After everything was over, Kreacher returned to the Black family's ancestral home on Sirius's orders. Sirius also ordered him not to tell anyone about this.
Seeing how low Sirius was feeling, Lupin offered to take a walk with him. Douglas and Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts to join the Christmas feast, which had not yet ended.
When the two returned to Hogwarts' banquet hall, the entire room fell silent the moment the Great Hall doors opened.
The ghosts, who had been performing with great enthusiasm, first froze in midair, their smiles instantly stiffening. Then they all turned to Nearly Headless Nick, while Nick looked at Harry at the Gryffindor table. Harry, in turn, looked behind Douglas and seemed a little disappointed when he found Sirius was not there.
At that moment, the temperature throughout the Great Hall suddenly dropped, and the candlelight flickered. With a chorus of cold snorts, the ghosts quickly vanished through the tables, ceiling, and walls.
Fortunately, the professors had already shown Peeves out for mixing his own presents in with the normal ones to cause trouble and smearing the cake George and Fred had given him everywhere. Otherwise, there would certainly have been cries of "The ghost killer is back!" or something of the sort.
Dumbledore looked at Douglas with a smile.
Douglas shrugged helplessly. "Professor, this is all prejudice."
At the staff table, Professor Snape noticed that the person he detested had not returned, and that Douglas had also made such a fool of himself in public. A mocking smile immediately appeared on his face.
The Christmas holidays soon ended.
The first thing the students who had gone home for the holidays did upon returning to Hogwarts was ask their classmates about Peter.
The members of the Charon Detective Agency who had gone home for the