HP: Wormwood and Lightning Wood

Diagon Alley is bathed in honey-colored sunlight in the summer, and the air is filled with the aroma of caramel wafting from the Crucible Cake Shop.

Four teenagers were chatting on the side of the street.

"I want to take him to get checked out," Ron said. "Babble has lost a lot of weight recently."

It lay listlessly in his palm.

"That's easy! Just bring Scabbers to Potter Manor," Harry said. "We have a very skilled Potions Master there who can treat Scabbers!"

Ron exclaimed with delight, "Then I'll talk to my parents, and Hermione and I will go back with you in a bit!"

"Banban looks uncomfortable. Would you like to put it here?" West touched the emerald ring on his finger, and a delicate little cage appeared out of thin air in his palm. "This is a therapeutic pet cage."

West was talking nonsense with a straight face.

"Merlin! Is this a gold ring that can store things?" Ron exclaimed. "It's expensive! It costs a lot of Galleons!"

As Ron spoke, he confidently handed Scabbers to West.

Hermione gasped, her eyes burning with a thirst for knowledge, eager to study this magical ring immediately.

The mouse was suddenly shoved into the cage. Realizing something was wrong, it started squeaking, its claws scratching at the bottom of the cage with a screeching sound.

West flicked his finger, and a spell landed on the rat, instantly petrifying it.

"If you like them, you can choose one to take home when you return to Potter Manor later," West chuckled, locking the cage.

The two children cheered. Hermione asked, "Isn't it too expensive? West..."

"I did it all myself, Hermione," West said.

"Me too!" Harry shouted.

"Okay, okay, everyone gets a share."

The four of them crossed the street and arrived at the shop called Magical Zoo to buy Hermione an owl.

Hermione looked around for a while, glancing past a row of birdcages, before finally fixing her gaze on a wicker basket in the corner, where she picked up the ginger cat nestled inside.

"Didn't you want to buy an owl?" Ron asked.

"Isn't it cute?" Hermione said with a grin.

Harry stared at the cat's squashed face and fell silent.

"Let's go back to Potter Manor," West said.

Ron looked hesitant. "Don't I need to tell my parents?"

West said, "Just send a letter when the time comes, it's not a big deal."

The most urgent task is to bring Peter Pettigrew back.

"Okay," Ron said.

West pulled out a badge. "Come on, put your hand on it."

The three of them obediently placed their hands on it.

"What is this?" Hermione asked.

"This is the key—" The key activated instantly, and Ron's unfinished words were distorted into a comical, drawn-out sound. The four of them vanished into thin air.

The four successfully arrived at Potter Manor. Except for West, who stood upright in place, the other three fell onto the carpet.

"What an amazing experience!" Hermione patted her chest and stood up.

"Where is he?!" Sirius, who had been waiting in the hall, rushed up and asked anxiously, his bloodshot eyes in their sunken sockets.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!" Ron screamed, jumping onto Harry's back. "Sirius Black! Aaaaaaahhhhhh!"

"Ron, Merlin's pantyhose!" Harry covered his ears in horror, then realized he should have covered Ron's mouth.

The world suddenly fell silent.

Hermione had already raised her wand and aimed it at Sirius, looking serious, as if she was about to use many of her newly learned spells on Sirius.

"Hermione! Calm down! He's my godfather, the report was just an accident!" Harry said hurriedly.

West calmly walked to the fireplace. "You explain to them, Harry, I brought Severus over."

When West brought Snape to Potter Manor, the four of them were already sitting on the sofa, and the scene was quiet and peaceful for a while.

"Severus, I caught him. What's the reward?"

The four heard West's voice.

Who? Severus?

The Potions Professor's familiar voice rang out, "Success has no reward, but failure has a penalty. Do you want it?"

Apart from Harry, who was calmly drinking his tea, the other three stared wide-eyed in horror.

Hermione was the first to realize, nodding thoughtfully, "I see..."

Ron and Sirius both wore expressions of utter panic.

"Bloody hell!" Ron turned his head and saw Snape's gloomy face, then turned back abruptly, hoping it was all just his imagination.

When he turned back again, he found Snape already standing behind him.

Hermione, holding Ron's waist to prevent him from fainting, greeted him slowly, "Good morning, Professor Snape."

Snape nodded, then turned to West, "Where's Peter Pettigrew?"

West took out the cage. "Here it is."

With a look of disgust, he used a levitation spell to fling the petrified rat to the ground with a "splat".

"Bark!" Ron screamed, looking like he was about to faint again.

"Foolish Weasley, he's not your rat." Snape sneered, and with a wave of his wand, the petrified rat slowly grew larger, sprouting limbs and a head, transforming into a short, stout middle-aged man.

He was curled up on the ground, his thin, light-colored hair disheveled, with a large bald patch on his head, and his clothes were so dirty that they looked almost like rat fur.

West lifted the petrification spell, and the man immediately began to breathe rapidly.

"Oh, Peter Pettigrew!" Sirius cried out, his eyes wide with rage, lunging forward as if to tear the man apart. Harry quickly stopped him.

Ron groaned and actually fainted on the sofa, but no one was in the mood to care about him now.

"Sirius... my friend," Peter Pettigrew's voice was as high-pitched as a mouse's, his eyes darting around before settling on Snape, "my old friends..."

"Tell us what happened the night our parents died!" Harry asked.

Everyone saw beads of sweat the size of soybeans appear on Peter Pettigrew's forehead. "What... I don't know..."

Snape scoffed, held up the truth serum in his hand, and offered it to West. "Don't listen to his excuses."

West took the truth serum and looked at Peter Pettigrew.

Peter Pettigrew touched his eerie green eyes, and his body suddenly froze uncontrollably.

His cloudy eyes darted around wildly, but he could only open his mouth wide, letting every drop of the truth serum that floated in flow into his stomach.

"Oh my god..." Hermione whispered.

"Tell me, did you betray the Potters?" Snape asked.

"Yes..." Peter Pettigrew stood there, stunned, and said in a flat voice.

Sirius clenched his fists so tightly that he bit his lip until it bled.

"...You've sided with Voldemort?" Snape's expression was icy.

"Yes……"

There's no need to ask any more questions at this point. Sirius Black was telling the truth.

The truth has come to light.

Snape gripped his wand tightly, looking like he wanted to give Peter Pettigrew a few Cruciatus Curses. Of course, West and Harry felt the same way.

"Severus..." West grasped Snape's pale hand. "Calm down. We can send him to Azkaban and let him receive the Dementors' kiss. Don't get your hands dirty."

Sirius rushed forward and punched Peter Pettigrew several times, leaving his face covered in blood.

Harry stood pale-faced to the side, not intending to stop them. "Then, how do we hand him over to the Ministry of Magic?"

Five minutes later, Dumbledore arrived at Potter Manor via the Floo Network.

His accusing gaze fell on West, as if he were complaining that West only remembered him when he needed him.

Dumbledore's gaze swept over West and Snape's joined hands, somewhat surprised, his eyes shifting ambiguously between the two.

Snape was startled, only then realizing that West was still holding his hand.

"Release yourself, Potter!" he growled in a low voice.

West reluctantly let go.

After a brief chat, Dumbledore quickly took Peter Pettigrew and Sirius, who were bound tightly, to the Ministry of Magic—it was a good opportunity to prove Sirius's innocence while the Truth Potion they had just been given was still effective.

Ron then slowly woke up, groggily telling Hermione and Harry, "I think I dreamt that Scabbers turned into Peter Pettigrew..."

Hermione and Harry looked at each other with disbelief, unsure how to tell Ron that for almost three years, a short, fat, bald middle-aged man had been lying next to his pillow.