[97] The Unravelling

Sirius's head was still spinning. Hall's punch hadn't been held back, using nearly 80% of his strength. Though he hadn't clearly heard Hall's question, Sirius's intuition told him that nodding was enough. And so he did.

Hall watched as Sirius, with unfocused eyes, slowly nodded twice. "Good," he thought. If only he'd been this sensible earlier, he wouldn't have gotten beaten up.

Hall turned to Snape. "Professor, I have something I need you to give to the Headmaster."

He handed Snape the black bag he was carrying. "It's very important. There can't be any mistakes. I don't know who else I can trust."

Looking at Hall's sincere expression, Snape hesitated, then withdrew his wand. Though he knew Hall was trying to smooth things over, he still took the bag. It was quite heavy — very hard to the touch. He thought of Dumbledore's recent activities and his expression turned serious. If it really was related to that, it was indeed extremely important.

"You stupid dog, hide your dog bones. If I find them, I'll chop them up and send them back to you," Snape said harshly, picking up the bag and quickening his pace.

Sirius, supported by Lupin, struggled to his feet. Before he could retaliate, Snape's harsh words left him feeling slighted. He was furious and immediately wanted to retort.

"Hey! You! Cough, cough, cough! Moonface, what are you doing!"

Lupin suddenly slapped him on the back. He quickly helped the coughing Sirius up and gave Hall an apologetic smile.

Hall shrugged, indicating he was just an innocent student. He had always thought Lupin was mild-mannered, but now it seemed he was quite hot-tempered at heart. Or perhaps that attitude was only directed at the Headmaster?

Hall sighed inwardly. How could they bully others and still be so self-righteous? Even though his own Head of House wasn't much better, having become the one the Death Eaters pledged allegiance to. But compared to that, he still found it hard to accept that the bullies were getting away with it.

Since that was the case, starting this month, he'd raise the price of potions tenfold. Black could definitely afford it.

"I'll be going now, Professor Black, Assistant Professor Lupin. Goodbye." Hall said politely, then waved to Harry and left without waiting for a reply.

Behind him, Sirius's muttered complaints still echoed. "That snivelling git, he's a bad influence! That Weasley's become a complete Slytherin now!"

"Alright, Padfoot, are you alright anywhere —"

Hall ignored the voices and headed toward the dungeons. He pondered how to properly reason with Sirius.

Sirius's personality could be described as loving to the point of wanting someone to live, hating to the point of wanting them to die. He would unconditionally forgive those he liked, believing everything they did was right. As for those he disliked, even if they merely walked across the ground, he would see them as the culprit who trampled ants.

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Hall knew that if he were to give Sirius a beating, Sirius wouldn't see it as his own fault. He would only think that Weasley, now sorted into Slytherin, had finally revealed his evil nature.

Hall suspected Lupin was behind more of Sirius's actions than anyone realised.

Lupin appeared gentle and friendly, but Hall suspected he was behind many of Sirius's actions. If Lupin kept an eye on Sirius, things would likely stay as they were — and before anything external happened, internal conflict would ensue. Their arguments would escalate into a conflict between Slytherin and Gryffindor. They were already chanting, nearly waving their respective house flags.

Hall didn't want to see Ron and the others caught in a dilemma, and he certainly didn't want to put himself in a difficult position. To control Sirius and have the ability to dissuade Snape, he needed someone who was neither prejudiced against Slytherin nor disliked by Sirius.

There was only one such person.

He was filled with remorse, and now lying on his shoulder was his brother in Inferi form — Regulus Black.

After much deliberation, Hall decided the quickest solution was to switch back to the real Regulus and have him keep an eye on Sirius. Hall had carefully studied the array again and had almost perfectly replicated it. Next, he needed someone he had just punched to participate in the experiment. He would activate the array once to check the accuracy of the time markings.

But there was no rush today. Sirius would definitely be busy lately. The full moon was approaching.

The experimental report Hall had retrieved from the cellar was also about this — the seventh improved version of the Wolfsbane Potion for Lupin.

Because Hall frequently came to the cellar to retrieve Snape's homework and other materials, Snape had simply given him the password. Hall entered as usual. On Snape's desk, homework from some grade was scattered haphazardly. Hall found the lab report he needed among the pile.

It showed that three children had been bitten by werewolves on the same day. This potion was remarkably effective against newly bitten werewolves, even causing rejection reactions, with a certain chance of successfully preventing the mutation. One child, after taking it for over half a month, had the mutated werewolf gene completely eliminated from their body. The other two still had traces, but continued use could control the mutation.

These three reports were very detailed and clear. As a potion trial, three reports seemed like a very small number. But for the Wolfsbane Potion, this was a terrifyingly high number.

In the wizarding world, only Fenrir Greyback dared to bite so openly. He could perhaps be called the most ferocious werewolf alive. Greyback was Voldemort's weapon, used to threaten wizards into obedience.

By a rough calculation, he was probably working alongside Snape for the Order.

Fenrir Greyback, this infamous werewolf, made it his mission to bite and infect as many people as possible, hoping to create a large number of werewolves to defeat wizards. He especially liked to target young wizards, cruelly taking children from their parents and cultivating their hatred for wizards.

Someone once denounced werewolves to his face as "heartless, evil, and deserving of death." In revenge, Fenrir Greyback bit the man's five-year-old son, turning him into a werewolf.

That young wizard was Remus Lupin.

After Voldemort's disappearance, Fenrir Greyback had been missing for a long time, and no new wizards had been bitten. Until now.

Hall clutched the three documents in his hand. He realised that Greyback had not only reappeared, but his actions had become even more erratic. Hall couldn't help but suspect that someone — or rather the Dark Lord — was behind Greyback, manipulating everything.

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