Leaving Merlin's Barrier, Asterion saw Morgan wave his hand and the second barrier erected by Dumbledore closed again, blocking the first barrier.
"Thank you for your hard work." Stroking her head, Asterion spoke in a gentle tone as he rubbed her black hair. Morgan looked like a kitten loving the caresses on her head and practically embraced Asterion in a tight hug and buried her head in his chest.
"As for you, my fiancée will love to meet you." Asterion looked at Peter's bruised face covered in blood and tears with an indifferent gaze. He looked back at Morgan and spoke. "Morgan, I want you to write two letters to two different people."
Morgan nodded and didn't even bother to look at Peter on the floor. She disappeared under Peter's shocked eyes. They weren't in Diagon Alley, but at Hogwarts, a place known for its incredible defenses against Apparate. So to see the monster that had devoured his limbs Apparate right into Hogwarts gave Peter a profound shock.
Grabbing Peter by the collar of his shirt, Asterion dragged the Animagus away with a calm look on his face.
-
In the Hogwarts Dungeon.
"So, what's going on?" Rose asked, she was dressed in the Hogwarts universe with the color of her house, red and gold, the girl's white hair was still messy, showing that she had just woken up and hadn't even had time to comb her hair.
Rose's eyes fell curiously on the huge black dog, who for some reason was looking at her with an extremely emotional look, as if she had owned him at some point in her life.
Suddenly, she raised an eyebrow, noticing something unusual about the black dog, more precisely the humanity in its gaze. "Animagus?" She asked with a tone of uncertainty.
The reason for her uncertainty was that the Animagus had a very interesting characteristic, it could hide any fluctuations in magical energy from the wizard. Since the target of the spell were animals without magical energy, the spell practically turned the wizard or witch into a real animal in every sense of the word.
"That's Sirius Black." Asterion commented with a calm look, earning a shocked glance from the white-haired girl. "Your godfather and according to the laws of our society, he should be your guardian should your parents pass away. However, as you can see, you grew up with your muggle family."
Under Rose's surprised eyes, the dog disappeared and a very handsome black-haired man with worn-out robes and appearance appeared in front of her. Remembering Asterion's words about how her parents were murdered and how it all happened, she looked at the man with a complex gaze.
Although it really wasn't so bad living with her aunt, who treated her with relative affection, she would still have preferred to live with someone from the magical world, which would have spared her a lot of questions, feelings of guilt and anger, as well as a more pleasant childhood for a child.
"You look like your mother, you have the same look she had, an indomitable and confident look. Which in your case, I'd say arrogant, but James passed it on to you." Sirius picked up a silver canteen and drank the whisky it contained while looking at Rose with a gentle gaze tinged with a look of pain and guilt.
Rose looked at Sirius with a calmer look than Asterion had expected, it seemed that although she had been surprised by Sirius, she hadn't acted impulsively.
Perhaps noticing this, Sirius flashed a slightly bitter smile and commented. "I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me, Rose. I really, really wanted to raise you and educate you the way your parents wanted in case something happened to them, but James and Lily's death consumed my mind, I was blinded by revenge and hatred."
"I just wanted to get revenge on James and Lily, but as my father once said, if men can't control their feelings, they're no different than animals. " Sirius continued speaking, lost in ancient memories.
Then a cold, chilling look appeared in his eyes, "I had to get revenge, but I couldn't, the mouse blew up an entire street, and I was blamed for the deaths and thrown into Azkaban."
At the mention of the Mouse, Rose wasn't indifferent either, a cold look appeared on her face, if it wasn't for the traitor, she would still have parents and a happy family. If there wasn't anger, hatred and resentment in her heart, she would be lying.
At the same time, she admitted, although she resented Sirius' decisions a little, she could understand the man's flare for revenge. If anything happened to Asterion, Daphne and Hermione, she certainly wouldn't stop until she had destroyed everyone who dared to hurt them.
Letting out a long sigh, Rose looked at Sirius with a gentler gaze, although it was still distant, which Sirius understood perfectly. He knew he had lost fourteen years, too late. He had to take the first step and start entering his goddaughter's life.
Asterion couldn't help but be speechless at Sirius' emotional face, the man had never shown such emotion towards him, his eldest brother's son! "Now I understand Arcturus' feelings, Sirius has problems with paternal love. I take it my grandfather, Orion Black, wasn't exactly the best of fathers."
Although Asterion's whisper was low, they were in a dungeon which, by the way, was a great place for echoes. As a result, Asterion's every word was heard very clearly by Rose and Sirius.
Sirius' face turned grim in an instant, hearing his own nephew say that he had father issues wasn't exactly the most pleasant thing to hear.
"Why are we in the dungeon, Asty?" Rose asked, her eyes looking around with a curious expression. "A present for you and Sirius." Asterion replied, he stopped in front of a door and looked at them both with a calm gaze, but whether it was Rose or Sirius, they noticed the cold murderous intent hidden in his gaze.
"Present?" Rose looked genuinely confused.
Suddenly, under the surprised eyes of Asterion and Rose, Sirius burst into the dungeon cell with an almost crazed expression.
"I forgot that dogs have very good senses of smell." Asterion shrugged, not caring about Sirius' actions.
