A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

Chapter 287 Unexpected Events

A few minutes ago—

The atmosphere in the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office was tense and confrontational.

Snape pointed his wand at Lupin, his eyes gleaming strangely, and whispered, "What are you hiding?"

Beside a desk, Lupin, also holding a wand, sighed and said, "Your sudden appearance startled me."

"Yeah……?"

Snape's gaze fell on Lupin's feet, where a small piece of knight's armor, no bigger than a palm, stood with crimson eyes fixed on him. Remembering his earlier suspicions, he felt a strong urge to crush it; it was simply too much of an eyesore…

"Armor flying in!"

He pointed his wand at it, but the next second, Lupin swiftly interrupted his spell: "I can't let you do that, Severus."

Snape's eyes turned dangerous. He took a few steps to the side, and Lupin also took a few steps over. The two remained facing each other.

"I told Dumbledore long ago," Snape said slowly, "that there is a traitor in Hogwarts."

Lupin said urgently, "Use your brain, Severus! Things aren't as you think at all. Why don't you go ask Professor Hyp for clarification?"

"Give him to me!"

"I don't think so," Lupin said, and suddenly a thick, snake-like rope flew from the tip of Snape's staff. Lupin accurately pierced one end of the rope, and the rope fell hard to the ground, breaking into five or six pieces.

"He is very likely innocent. Think about it, where did I get this information from? I can go with you to verify it."

Snape said menacingly, "You want to prove his innocence? Hand him over to me, I'll see for myself—"

"Severus, you're bewitched! There are things you don't know, but we believe—and Dumbledore knows too—that boy Ron, his pet rat is the problem!"

Lupin dodged a spell, and a bottle in the office shattered with a bang.

"Let's begin the story, Lupin? There's not enough time. You need to speed things up." Snape unleashed a cloud of black mist, which quickly coalesced into a dozen chattering birds. As he thrust his arm out like a sword, these black birds shot towards Lupin.

"You incorporate dark magic into regular spells?" Lupin asked in surprise. He was also very agile. He had more opportunities than most people to come into contact with these dark spells, but instead of learning them, he studied how to resist them.

He suddenly waved his wand, and the parchment papers on the table flew up with a "whoosh" and formed a solid wall in front of him. The black bird stuck to it, frantically shaking its wings and struggling to turn into wisps of black smoke.

The black smoke gathered together and turned into a large snake, its head raised high and touching the ceiling, before its head suddenly dropped.

The giant snake broke through Lupin's defenses. He grabbed "Knight" and threw it out of the office window. "Go find Professor Hyp!" He dodged to the side, avoiding the snake.

"Buzz~"

The entire office trembled, and the tables, chairs, and cabinets inside all jumped.

"Blackfly—"

"laugh!"

A beam of red light grazed Snape's cheek and struck the filing cabinet behind him. Lupin stood up from the dusty floor. "I can't let you do that, you fool. I've wanted to fight you for ages."

Snape smiled, but no one would interpret it as a gesture of goodwill. "Really? No longer pretending to be the nice guy? A tamed werewolf?"

"I've never disguised myself—I'm protected by armor!"

Lupin blocked a suspicious, eerie blue spell; reason was no longer an option. He waved his wand, unleashing a continuous stream of red light. Snape's wand flashed, deflecting the spells one by one. He took two steps back, then thrust his wand straight out—

"The Divine Blade is Without a Shadow!"

"Whoosh!"

Rows of wooden crates were neatly sliced ​​open. Lupin quickly dodged, a tiny cut grazing his cheek. "This spell... it's unforgettable!"

He flicked his wand, and Snape quickly erected an invisible barrier, deflecting the spell onto a locked box.

"No!" Lupin exclaimed.

A red-haired woman stepped out. "Severus, why...?"

Snape's eyes widened, and he staggered backward, his wand slipping from his hand. His body trembled. "No, no..."

Why...?

Lupin frantically stepped in front of Snape, the illusion vanished, replaced by a full moon. He sighed with a complex expression, then raised his wand after a long pause: "Funny Slip—"

"boom!"

