Harry Potter and the Obscurus

Chapter 63 Past Feuds

"Potter!"

As a stern voice came from around the corner, Harry, who was rushing down the corridor with his suitcase, suddenly stopped.

"Professor Snape."

he asked:

"Did you need something from me?"

"Have you forgotten that today is Friday? Why didn't you come to my office for tutoring? Just because it's the first week of school, do you think you have an excuse to slack off?"

Severus Snape's tone didn't carry much disdain or mockery; he genuinely hoped that his exceptionally talented disciple would maintain a humble and cautious attitude, whether in potions or in other areas.

Seeing the "big bat" walking towards him while reprimanding him, Harry instinctively hid his suitcase behind his back and said:

"Professor, I have some important things to do today, so let's postpone the tutoring until next week."

As a double agent, Snape was extremely sensitive to details. In addition, Harry had thwarted Voldemort's plots in the past two years by "meddling in other people's business". Snape knew almost without thinking that the rascal in front of him was up to no good again.

What's in the box you're carrying?

"Book."

Harry reacted very quickly.

"These are books I bought before I enrolled in school. I've read them all in the past two and a half years, so now I'm planning to exchange them for a batch of new, higher-level books."

The near-perfect excuse did not dispel Snape's doubts. Based on his years of experience, Severus almost instantly connected the dots and figured out what the "important thing" Harry was talking about might be.

"You're not handling the fugitive Black's matter yourself, are you, Potter?"

"Huh? I..."

These words shocked not only Harry but also Moran. They hadn't given anything away! How had Professor Snape figured it out?

Seeing that Harry couldn't answer for a moment, Snape became even more certain. But unexpectedly, instead of scolding Potter for risking his life and neglecting his duties, he changed the subject and said:

“One cannot take a few lucky breaks as a sign of great ability, as this can easily lead to overestimating oneself. I know you often receive leniency in various ways at this school, but remember Potter, don't gamble with your life. I won't stop you this time, but when you do what you want, you must have a teacher with you.”

Harry stared, mouth agape, completely stunned, until the tense argument erupted again from the Shrieking Shack, and he realized he was back with Black and Lupin.

“I didn’t realize I overestimated you, Potter! You actually befriended a murderer and a werewolf.”

"Harry! You went to see Snape? You weren't hit by his Confusion Charm, were you?"

The three wands trembled slightly in the hands of their resentful owners, and sparks seemed likely to fly from them at any moment.

Harry threw Peter Pettigrew's body out of the suitcase and then shouted at the crowd:

"Can you all calm down? The real murderer is right here."

"What murderer? Don't be fooled by their sweet talk!"

Snape roared in fury, not even bothering to glance at Peter Pettigrew's corpse. What puzzled him, however, was that the obnoxious wolfhound duo—Lupin and Black—seemed to completely ignore him after seeing Peter.

pat...

The crisp sound of the wand hitting the ground came from Sirius's feet, and he practically pounced on Peter.

"It's him! It's him! Remus! I can't mistake him!"

Sirius's voice was almost manic; even Lupin could barely make out what he was saying. But seeing his old friend gleefully examining Peter's body again and again, he didn't want to disturb him.

The series of bizarre scenes brought Snape, driven by his thirst for revenge, back to his senses. How could he not have heard of Peter Pettigrew, who had been awarded the Order of Merlin First Class for his sacrifice?

yes?

Shouldn't this person have been blown to bits twelve years ago? Why is his body here? In Potter's hands?

After a brief silence, Snape once again pointed his wand at Black.

“I don’t care what kind of illusion or smokescreen this is, but even if you preserve the body for twelve years, you still have to pay the price for the crimes you committed back then.”

"Crime? Price?"

Snape's words disgusted Black for a moment. He jumped up and, without even taking his wand, pointed at the other man's hooked nose and cursed:

“In this world, anyone, whether it’s Harry or any member of the Order of the Phoenix, has the right to judge me, but what are you? You’re Voldemort’s lackey.”

"Ha, you can say that to Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic and see if they're willing to believe it. But first, you'll have to get past the Dementors."

In response to the tense standoff between the two, Lupin remained much calmer and advised:

"Don't you understand, Severus? We always thought Sirius betrayed Harry's parents, and then Peter went after him, but the truth is exactly the opposite. It was Peter who betrayed James and Lily, revealing their location to Voldemort. The reason Sirius reacted so quickly to catch him was because..."

At this point, Lupin seemed to sense a change in his friend's emotions. He turned around and looked at where Blake was, only to find that the other man had somehow ended up squatting on the ground in pain.

