"Very well, you will stay here with the Dementors for two days. Think about it…"
Irritated by Sirius's refusal to listen to reason, the Auror glared at the pair, then stormed off.
'Well, that's not bad. I haven't been around those creatures for a while…' Sirius said, watching the Aurors go.
He had survived more than ten years in Azkaban, so what was one or two days?
"No… please! I said everything just now, don't let them go…" Peter Pettigrew shouted tearfully.
He lay on the ground without a backbone and wriggled his way towards the door. However, because his feet were tied to a chain, he could only struggle weakly on the ground.
Before the Auror's arrival, he had known what it was like to be surrounded by Dementors.
It was hell, as if all the good and joy had been forcibly removed from their minds, leaving only the ugliest and darkest memories…
"Peter, you're disgusting! How could James, Lupin, and I have been so foolish as to befriend someone like you…" Sirius looked at Peter with disgust and spat.
"Lupin… yes, Lupin!" Peter ignored him, murmuring to himself.
After Sirius's reminder, Peter suddenly remembered something and shouted at the Aurors, who were already at the door.
"Wait… sir! I have something very important to say…"
"What is it? I remember you telling me that you have nothing to hide…" The Auror, who was about to leave, turned around and said impatiently.
"Yes, I swear to you that I have never hidden anything from you about my years of hiding!" Peter hurriedly explained and then continued carefully.
"What I'm trying to say has nothing to do with this, but it should be of some use to the Ministry, and if you could keep the Dementors away from me, I'll let you know!"
'Enough of this nonsense, Peter! Do you think anyone will believe a filthy traitor like you?' Sirius snapped, realising that Peter was likely about to reveal the identity of Lupin's werewolf wizard.
"There's no harm in listening. If your information is useful, I'll consider making your life more comfortable!" The Auror looked at Peter with interest.
"Of course, I'm sure you'll be very interested!" Peter said gallantly.
He had a shrewd feeling from the other man's conversation with Sirius that the Ministry seemed to be out to get Dumbledore, and that Lupin's status would be a good place to start.
"Hogwarts' new anti-—ahhh?!"
Just as Peter was about to betray his friends for glory again, a sharp pain shot from his waist to his mind. Peter's body jerked violently like a dead fish, and the words coming out of his mouth turned into a violent wail.
"What's wrong?" The Auror pulled his wand out and pointed it nervously at Peter, not sure what he was up to.
"Someone's here! The demon must have used a Disillusionment Charm to sneak in!" Peter looked around nervously. He had no proof, but he was certain that the young wizard was behind this.
"Appear!" The Auror waved its wand dubiously.
A ripple of magic spread from the tip of the wand to every corner of the room, but nothing happened.
"There's nobody here!" exclaimed the Auror, looking at Peter with dangerous eyes.
"Someone just used…" Peter stammered to explain, but he was keenly aware that something had slipped into his sleeve, and there was a sharp pain in his arm.
"There's a bug, there's a bug in my shirt! It's biting me… it's a snake, it's definitely a snake! No, it's turning into something else… it tickles, untie me, please!" Peter was rolling around on the ground, screaming.
The watching Aurors were baffled, unsure what he was up to.
'Are you putting on a show, Peter? Or do you think by putting on an act, our Mr Auror will kindly untie you?' Sirius scoffed.
Peter, who had crashed into the wall, tried to retort, but someone stuffed a ball of smelly socks into his mouth, and he almost fainted from the smell…
In the darkness, the Auror could not see Peter's condition, and seeing him rolling around on the ground stammering, it was hard to tell if Peter was pretending or if he really had hysteria.
"Are you all right? If you need a medic, just let me know…" the Auror ventured, but Peter just kept squirming.
The Auror, who did not receive a reply, frowned. Peter's strange behavior made him feel like he was being toyed with, so he did not bother with him anymore. As long as the other party was not dead, it did not matter to him how Peter was doing.
Trapped and unable to speak, Peter watched as his only support left the observatory.
A moment later, a young female voice sounded from the empty space beside Peter.
"Harry! You took too many chances. What if you got caught?"
"Then what can I do? Do I have to watch Peter reveal Professor Lupin's identity?" Harry took off the Invisibility Cloak, revealing three young wizards in the empty observatory.
"Sirius, are you all right?" Harry asked worriedly, turning to look at Sirius, who was tied up tightly.
'Why are you here…' Sirius was surprised.
"We saw a lot of Dementors hanging around earlier in the evening, so we figured you'd be here, since there's no one else in the school who needs watching over," Hermione explained quickly.
"Yes! We used the Cloak of Invisibility to sneak up! Luckily, the Dementors were far enough away not to sense us…" Harry nodded.
"That's clever!" Sirius exclaimed, then looked at Peter, who was being tortured, and asked curiously, "What happened to his crazy look? How did you do it?"
"No, we didn't do it, he just sort of snapped. I just poked him in the waist and told Ron to take off his socks and stuff them in his mouth…" Harry shook his head, indicating that he didn't know.