The Rat

Harry fell during a Quidditch match and broke his arm.

Cyberlina, upon hearing the news from the Weasley twins, was a bit surprised. Do kids these days break their bones just by falling off a broom?

"It was Lockhart trying to treat Harry."

"And then he pulled out his bones."

Ah, that makes sense.

Cyberlina nodded in understanding, putting away the teeth-whitening potion she had just finished brewing. It was obvious whose order Snape was filling; she could have delivered it directly to the customer. She then smiled at the two red-haired boys in front of her and said, "But I don't think this one simple matter is enough for two little Gryffindor lions to skip Slytherin's headmaster's class and come to his office to find me."

The Weasley twins were uncharacteristically quiet.

"We wanted to ask, if a ghost possesses someone—"

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

Cyberlina raised an eyebrow slightly. After confirming the two boys weren't deliberately causing trouble, she slowly said, "If you're considering this matter within Hogwarts... I don't think it's necessary at all. Ghosts in the castle cannot possess people."

Fred and George exchanged a look, then said in unison, "But we found a ghost possessing our brother."

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

George further explained, "We had previously discovered a ghost in the Gryffindor boys' dormitory who was particularly fond of us Weasleys—and invisible. But when you made the map three-dimensional, we noticed that the name didn't seem to be floating in the air; it appeared directly on our brother."

Cyberlina looked at George seriously. After he finished speaking, she lowered her gaze to the map Fred had opened and asked gently, "Could what you saw possibly be the name of your pet?"

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

"You mean his name before he came to our house?" George's expression began to regain its usual lightness. "Now that you mention it, that's true. Usually, the name appears wherever Scabbers is."

"It seems I was negligent," Cyberlina said, staring at the map, and suddenly let out a laugh.

"What?" Fred and George looked confused.

"Nothing," Cyberlina said with a smile, pushing the parchment spread on the desk towards the brothers. "You're worried about your brother's safety, so you rushed to find me after confirming there was a problem—you're dutiful older brothers."

"It's mainly our little Ronny."

"He makes his brothers worry too easily."

The twins resumed their joking manner.

"But—" Cyberlina drew out the word with a smile, pulling the twins' attention back from their exchanged winks. "In the future, when you encounter something you don't understand, don't just assume things. Try to think if it's reasonable or dangerous first, little lions."

"Oh, the mysterious Sekerei is speaking mysterious words again."

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

Cyberlina chuckled, tucking down the sleeves of her shirt that she had rolled up for brewing potions. She then took her robes from a nearby hanger, put them on, and walked from her desk towards the office door.

The twins exchanged a look, somewhat bewildered, but quickly put away the Marauder's Map and followed her.

"I'm very grateful that you chose to trust me and seek my help. But—" Cyberlina, who had opened the door to the Potions office, suddenly turned around and looked at the twins behind her with an extremely gentle smile. "I'm the Potions professor's little assistant now, Weasleys."

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

The twins hesitated for a second, then quickly ran forward, only to find the door firmly shut and unopenable.

Fred: "..."

George: "..."

"Brother, when do you think the old bat will be back?"

"After class, probably."

"Which year is he teaching this class?"

"At least Gryffindor fourth years, brother."

The brothers looked at each other, about to groan "We're doomed," when Fred suddenly exclaimed, "Huh?" He then pulled a delicate, silver-white cloth bag from the pocket where he had put the Marauder's Map. The map itself had vanished.

"Looks like we have something to pass the time."

And so, Snape, who was annoyed by students skipping class but also secretly pleased about Gryffindor losing points, returned to his office with a blank expression but a lighter step. He found the two truant, foolish lions in his office, gathered around his cauldron, cackling like trolls and pouring something into it.

"Ha! It seems my humble old professor's Potions class is no longer enough for the genius Weasleys. Look at this! They're so eager to learn that they've come to my office instead of attending class." Snape sneered, slamming his lesson plans onto his desk. He crossed his arms and watched the two red-haired twins, whose bodies suddenly stiffened. His face darkened, his eyes chilled, and the anger in his voice was barely suppressed. "Could the two creative masters please tell me what in my old cauldron is so fascinating that you deign to study it? Or have you become so arrogant that you believe you can freely prank the head of Slytherin and place your ridiculous pranks in my office?"

