"Where is Professor Greengrass now?" Hermione forced herself to stay calm, but her voice trembled as she rapidly scanned the map.
"He's… he's near the greenhouses!"
Ron pointed at the area marked as the Herbology greenhouses, where an ink blot labelled "Sagres Greengrass" was moving.
"We need to find the Professor," Hermione said at once, her voice sharp with fear. "We have to tell him that Black is in the castle, in Professor Lupin's office, right now."
"Hermione's right," Ron immediately agreed. "We need to tell an adult!"
Although Harry desperately wanted to rush over and confirm the truth for himself, the last shred of his sanity restrained him.
Just as the five of them huddled together, anxiously confirming Sagres's location on the map, Hermione's peripheral vision caught a tiny moving ink blot.
Not far above the corridor they were standing in, a name was clearly marked:
Noctis
"Wait. Noctis?" Hermione suddenly looked up, following the direction indicated on the map to the tall, stone-carved archway of the corridor.
The others instinctively followed her gaze.
Perched in the shadows among the towering gargoyle statues lining one side of the corridor stood Professor Greengrass's raven.
Its dark eyes stared down at them without blinking, fixed on the unfolded Marauder's Map in their hands.
"Merlin's smelly socks!" Fred and George shrieked in unison, their faces instantly falling as if the world had ended.
"It's over! It's all over! It saw it! It definitely saw it! The map's going to be confiscated!"
"Mischief managed!"
As the twins wailed, Noctis perched above tilted its head slightly, letting out a faint click, like some kind of signal.
The next moment, just a few steps in front of the five of them, the air twisted and rippled soundlessly, like water.
Then Sagres's figure materialised out of thin air, standing before them.
He first glanced at the terrified Fred and George, who were desperately trying to hide the map behind their backs, before his gaze landed precisely on the Marauder's Map they had just hastily put away.
"Professor, Sirius Black is at Hogwarts, and he's in Professor Lupin's office right now," Hermione reported at once.
To their surprise, Sagres showed no sign of shock upon hearing the news.
Noctis quietly beat its wings and settled onto Sagres's shoulder, its black eyes still fixed on the group.
"Yes. It seems you've discovered something you shouldn't have," Sagres said calmly, extending his hand toward them.
With long faces, Fred and George handed the parchment over into his outstretched palm.
Sagres's slender fingers traced the worn edges and blank surface of the map, a faint glimmer passing through his calm grey eyes.
He did not activate it immediately. Instead, he lifted his head and slowly surveyed the five nervous students standing before him.
"An exquisitely crafted magical item," he said in a low, even voice. "One that peers into the privacy and whereabouts of others."
His gaze lingered briefly on Fred and George. They lowered their heads, though their eyes were still filled with anxiety over the map's fate.
Sagres's attention returned to the parchment in his hand.
He did not recite the spell the way George had. Instead, he drew his wand and pointed it steadily at the parchment.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
After a few seconds, the parchment responded to the magic. Familiar inked lines, names, and moving footprints surfaced once more, as though the map had come alive.
Sagres's deep grey eyes swept across it, quickly locking onto Professor Lupin's office. The ink blot labelled "Sirius Black" was still there, unmistakably clear.
There was no surprise on his face, only a quiet sense of confirmation.
"There's no need to hide it any longer," Sagres said as he looked up, his gaze calm as it settled on the young witches and wizards. "Follow me."
Without further explanation, he turned and strode toward the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor's office.
Noctis lifted silently from his shoulder and vanished into the depths of the corridor, flying off to notify the Headmaster and the other professors.
The five students exchanged confused looks, then hurried after Sagres, not daring to hesitate.
When they reached Professor Lupin's office, the door was closed.
Sagres knocked once, then pushed it open and stepped inside.
The office was dim, filled with the faint scent of herbs and old books.
Lupin glanced at the students behind Sagres with mild confusion, then turned his attention to the large black dog lying quietly by the fireplace.
His eyes shifted slightly, as though he had already understood what was happening.
"Change back, Black," Sagres said to the large black dog. "They all know."
Before the horrified eyes of the young witches and wizards, the familiar black dog began to shift and distort, its form changing until it finally became the man who had broken into the Great Hall only days earlier.
He still looked gaunt and worn, but the madness and despair that had once filled his eyes were gone, replaced by a complex mix of tension and anticipation.
Black tensed instinctively, his grey eyes fixing on Harry's face, as though trying to draw strength from features so reminiscent of James.
Harry, however, came to an abrupt halt, his breath catching in his throat.
As he looked at this legendary traitor, unspeakable anger and pain churned in his chest.
Sagres's words echoed in his mind.
There was no need to keep hiding it.
So… was there another truth concealed beneath everything?
…
Black's voice was dry and hoarse as he once again recounted the long-buried truth.
As his expression grew increasingly bitter, the young witches and wizards listened in silence, their faces shifting with shock, doubt, and sympathy, emotions intertwining in the dim light.
Yet the strongest reaction did not come from Harry, but from Ron.
"You mean…" Ron's voice seemed to be dragged up from deep in his throat. "Scabbers… my Scabbers… is the murderer who killed Harry's parents?"
Only now did he seem to grasp what this accusation truly meant.
"That's right. Your pet rat 'Scabbers,' the one you've kept for so many years, is actually Peter Pettigrew."
"No—!"
Ron recoiled as if burned, stumbling back. "Impossible! Scabbers… Scabbers is just a rat, an ordinary rat! He couldn't be some Animagus…"
Sagres looked at Ron, a trace of pity in his eyes. "An ordinary rat does not live for more than ten years, Mr Weasley."
"And do you remember his front paw?" Black added.
"Missing a finger…"
"According to the reports.. Peter Pettigrew was blasted apart by Black, leaving only one finger behind," Harry murmured as well.
As silence fell over the room, the Weasley twins exchanged a glance, then asked cautiously, "Er… Ron, you didn't secretly give your rat a new name, did you? Like… 'Peter Pettigrew'?"
"What?" Ron looked up, his face filled with confusion and disbelief. "Of course not! Why would I give him a name like that? His name is Scabbers!"
"Uh…" The twins hesitated, clearly wanting to say something but holding back.
"What exactly are you trying to say?" Ron demanded, baffled and growing irritated.
"Peter Pettigrew has been with you since the day you started school," Fred said, his voice dropping.
"And up to now, he's been sleeping on your bed for nearly two years," George added with visible difficulty.
"We always thought…" The rest of the sentence died in their throats.
The last trace of colour drained from Ron's face. He froze, his lips trembling, but no sound came out.
"You always knew?" Ron asked hoarsely. "And you never told me?"
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