Chapter 320: Unregistered Animagus, Enough to Make a Mahjong Table
"This is ridiculous," Hermione said, frowning slightly. "No one could do that."
"That's why I admire him!" Aaron exclaimed. "To survive, he gave up his dignity as a human and willingly became an animal.
Fortunately, Ron, you're a boy. If you were a girl and lived with him for twelve years, you'd probably want to hang yourself.
But I don't know if such a pervert would care about the owner's gender."
Ron's eye twitched slightly. For some reason, he felt that everyone's gaze at him now held a hint of pity.
"Impossible, you must be mistaken," Ron said, feigning composure. "Scabbers might have some special bloodline, which is why he lived longer.
There are so many rats in the world, what makes you so sure it's him?"
"Exactly." Hermione also nodded definitively. "The Ministry of Magic has records of Wizards who can transform into animals. Including Professor McGonagall, there have only been seven Animagus this century."
"Heh heh!" Aaron scoffed, "If I'm not mistaken, you probably didn't find Sirius Black's name among those seven, did you?"
"Ah, this…" Hermione was speechless for a moment.
"It seems I was right." Aaron spread his hands. "Whether an Animagus is registered or not isn't decided by the Ministry of Magic, but by the Wizard who is an Animagus himself, for example, Sirius Black.
One question has also been answered: how could Siriusinfiltrate the Castle time and again?
Because Dementors don't sense animal emotions; they only care about Sirius Black and wouldn't pay much attention to his Animagus form."
"That's what I did." Sirius Black watched Scabbers, who was struggling to escape. "Can I kill him now?"
"Not yet." Lupin shook his head. "We must explain everything clearly."
"It's not too late to explain later!" Black roared, reaching for Scabbers.
Scabbers seemed to sense the immense danger, screaming and scratching Ron's cheek and neck, even biting him.
However, Ron cherished his pet and didn't let go despite its actions.
"Stop it." Lupin struggled to hold Black back. "Not to mention Ron has kept him as a pet for twelve years, there are some things even I don't quite understand.
If you kill him now, the truth will no longer be complete, and that's unfair to Harry."
"Alright!" Sirius looked at Scabbers in Ron's hand, a painful struggle flashing in his eyes. "But make it quick, I just want to kill him right now."
"I can only tell you what I know, but you'll have to explain the part I don't."
Creak!
The door suddenly opened, and everyone instinctively looked over.
"This place isn't really haunted, is it?" Ron said, a little uneasy.
"Absolutely not," Lupin said. "The Shrieking Shack has never been haunted. The villagers of Hogsmeade heard those screams, but they were from me."
"When you transformed into a Werewolf?" Aaron looked at him in surprise. "But isn't there a Wolfsbane Potion?"
"I was bitten when I was very young, and there was no Wolfsbane Potion back then.
Before the Potion was invented, I would turn into a terrifying monster every full moon. If Dumbledore hadn't become Principal, I wouldn't even have had the chance to go to school.
The Shrieking Shack, the secret passage, and the Whomping Willow were all prepared specifically for me, to prevent anyone from encountering me during my dangerous periods."
"Heh heh! It seems our old Principal is truly kind!" Aaronsaid sarcastically. "But we're here to understand the truth, not to listen to your stories."
"But some things have to be told from the beginning."
"Hurry up, Remus," Sirius said impatiently.
"Because of my Werewolf identity, I would disappear a few times each month. After a while, my three good friends noticed.
Instead of shunning me like others, they learned Animagusand kept me company when I transformed. Those were the happiest times of my life."
"So, my dad was also an Animagus?" Harry asked in surprise.
"That's right, and unregistered," Lupin nodded. "Werewolves are only dangerous to humans. They accompanied me in their animal forms. Prongs was a stag, Padfoot was a dog, and Wormtail was… a rat.
The stag and the dog could control the Werewolf. We could move around at night, exploring Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, and we drew a marauder's map, signing it with our nicknames."
"How self-important!" Aaron said, speechless. "You three didn't have to worry about the Werewolf, completely unconcerned, but what about everyone else?"
"We were young and foolish then," Lupin said awkwardly. "It's a good thing nothing unexpected happened, otherwise I probably wouldn't have had a moment's peace for the rest of my life.
Actually, this school year I've been struggling internally. Sirius could infiltrate Hogwarts, and no one knew how he did it, but I knew: Animagus.
However, I didn't dare tell Dumbledore, because it would mean I had betrayed his trust in me during my school days. I've always felt guilty about that."
