Harry Potter and the Obscurus

Chapter 72 A Natural Success

"Peter Pettigrew? That traitor who sided with Voldemort? Why? When you told me the truth, didn't you hint that we should get rid of him as soon as possible to prevent future troubles?"

"This is a complicated matter, Harry... First, you need to understand one thing: the reason we are saving Peter Pettigrew now is not because we were wrong to kill him before. The logic is a bit like training for the Wandless Silent Charm. Holding a wand and casting spells is certainly good, but in order to fight against Voldemort and defeat him, we must make the most thorough preparations and cannot be complacent or relaxed in the slightest."

"How can you say it was underestimating the enemy or being careless? Wasn't our elimination based on decisiveness?"

"us……"

Mo Ran was speechless for a moment. Just now, he even had the idea of ​​spoiling the movie plot for Harry and telling him everything directly.

After thinking it over, he reorganized his words and said:

"Let me explain it to you in another way... Peter Pettigrew does deserve to die, and for the crimes he committed, we could kill him a thousand times over. But precisely because of that, it would be inappropriate to hastily end his life."

"why?"

"Because his death wouldn't make up for anything. On the contrary, if he were allowed to live, even just for a small group of people to know he was still alive, then Sirius's injustice could be redressed. Think about it, Harry, if a corpse could dispel a misunderstanding that has lasted for over a decade, then given Dumbledore's status and influence, he wouldn't have needed us to go through all that trouble, delivering messages to the Ministry of Magic."

Harry is not an unreasonable person, but when faced with the enemy who murdered his own parents, he finds it difficult to remain calm.

"But what good would it do to let him live? Once a traitor, always a traitor! Even if we send him to Azkaban, he could escape using Animagus magic like Sirius Black did! And worse, if he's in dire straits, Peter might very well turn to Voldemort for protection, allowing the Death Eaters to expand their power further. I'm not afraid of someone like him, but I absolutely do not want the tragedy that befell me and my family to repeat itself!"

Seeing that Harry's emotions were becoming increasingly agitated, Mo Ran remained remarkably calm and explained:

“I don’t deny what you’ve said, but there’s one thing you’ve forgotten: Peter Pettigrew hasn’t gone to find his master in these twelve years, and he hasn’t even had the slightest contact with any Death Eaters. This guy would rather transform into a rat than show himself, and it’s not just because he’s afraid of Sirius and the others!”

Harry had clearly taken Mo Ran's words to heart. After quickly deciphering the logic in Mo Ran's words, he tentatively asked:

"what do you mean……"

"Think about it carefully and you'll see. Voldemort fell because he believed Pettigrew's betrayal. Rather than being defeated by the boy who survived the prophecy, his fanatical followers would certainly prefer to believe that their master was killed by false information. If we can use this to our advantage and turn Pettigrew into a time bomb planted in the Death Eaters' ranks, we'll have a chance to dismantle Voldemort's less-than-united group of dark wizards from within."

"But even if we deliberately let him go, Voldemort wouldn't be stupid enough to consider someone like him a confidant, would he? Peter Pettigrew has no reason to be trusted, either in terms of ability or loyalty."

Mo Ran smiled and said confidently:

“Times have changed! Remember Quirrell in his first year and Lockhart in his second? Their abilities were arguably worse than each other's. Even without comparing them to Professor Snape, Voldemort definitely didn't consider them the most suitable candidates for possession. Ever since he was blown to pieces by his own Killing Curse, many things have been beyond his control. I guarantee that if Peter Pettigrew goes to his master now, he'll be entrusted with a great responsibility!”

Harry didn't listen to Mo Ran's spoilers of the Goblet of Fire, but strangely enough, he was increasingly finding the other's words to be very reasonable.

Seemingly realizing his own inner turmoil, Harry quickly brought up the excuse of adhering to the laws of time travel.

“But… Peter Pettigrew is dead, and what has happened cannot be changed. We used Legilimency to confirm Scabbers’ identity and watched his body transform from a gray rat into a human.”

"Just because you scared him a few times?"

Mo Ran countered with a prompt:

“Voldemort is far more terrifying than us in every sense, and Peter is an utter coward who clings to life to the extreme. How could someone who wasn’t scared to death by the most terrifying dark wizard more than a decade ago possibly die suddenly because of a few words from a third-year student?”

Hearing Mo Ran's prompting, Harry's rationality and intelligence finally returned to his head. He tried to integrate the currently known information using Grindelwald's approach and seemed to be able to keep up with Mo Ran's train of thought.

