The Mastermind's Identity Is Finally Coming to Light / Sirius Trusts His Godson Unconditionally

"Excellent!" Harry nodded with a smile. "Miss Skeeter, I eagerly anticipate the day when you and your writing will once again become a sensation throughout the Wizarding World."

As he spoke, Harry also extended his hand, but unlike Rita, he did not kneel down.

The chains of fire that shot from Sirius's wand were only branded onto Rita's hand.

Chapter 454 The Mastermind is Finally Showing Initial Clues

Shock, regret...

Now that the Unbreakable Vow had been signed, Rita Skeeter was completely consumed by these two emotions.

With just one Unbreakable Vow, Rita was truly certain... Harry Granger was definitely more monstrous than the rumors suggested!

Just ask me, when have you ever seen a vow that is unilaterally binding?

To form an Unbreakable Vow, both parties must kneel facing each other, holding each other's right hands tightly, with a third person standing nearby as a witness.

When making a vow, one party makes the request, and the other party agrees. As each vow is made, the witness's wand shoots out a rope of fire, leaving a mark on both of their hands.

As a fellow Ravenclaw graduate, Rita was certainly well-versed in the arts, and therefore she knew that such oaths were often mutually binding.

The oath-taker and the oath-taker are completely equal in status, and the oath-taker must also add specific limitations to their oath, such as the duration and scope of its effectiveness.

However, Harry and Rita were not equals in the process of making their vows.

Harry was standing, Rita was kneeling, and the flame marks were only branded on Rita's own hands... This meant that the oath had absolutely no binding force on Harry!

Rita then realized that she had definitely been tricked by Harry. The 'ten years' he mentioned was probably just a random number he made up to avoid arousing her suspicion!

In reality, he never intended to give himself back his freedom!

"Miss Skeeter, cheer up! You should be celebrating your new life that's about to begin," Harry said with a chuckle. "Besides, if working for me will give you everything you want, what difference does ten years make or forever? It's not like I'm stopping you from retiring, and you'll still have vacations every now and then."

"Well, Mr. Granger, it seems I have no choice but to accept this." Rita gave Harry a reproachful yet alluring wink. "From now on, I'm completely yours."

"Miss Skeeter, you'd better use these unrealistic ideas in your future articles; that would definitely boost the magazine's sales." Harry shook his head slightly, but then his expression gradually became serious. "I called you here today because there's something else I want to ask you... Did you really witness Peter Pettigrew and Lucius Malfoy's secret meeting?"

"You mean that incident? I definitely saw it with my own eyes." Rita nodded firmly. "I was quite far away at the time, so I didn't hear exactly what they were saying. But I definitely saw their meeting, right there in Highgate Village, and they even went into that particularly luxurious Muggle villa together..."

"It really is in Witanhurst?!" Harry's expression hardened upon hearing this. It seemed his guess was correct; that place really was the enemy's lair!

During the time Lucius Malfoy was captured, Harry used him a lot to practice Legilimency, so Harry knew very well... that this guy and Peter Pettigrew Peter had never actually met!

The 'Peter Pettigrew' that Lucius met was Harry in disguise; and the 'Lucius' that Peter Pettigrew met was very likely the one who controlled him and the Greengrass ghost!

That guy actually used Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Lucius...

No, things can't be that simple!

Harry suddenly remembered that Peter Pettigrew's trip to Highgate Village was entirely impromptu.

He risked going back to check on the grave of Peter Pettigrew's mother because he had set a fire at West Highgate Cemetery, which destroyed it.

Therefore, for that mysterious mastermind, controlling Peter Pettigrew was probably a spur-of-the-moment decision.

So how could he possibly have Polyjuice Potion on hand, and also Lucius Malfoy's hair or nails?

As Harry was deep in thought, he suddenly remembered another insignificant little thing...

"Greengrass, come out here for a moment."

After seeing Rita Skeeter off, Harry stomped his foot in the room, summoning the ghost that had been hiding in the floorboards.

"Lord Granger, you wanted to see me?"

The ghost bowed to Harry with utmost respect, a gesture that left Sirius speechless with astonishment.

"The Greengrass Family... why is his ghost here? And why is he even working for you?"

"A few things happened in between, but the head of the Greengrass Family is indeed a very reliable ghost," Harry explained with a smile, then turned to the ghost with more serious matters. "Greengrass, I remember you told me that you suddenly lost consciousness while you were following Lucius Malfoy, right?"

"That's right," Ghost said definitively. "I had no idea what happened at the time. I just suddenly gave up on following Malfoy, and I have no memory of the rest."

