Harry returns from Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 187 Yes, Minister (12000 words)
After hearing what Harry said, the professors looked at each other, hesitating whether to tell Harry what happened next.

They were not afraid that Harry would go after Black for revenge. Facts had already proved Harry's strength. Even hundreds of Dementors could not stop Harry. Do you want Black to beat him?
He doesn't have the ability, you know.

"Tell him, the situation can't get any worse anyway." Dumbledore saw the professors' hesitation.

"Well, let me tell you."

Professor McGonagall took two breaths and said to Harry, "This matter has to start with a prophecy. Voldemort learned that the child born at the end of July would be his nemesis, so he targeted your family."

"You know, Dumbledore has been working tirelessly against You-Know-Who, and he has many capable spies - one of them told Dumbledore about this, and Dumbledore immediately told James and Lily." Professor McGonagall said here, grabbing the collar and said, "Dumbledore advised them to hide. He told them that their best chance was the Fidelius Charm."

"You should know this spell, Harry," said Professor Dumbledore. "Mr. Flamel's alchemy room is protected by this spell."

Professor Flitwick cleared his throat.

"It's a very complicated spell," he said in a shrill voice, "It involves the existence of the soul - this spell uses magic to hide a secret in the soul of a living person. This secret is hidden in the heart of the chosen person, or the secret keeper, and it will never be discovered from now on - of course, unless the secret keeper deliberately reveals it. As long as the secret keeper refuses to speak, the You-Know-Who will never find the Potters even if he searches the village where they have lived for many years, even if he presses his nose against the glass window outside their living room!"

"You mean to say..." Harry quickly grasped the point of the question: "Sirius Black is my parents' secret keeper?"

"Yes, Harry, yes." Professor McGonagall sighed, "Your father James told Dumbledore that Black would rather die than tell them where they were, and that Black himself planned to hide... Even so, Dumbledore was still worried - I remember he offered to be the Potters' secret keeper himself."

Harry froze.

"You mean Professor Dumbledore offered to be my parents' secret keeper?" he asked. "Did my father refuse it?"

"Yes, your father believes in friendship." Professor McGonagall shook her head.

Harry took a deep breath...

"Is he a fool?" he asked, almost roaring, "Why not choose Professor Dumbledore as the Secret Keeper - can Voldemort still capture Professor Dumbledore and torture him? Or will Professor Dumbledore betray to Voldemort's side?"

The professors present turned their heads together, not wanting to answer Harry's question.

When you say that...

This makes your dad look really stupid.

Harry found it a little hard to accept - but these were things the professors said, and he had to accept the fact.

It seems that Professor Snape was right. Dad has always been like this - arrogant and conceited. If he could be a little more normal, perhaps Mom would not have died.

"We've had a spy on our side," said Professor Flitwick sharply. "He's been keeping You-Know-Who informed of our whereabouts - we were wondering at first who this spy was, but then it became clear."

"Yes, and within a week of the casting of the Fidelius Charm -" Professor Sprout sighed, "Black betrayed them, Voldemort found the Potters' hiding place in Godric's Hollow and killed them - and you know what happened next, Harry."

"He failed at your hands, lost his powers, and was extremely weakened, so he had no choice but to flee." Professor McGonagall added: "This put Black in a dilemma. He had just exposed his true identity as a traitor, and his master fell, so he had no choice but to run for his life -"

Harry sat in the chair, silent.

"Oh, if only we had caught him," said Professor McGonagall bitterly. "It wasn't us who found him, but Peter Pettigrew, another friend of Potter's... He must have been driven mad with grief, for he knew that Black had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper, so he went after Black himself."

Peter Pettigrew?
Harry looked up from the silence. He always felt that the name was familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before.

Where is it? he wondered.

"Peter Pettigrew? I have an impression of him..." Professor Flitwick said in a shrill voice, "That chubby little boy who always follows Potter and Black. He is a quiet boy who looks very honest..."

"He worships Potter and Black as heroes," Professor McGonagall said in a hoarse voice, as if she had a cold. "If you talk about intelligence, Peter Pettigrew doesn't seem to be in the same league with Potter and Black - you know, the kid is stupid, and I'm often mean to him... but now, you can imagine how much I regret it..."

At this point, Professor McGonagall burst into tears.

