The Rat

Harry had fallen from his broom during a Quidditch match and lost the bones in his arm.

When Cyberlina heard the news from the Weasley twins, she was somewhat surprised. Kids these days can fall off a broom and knock the bones right out of their arms?

"Lockhart wanted to treat Harry."

"And then he extracted the bones from his arm."

Oh. That made sense.

Cyberlina nodded knowingly and put away the freshly brewed Tooth-strengthening Potion in her hand—who Snape had taken the order from was obvious, and she could choose to deliver it directly to the customer—then smiled at the two red-haired boys before her. "But I don't think something I could easily find out is enough to make two little Gryffindor lions deliberately skip the Slytherin Head of House's class and come to his office to find me."

The Weasley twins were uncharacteristically quiet.

"We wanted to ask... if a ghost possessed someone—"

"Whose name would appear on the Marauder's Map?"

Cyberlina raised an eyebrow slightly. After confirming that the two boys were not deliberately causing trouble, she said slowly, "If you're considering this in Hogwarts... then I don't think there's any need. The ghosts in the castle can't possibly possess a human body."

Fred and George exchanged a glance, then said in unison, "But we found that a ghost can possess our little brother."

As he spoke, Fred took out the Marauder's Map.

George further explained, "We noticed earlier that there was a ghost in the Gryffindor boys' dormitory who was particularly fond of our family—and we couldn't see it. But after you turned the map three-dimensional, we found that the name didn't seem to be floating in midair. It appeared directly on our little brother."

Cyberlina watched George attentively until he finished, then lowered her eyes to Fred, who had unfolded the map. In a gentle voice, she asked, "Could what you saw possibly be the name of your family pet?"

"Hm?" Fred paused, looking at Cyberlina through the unfolded blue map. "Scabbers? But his name is Scabbers... Oh—"

"Are you saying that was his name before he came to our house?" George's expression began to relax as it had in the past. "Now that you mention it, that's true. Usually, wherever Scabbers is, that name appears there."

"Looks like that was my oversight." Cyberlina stared at the map and suddenly let out a laugh.

"What?" Fred and George asked, confused.

"Nothing." Cyberlina smiled and pushed the parchment spread across the table toward the brothers. "You were worried about your little brother's safety, so once you confirmed there really was a problem, you hurried over to find me. You're responsible older brothers."

"It's mainly because our little Ronnie—"

"Causes his brothers far too much worry."

The twins began grinning mischievously again.

"But—" Cyberlina drew out the word with a smile, pulling the twins' attention away from their exchanged looks and back to her. "In the future, when you encounter something you don't understand, don't make assumptions and wildly imagine things on your own. First, try to consider whether it makes sense and whether it's dangerous, all right, little lions?"

"Oh, the mysterious Senior Sister Sekerei has started saying mysterious things."

"What should we do, Fred? Do we need to make a secret decoder on the spot?"

Cyberlina could not help laughing. She lowered the shirt sleeves she had rolled up while brewing the potion, then took her school robes from the nearby coat rack. As she draped them over her shoulders, she walked from the desk toward the office door.

The twins exchanged a glance. Although they were somewhat confused, they immediately put away the Marauder's Map and followed her.

"Thank you very much for choosing to trust me and coming to me for help. But—" Cyberlina suddenly turned around after opening the Potions office door and smiled exceptionally gently at the twins behind her. "I'm the Potions professor's assistant right now, you know, Weasleys."

Cyberlina winked at the two boys, then immediately turned and left the office, shutting the door crisply behind her.

The twins hesitated for a second before rushing forward, only to find that the door had already been shut tight. No matter how they tried, it would not open.

Fred: "..."

George: "..."

"Brother, when do you think the Old Bat will be back?"

"After class."

"Which year is he teaching this period?"

"At least fourth-year Gryffindor, brother."

The brothers exchanged a glance. They were just about to let out a wail of "We're doomed" when Fred suddenly said, "Huh?" He pulled a delicate silver-white pouch from the pocket where he had just put the Marauder's Map, only to find that the map had vanished.

"Looks like we have something to keep us occupied."

And so, Snape—annoyed because someone had skipped class, yet secretly pleased that he had deducted points from Gryffindor—returned to his office with an impassive face and a brisk stride, only to discover the two truant idiots of lions in his office. They were gathered around his cauldron, grinning foolishly like a pair of trolls while pouring something into it.

