Harry gulped, suddenly feeling a little nervous when he saw Ryze acting so serious.
"I actually heard about these things from Hagrid at the beginning," Ryze said calmly. "Later, I wrote to my cousin to verify them. So the accuracy of the information should be guaranteed."
After saying that, however, Ryze suddenly stopped speaking.
He leaned back slightly in his chair and deliberately paused, leaving Harry and Ron hanging in suspense.
"But if I keep going," Ryze added slowly, "Harry, you might not be in the mood to finish your homework today. Are you sure you still want to hear the rest?"
"Please, Ryze!" Harry said immediately, leaning forward with urgency. "You've already said this much! If you don't tell us the rest, forget homework—I probably won't even be able to sleep tonight!"
Ron nodded vigorously beside him.
He had always been fond of gossip, especially when it involved dramatic stories from the wizarding world. After hearing just a few sentences from Ryze, his curiosity had already grown completely uncontrollable.
As they talked, the three of them walked into the Hogwarts library.
The quiet atmosphere of the room surrounded them. Rows of towering bookshelves stretched out in every direction, and sunlight streamed through the tall windows.
Ryze casually found an empty table near one of the windows and set his books down.
Harry and Ron quickly sat down beside him. Both of them dragged their chairs closer, leaning toward Ryze as if they were afraid to miss a single word.
Seeing their eager expressions, Ryze smiled faintly.
Then he began recounting the complicated past between the Marauders and Severus Snape.
Thanks to Hagrid's straightforward and talkative personality, once he started chatting about old memories, he often couldn't stop himself. Even if someone asked him later what exactly he had said, he probably wouldn't remember the details.
During two mornings of casual conversations with Hagrid, Ryze had heard many stories about the Marauders' adventures at Hogwarts—stories that had never been mentioned in the original records.
Strictly speaking, Snape wasn't the only student who had been taught a "lesson" or bullied by the Marauders.
At the time, many students in Slytherin openly admired Lord Voldemort or expressed their desire to become Death Eaters in the future.
Whenever the Marauders encountered students like that, they rarely hesitated to confront them.
In their minds, they were fighting against future dark wizards.
However, among all the people they targeted, Snape had undoubtedly been the one who suffered the most.
There were several reasons for that.
On the one hand, Snape was exceptionally talented. His magical ability was impressive even at a young age.
On the other hand, his personality was extremely solitary and stubborn. He rarely tried to make friends and almost never backed down from a confrontation.
When facing the Marauders in a one-on-one duel, Snape could often hold his ground or even gain the upper hand.
Because of that, the hot-blooded young boys in the Marauders began to treat him as their greatest rival.
Whenever they suspected that Snape might attempt a sneak attack, they would group together to guard against him. And once they managed to overpower him, they would humiliate him mercilessly.
The rivalry between them gradually became more personal over time.
According to Hagrid, this situation only improved slightly during their sixth year, when they had matured somewhat and begun thinking more seriously about their futures.
Ryze finished explaining that part and glanced at Harry.
"Hagrid didn't seem to know every detail," he said thoughtfully. "But Harry, your appearance is about seventy percent similar to your father's. And I resemble my cousin by about forty percent."
He paused for a moment.
"How do you think Snape feels when he looks at us?"
The information Ryze revealed left Harry completely stunned.
His mouth slowly fell open.
Suddenly, many things began to make sense.
No wonder Snape seemed to dislike him so much.
It wasn't just because he was famous as the Boy Who Lived.
There was a deeper history behind it.
Harry had grown up being bullied by his cousin Dudley, so he understood what it felt like to be targeted and humiliated.
For a brief moment, the eleven-year-old boy actually felt a small trace of sympathy for Snape.
But Ron, who had always held strong prejudice against Slytherin House, simply pursed his lips.
"That was during the time when You-Know-Who was at the height of his power," Ron said firmly. "I've heard that more than half of the Slytherin students back then wanted to become Death Eaters."
He shrugged.
"If you ask me, they deserved to be taught a good lesson."
Harry didn't respond immediately.
After a moment, he shook his head, pushing those complicated thoughts aside.
Just yesterday, Snape had already deducted two points from Gryffindor during Potions class.
Even after hearing all this, Harry didn't feel any closer to forgiving him.
At most, he thought he might try to keep his head down during future lessons so Snape wouldn't notice him too much.
Of course, Harry didn't realize that doing that might actually make Snape even angrier.