She reached out to wipe her tears and sobbed twice.

"Well, Minerva," said Professor Flitwick in a shrill voice, "you should be glad that Peter Pettigrew died a hero. The witnesses - well, Muggles, of course, since the Ministry of Magic has wiped their memories afterwards - they told us how Pettigrew had cornered Black. They said he was sobbing. 'Lily and James, Sirius! How could you!' ... and then he picked up his wand."

"Of course, Black was faster than him, and Peter Pettigrew was blown to pieces." Professor McGonagall added, and it could be seen how sad she was when she said this: "Oh my God... We only found his fingers at the scene..."

At this point, Professor McGonagall blew her nose and said excitedly: "Stupid boy, stupid boy... He is always terrible at dueling, the Ministry of Magic should be asked to do it..."

"Remember their code names at school?" Professor Flitwick patted his chair and said, "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs - they were inseparable friends, but what exactly is that..."

"and many more!"

Harry stood up suddenly. When he heard this, he suddenly remembered where he had seen the name Peter Pettigrew.

He quickly took out the Marauder's Map from his wallet, put it on the table, and asked Professor Flitwick, "You mean - the four of them... who are they?"

"Let me say it." Professor Dumbledore said suddenly.

Everyone turned and looked at Dumbledore.

"Moonie is Remus Lupin, our professor of Dark Arts." Professor Dumbledore answered Harry: "Wormtail is Peter Pettigrew, Padfoot is Sirius Black, and Prongs..."

"It's my dad, James," Harry answered.

"Yes, these are the nicknames of the four of them," Dumbledore nodded.

"But I have seen Peter Pettigrew's name before, and it appeared on this map." Harry patted the map.

"What is this?" Dumbledore asked with interest. "Oh, I seem to have seen it. It once belonged to your father, and then it was obtained by the two bad boys of the Weasley family. Now it has returned to you after many twists and turns, isn't it?"

"Yes." Harry spread out the map and said, "This is a Marauder's Map - it can record any location in Hogwarts and the people who appear in Hogwarts in real time..."

After that, Harry stretched out a finger and pointed it at the center of the map.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he said.

Everyone looked down at the map. Immediately, fine lines of ink like spider webs began to appear from where the wand had just touched it. These lines merged and crossed each other, extending to every corner of the parchment. Then words began to appear on the top of the parchment. They were large curved green characters. They were: Gentlemen, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, suppliers of aids to magical mischief-makers, proudly present the Marauder's Map. "

"It certainly sounds like James' invention," said Professor McGonagall firmly. "My God, if I had known James and his friends were making this thing in school, I would have confiscated it long ago."

"Yes, I solemnly swear that I am up to no good, what a masterpiece of mischief -" said Professor Flitwick regretfully.

"But what does this have to do with this map?" asked Professor Sprout.

"I saw Peter Pettigrew's name on this map. It's right here—" Harry found the location of the Great Hall, and sure enough, he found Peter Pettigrew. He was with... with Ron? !

The professors came over to take a look and found that it was indeed the case.

But Professor McGonagall frowned and said, "That's impossible. Peter Pettigrew is dead - we all know that... maybe there's something wrong with this map..."

"One of the people who participated in the creation of this map is in the school." Professor Dumbledore reminded: "Perhaps we can call Professor Lupin and ask him what is going on?"

"I'll ask Peeves to call him," said Professor Flitwick.

"Let's meet in the headmaster's office, Harry..." Professor Dumbledore said to Harry, "Perhaps you can ask Miss Grindelwald to come to the headmaster's office together."

"Okay, Professor." Harry nodded quickly.

Vivi was still sleeping in the Slytherin group. When Harry walked over, he found that she and Cassandra were stretching their long legs and kicking each other.

"Hello." Harry walked over and just said hello when Vivi grabbed his legs and pulled him down.

"Hehe, you actually offered yourself up to me." Weiwei pressed Harry down with the front half of his body, "Are you ready to pay the price? My little..."

"It's urgent." Harry said quickly: "Found information about Sirius Black——"

Hearing Harry's words, Vivi sat up suddenly.

"You mean the Blake who wanted to kill you?" she asked. "Where is he?"

"Come with me to the principal's office first." Harry said, and did not forget to ignore Cassandra: "Cassandra, you come too."