The full moon suddenly exploded, shattering into pieces. Lupin turned around in astonishment and saw Snape holding his wand expressionlessly.

"Remus Lupin!" he said through gritted teeth.

"Severus, that was an accident. Boggart was giving Harry the Patronus Charm to practice." Lupin backed away warily; Snape's behavior was off.

"laugh!"

The intense flames engulfed the office and set everything ablaze. Snape, his hair disheveled, brandished his wand, while Lupin was forced to retreat. He could only hold on, using the Stunning Charm during the lulls in Snape's attacks.

"What happened here? Oh my god!"

A cheerful female voice appeared at the door. Lupin only saw that the person had bubblegum pink hair, but then she was blasted away by a stun spell and disappeared from sight.

"Snape, stop! Someone's hurt!"

But Snape, unusually, lost his composure. He ignored Lupin's shouts, casting spells with increasing power, and recklessly used bizarre dark magic, a black glow appearing on his face.

Lupin was gradually losing his strength, and Snape waved his wand with a cold expression.

Just then, a clear chirping sound suddenly appeared, and a silver swift materialized in mid-air, cutting the battlefield in two.

"Severus, Professor Lupin, please stop..."

A black spell flew over, and the silver swift slightly flapped its wings to dodge the attack. "Severus, you—"

"Get out of here!"

Lupin quickly said, "Snape hit the box where I kept the Boggarts and came out of it—"

"Shut up, Lupin!"

Snape interrupted him furiously, for he was brewing a terrible spell; the house began to tremble, and the ground rapidly corroded outward from him.

The Swift Guardian suddenly expanded, radiating pure white light from its body. Dazzling halos spread out like giant ripples. Snape's nascent magic crackled and emitted dark red lightning at the boundary. On either side of the boundary were completely opposite worlds: one side was corruption and darkness, the other was warmth and light.

A gentle voice came from the guardian spirit of the swift, "Severus, calm down."

Lupin quickly said, "Severus, we've found a new clue! Peter Pettigrew isn't dead, he's still alive! He orchestrated everything himself!"

Snape seemed to regain his senses. He dispelled the magic on his own, and the Patronus's light spread over him, constantly washing away the black aura on his face. He leaned against the wall and slowly sat down.

The guardian spirit of the swift left behind the words, "I'm coming right away," and then transformed into specks of blue and white stars.

A moment later, Felix appeared in the office. Most of the room was destroyed, a small portion of the furniture was corroded, and another small portion was still burning with small flames. A row of wooden crates had been neatly cut open, with smooth, mirror-like cuts.

"Whirlwind sweeps it away!" The smoke and dust inside were carried away, and the flames were extinguished.

Snape sat leaning against the wall, staring motionless at the ceiling, his black eyes like stones, devoid of any direction. Lupin was tending to an unconscious young woman; he glanced at her and realized it was Tonks.

Felix frowned. This was real trouble. Was it because of Sirius Black? He looked around but didn't see Sirius in the Knight's Can. Had he been killed?

Snape showed no interest in speaking to anyone; he could only walk over to Professor Lupin and ask, "How did it get like this?"

Lupin said with a wry smile, "It was all an accident, a series of accidents."

Felix looked at Tonks on the sofa. "What's she doing here?"

"I don't know either. It seemed to just suddenly appear, maybe trying to break up the fight? But it got stunned by my stun spell..."

"Just a Stunning Curse?" Felix scrutinized Tonks's face; she showed no signs of waking up.

"She's fine," Lupin explained. "I didn't undo the spell, and in this situation, it's really not appropriate... I can't take her to the school clinic either."

If he were to lift the Stunning Curse, Tonks would inevitably witness the clash between the two Hogwarts professors. Although she had already seen it, it would easily implicate Sirius Black. If he were to take her to the infirmary, he was worried that something might happen to Snape. So, he had no choice but to leave her lying down for now.

"Understood," Felix added another stun spell to Tonks, "Take her straight to the school hospital in a bit, don't say anything."

