Hogwarts: From Squibs to Greatness

Chapter 146 The so-called truth

While Harry and the others were drinking butterbeer and enjoying the warmth of the fireplace.

Suddenly a gust of cool wind ruffled their hair, the door of the three broomsticks opened, and the cold wind poured in from the crack of the opened door, taking away the precious heat.

Harry was attracted by the cold, looked up over the rim of the glass, and when he saw the figure coming in clearly, Harry was shocked and choked hard.

I saw Professor McGonagall in a dark green cloak and Professor Flitwick in a sky blue cloak walking into the bar in a gust of snow.

Behind them followed Hagrid, who was having an intimate conversation with a fat man.The fat man wore a lime green bowler hat and a pinstriped cape.

Harry and the others all knew who this was. They remembered this face at John's award ceremony.

This man was none other than the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge.

In an instant, after seeing who the person entered, Ron and Hermione immediately reached out and held Harry's head with their hands, pushed him off the stool, and hid him under the table.

Butterbeer sips from Harry's lips, and he hides in the shadows, clutching his empty glass.

Through the gap, he could clearly see these professors and Minister Fudge walking towards the bar counter, and then stopped there, as if they were talking with the bar owner.

It didn't take long for Harry to notice that they were moving again, only this time they were coming in their direction.

Seeing this, I saw the wand slip into Hermione's hand, and I saw her whisper the spell.

The Christmas tree next to the table rose a few inches from the ground, drifted to the side, and landed gently in front of their table, completely blocking their figures.

Through the thick foliage below the tree, Harry saw four sets of chair legs recede from the table next to them, and heard the grunts and sighs of the teachers and ministers as they took their seats.

Then he saw a pair of feet, wearing shiny turquoise high heels, and heard a woman's voice, which seemed to be the voice of Ms. Rosmerta in Ron's mouth: "A small glass of violet water."

"Mine," said Professor McGonagall.

"Four pints of mead."

"Thanks, Rosmerta," said Hagrid.

"A glass of soda with ice and conch cherry syrup."

"Yeah!" said Professor Flitwick, smacking his lips.

"Then you are currant rum, Minister."

"Thank you, Rosmerta, dear," said Fudge's voice. "I must say, it's good to see you again. You'll have some too, will you? Come join us..."

"Oh, thank you very much, Minister."

Harry saw the shiny high heels walking back, his heart was beating uncomfortably in his throat, how could he not have guessed that this was also the last weekend of the term for the teachers?How long will they sit here?
If he wants to go back to school tonight, he'll have to sneak back to Honeydukes in time...

At this moment, not only Harry was very nervous, but Ron and Hermione were also very nervous. Harry even felt Hermione's leg twitch nervously beside him.

"What brings you here, Minister?" came the voice of Madam Rosmerta.

Harry saw Fudge's plump lower body squirm in the chair, as if checking to see if anyone was listening.

Then he whispered, "What else, my dear, isn't it Sirius Black? I guess you heard what happened a while ago, too?"

"I heard some rumours," Ms Rosmerta admitted.

"Did you tell the whole pub, Hagrid?" asked Professor McGonagall angrily.

"Do you think Blake is still around here, Minister?" Ms. Rosmerta asked in a low voice.

"I believe it's still there," said Fudge curtly.

"Did you know that the Aurors have raided my bar twice?" Madam Rosmerta's tone was a little sharp. "Scared all my customers away... very bad for business, Minister."

"Rosmerta, dear, I don't like them either," said Fudge awkwardly, "a necessary precaution . . . sorry.

"You know, I still can't believe it." Ms. Rosmerta said in a deep voice, "Of all the people who turned to the dark forces, Sirius Black is the last thing I can think of... I mean, I still remember him in Huo The way Gwartz was at school, if you'd told me what he'd become then I'd have said you had too much mead."

"You don't know half of it, Rosmerta," said Fudge gruffly. "Very few people know the worst thing he did."

"Worst?" Ms. Rosmerta's voice was full of goodness. "You mean, worse than killing so many innocent people?"

"Of course," Fudge replied.

"I can't believe it. What could be worse?"

"You said you remembered him at Hogwarts, Rosmerta." Professor McGonagall said softly, "Do you remember who his best friend was?"

"Of course I do," Ms. Rosmerta chuckled. "Never saw the two of them apart, did you? The few times they were with me... oh, they made me laugh like a double act, little Sirius Black and James Potter!"

James Potter! !
When Harry heard his father's name, he was stunned. He really didn't expect that Sirius and his father were good friends back then.

Faced with such a shocking news, Harry let go of his hand suddenly as soon as he was distracted, and the empty wine glass fell to the ground with a loud clang.

Such a noise almost made Ron and Hermione scream, but they immediately covered their mouths to avoid being heard by the professors next to them.

