The next day, sunlight still poured over the ancient castle.
"But Wormtail... he really is dead, isn't he?" Sirius asked, gripping the letter so tightly in his hand that it crumpled, his eyes red as he looked at Tver.
He had spent the whole night at Harry's bedside in the hospital wing, and from the others he had also learned that Voldemort had returned.
At first, when he heard Peter was dead, he had felt a little hollow inside, but in truth he had also been glad.
After all, the traitor who had betrayed the Potters was dead.
But that morning, when Tver came to visit Harry and the others, pulled him into the corridor outside the hospital wing, and handed him Peter's letter, all of those feelings had been thrown into chaos.
"I've already asked a friend to deliver his body to his mother, and I'll help arrange a quiet funeral for him. I assume you won't mind, right?"
Tver took the letter back, patted him on the shoulder, waved through the glass doors at Harry and the others on the other side, and made to leave.
"I want to go to Peter's funeral," Sirius said suddenly, catching hold of Tver. "I want to be one of the friends willing to bury him!"
"I'm sorry, but for his mother's safety, very few people can know about it."
Tver shook his head and refused him outright.
No one knew when the curse hidden inside Voldemort would erupt, or what kind of effect it would have.
The worst case was that it might fail to kill Voldemort outright, yet still make him realize what Peter had done in secret, and drive him to take revenge on Peter's mother.
So even though Tver himself wanted to attend the funeral, he had forced down the thought.
And hearing that it was for Peter's mother's protection, Sirius could only let go, looking utterly lost.
Even if he still could not forgive Peter for what he had done in the past, Peter's final act still forced him to remember the friendship they had once shared.
Their group of four had lost another one.
Seeing that, Tver said gently, "If Peter's spirit knows, I'm sure he'd be happy."
"Yes, you're right. Peter, and James too, would want to see the man who killed them die for good."
The fire returned to Sirius's eyes.
"Voldemort is back. We have to stop him, protect those innocent children and wizards, and put an end to this damned war before it starts all over again!"
"Even if your mind is not especially clear, I still ought to remind you that ending a war has never required barking."
Snape appeared at the entrance to the hospital wing with his usual brand of acid sarcasm. His eyes flicked inside once, then landed on Tver.
"Dumbledore wants you in the Headmaster's office, so that some matters requiring actual thought can be discussed."
"Of course, you may come too if you want to observe and learn something," he added, turning to the instantly furious Sirius. "Though I doubt your brain could endure it."
"I'll go, then!" Sirius strode out in front with his head held high. "At least what's on my head is hair, not greasy seaweed!"
Tver burst out laughing before he could stop himself.
"Ahem. I just thought of something funny."
The moment he saw Snape's dark expression, Tver hurried after Sirius.
If he kept laughing, Snape would probably start contemplating murder.
He truly could not understand how Sirius still dared to live so comfortably at Hogwarts. Was he not afraid some house-elf would slip a strange potion into his dinner?
While his mind wandered, Tver overtook Sirius and led him into the Headmaster's office, with Snape right behind them, moving every bit as fast, if not faster, like he was trying to catch up.
That was also why they had been fleeing, no, hurrying, so quickly.
"You didn't say the password?" Sirius asked casually.
He was still busy thinking of how to keep taking snide shots at Snape and had not paid much attention to such a small detail.
But Snape, behind them, had noticed it.
Even Dumbledore had to use a password to enter the Headmaster's office inside the castle.
"And you can Apparate inside Hogwarts..." he said thoughtfully.
In truth, he was still not sure whether Tver had come back the previous night by Portkey or by Apparition.
"Talented people can always do things other people can't," Tver said indifferently.
"Then would this talented person kindly come in?" Dumbledore's voice drifted out from inside the office.
Perfect timing. Tver pushed the door open.
There were quite a few people inside.
Mrs. Weasley and her son Bill were seated on the sofa for guests. Madam Maxime and Hagrid sat opposite them, one on each side, while Dumbledore sat between the two.
As for Tver's teacher, Grindelwald, he was sitting on a sofa of his own, diagonally across from Dumbledore.
Now that the three of them had joined as well, the office, which usually felt spacious, suddenly seemed a bit crowded.
"Sorry, I'll bring over some chairs for you at once." Dumbledore lifted a hand, about to summon chairs from farther away.
But Sirius stopped him.
"No need. We can stand. Of course, if Professor Snape finds standing difficult, then he should sit. No need to worry about those of us in excellent health."
He turned to Snape with a smile, only to be met with a cold, expressionless face.
"You're quite right. People with poor minds do tend to have stronger bodies. After all, even if they exhaust themselves thinking, they still can't come up with anything useful."
"Enough," Dumbledore cut in. "I did not ask everyone here to listen to the two of you bicker."
"I imagine you all know by now. Yes, Voldemort has returned."
They had already guessed as much, but hearing it spoken aloud by Dumbledore still made everyone visibly tense.
"So what are we going to do about him this time?" Madam Maxime asked at once.
"That is precisely why I asked all of you here." Dumbledore lifted his head with calm confidence, and that confidence immediately steadied everyone.
So the dejected act from the night before really had just been for Tver's benefit.
"First, there is the matter of the giants. Hagrid, and Madam Maxime, I would like the two of you to set out as soon as possible, after you have settled the Beauxbatons students, of course."
"Your main task is to persuade the giants not to join Voldemort again. In this matter, we can only rely on the two of you."
Madam Maxime and Hagrid exchanged a glance.
She was not really one of Dumbledore's people, not exactly. It was simply that France and Britain were too close, and the last wizarding war Voldemort had started had already spilled over into France and thrown the whole country into chaos.
On that point alone, she had reason enough to step in.
And besides, Voldemort's brutality was something she could not tolerate.
So she nodded decisively to Hagrid.
Dumbledore let out a quiet breath of relief. He trusted Hagrid with his life, but if Hagrid had to go alone, he truly would have been worried.
Tver, meanwhile, lifted a brow in surprise.
This was one part of the anti-Voldemort plan that he had not accounted for.
If the giants ended up being scattered across Britain, then the Ministry of Magic, which he intended to use against the Death Eaters, would be forced to divert a great deal of its attention to dealing with them.
"Sirius, do you remember our old allies from the last war?" Dumbledore turned to Sirius, who had been in the middle of glaring at Snape again.
"Of course." Sirius snapped his head around at once. "Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher, and the others."
"Good. I need you to contact them as soon as possible. For the time being... for the time being..."
"Grimmauld Place. I've got room enough there for that many people."
"In that case, let us use it as our base of contact. I will go there later and strengthen the defenses."