Felix picked a chair with its back cut off and sat down. He gave Lupin a look and raised his voice, "Professor Lupin, explain yourself. What exactly happened? Didn't you tell Severus that Peter Pettigrew was the culprit?"

He mouthed the words, indicating to Lupin to pull Peter Pettigrew.

Lupin understood immediately, and he explained in as much detail as possible: "On the first day of school after the Christmas holidays, in the staff lounge next to the Great Hall, we and Headmaster Dumbledore speculated that there were huge doubts about the murder of James and Lily, because Sirius had a very good chance to kill Harry, but he didn't. His target was Harry's friend, Ron Weasley."

"I don't remember very well," Felix said.

"Let me explain further—Sirius Black is an Animagus, he can turn into a big black dog, just as James can turn into a stag, and Peter Pettigrew can turn into a mouse," Lupin said self-deprecatingly. "They're here to keep me company during the full moon, a werewolf."

"That explains why Black escaped from Azkaban, but why did he attack Ron Weasley?" Felix continued, noticing Snape's eyes darting around out of the corner of his eye.

"Ron had a pet rat—or rather, a pet rat they owned. This rat suddenly appeared in the Weasleys' house and stayed for twelve years until Sirius Black attacked it during the holidays and it disappeared without a trace. But we saw an image of it, and it looked exactly like Peter Pettigrew's Animagus!"

"So, he's not dead? Peter Pettigrew, the recipient of the Order of Merlin First Class and a war hero, not only didn't die, but instead went into hiding as a pet in a wizarding family?"

Lupin looked at Felix strangely, but could only go along with him: "That's right, that's the biggest suspicious point, so we suspect there's more to it than meets the eye. Professor Hyp, how did Sirius become a magical puppet in your hands?"

"I've captured him, and then we—Dumbledore and I—plan to set a trap to lure out Peter Pettigrew. We'll definitely need your help then, so this is a secret for now," Felix explained.

Lupin nervously asked the question that had been nagging at him, hoping for an answer: "So, Sirius is innocent? But he's the Keeper of the Secrets for House James, and the Loyalty Charm is unbreakable, like an unbreakable oath. If he's innocent…"

"Didn't you ask him?"

"It wasn't in time."

"Alright," Felix thought for a moment and decided to take this opportunity to explain, and he was also speaking to Snape, "because the Keeper of the Secret has been changed. Sirius thought he was too conspicuous, so he secretly replaced the Keeper of the Secret with the inconspicuous Peter Pettigrew."

"I see," Lupin murmured. "Back then, the operations of the Order of the Phoenix were repeatedly leaked, and everyone suspected there was a traitor, causing widespread panic."

"So—" Snape stood up, "Peter Pettigrew is Voldemort's real spy?"

Lupin stared at Snape in surprise; he had actually called Voldemort by his name. His initial suspicion vanished instantly. After all, he had been quite shocked when Dumbledore had risked everything to protect Snape years ago.

Snape said coldly, "Exchange Secret Keepers? Foolish!"

"Severus..."

But he ignored Lupin and limped away, saying as he left, "As for Peter Pettigrew... let Felix tell me what I need to do."

Lupin opened his mouth and then closed it again, saying nothing, quietly watching him leave.

"Let him be alone for a while," Felix said, looking around. "You guys beat him too badly." There was nowhere else to stand in the whole house except on the sofa where Tonks was lying.

"Sigh, it was all an accident..." Lu Ping sighed; he had sighed far too many times today.

"This office is no longer suitable. You should discuss with Dumbledore and find another one."

"That's all we can do," Lupin said. Luckily, he had released some of the magical creatures used for teaching a few days ago, otherwise few of them would have survived. The only living creature—the Boggart—was blown to pieces, leaving not even a wisp of smoke behind.

"By the way, where did you hide Sirius?" Felix asked.

Lupin was startled; he had completely forgotten about it. "During the fight just now, I threw him out the window..." Seeing Felix's strange look, he said guiltily, "I told him to go find you."

"Well, okay." Felix shrugged. "Hopefully, some little wizard won't pick it up."

(End of this chapter)