Rose was even more confused by her fiancé's words, but she also got into the saddle and what she saw made her stop and widen her eyes in shock. Her best man was going completely mad as he stared at a figure hoisted up by chains attached to the walls.
"PETER PETTIGREW, YOU FILTHY MOUSE!!!" Sirius screamed, his voice coming out of his mouth like a snarl, his dark brown eyes wide and completely consumed with rage and hatred.
It was at that moment that Rose realized that Sirius really did love her parents as family, and this strangely made her feel closer to the man she had never met in her life before that moment.
However, the name of the figure hoisted by chains in the cell made Rose's face transform from a calm look to a cold stare that could freeze the flames of hell. It was the first time in her life that she had felt such a strong murderous intent towards another person.
He was to blame for the murder of her parents, even if only indirectly; without him, Voldemort would never have found his parents' house.
"That mouse tried to get into a rather delicate place for Hogwarts and was captured." Asterion spoke, leaning on the door, with no intention of entering. His eyes fell on the figure hoisted by chains with an indifferent look. What was about to happen was not his problem.
"You two can do whatever you want with him, he's dead according to the country's laws, so even if he dies now, no crime will be attributed to you two." Asterion said, his lips curving into a rather cruel smile. Seeing the sheer horror on Peter's face told me more than I wanted it to.
Rose frowned, but Sirius only smiled as he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, pulled out his new wand and with a quick flick of his wrist, red light bloomed from the tip of his wand.
The Crucio Curse tore through the air like lightning falling on Peter Pettigrew's small body!
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" A scream more like a pig came out of the Animagus' mouth, he struggled violently as he was ravaged by the strongest pain he had ever known in his life.
Rose frowned even more, she really thought he should die for what he had done, but she didn't want to torture him, what would be different between her and Peter if she did something like that. So, after a minute, she approached Sirius and took his arm, looking him straight in the eye.
"Just stop, Sirius." She spoke, her voice determined, not flinching at the completely enraged look on the man in front of her. In her eyes, Sirius looked more like a wounded animal than hate.
Sirius didn't want to stop, he had been dreaming of this moment for over fourteen years! More than a decade of being tortured day and night, only revenge able to sustain his body weak from malnutrition and his mind on the brink of madness.
"Godfather." Rose spoke once more, her hand lightly squeezing his arm, her eyes looking straight at him.
Sirius felt a deep sense of shame at those blue eyes staring back at him, and he let out a growl and swung his wand towards the other side of the room, canceling the Crucio.
Turning to look at Peter, Sirius asked in a cold, threatening voice. "Why? Why ally yourself with a Dark Lord? What would you gain apart from innocent lives?"
Peter, who was still shaking from the side effects of the Crucius, raised his head with difficulty and whispered. "If I refused, he would have killed me, you know that, Sirius."
Although it was a whisper, it was like an explosion in Sirius' mind, rekindling the flame of fury in his chest.
"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED! DIED INSTEAD OF BETRAYING YOUR FRIENDS, LIKE WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!" He shouted in a voice full of fury and resentment.
The words made Peter lower his head and not dare to look at Sirius, regret, anger, hatred, guilt and fury made his expression a mixture of emotions.
Asterion couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when he heard Sirius' roar, the man was more emotional at that moment than the death of his own grandfather, which made him look at Sirius with a slightly accusatory look.
However, remembering how Sirius had been treated by his family, he didn't blame the man for finding another family who loved him for who he really was.
Rose felt her mind shaken by Sirius' words. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Peter. "I hate you, I want to torture you just like my godfather wants me to."
Holding up her finger, Rose muttered to herself. "Innate Spell Manipulation - Limitless - Red."
A sphere of red energy formed above Rose's finger, illuminating the surroundings with a pale red glow.
She paused and continued. "But I don't want to live by hate all my life, so I'll kill you quickly, although you'll still feel a lot of pain, Peter Pettigrew."
Despite the pain and the difficulty of moving his body, even now, Peter didn't stop struggling, trying to escape, he didn't want to die! He had betrayed all the people who were important to him in order to survive, he wanted to live!!!
However, no matter how hard he tried to struggle, the red glow blurred his vision. He felt like his body was being pressed down by a mountain. His flesh sank, all his bones broke in an instant, his eyes exploded directly. Blood dripped from his ears, nose and eyes.
Then Peter Pettigrew's entire body exploded, staining the wall a sickly shade of red.
Asterion's face contorted and twitched slightly at the familiar image, his death in his past life no different from Peter's, but instead of extremely high pressure from gravity, it was from a damn truck.
Sirius looked at the red stain on the wall with a silent stare, he let out a bitter laugh, he wanted so much more, but looking at Rose's indifferent face, he let out a heavy sigh and ruffled the girl's white hair.
He had to act like an adult right now. "Well done, Rose. Although your father wouldn't have approved of you killing him, your mother would have applauded you."
Rose felt a wave of emotions hearing this and nodded with an indifferent look, she looked at Asterion and approached him and hugged him tightly, burying her head in his chest.
"Thank you." She spoke, her voice muffled by her position.
Asterion didn't say anything and didn't need to, he just stroked her hair and comforted her.
---------------
Author's thoughts: I've rewritten this chapter three times and I still don't feel that I've written it well. Three chapters until the end of Volume Two.
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