"I am sorry to call you here at this hour, Sirius, Remus."
The July sunlight streamed in through the large windows, making Dumbledore's office, which was filled with all sorts of curious little ornaments, seem a little brighter and more spacious. Albus Dumbledore was seated in his chair, and opposite him were two familiar faces—Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.
Although Peter Pettigrew's death from the backlash of an oath had indeed been beyond Dumbledore and the others' expectations, Sirius had ultimately been successfully cleared of all charges.
In truth, if the Wizengamot had put even slightly more effort into his trial thirteen years ago, they would not have directly convicted him as a Death Eater and thrown him into Azkaban. Pettigrew's recently deceased corpse itself was important evidence for overturning the conclusion from back then, and with Dumbledore's unprecedented prestige at this stage on top of that... clearing Sirius's name was almost too easy.
After regaining his innocence, he was finally able to reunite with his godson. And after Dumbledore personally destroyed Voldemort's soul, the protective charm on Harry's body was no longer quite so important. He no longer needed to be forced to stay with the Dursleys to recharge the spell—and the sharp contrast between his old life and new life also quickly made his relationship with Sirius become harmonious...
As for Lupin, he had returned to Hogwarts at Dumbledore's invitation and once again taken up the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
Just as Avada had previously guessed, Voldemort's death did indeed mean that the curse on the "Defence Against the Dark Arts professor" had been completely ended. As for the specific reason, it was only after Voldemort's soul became whole again that the clues appeared under magical perception—
That curse had been on Voldemort himself.
To put it simply, the specific content of that curse was: "I curse Tom Riddle to become the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts." Generally speaking, if Voldemort did not become the professor as required, that curse should have tormented Voldemort himself. But Voldemort's strength lay in the fact that, through his incomparably powerful magical attainments, he had forcibly transferred the price of the curse onto each generation of Defence Against the Dark Arts professors.
In other words, as long as he was not the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, the curse attached to him would travel thousands of miles to torment the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at the time...
As for the year of the Philosopher's Stone—sorry, but Hogwarts' staff roster stated that the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at the time was Quirinus Quirrell, not Voldemort, even if he was actually attached to the back of Quirrell's head. And that curse clearly was not very good at adapting to circumstances...
And so, the curse Voldemort had fired twenty years ago struck himself twenty years later.
Therefore, after Dumbledore confirmed that the curse had dissipated along with Voldemort's death, Lupin was able to smoothly take office again. And after undergoing the werewolf cure surgery, he no longer needed to worry that he would harm the students...
"It's part of the job, Professor."
Sirius grinned.
"Anyway, as a newly joined school governor, I would have had to come back to Hogwarts sooner or later. And I suppose Moony also needs to get familiar with life as a professor again..."
"Well, as long as I haven't delayed your affairs. How is Harry?"
"He's doing wonderfully."
The moment Harry was mentioned, Sirius immediately became radiant with delight.
"After breaking away from those dreadful Muggle relatives, his entire complexion has visibly improved quite a bit... Though he still isn't very used to living in my family's old house. This holiday, he spent nearly a third of the time staying at Arthur's house. I even went along and freeloaded a few meals..."
"You should restrain him a little too."
Lupin listened from the side and smiled.
"He'll have to face his O.W.L.s next year as well. For the sake of his future, he still needs to pay some attention to that. The value of wizarding level examinations is quite different from before now, isn't it?"
"Why care about that? That university doesn't teach people how to play Quidditch. Harry is now fully focused on becoming a professional Seeker... If worst comes to worst, after he retires, he can always take the university's own entrance exam."
"But then—"
"Ahem."
Seeing Sirius and Lupin fall into conversation again, Dumbledore had no choice but to cough twice more to draw their attention back.
"The main reason I asked you here this time is to inform you that the results of the investigation into Peter Pettigrew have come out."
"Peter?"
The moment they heard that name, the smiles on Sirius's and Lupin's faces instantly vanished, and they both revealed uneasy expressions.
