Chapter 247: The Silver-Gray Giant Wolf
Many times, a person only truly realizes how important something is to them after they've lost it.
For example, the ability to cast spells.
The black magical creature "elevator" that Lockhart brought had solved some problems.
Neville's parents, Frank and Alice Longbottom, had their normal consciousness restored.
The werewolf venom in Lupin's body was also in a "non-expressing" state, preventing him from turning into a werewolf on the night of the full moon.
But this didn't completely solve the problem. The three of them were no different from Muggles now, and their lives were inevitably a little difficult.
They couldn't open the door after leaving the room, so they had to look for the key everywhere and finally had to ask someone else to help with an unlocking charm. They couldn't use Scourgify, so they had to get used to washing their hands frequently in the restroom and showering like Muggles. Life's troubles were everywhere.
Of course, it wasn't all bad.
The fact that they had no magical fluctuations meant they could walk out into the Muggle streets as Muggles to do things that the wizard members of the Order of the Phoenix couldn't.
This idea came from Grindelwald.
The powerful wizard who had influenced an entire era of the wizarding world had too much wisdom. His casual guidance was always convincing. After only a few hours of getting to know him, the members of the Order of the Phoenix had naturally gotten used to listening to his commands.
Sometimes, a strange idea would come to them—that Grindelwald seemed more reliable than Dumbledore.
Of course, the truth was that both were reliable.
Dumbledore was more inclined to treat the members of the Order of the Phoenix as comrades in a united front. He didn't think his own strength should place him above them and instead hoped to provide help and let these comrades exercise their own initiative, find opportunities, and improve themselves.
Grindelwald was different. He didn't need the wisdom of others; he only needed subordinates. He had enough wisdom to handle anything and didn't believe anyone else could be smarter than him.
So Dumbledore always gave advice and remained silent, while Grindelwald always gave commands and made arrangements.
Under Grindelwald's command, in just one night, the house next to the Black family's ancestral home was bought.
The Longbottom family arranged for a house-elf to watch over it and be responsible for the emergency transfer of personnel.
Grimmauld Place 11 became the Order of the Phoenix's window to the Muggle world.
This was an arrangement Dumbledore would not have made, as it was in violation of the Statute of Secrecy.
But at the very least, the Longbottoms didn't have to live under someone else's roof in the Black family's ancestral home; they had their own space. Numbers 11 and 12, one in plain sight and one hidden, could now watch out for each other.
Late at night.
Most of the Order of the Phoenix members had already left.
Percy also went back to the Burrow with his parents for the night. Both father and son realized they had some things to talk about.
Only Lupin and Lockhart remained as guests in Sirius's house.
It was destined to be a sleepless night. Lockhart had to constantly observe Lupin's condition, from the start of the full moon until it ended, recording the magical changes of the entire process.
The three of them sat in the living room, drinking and chatting.
Their conversation inevitably turned to the past. Sirius, slumped on the sofa, seemed very depressed. "Of course I know I've done a lot of stupid things in the past, too many. I've hurt a lot of people—"
He looked up toward the room on the second floor that had been specially prepared for Harry, sighed, and said, "I'll raise him well, teach him, and make up for my mistakes..."
When talking about Snape, he also admitted his own mistakes. "But you want me to apologize to him? To bow my head to him? Heh! Impossible! I hate him, absolutely hate him. So what if I was wrong? I don't care!"
Lupin opened his mouth but said nothing, only sighing.
"Blame me then—" Sirius curled up on the sofa, staring despondently at the fire in the fireplace, and murmured, his eyes filled with bitterness.
He considered himself not a very smart person, always letting his temper get the best of him. He only saw his own justice and righteousness, but he often hurt the people around him.
His parents, his brother, James, Lily, Lupin, Peter, Harry—
But no matter what happened, he believed his core sense of rightness was not damaged.
"At the time, many people in the Order of the Phoenix realized there was a traitor. Everyone was suspicious of one another. Many people knew I was the Secret-Keeper for James's family. I was afraid that if this information was leaked, I would be the breakthrough point—"
"So I secretly switched the Secret-Keeper to Peter. I hid him in the corner. He was the best at hiding; he was never noticed. Then I stood on the stage to attract any possible attacks... Later, I caught Peter, and he thought he was wrong and apologized, but what use was an apology? James and Lily were dead; they couldn't come back!—"
"Peter cursed at me. He looked like he hated me so much. He cursed me for forcing him to be the Secret-Keeper. He thought it was my fault that he was targeted by the Dark Lord, that the secret of James's safe house was leaked, and it was all because of me—"
Sirius grabbed the wine bottle, tilted his head back, and chugged it down, his eyes filled with pain. "It was my fault, all my fault, but I couldn't say it. Looking at Peter, I couldn't say I was sorry. The fact was that he killed James and them. Why should I apologize to him? I wanted to kill him—"
"He died. Even though I found out later that he wasn't really dead, I thought he was dead then. A horrible death. Only a single finger was left. Even before he died, he was still cursing me, saying that his death was also my fault—"
"Haha, yes, it was all my fault. I'm the killer, so I went to jail!"