Yes, how could someone who values ​​life so much, even to the point of easily betraying friends, give up hope of living? As long as his soul hasn't separated from his body, that traitor will do everything in his power to prolong his life. But if the person who died wasn't Peter Pettigrew, how do you explain his Animagus transformation and his corpse returning to human form?

Thinking of this, Harry couldn't help but feel troubled. He said somewhat embarrassedly to Mo Ran:

“It’s not that I don’t want to accept your proposal, but the issue of changing Peter Pettigrew’s dead… dead… um… the one where he turned back into human form in front of us seems a bit too difficult to solve. I can’t even imagine any feasible solution.”

"don’t worry."

"Mo Ran replied. His voice sounded a bit lighter than before; clearly, getting Harry to change his attitude was the most important thing right now."

“Do you remember what Grindelwald said? No one can know everything or do everything. I used to think that only by having a perfect plan could I be at ease, but in fact, the future is always full of unknowns. If we insist on making a perfect plan and then fantasize about executing it flawlessly, then we are no different from those who believe in prophecies.”

"That's true, but we need to find the right direction first, right? Even if we put aside the question of how to rescue Pettigrew, how do we deal with the Death Eaters? We don't even know each other, how are we going to get him into Voldemort's body...?"

At this point, Harry suddenly felt like he had a breakthrough.

Everything seemed to happen suddenly, or perhaps it was all preordained.

How could a double agent who teaches at Hogwarts and is so close to Dumbledore not be able to contact the other Death Eaters?

"It's Professor Snape!"

......

"Professor Snape?"

Upon seeing Snape outside the mill, Harry said with considerable surprise:

"Why are you back?"

Snape looked somewhat displeased.

Harry hadn't yet granted him the right to freely enter and exit this secret base using the Peacekeeper Charm. To avoid alerting the Harry of the original timeline, after failing to find Harry, he simply waited like a Muggle at the entrance to the mill base.

But then again, given Snape's temperament and personality, he should have turned away the moment he hit a wall. The reason he was "willing" to wait outside the mill was actually because Harry's magical abilities had surpassed his expectations.

“Harry is a very talented child. If you are willing to spend time teaching him outside of class, you should teach him everything you know without reservation.”

"Didn't he also come to you for tutoring? Why do I have to do these things?"

"Because your expertise in potions is exceptional, it will be of greater help to him... I think you've already sensed it, haven't you? This child may look like his father, but deep down he's more like his mother."

A conversation with Dumbledore from two years ago suddenly came to Snape's mind.

Perhaps recent events have truly helped him resolve his inner conflicts, and now he seems finally able to examine his student with unbiased eyes.

His repeated thwarting of the Dark Lord's plots in the past two years may not really be due to luck or Dumbledore's protection!

......

"I have returned here because of urgent business."

Snape said in what he thought was a much gentler tone:

“According to my intelligence sources, a wizard with a broken British accent recently moved into Knockturn Alley. If I’m not mistaken, he is very likely the DB Cooper we encountered in America before.”

"Huh? Knockover Alley? Why? What's he doing here?"

Harry, who posed a series of probing questions, did not get the answers he wanted from Snape.

"Please pause for a moment."

Snape said:

"You haven't been at the mill since last night... Where have you been?"

Harry was taken aback by Snape's question. Without Mo Ran needing to remind him, he knew that he absolutely could not reveal Grindelwald's affair.

Are you suggesting that it's none of anyone else's business? Absolutely not! The other person is my Potions professor, and after returning to the past timeline with him, Snape has gained another unspoken identity as a "partner."

"Oh my god... I secretly went to see my classmate, the professor."

Harry's chosen excuse was perfect. Since he couldn't lie to Snape without blushing, he simply chose a topic that he was too embarrassed to say.

"Meeting classmates? You can't be so stupid as to forget the rules of using a time converter, can you?"

“I didn’t actually go to see him, Professor; I just observed him from a place where no one could see me.”

Seeing that Harry didn't seem to be lying, Snape didn't suspect anything more. On the contrary, after reflecting on himself over the past few days, he now understood that the two know-it-alls and gossips from Gryffindor seemed to have a relationship that was slightly higher than that of ordinary classmates.

"You went to see Miss Granger?"

Snape's slightly suspicious question made Harry feel a little uncomfortable. In his memory, his Potions professor was never associated with the word "gossip." Whenever the topic shifted to something unrelated to him or of no interest to him, he would usually ignore it with passive-aggressive behavior or unleash his sharp tongue to shut him up.

"Ah...yes, I went to check on Hermione."