"Ha! It seems my humble Potions class can no longer satisfy our genius Weasleys. Look at that. You've become so eager to learn that you've abandoned the classroom for my office." Snape sneered as he slammed the lesson plans in his hand onto the desk. Folding his arms, he stared at the red-haired twins, whose bodies had suddenly stiffened. His expression darkened, his eyes turned cold, and the anger in his voice could not be suppressed. "Would the two masters of creativity care to tell me what there is in my old cauldron that is worthy of your condescension and study? Or have you become so complacent that you believe you can toy with the Head of Slytherin at will and place those ridiculous pranks in my office?"

The two straightened abruptly. One hid the pouch behind his back, while the other shoved the little bottle in his hand into his school robe pocket. Without hesitation, they began selling someone else out.

"It's not like that, Professor Snape."

"Your assistant locked us in here."

"She wouldn't let us leave."

"While you were teaching."

"Sekerei? Why did she lock you up?" Snape frowned deeply. "If I remember correctly, the two of you seem to get along quite well."

The twins exchanged a glance and said in unison, "I don't know, Professor."

But how could their little movements and guilty expressions possibly escape Snape? Even now, when they had been startled and were nervous, Snape did not need to use Legilimency to catch fragments—

"Bang!"

Snape suddenly staggered as if he had lost his balance. Then he slammed his palm against the desk and braced himself with his arm, barely preventing himself from falling.

The Weasley twins were frightened. Compared with the venomous remarks from Snape that they had grown used to, this Snape—whose face had gone deathly pale in an instant—left them flustered.

"Sn—"

"Get out! Now! Immediately!" Snape pointed at the office door and roared with his head lowered.

The Weasley twins fled at once. They swore they had seen Snape angry countless times, but they had never seen him this furious!

Snape braced both hands against the desk. The scene he had accidentally glimpsed in George's mind had agitated his nerves, and even Occlumency could not stop the fury rising from his heart. It roared and screamed in his mind, desperately invading every one of his thoughts.

—"Peter Pettigrew."

A man who should have been dead for eleven years. A name he had not heard for eleven years. Yet now, it had appeared among a group of currently active Gryffindor students.

The names that were moving were clearly telling anyone who saw them—they were all alive.

He was still alive?!

He was alive!

Snape did not know what he had seen, but it was not difficult to guess the cause and effect. The Weasley family had found an unfamiliar name on the map, come to seek Cyberlina's help, and Cyberlina clearly knew what had happened and had deliberately left the twins behind to tell him—

Damn it!

Snape cursed inwardly, then strode into the fireplace.

The owner of the Headmaster's office seemed somewhat surprised by his arrival, but another visitor in the office smiled and said to him, "You came at just the right time. I've only just begun explaining it to Albus, too."

"Just, the, right, time." Snape stared darkly at Cyberlina. "What's the matter with that name?"

Cyberlina lowered her eyes, took out the Marauder's Map, and spread it open, revealing the beautiful blue castle. Then she guided the ugly rat floating beside her onto the castle.

"An Animagus." Cyberlina pointed at the rat.

"A map that can display someone's real name." Cyberlina pointed again, this time at the Headmaster's office on the map.

The rat, missing a finger, began twisting and struggling frantically in midair.

Snape understood at once. His face grim, he swiftly drew his wand, but Cyberlina reached out and caught his wrist first.

"Wait, Severus."

"Wait?" Snape looked at Cyberlina and ground out each word through clenched teeth. "I, cannot, wait. You have no idea what this, rat, has done—"

It was easy enough to figure out.

A hero who had been widely praised as having sacrificed himself had turned into a filthy rat and hidden for more than a decade. That meant there had unquestionably been something suspicious about what happened back then.

Cyberlina had given Snape enough time to calm down and keep his head clear, but he still could not suppress his urge to immediately question this damned rat with the most violent means he could think of.

Dumbledore had already seen the four names in his office. He kept his head lowered, then raised his eyes and coldly watched the struggling rat from beneath lowered lids.

He had indeed never believed that Sirius would betray James and Lily. But he had never imagined that Peter Pettigrew—the boy who had followed them, the boy who had died as a hero—would reappear before him in this form.

Perhaps because he did not have the various hatreds of his youth layered over the matter, Dumbledore—equally unable to believe it—was far calmer than Snape.

He quickly withdrew his cold gaze, then used the desk to help himself stand. With a peaceful expression restored to his face, he looked at Cyberlina. "Cyber, I'm sorry for the trouble."

