"Has he lost his mind? Even if Voldemort hadn't devoured his soul, he wouldn't have lived more than a few more years!"
After listening to Tver read the letter aloud, Marvolio was furious, but the hands smoothing out Peter's clothes were no longer as rough as before.
Tver carefully folded the paper and slipped it into his inner pocket.
"He never planned on going on living."
"Facing a Voldemort who was growing more and more unhinged, Peter Pettigrew just wanted to use this as a way to atone for betraying the Potters."
"And to give his own soul a chance at redemption..."
Marvolio cast a complicated look at Peter's body lying there. "So now...?"
"For now, let's act as if none of this ever happened. If Sirius knew the truth, he wouldn't blame Peter anymore, and he certainly wouldn't care about the infamy he's carried for more than ten years."
Tver gently closed Peter's eyes. Once everything was put in order, he actually looked strangely peaceful.
As if he had only fallen asleep.
"Secretly return Peter's body to his mother. Tell her that he faked his death back then in order to gather information on Voldemort, and that now that Voldemort has returned, he unfortunately... died in the line of duty."
"Tell her her son was a... hero who could never come into the light."
Old Mrs. Pettigrew had already accepted her son's death more than ten years ago. Now, even if she saw his body, it would only bring her a little more peace.
That kind lie, and really it was not entirely a lie, might be the only thing left to keep her going.
Marvolio did not object, nor did he continue pressing for credit. He simply lifted Peter's body gently into his arms.
Tver, however, raised his head toward the sky. A huge green skull loomed there, flaunting itself over them, the giant snake emerging from its mouth seeming to sneer at their mistake.
"I hate that symbol..." he muttered.
"What?" Marvolio had not heard him clearly, and only asked after a brief pause.
But Tver simply raised his wand and fired a streak of white light at the Dark Mark.
"Whoosh—Boom."
The skull shattered at once, replaced by a huge glowing sky lantern.
"That's much easier on the eyes." Tver lowered his wand in satisfaction.
Let that silent lantern light up Peter Pettigrew's night sky.
"If we see the Dark Mark again, turn it into this. Though I doubt there'll be many Dark Marks left."
The moment Harry and the others saw that, they immediately sensed the atmosphere ease and quietly edged closer.
"Professor, what is this?" Cedric asked carefully.
Sirius had been showing up at Hogwarts from time to time lately, so by now everyone had heard something about him and Peter Pettigrew.
Even the ones who did not know had just had it explained to them by Harry, for Fleur and Viktor's benefit.
But looking at the way the professor and this handsome, unfamiliar wizard were acting, it felt nothing like the version they had heard.
Or rather, it was completely different.
"Peter may have been a traitor, but he had actually been passing Voldemort's information to us all along. That's also why Marvolio and I were able to get here so quickly."
Tver did not mention the letter. Not because he did not trust them...
Well, all right, he really did not trust Hogwarts students to keep a secret.
More importantly, there was still a piece of Voldemort's soul inside Harry's head. He could not let Voldemort notice this, or all the effort Peter had paid for with his life would be wasted.
Cedric and the others did not press further. They were saddened by the death of a wizard who had gone undercover beside Voldemort, but after all, they had not known Peter very well.
Harry was different. Out of everyone there, his feelings were the most complicated.
Peter's betrayal had led to his parents' deaths, and dragged his godfather into more than ten years of false infamy.
And yet now he was being told that Peter had been an informant working for their safety.
For a moment, Harry truly did not know what he was supposed to feel toward Peter.
"Don't think too much about it. Let's go back. Marvolio can handle things here."
Tver slipped an arm around Harry's shoulders. If Harry found out about the letter, his already shaky worldview would probably take another heavy blow.
"And you too, Cedric!" Tver added irritably, jabbing a finger against Cedric's forehead.
"Using imps to block the Killing Curse was an excellent idea. I was honestly impressed. But why did you split off so much of your soul?!"
It was nowhere near enough to count as a Horcrux, but it was still split soul, and it had been destroyed by the Killing Curse.
If the imps Cedric had split off before were only a trace, then this time what he had lost was a real sliver.
The aftereffects alone would be enough to leave him recuperating for quite a while.
Cedric covered his head with a wronged expression.
"That was the Killing Curse. Coming up with a way to deal with it in that one instant was already pretty impressive..."
Tver looked at him helplessly.
He could hardly tell him that he had been watching the whole time from behind, and would never have let him actually take the Killing Curse.
"Come on. Everyone grab hands. We're going back to Hogwarts. I'm sure everyone's getting anxious waiting for us."
Viktor and Fleur immediately grabbed Tver's arms, while Cedric took hold of the other hand, the one still around Harry's shoulder.
They had wanted to leave this creepy graveyard for a long time already.
Then Cedric suddenly remembered something extremely important.
"But Professor, You-Know-Who... has he really come back to life... wah!"
Even though he had already learned Apparition, Tver's quick spellcasting still startled him badly.
But what appeared before them next surprised both him and Harry even more.
"This is... where the maze was?"
Harry pointed at the trophy set not far away. With no one guarding it anymore, the glow on it had already gone much dimmer.
"Obviously." Viktor shrugged easily, clearly still not understanding the important part.
"But how can we Apparate inside Hogwarts? I mean, there's anti-Apparition magic on the school grounds, isn't there?"
Faced with their curious looks, Tver smiled with perfect ease.
"An outstanding Hogwarts professor is always allowed a little privilege."
"Then perhaps this outstanding professor would care to explain where exactly you just went?"
Snape was standing right behind them, his vicious stare fixed on Harry's pale face and the wound on it that was still seeping blood.
Behind him stood Dumbledore, looking grave, along with the anxious judges and the other professors.
"What exactly happened? I think we need an explanation," Dumbledore said calmly.