The horrors of Azkaban are beyond the imagination of ordinary people. After living in a hellish environment for twelve years, even the strongest Sirius Black would become psychologically twisted due to prolonged despair and high pressure. Now, with his mental state extremely unstable, the prospect of revenge only exacerbates his already fragile state.

Just a moment ago, he could temporarily forget everything about Pettigrew because of Snape, but the next moment, just because of Lupin's reminder, he was once again plunged into self-reproach for changing the Keeper of the Faithful Charm.

"I...I've essentially caused the deaths of James and Lily..."

Sirius Black slowly slumped down beside Peter's body, his eyes lifeless, and said:

“Everyone…everyone thought the Potters would appoint me as the Secret Keeper. I was too clever for my own good, persuading Lily and James to use Peter at the last minute…I was so smug back then, thinking how brilliant I was, but it was all my fault. The first thing I did on the night Harry's parents died was go to Peter's house to see if he was safe, but when I reached his hiding place, he was gone. There wasn't a trace of a struggle in the whole house, and from that moment I knew it was all over. With a sliver of hope, I went to Godric's Hollow, and then…”

For some reason, Snape, who had been glaring angrily at Sirius, silently put away his wand after hearing these words. His expression was complex, and it was impossible to tell what kind of internal struggle he was going through.

"Why not have Dumbledore be the secret agent?"

Lupin was somewhat surprised by Snape's unexpectedly calm tone, and he replied:

"In that chaotic and divided situation, Dumbledore could hardly have extricated himself from Hogwarts. In fact, if he had actually made it to Godric's Hollow, given the extent of the dark wizards' surveillance on him at the time, Voldemort and the Death Eaters might have arrived before the Faithful Charm even took effect."

"No, Remus..."

Sirius gave a wry smile and interrupted him.

“I bet you thought about this deep down too. Back then, with a large number of werewolves joining Voldemort's ranks and the Black family having Death Eaters, James didn't appoint Dumbledore as the Secret Keeper in order to show the outside world that he trusted us. To my shame, I also suspected at one point that you might be secretly working for Voldemort.”

A look of weariness, even more pronounced than when the moon was near its fullest, appeared on Lupin's face. He pulled Blake to his feet, who was sitting on the ground, and said:

"Not at all, Bigfoot, my old friend. As long as you don't hold a grudge against me for once considering you a spy, let bygones be bygones."

A brief silence fell over the Shrieking Shack. After about half a minute, Professor Snape, having processed everything, regained his composure.

“Come back to the castle with me.”

He said in a somber tone:

"Only truth serum can tell whether what you're saying is true or false."

“Severus…”

Lupin kindly advised:

"Please don't treat an innocent person like this just because of a grudge from your student days."

Professor Lupin's silence only served to remind Snape. Fortunately, Harry intervened in time, stopping Snape from his impending outburst.

"A holiday from our student days? What does that mean?"

Harry, who knew nothing about the love and hatred of his parents' generation, glanced at the three people present while discussing it in his mind with Mo Ran at the same time.

Do you know what they just meant?

"I don't know, I... I only got some memories from Voldemort's memories."

……

Black, whose anger was reignited by Snape's hostile words, gave a disdainful "humph".

"He deserved it! Sneaking around trying to expose Remus and hoping we'd get fired. You have no idea that this secret passage and the Screaming Shack were all arranged by Dumbledore, do you? If you ask me, James shouldn't have risked his life to drag you back from the area!"

"Sirius, you are still a murderer loyal to Voldemort. Now that Peter is dead, we'd better not provoke Severus. Let's go back to the castle as he suggested."

"Why go back? To drink truth serum? Who knows what other tricks he's up to? Of all the people still alive in this house, he's the only one who, like Peter, was loyal to Voldemort."

Snape's upper lip trembled and curled up as he resisted the urge to draw his wand and cast a curse on Black, speaking slowly and deliberately:

“I have no interest in listening to you two bickering like old folks. I’ve already shown you mercy by not breaking the roof to signal the Dementors until we’ve confirmed the veracity of Blake’s testimony. Now, I’ll repeat myself—come with me back to the castle.”

Like a scene from a family sitcom, Mo Ran was instantly reminded of what Dumbledore said to young Harry in the movie "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"—"Your father once saved Snape."

It seems that Rowling probably described the story of the previous generation in detail in the book "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", but it was cut out by the film crew.

Thinking of this, having already connected many of the plot points, he quickly spoke up to remind Harry, whose curiosity was growing stronger:

“I think I know what’s going on. Let’s take Black and bring Peter Pettigrew’s body back to the castle first, so we don’t linger here and things don’t get complicated.”

"All right……"

Harry reluctantly agreed, raised his hand and waved it back into the Unseen Stretch Charm-enhanced suitcase, then said to the other three: