From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Page 231

Who knows, by then, Sirius might be free from all magical punishment under Dumbledore's protection, and then Dumbledore would be wholeheartedly hunting him down to his death—he understood Sirius and the importance of having protection.

'If I continue to play the fool, Hogwarts will actually protect me; no one will believe Sirius Black… Although I've lost the Dark Lord's protection, I can still have Dumbledore's.'

Various thoughts raced through his mind, but he was unable to make a decision.

"Damn Black, why don't you rot in Azkaban?"

He cursed viciously, but still dared not utter a sound.

Even so, the hospital bed he was lying on still made a slight creaking sound.

The next second, two house-elves appeared, looking at Pettigrew anxiously. "Are you alright, Mr. Peter?"

"Squeak!"

"Do you need food?" The little sprite on the left hesitated for a moment, then handed over a basket of food. "Are you alright? Is there anything you need...?"

"squeak!"

"We will bring you food or other services, as Headmaster Dumbledore instructed."

"squeak!"

The little elf didn't say anything, bowed, and then left.

"Squeak!"

Peter put his head into the basket almost without hesitation and began to eat with both his hands and mouth—it wasn't difficult at all, the food here was much tastier than rat food, and he had been eating like this for over a decade.

'It's probably not surveillance, just taking care of him...'

'Foolish Dumbledore, just as easily fooled as he was back then…'

'What use would two house-elves be if I needed to run away?'

'Do they expect me to make a mistake? I've been a mouse for over a decade... Just a few more days... Once Sirius is killed by the Dementors, I might gradually recover...'

“Dear Vice-Headmaster McGonagall, we are guarding Hogwarts.”

The knight in the oil painting stood up straight and bowed when he saw the person who came—although that was still in the oil painting.

“Thank you. Please keep an eye out for any unusual events that may occur here in the coming days,” Professor McGonagall nodded in return to the painting. “Pay special attention to the rats. Make sure they don’t get into the wards, and also make sure they don’t get out of there.”

Although Dumbledore had already cracked Peter's Animagus spell, she knew very well how terrifying it would be once mastered, as this transfiguration spell could be performed without the aid of a wand, especially since poor little Peter had lost his mind and would be even more dangerous if he really turned into a mouse and sneaked out.

With that in mind, she cast several more spells around the school hospital and once again asked the oil painting and armored guards to notify her immediately if anything unusual happened.

'Poor Peter, we can't inform the Ministry of Magic about this yet. If Sirius finds out, he'll definitely try to assassinate me.'

"He... should be fine, right? He hasn't attacked in three years, if really..."

"If Blake knew...who would be his primary target?"

"No...no, I promised Albus..."

"But... the school hospital can't treat that kind of injury, Madam Pomfrey can't do it... If we transfer to St. Mungo's, given the Ministry of Magic's scoundrel nature, they'll definitely make a big fuss about their contribution in discovering Pettigrew, claiming that they didn't do nothing."

“Once he’s sent to St. Mungo’s, that guy Black will most likely abandon Hogwarts and attack the poorly guarded hospital.”

"Heh...they really are good friends..."

"We need to add more protective measures to the hospital... He's like a rat now... What if he really does run away like a rat..."

"Insect tail, moon face, big feet and pointed fork."

William opened the map and stared blankly at the names on it.

Lupin called it Wormtail—it's Little Pettigrew.

Having four aliases and four friends, and being able to contact one of them, is practically an admission of guilt.

"Genius ideas, genius maps..."

William gazed at the dense lines on the map, at the secret passages, and at the names represented by the small black dots, and couldn't help but feel a greater sense of respect for Lupin, who was sleeping there.

With great perseverance, he put the map away and began to ponder the four nicknames and the map itself.

"A worm's tail... well, it's more like a rat's tail."

"So, Moonface must be Lupin—or at least it's highly likely."

"A werewolf that transforms upon seeing a full moon, Moon Face—what a simple and easy-to-understand name..."

"Big feet? That's interesting... Whose feet are particularly big?"

"And the pointed fork... that's even more incomprehensible."

"But a group of students actually explored every corner of Hogwarts, and the map they left behind even helped the two most troublesome Gryffindor students later on."

"…etc!"

"Lupin came to teach at the school this year, and he knew perfectly well what would happen after his werewolf identity was exposed!"

William glanced at Lupin, "The werewolf's transformation is unavoidable; at most, they can use a wolfsbane potion... but that cycle is too obvious. The Self-Defense Technique is specifically designed to deal with werewolves! Professor Snape, who is obsessed with dark magic, couldn't possibly not recognize it!"

"And if I'm not mistaken, all the professors at the university probably knew beforehand that Lupin was a werewolf!"

"It's destined not to stay, destined to attract criticism, and there's even a danger involved... not to mention Professor Snape, that old nemesis..."

"Bigfoot or the fork-like figure is Sirius Black, and Professor Lupin knows that he knows most of the secret passages!"

"He's here to capture Sirius!"

"But knowing the secret passage... and still managing to sneak into Hogwarts despite being under the influence of a bunch of Dementors..."

"He was certain that Sirius could fool the Dementors!"

"No, that's not right...it's not just that..."

William instantly drew his wand and then used it to knock the drunken Lupin unconscious.

"I'm sorry, Professor Lupin."

He said to Lupin, who had actually fainted, with a slightly apologetic tone, "I've searched other people's offices, so I will never let something like this happen in my office."

William hastily added various protective spells to his newly acquired door and ran straight to Filch's office.

"Excuse me, Filch, I need Hogwarts' weather records for the last twenty years. Do you have them?"

"Of course, how could such basic records not be kept?"

Filch, who was feeding the cat, stood up and quickly found what William needed: "Twenty years of records are all here, Professor William."

"Thank you, Filch. I'll treat you to drinks another day."

"No need for that. Just put a few more students in solitary confinement, Professor. Those kids have been quite mischievous lately..."

That was a difficult question to answer, so William chuckled and left. He then returned to his office and, in front of the still-sleepy Lupin, began to look through the weather records.

"Just those few years are fine. Let's say they're geniuses, from second grade to seventh grade. The full moon can't be cloudy, and there has to be a massive downpour..."

"Found it! It really existed, and it was found within those few years!"

After confirming everything was correct, William casually lifted the spell on Lupin, pretending nothing had happened, and had the elf take him back to his office.

At the dinner table the next day.

"What, a record of mandrake cultivation?"

“William,” Adams said, looking surprised, “what do you need this for?”

Before William could answer, Adams continued, "But there really are some. They're too precious and too dangerous, so the school keeps records when they decide to plant them. I'll bring them to you this afternoon."

"Thanks, Adams," William said, his eyes slightly darkened—he had stayed up late researching yesterday and was too excited to sleep well today, so he got up to look for information again.

"Just don't want mandrake, I will absolutely never grow that devilish herb again!"

Adams looked wary.

William rolled his eyes at this—he hadn't even dared to study human transformation techniques yet, let alone Animagus.

By the afternoon, the necessary information had been delivered, and with just a simple search, William confirmed that the children had successfully taken advantage of the school—a batch of mandrakes had been grown in the school greenhouse while they were in school.

"It's confirmed. Little Star is an Animagus who is training on campus."

“Professor Lu Ping should know—he couldn’t speak for a month during his first cultivation session. You can’t hide this from your friends, let alone the crazy steps that followed.”

"So, here's the question..."