"I knew he was coming," Sean said gently, looking through Crookshanks's ginger fur.
Crookshanks purred once, as if he trusted Sean completely.
"You did well, Crookshanks, but it's not time yet. Where is he? Take me to him, all right?"
Sean set the big ginger cat down. Crookshanks seemed to understand perfectly and trotted ahead, tail swaying. He led the way out of the castle and into the grounds.
Dusk had settled. Sean stepped across the hazy green grass, feeling the thin evening mist rising over the Scottish Highlands.
In a shadowed corner Crookshanks stopped, gave a soft chirp, and leaped onto the edge of a bush. A stretch of dark, slick stone wall half-enclosed the spot. A very familiar black shape slipped out of the shadows, looking almost embarrassed.
"Go find him for me…" Sean whispered into Crookshanks's ear. Then he turned to the slightly plumper black dog. "You're too impatient, Mr. Black."
The dog sprang forward. In the blink of an eye it transformed into a wizard. His ragged black hair fell to his elbows. Sunken eyes burned with fierce light, but the rest of him was so gaunt he looked like a walking corpse.
Any wizard who saw him would have screamed.
Because this was Sirius Black—wanted by both the magical and Muggle worlds, the most notorious escaped convict alive.
"I'm sorry, I just—" Sirius wouldn't meet Sean's eyes. He glanced nervously toward the castle.
Hogwarts looked peaceful in the twilight. If Harry Potter hadn't been living alongside that hateful traitor, Sirius would never have risked disturbing the old castle.
"You want him dead more than anything, don't you?" Sean said, voicing Sirius's deepest thought.
He had known Sirius would break into Hogwarts soon, but he hadn't expected him to scout the grounds this quickly. Clearly Sirius had planned every detail to deal with Scabbers.
"You already know… I've always known you know everything, but why…" Sirius spoke with careful respect, eyes fixed on the dark, wet wall. "I haven't ruined any of your plans, have I, sir?"
"You're overthinking it," Sean said calmly.
Sirius looked up. In those deep green eyes he saw only a vast, endless sea.
"I should have known, sir," Sirius said, the corner of his mouth curving slightly.
No one could ruin the plans of someone who knew everything.
"It's not time yet," Sean said again.
"When will it be…" Sirius asked, forcing himself to stay calm.
"You and I both know, Mr. Black, that Wormtail isn't the root of everything," Sean replied. He hadn't wanted to say more, but he couldn't leave Sirius lost in this painful fog.
"I know. Of course I know, sir. That will be our great fight." Sirius's face was set in grim determination.
"The future is changing, Mr. Black. No wizard can guarantee that fate will follow its old path…" Sean thought of Professor Trelawney's prophecy—"he remains cunning"…
"We need to know more."
"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, beginning to understand.
"He will find him," Sean finally revealed part of the truth.
Sirius's eyelids fluttered rapidly. His throat worked, swallowing suddenly difficult.
"We have to stop him, sir… we can't let him—"
"No, sir. The terror of the unknown is that we have no way to face it," Sean said quietly, lowering his gaze.
Would it be better to let Voldemort return or to lock Peter Pettigrew away in Azkaban right now?
Sean had already made his choice.
Better to let Voldemort come back than to leave him as a hidden viper waiting to strike Hogwarts in secret. Better to keep the future from changing too drastically.
Everything rested on raw magical power.
If someone could defeat and truly kill Voldemort, they wouldn't need the long, intricate schemes Dumbledore had used in the original timeline.
If no one could, then any plan would probably fail anyway.
Sean had stopped leaving himself an escape route long ago.
Harry was no longer a Horcrux. The future had already shifted. Harry killing Voldemort with "a power Voldemort knows not" was no longer destiny.
From the very beginning, the one who would face Voldemort…
Sean stared into the distant night sky. The black canvas was studded with silent stars.
"When he returns, we will destroy every advantage he has. I will defeat him… and then I will kill him," Sean said.
A quiet resolve lay deep in his calm eyes—something Sirius could not fully understand.
Sirius couldn't meet that gaze, as if he were looking at a god.
"Until then, please be patient," Sean said, turning to leave.
Sirius's low voice stopped him.
"But sir… are we really just going to let Peter… like this…"
Sirius asked, unwilling yet careful.
"Oh, it doesn't matter, sir. Peter will help us find him. And of course, Peter will be very obedient."
Sean spoke thoughtfully.
"You're going to—" Sirius blinked, then asked, curious.
"Goblins have the oldest contracts in magical history," Sean said, stating simple fact.
Sirius's shoulders sagged with relief.
Peter would become their eyes inside Voldemort's circle. Whether the Dark Lord noticed anything strange or not, they would track his every move.
As for Peter's survival…
No one wanted to see Peter die more than Sirius himself.
"You should go. Most people in Hogwarts wouldn't recognize you, but our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is Mr. Lupin," Sean reminded him softly.
"Lupin… he…" Sirius started, then swallowed the rest.
His face darkened. The corner of his mouth twitched, showing yellow teeth.
"Please don't blame Mr. Lupin," Sean whispered.
"Of course… of course I…" Sirius's expression was painfully awkward.
After that explosion, the entire wizarding world had believed Sirius betrayed James and Lily and joined Voldemort.