"It's rare that you still remember to invite me, Pot." Cassandra said leisurely while lying on the ground, "I thought that the thieving cat had blinded your eyes and made you unable to see other people."

To be honest, this is a bit hard to respond to.

Harry coughed twice and said to her, "Come together."

When the three of them arrived at the headmaster's office, they happened to see Lupin and Snape who had rushed there looking exhausted.

Not surprisingly, the moment Snape saw Lupin, he showed a look of extreme disgust.

Of course, Harry now understood why Snape treated Lupin like this. It was not only because he had made Boggart Snape wear women's clothes before, but also because Lupin himself was one of his father's small group.

"Professor Lupin, Professor Snape." Harry greeted them both politely.

"Harry." Professor Lupin smiled gently, but his face could not hide the fatigue.

It can be seen that he is really tired recently - no one knows what he has been doing.

After everyone was seated, Dumbledore took out the Marauder's Map.

"Remus," he said, "this map - you recognize it, right?"

When Professor Lupin saw the map, a look of reminiscence appeared on his face.

"Of course I remember." He said gently, "This is a map that James and I made together... It should be said that it is difficult to find outstanding guys like them. This map is indeed an unprecedented masterpiece. This is also thanks to the potion that James stole from the Potter family's vault."

After hearing what Lupin said, everyone cursed him as a prodigal in their hearts.

Everyone knows that the potion that can make a living map must be extremely precious, otherwise it would be impossible to make a map that can display a person's location in real time.

"Harry told me that he saw a person's name on this map," said Professor Dumbledore. "The name of a dead person."

Lupin immediately shook his head and denied it: "Impossible, absolutely impossible - if you look closely, you will find that there is not even a ghost's name on this map. How can it show someone who is already dead? Who is that person?"

Dumbledore said a name that was hard for him to imagine, but he was extremely looking forward to it.

"Peter Pettigrew," he said.

Professor Lupin's gray-black pupils contracted violently. He stood there in a daze, then pressed his hand on his chest, gasping for breath.

Even Snape was in the same situation, he just stood there in shock.

After a while, Professor Lupin finally recovered. He asked in a hoarse voice, "You mean - you saw Peter on this map?"

"Yes, he is in the Hogwarts Hall now." Professor Dumbledore said firmly: "According to the map, he is now next to Ron Weasley--"

"I think the map might be wrong." Professor Snape suddenly said, "I just checked Mr. Weasley's side, and there was nothing beside him except that silly girl and his little parrot - I don't think that chubby Peddlecock from Gryffindor would be by his side."

"No!" said Professor Lupin suddenly.

Everyone turned their eyes to him, only to find that he was leaning on the stool with his hands, staring at Peter's location on the map.

"At the beginning... James and the others practiced Animagus together for me. James' Animagus form was a stag, Sirius was a big black dog, and Peter was a mouse..."

When she heard the word “a big black dog”, a chill immediately flashed across Vivi’s eyes.

She thought of the big black dog that had interrupted her many times...

It seems like it’s time to find it in the Forbidden Forest, Vivi thought with a very dangerous expression.

Lupin still stared at the map: "If Peter is now an Animagus..."

"I remember now!" Harry said suddenly, "Scabbers! Ron's pet - I remember he once told us that Scabbers stayed in their house for twelve years!"

"Yeah, can a house mouse live for twelve years?" He added, "But I didn't think about it at the time - besides, Professor Flitwick just mentioned that it was the explosion caused by Sirius Black that blew up an entire street, and Peter's body was completely gone, and everyone only found his fingers..."

"Ron's Scabbers..." Vivi said thoughtfully, "A finger on his front paw is also missing!"

"Professor Dumbledore!" Lupin said immediately, "I suspect there must be something wrong here - if it was Sirius who betrayed Lily and James, then why would Peter hide his identity, turn into a mouse and stay at the Weasley family?"

"Oh my God!" Phineas in the portrait suddenly shouted loudly: "I knew it! I knew my great-grandson would never be that kind of person - Dumbledore! Please - although he is a shame to the Black family, the Black family now has only this one heir..."

Dumbledore nodded at the portrait of Phineas.

"Severus." He glanced at Snape. "I think you should prepare something appropriate to deal with the situation that will arise later."

"Veritaserum, is it?" Professor Snape smiled sinisterly. He turned to look at Harry and took out a small bottle from his arms.

