Kael paused as he stepped out, turning to look at Dumbledore.
But Dumbledore simply stood there calmly, and only after Harry and the others had all left did he speak: "Don't worry, Black, there won't be any Dementors here, and you don't need to keep your Animagus form."
"Sorry, Headmaster." Black, back in his human form, looked like a student who'd done something wrong, just standing there and murmuring softly, "I still haven't figured out how to face you."
Looking at his ragged clothes and sunken eyes, Dumbledore felt a wave of disorientation.
But in the end, he didn't say anything, just waved his hand.
A table appeared in front of Black, piled high with steaks, bread, and roasted potatoes.
"I imagine you need this right now… Go on, help yourself."
Black's throat moved; he reached out and grabbed a piece of bread.
He seemed to try hard to maintain some dignity, but whether it was from hunger or not having had decent food in ages, his speed grew frantic, and within minutes, he was wolfing it down.
Dumbledore didn't pay it any mind, simply adding some more bread and pumpkin juice, then walking to Peter's cage, bending down to inspect him closely.
Peter was already awake, curled up and trembling inside the cage.
"Another Animagus disguised as a pet," Dumbledore said in a drawn-out tone. "Looks like we'll need to do a thorough inspection on students' pets… I'm quite curious, Kael, what do you think his goal was?"
"Probably just wanted to keep up with the goings-on in the Magic Realm," Kael thought, "Staying with a Wizard Family, he could always get the latest news about Tom."
"Haven't heard that name in ages. For a moment, I thought you meant the owner of the Leaky Cauldron." Dumbledore smiled.
Then he went on, "But I doubt Peter expected anyone would use Mandrake Leaves to brew pet tonic… To be honest, even I was surprised by your generosity when I heard about it."
"It was for a friend…" Kael said, "Just a few leaves, I can afford that."
"Don't worry… I'll pay you back… for all of it!" Black mumbled with his cheeks stuffed, "Whatever those tonics cost… put it on me."
Black sounded rather confident.
He might not have much else, but he had plenty of gold—never mind a few Mandrake Leaves, he could eat them for every meal if he wanted.
Kael raised his brows; if someone else was covering the tab, all the better, but now wasn't the time to discuss that.
He looked at Dumbledore and asked, "Professor, what do you plan to do?"
"No rush. First I have to confirm something."
While speaking, Dumbledore kept his gaze on Peter, and after a moment's thought, he drew his wand.
With a blue light from the Elder Wand shining on Peter, the Rat visibly grew a size… but moments later reverted to normal.
Seeing Dumbledore unable to change him back either, Peter lay there stiff in the cage, seeming utterly hopeless.
"Oh!" Dumbledore was a bit surprised, but said nothing more—he just reversed his wand, touched the tip to Peter's head, and gave a slight flick…
A strand of silver mist was drawn from the wand.
Dumbledore strode quickly to a stone basin in the corner, placing the memory from his wand within.
Silver light swirled in the Pensieve as Dumbledore placed his fingers on the edge, eyes narrowing.
Before long, Dumbledore's previously calm face turned dark and grim.
At the same time, the atmosphere in the room grew heavier and heavier. Sirius felt like hundreds of Dementors surrounded him; he set down the bone he'd already gnawed clean, barely daring to breathe.
Fawkes hopped onto Kael's shoulder and chirped softly.
"Thanks… I'll be alright."
Kael scratched the feathers on Fawkes's neck and fed it some herbs.
Time ticked by little by little.
After about ten minutes, Dumbledore finished watching the memories and opened his eyes again.
Expressionless, he glanced at the cage—just once—and at that, Peter shrieked shrilly and began to bash his head desperately against the bars, trying to escape.
He only stopped when he knocked himself out cold, but the cage remained perfectly intact… Of course, Kael had made it iron to keep him from escaping, with just a layer of wood outside for disguise.
Dumbledore took a deep breath and said softly, "I saw everything… how he betrayed you, how he framed you… You've been waiting for this day a long time, haven't you?"
Sirius clenched his fists so hard his chest heaved; rubbing his red eyes, he let out deep, low sobs… the noise grew louder and finally broke into loud, uncontrolled crying.
Yet even with all that noise, the portraits in the Headmaster's Office didn't wake; they kept their eyes closed, appearing to sleep.
But do portraits really need to sleep?
Kael stared at them and soon noticed one portrait quietly crack open its eyes—it was Phineas Black, history's least popular headmaster.
Noticing Kael's gaze, he gave up the act, opened his eyes wide, and shouted loudly.
"I told you, no one from the Black family would ever do something so disgraceful!"
"Bullshit!" A Bearded Wizard was having none of it, immediately exposing him: "You always said Sirius was a disgrace to the family and even wanted to disown him!"
"I—I never said that!" Phineas retorted, neck stiff. "That's slander, you're slandering me!"
"Oh, I can vouch for it, you definitely said that," a fat wizard who loved to stir the pot chimed in. "You also said there'd never be a place for Black in the family…"
"I can vouch for that too…"
"I heard it as well, tsk tsk…"
As his past misdeeds were brought up one after another, Phineas shouted furiously, "Nonsense, you're all talking nonsense! I never said that."
But with so many headmasters against him, his arguments sounded awfully weak.
"It's all that damn Peter Pettigrew's fault, that despicable, shameless scoundrel…"
At last, Phineas simply changed the subject and looked toward Dumbledore, saying, "Albus, you can't just sit back and do nothing about this—you have to clear Sirius's name! If you don't act, I'll make sure you can't get a moment's peace every day…"
"Phineas, when did I say I was going to sit back and do nothing?" Dumbledore replied, a smile returning to his face.
Sirius looked up too, "You'll really help me?"
"Of course I will. There's no question of that," Dumbledore said, "but the problem is how we do it."
He tapped his fingers on the table. "It's not ideal to put it this way, but your wrongful conviction was the Ministry of Magic's fault back then. And Peter—he's spent the past twelve years as a recipient of the Order of Merlin, First Class. For the Ministry to suddenly find out they made a mistake will be a huge embarrassment."
They'll probably have a hard time accepting it."
The excitement faded from Sirius's face.
He'd always thought exposing Peter would let the truth be known, but hadn't considered this issue with the Ministry of Magic.
Of course—those people value their pride above all. Would they even care about his innocence?
Anxiety began to grow in Sirius's heart…
"Professor, I think you're all worrying too much."
Right then, Kael suddenly laughed and said, "The current Minister of Magic, Mr. Fudge, is competent and fair—I'm sure he'll be willing to clear Sirius's name."
...