Chapter 134 The Departure Of Professor Lupin
Lupin did not look back. He knew that Harry, Evan, Hermione, and the other children must be watching him.
All he could do was hold back his tears.
Legend has it that fierce and terrifying werewolves can only find immense desolation and silent melancholy.
Everyone watched the solitary figure of Professor Lupin, and many of them were crying.
Evan dared not move as Hermione and Ginny wept on his shoulders.
Although he knew Professor Lupin would be fine, he was affected by the sorrow surrounding him and still felt a bitter taste.
No one knew who started, but before they knew it, practically every young wizard was whispering the name of Professor Lupin. As they walked away from the scene, everyone had the feeling it would be the last time they would see him.
If found guilty of attacking Ron, he would have to spend the rest of his life in Azkaban.
"Professor!" Harry miserably cried out and ran to grab Professor Lupin.
Remus stopped, his body trembling slightly, but still did not turn around.
"Let him go, Harry!" Evan approached and said gently.
"No!" Harry sniffled, then saw Dumbledore approaching beside him.
"You've done an excellent job, Harry!" Dumbledore calmly stated, his gaze slowly moving over the faces of all the young wizards behind Harry, his voice extremely comforting. "And all of you, I am very proud of each of your efforts tonight, and I believe Remus feels the same. Let me take care of the rest of this matter."
Harry shook his head stubbornly, about to say something, but stopped. It was Professor Lupin. He turned around and embraced him once more.
The two remained in silence like that for a minute. No one spoke. Even Lucius and Snape didn't urge them.
Then, Lupin let go of Harry and stood up.
Dumbledore passed by him and gave him a tap on the shoulder. They left the office together with Fudge, Lucius, and Snape.
"Well, Lupin's matter is in the hands of the headmaster. It's very late. You should all return to your respective common rooms now!" Professor McGonagall frowned, her eyes red.
Next to her, Hagrid cried out loud, and Professor Flitwick was wiping away tears with his handkerchief.
Everyone left one by one. Passing by Ron, they looked at him with deep disdain.
Even Percy, Fred, George, and Ginny; there were no exceptions, especially Ginny. The young girl was crying uncontrollably. She couldn't believe Ron accused Professor Lupin.
Ron stood still, impassive.
Just then, unexpectedly, Harry approached him.
While everyone tried to guess what he intended to do, Harry slapped Ron on the face, hitting him brutally.
Ron fell to the ground, and the office turned into chaos.
Malfoy smiled proudly, looking maliciously at Harry and Ron. It was a wonderful day. He didn't know what his father had planned, but he despised the two boys he hated the most and saw them fighting each other. That was simply the best Christmas gift he could receive.
The only one missing was that Mudblood, Mason.
"Potter, stop!" Professor McGonagall shouted severely and moved to separate them.
However, she didn't need to. Harry did not hit Ron again.
He just stood there and stared at him with cold and dreadful eyes.
"Give me a reason. Why?" Harry yelled at Ron. "Tell me, why?!"
Ron didn't respond to Harry. He didn't say a word. He stood up, head bowed, not looking at anyone.
Hermione looked at him with tears in her eyes, her face full of concern.
The image she was watching felt terribly familiar to her. She also remembered what had happened in the Common Room the previous year when Ron was about to attack Evan. She felt exactly the same as now.
"Evan, I discovered something..." Hermione rushed towards Evan, breathless.
"Do not say it here," Evan hurried to cover Hermione's mouth. He knew what she was going to say.
She must have discovered that Ron was under control. But revealing things now, although it could rescue Professor Lupin, could also scare Peter Pettigrew. And if that were the case, there would be no way to help Sirius Black clear his name.
Evan also thought that Dumbledore should have concerns about this, although he couldn't think of a way for him to know about Black and Peter.
But anyway, now was not the time to panic. He had just discovered that Peter was not in that office and the cunning man had not been involved in the events of that night.
Although Peter was not there, Evan still had to be cautious when facing controlled Ron.
He quickly glanced at him, he didn't seem worried, not even looking at him and Hermione. Evan felt a bit relieved. If they were accidentally exposed, Peter Pettigrew would flee. Before doing anything, he had to see what Dumbledore had organized.
"Evan!" Hermione blushed and removed Evan's right hand from her face.
Looking at her, Evan also felt a bit embarrassed. He was anxious as what he had just done seemed a bit bold.
He swallowed nervously as he tried to withdraw his hand, but before he knew it, feeling her tension, he moved without thinking. His hand fell from near her mouth to naturally hold her cold hand. She struggled a little, as her hand was firmly held by Evan. Her face blushed even more.
Hermione's thoughts drifted further and she began to think again about the question that arose upon seeing Cho Chang...
She didn't have time to check if Ron was actually being controlled. In fact, no one else seemed to notice that it was too abnormal.
In reality, no one blamed Harry for what he did. Everyone thought he had the right to be so angry.
Not even Fred and George did. They approached and patted Harry's shoulders, not looking at Ron, as if he had never been their brother.
No one understood what had happened to Ron, nor did they understand what difficulties he was facing.
No one thought about these things. As Ron had said shortly before, they only believed what their own eyes saw. They saw that Ron had betrayed Professor Lupin, had sold out Gryffindor, and had betrayed Hogwarts. Even the Slytherin students looked down on him.
"Alright, Potter," Professor McGonagall approached and stood between Harry and Ron. "I know you're sad, but this won't solve anything! You should trust Dumbledore, and Remus will be alright."
Like everyone else, she didn't look at Ron, as if he didn't exist.
"I know, Professor," Harry wiped his tears and said, "I trust the headmaster!"
"We all trust him. Dumbledore has never let anyone down," Professor McGonagall sighed slowly. "So much has happened tonight. Do you and Weasley need to go to the school infirmary?"
"I'm fine, I'm not going to the infirmary!" Harry shook his head. Besides anger, he didn't feel anything wrong.
"Me neither," Ron murmured, as if he were made of wood. He had no response to Harry's punch.
"Well, hurry back to bed!" Professor McGonagall turned and looked at Evan and Hermione. "Mason, Granger, you need to go to the school infirmary for treatment. I promised Poppy I would take you back there."
"Wait a moment, Professor!" said Evan. "I want to go to Professor Dumbledore's office. It seems he has something to tell me. Can you take me there?"
"If there is something, you can say it tomorrow, what you need now is to rest in bed." Professor McGonagall frowned. She saw Evan looking at her as if pleading and huffed. "Fine, I'll take you, but you better hurry up. We can't stay for long."