Second floor of the Dursley house, Dudley's large bedroom.
A familiar place, familiar people—another meeting had begun.
"Speak, Dumbledore. What did you find?" Dudley asked.
Dumbledore gathered his thoughts, carefully choosing his words before speaking.
"First of all, I have verified the truth from Sirius Black. As we had analyzed, Sirius was never a servant of Voldemort—Peter Pettigrew was.
Back then, Sirius had a sudden idea, believing that their timid and inconspicuous friend, Peter, would be a better Secret-Keeper for the Potters than he was. He suggested this to James, and James agreed.
Unfortunately, Peter had already betrayed them out of fear and sided with Voldemort, becoming his spy. That's what led to the tragedy of the Potters."
Upon hearing this, Dudley didn't react much, merely feeling another wave of frustration over Sirius's foolishness.
Harry, on the other hand, felt his emotions stir. Although he had already suspected this truth, hearing it confirmed made the full reality of his parents' fate sink in completely.
"Write it down, Harry."
At Dudley's reminder, Harry took out the black leather notebook he had been using and added notes below his previous entry about Snape's involvement.
Peter Pettigrew – The despicable traitor, the main accomplice responsible for Mom and Dad's deaths. Unforgivable. Must pay in blood. Whereabouts unknown.
Sirius Black – A foolish friend of my parents. His mistake indirectly led to the tragedy. Forgivable, but should be treated as a stranger for now.
"Dumbledore, I assume you got more from Sirius than just that?"
Dudley looked at Dumbledore and asked with certainty.
"I did. Sirius told me that he, James, and Remus helped Peter become an Animagus. He can transform into a rat.
I suspect that all these years, Peter has been hiding in his rat form."
Dumbledore's response made Dudley sigh.
"Seems like we need to start searching for a rat with a missing toe. Without a lead, that's like finding a needle in a haystack."
Despite his words, Dudley was already formulating a plan.
"Oh, right. Sirius found this for me. It's a piece of an old photograph from their school days."
Dumbledore took out a small section of a moving magical photograph, clearly torn from a group picture. It showed a younger Peter Pettigrew with his rat-like features and shifty expression.
Dudley took a quick glance, committing it to memory before handing it to Harry.
"You didn't tell Sirius that Peter might still be alive, did you? And where did you take Sirius after getting him out of Azkaban?"
"As you instructed, I didn't tell him. I only questioned him under the pretense of clearing his name, and he didn't suspect anything," Dumbledore replied. "Sirius is in terrible condition—hunched, sickly, and pale. I took him to the Black family's ancestral home at 12 Grimmauld Place in London, a location hidden by magic.
There's a house-elf named Kreacher there who can take care of him. I told Sirius he must stay there until his name is officially cleared, and he agreed.
However… he wants to see Harry. He wants to apologize for his past mistakes. He also said…"
"What did he say?"
Noticing Dumbledore's hesitation, Dudley felt an ominous premonition and pressed for an answer.
"Sirius said that if Harry isn't happy living with the Dursleys, he can come live with him. He also said that when Harry was born, James and Lily had agreed that he would be Harry's godfather."
As soon as Dumbledore finished speaking, he instinctively stepped back—he could already sense the impending eruption of fury.
"The nerve of him! That delusional idiot is spouting nonsense!"
Sure enough, Dudley erupted in rage, jumping to his feet and shouting, "Godfather?! He still dares to call himself Harry's godfather?! Let him dream on! I will never let such a foolish man be Harry's godfather!
No, no one will be! Harry doesn't need a godfather!
To hell with godfathers!"
Dumbledore was shocked by Dudley's emotional outburst. Unlike the previous times Dudley had surprised him with intelligence and cunning, this reaction was different—peculiar, even. He couldn't quite put his finger on why it felt so unusual.
Harry also stared in surprise, but he quickly understood the reason behind his cousin's anger.
Dudley didn't want some outsider to take his family away.
"Don't worry, cousin. I'm happy here. I won't go looking for Sirius," Harry promised.
Dudley took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down before speaking again.
"No. When I have time, I'll go see that fool myself. If I don't scold him until his face turns white, he won't understand why the clouds are so white."
"Uh… Dudley, maybe we should change the subject," Dumbledore suggested, sensing the tense atmosphere.
Dudley exhaled another long breath and sat back down. "Alright. Go on."
"It's about the Death Eaters and Voldemort's Horcruxes."
Dumbledore's tone grew serious. "I found a clue to one of Voldemort's Horcruxes in the memory of Bellatrix Lestrange, his most devoted follower.
Voldemort turned a golden cup belonging to Helga Hufflepuff, one of Hogwarts' founders, into a Horcrux.
He told Bellatrix that it was extremely precious to him and had her store it safely in the Lestrange family vault at Gringotts."
"That's great news! Dumbledore, when do you plan to retrieve it?" Dudley asked.
Originally, he had planned to reveal the locations of Voldemort's Horcruxes to Dumbledore one by one after starting school, allowing them to be collected and stored elsewhere.
But now that Dumbledore had discovered one on his own, it accelerated the process—which only meant Dudley would have to get busier this month.
"I've already retrieved it!"
Dumbledore declared triumphantly, looking quite pleased with himself. From his pocket, he pulled out a small but exquisitely crafted golden cup with two handles and placed it on Dudley's desk, grinning like an excited old man showing off a trick.
"…What?!"
Dudley stared at the cup, then at Dumbledore's smug expression, utterly shocked.
He had assumed Dumbledore would come seeking advice on how to legally access a family vault without permission. Instead, the old man had gone ahead and pulled off a heist!