Harry realised he had a memory like a sieve when it came to painful lessons.
How many times had he been screwed over by Defence Against the Dark Arts professors? Yet he never learned, always falling for it again next time.
He suddenly recalled something Wayne had once said.
The only lesson humanity learns from history is that humanity never learns from history.
How bloody apt!
"Why!"
Harry glared at Lupin with grief and indignation: "I trusted you so much! Why did you deceive me? And colluding with Black!"
"Didn't you say you were my father's best friend? You're actually helping the man who got him killed!"
"That's not true, Harry!" Black, now upright with assistance, urgently interjected, wanting to explain. But Harry had already swung his wand again.
"Expelliarmus!"
Lupin fired two spells in quick succession - the first collided with Harry's magic mid-air, while the second shot unimpeded towards Harry. Yet an invisible barrier suddenly materialised, deflecting the spell to blast a crater in the wall.
"Defensive artefact?" Lupin looked startled, but Harry was already prepared, firing two more Disarming Charms that forced Lupin into continuous defence.
"Shadow Bind!"
Harry suddenly growled. Lupin only felt a tremendous force yank at his feet, making him stagger.
"Truly James's son!"
Sirius's eyes flashed with admiration, but now wasn't the time for compliments.
Lupin had to protect the cage in his hands, while Harry - relying on his magical artefact - attacked relentlessly without defence, actually suppressing Lupin temporarily. Sirius knew he must restrain Harry now for this truth-revealing confrontation to continue.
So he transformed back into the fierce black dog and pounced at Harry and Ron.
Ron also snapped out of his daze from this rapid succession of events, drawing his wand to assist Harry.
"GRRROWL!"
Sirius's thunderous bark made Ron and Harry jump. He nimbly snatched Ron's wand with his teeth first, then transformed back, aiming the wand at Harry.
"Expelliarmus!"
Facing attacks from both sides, Harry's protective barriers shattered one after another. Overwhelmed, his rhythmical assault fell apart.
Soon, when the final Shield Charm broke, Lupin's spell deflected his attack, and Sirius's Disarming Charm struck true, confiscating Harry's wand.
"Harry, you really take after James. No - at your age, James's Disarming Charm wasn't this outstanding."
Sirius twirled both confiscated wands, offering generous praise.
"You dare mention him?" Harry roared. "You've won! I misjudged you - just kill me now, like you killed my parents!"
The smile vanished from Sirius's face, replaced by deep remorse.
Then, under Harry and Ron's astonished gazes, he tossed their wands back to them.
The two instinctively caught them, still unable to believe that Black had returned their wands so easily.
But what shocked them even more came next. With a flick of his wand and a sharp crack, Lupin sent a rope shooting from its tip, binding Sirius tightly.
"Harry, Ron, does this give us a chance to explain now?"
Lupin spoke up: "I want you to think calmly. If I were conspiring with Sirius, all these steps would be unnecessary. We could simply kill you outright."
Harry was utterly bewildered. He looked at Sirius, who was staring back at him with eyes shimmering with excitement and nostalgia.
"What on earth is going on..."
"Moony, could you hurry up?" Sirius said impatiently. "Hurry up and change him back. I can't wait to kill someone."
Ron and Harry turned deathly pale.
"Shut up! Don't call me that," Lupin snapped. "Your innocence hasn't been proven yet. I need to verify what you've said!"
Though the rat's bizarre behaviour and unnaturally long lifespan had already convinced him by seventy per cent, he wouldn't believe it until he saw the final proof.
Sirius shrugged indifferently. "Haven't seen you in over a decade, and your temper's grown quite a bit."
Once Lupin saw he'd settled down, he addressed the two bewildered boys:
"First, I must say I'm not Black's accomplice. I provided no help when he escaped Azkaban or during his two break-ins at the castle."
"Last full moon, he took advantage of my weakened state after taking the Wolfsbane Potion and came to my office."
Lupin recounted the events slowly.
He'd been terrified when he first saw Sirius, thinking the man had come to silence him.
He was probably the only person in the world who knew Sirius was an Animagus.
But Sirius hadn't attacked. Instead, while Lupin was too weak to resist, he'd said a great many things.
First, he claimed he wasn't responsible for James and Lily's deaths. Before the Fidelius Charm was cast, he and James had switched the Secret Keeper to Peter Pettigrew. When he went after Peter, the rat had blown up a street and escaped in the chaos.