But the truth?
If anyone had asked him, they would have heard it. Would he have refused to tell Lupin—his best friend? Or Dumbledore, who should have seen through the lies?
They had chosen to believe the betrayal.
Still, he couldn't blame them.
"On that night, the one who lost everything wasn't only you, Mr. Black," Sean said, gazing into the misty darkness.
A plainly dressed figure appeared in their line of sight.
"Good evening, Moony," Sean greeted.
"Good evening, Mr. Green," Lupin replied, surprised that Sean knew the nickname.
Then he saw the black-haired man beside Sean and understood instantly.
His face turned grave. He pulled Sean behind him and drew his wand in one smooth motion.
"So you're here, Padfoot…" Lupin said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, every word laced with warning.
"Moony… have you come to arrest me?" Sirius asked with an unexpected grin.
"Crookshanks is a clever cat. He brought me here. Now, Mr. Green, please step away," Lupin said gently, praising the ginger cat now perched on Sean's shoulder.
"Oh, come on, Moony. You really think Mr. Green needs to hide from anything?" Sirius laughed, half-mad.
"You'd better keep your distance from Mr. Green, Padfoot," Lupin warned, though his smile had grown dangerous.
In this castle, there was one person who absolutely could not be put at risk.
Mr. Green.
Dumbledore had spoken with him long ago. Mr. Green was their greatest hope.
Besides that, Lupin knew perfectly well that if anything happened to the young wizard in front of him, one man would lose his mind.
Severus Snape.
Honestly, Lupin had never expected that name.
"Enough, Moony. If you want to arrest me, you'll have to try," Sirius said, still winking at Sean as if this were all a game.
"You should tell Mr. Lupin everything, Mr. Black," Sean cut in, ending the game.
What happened next left Lupin stunned.
The most wanted fugitive in the wizarding world, Voldemort's most loyal servant, his own best friend who had supposedly betrayed them all—after a single moment of shock, he obeyed without question.
"As you wish, sir," Sirius said reverently.
"This…" Lupin looked like his entire world had been shaken. He no longer recognized the young wizard in front of him.
"Oh, Mr. Lupin, Mr. Black will tell you everything. I imagine you've had your own doubts for a long time," Sean added.
He had already spoken more today than he usually did in a week.
"Oh, Moony…" Sirius finally dropped the mad grin. He leaned against a tree root, eyes filled with hollow grief.
Some say the world is so big a person can never see it all.
Others say the world is so small it holds only the few inches around you and the handful of friends nearby.
If they all love you, then the world loves you.
But what if they don't believe you?
Sirius gave a bitter smile.
He reached into his robes with a skeletal hand, pulled out a crumpled newspaper clipping, smoothed it, and held it up.
It was last summer's Daily Prophet photo of the Weasley family. Perched on Ron's shoulder was Scabbers.
"Look, Moony. See anything wrong with this rat?"
Lupin took the clipping carefully.
"Merlin's beard," he whispered, studying the rat and the photo. "His front paw…"
"It's missing a toe," Sirius said.
"Of course," Lupin murmured, the realization hitting him. "So simple… so clever… he cut it off himself?"
"Right before he transformed," Sirius said. "After I cornered him he screamed loud enough for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. Before I could cast a single spell he blew up the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet, then slipped into the sewers with the rest of the rats…"
"The biggest piece of Peter they found was a finger," Lupin finished.
"How long has he been alive?" Lupin asked Sean, voice tight.
"Ron says twelve years," Sean answered.
"Twelve years," Lupin whispered. "How does a rat live that long?"
Sirius stayed quiet until he saw the faint redness in Lupin's eyes. Then he gave a low, rough chuckle.
"You're going to tell me you suspected all along?"
"I'm hardly in a position to say that…" Lupin's voice was hoarse. He looked at Sean in disbelief, then glanced sideways at Sirius.
"Maybe you shouldn't be so hard on Mr. Lupin," Sean sighed.
On that night Harry had lost everything. So had Sirius.
And Lupin?
His world had been just as small—only a few friends who didn't mind what he was.
Two dead, one crippled, one imprisoned for life. That was what Lupin had faced.
On that night of pouring rain and total loss, how could anyone blame a terrified, grieving soul for losing his reason?
You couldn't ask him to stay calm any more than you could ask the rain to stop falling.
"Aw, I forgive you, old friend," Sirius said when he saw Lupin's helpless arms and reddened eyes. He couldn't stay angry. "I'm sorry too. I thought you were the spy. Back then none of us could trust anyone."
"Forgive me, Remus," Sirius said.
"Don't mention it, Padfoot, old friend," Lupin replied, his expression somewhere between tears and laughter. He rolled up his sleeves. "You forgive me for thinking you were the spy, yeah?"
"Of course," Sirius said. A tired smile crossed his gaunt face as he rolled up his own sleeves. "You're going to have to help me, Moony."
"We'll take him down together?" Lupin asked, glancing at Sean. He didn't want the young wizard hearing too much—even if he suspected Sean already knew more than he did.
Why else would Sirius be so respectful?
"Oh, I'm afraid not," Sirius cut in.
Lupin's smile froze.
"Then what?" he asked stiffly.
"We need to talk, old friend. About… a much bigger plan," Sirius said generously.