On the Viewing Stand, someone covered their mouth.
Minister Alberti of the Italian delegation lowered his head.
Marco stood motionless behind him, something flickering in his eyes.
He did not blink.
He refused to blink.
In the distant cave, the Crystal Mirror projected everything onto the rock wall.
Three representatives of the Church stood before the mirror.
Their leader's lips were pressed into a tight line.
His companion whispered, "This is impossible. The curse during the moonrise phase is irreversible. The Scripture is very clear-"
"Shut up."
The leader's voice was hoarse.
He stared at the figures weeping beneath the moonlight in the mirror.
"The Scripture isn't wrong."
"It's that man!"
Ten minutes.
Lupin stood at the very front of all the students.
He had not cried.
From the moment the moon rose until now, he had maintained the same posture-his head tilted back toward the full moon, his hands hanging at his sides, his fingers slightly spread.
Moonlight shone on his prematurely white hair.
On his silver-gray robes, identical to everyone else's.
On the tiny wolf's-head badge at his collar.
He stood there for a full ten minutes.
Without moving.
Tonks stood at the edge of the Moonlight Field.
Her fingers were twisted together, her knuckles white. Her hair had stopped changing color, holding steady at silver-gray.
She watched Lupin's back.
Watched that thin, prematurely aged figure standing perfectly straight beneath the moonlight.
Then Lupin moved.
He slowly turned around.
To face all the students.
To face everyone watching the ceremony.
To face more than two thousand upturned, tear-wet faces, their breath held.
His voice was not loud.
But magically amplified, every word reached every corner of the vale clearly.
It reached the highest point of the Viewing Stand.
It reached the Crystal Mirror in the distant cave.
It