The hesitation stemming from lying appeared to Snape as the shyness of a young man experiencing first love. He pondered for a moment, then spoke again:

“In some ways, Miss Granger is similar to your mother. They come from the same background, are exceptionally intelligent, and have excellent grades. But in terms of temperament... raising her hand and jumping around in class is too high-profile and impolite, whether for boys or girls. I heard that she has toned down her behavior in my class. If that's true, then you should be careful in the future and not let her personality ruin things at crucial moments.”

Unlike Harry, who was feeling awkward, Mo Ran, who was watching the show from the live stream, was practically bursting with joy.

For a long time, he had regarded Snape as one of his favorite characters in the Harry Potter series. In fact, among all the people who sacrificed themselves to defeat Voldemort, Mo Ran was the one who most wanted to help Snape defy fate.

Even after the great war, this Potions professor at Hogwarts resigned from his job and went into seclusion in some unknown corner, carrying his longing for Lily, which was better than dying tragically at the hands of Voldemort after experiencing countless misunderstandings.

"Tell him that Hermione is quite well-behaved when she's around, and also mention how she risked her life to deliver the hat to you when you fought the Basilisk last year."

Just as Harry was about to steer the conversation back to DB Cooper, he suddenly heard Mo Ran say something like this, and he asked somewhat uncertainly:

"Huh? This kind of thing... are you sure you want to talk about it?"

"Don't worry, there won't be any problems."

The tacit understanding and trust forged through their shared brushes with death left Harry with no reason to refuse Mo Ran. Strangely enough, compared to those dangerous orders that felt like walking on a knife's edge, Harry felt that this suggestion from Mo Ran was the one he least wanted to follow.

"Professor... Hermione, she actually..."

Harry tried to convey Moran's instructions as concisely as possible, but to his surprise, after he finished explaining Hermione's situation, the clever, perceptive, and spiest Snape quickly grasped the encrypted message Moran had sent through Harry.

In fact, whether it's capturing the Thunderbird, developing the shampoo formula, or the rescue of Peter (which Snape is currently unaware of), these things are hardly reasons for Harry to travel back in time. In fact, Harry only thought of two of these things after using the Time-Turner.

"It seems something might have happened to Granger in the future timeline..."

Snape thought to himself:

"In other words, Potter went back to see her at this time to make sure she was safe. So, his act of stealing the Thunderbird egg might also be for Granger's sake, since the Thunderbird has something more important than its lightning properties—the ability to foresee danger."

As is Snape's usual practice, he would definitely start by scolding Harry—do you know that using the Time-Turner to change the past could actually make you the one who caused all the tragedies?

However, Harry has now reached a level of power far beyond the reach of ordinary wizards, and everything he has done for Hermione has touched the softest spot in Snape's heart. Therefore...

"When you stole the Thunderbird Egg and scared off DB Cooper, you probably got yourself into some trouble. I'm not sure what he'll do next, but I'll keep an eye on him. Also, I have to remind you, Porter, that the Time-Turner can't change what has already happened. Although you probably already know that, you don't need to do things like confirming safety too many times. You just need to fill in the gaps in history yourself."

Sometimes, intelligent people don't need to be so explicit in their communication. After hearing Snape's advice, Harry realized the purpose of Moran's earlier words.

Before he could even marvel at his Potions professor's brilliance, Harry went straight to the point and asked:

"Can't we just send him to Azkaban? After all, he's a wanted criminal. We rushed to get the Thunderbird Eggs back safely to avoid any complications or unnecessary trouble. Now that he's already caught up with us all the way to England, we can't afford to keep this ticking time bomb around, can we?"

Snape seemed somewhat dissatisfied and said:

"The Ministry of Magic sometimes tries to cover up certain information to avoid trouble, but if they catch a notorious criminal, even one known for theft, they'll definitely publicize it loudly. Think back carefully, did you hear about anyone being caught in England when you were in school?"

Harry nodded thoughtfully at first, then took out a piece of parchment and an invisibility cloak from his pocket.

"This piece of paper lists the dates and general events of my activities in the Spider Alley, Diagon Alley, and Knockturn Alley areas. If you're not staying in Hogsmeade Village, you can refer to this timeline to avoid unnecessary trouble. Also, I'll lend you this Invisibility Cloak for now. DB Cooper, as a criminal, certainly has some counter-surveillance techniques. With this, Professor, you'll basically be undetectable by anyone."

Snape had absolutely no fondness for the magical artifact that James had once used to trick him. He unceremoniously took the Invisibility Cloak from Harry and continued, "..."

Where are you going next?

Harry replied:

"Forbidden Forest".