"Ha, hahahaha..."
He laughed, a twisted, painful laugh.
"If one day that git Snape had the ability to kill me, I wouldn't blame him. I know I deserve it, but you want me to bow my head to him? I'm not willing to do that!"
He was drunk and his words became disorganized.
Lupin lowered his head, drinking, his messy hair falling over his eyes. His expression was hidden.
Lockhart, on the other hand, was in the mood to chat. He talked to him and eventually brought up Lupin, casually asking, "Then what about Remus? You didn't choose him as the Secret-Keeper. Didn't you trust him?"
Sirius was silent for a while. He asked hoarsely, "Remus?"
Lockhart nodded. "Yes, Remus! Why didn't you choose Remus as the Secret-Keeper? Didn't you trust him?"
Sirius shifted on the sofa, resting his head on the back, and looked at the silent Lupin. "Of course I trusted him, he's my brother!"
Lockhart looked at him with some confusion. "Then why didn't you choose him?"
Sirius pursed his lips and didn't say anything, just shrinking back into the sofa.
So Lockhart didn't press him, but unexpectedly, Lupin raised his head, staring at Sirius, and said in a low voice, "I want to know, too! Sirius, tell me, why didn't you choose me!"
Some things, some pain, cannot be washed away by time. They only accumulate and sink deeper.
"Look at me, Sirius!" Lupin's eyes were deep. "You knew I was more capable of keeping a secret than Peter, right? You must have considered this. And you said you trusted me, so why is it like this now? Tell me!"
Sirius just drank, and when the bottle was empty, he shook it, cursed, and threw it aside, scratching his hair in frustration.
The living room was frighteningly quiet.
Even Harry, who was listening to his elders' past at the corner of the stairs, was silent.
"Because no one knew what the future would be like then!"
Sirius lowered his head, his voice deep. "No one knew how to defeat the terrifying and desperate Dark Lord. Frank and Alice were among the strongest fighters in the Order of the Phoenix, and their most glorious victory was only escaping the Dark Lord three times."
"Ha, escape..."
"I'm not blind. I could see that Dumbledore was not as powerful as people imagined. He couldn't find Voldemort at all!"
"As long as Voldemort didn't want to fight Dumbledore, Dumbledore couldn't catch him!"
"I'm not the only one who saw this. Why do you think the Order of the Phoenix had traitors? If everyone thought Dumbledore could crush Voldemort like an ant, everyone would have gathered on Dumbledore's side, including those pure-blood families who only cared about profit.
"There was no hope back then."
"No one could have predicted that Voldemort would actually be killed by Lily's magic. Ha, it's just too ridiculous—"
Sirius laughed, his laugh sounding worse than a cry. Tears and snot flowed down his face.
Lockhart's thoughts also seemed to be taken back to that time. He sighed, "It was truly difficult for you all to hold onto your beliefs back then."
Sirius wiped his face, looked up, and a miserable, strange expression appeared on his face. "I didn't hold on. I wavered."
"I even thought that all of us in the Order of the Phoenix would be killed, that everyone who supported Dumbledore would be killed or betray him and join Voldemort. Then the only person left to oppose Voldemort would be Dumbledore himself."
"At that point, Dumbledore would probably have to compromise. He couldn't watch wizards get caught up in a war and die in droves again."
Sirius let out a long sigh. "In that era, many people hoped Voldemort would win because the future he promised was too beautiful. It was something Dumbledore couldn't provide."
"Wizards could walk freely in this world instead of living like rats in the dark corners unseen by Muggles. The Ministry of Magic wouldn't have to be underground in a dirty street. You wouldn't have to hide from the eyes of Muggles like a thief when you went to St Mungo's. Even werewolves could live well in this world and be respected—"
Lupin's eyes became sharp, and he stared at Sirius. "What are you talking about?!!!"
Sirius struggled to get up, swaying as he walked toward the wine cabinet. He rummaged through it, found a bottle of wine, and chugged it down. He let out a long sigh, turned around, and looked at Lupin. "Grindelwald also promised these things back then. The voices of too many people came together, pushing Grindelwald to the position of a wizarding leader, hoping he would lead wizards to create that free world."
"Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald and locked him up, but he couldn't defeat the people's voices. So Voldemort appeared again.
"I know what's right, and I don't want to see a war between wizards and Muggles, but I also know how difficult it is for Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix."
