The sudden appearance of Kael startled everyone, even Professor Lupin's fist—which was about to land on Black's face—instinctively froze mid-air.
Only Black wasn't affected; without looking back, he kept lunging for Scabbers in Ron's hands.
But without a wand, he was quickly fended off by Harry and Hermione working together—his body was sent flying backward, crashing into a table with a loud bang.
"Kai—Kael?" Professor Lupin came to his senses, saying incredulously, "What are you doing here?"
"Hello, Professor." Kael grinned, then pointed to the corner where he'd just been, "I've been here for quite a while, right there... It's just that none of you noticed."
"What? You've been here all along?" Professor Lupin frowned.
Although he'd had his eyes fixed on Black just now and hadn't paid much attention to the surroundings, he didn't think he'd fail to notice someone else entering.
And that wasn't even what he actually wanted to ask…
"I mean, how did you find this place?" Professor Lupin pressed further.
"I followed the map."
Kael pulled out a large piece of parchment. "I was just looking at this in the dorm, and then I saw five of you leaving the castle before curfew. I got a bit curious and decided to follow."
"The Marauder's Map!"
After all, he'd been part of making it, and used it for years—one look and Professor Lupin recognized exactly what kind of parchment it was.
"Was it you who took it from Filch's office?"
"No, I've never been to Filch's office." Kael shook his head and said, "I borrowed it."
"Hold on, Kael!"
At this moment, Harry suddenly noticed something was off and blurted out, "Did you just say five people left the castle?"
"Yep." Kael nodded.
Harry thought about it again. "But there's only the three of us, and Professor Lupin makes four. Could Black have gotten back into the castle?"
"No." Kael said, "The map showed that next to Professor Lupin, there was also someone called Peter Pettigrew."
"That's impossible!" Ron was agitated. "Why is it always Peter? He's clearly just Scabbers!"
"Exactly." This time Professor Lupin sided with him, "We just established he's not an Animagus. I think the map must be faulty… I mean, it's been around a long time."
"There's no way the map is malfunctioning!"
Before Kael could reply, Black got up from the floor, shouting the rebuttal.
He looked strangely ecstatic as he rushed toward Kael, but after only two steps, his body lifted off like a balloon, floating uncontrollably upward.
"Wandless spellcasting…" Hermione gasped, covering her mouth in shock.
"No!" Professor Lupin shook his head, staring at the fist-sized blue bug beside Black. "It's a Billywig… If you get stung by one, you float uncontrollably."
"Sorry, Black is way too agitated right now; I thought this might help him calm down a little." Kael shrugged.
Then he reached out and caught the Billywig that had flown back toward him.
Ron looked on with envy—if Scabbers had a move like that, maybe he'd never have been stolen in the first place.
Black was still thrashing, but Professor Lupin had already found a rope and tied him up tightly.
Now he looked even more like a balloon.
"Let's go," Lupin said. "It's already late—we should get Black to… Professor Dumbledore quickly."
Professor Lupin paused for a moment, in the end not saying outright that they should hand Black straight to the Dementors.
But just as he was about to leave, he noticed Kael eyeing the rat in Ron's hands.
Scabbers wasn't struggling at all now, snuggling contentedly in Ron's grip—he even seemed to be smiling.
"What are you smiling about, Peter?"
Kael kindly reminded him, "Haven't you realized yet? You can't return to human form anymore."
"Or do you think Professor Lupin and Black are both idiots—that they both miscast the spell?"
Visibly, the joy in the rat's eyes vanished, replaced by growing terror.
Lupin and Black, idiots?
Of course not. On the contrary—they were both top graduates.
Scabbers seemed to realize something; terror intensified in his eyes as he began to squirm, even biting down hard on Ron's finger.
"Ow!" Ron yelped, pain making him let go.
But Scabbers, after falling to the floor, didn't run—he just kept frantically circling in place, emitting sharp squeaks.
"Scabbers, what's the matter with you, Scabbers?" Ron cried anxiously.
"Nothing much, he's just checking something," Kael replied, eyeing him. "Mind letting me borrow your wand?"
Ron held his wand tightly, refusing to let go.
"Use mine," Harry handed his wand over, gazing at the rat with a complicated expression.
So many doubts filled his mind; he didn't want to miss any possible chance at the truth.
"Thanks."
Kael placed the wand on the floor and smiled at Scabbers, "You can try yourself—see if you can break the Animagus transformation."
Scabbers didn't move… He wasn't that stupid as to expose himself voluntarily.
Kael seemed to read his thoughts and said, "Relax, if you can change back, I'll personally let you go."
As he spoke, he suddenly pointed the wand at Hermione, "Expelliarmus!"
Kael caught Hermione's wand, then took Professor Lupin's, along with his own, and stashed them away in his pocket.
"Look, now no one can threaten you." Kael spread his hands. "As long as you can transform back, you get Harry's wand and you can escape anytime."
"Kael, you don't—"
Professor Lupin started to speak, but before he could finish, Scabbers moved.
Under Ron's stunned gaze, Scabbers lunged straight at the tip of Harry's wand.
Unlike before, this time the wand emitted a flash of white light.
With everyone watching, Scabbers shuddered… then nothing happened.
Even Ron now noticed that something was wrong—Scabbers seemed deranged, ramming the wand over and over again.
In the small room, the white light blinked on and off, like a faulty lightbulb flickering.
The sight made Ron's belief crumble—his Scabbers was wielding a wand and even repeating the same spell.
But could an ordinary rat use a wand?
Scabbers kept smashing into it faster and harder—even the fur on his head was scraped raw.
A few drops of blood dripped onto the wand, making Harry feel sick to his stomach.
He was starting to understand why Kael had wanted to borrow Ron's wand just now.
"Ha… Peter… hahaha…" The room echoed with Black's wild laughter—a laughter so cathartic a gleaming tear rolled down from the corner of his eye, falling onto the dusty floorboards.
...