Chapter 173: Paradoxical existence

Just as the giant python was about to swallow Ivan, it suddenly turned into a black snake-like belt that wrapped around his neck, wrists and ankles, layer after layer, from head to toe, binding him solidly.

Ivan was bound like a mummy, lying weakly on the floor.

"I should have done this to you before, you and Potter are nothing but trouble!" Snape said sullenly, "Remember, 'Mr. Smarty-pants'! In the future, before a duel, you must first understand the difference in strength between you and your opponent. Don't try to challenge opponents you can never defeat, Doing so is only seeking death!"

"Professor...," Ivan said.

"Shut up, and lie here quietly; I'll get Black first." Snape turned his head and inserted his wand into his waist. "You're stupid enough to help a murderer! If I were Headmaster, the first thing I'd do would be to expel you and Potter."

Snape avoided Ivan and was about to leave the common room.

"Wait a minute, Professor!" Ivan shouted hurriedly. "You shouldn't catch Sirius Black. He's innocent. It's all because of Peter Pettigrew..."

Snape ignored Ivan's shouts. His face was grim, his footsteps unceasing, and he walked out of the Gryffindor common room.

"Twelve years ago, Peter Pettigrew sold Harry's parents to Voldemort, who killed Harry's mother." Ivan was still shouting, hoping Snape would hear him, "If you want to avenge Lily, you must believe me!"

His voice echoed in the empty common room.

He didn't know if Snape hadn't heard his words, or if he had heard them, but he still didn't believe him like before.

Believing that Sirius Black was innocent was a very difficult thing for Snape, who had been blinded by hatred. At that moment, he seemed to be completely irrational. He just wanted to catch and kill Black.

Ivan just wanted him to hear Lily's name so that he would calm down.

A few seconds later, he no longer heard footsteps outside, and it seemed that Snape had gone far away.

Just when Ivan gave up hope, he saw Snape come back again.

His wand was in his hand again, his face was grim and terrible, and he quickly approached Ivan.

"Repeat what you just said, Mason!" Snape looked at Ivan, and he couldn't sense a hint of feeling in his cold voice. "Tell me what happened that year. If you dare lie, I will make you pay the price."

"Trust me, professor! In those days, Peter Pettigrew betrayed Harry's parents for Voldemort. He was a traitor. It was all Peter's doing. He killed Harry's mother, Lily," Ivan said.

"Black was his Secret Keeper!" Snape said through gritted teeth.

"No, at Sirius' suggestion, Harry's parents changed his Secret Keeper to Peter Pettigrew at the last minute. No one knew about this except the four of them. They thought it was a brilliant idea. No one would have thought that Potter and his wife's Secret Keeper would be the weak and humble Peter Pettigrew," Ivan said.

"These are all lies from Black. He is lying; he is shirking his responsibility for betraying them." Snape's eyes became hollow, and he stared at him.

Ivan knew his eyes were like that because Snape was using Occlumency. He didn't want anyone to know what he was thinking. He didn't want to show his true intentions. He didn't want others to know his feelings for Harry's mother, Lily Evans, who was the softest and most vulnerable part of his soul.

Snape kept his feelings behind walls. He did not reveal even the slightest hole in his concealment.

Now it seemed he was getting to the bottom of what had happened then, but in truth, Lily was the only one he cared about. He would not confess. If possible, he would bury this in his mind forever until the day he died.

He clearly loved her, and was willing to give her everything, but he would never tell.

His most hated enemy married the woman he loved most in his life, and he could only send her a blessing behind her back.

The one true love of his life, the being he would have given everything to protect, was killed in the end because of this leak.

As one of the most prominent wizards, even Dumbledore had to rely on his magic, but in the end they met a horrible death.

And as the greatest double agent in history, he lied to everyone, including the Dark Lord, and was only really understood after his death.

This was Snape, a paradoxical existence to the extreme.

"Peter Pettigrew is not dead. He's an Animagus. He's Ron's rat now, and he controls Ron with the Imperius Curse." Ivan looked into Snape's vacant eyes and continued. "Trust me, Professor! I'll prove it to you."

Snape stood there quietly, not speaking. He was waiting for Ivan to continue.

"Peter Pettigrew is getting ready to run away, he's in Professor Lupin's office! If you're quick enough, you can meet him in the second floor corridor." Ivan gasped. "Trust me, stop the rat who's about to escape the castle, and you'll know the whole truth of what happened that year."

As soon as Ivan finished his words, Snape immediately turned and left. He was so abrupt and violent that the hem of the black robe he wore fluttered and rattled in the air as he overexerted himself.

Watching Snape's quick departure, Ivan froze.

Was it because he didn't change his mind? Or perhaps he couldn't wait to verify what Ivan said that he left so quickly?

Ivan struggled hard, and the rope in his body grew tighter.

"Animagus!" he whispered.

In the blink of an eye, Ivan's body changed rapidly and became a small black cat, which abruptly jumped up before the rope tightened again.

He left the Common Room and ran into the hallway quickly down the dark, empty path. As he got closer, he heard Sirius Black's mad roar down the hallway, he was questioning Peter Pettigrew.

Everything was exactly the same as he had experienced before. Snape stopped Peter Pettigrew from fleeing the castle at the last minute. He was standing silently behind the curtain on the second floor, holding his wand tightly in his hands and listening to the dialogue in the corridor....

"I know, I admit, I was very confused, but you have to think about it for me, what could I do? You don't know, the Dark Lord, his powerful weapon, you can't imagine, I was scared, Sirius!" Ivan heard Peter Pettigrew's high-pitched, trembling voice as he admitted everything.

Hearing this sentence, Snape, standing behind the curtain, took a step back.

He couldn't believe it, and his face was full of anguish.

Ivan slipped away and noticed that Snape appeared to be crying.

Tears soaked Snape's eyes, he didn't notice Ivan. He seemed to fall into memories of the past, back to that dark night twelve years ago.