"Sorry, Hermione."
"I've got something to take care of tonight."
After saying goodbye to the girl, Lewis left the library.
As he hurried toward the Forbidden Forest, he simultaneously sent a message to Sirius.
Before long...
He noticed he had picked up a little tail.
It was Draco Malfoy.
Ever since Lewis had rejected his "good intentions," the young Malfoy had held a grudge.
But Lewis was simply too powerful.
The professors all favored him.
Draco couldn't do anything to him directly.
So, after much thought, he came up with the same tactic he'd once used against Harry during first year.
Catch Lewis breaking school rules.
Everyone knew Lewis was Hogwarts' model student.
But nobody believed he was actually a perfectly obedient one.
After all...
If Lewis had truly followed every rule, he never would have killed the Basilisk.
Malfoy intended to exploit exactly that.
Over the past month, he'd heard rumors that Lewis often slipped into the Forbidden Forest at night.
Unfortunately, he'd never managed to catch him in the act.
Today, however...
He had personally watched Lewis head toward the forest.
So Draco quietly—at least, in his own opinion—followed behind, determined to catch him red-handed.
Unfortunately...
He greatly overestimated his own stealth.
His sneaking wasn't enough to fool Lewis.
In fact...
It wasn't even enough to fool another student.
Ron Weasley.
Ron stubbornly believed Crookshanks had murdered Scabbers.
He simply couldn't accept losing his pet rat.
As a result, he often wandered around the castle looking for Crookshanks, hoping to find some trace of Scabbers' remains.
Instead...
He accidentally discovered Draco Malfoy stalking Lewis Green.
Out of curiosity...
And because he thoroughly disliked Malfoy...
Ron quietly followed as well.
Neither Draco nor Ron realized...
Someone else was following behind them.
A true expert.
Wrapped in a black cloak, his pale face cold and expressionless...
Professor Severus Snape.
He had spotted the Weasley boy trailing Malfoy.
Assuming the two were about to get into another fight, Snape decided to follow them to prevent serious trouble.
Of course...
If he happened to catch Ron throwing the first punch...
Docking Gryffindor fifty points would be an added bonus.
Walking at the very front...
Lewis sensed the growing procession behind him and couldn't help laughing inwardly.
Then...
A mischievous idea occurred to him.
Ron.
Malfoy.
Snape.
There wasn't a single person among the three whom Lewis particularly liked.
Why not take this opportunity to play a little prank?
With that thought...
He deliberately slowed his pace.
Had he maintained his normal speed...
Malfoy would've lost him the moment they entered the Forbidden Forest.
Inside the forest...
Lewis intentionally made enough noise to leave an obvious trail.
Meanwhile, he subtly adjusted his route, herding Scabbers toward the area surrounding the Whomping Willow until the rat found itself completely cornered.
Standing before the trembling rodent...
Lewis deliberately exclaimed,
"Huh?"
"Isn't this Ron's pet rat, Scabbers?"
"How did you end up here?"
Scabbers immediately froze.
The rat seemed uncertain whether to flee.
His appearance was pitiful.
Once plump and well-fed...
He had now become little more than skin and bones.
His fur was patchy, riddled with bald spots, making him look as though he suffered from some dreadful skin disease.
Taking advantage of the rat's hesitation...
Lewis cast a Levitation Charm and effortlessly restrained him.
Then...
Carrying the floating rat with him...
He slipped into the tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow.
Once inside...
His psionic senses informed him that Sirius had already arrived.
Quietly...
Lewis removed a bottle of potion and casually splashed its contents all over the floor throughout the tunnel.
It was the improved diarrhea potion.
After Fred and George had mailed him their Skiving Snackboxes...
Lewis had redesigned the original diarrhea formula.
Compared to the Twins' version...
His potion had almost no smell.
Making it much easier to disguise inside sweets.
Soon after the holidays ended...
He had already given the improved recipe back to the twins.
Even so...
He still had an entire bottle of the finished potion sitting unused in his bag.
After all...
Who normally needed something like this?
Tonight...
Finally...
It had a purpose.
Lewis remembered one important feature of the improved potion.
In its natural state...
It evaporated extremely quickly.