He'd only realised Peter was still alive after seeing the Weasley family photo in the newspaper.
At first, Lupin hadn't believed a word of it. But as Sirius listed more and more of the rat's abnormal behaviours—how his previous break-in hadn't been targeting the wrong bed, but searching for Scabbers—Lupin grew uncertain.
Even when Lupin's weakness passed, Sirius remained, calmly spreading his arms:
"If you don't believe me, kill me now. Just don't hand me over to those disgusting Dementors."
"Then why didn't you come to me earlier?" Lupin asked.
"I did have a helper before," Sirius said gloomily. "But it absolutely refused to help me bring Peter out. I couldn't get the password either, so I had to take the risk."
"Lupin, just let me kill Peter. I'd die the next second without complaint."
In the end, Lupin was only half-convinced but agreed to help him once, on the condition that after the plan succeeded, Black would surrender himself so Lupin could verify Scabbers' identity.
...
After hearing this lengthy explanation, Ron was utterly dumbfounded, merely repeating over and over that Scabbers was just a rat, not Peter Pettigrew.
Harry immediately retorted, "But Fudge said so, and Professor McGonagall admitted it too."
"It was Peter Pettigrew who betrayed you! He wanted to avenge my parents, but you murdered him—and thirteen innocent Muggles!"
Harry recalled the scene when he'd overheard Fudge speaking with several professors, tears welling up uncontrollably as his grip tightened around his wand.
Noticing something amiss, Lupin quickly interjected, "Regardless, one spell is all it takes to reveal his true form. Harry, can you wait just a little longer?"
"If Black's lying to me, I'll kill him myself."
"No! He's not Peter! He's just Scabbers!" Ron suddenly shouted.
Fearing he might do something reckless, Lupin disarmed him again, then pointed his wand at the rat screeching madly in its cage and intoned:
"Reveal your form!"
A blue light shot from the wand, enveloping the rat. Its whole body trembled before beginning to transform.
A head emerged, followed by stubby limbs. The wooden cage splintered apart as a short, pudgy man appeared on the floor, cowering and wringing his hands.
"Peter... so it really is you!" Lupin gritted his teeth. "No greeting for an old friend?"
"Let me go, Lupin! Let me kill him!" Black suddenly roared, the memory of switching Secret-Keepers flashing through his mind at the sight of Pettigrew.
In the strictest sense, Harry wasn't wrong.
He had indeed 'killed' James and Lily.
"Remus... S-Sirius, long time no see." Pettigrew's beady eyes kept darting toward the door. Noticing this, Lupin unceremoniously bound him.
"Harry, Ron—do you believe us now?"
Harry swallowed hard, his gaze involuntarily shifting to Ron.
At this moment, Ron was utterly dumbstruck, his brain entering a state of overload.
So... he'd been eating, bathing, and even... sleeping with such a repulsive man?
The thought of having cuddled with Scabbers through countless nights made Ron's stomach churn violently as he took in Peter Pettigrew's revolting appearance. He suddenly vomited.
Harry looked at him with pity.
If it had been him sharing a bed with such a vile man for so long, he'd have...
No, best not dwell on that. His own stomach was beginning to feel queasy.
Harry wrenched his thoughts away, still eyeing Lupin and the deranged Black with suspicion as he voiced his doubts:
"This only proves Peter Pettigrew is alive. Perhaps he hid with the Weasleys to escape you."
Peter seized upon this lifeline, nodding frantically.
"Harry, you're as wise as your father. I was terrified of this murderer! The Black Family are die-hard Death Eaters – his own brother was one!"
Then he turned pleadingly to Ron. "Kind young master, save your poor Scabbers!"
"Urgh~!"
Ron retched even more violently.
"He's lying!" Sirius's veins bulged. "Yes! My brother was a Death Eater – what's that to do with me? I'd long severed ties with the Black Family."
"I can vouch for that," Lupin interjected firmly. "Even at school, Sirius had poor relations with his family. He was the first Black in Gryffindor."
"After graduation, he never returned home – was nearly disowned."
"You're in league with him!" Peter shrieked. "You both want me dead! You're the Dark Lord's lapdogs!"
"Since when do you call him the Dark Lord?"
Lupin, unfazed by the slander, merely smiled faintly, his wand emitting an eerie green glow:
"Don't fret, Peter. I know several interrogation spells. You'll talk eventually."