He looked at Vivi and Cassandra who were sitting behind Harry, and said in a sinister tone: "I think you must have heard of the name of this potion, right? Potter? Just a small drop in your pumpkin juice - the secret of who you like more will be revealed to everyone..."

Harry could have sworn in the lamp that Snape absolutely, absolutely did that on purpose.

All this is to make the two girls behind him have a problem with him!

However, Snape gave him a sinister smile and placed the bottle of truth serum on the table.

"Let's go to the Great Hall together." Professor Dumbledore said, "If Ron's rat is Scabbers, right? If Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew, then... maybe we can clear an innocent person."

They came to the hall together and came to Ron who was whispering to Hermione.

"Mr. Weasley," said Professor McGonagall, "come with us."

Ron looked up tremblingly. He saw an all-star lineup—the headmaster, the deans of the four colleges, the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts…

Oh my God, I was just having a few private words with Hermione, there was no need to mobilize so many people to arrest me, right?

What crime had I committed?
"Where's your rat?" asked Dumbledore. "It's called Scabbers - isn't it?"

"Here." Ron took out the sleeping Banban from the sleeping bag. "It's asleep. God, it's too old."

"Bring him with us to the headmaster's office. We have something to ask you." Dumbledore said, "Also, Hermione, I know you are very worried about Ron, so...if you are not in a hurry to go to bed, you can come with us."

Hermione could no longer hide her gossipy thoughts at this moment, and her eyes were as big as bells.

Hearing Dumbledore's words, Hermione immediately got up from her sleeping bag without hesitation.

How could Hermione refuse the opportunity to be able to go to the scene and watch the action firsthand?

When they reached the door of the principal's office, Banban woke up slowly.

It seemed to be a little drowsy in its sleep, and it turned around and looked around. When it saw Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, its body shook involuntarily.

When it saw Lupin, it began to struggle violently.

"Squeaky-"

The sound was like a pig being carried to the butcher's knife, and it even bit Ron while struggling.

Ron groaned in pain and loosened his hand. Banban also fell to the ground and began to run away quickly.

"It bit me!" Ron said in disbelief, "It actually bit me, my God..."

"Accio!" Lupin swung his wand and caught the escaping Scabbers in his hand.

Being held in Lupin's hand, Scabbers stopped struggling and seemed to have accepted his fate, trembling in Lupin's hand.

They walked all the way to the headmaster's office. Ron looked at Lupin several times, but found that Lupin had no intention of returning Scabbers to him.

"Professor Lupin," Ron asked tentatively, "Excuse me, could you please return Scabbers to me?"

"Oh, child," Lupin said with some regret, "I'm afraid that's impossible, because we are discussing an important case. Perhaps the rat in my hand - your pet Scabbers for twelve years - is the mastermind."

The rat started to scream again like a pig being slaughtered.

"Scabbers?" Ron immediately showed a look of disbelief: "How is it possible? It's just a rat. What kind of crime can it solve?"

"This is a case that happened twelve years ago, Mr. Weasley." Professor McGonagall said seriously, "Your pet Scabbers - oh, please allow me to explain, it is not a mouse, but a person, it is an Animagus!"

"Yes, he is the 'friend' common to me, Sirius and Harry's father -" Lupin emphasized the word 'friend': "Peter Pettigrew!"

"Animagus?" Hermione was stunned. She tried hard to recall and defended Ron, "Impossible, Professor. If there is such an Animagus, people will know it! You once taught us in the Transfiguration class. I looked up similar things when I finished my homework. The Ministry of Magic supervises wizards and witches who can transform into animals. There are records showing what animals they have turned into, as well as their marks and things... I checked the relevant records. There are only seven Animagus in this century, and Peter Pettigrew's name is not on that list!"

Professor McGonagall smiled with relief. This was undoubtedly the happiest thing for her tonight.

"If this were in class, I would give you extra points, Miss Granger." Professor McGonagall nodded with satisfaction, "But now I need to teach you something that you won't learn from books, which is... there are illegal Animagus in this world, that is, Animagus who have not been registered - including Harry's father, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew."

"But Scabbers is Scabbers!" Ron still couldn't accept it. "It's my pet mouse and has lived in my house..." "Twelve years, right?" Professor Lupin said, "Can a normal mouse live for twelve years?"