And simply inhaling the vapor produced exactly the same effect as drinking it.
Meanwhile...
The Whomping Willow remained completely docile under Lewis's druid magic.
For the moment...
It wouldn't attack anyone.
Thus...
The three people following him entered the tunnel one after another.
Every one of them unknowingly walked straight through the area where Lewis had spilled the potion.
Since it had been poured directly onto the ground...
None of them noticed anything unusual.
Instead...
They were far more shocked by each other's presence.
At least...
Ron and Malfoy certainly were.
That was inevitable.
Lewis had deliberately stopped farther inside the passage.
As a result...
Malfoy became stuck near the entrance with nowhere else to go.
Ron, meanwhile, rushed in recklessly.
Assuming Draco had already continued deeper into the tunnel...
He charged straight ahead—
Only to run directly into his old rival.
The two boys stared at each other.
Each waiting for the other to speak.
Before either could say a word...
A powerful force suddenly held them both in place.
Snape had arrived.
He had no intention of allowing these two idiots to make enough noise to alert the people farther down the tunnel.
Because...
Someone he desperately wanted dead...
Was waiting below.
While the three unwanted followers stood trapped together near the entrance...
Lewis finally met Sirius Black.
The atmosphere between them...
Was hardly friendly.
"Give him to me!"
The moment Sirius saw Scabbers...
His eyes turned bloodshot with rage.
He lunged forward without hesitation.
The next instant...
He was sent flying backward by the exact same force that had defeated him before.
"Calm down!"
"Listen to me!"
Lewis shouted.
But revenge had completely consumed Sirius's reason.
Although he didn't possess a wand...
He still had his Animagus transformation.
Instantly turning into a massive black dog...
He threw himself at Lewis again.
Once again...
He was thoroughly put in his place.
Just as before...
Thick vines burst from beneath the ground.
They wrapped around the black dog and pinned him firmly against the tunnel wall.
Even after Sirius reverted to human form...
The vines refused to release him.
Despite his miserable condition...
Sirius never begged for mercy.
Instead, he struggled furiously while shouting,
"Let me go!"
"Let me go!"
Lewis frowned slightly.
"You'll get Peter Pettigrew."
"But not now."
"Weren't we already in agreement?"
The mere mention of Peter's name seemed to ignite Sirius even further.
His face turned deathly pale.
The muscles in his jaw twitched violently.
"You've already caught him!"
"So why won't you hand him over?!"
"Or were you lying to me from the very beginning?!"
Hearing that...
Lewis sighed.
He looked at Sirius with the same expression one might reserve for someone hopelessly dense.
"Mr. Black..."
"Please try using that head of yours."
"If I truly had no intention of honoring our agreement..."
"Then why would I bring Pettigrew here for you to see?"
Near the tunnel entrance...
Ron's jaw slowly dropped.
What...
Had he just witnessed?
Lewis...
Was working together with the escaped murderer Sirius Black?
And...
Scabbers was in their hands.
More importantly...
They kept mentioning Peter Pettigrew.
What did Scabbers have to do with Peter Pettigrew?
Malfoy was equally stunned.
But the strongest reaction came from Professor Snape.
His face darkened to a terrifying degree as he stared at Sirius and Lewis.
Silently...
He drew his wand.
"You two."
"Get out."
He whispered.
The moment Ron and Malfoy instinctively prepared to retreat...
Snape shoved them both back into place.
"Idiots."
"Don't move."
He hissed.
The Whomping Willow was already beginning to awaken from the calming effect of Lewis's druid spell.
Snape knew perfectly well that sending the boys outside now would make them perfect targets.
Had they forgotten what happened only a few months ago?
When Harry fell from his broom during the Quidditch match...
His Nimbus 2000 had flown straight into the Whomping Willow...
Emerging moments later as little more than splintered firewood.
Snape had no desire to discover whether his students' skulls were sturdier than broomsticks.
"It seems..."
His icy voice echoed through the tunnel.
"You'll both have to stay here."
"Perhaps that's for the best."
"Otherwise..."
"You'd run straight back to Dumbledore."
Then his cold eyes fixed on Sirius.
"Black..."
"Your time has finally come."
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