Delusional Godfather! Golden Cup Horcrux!

Dudley's large bedroom on the second floor of the Dursley household.

The familiar place, the familiar people—the meeting was underway again.

"Go on, Dumbledore. What did you find?" Dudley asked.

Dumbledore gathered his thoughts and carefully chose his words before speaking.

"First, I verified the truth of what happened back then through Sirius. Just as we had concluded, Sirius was not Voldemort's accomplice. Pettigrew was.

"Back then, Sirius had a sudden idea. He believed that Pettigrew, their timid, cowardly, inconspicuous friend, was better suited to be the Potters' Secret Keeper than he was. So he took the initiative to suggest to James that Pettigrew be made Secret Keeper instead. James agreed.

"Who would have thought that Pettigrew had long since turned to Voldemort out of fear and become Voldemort's spy? That was what led to the Potters' tragedy."

Dudley did not react much upon hearing this. He merely sighed inwardly at Sirius's stupidity once more.

Harry's eyes flickered, his heart churning. Though he had long expected it, only now did he fully confirm the exact course of events that had led to his parents' deaths.

"Write it down, Harry!"

At Dudley's reminder, Harry took out the black leather notebook from before and added Pettigrew and Sirius beneath the notes concerning Snape, the accomplice.

Peter Pettigrew, a hateful traitor and the greatest accomplice responsible for Mum and Dad's deaths. Unforgivable. He must pay in blood! Current whereabouts unknown.

Sirius Black, a foolish close friend of my parents. His unintentional mistake indirectly caused the tragedy. Forgivable, but for now, he can only be treated as a stranger.

"Dumbledore, you must have learned something else from Sirius, right?"

Dudley watched Harry write in the notebook, then continued questioning Dumbledore in a certain tone.

"I asked him. Sirius said that, with the help of James and Lupin, Pettigrew had become an Animagus and could transform into a rat.

"I believe Pettigrew, who escaped by faking his death all those years ago, must have been using that ability to hide his tracks!"

Dumbledore replied.

"Then our search should focus on a rat missing one toe. Without that lead, it really would be like looking for a needle in a haystack!"

Dudley remarked, already forming a plan in his mind.

"Oh, and Sirius found this for me. It was torn from a group photograph of their little circle from their school days."

Dumbledore pulled half of an animated magical photograph from his pocket. It appeared to have been ripped from a group picture, showing Pettigrew in human form, with his ratlike features and shifty eyes. He looked fairly young in it.

Dudley took the photograph, glanced at it, and silently committed it to memory before passing it to Harry.

"Dumbledore, you didn't tell Sirius that Pettigrew might still be alive, did you? And did you get Sirius out of Azkaban? Where did you take him?"

"Following your instructions, I did not tell him. I told Sirius that I was asking these questions to help clear his name, and he did not suspect anything."

Dumbledore answered, "Sirius is in terrible condition now. He is hunched over and sallow-faced. I brought him back to the Black family's ancestral home, 12 Grimmauld Place in London, an ancient building concealed by magic.

"There is a house-elf named Kreacher there to care for him. I told him that until he was officially exonerated, he needed to remain there and could not go out. He agreed.

"However, Sirius very much wants to see Harry. He wants to apologize for the mistake he made back then. He also said... said..."

"What did he say?"

Seeing Dumbledore hesitate, Dudley sensed that it was nothing good and urged him on with a frown.

"Sirius said that if Harry is unhappy living with the Dursley household, he can go stay with him. He also said that when Harry had just been born, the Potters had agreed that he would be Harry's godfather."

Watching Dudley's expression grow increasingly ugly, Dumbledore blurted it out rapidly. Once he was done, he even took two steps back. He could already foresee the volcano erupting!

"In his dreams! That stupid idiot is full of shit!"

Sure enough, Dudley flew into a rage. He shot to his feet and roared, "Godfather?! He still wants to be Harry's godfather? He can keep dreaming! I will never let a bubble-brained idiot become Harry's godfather!

"No, nobody can be Harry's godfather. Harry simply does! Not! Need! A! Godfather!

"To hell with godfathers!"

Dumbledore was greatly surprised by Dudley's emotional fury. It was unlike the surprise Dudley had given him before, surprises born of reason and wisdom. This was a strange kind of surprise, difficult to put into words.

Harry's eyes widened as well, but he quickly understood the reason for his cousin's fury.

His cousin did not want some unrelated person to steal away his family.

"Don't worry, Cousin! I'm very happy living at home. I'm very happy here. I won't go looking for Sirius!" Harry promised.

Dudley took a long, deep breath and tried hard to calm his turbulent emotions before speaking.

"No. When we have time, I'll go see that idiot with you. If I don't curse him until his face is covered in frost, he won't know why the clouds are so white!"

"Well... Dudley, let's talk about something else!"

Seeing that the atmosphere was off, Dumbledore wisely changed the subject.

"Hoo..." Dudley let out another long breath, regained his composure, and sat back in his chair. "Dumbledore, continue."

"It concerns the Death Eaters and Voldemort's Horcruxes!"

Dumbledore said gravely, "In the memories of one of Voldemort's most fanatical Death Eaters, the witch Bellatrix Lestrange, I found a clue to one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.

"Voldemort turned the cup left behind by Helga Hufflepuff, one of Hogwarts' founders, into a Horcrux.

"He told Bellatrix that it was an extremely precious treasure to him and had Bellatrix store the cup safely in the Lestrange family vault at Gringotts."

"That's good news, Dumbledore! When are you planning to retrieve it?" Dudley asked.

As for Voldemort's other Horcruxes, he had originally intended to reveal them to Dumbledore one by one after starting school, gather them all, and make other plans afterward.

But now that Dumbledore had found a lead himself and sped up the collection process, it seemed the old man would have to stay busy for the rest of the month.

"I've already retrieved it!"

Dumbledore said proudly. A pleased expression appeared on his aged face as he pulled a gleaming golden, delicately crafted little cup with two handles from his pocket and placed it on the desk before Dudley. He looked exactly like a mischievous old child.

"What?!"

Dudley looked at the golden cup on the desk, then at Dumbledore's old face blooming like a flower, and was stunned.

He had assumed Dumbledore had come to ask him how to legally enter another family's vault and take something. Who would have thought that the old man had acted first and reported afterward!