"Exactly," said Professor McGonagall, "Black and Potter, they are the leaders of their little group. Of course, both of them are very clever! You may even say extremely clever, but I don't think we have ever seen such a thing." To the troublemaker."

"I don't know." Hagrid chuckled. "Fred and George could compete with them."

"You'd think Black and Potter were brothers!" interrupted Professor Flitwick. "They're inseparable!"

"Well," said Fudge, "Potter trusted Black more than any of his friends. It hasn't changed since graduation. Black was best man when James and Lily married, and then they made him godfather to Harry, Harry didn't know it, of course, and you can believe how tortured it must have been for him to know."

"Because Black is with You-Know-Who?" Ms. Rosmerta asked softly.

"Worse than that, my dear..." Fudge lowered his voice and muttered in a low voice, "not many people understand the Potters and know that You-Know-Who is looking for them. Of course Dumbledore was working tirelessly with You-Know-Who at that time." struggle, he has some capable spies, and one of them tipped him off."

"He immediately reminded James and Lily and advised them to hide. Of course, it is not easy to avoid the You-Know-Who. Dumbledore told them that the best way is to use the Fidelity Curse."

"How does the spell work?" Ms. Rosmerta asked curiously, holding her breath.

At the same time, Harry and the others listened curiously, just like Ms. Rosmerta.

Professor Flitwick cleared his throat, and explained in a sharp voice: "Those are extremely complex spells, which can use magic to hide a certain secret in the soul of a living person. After the magic is successfully cast, the secret will be hidden. In the mind of the Chosen One, the Keeper of Secrets, so it can never be found."

"Of course, unless the Secret Keeper voluntarily leaks it, as long as the Secret Keeper doesn't say anything, even if the Mysterious Man searches the village where Lily and James live for thousands of years, he won't find them, even if he sticks his nose outside the window of their living room. !"

"So Black is Potter's secret keeper?" Ms. Rosmerta asked quietly.

"Naturally," said Professor McGonagall, "James Potter told Dumbledore that Black would rather die than tell where they were, and that Black himself was going to hide...but Dumbledore was still worried. I remember He offered to act as the Potters' secret keeper himself."

"He suspects Black?" asked Ms. Rosmerta, startled.

"He concluded that someone close to the Potters has been reporting their movements to the mysterious man." Professor McGonagall said gloomily. The mysterious man provided a lot of information."

"But James insisted on Black?"

"Yes," said Fudge heavily, "and the Fidelity Charm was cast less than a week later..."

"Blake betrayed them?" Rosmerta asked in a low voice.

"Yes, Black is tired of his double-agent role, and he's ready to publicly announce his support for You-Know-Who, and seems to plan to do so the moment the Potters die."

Fudge paused, as if he was swallowing his saliva to moisten his throat, but if he looked closely, he could see the hollowness in Fudge's eyes, as if he was reciting a fixed line, he continued.

"However, we know that the mysterious man suffered a complete defeat in front of little Harry Potter. He lost his magic power and became extremely weak, so he could only run away. This put Black in a very embarrassing situation. When he exposed his traitorous nature, His master is down, and he has no choice but to flee in embarrassment."

Hearing this, Hagrid slammed his fist on the table excitedly, and shouted loudly: "Despicable, dirty traitor!"

And because of Hagrid's reaction, half of the bar fell silent.

"Hush!" Professor McGonagall reminded Hagrid.

"I met him!"

"I must have been the last person to see him before he killed those people! I was the one who pulled Harry out of his family's house after Lily and James died! I just picked him up from the rubble Come out, poor little thing, with a long gash on his forehead, his parents are dead...and then there comes Sirius Black, on his old flying motorcycle."

"I didn't even think what he was doing there! I didn't know he was Lily and James' secret agent! I thought he had just heard the news of the mysterious man's attack and came to rescue him! The boy's face was pale, Shaking all over, do you know what I did? I comforted that murderous traitor!" Hagrid roared.

"Hagrid, please!" said Professor McGonagall, "lower your voice!"

Harry couldn't hear anything else now, his mind was filled with pictures of Sirius, and his ears were filled with his mother's dying wails when the dementors attacked.

Harry's lips were bloodless, his body was shaking with anger, his eyes were red, and there was a palpitating hatred in them.

Naturally, Sirius and the others saw and heard what happened here. Sirius looked at Harry with a heartbroken expression on his face.

Thinking that all of this was caused by the traitor Peter Pettigrew, he wished he could cut him open now.

But thinking of being able to stand by Harry's side in an open and honest manner after being cleared of his grievances, and taking care of Harry as a godfather, he still suppressed the anger in his heart.

It's just that everyone can see that Sirius is in a bad mood now, and the murderous intent emanating from him makes Peter Pettigrew in the cage tremble.

John just glanced at Peter Pettigrew, sneered in his heart, and then turned his attention to the book in his hand again.

Soon Peter Pettigrew will be a dead mouse anyway.

(End of this chapter)