The two straightened up abruptly. One hid the bag behind his back, the other pocketed the small vial in his hand, and without hesitation, they started to betray someone.

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

"Your assistant locked us in here."

"She wouldn't let us out."

"While you were teaching."

"Sekerei? Why would she lock you in?" Snape frowned. "If I recall correctly, you seemed to have a pretty good relationship."

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

But how could their small movements and guilty expressions escape Snape's notice? In fact, even though they were startled and nervous now, Snape didn't need Legilimency to catch fragments—

"Bang!"

Snape suddenly staggered as if he had lost his footing, then slammed his palm onto the desk, using his arms to support his almost-falling body.

The Weasley twins were a bit startled—compared to Snape's usual venom, Snape's suddenly pale face made them flustered.

"Sna—"

"Get out! Now! Immediately!" Snape pointed at the office door, his head bowed as he roared.

The Weasley twins immediately ran. They swore—they had seen Snape angry countless times before, but they had never seen him this angry!

Snape rested his hands on his desk. The scene he had inadvertently glimpsed in George's mind earlier was still agitating his nerves, making it impossible to suppress the rage surging from his heart even with Occlumency. It screamed and shrieked in his mind, trying to consume all his thoughts.

—"Peter Pettigrew."

A person who should have been dead for eleven years, a name he hadn't heard in eleven years, yet it now appeared among a group of active Gryffindor students.

The names that were moving clearly told the viewer—they were all alive.

He's still alive?!

He's alive!

Snape didn't know what he had seen, but it wasn't hard to guess the cause and effect—the Weasleys had found an unfamiliar name on it—came to seek Cyberlina's help—and Cyberlina clearly knew what had happened, deliberately leaving the twins to tell him—

Damn it!

Snape cursed inwardly and stepped into the fireplace.

The master of the Headmaster's office seemed surprised by his arrival, but the other guest in the office smiled and said to him, "What a coincidence, I was just starting to explain to Albus."

"How, very, coincident, al," Snape stared grimly at Cyberlina. "What's the deal with that name?"

Cyberlina lowered her eyes, took out the Marauder's Map, spread it open, revealing the beautiful blue castle, and then guided the ugly rat hovering beside her to the castle.

"Animagus," Cyberlina pointed at the rat.

"A map that can display real names," Cyberlina then pointed at the Headmaster's office on the map.

The rat, missing a finger, began to twist and struggle frantically in the air.

Snape immediately understood. With a grim expression, he calmly drew his wand, but Cyberlina beat him to it, pressing down on his wrist.

"Wait a moment, Severus."

"Wait—a moment?" Snape looked at Cyberlina, gritting his teeth, and said word by word, "I, cannot wait, you have no idea what this, rat, has done—"

The situation was easy to understand.

A greatly praised, heroic sacrifice turned out to be a dirty rat, hiding for over a decade—this meant that what happened back then was definitely suspicious.

Cyberlina gave Snape enough time to calm down to maintain his clear head, but he still couldn't suppress his desire to immediately question the damned rat with the most violent means he could think of.

Dumbledore had already seen the four names in his office. His head remained bowed, and he raised his eyes, his eyelids slightly raised, coldly staring at the struggling rat.

He had indeed never believed Sirius would betray James and Lily, but he had also not expected—Peter Pettigrew, the boy who followed them, the boy who died as a hero, would reappear before him in such a manner.

Perhaps without the accumulation of youthful hatreds, Dumbledore, who was equally incredulous, was much calmer than Snape.

He quickly withdrew his icy gaze, stood up leaning on his desk, and looked at Cyberlina with a now calm expression: "Cyber, if you would be so kind."

