Perhaps it was because Fudge had accepted a hefty bribe, but this time, the Ministry of Magic moved with remarkable speed.
Even as the Aurors were preparing to withdraw, special expedited editions of the Daily Prophet had already been distributed across the wizarding world. Not only did they clear Sirius Black of all charges, but they also clarified that he was not a werewolf. At the same time, a wanted notice for Peter Pettigrew was issued.
And that wasn't all. As the wizarding world revealed Peter's illegal Animagus form, the Muggle government—under the pretext of eradicating plague—launched a massive rat extermination campaign. They even circulated a description of Peter's rat features, warning that he was the "king of viruses."
Although the wanted poster never stated where Peter had been hiding as a rat all these years, Mrs. Weasley recognized Scabbers at once. Terrified, she immediately wrote to all her children, asking after their safety. Then she meticulously rid the entire Burrow of every last rat, worried that any of them might be Scabbers' offspring.
The door to the Headmaster's office swung open again, and Snape strode in.
He shot a glance at Douglas Holmes, who was sipping tea and chatting with Dumbledore while keeping one eye on the magical radar. Then, fixing Dumbledore with a pointed stare and a tone dripping with sarcasm, he said,
"Headmaster, I have important matters to discuss with you. Please—" his lips curled in a cold smile—"ask any unnecessary personnel to leave."
Douglas calmly put away the magical radar, but made no move to leave. If anything, Snape's peculiar emphasis on the word "please" only stoked the rebellious streak of Hogwarts' youngest professor.
Seeing Douglas's lack of response, Snape raised his voice, "Unnecessary personnel..."
Dumbledore cleared his throat gently, cutting him off. "Severus, what is this important news?"
Snape gave Douglas a look of thinly veiled disdain, then turned to Dumbledore. "It concerns Trelawney..."
He broke off, confident that Dumbledore would understand. Although he hadn't been present when Trelawney made her prophecy, and most of their colleagues dismissed her mystical pronouncements, as someone who had once eavesdropped on a real prophecy, Snape immediately recognized the signs when he heard about it from others. That's why he'd come to Dumbledore in such haste.
Douglas's eyes lit up. "Did Professor Trelawney prophesy that Peter will definitely find Voldemort?"
Dumbledore's gaze sharpened, a flicker of suspicion in his eyes—how did Douglas know it was a true prophecy? After all, everyone at Hogwarts had witnessed Trelawney's usual theatrics. Unless she'd managed to convince Douglas she was a genuine Seer, or Snape had told him...
If Dumbledore hadn't seen her deliver a real prophecy with his own eyes years ago, he'd have thought she was a fraud as well.
Snape's expression grew visibly colder, his eyes darting between Dumbledore and Douglas. Dumbledore had promised to keep that matter secret—so if Douglas knew about Trelawney's abilities, surely it was Dumbledore who had told him.
For a moment, the three simply stared one another down—Douglas watching Snape, Snape scrutinizing both of them, Dumbledore weighing them in turn.
In the end, Dumbledore asked Douglas to step outside. Though he had no idea how Douglas had learned Trelawney might be capable of true prophecy, he would honor the promise he'd made to Snape all those years ago.
—
When Douglas returned to his own office, he found only Remus Lupin sitting there, reading quietly.
"Remus, where's Sirius?" Douglas asked.
Lupin set down his book with a smile. "I told him you were arranging for Harry to meet him, so he should tidy himself up and make a good impression. He's gone to London with Dobby."
Douglas eyed Lupin with a puzzled look. "You don't seem the least bit worried about Peter escaping. Here you are, reading, and Sirius is thinking about a father-son reunion?"
Lupin chuckled. "Padfoot and I talked it over. We're pretty sure you let Wormtail go on purpose. You demonstrated that cage for us before—if you'd really wanted to keep him, he never would've gotten out."
Douglas raised an eyebrow. "So neither of you are angry?"
Lupin tried to stifle a grin, then finally said, "Padfoot says you're not a good person. If Wormtail had any sense, he'd have let you catch him quietly. If he ran, it's because you've got something even nastier waiting for him—maybe worse than a Dementor's Kiss..."
He paused, curiosity twinkling in his eyes. "I do wonder what Padfoot's been through to have such an opinion of you."
Douglas jabbed a finger toward the fireplace, feigning outrage. "Slander! Utter slander!"
Bang bang bang!
At that moment, there was a sudden knock at the office door. In the mirror by the entrance, Douglas could see Harry's mop of hair pressed against the glass, with the rest of the Charon Detective Society crowding behind him.
Douglas strode over and opened the door.
Harry wore a bright smile, ready to deliver his well-rehearsed speech, but the look Douglas gave him made him snap his mouth shut.
"What are you all doing, crowding around in broad daylight?"
"Think you did well on exams, so you don't need to review anymore?"
"Holiday? Who told you holidays mean you don't have to study? Have you finished your homework?"
"You think you did well this time?"
"All of you—back to your books! Harry, you stay!"
The group, who had come so cheerfully to claim their rewards, scattered for the stairs in a flash.
Harry shot Ron and Hermione a desperate look, but they both just shrugged helplessly and hurried away.
Down the corridor, the others craned their necks and whispered,
"What's gotten into the Professor?"
"Is he upset we let the rat get away?"
"I caught the most rats last time!"
"This is all the Aurors' fault."
"Yeah, if the Aurors hadn't shown up, we might've caught the rat!"
"Hermione, do you think we'll still get our reward?"
"Ron, you're vice president—why don't you go up and ask?"
...
Head lowered, Harry followed Douglas into the office.
Only then did he notice Lupin was there as well.
Lupin smiled kindly at Harry's nervousness. "No need to worry—Douglas isn't upset with any of you."
Harry glanced at Douglas, who was sitting off to the side, and nodded. Then he started sneaking glances at Lupin, trying to match the man before him with everything he'd learned—he even began to wonder if everyone might have been mistaken after all.
Lupin caught his look and merely gestured to a chair. "Sit down. We'll probably have to wait a while."
Harry looked around, puzzled. Dobby wasn't here—were they waiting for him?
Douglas snapped, "Stop craning your neck—we're waiting for your blasted godfather!"
Harry's eyes widened in shock. "Sirius Black? Cousin, you really know where he is?"
Seeing Harry's astonished face, Douglas suddenly felt his mood lift. "Not only do I know where he is, you've met him already.
Tsk tsk, you fed him plenty of bones, threw him frisbees, even ruffled his doggy head... Ha! A real dog, that one!"
Harry froze. Feeding bones, throwing frisbees...
"Padfoot is Black? He's an Animagus too?"
Throughout this, Lupin just sat to the side, wearing an indulgent, almost aunt-like smile.
Douglas nodded, then offered a rare compliment. "Didn't think you could put two and two together so quickly. Not bad."
Harry managed a wry smile, then asked, "Cousin, if you always knew Black was innocent and kept him hidden, why did you have us investigate in the first place?"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📚 BOOK COMPLETED ON PATREON!📚
This story has reached its conclusion on my Patreon!
🔥 Full story available now
💎 Exclusive bonus content & early access to new books
👉 Join my Patreon community today!
[✨ patreon.com/GoldenLong]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━