"Without Grindelwald, there would have been Voldemort. Without Voldemort, there would have been someone else, one after another. But there's only one Dumbledore. If he failed once, there wouldn't be another Dumbledore."
Sirius's voice was a little hoarse, his eyes gloomy. "I just hoped that if Dumbledore really failed and all of us his staunch followers died, my good friend, Lupin, a poor werewolf, would have a chance to live in that new era, too."
"After all, everyone knows that Voldemort promised werewolves that they would no longer be bullied—"
Thump!
A violent thud echoed throughout the living room.
Lupin lunged forward, grabbing Sirius's collar fiercely, and slammed him against the wine cabinet behind them. He was so angry that his whole body was shaking. "Why are you always so self-righteous!"
Sirius gave a miserable laugh. "I'm just like this, you know that. Always making choices that I think are right, but I'm always wrong. Wrong again and again."
Was he wrong?
Yes, he was!
But he was always making mistakes because he wanted to do the right thing.
So he became so tormented.
The torment was constantly devouring his soul, making him look so dark and gloomy.
But his unique magical bloodline prevented the pain from corroding his soul, so his heart only became more tormented.
A strong, ominous aura emanated from Sirius.
Lockhart watched the scene in front of him, his eyes filled with curiosity.
Then he saw Harry, who was at the corner of the stairs, looking at them helplessly, small, sad, and in pain.
Perhaps this was what it meant to be a wizard.
If you were born ordinary, you would live an ordinary life, and your abilities would mostly be ordinary.
But every wizard who truly embraced magic always carried a fairy tale-like life on their back, whether it was joyful and fantastical or painful and strange.
Magic blossomed quietly in between.
Lockhart felt it. There were magical fluctuations in Lupin's body.
The magical bloodline suppressed by the "elevator" was still silent, but a strong magical power was clearly emanating from deep within his soul.
Almost there!
Just a little more!
Lockhart could feel the pressure of the boiling magic that had nowhere to go.
So he gently drew his wand from his robes, pointed it at Lupin, and with a thought, moved his wand, pointed it at the fire in the fireplace, and cast a soul-bonfire spell.
Boom! The flames in the fireplace exploded, the two-colored flames intertwined, illuminating the room.
Lupin was currently staring angrily at Sirius, filled with anger and sadness, and finally, he let out a painful roar.
He let go of Sirius's collar and took a step back, about to turn and leave.
But at that moment, his body began to twitch and tremble. Strands of silver-gray fur emerged from his skin and then disappeared like a phantom. After a while, they reappeared.
Sirius's face changed, and he quickly yelled, "Lockhart, watch out!"
He quickly patted his body, and his face changed dramatically. He couldn't find his wand. He looked at the sofa but unexpectedly saw Harry in the far corner.
"Harry, run!"
He yelled. A beast-like gasp suddenly came from behind him. He quickly turned his head, on guard, and saw Lupin quickly turning into a silver-gray wolf.
"Run! Go find the Longbottoms next door!" Sirius anxiously yelled at Harry again. His body twisted quickly, and he turned into a big black dog with an agile movement, instinctively standing between Lupin and Harry, watching the Lupin in front of him cautiously.
Finally, Lupin's transformation was complete.
He had turned into a silver-gray giant wolf about the size of a tiger.
Yes.
A wolf!
No, not a wolf!
The wolf didn't attack Sirius. It just lowered its head in confusion and looked at its body. Then it raised its wolf claw and looked at its claws in confusion.
This was…
Sirius reacted quickly. He tensed his body, lunged at the sofa, and when he transformed back, he was already holding his wand. He positioned himself to block Lupin from seeing Harry and called out, a little confused but also hopeful, "Remus?"
The gray wolf looked up at him. It tried to speak, but only a low, beastly sound came out of its mouth.
"Animagus?"
Sirius was confused. "I specifically warned you not to try to contact an Animagus. It might have some bad effects!"
"It's not an Animagus!" Lockhart explained from the side, drinking the wine in his glass. He stood up with a smile. "It's the kind of magical creature that is a wolf and a cub! Remus, how do you feel?"
Lupin raised his head. Lockhart's and Sirius's reflections were in his wolf eyes. He nodded slightly.
"Haha!" Lockhart got excited. "Looks like I was right!"
Sirius was dumbfounded. "What's going on?"
"To put it simply, his soul was contaminated with werewolf venom, which connected to the purest magical bloodline of a wolf in the river of time. When he urgently craved power, it naturally expressed itself."
Lockhart explained simply, his eyes filled with amazement at Lupin. "This is the true expression of a wolf's magical bloodline, not the intermediate state of a werewolf!"
"Remus, can you feel the magic in your body?"
Lupin moved his unfamiliar body and nodded slightly.
"Nice!"