Cyberlina nodded. With one hand still restraining Snape's wrist, she took out her wand with the other, pointed it at the rat, and then decisively and with a small movement, tapped her wand downwards—the rat fell to the ground with a "thump," curled up, writhed, convulsed, and finally slowly transformed into a disheveled, short, fat, dirty middle-aged man.

Cyberlina recoiled a step in disgust, and at the same time released Snape's wrist.

Before Pettigrew could react to the intense pain, he was grabbed by the collar and lifted—Snape, his eyes red and his face contorted, stared at him, his ferocious gaze making him tremble uncontrollably.

"Se, Severu—"

"Shut up! I don't know you at all!" Snape held his wand to Pettigrew's fat neck, his voice low and somewhat muffled. The faint taste of blood in his mouth made him realize he had bitten his gums at some point, but he felt no pain. "Peter—Pettigrew—Why, are you still alive? Shouldn't you have long since been reduced to ashes—as a hero!"

Although he was reluctant to admit it, Cyberlina's delay and obstruction had indeed pulled half of himself away from that chaotic and excited emotion.

It allowed him to see more clearly the fear and guilt in the eyes of this ugly, dirty person before him, and through these cloudy eyes, he saw—saw that the arrogant and disgusting Black and this rat had swapped the Secret-Keeper identity; saw this rat gleefully informing Voldemort; saw this rat killing twelve Muggles and severing its own finger to escape Black's pursuit, then fleeing into the sewer in fear—

"Peter Pettigrew!!!"

Snape's wand tip almost pierced Pettigrew's neck.

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

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

—Pettigrew was pleading with Dumbledore for help.

But Dumbledore remained indifferent.

The three people present, excluding Pettigrew, were all masters of Legilimency. The memories Snape had just unearthed were also imprinted on the eyes of the other two.

So all the excuses and pleas he could think of were useless.

Especially Cyberlina, who, with Legilimency almost as an instinct, saw even more. So she lowered her arm, gave up the thought of stopping Snape from going too far, stepped back almost to the wall, clasped her wand with both hands in front of her abdomen, and assumed a posture of watching from the sidelines.

Snape lowered his head, no longer looking at Pettigrew, but the tip of his wand began to glow. Pettigrew started to scream madly—Cyberlina tapped her wand slightly, and the ugly rat could no longer make a sound.

"Severus..." Dumbledore made a soft sound of restraint, drawing a smiling glance from Cyberlina, but he pretended not to notice and quietly said to Snape in a gentle tone, "He needs a different trial, Harry... Harry also needs to know who harmed him—"

"It was Tom Riddle." Cyberlina smiled at Dumbledore. "Don't be confused, Albus. The one who killed the Potters was Tom Riddle. This rat was an accomplice. The rest... don't involve them."

Dumbledore fell silent but continued to look at Snape.

Snape's body stiffened. After a long silence, the wand in his hand gradually moved away from Pettigrew's neck, leaving only a red mark. The other hand holding Pettigrew's collar also slowly loosened.

However, just as Pettigrew let out a sigh of relief--

"Bang--!"

A fist struck with incredible speed, hitting his nose, then his eyes, and then his nose again--

With Dumbledore staring in stunned silence, Snape stood up, holding his bloody fist. He kept his head down, his greasy hair, matted from years of potion fumes, hanging limply on either side of his face, obscuring his expression.

"Since you want Mr. The-Boy-Who-Lived to know the truth first, then I'll go get him... to know... the truth." Snape's strange tone was laced with mockery.

Dumbledore nodded in silence.

Snape let out a low, mocking laugh, then turned to retrieve that annoying Potter. As he passed Cyberlina, a faint surge of magic enveloped the back of his hand. He stopped, looking down--he found the bloodstains on his hand had been cleaned, and the pain was gone.

But he said nothing, merely pursing his lips and continuing to walk out of the Headmaster's office.

After the Headmaster's office door closed, Cyberlina looked at Dumbledore and let out a short chuckle. Then, with a bright smile, she called out the name of the person who was clearly avoiding her gaze:

"Albus?"