"Well, you deserve it, Professor Lupin." Aaron pouted. "How should I put it? From my understanding of that old bastard—no, from my understanding of Dumbledore, if you had told him the truth, he probably would have turned a blind eye and even given you all an extra layer of protection."
"Aaron…" Hermione swallowed. "You just said 'old bastard,' didn't you?"
The others also looked at him in astonishment, and even Scabbers forgot to struggle.
"You misheard, I never said Dumbledore was an old bastard." Aaron said calmly. As long as I'm not embarrassed, others will be.
Everyone: … "Our Principal, the great Dumbledore, is quite biased towards Gryffindor.
However, Professor Lupin, you are somewhat cowardly in certain aspects, to the point where you don't dare to say anything."
"Perhaps!" Lupin gave a self-deprecating laugh. "In a way, Professor Snape's opinion of me is correct; I don't deserve Dumbledore's trust."
"What does he have to do with it?" Sirius asked, his tone particularly scornful.
"Severus Snape is the Potion Professor and the Dean of Slytherin." Aaron said with a smile. "I can tell your relationship with him isn't great, but he's my most respected teacher.
So when I go back, I'll vividly describe your current pathetic state to him, so he can have a good laugh."
"You…"
"Don't move." Aaron immediately pointed his wand at him. "Until your status as a murderer is clarified, you'd best behave."
"Sirius." Lupin gave him a look. "Aaron Gaius is Snape's star pupil."
"So what?
When he was at school, he was always sneaking around trying to find out what we were doing, hoping we'd get expelled."
"Honestly, he's still like that now, though 'sneaking around' isn't quite the right word anymore."
"Right, now he openly causes us trouble," Ron said with certainty.
"You have the nerve to say that." Aaron rolled his eyes. "If you weren't causing problems, he wouldn't keep hounding you."
"Perhaps so," Lupin said. "But he had an extraordinary dislike for James."
Harry froze for a moment. He seemed to understand why he was inexplicably targeted in Potion Class.
The son pays for the father's debts, but that's too damn unfair!
"But Dumbledore told me my dad saved his life."
"This…" Lupin hesitated, but looking into Harry's green eyes, he finally spoke: "That was just the outcome, but I don't think he told you the full story."
Harry and the other two exchanged glances, instinctively thinking that the story wasn't very friendly to Snape.
"Back then, Sirius, for fun, told Snape how to get past the Whomping Willow: if you poke the knot on the trunk, it would quiet down.
Snape tried it, then discovered this secret passage, and then he ran into me… a wild Werewolf. When James found out, he risked his life and pulled him back in time."
"Being locked up for twelve years truly isn't unfair at all," Aaron said, looking at Sirius. "Just for fun, you could trick a classmate you didn't get along with into feeding him to a Werewolf.
Should I say you were young and ignorant? Or should I say you were… ruthless?"
Sirius: … "I was just trying to scare him, nothing else."
"Oh, come on!
It's just that nothing went wrong, otherwise a genius Wizardand Potion master would have died young."
"Professor Snape dislikes you because of this?" Harryrealized. "He thinks you were also involved in that prank?"
"That's right." Snape pulled off his Invisibility Cloak, appearing behind Lupin.
Snape's sudden appearance stunned Harry and the other two, Aaron's mouth twitched, and Black even stumbled back in shock.
"No wonder that door suddenly opened." Aaron patted his forehead. It's a good thing Abey wasn't here, otherwise he definitely would have detected Snape under the Invisibility Cloak.
"Expelliarmus." Snape directly used Expelliarmus to knock Lupin's wand out of his hand, then pointed his wand at Sirius Black. "Revenge is truly satisfying. I've finally caught you with my own hands, just as I wished."
"System, is it still too late for me to abandon this mission now?
Although the danger isn't great, it's too complicated. This is enough to fill a mahjong table." Aaron asked in his mind. He was genuinely feeling mentally exhausted now.
Five hundred magic points to sort out grudges from ten or twenty years ago—too many brain cells were dying. He inexplicably felt it wasn't worth it.
"Accepted missions can be abandoned," the System responded.
"That's truly too…"
"However, double the mission reward will be deducted. Does the host wish to abandon?"
The words 'too good' hadn't even left his mouth when Aaronwas struck by the double 'penalty fee.'
"Ahem!
No, I won't abandon it, of course not.
I'm someone who likes to finish what I start." Aaron wanted to cry but had no tears. To avoid losing money, no matter how troublesome it was, he had to continue.