After all, Snape had spent many years staring at memories of Lily Evans' eyes.
And now those same green eyes were looking back at him from Harry's face.
Ron suddenly frowned as another question occurred to him.
"Wait a minute," he said, turning to Ryze. "Something doesn't add up."
"If Sirius was your father's best friend and hated Death Eaters so much, how did he end up in Azkaban?"
Ron leaned forward.
"Did he use one of the Unforgivable Curses on them or something?"
Ryze shook his head.
Now that the story had reached Sirius Black, his tone became more serious.
He began explaining everything he knew.
Sirius Black was the only member of the ancient Black family who had been sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin.
During his fifth year at Hogwarts, he had run away from home after a violent conflict with his family.
From that moment onward, he had been taken in by James Potter.
The Potter family treated him almost like another son.
In fact, they even provided him with financial support during those years.
Because of that connection, Ryze's own father had also provided Sirius with occasional assistance.
That decision, however, had angered the strict and proud members of the Black family.
As a result, Ryze's father had also been partially disowned by them.
After graduating from Hogwarts, Sirius immediately joined the fight against the Death Eaters.
He worked alongside James Potter and many other members of the Order of the Phoenix.
Eventually, he was even chosen to become Harry Potter's godfather.
As Ryze calmly described these events, Harry's expression grew more and more shocked.
"My… godfather?" Harry repeated quietly.
Until now, he had never heard about this person before.
Yet according to Ryze, Sirius had once been his father's closest friend.
Harry's mind filled with confusion.
If Sirius had been so loyal to his parents, how could he possibly have ended up in Azkaban?
Ryze nodded.
"In theory," he said, "he's still your godfather today."
Harry stared at him silently.
"I learned the rest of this story from my cousin during the summer," Ryze continued.
"What I'm about to say next might make you angry."
He glanced around the library.
"You'd better try to control yourself. I really don't want Madam Pince to throw us out."
Harry took a deep breath and nodded.
So Ryze explained the version of events that most people in the wizarding world believed.
At some unknown point during the war, Sirius Black had been tempted by Lord Voldemort.
No one knew exactly how it had happened.
But according to the official reports, Sirius had betrayed James Potter.
He had revealed the location where the Potters were hiding.
Soon afterward, Voldemort appeared.
James and Lily Potter were killed.
And Harry Potter somehow survived the attack, becoming the famous Boy Who Lived.
"After that," Ryze continued quietly, "Sirius confronted another member of the Marauders—Peter Pettigrew."
"The battle between them was incredibly destructive."
"It destroyed nearly half a street and killed several Muggles."
"Peter Pettigrew himself also died during the fight."
"Sirius was captured by the Aurors shortly afterward and sent directly to Azkaban."
"And he's remained there ever since."
As soon as Ryze finished speaking, Harry's entire body stiffened.
His teeth clenched so tightly that they almost made a grinding sound.
If Ryze hadn't warned him earlier to remain calm, he might have shouted right there in the middle of the library.
"Why?" Harry whispered hoarsely.
"Why would he do something like that?"
He struggled to keep his voice quiet.
Ryze shook his head slowly.
"I don't know," he said.
"No one knows."
"Only Sirius himself could answer that question."
He paused briefly before adding,
"Even my cousin doesn't understand what kind of temptation could have convinced him to betray your parents."
"All of this was reported in detail by The Daily Prophet at the time."
"If you want to read about it yourself, Hogwarts still keeps old copies of the newspapers."
"You just need to look for the issues published around the time when You-Know-Who fell."
Then Ryze added something else.
"When Hagrid was following Headmaster Dumbledore's instructions to bring you to your aunt and uncle's house, he actually saw Sirius at the scene."
"At that time, he had no idea Sirius was the traitor."
"It wasn't until several days later, when the newspapers reported the story, that he learned about Sirius's betrayal."
"Hagrid told me that when he realized the truth, he felt terrible."
"He said that if he had known at the time, he might have tried to stop Sirius."
"And maybe Peter Pettigrew's life could have been saved."
The moment Ryze finished speaking, Harry suddenly stood up.
His eyes were red with emotion.
"I'm going to find Hagrid," he said firmly.
"I need to hear this from him myself."
Ron quickly stood up as well.
He looked back at Ryze with a complicated expression.
"Sorry," Ron said.
Then he gathered Harry's books and hurried after him.
Together, the two boys rushed out of the library, leaving Ryze sitting alone by the window as the quiet sunlight continued to pour across the table.
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