Chapter 86 Lupin's Memory
Lupin pushed the door of the secret passage aside, raising a cloud of dust.
Quickly he emerged from the secret path into a cluttered and dusty house. The wallpaper had peeled off the walls. There were stains everywhere on the floor. A piece of furniture was damaged. It looked as if it had been shattered. The windows were boarded up.
This was the Shrieking Shack. Lupin and his friends had been here on numerous occasions. Since Black's invasion of the castle, it was highly likely that he was hiding here.
Lupin caught a familiar scent in the air. He placed his wand across his chest, cautiously crossing the dark hallway and climbing the stairs, which were on the verge of collapse.
Just like the first floor, everything on the second floor was covered in a thick layer of dust.
But this did not apply to the floor. Something had passed through here recently. It was a paw print left behind by a canine.
Lupin looked down and was all too familiar with the imprint. It was a sign left by the Animagus Sirius Black. Black must have been here recently, and it was very likely that he was still hiding in the house.
Lupin firmly grasped his wand and studied the closed door at the end of the hallway intently. Black could be hiding behind this door, ready to bolt. Even though Sirius did not have his wand, Lupin still felt he needed to stay alert.
He approached slowly, trying not to make a sound, and focused all the power he had at the tip of his wand, which began to glow faintly.
"Come on, Sirius, I know you're in there!" Lupin shouted outside the door, his voice echoing in the empty room.
Nothing happened; nothing could be heard except silence.
Lupin blinked and in the next moment, his wand emitted a bright red light and blasted the door down.
In the room, there was only a luxurious four-poster bed, and the curtains around the bed were all dusty. There was no one there, just him standing at the door, panting.
Lupin let his wand drop, stunned. Black wasn't there. Perhaps he had been there. But after being spotted tonight, he would have hidden elsewhere.
"Cowardly fool!" Lupin whispered.
Black's behavior did not meet Lupin's expectations. He was not a man who would flee. He was the bravest among them as a student, but when he knelt and kissed Voldemort's robe, the courage of the past might have vanished.
Now Black was no longer a brave Gryffindor; rather, he seemed like a cunning and sinister Slytherin.
Lupin stood for a minute at the entrance to the room, a vague desolation evident on his face.
He sighed deeply and turned to leave. But he stopped immediately and saw something left on the bed. It was a photograph.
Lupin approached and picked up the photo.
In the picture were four boys. From left to right, himself, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew.
The four in the photo were laughing so happily.
Lupin suddenly felt a bit sad. He still remembered that the photo was taken on the lawn in front of the castle gate when they graduated. A copy was sent to each of them.
His own photograph was sent by Hagrid to Harry the previous year when he collected photos; James's part was lost in the wreckage on the night he was attacked. Peter's part had surely been shattered by Black along with his body.
The only one who still had that photo was Black himself.
He may have accidentally left it at the Shrieking Shack. Unexpectedly, Black cherished this photograph. Lupin thought he had lost all sense of friendship.
Upon seeing this yellowed photo, Lupin's thoughts drifted back to the time they had just graduated, the darkest era of magic.
At that time, the dark wizards led by Voldemort were unleashing their fury upon the magical world. They openly resorted to violence, spreading terror everywhere, murdering blood traitors and Muggles in the name of "pleasure," even initiating a war of wizards to alter the face of the magical world.
In that prolonged war, Lupin witnessed the deaths of many individuals, including his former mentors, classmates, and numerous innocents.
The year they graduated was three years before the war's end. They couldn't wait to join the Order of the Phoenix and stand on the front lines against Voldemort, despite Voldemort and his Death Eaters having far more power than the Order of the Phoenix.
Yet, relying on close cooperation, they managed to repeatedly thwart Voldemort's plans and escape his clutches.
Lupin believed this would continue until Voldemort was defeated.
But in the war's final year, everything changed. Dumbledore received a hint that, for some reason, Voldemort was after Harry, the son of James and Lily. James originally intended to fight, but for Harry's sake, he finally heeded Dumbledore's proposal and went into hiding, protecting himself with the Fidelius Charm.
Aside from Dumbledore, he and Peter Pettigrew were the only two who knew James' whereabouts. James chose Sirius Black, believing Black to be his closest and most loyal friend.
Lupin too naively believed this to be the best choice.
But they were wrong! All of them were wrong.
Less than a week after Black became the secret keeper of James and Lily, he betrayed them to Voldemort. That night, Voldemort stormed their house. He killed them, but he couldn't understand why he failed to kill Harry!
Upon learning this news, Lupin still recalled his reaction at that moment. He was frantically searching for Black. He needed to ask him to understand the truth. Something must have gone wrong. Why did James and Lily die, and why did the Fidelius Charm fail?
Until that moment, he never believed Black would betray them to Voldemort.
Two days later, Lupin found Black.
But he arrived a step too late, as Peter Pettigrew had found him before Lupin.
When Lupin saw Black on that street, surrounded by Aurors, he had just finished off Peter and the Muggles along the whole street a minute before.
Everything became clear. Black had sold out James and Lily to Voldemort. In the ensuing interrogation, he confessed to killing Peter Pettigrew.
Lupin stood powerless in the corner of the street. He watched Black laugh uncontrollably there and silently sobbed in the corner. This was the one time he shed tears since he was a child, when he swore never to cry again.