Toward the Unknown Abyss

After sending off Dumbledore's owl, Dewey stood in front of the mirror.

"Don't always look so gloomy, Black. Smile a little. Be kinder.

"Kids like kind adults. Think about living with Harry Potter and having him call you his godfather. Think about his hair, just like James's, and his eyes, just like Lily's. With him, you'll both have family again, won't you?

"Isn't that something to be happy about?

"You both have a bright future, and soon you'll be able to clear your name, my friend. Come on, cheer up. Smile."

Dewey, now transformed into Lupin, carefully practiced walking. He copied Professor Lupin's weary demeanor and gentle but resolute gaze, replicating them down to the last detail to ensure there was no difference between himself and Professor Lupin.

This was important.

He couldn't let anything out of place show at Hogwarts.

Dumbledore was a master of Legilimency.

He wouldn't use Legilimency on people at any time or place—that would be extremely offensive.

But that didn't mean he wouldn't use Legilimency on anyone.

So Dewey had to maintain his persona. As long as he didn't let anything slip that would shatter it, Dumbledore wouldn't grow suspicious. From Sirius Black's account, Dewey had distilled a few key traits of Lupin's.

He would make his adjustments around them.

"A gentle yet resolute expression."

"An air of constant weariness."

"Admiration for Dumbledore."

"Guilt toward Snape."

"Disapproval of your bullying, but the cowardice to never step in and stop you."

"And poverty."

Dewey muttered to himself as he stood before the mirror. His tone of voice already matched Lupin's so perfectly that it gave Sirius Black an indescribably uncomfortable feeling.

Because he knew Lupin would never speak like that.

Even if the pitch and tone were identical, Lupin simply wouldn't say those things.

"Shut up, Dewey."

Sirius retorted without looking up.

"Snape deserved it.

"You think about his Levicorpus. I remember you can do it too. Why do you think he created Levicorpus? To joke around with his good friends?

"Not at all.

"He and his Slytherin friends went around calling people Mudbloods and bullying other young wizards. Did he ever feel remorse when he went around tormenting people?

"Hmm?

"When his Pure-blood friends called Lily a Mudblood, did he ever feel guilty toward anyone?

"No! He didn't. Lupin only saw us bullying him, but when he bullied others, Lupin didn't see it!"

Sirius sneered darkly. "We were just giving him back what he'd done to others. Besides, Lupin never stopped us!

"Are you sure you've got the character right?"

He looked at Dewey suspiciously, making no secret of his distrust.

Dewey stared back at Sirius and put on an angry expression.

He curled his lip at Sirius.

"I shouldn't have brought this up with you. You don't understand art at all. Talking to you about this is like talking to a brick wall. What a waste of time."

Sirius stopped responding to Dewey.

He was busy packing.

He had a lot to pack, too.

Making Polyjuice Potion took twenty-one days. Two of its ingredients were quite hard to come by.

But that posed no problem for Sirius Black.

Unlike the Weasley family, who were short on money; the Malfoy Family, whose affairs were full of holes; or the Gaunt Family, whose entire line was nearly extinct, Black was a formidable Pure-blood family. The family followed male primogeniture, and women couldn't inherit the Black Family fortune.

They were rich.

Every generation of the Blacks had been Slytherin.

Pure-blood Supremacy.

Black was the exception.

He was a Gryffindor.

By Sirius's generation, there were two male heirs: Sirius Black and Regulus, an outstanding Slytherin student who had believed in the Dark Lord but later betrayed him.

Regulus betrayed the Dark Lord and went searching for a Horcrux. The Horcrux took his life.

That meant Sirius Black was the last legal heir of the entire Pure-blood Black Family.

He had inherited generations' worth of Black family collections, connections, and resources.

Getting hold of a few things wouldn't be difficult.

Polyjuice Potion was taught in fifth-year Potions Class at Hogwarts. Sirius was a little rusty at brewing Potions, but he was working at it. He couldn't always buy ready-made batches—that would eventually expose him—so he'd decided to buy some while brewing his own.

From now on, he would be Dewey's quartermaster.

Unlike Dewey, he wasn't headed to Hogwarts. He was going to Hogsmeade Village.

There was a Shrieking Shack there.

He would prepare potions in the Shrieking Shack and keep in touch with Dewey. There was a secret passage from there to Hogwarts.

"You've got two days before you go to Hogwarts. I think you should set off."

After their discussion, Sirius didn't much feel like talking to Dewey any further.

He had trained Dewey for nearly a week and told him everything he knew.

There was nothing more to add.

From here on, Dewey would have to walk the path alone.

Dewey glanced at his suitcase.

The battered suitcase had been enchanted several times, making it light as a feather. More importantly, it held a vast space divided into three levels.

Lupin was in the deepest level. The other two held rows of cabinets filled with all sorts of curiosities.

Poison frogs, voodoo, giant spiders, some common Fantastic Beasts and other, less familiar oddities—these were all distractions, all teaching aids for Dewey. The person he truly needed to hide was the real Lupin.

He would have to keep cutting Lupin's hair to use in the Polyjuice Potion.

"I hope he won't blame me when he turns bald."

Dewey touched the hair at his temples and added, unable to help himself, "I think Lupin and I have something in common."

Dewey looked at himself in the mirror. "Lupin and I are both just as poor. By the way, Sirius, how many days do you think the people from the Ministry of Magic hunting us can keep up their enthusiasm?

"I'll bet you one Galleon that in a week, those babies will be running home to their mothers for milk."

Dewey chuckled. The sight of that slightly unhinged smile on Lupin's face made Sirius shake his head.

"Just get going!"

He couldn't stand seeing such a deranged expression on his old friend's face.

"Fine, fine. I'm leaving, aren't I? I'll be off in a moment."

The Floo Network in London was restricted, and even Dewey couldn't fly there. He had no friends to turn to, either, so he took out Lupin's money and carefully counted it.

No matter how many times he counted, Lupin had only twenty-one Galleons, sixty Silver Sickles, and a handful of Knuts.

"I take back what I said," Dewey muttered. "Your friend, Mr. Lupin, is far richer than I am. I don't even have a Galleon."

He said goodbye to Sirius and stood beside a roadside bus stop, holding out his wand.

He took one last look at Sirius Black as he disappeared, then gave a strange grin.

"An adventure gets the heart racing, doesn't it, Dewey?"

After his laugh, Dewey fully transformed into Lupin.

He held out his wand. A little while later—or perhaps a long while—he glanced at the watch on his wrist, though it didn't look like a Muggle-made one.

He had to keep track of the time. He needed to drink Polyjuice Potion once every fifty minutes, and over the past few days, that had forced him to keep practicing his sense of time. He held out his wand, and after quite a while, a triple-decker bus came rumbling out of nowhere.

It hurtled toward Dewey, who nimbly jumped backward to dodge it.

The bus slammed on its brakes and stopped in front of him.

He looked up and saw the bright lettering on its side.

The Knight Bus.

A young man with sticking-out ears and a face full of pimples opened the door and looked at Dewey, speaking casually. "Hey, did you summon us?

"The Knight Bus, at your service.

"Tell us where you want to go, and we can take you anywhere on land.

"It's only eleven Silver Sickles, no matter where you're going. We charge the same fare everywhere!"