After saying that, he put the mouse on the ground.

Professor McGonagall drew her wand and cast the Animagus counter-curse on Scabbers.

The wand emitted a bluish-white light, and Scabbers was suspended in mid-air under the effect of the spell, its small black body twisting wildly.

Ron cried out in distress - after all, that was the mouse he lived with day and night, the mouse he even hugged when he slept.

The mouse fell down and landed on the ground. There was another dazzling flash, and then, like a fast-forward shot of observing the growth of a tree, a human head appeared on the body of the mouse on the ground, and soon, limbs stretched out.

A moment later, a man stood where Banban was, wringing his hands in fear.

The man was a short man, not much taller than Professor Flitwick - just a head taller.

His thin, light-colored hair was unkempt and he had a large bald spot on top of his head. He looked like an obese man who had lost a lot of weight in a short period of time.

Moreover, his skin looked very dirty, almost like his fur, and his pointed nose and watery eyes had the characteristics of a rat.

He looked at everyone, his breathing rapid and weak.

"Oh, hello, Peter," said Lupin cheerfully, as if the rat-turned-schoolmate phenomenon was a common occurrence around him. "Long time no see."

Ron, who was originally standing, sat down on the ground, covering his mouth with one hand and pointing at Peter Pettigrew with the other, making a "ho ho" sound. He was so shocked that he couldn't speak.

No one would take it easy if they found out that their pet had turned into a bald, middle-aged, creepy man, let alone Ron?
"Remus?" Peter Pettigrew's voice was very high-pitched, like a rat. "My old friend... and professors, long time no see..."

"We need to clarify something, Peter." Lupin said seriously: "Now we have brought you to the headmaster's office - you should know what this means, right? We already know what you did. You betrayed James and Lily? Right? You sold them out to the Dark Lord?"

"Oh..." Peter Pettigrew rolled his eyes. "How could this be? How could this be? As you all know, James and Lily's secret keeper is, is Sirius..."

As he spoke, Peter Pettigrew turned his head and looked at Harry.

"Harry, Harry, right? God, you look so much like James, so much like your father..."

"How dare you mention James!" Lupin said coldly, "How dare you mention him!"

"James is..." Peter Pettigrew's eyes rolled around: "But he is my friend, why should I..."

Lupin stared at him coldly, and after a while he sighed as if he was extremely tired.

"Severus," he said.

Snape said nothing, walked up to Peter Pettigrew, and picked up the bottle of truth serum from the desk in the headmaster's office.

"Snot...Severus..." Peter Pettigrew looked at Snape in horror.

However, just as he said 'snot' and before he could add the last word, Snape's eyes suddenly showed extreme disgust.

Without saying a word, he pinched Peter Pettigrew's mouth and poured a whole bottle of truth serum into his mouth.

After being poured so much, Peter Pettigrew coughed for a while and it took him a long time to recover.

"Tell me about it." Lupin asked first, "How did you betray James and Lily? Why did you join the Dark Lord's camp?"

"I don't want to... I don't want to!" Peter Pettigrew said with tears in his eyes, "You know, the Dark Lord... the Dark Lord is very powerful. He has a power that ordinary people can't match... Even you would be afraid, right?"

"Then how did you betray James and Lily?" Lupin asked again.

"Ah, ah..." Peter Pettigrew shrank his neck. "This matter, ah, it's not my fault... It was Sirius. Sirius thought he would be targeted by the Death Eaters, so he took the initiative to suggest that I be the secret keeper, because I am as timid as a mouse and will not be noticed by others - James, that big fool, actually thought that our friendship was indestructible, so he agreed with Sirius's opinion, so the secret keeper was secretly replaced by me - God..."

Harry clenched his fists tightly and tried hard not to hurl out some harmless little curse.

Vivi reached out and held Harry's fist, patting his hand gently, trying to calm him down.

"Then why didn't he hurt Harry?" Hermione frowned and said, "I mean - we all know that he won't lie under the condition of truth serum, so why didn't he hurt Harry after he turned to the mysterious man and lived in the Gryffindor common room for almost three years?"

Hermione said this and everyone looked at Peter Pettigrew curiously.

Who knew that Peter Pettigrew suddenly showed a look of horror.

