Cornelius Fudge's mind—built upon everything he believed magic to be—completely shut down.
He couldn't analyze what he had just seen.
He couldn't even accept it.
He turned stiffly toward Dumbledore, his face pale and confused.
In a trembling voice, he asked the question that shattered his worldview:
"Th-that… was that… magic?"
No one answered him.
Because everyone present was asking the same question.
Lucian's miracle-like attack hadn't just saved Hogwarts.
It had completely overturned centuries of magical understanding.
The Ministry Retreats
That same afternoon, Fudge hurriedly ordered all Dementors guarding Hogwarts to withdraw.
After witnessing Lucian erase hundreds of them instantly, the Ministry no longer dared insist on their presence.
Hogwarts returned to peace.
But removing the Dementors also removed the last barrier stopping another intruder.
Halloween Night
On Halloween, a grand feast filled the Great Hall with laughter.
Students were finally recovering from the recent terror.
Then—
A scream echoed through the castle.
The Fat Lady's portrait had been slashed apart.
When Dumbledore and the professors arrived, the painting was shredded.
The Fat Lady herself had fled into another painting, shaking with fear.
"It was him!" she screamed.
"Sirius Black!"
Panic spread through Hogwarts once again.
The escaped Azkaban prisoner had entered the castle.
Students were moved into the Great Hall and forced to sleep there overnight.
Ron's Discovery
The next morning, Ron returned to the dormitory.
His bed curtains had been slashed with a knife.
"H-he was here!" Ron stammered.
"He must have come to kill Harry!"
Everyone believed the same thing.
Sirius Black had entered Gryffindor Tower to find Harry Potter.
Security increased again.
Professors patrolled the castle.
Filch boarded up windows.
Harry became the center of protection and attention once more.
But in the chaos, Lucian noticed something others didn't.
Scabbers' Strange Behavior
Ron's pet rat, Scabbers, had changed.
The normally lazy rat was now extremely nervous.
He barely ate.
He constantly trembled.
Several times, Lucian noticed the rat staring toward the dormitory window as if looking for an escape route.
His missing toe twitched whenever he was frightened.
Lucian watched everything calmly.
Because he knew the truth.
Sirius Black wasn't hunting Harry.
He was hunting Scabbers.
The Gryffindor Meeting
That evening, Percy Weasley held a meeting in the common room to discuss new security rules.
Students listened half-heartedly.
Harry and Ron sat together.
Ron absentmindedly stroked the trembling rat in his pocket.
Then a calm voice interrupted Percy's speech.
"Sirius Black isn't after Harry."
It was Lucian.
The room fell silent instantly.
Harry looked confused.
"If he's not after me," Harry asked, "why did he break into our dorm?"
Lucian closed his book slowly.
His dark eyes scanned the room.
Then he pointed directly at Ron's pocket.
"Sirius Black's target…"
"Is that rat?"
Confusion
The room erupted in disbelief.
"Scabbers?!" Ron exclaimed.
"You're joking, right?"
"Why would Black want my rat?"
Even Hermione looked puzzled.
The idea sounded ridiculous.
Lucian sighed slightly.
Explaining things verbally would take too long.
For people who only believed what they saw—
He needed proof.
A New Spell
Heaven-Defying Comprehension — Activated
Research Topic:
A spell capable of forcing an Animagus back into human form.
Analysis:
Animagus transformation binds a wizard's soul to an animal form.
Solution:
Attack the soul-form connection, forcing the body to revert to its original human state.
Spell created.
Name: Transformation Reversion Curse
Lucian pointed toward Ron's pocket.
"Transformation Reversion."
The Revelation
A soft silver light struck Scabbers.
The rat screamed.
His tiny body began convulsing violently.
"Scabbers! What's happening?!" Ron shouted.
But it was too late.
The rat's body stretched.
His limbs lengthened.
Fur receded.
Bones cracked as they reshaped.
Within seconds—
The rat became a man.
A short, pudgy, filthy man with thinning blond hair and a bald spot.
His skin was pale from years without sunlight.
His eyes darted around nervously.
And his right hand—
Was missing a finger.
The man shrieked and tried to crawl away.
The common room was completely silent.
Hermione Realizes
Hermione gasped.
Her mind connected the missing finger to an old story.
She pointed at the man in horror.
"It's you…!"
"Peter Pettigrew!"
The name echoed through the room.
Peter Pettigrew.
The man believed to have died twelve years ago while pursuing Sirius Black.
The man who had been honored as a hero by the Ministry.
But here he was.
Alive.
Living as Ron's pet rat for twelve years.
Snape Arrives
The commotion quickly spread through the castle.
Professor Severus Snape arrived first, bursting through the portrait entrance.
He raised his wand—
Then I froze.
On the floor was a man he recognized instantly.
Peter Pettigrew.
The pathetic follower who had once trailed behind James Potter and Sirius Black during their school days.
The coward Snape had always despised.
But Pettigrew was supposed to be dead.
Snape's mind struggled to process it.
If Pettigrew was alive…
Then the story from twelve years ago—
The betrayal.
The murders.
Everything might be wrong.
For the first time in years, Snape looked genuinely lost.
Dumbledore Understands
Moments later, Dumbledore arrived.
He took in the scene instantly:
The trembling Peter PettigrewRon standing in shockLucian calmly watching everything
In one glance, the hundred-year-old wizard connected the truth.
The events of twelve years ago.
The betrayal of the Potters.
Sirius Black's imprisonment.
And the rat that had hidden in plain sight all along.
The truth had finally surfaced.
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