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The rat scurried frantically through the intricate corridors of Hogwarts, its four small paws moving so fast they almost left afterimages.
It dodged and turned, sometimes making sharp turns into side paths, sometimes sliding along the shadows at the base of the walls, and sometimes using tapestries, armor pedestals, or even the swaying hems of students' robes as temporary cover while they hurriedly avoided it.
Its familiarity with the Castle's terrain played the greatest role at this moment.
"Ah! It's coming this way again!"
"Left! On the left!"
"Merlin, it's running so fast!"
The students' startled cries and the sound of stomping feet echoed from all directions, providing the best cover for this desperate rat.
It wove through countless pairs of legs and panicked faces.
Professor McGonagall and Snape gave chase relentlessly.
Professor McGonagall's face was grim, and her lips were tightly pursed; she could always accurately capture the rat's trajectory, but her concern for the students prevented her from using large-scale control magic.
Snape, needless to say, had the tip of his wand constantly flickering with light; several Spells nearly hit, blasting small pits into the floor or walls and causing the surrounding students to cry out and dodge repeatedly.
Finally, the rat spotted an opening and dashed down a flight of stairs, then scurried through the Entrance Hall and toward the open Castle gates!
Peter thought that as long as he could reach the open ground, his size and speed would give him more opportunities to maneuver or even vanish completely!
McGonagall and Snape did not hesitate, rushing out of the Castle gates right after him and into the torrential rain outside.
Professor McGonagall mused that it wasn't convenient to cast Spells in the corridor for fear of hurting students, but outside... her thought hadn't even finished before it came to a screeching halt... there were no students... like hell there weren't!
Right there, four students happened to be walking toward the gate, seemingly about to return to the Castle.
Among them, the black-haired Hufflepuff student was gesturing and telling his three companions something with a focused expression.
How could the frantically fleeing Peter care about that now? Seeing people ahead, his first reaction was the same as in the corridor: to try and dive into the crowd to use the confusion to shake off his pursuers.
He even saw the black-haired student suddenly stop talking and point a finger toward him in surprise.
He thought the next second would be the familiar screams and dodging.
However, not this time.
Just as the rat was about to scurry under their feet, Ollie and Lynn suddenly raised their wands.
"Confringo!"
Bang—!!!
Two blinding white lights exploded violently along with a deafening blast!
The intense shockwave and rubble generated by the explosion were like an invisible sledgehammer, venting their full force squarely onto that tiny gray rat!
"Squeak—!!!" A shrill scream reached its peak.
Peter was blown into the air without any resistance, tracing a short arc before hitting the stone road several meters away with a "thud," rolling twice before coming to a stop.
Lynn followed up with another Spell after the rat hit the ground.
It lay there, motionless.
Its gray fur was blown open, revealing the bloody flesh beneath; one hind leg was unnaturally twisted, and its tiny body twitched slightly, with blood seeping from its nose and mouth—it clearly wasn't going to survive.
Everything happened in a flash.
Professor McGonagall and Snape, who had just rushed down the steps, stopped abruptly, staring in astonishment at this sudden scene.
Professor McGonagall gasped, and Snape's brow furrowed tightly as he stared at the dying rat on the ground, then looked at the two who had attacked.
Ollie's hand holding the wand trembled slightly, his eyes fixed on the dying rat, his chest heaving; the intense emotions that had erupted in that moment didn't seem to have fully settled yet.
He looked up at the two Professors, a hint of paleness and awkwardness appearing on his face as an afterthought, and explained in a somewhat dry voice, "S-sorry, Professor, I... hate rats."
Lynn gave a sheepish laugh. "Um, Professor, I hate rats too."
This reason was irrefutable; after all, few people liked rats like this.
Both Professors fell silent for a moment.
[Ding!]
A clear notification sound rang in Lynn's mind.
[Task completed, rewards have been issued.]
[Please learn Animagus on your own]
Lynn was amazed in his heart. He had just been telling Ollie and the others that he had "accidentally discovered" that the true culprit who betrayed Ollie's mother might still be alive and was hiding at Ron's place disguised as a rat; he had even planned to "buy" it from Ron... then, he saw this "target he wanted to buy" running toward him in a panic.
What was this? Wearing out iron shoes in a fruitless search, only for the target to run into the tree himself? When luck comes, no one can stop it.
The brief silence was broken by Professor McGonagall.
She stepped forward, her wand pointing at the rat on the ground that was already breathing its last.
A layer of soft light enveloped the rat.
Professor McGonagall quickly stanched the excessive bleeding from the rat's wounds while simultaneously applying several binding and anti-magic Spells to ensure it couldn't cause trouble even if it had a shred of strength left.
Then, the rat's form became blurred in the air to prevent more students from seeing this shocking scene and causing a riot.
Having done all this, Professor McGonagall turned to the four stunned people.
"Everything is fine here. All of you return to the Castle; the wind is cold after the rain, don't stand here."
She said no more, turning first and walking hurriedly back to the Castle.
Snape stood where he was and let out a cold snort from his nose. He said nothing to the four of them, turning to follow Professor McGonagall back to the Castle...
A few days later, Hogwarts once again welcomed officials from the Ministry of Magic.
Cornelius Fudge was followed by several fully armed Aurors. They took Peter Pettigrew away from the isolation ward overseen by both Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey.
At this time, Peter had been treated with the most potent healing Spells and life-sustaining magic, barely clinging to life.
His condition was terrible; he was wrapped in thick bandages, his face was ash-gray, his eyes were dull, and he occasionally let out unconscious groans.
If he lived until then, what awaited Peter would be a trial by the Wizengamot and a likely life sentence in Azkaban.
Watching Peter being carried onto a carriage like a bag of trash by the Aurors, Snape stood behind a high window of the Castle and let out a long sigh of relief.
Finally, he didn't have to brew those damn Potions for his enemy every day.
Over the past few days, in order to pry more confessions from Peter's mouth and to "maintain the life of a key witness," Snape had taken over Peter's Potion supply.
Every bottle of Invigoration Draught, Skele-Gro, Blood-Replenishing Potion... all came from his hands.
For Snape, this was nothing short of mental torture. He had to suppress the urge to add poison to the Potions and strictly follow the recipes.
But he discovered something extremely bizarre:
No matter how standard the Potions he brewed were or how good the effects should be, once they were poured into Peter, they initially seemed to stabilize his injuries and even show improvement.
But before long, other healthy parts of Peter's skin would mysteriously begin to swell and ulcerate, symptoms completely different from the blast wound on his chest.
(Lynn: Care to learn about the poisonous Undying Curse?)