Genius on the Left, Madman on the Right

Two old friends, turning their wands against each other.

Lupin pressed the attack against Sirius Black.

The frequency of his spellcasting was higher than that of any Ministry of Magic Hit Wizard. Lupin had spent years in the forests, resolving encounters with magical creatures and dangers through spells alone, not to mention the frequent need to deal with rogue werewolves who had no business being there.

He had excelled at Hogwarts, and since graduation, he had lived his life in the company of danger.

Whether in terms of reaction time or mastery of charms, he far surpassed those Hit Wizards.

He was also far more practiced than Sirius, who had been rotting in prison.

Facing Sirius, he unleashed several hexes; Sirius had not expected that after so many years, Lupin's skills had not only failed to rust but had become even more ruthless.

The two traded blows, with Sirius suppressed and forced into a steady retreat.

Having spent over a decade in Azkaban, it was already a miracle that he remembered how to cast spells at all.

"Black, you shouldn't have come here!"

Lupin spoke, sending another hex that sent Sirius Black flying to the ground.

Sirius clutched his ribs and coughed.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough."

He felt a sharp, stabbing pain between his ribs.

Fortunately, Lupin had not dealt a killing blow.

Lupin stepped forward, his wand held steady, pointing directly at Sirius. He said solemnly, "Tell me, Black, why did you come here to find me? Were you hoping I would help you?

That is absolutely impossible.

When you betrayed James and Lily, you should have expected a day like this—to die alone and miserable.

I will not kill you; I will hand you over to the Ministry of Magic and let the Dementors deliver your sentence."

Lupin said, his eyes fixed on Sirius.

"No, no, no, you can't do that. Dementors—those things are far too disgusting.

Besides, the Secret-Keeper who cast the Fidelius Charm back then wasn't him; it was Peter Pettigrew."

A voice spoke slowly from behind Lupin.

Lupin jumped in shock. Without turning, he fired two spells toward the source of the voice, but they were deflected by a shield and landed harmlessly to the side.

Dewey strode out.

A shield shimmered before his eyes.

Lupin's heart sank.

He recalled the reports in the newspapers.

Two people had escaped from Azkaban this time.

One was Sirius Black, who stood before him, and the other was Dewey.

Strangely, Dewey showed no intention of attacking.

He stood to the side, maintaining his Protego, and said, "I'm not here to fight; I'm here to persuade you to surrender.

You can hear me out before deciding whether you still want to fight me.

You see, this story happened over a decade ago—forgive me, I can't be bothered to calculate exactly how many years—but during those dark days, Trelawney made a prophecy.

We all know that Divination is a profound skill, at least to the layman, but Trelawney possesses an astonishing accuracy in her prophecies. Do you understand what I mean?

She is a natural Seer.

Her talent for divination is higher than anyone else's; even Dumbledore cannot compare to her in that regard.

Right, right, forgive me, Sirius, don't interrupt me like that. I've been locked away for too long; even if I met a puppy on the street, I'd want to stop and talk to it.

Am I a chatterbox? What, you don't like it?

Then I shall return to the point.

This Seer made a prophecy, stating that Voldemort would be defeated by a child. Based on the timeline, there were two such children.

One was your friend's child, Harry Potter, and the other was Neville Longbottom. The beauty of Professor Trelawney's prophecy is that no matter which one was found, the Dark Lord would fail.

Anyway, let's set that aside and talk about Harry Potter.

Voldemort acted personally to cut off the threat.

Under those circumstances, Dumbledore came up with a brilliant way to hide the James Potter family.

The Fidelius Charm, wasn't it?

It required a person—ahem—someone to bear the Fidelius Charm as the Secret-Keeper.

As long as he didn't speak, even if Voldemort pressed his face against the glass of the Potter house to look inside, he wouldn't be able to see Lily and her family.

In that situation, the Secret-Keeper of the Fidelius Charm was naturally supposed to be Sirius Black, right?

Everyone thought that was perfectly logical."

A brave and fearless pure-blood wizard, a tough man, someone who would never reveal a secret no matter what, right?

But Sirius Black didn't think so; it was excessive cleverness, wasn't it?

Dewey looked at Sirius, whose face was full of pain.

Amidst the pain was astonishment; he didn't understand how Dewey knew so much, as it wasn't quite what he had told Dewey beforehand.

Dewey smiled.

Lupin took two steps back, ensuring he could see both Sirius Black and Dewey.

"Continue."

He said to Dewey.

His expression was very grave, making it impossible to tell whether he believed Dewey's words.

"Fine, but Lupin, keep both hands where I can see them, otherwise I will use the Killing Curse on you. Believe me, I am capable of anything."

Dewey said with a manic smile. For some reason, seeing his smile made Lupin feel a chill in his heart.

He felt as if this person before him knew everything, as if he could see through the human heart.

