Chapter 432: The Truth
Watching Scabbers frantically banging his head against the wand, Ron backed up against the wall, one hand clutching his chest. His voice tinged with hysteria, he blurted out, "What the hell is going on? Can someone please explain?"
He'd had this rat as a pet for years, and now to see it trying to use a wand left him reeling. He was too shocked and unnerved to even approach Scabbers again.
"That's what we'd all like to know," Professor Lupin said, eyeing Black, who was still cackling. With a frown, he added, "How do you know Peter can't transform back?"
Kyle didn't answer immediately; instead, he raised his wand and cast, "Stupefy!" Instantly, Peter's rat form collapsed to the ground, motionless.
Kyle then returned Hermione and Professor Lupin's wands before explaining, "It's because of the tonic I made for him."
"Tonic?" Hermione asked, frowning as she accepted her wand. "But I've never read about pet tonics preventing Animagi from changing back."
"Normally, they don't," Kyle replied. "But I added a whole dried Mandrake leaf to his remedy... specifically the one at the top of the root."
"What did you say?" Professor Lupin blurted, clearly shocked.
Mandrake leaves weren't cheap, costing five Sickles each, and the topmost leaves from the root were even rarer and more expensive, about ten times the price of regular ones. A single leaf could support someone's needs for a month, yet Kyle had used it to brew a tonic for a rat?
Did Kyle know Scabbers was Peter all along? But that didn't seem possible. Peter's Animagus form had been kept a secret for years, and his staged death was twelve years ago. Kyle would have only been two or three years old at the time.
"It was... kind of a coincidence," Kyle admitted, disregarding Lupin's puzzled expression. "I wanted the tonic to be as potent as possible. I didn't expect him to actually be an Animagus."