"No! You can't!" Peter stared at the green light in terror.
"Harry! Help me! I was James's best friend!"
"How dare you speak James's name, Peter!" Sirius roared.
Harry stood utterly bewildered, unsure whom to believe.
Just as Lupin prepared to cast the spell, Peter finally cracked under the psychological pressure.
"You don't understand the Dark Lord's terror! He found me – demanded information or death."
"Then you should have died! Why betray James? Why Lily!"
"Why should I be the one to die!"
Peter suddenly erupted, his beady eyes fixed on Sirius: "Did you and James ever truly consider me a friend?"
"No! You didn't! You just wanted someone to fawn over you at the right moments!"
"James needed my flattery during Quidditch; you required praise for your pranks! To you, I wasn't a friend – just a lackey, comic relief!"
"When pleased, you'd humour me. But cross you..."
"Sirius, have you forgotten how James mocked me for amusement after Lily rejected him?"
"Everything, everything is unequal!"
The entire hall fell silent as everyone held their breath.
Harry listened in disbelief—was this truly the kind of person his father had been?
Wasn't Peter Pettigrew essentially playing the same role as Crabbe and Goyle?
"Peter..." Sirius's voice was hoarse. "Is this really how you saw us?"
"Am I not speaking the truth? Or am I wronging you?"
"Remus, don't think you're innocent either."
Completely unrestrained, Peter Pettigrew now turned his accusations towards Lupin:
"You never stopped them. You just watched. Do you know what you were in James and Sirius's eyes?"
"To them, only they were equals—two pure-blood heirs, ha..."
"You were just a tool to make them feel cool, to make them feel important."
"A werewolf is just a werewolf. Otherwise, why didn't they choose you as Secret-Keeper?"
Lupin's pupils contracted violently.
"No, that's not true," Sirius Black hurriedly refuted. "Remus, the situation back then was special—a whole pack of werewolves..."
"Enough, Sirius," Lupin said softly. "I understand your concerns. All werewolves were Voldemort's followers. It was natural."
"Peter, no matter what you say, it doesn't change the fact that you betrayed us."
Lupin quickly regained his composure. "Since you've admitted it, that settles things. Harry, you believe us now, don't you?"
Harry nodded instinctively.
Lupin untied the ropes binding Sirius. The moment he was free, Sirius lunged at Peter, punching and kicking him relentlessly, making him howl in pain, then snatched Ron's wand from him.
Harry gasped and shouted, "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like?" Sirius snarled. "Killing him—for James!"
"No, you can't kill him!"
Harry quickly cast a Disarming Charm, wrenching the wand from Sirius's grip and pulling him away from Peter.
"We can take him to the castle, hand him over to the Dementors."
"He's the reason your parents are dead!" Sirius roared.
"But you're innocent. If you kill him, no matter what, you'll end up in Azkaban."
Panting, Harry stood firmly between Sirius and Peter. "Don't become a murderer for the sake of a bad person. My father would've thought the same."
"Harry..." Sirius's nose stung, his eyes growing wet.
Lupin sniffed as well.
"Fine, we'll do it your way," Sirius forced a smile. "We'll take him to the castle."
Then he glared viciously at Peter. "If you even think of transforming, I'll kill you on the spot."
Peter nodded frantically.
Noticing Ron's despondent expression, Sirius walked over and patted his shoulder reassuringly.
"Sorry, my actions cost you your pet. Once my name's cleared, I'll get you a new one."
"Really?" Ron immediately perked up. "Can it not be a rat?"
Just the sight of rats made him queasy now.
"Of course," Sirius grinned. "You can have whatever you want."
Lupin tightened the ropes again, ensuring Peter couldn't escape, then levitated him with his wand.
Just as the group, each harbouring different emotions, prepared to return to the castle, the door swung open first.
A streak of red light shot in, striking Lupin and sending his wand flying as his entire body was hurled upwards.
Everyone was startled, with Harry instinctively firing off a spell in response.
A transparent barrier materialised, deflecting his spell. A figure slowly stepped inside.
"Snape!" Harry exclaimed in shock.
Snape ignored him, scanning the room with a cold gaze before spotting Sirius and allowing a sneer to twist his features.
"Reunion of old classmates, is it? Why not include me too?"
"As thanks, I'll have the Dementors send you all a kiss..."