Attempting a sneak attack in front of a "Golden Flash"—Sirius must have lost his mind.
Kyle executed a slight sidestep, effortlessly dodging the black dog's bite. He then reached out with pinpoint precision, grabbed the dog by its tail, and treated him to a "Hulk-style" earth-shattering slam.
If the twins' former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Tom Hiddleston, had been there, he surely would have cheered at the top of his lungs:
"Yes! That's the feeling!"
Sirius, who already had several broken ribs, was left at death's door after that sequence. He practically had one foot in the grave.
Kyle was forced to use the Mystical Palm Technique to pull him back from the brink of the underworld before he could even begin his interrogation.
After dropping three doses of Veritaserum into Sirius's mouth, Kyle conjured a massive glob of water and slammed it onto Sirius's head to wake him up.
Sirius forced his eyes open. His gaze was hollow, and his gaunt face hung slack.
"Twelve years ago, did you change the Potters' Secret-Keeper to Peter Pettigrew?"
Sirius answered in a flat, emotionless monotone: "Yes."
Case closed.
"You said earlier that you wanted to kill 'him.' Who is 'he'?"
Though Kyle already had a suspicion, he needed to verify it.
Sirius's body began to tremble. Even the Veritaserum could barely suppress the killing intent surging within him. "Peter Pettigrew!"
His voice flickered with a hint of raw emotion.
"If Peter Pettigrew isn't dead, where is he now?"
Black's eyelids twitched. After taking a deep breath, he spoke.
"He is an unregistered Animagus. I didn't cause that explosion back then; he did."
"He cut off one of his own fingers to fake his death, making it look like I had blown him to bits. Then he took the opportunity to transform into a rat and escaped through the sewers."
"For twelve years, he's been hiding in the Weasley household. He's Ron Weasley's pet rat."
Kyle searched his memory. He vaguely recalled that the rat Ron kept was indeed missing a toe.
"How did you find out Peter wasn't dead?"
Logically, Sirius had been locked away in Azkaban with no access to the outside world. If he had known all along that Pettigrew was alive, why hadn't he said anything? Why wait twelve years in prison before breaking out for revenge?
"When Cornelius Fudge came to Azkaban for an inspection recently, he left behind a copy of the Daily Prophet. It's in my coat pocket right now."
With a flick of Kyle's wand, a crumpled newspaper flew out from Sirius's robes.
A group photo of the Weasley family sat prominently on the front page.
Kyle remembered this issue. He didn't usually have a habit of reading the papers, only glancing at them occasionally, and this particular issue was the only one he had seen all summer.
A while back, the twins had sent him a letter mentioning that Mr. Weasley had won a seven-hundred Galleon prize, and they had included this newspaper in the envelope.
With that, the sequence of events leading to the Potters' deaths became clear.
Years ago, Pettigrew and Sirius were both close friends of the Potters. Both were unregistered Animagi and were intimately familiar with each other's animal forms.
During Voldemort's reign, for their own safety, the Potters chose to use the Fidelius Charm to hide their location.
The Fidelius Charm is an incredibly complex spell that magically hides a secret within the soul of a living person. That chosen person is the Secret-Keeper.
Unless the Secret-Keeper voluntarily reveals the location, even if Voldemort pressed his nose against—
Wait, never mind. Voldemort doesn't have a nose.
Even if Voldemort pressed his face against the window of the Potters' living room, he would never be able to find them.
Everyone assumed Sirius Black was the Secret-Keeper.
However, Sirius wanted to play a game of misdirection. He convinced Lily and James to switch the Secret-Keeper to Peter. This way, Sirius would act as the public target to draw the Death Eaters' fire while Peter stayed under the radar, making the Potters even safer.
He never expected that Peter Pettigrew, that traitor, would sell the Potters out to Voldemort immediately.
After the Potters died, Sirius, driven by a need for atonement, hunted Pettigrew down like a madman. When Pettigrew faked his death and escaped, Sirius believed the Potters had been avenged. He viewed Azkaban as his place of penance and willingly stayed there for twelve long years.
Until he saw Peter Pettigrew's Animagus form in the Daily Prophet.
"Peter Pettigrew... even if he turned to ash, I would still recognize him!" Sirius snarled through gritted teeth.
Despite confirming that Sirius was an ally, Kyle felt no remorse for the "torture" he had just put him through.
He pulled another potion bottle from his pocket, forced Sirius's jaw open, and poured it down his throat to neutralize the Veritaserum.
Coming back to his senses, Sirius let out a cold snort. "Do you believe me now?"
Having just come into direct contact with Sirius's body—which hadn't been washed in twelve years—Kyle summoned a ball of water with a look of disgust to wash his hands.
Then, he pulled his Mt. Akina Suitcase out of his ninja tool pouch.
"I believe you, I believe you. For now, you'll stay in here. I'll report this to Old Man Albus later."
Sirius didn't move. Instead, his sunken eyes stared intensely toward the exit of the alley, his gaze filled with a morbid longing.
Kyle understood what he was thinking.
"Don't do anything rash regarding Peter Pettigrew. Once he follows Ron back to Hogwarts, with Dumbledore's help, where could he possibly run?"
A look of hesitation crossed Sirius's face. He stopped staring at the alleyway and shifted his gaze to Kyle.
Kyle spoke at a measured pace. "I recall you are Harry's godfather, right?"
Sirius nodded slowly.
"Killing Peter Pettigrew directly achieves nothing except venting your hatred."
"Only by capturing him alive and handing him over to the Ministry of Magic for trial can your name be cleared. Then, you can actually live with your godson, Harry."
The thought of living with Harry finally triumphed over his hatred for Pettigrew. A glimmer of hope appeared in Sirius's eyes.
He gave a firm nod. "Then I'll leave it to you."
Watching Sirius's figure disappear into the suitcase, Kyle's lip twitched.
Peter Pettigrew...
With Voldemort dead and Sirius in prison, the man had actually spent twelve years as a pet in the Weasley house just to stay alive. In two lifetimes, Kyle had never seen anyone so committed to "playing it safe."
For a Master of Transfiguration who had mastered the Animagus transformation, using human transfiguration to change one's appearance and start a new life shouldn't have been that difficult. Maintaining a human transfiguration constantly isn't hard; the magic it consumes is slower than a wizard's natural recovery rate.
So, wasn't it better to just be a human? Why insist on being a rat?
Kyle pulled a Two-Way Mirror from his pocket, intending to contact Dumbledore, but there was no answer from the other side.
Dumbledore was likely busy these past few days in his role as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. Kyle didn't try again.
Regardless, he would see him at the award ceremony tomorrow. It wouldn't be too late to discuss Sirius then.
Kyle tucked the suitcase back into his tool pouch and walked out of the dark alley as if nothing had happened.
On the wall, a black beetle spread its wings and followed him out.
————
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