Cyberlina nodded. One hand still restrained Snape's wrist. With the other, she drew her wand and pointed it at the rat. Then she gave a swift, small downward flick.

The rat dropped to the floor with a thud. It curled up and writhed, twitching violently, before slowly transforming into a short, squat, filthy middle-aged man dressed in rags.

Cyberlina took a disgusted step backward, releasing Snape's hand at the same time.

Before Pettigrew could recover from the agonizing pain, someone grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him up. Snape, his eyes red and his face contorted, glared at him. The vicious look in his eyes made Pettigrew tremble uncontrollably.

"S-Severus—"

"Shut up! I have nothing to do with you!" Snape pressed his wand against Pettigrew's fat neck. His voice was low and somewhat muffled. The faint taste of blood in his mouth told him that he had bitten through his gums at some point, but he felt no pain at all. "Peter Pettigrew—why are you still alive? Shouldn't you have been reduced to bones long ago—as a hero?!"

Although she was very reluctant to admit it, Cyberlina's one delay and one intervention had indeed pulled half of Snape away from those chaotic, agitated emotions.

That allowed him to see more clearly the fear and guilt in the eyes of the ugly, filthy man before him. Through those incomparably murky eyes, he saw—saw that the arrogant and repulsive Black had exchanged the identity of Secret-Keeper with this rat; saw this rat betray Voldemort's whereabouts with concealed delight; saw this rat kill twelve Muggles to escape Black's pursuit, cut off one of his own fingers, and flee into the sewers in terror—

"Peter Pettigrew!!!"

The tip of Snape's wand nearly pierced Pettigrew's neck.

Pettigrew cried out in pain and shouted in terror, trying to say something.

"Headmaster! Professor! He's going to kill me! He—he—"

—Pettigrew was asking Dumbledore for help.

But Dumbledore remained unmoved.

Everyone present except Pettigrew was skilled at Legilimency. The memories Snape had just unearthed were likewise imprinted in the minds of the other two.

Therefore, every excuse and plea for mercy he could think of was useless.

Cyberlina in particular had made Legilimency almost instinctive. She had seen even more. Thus, she lowered her arm and put away her intention to stop Snape if his interrogation went too far. She took two steps back until she was almost against the wall, clasped her wand between both hands over her abdomen, and assumed the posture of someone preparing to watch from the sidelines.

Snape lowered his head and no longer looked at Pettigrew, but light began to gather at the tip of his wand. Pettigrew began screaming frantically. Cyberlina tapped her wand lightly with one finger, and the ugly rat could no longer make a sound.

"Severus..." Dumbledore offered a quiet warning. It drew a smiling glance from Cyberlina, but he pretended not to notice and said gently to Snape, "He needs a different sort of judgment. Harry... Harry also needs to know who actually harmed—"

"It was Tom Riddle." Cyberlina smiled at Dumbledore. "Don't get confused, Albus. The person who killed the Potter couple was Tom Riddle. This rat was an accomplice. Nothing else should be dragged into it."

Dumbledore fell silent, but he continued looking at Snape.

Snape's body went still. After a long silence, the wand in his hand gradually moved away from Pettigrew's neck, leaving only a red mark. His other hand, which gripped Pettigrew's collar, slowly loosened as well.

However, just as Pettigrew let out a breath of relief—

"Bang!"

A fist shot forward at incredible speed and struck his nose, then his eye, then his nose again—

While Dumbledore stared in stunned silence, Snape stood up, his bloodstained fist hanging at his side. His head remained lowered. His greasy hair, permanently smoke-scorched from years of brewing potions, hung messily on either side of his face, obscuring his expression.

"Since you want the Chosen One to learn the truth first, I'll call him here... so he can learn... the truth." Snape's strange tone was filled with mockery.

Dumbledore nodded silently.

Snape let out a low, derisive laugh, then turned to go drag that troublesome Potter up here. As he passed Cyberlina, a faint surge of magic wrapped around the back of his hand. He stopped and looked down, discovering that the bloodstains had already been cleaned away and the pain in his hand had vanished.

But he said nothing. He merely pressed his lips together and continued walking out of the Headmaster's office.

After the door closed, Cyberlina looked at Dumbledore and gave a short, quiet laugh. Then, with a bright smile, she called out the name of the person who was clearly avoiding her gaze.

"Albus?"