should I tell you..."

"You actually know how to enter the secret passage under the Whomping Willow, right?" Harry said. "It's marked on the Marauder's Map. I don't think you would mark a secret passage you've never walked through."

"That's right, and Black fleeing there might mean he's signaling me to meet him alone," Lupin said cautiously. "That place leads to... our old secret base. I think he might still remember those friendships from our school days."

"But I don't think meeting him alone is a wise decision," Harry said. "You aren't planning to go yet, are you?"

"I already went last night," Lupin said with a bitter smile. "He's actually not crazy; he's very clear-headed, just a bit stubborn."

Harry knew this story was probably long. He sat down at the desk, and Lupin sat behind it, placing both hands on the table, organizing his words.

"It all goes back to when we were in school. The four of us were good friends, and James and Sirius were especially close," Lupin said slowly. "As you know, later, when fighting Voldemort, James planned to use a Fidelius Charm to protect you and Lily."

"Originally, the Secret-Keeper James chose was indeed Sirius, but Sirius suggested he secretly change the Secret-Keeper. Because everyone would think Sirius was James's Secret-Keeper, changing it secretly would be safer."

"So James secretly changed the Secret-Keeper to Peter. Only the three of them knew about this; even I was kept in the dark. But the final result was that Voldemort quickly found James's address. This can only be explained by Peter leaking the secret; there is no other explanation."

Harry frowned. He felt these were just Black's excuses, because Peter was already dead, so it didn't matter what he said.

"I didn't intend to believe him at first, but he told me something very important: Peter is still alive." Lupin spread out the Marauder's Map and waved his wand gently, and the map of the Gryffindor dormitory was enlarged.

Harry was surprised to find that right in his own dormitory, near the name Luo En Wei Silai, there was another name: Peter Pettigrew.

"This is what I suspect. Peter should have died, but he might have survived by turning into a rat. His Animagus form is a rat," Lupin continued. "Sirius told me that Peter blew off one of his own fingers to escape. He recognized him from a newspaper, learning that he is now living in the Wei Silai family as a pet."

Harry suddenly remembered that Scabbers was indeed missing a finger, and Luo En even said it was because of this defect that it was very cheap, which is why Mr. Wei Silai bought it.

Moreover, almost the day after he saw the Wei Silai family photo, the news of Black's prison break came out.

"Therefore, Sirius broke out of prison to kill Peter. His emotions were too intense. I told him to relax and that I would bring Peter to him today," Lupin said with some distress. "I'm still not quite sure, especially since I'm worried he just wants an excuse to get close to you."

"If that's really the case, why didn't he explain everything thirteen years ago?" Harry questioned. "He spent thirteen years in prison for Peter—oh, but Peter played the role of a rat for thirteen years; it's hard to say who suffered more."

Lupin couldn't help but smile, then he returned to his serious expression.

"I asked him that too. He said because he was the one who cleverly suggested the temporary change of Secret-Keeper, he felt very guilty and felt he had responsibility," Lupin explained. "And that night, he pushed Peter into a corner. He thought the explosion spell was Peter trying to take him down with him. In short, he thought Peter was dead."

"And now that he realizes Peter is still alive, he broke out of prison overnight," Harry continued. "Then he wants to sneak into Hogwarts at all costs to kill Peter?"

In this whole story, the Moony of the Marauders seemed like an outsider. Harry had this thought, but he didn't say it out loud.

"That's why I said he's a bit stubborn," Lupin said. "What troubles me now is, if Peter really disguised himself as Luo En's pet, I don't know who to trust. They could both be lying, and bringing you to Sirius is a very dangerous thing."

"You could just take Scabbers," Harry suggested. "We can follow behind with the Invisibility Cloak."

The wardrobe suddenly moved, and Harry was almost scared out of his wits.

"That won't work, Harry, because Sirius also knows about the Invisibility Cloak. Have you forgotten? He was your father's good friend," Lupin said. "I think you'd better just stay in the dormitory."

Harry was still looking at the wardrobe; he felt Professor Doudou might be hiding inside.

"Also, I hope you can lend me the Invisibility Cloak first. I don't want other professors to know I'm meeting Sirius in private," Lupin continued. "This is also to prevent you from sneaking over, because that would indeed be very dangerous."

"What are you looking at, Harry?" Lupin noticed something was off.

"I agree, Professor," Harry said. "But I hope you'll take a look at the wardrobe. I think there's... a Boggart in there?"

"That's good..." Lupin said while opening the wardrobe.

"As you can see, it's just an ordinary wardrobe," Lupin stepped aside, showing the only old robe and a pair of shoes inside. "Then let's go to the Gryffindor dormitory now. I think if we let Peter and Sirius confront each other, things will be clearer." ===== CHAPTER 126 =====