Reporting Scabbers

Good news, good news!

Headmaster Dumbledore was back!

The moment Zhang San heard the news, his whole soul felt light and buoyant. He was here, he was here, and he had brought the magic array with him!

During the days Dumbledore had been away, Zhang San had not dared to practice too intensely. Cultivation was dangerous for a ghost cultivator who could not temper his soul with moonlight power. To remain rational and calm, Zhang San needed to purify himself under moonlight often.

"Shriek~"

While Zhang San floated above the Gryffindor table, mooching food and drink, the headmaster's phoenix flew in from outside amid the owls. After dropping a letter for Zhang San, it immediately beat its wings and Apparated out of the Great Hall.

When he opened the envelope, there was only a single short line inside—After breakfast, come to my office. The password is "Cockroach Cluster."

"Tsk... What age is this? You still need a password to get through a door? We ghosts never go through doors when we can go through walls." Zhang San curled his lip and continued eating. Nothing was more important than food.

In one fierce breath, Zhang San sucked dry the essence of the food on the offering table, then shot up to the ceiling and made straight for the headmaster's office. The shortest distance between two points was a straight line; Zhang San had no intention of taking the long way around.

Then Dumbledore watched in horror as Zhang San's head emerged from the floor, after which he sat down in a chair as though nothing were amiss. "Headmaster, you wanted to see me?"

Dumbledore handed him a crystal ball. "This is a magic-array crystal ball I asked my old friend Nick Flamel to make. Whenever you need to absorb moonlight, send your magic into the crystal ball. It will create an isolation magic array five meters in diameter. Your voice will be contained inside the array, so you won't have to worry about disturbing anyone."

"Thank you, Headmaster!" Zhang San said politely.

The man had gone to the trouble of seeking out the greatest alchemist alive to solve his problem. Zhang San naturally had to be grateful for such a favor.

"Headmaster, there is one more matter I need to report to you," Zhang San said solemnly.

Seeing Zhang San's serious expression, Dumbledore's smile froze. "Please, go on."

Zhang San said, "Ron Weasley's pet—his rat, Scabbers—is a wizard in animal form. He is an illegal Animagus."

Dumbledore's gaze immediately sharpened. An illegal Animagus had infiltrated Hogwarts? That was an enormous threat to the school's security.

He knew that Quirrell and Voldemort were after the Philosopher's Stone, but he had no idea that someone so dangerous had slipped into the school.

"Who is he?" Dumbledore asked thoughtfully.

Zhang San did not speak in riddles. "His name is Peter Pettigrew."

Zhang San had not remembered this; he had discovered it by checking the surveillance. The young wizards never avoided ghosts when sneaking around at night. Zhang San had casually looked through several ghosts' "surveillance records" and uncovered the rat's true identity.

Dumbledore abruptly interrupted him. "Impossible! Peter Pettigrew is dead!"

Dumbledore felt as though his mind had become a complete mess. The wizarding world unanimously believed that Peter Pettigrew had been killed by Sirius Black while pursuing him. If Peter Pettigrew had not died, then who had Sirius Black killed?

"Very well, child. I understand. Please do not act rashly. I will investigate this matter thoroughly before deciding how to deal with it," Dumbledore said without betraying any emotion.

Though he was surprised that Zhang San knew these things, Dumbledore would never dismiss his words simply because he was young.

This was a special child. Not only had he come from the East, but he was also a ghost with reason and a clear mind. Zhang San was an extraordinary existence, and his perception of the world was sharper than that of ordinary wizards.

Dumbledore believed Zhang San, so he decided to go to Azkaban and question Sirius Black. If Peter had not died, then there had to be more to what happened back then.

With everything said, Zhang San no longer needed to worry about what came next. He happily returned to the little temple with the crystal ball. With this thing, he would be able to temper his soul on moonlit nights from now on.

As long as he could endure the agonizing pain of soul tempering, Zhang San's cultivation speed would soar like a rocket.

The young wizards' emotions were simply too lively. With Zhang San guarding Hogwarts, he never had to worry about lacking cultivation resources. He felt that he could reach the Night Roaming realm in two and a half years, then advance to the Rakshasa realm before graduation.

Even if Voldemort launched a counterattack against Hogwarts by then, Zhang San, a great ghost of the Rakshasa realm, could leap out and slap him across the face.

Hermione looked curiously at the crystal ball in Zhang San's hand. "What is that?"

"A magical item the headmaster gave me. It can help me cultivate more effectively," Zhang San answered.

Hermione nodded enviously. International students really had it good—the headmaster even gave them gifts. And her... she was merely an ordinary Gryffindor valkyrie.

Zhang San placed the crystal ball on the Earth God's offering table. This was the safest place in the entire little temple. At the slightest disturbance, he would be able to return at once.

He could teleport back and forth between the various statues—whether they were large or small, as long as a statue was dedicated to Zhang San, he could reach it in an instant.

By now, both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor had statues of Zhang San in their common rooms.

The Hufflepuff statue had been brought back by their head of house, Professor Sprout. Offerings were made to it every day, and it brought in a considerable amount of incense.

The statue in the Gryffindor common room, on the other hand, received far less incense. The students did not have much to ask for, so they would not idly burn incense and worship Zhang San for no reason.

Zhang San did not insist that the Gryffindor students worship him whether they had something to ask for or not. He treated that statue entirely as a teleportation point or a telephone.

For example, if someone needed to find him in a hurry, they could light a stick of incense before the statue, and Zhang San would immediately know that someone was calling for him.

As the story split into two threads, let us follow one. After Headmaster Dumbledore learned that Peter Pettigrew had seemingly faked his death, transformed into a rat, blended into the Weasley Family, and used Ron to enter Hogwarts, he immediately hurried to Azkaban without delay.

He was the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, the man in charge of the wizarding world's judicial authority. Thus, he could bypass the Ministry of Magic and go directly to Azkaban to retrieve a prisoner.

And that was exactly what Dumbledore did—he went straight to Azkaban and met Sirius Black in a heavily guarded cell, where the man was disheveled, miserable, and mentally scattered.

The sight filled Dumbledore with endless melancholy. It was not something he wanted to see: his once-prized student reduced to such a state. Black had once fought Voldemort with unwavering resolve and had been a loyal member of the Order of the Phoenix.

Back then, Dumbledore had also suspected that there was more to James and Lily's deaths. But everyone knew that Black had been the Secret-Keeper for the Fidelius Charm. Voldemort could only have found the Potter Family so easily if something had gone wrong with the Secret-Keeper.

There was simply no way to clear him of this... unless Black had never been the Secret-Keeper in the first place.

But how could that be possible? The case had long been considered airtight, and Sirius Black himself had effectively admitted to the crime.