When Hermione and Ron returned to the Black family home, the two children were still bickering with each other.
Harry and Neville were sitting obediently at the dining table, while Sirius and Lupin were holding a family meeting, giving safety lessons to these troublesome young wizards.
In short, Lupin was responsible for scolding them, while Sirius showed his mouthful of bad teeth and enjoyed the show from the side. From time to time, he even advised Lupin not to be too harsh on the children.
"Harry, I understand that you want to help, but Knockturn Alley is far too dangerous for young wizards your age."
Harry silently muttered in his heart, "Dangerous? I'm the danger."
Sirius began smoothing things over. "Nothing happened, did it? There's no need to make such a big fuss."
The moment he heard that, Lupin's originally calm face immediately twisted. He glared at Sirius. "And whose fault is that? They should never have been dragged into this matter in the first place. If something really happened to them, how would you answer to the dead... to them?"
"Harry and his friends are braver and smarter than we were back then. If you ask me, although Harry looks exactly like James, his personality is more like Lily's." Sirius studied his godson's face carefully, as if trying to see the memories of his youth in it.
Hermione's chirping voice, like a little sparrow, came from the doorway.
"Ron! You idiot, I told you to throw those flyers away!"
"I was curious."
"I honestly can't stand you. You only know how to make trouble and eat. In the future, when I'm talking to people, don't ask questions left and right. You scared off several people. They probably thought I was kidnapping an idiot!"
The red-haired boy muttered under his breath while carrying a huge stack of colorful flyers. He crossed the hallway into the living room, saw the serious scene before him, and immediately gave an awkward smile while signaling to Harry with his eyes.
A suspicious blush appeared on Hermione's face. She blinked and said, "Uh, I took Ron out for a walk."
"Miss Granger, come here." Lupin called the little witch over and sighed. "I know you all want to catch Wormtail, but this is something we adults should worry about. You are a clever child. When your companions are impulsive, you should stay calm and persuade them not to take risks."
Harry looked up at Hermione. When the little witch saw his calm gaze, she immediately understood and put on an obedient expression. "I understand, Mr. Lupin."
Sirius laughed and said, "Enough of that. Let's eat... I say, Kreacher! I'm starving!"
An old house-elf walked out of the kitchen. He was different from the meek, innocent house-elves commonly seen. He had a world-weary expression and muttered curses under his breath. "Useless young master, filthy werewolf, Mudblood, cowards, better if all of you starve."
Sirius frowned. "Enough nonsense! Bring the food out!"
Harry stepped forward and said to Kreacher, "Sorry to trouble you. We've been running around outside all day and are truly hungry. Please make us something to eat."
Kreacher looked up at Harry, staring especially at the scar on his forehead for quite a while, then turned and returned to the kitchen.
Sirius sighed and said, "Harry, talking to a house-elf with something wrong in his head is just a waste of time."
"I know a house-elf named Dobby. They are all like this. Their circumstances are different, and their minds can't always make the turn, but they still need respect. Their souls are not that different from ours."
Hermione agreed with Harry, but Ron and Neville were indignant on her behalf because Kreacher had insulted her with the word Mudblood.
Kreacher brought the food out, and Harry thanked him again.
"It is nothing. You are a good person, almost like Master Regulus." Kreacher stared in awe at the scar on Harry's forehead. It was the mark of having defeated the Dark Lord.
"Regulus?" Harry looked at Sirius in confusion.
"My brother," Sirius said with a dark expression. "That idiot became a Death Eater!"
As one of the ancient pure-blood families, most members of the Black family agreed with Voldemort's ideology. Sirius, by contrast, was the family's oddity. That was exactly why he had been cast out. Now, he was the last member of the Black family.
Kreacher stared at Sirius with hatred, silently mouthing insults. Sirius's brow twitched, and his sallow face flushed purple.
"All right, all right, let's eat." Lupin hurriedly smoothed things over.
At the dining table, Sirius asked Lupin what he had discovered that day.
"Wormtail definitely went to Knockturn Alley, but I did not find out exactly what he did there. He has already obtained a wand, and it is even possible that he has already left London."
Harry said, "No, he hasn't left yet. He is making Polyjuice Potion. That takes about a month."
"How do you know that?" Lupin asked in surprise.
"I asked." Harry's expression did not change. "His wand was probably stolen from another wizard. You can ask around and see whether anyone has reported someone missing recently."
Sirius was amused. "Moony, oh Moony, you're not even as useful as two children."
Lupin ignored his old friend's jab and said to the young wizards, "I will continue investigating. From now on, none of you are allowed to interfere. Padfoot, keep a close eye on these children. They are not allowed to leave this house by even half a step."
Sirius shrugged and said to Harry, "Sorry, kid. You and your friends are grounded."
"Oh, great." Only Ron looked miserable.
Seeing that Harry and the others looked completely impossible to persuade, Lupin's head was already beginning to hurt.
...
Following the clue provided by the owner of the Leaky Cauldron, Lily tracked down the missing wizard's home address.
"Alohomora!"
The Unlocking Charm was canceled out by an Anti-Unlocking Charm. Lily stood outside the door of an old apartment and hesitated for a moment before choosing to blast the door open with an Exploding Charm. She also carefully used a Silencing Charm to avoid alerting nearby residents.
Large chunks of the door shot into the apartment, kicking up dust. She raised her wand and cast a Shield Charm on herself before carefully walking inside.
Lily searched every corner of the apartment but found no trace of Peter Pettigrew. The place looked as if it had not been cleaned in about a month. From the bedroom, she found a photograph of the missing wizard. He was a bloated, exhausted-looking middle-aged wizard. His receding hairline had nearly fled to the back of his head, and there was an obvious black mole near the corner of his left eye. He wore a gray ground crew uniform, which made it seem that he had blended into Muggle society.
"Mr. Pierman, I am truly sorry for what happened to you."
Lily walked out of the apartment and used a Mending Charm to restore the broken door. She scanned the hallway and found no suspicious people, then hurried away.
After leaving, she used an owl to send the missing wizard's photograph to the Black family home, hoping it would help Sirius.
Not long after Lily left, in the room next door, a man with bandages wrapped around his face poked his head out and carefully entered the neighboring apartment.
"Someone found us!" Wormtail said, trembling.
Voldemort's voice floated out of his mouth. "Then leave quickly."
"As you command, Master!"
...
Lupin returned to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, looking excited. "I found it! I know where that missing wizard is!"
Everyone in the room looked at him with strange expressions.
"What is it?" Lupin frowned.
"Moony's information is really out of date." Sirius lazily tossed a photograph to Lupin.
"Where did this photograph come from?"
"I don't know." Sirius's gaze deepened. "The letter was addressed to the Weasley boy. There was no signature."
Ron muttered, "It might be a prank from George and Fred."
Lupin stared at the photograph. "I am very certain this person is the missing man. He matches everyone else's description exactly."
"Now we can confirm that Wormtail will disguise himself as this man. What we need to do next is find him somewhere in this huge city of London." Hermione spoke very quickly. "But we cannot be sure where exactly he is going. Perhaps he has already found Nagini, though that possibility is not high. Assuming he intends to go somewhere else in Britain, he could simply use Apparition. I suspect he is planning to travel much farther, perhaps to Europe, or America... In short, there are many possible ways he could travel."
"For example, a Portkey," Harry said.
"For example, the Floo Network," Neville said.
Ron scratched his head and stared at the photograph for a long while. Suddenly, he made a surprised sound and pulled out a British Airways ad from the stack of flyers he had brought back two days ago. "Look, the clothes this man is wearing have the same logo."
Hermione and Harry looked at each other and said in unison, "A plane!"
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