"That makes sense now." Harry finally looked enlightened.

When he previously used Legilimency to peer into Lucius's memories, he was unable to control it properly and had read some less important fragments.

For example, one of his memories is of Lucius Malfoy being attacked by Ground Bat.

Of course, that didn't count as an attack, and even Lucius Malfoy himself wasn't sure if it was Ground Bat.

He only felt a gust of 'black mist' suddenly blow past him, followed by a sharp pain on his neck.

When Harry saw this scene, he thought Lucius must have been ignorant and misunderstood, and he was also a little smug, thinking that the other party was indeed a villain who would be punished by the villain.

But now that I think about it, the timing of his bizarre encounter with the Ground Bat and the close proximity of the time when Greengrass was following him and lost consciousness seems too coincidental.

So... it was because of that attack that the mastermind gained the ability to transform into Lucius Malfoy, and thus, when they met Peter Pettigrew, they chose this form that he would be more familiar with?

"Greengrass, have you been able to contact Peter Pettigrew recently?" Harry asked after a moment of thought.

"There's still some contact, but it's not as regular as before," Ghost said, frowning. "That guy has always been very careful. Every time I contacted him, I would trick a weak-willed Muggle into going to a specific location and having the Muggle leave a message there. That way, when I checked later, I would see his reply. But lately, he's rarely replying to messages anymore, and he doesn't even inquire about you and Dumbledore anymore."

"Here's what you'll do: contact him again soon and tell him I'm going to Azkaban alone, it's a rare opportunity, and tell him to act quickly!"

Harry knew all along that Peter Pettigrew's mission was to harm those around him, but the only reason he hesitated to act was because he and Albus Dumbledore were both at the school and he was afraid to make a move.

Now that it seems Albus Dumbledore is determined not to leave Hogwarts easily, I'll have to lure him out myself!

Chapter 455 Sirius has unconditional trust in his godson.

"Harry, you just said you were going to infiltrate Azkaban... you were probably just trying to spread false information to lure that Peter Pettigrew into a trap, weren't you?"

Inside the extremely shabby Hog's Head Inn, after Greengrass's ghost left to carry out his orders, Sirius's face was full of conflict.

There's just so much information today!

He originally thought that Harry had only asked him to be a witness and help with a vow spell, but he never expected to hear so many horrifying things.

At 14, these Marauders were thinking about throwing Dungbomb into Harry 'Filch office and how to make that Snivellus terrible.

As a result, Harry was struck by a mix of curses and bloodshed, with white knives going in and red knives coming out...

Murder, arson, scheming... Sirius had never imagined that he would associate these words with a child who was still in school.

And he's James's son!

But beyond the shock, Sirius felt mostly heartache and endless self-reproach.

If it weren't for his fathers being either dead or imprisoned, leaving Harry all alone, he wouldn't have had to put up with the Dursley family' mistreatment, nor would he have had to bear all of this himself!

So... looking at Harry, whose shrewdness and strength were impeccable, Sirius couldn't help but feel that he had no right to judge Harry's behavior.

Even he, Harry's godfather, was only able to get out of prison thanks to Harry's tireless efforts.

Without Harry, he might already be an escaped convict, and his fate would be uncertain.

Thinking about all this, Sirius's gaze towards Harry softened, but Harry's next answer surprised him once again.

"Infiltrating Azkaban... I'm serious," Harry said matter-of-factly. "I'm planning to go to Azkaban and rescue a few serious criminals; they'll be useful."

"It works?" Sirius frowned involuntarily. "Harry, what are you doing?"

"Godfather, do you really want to know?"

"Uh..." Sirius hesitated again, looking at Harry's scrutinizing gaze.

Is it meaningful for me to question Harry about these things?

Does Harry need to be lectured, or is it that the godfather is questioning his own godson?

That's right, he doesn't need to worry about anything at all.

Sirius, as Harry's godfather, is completely unable to interfere with the path Harry is currently on, and it's already a miracle if he doesn't hinder him. So all he can do is... completely trust Harry!

"It's nothing. If you don't want to say, then don't." Sirius's expression returned to its previous cheerfulness, and he even adopted a very assertive manner. "If you need any help, just let me know."

"Actually, it's nothing major. It's just that our research on Werewolf has reached a critical point, and we need to capture a few Death Eater to test the infection situation."

Perhaps sensing Sirius's thoughts, Harry casually recounted what he had been doing lately, which left Sirius speechless with delight.