"So what exactly happened?"
"I regret to say... based on the clues currently in our possession, the truth is very likely the one you least wished to hear."
Dumbledore slowly shook his head, then drew a stack of documents from under the desk and pushed it toward Sirius and Lupin.
"These are internal records of the Death Eaters from back then, searched from the homes of those pure-blood families over these past two months... Take a look."
Sirius and Lupin held their breaths as they took the documents and began reading them word by word.
For a time, apart from the crisp sound of parchment being turned, there was no other movement in Dumbledore's office...
"He..."
After who knew how long, Sirius's trembling voice finally broke the still air again.
"He actually really... I... but..."
"Why... why... clearly..."
His chest rose and fell violently. His hands pressed tightly against the stack of documents, as though he wanted to tear them apart to deny the contents written on them. Beside him, Lupin gripped his arm tightly, but his own face had also become extremely ugly...
When they learned that Pettigrew had died from the backlash of an oath, they had thought they were already prepared to face the worst possible result.
But when the decisive evidence was laid so bare before them, they finally discovered that they did not seem to be as resilient as they had imagined.
"Your initial deduction was correct."
Dumbledore's voice carried an indescribable sorrow.
"It was indeed Peter who chose to join Voldemort because of cowardice and his tendency to worship power. After becoming the Secret-Keeper, he betrayed the address of the Potter family to Voldemort..."
"But why?!"
Sirius suddenly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot as he stared at Dumbledore. He shouted in a pleading tone, as though begging him to tell him that everything before his eyes was merely a prank.
"He was so sincere back then! He also uncovered so much intelligence... And the final Unbreakable Vow was something he asked to make on his own initiative, wasn't it?"
"Why was all of that fake?!"
"...I don't know."
Dumbledore was silent for a long while before slowly speaking.
"But I have a theory."
"His acts of betrayal were originally born from his own cowardice, so perhaps, deep inside, he also felt regret and unease. And after Voldemort's fall, the sense of security Voldemort had once given him abruptly vanished, producing intense and extremely complicated psychological pressure in him..."
"And in order to escape such pressure, it is very possible that he gave birth to certain fantasies himself, telling himself that he had not truly betrayed anyone, that he had not wronged his old friends, and that he was not one of Voldemort's people. Combined with the small amount of knowledge he learned while in the Death Eater camp... the explanation he gave us was probably born in this way."
"Moreover, as time accumulated, he would believe those fantasies more and more deeply, until his original personality was completely twisted. That is why, when he told us those things, he behaved so sincerely, and why he took the initiative to propose using an Unbreakable Vow to bind himself... But when he had to face imprisonment again, his original cowardly nature acted up once more, urging him to break free from the vow and flee far away... Then he died from the vow's backlash."
"This is the only possibility I can think of."
"So..."
Sirius looked at his own hands in disbelief.
"So it really was me who killed James?"
"It was really because I thought myself clever and changed the Secret-Keeper to Pettigrew that he was able to betray James's family? If that's true, then I... I..."
"No—calm down, Padfoot. Look at this."
Lupin suddenly pressed down on his shoulder and pointed at a passage in the document with his other hand.
"You made that decision under the effect of a Confundus Charm. During that period, Pettigrew had been secretly casting Confundus Charms on you to push you into making that decision. This was part of the Death Eaters' plan from the very beginning."
"..."
Sirius did not make a sound. He only lowered his head and sobbed silently.
"All right, Professor Dumbledore, I think he needs to go out and clear his head... Is there anything else?"
Lupin helped Sirius slowly stand and asked Dumbledore in a low voice. After seeing the latter gently shake his head, he took Sirius and left the office directly.
And after watching the two figures disappear through the doorway, Dumbledore also let out a heavy, long sigh. Then he extended a finger and lightly brushed it over the document Lupin had opened...
Immediately, the records stating that "Pettigrew cast Confundus Charms on Black" vanished without a trace under his finger, as though they had never existed from the very beginning.
(End of Chapter)