More importantly, he was a madman—a calm madman.

Lupin hated madmen.

Seeing that Lupin had become much more compliant, Dewey continued: "Right, where were we? Oh, yes, excessive cleverness, wasn't it?

That's right, excessive cleverness. Black thought he had a clever idea. What do they call it? Man proposes, God disposes.

Our Mr. Black here changed the Secret-Keeper of the Fidelius Charm.

Changed it to whom? Peter Pettigrew.

You didn't think much of Peter, did you? You trusted him, yet you looked down on him, didn't you?

Peter Pettigrew, a cowardly, insignificant, pathetic little thing.

You didn't trust Lupin either, I suppose because he's a werewolf?

Most werewolves were under Voldemort's command, and you were afraid Lupin might have ties to them, so you didn't tell Lupin about this, nor did you tell Dumbledore.

Once Peter Pettigrew became the Secret-Keeper, everything began.

He had long been a spy for Voldemort, and after becoming the Secret-Keeper, he immediately betrayed his good friends.

The Potter family was discovered.

Even an outstanding lion, how could he be a match for Voldemort?

That night, Voldemort came to James's house. It was raining heavily outside, very noisy. Voldemort opened the door with magic. James was in the living room on the first floor, wasn't he? One strike of Avada Kedavra, and James was dead.

He used one strike for everyone, Avada Kedavra, right?

It's a pity that, as a master of Dark Arts, he never imagined there was such a thing as the magic of love in this world.

Its power is no less than the Dark Arts; he failed.

On the second floor, his physical form was destroyed by the magic he had rebounded upon himself.

Voldemort wasn't defeated by some Boy Who Lived.

He lost to the magic of love.

He was defeated by a Muggle-born little lioness he had always looked down upon; he was struck by his own Avada Kedavra.

But he is a terrifying person, isn't he? Even after being struck by his own Dark magic, he still wouldn't die.

He left the British Isles, waiting to make a comeback. Do you understand now, Lupin?

Sirius is innocent; he needs your help to catch Peter Pettigrew!"

Dewey recounted the story vividly.

Lupin felt himself sweating. He felt as if, following Dewey's narration, he had arrived at that night, arrived at the scene where Voldemort broke into James's house and killed the couple.

His palms were sticky with sweat, which made him feel very uncomfortable.

He felt his heart beating rapidly.

Even Sirius Black opened his eyes wide, staring intently at Dewey as if meeting him for the first time.

After Dewey stopped talking, it was very quiet here, quiet as if only the mountain wind were blowing through.

"How, how do you know everything?"

Sirius Black said in a strained tone. He remembered he hadn't told him these secrets; many things sounded as if he had witnessed them with his own eyes.

The final events at James's house should have been known to no one but Voldemort.

Lupin gripped his wand tightly. He looked at Sirius, and based on his understanding of Sirius, he felt that Sirius's expression didn't look like a pretense.

He saw panic and fear on Black's face.

"There is only a thin line between a madman and a genius, Black."

Dewey said maniacally: "Knowing these things is nothing strange. What matters, Black, is that I kept my promise and didn't hurt your friend. I am very seriously telling him the cause and effect. Now it is your friend's turn to make a choice: to believe us, join us, and sign an Unbreakable Vow under my witness, or to resist stubbornly and believe that we are all lying?"

Dewey finished saying all this in one breath and waited quietly for Lupin's answer.

Lupin's answer was very simple.

"Expelliarmus!"

With a single Expelliarmus, he disarmed Black, and Dewey understood his choice.

"Sorry, Black."

Dewey laughed maniacally, his voice sounding just like Bellatrix.

"Protego!"

He cast ten layers of Protego before his eyes, then looked at Lupin and used Stupefy without a shred of mercy.

The first Stupefy was blocked, and Lupin retreated; the second Stupefy, Lupin blocked it and continued to retreat!

Three, four, five, six, seven!

Dewey seemed tireless, like a spell-casting turret, outputting Stupefy steadily. After blocking a few, Lupin finally couldn't hold them off anymore.

A single trick, mastered, is enough to conquer all!

Sirius watched as Lupin was initially able to cast some spells to counterattack, only to have them deflected by Protego. By the end, Dewey saw it clearly: what was so special about an apprentice's Stupefy?

The pressure!

Not every Stupefy would be deflected. Just like now, Lupin was being beaten back step by step, unable to even Apparate. Dewey didn't gasp for air, didn't chant incantations, and only needed to wave his wand as if his energy would never run dry, beating Lupin until he questioned his very existence.

Because of wand-casting and a white card costing 1 point of mana, this meant that if Dewey wanted to, he could cast Stupefy with the same power 120 times.

Lupin deflected the seventh Stupefy, only to finally be struck by a Stupefy and pass out!

Late spring chill, my head hurts.