Good heavens, Harry is secretly researching a cure for Feral Wolf Syndrome, and he's almost succeeded?

This child isn't just a prodigy, this kid is defying the heavens!

After marveling at Harry's extraordinary talent, Sirius began to mentally criticize a certain professor.

Pshaw, some Snivellus tried to imitate Damocles' potion, but he still stumbled along the way. Unlike Harry, who was so clever and made that... serum directly!

And you still have the nerve to act tough in front of Harry, saying that if Harry doesn't pass the Potions Owl exam, Harry won't be allowed to play with me anymore... I think you're the one who should go away and play somewhere else!

Can an OWL proctor cure Feral Wolf Syndrome? Can you, a pretentious bat who's always putting on airs, cure Feral Wolf Syndrome?

"Godfather... Godfather~" Seeing Sirius start to grin blankly, Harry had no choice but to reach out and wave his hand in front of him a few times.

Only then did Sirius realize the truth of his dream.

"Oh... ah? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, just letting you know we should be leaving, so please stop imagining things about Severus Snape," Harry said with a chuckle and a shrug.

"How do you know... No, I didn't!" Sirius was about to retort instinctively, but after regaining his composure, he immediately began to loudly defend himself.

However, Harry found his explanation completely unconvincing.

By the way, how did Harry know that Sirius was imagining Severus Snape making a fool of himself?

That's because the expression on this guy's face is exactly the same as when Hanamichi Sakuragi teases Kaede Rukawa!

"By the way, Harry..." After leaving the Hog's Head Inn, Sirius seemed to have thought of something and solemnly instructed Harry, "It's fine if you tell me the specifics of your research on Feral Wolf Syndrome, but it's best not to tell Moony... He's different from me, he might not be able to accept these things."

"I know what I'm doing," Harry nodded gently. "Thank you, Godfather."

Having Sirius's understanding and support certainly made Harry feel much better. At least it assured him that even if his actions were ever made public, there would always be people willing to support him unconditionally.

"Harry, I'm the one who should be thanking you." Sirius patted Harry on the shoulder with emotion. "Lupin is practically my only friend, but I didn't know how to help him. I never expected you to bring him hope."

"And besides thanking you, I also feel really sorry... If we guys hadn't been so useless, how could you have had to endure so much at such a young age..."

"Godfather, let's not talk about this anymore. It's all in the past anyway." Harry smiled with relief, and as he said goodbye, he carefully advised, "You must be extra careful when you're alone these days, especially keep an eye out for Ground Bat around."

After piecing together all the clues, Harry began to take Lucius's memory very seriously. If he had indeed encountered Ground Bat, then that 'black mist' must be a force related to the mastermind behind it all.

Moreover, Harry couldn't guarantee that his plan to lure the mouse would work.

So if Peter Pettigrew really couldn't resist breaking into Hogwarts while he was on his way to Azkaban to arrest someone, then that would be exactly what Harry wanted.

But if this guy still doesn't make a move, it means he's already alerted the enemy, letting them know that Greengrass has escaped their control, which would be troublesome.

If things develop to this point, Harry will have no choice but to venture into the mysterious Witanhurst mansion without any prior information.

But regardless, Harry is determined to bring Peter Pettigrew and this mysterious mastermind to light this time...

Catch them all in one fell swoop!

(P. S. Mmm, Luna Lovegood once said that someone sat at the wrong table...)

Chapter 456 Azkaban is very easy

The North Sea, as referred to by the Britain, is a marginal sea located in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, situated northwest of mainland Europe and beyond the eastern coastline of the British Isles.

Azkaban, the infamous wizarding prison in Britain and even throughout Europe, is located on an isolated island in the North Sea. To find it, simply draw a line between the coast of Britain and the coast of Scandinavian Peninsula to its northeast, and then find the midpoint of that line.

The distance isn't actually that far, at most three hundred kilometers. Swimming is definitely out of the question, but if Harry were to fly there as a Golden Eagle, it wouldn't even take him two hours... and that's while he was searching for the island and daydreaming.

As a notorious prison in the Wizarding World, Azkaban is not particularly hidden and can be easily found at sea.

Because no special concealment spells such as disguise or shielding spells were cast here, it was simply made unmappable, so any creature with an affinity for magic could easily find Azkaban's location.

However, most of the time, very few creatures are willing to approach this place.

Harry quickly found the lonely island in the center of the North Sea, and the towering, massive dark fortress on it.

It was a strange castle shaped like a triangular prism, almost taking up the entire island. A few Dementor were scattered around the castle, mechanically patrolling along specific paths.