"Oh my god, silly girl, maybe you're the only one who thinks so..." Peter Pettigrew said tremblingly, "Hurt Harry? I'm afraid no normal person would have such an idea. I saw him deal with the Dark Lord with my own eyes - when you were in your first year, he used Cruciatus as soon as he saw the Dark Lord... When he met the Dark Lord for the second time, he used Avada Kedavra without saying a word - otherwise how do you think Quirrell died? Believe me, silly girl, this kid is more terrifying than the Dark Lord..."

Hermione looked at Harry with an "excuse me" expression.

They all knew that Harry defeated Professor Quirrell, who was controlled by Voldemort, in his first year.

But no one knew that Harry started with almost zero frames and directly gave Professor Quirrell... or Voldemort a gift - Avada Kedavra.

"Because it would do him no good, Hermione," Lupin concluded. "The Dark Lord is dead, and his master can no longer offer him any reward or punishment - because it was fear that drove him to the Dark Lord for no other reason..."

I have to say, as Mouse's old friend, Lupin hit the nail on the head.

When Peter Pettigrew heard what Lupin said, his teeth began to chatter and he made a ticking sound.

"I'm afraid we need to ask our Minister of Magic to come over." Professor Dumbledore looked at Peter Pettigrew in front of him with a twinkling gaze. "I'll ask Fawkes to send a letter to Cornelius. I hope he's still awake and can catch up with this...good show."

Peter Pettigrew's expression suddenly became terrified. He looked at Dumbledore tremblingly and knelt on the ground.

"Mr. Headmaster, Mr. Headmaster..." He kept saying, "I don't want to go to Azkaban - please, please..."

Seeing that Dumbledore was not moved by his words, he turned his gaze to Professor McGonagall.

"Professor McGonagall, how can you bear to watch your students..."

"I don't have a student like you!" Professor McGonagall roared angrily like a lioness.

She was really sad - she had believed in Peter so much before, but the facts slapped her in the face.

It was this cowardly Peter who betrayed her favorite student!
"Ron, am I a good pet?" Peter Pettigrew turned to Ron and stammered, "Merciful child, merciful master... Please don't let me go to Azkaban, save me, because I am your rat..."

Ron looked polite and turned away.

Oh my God, you really bring up things that are not related to the topic!
"I hope everyone can keep this a secret." He pleaded with everyone, "If my two brothers knew about this, they would laugh at me for the rest of my life... My God, I actually slept with a mouse..."

Snape held the bottle of truth serum, and for the first time a smile appeared on the corner of his expressionless mouth.

"Take it easy, Ron," said Harry. "Compared to this, didn't Percy do the same thing?"

Ron looked better after hearing Harry's advice.

"If you put it that way, I can kind of accept it," he said.

"But I'm afraid Fudge won't help us clarify the truth so easily." Professor Dumbledore added: "As we said, he cares more about his position as Minister of Magic than his principles. If he gets wind of something wrong, he'll run away."

"Why?" Ron asked in astonishment, "Shouldn't this be a matter of great joy? We have finally cleared up an injustice? My God, Sirius has been wrongly accused for so many years..."

"That's why he's so upset." Hermione sighed and explained to Ron, "This is a heavy blow to the prestige of the Ministry of Magic - just think about it, letting a good man stay in Azkaban for so long for no reason..."

"Was it Fudge who handled this case back then?" Harry suddenly asked.

"No, it was old Barty Crouch," said Professor Dumbledore. "Most of the Death Eaters were tried and convicted by him."

"Does he get along well with Fudge?" Harry asked again.

"Not very good." Professor Dumbledore said vaguely.

Harry looked here and there.

He came to Professor McGonagall and asked in a low voice: "Professor McGonagall, do you know what happened between Minister Fudge and old Barty Crouch?"

"Oh, child." Professor McGonagall wiped the tears from her eyes and began to explain to Harry the grudges between Fudge and old Barty.

After a while, Fudge came to the principal's office.

"Albus."

He said, and then he saw so many people in the principal's office.

"It's so late, why is it still so lively? I heard from your Phoenix Message that there is some progress on Sirius Black's case?"

"Yes." Dumbledore nodded and said, "The matter is related to this person in front of us - Peter Pettigrew."

Fudge was stunned when he heard Dumbledore's words.

"Peter Pettigrew? Isn't he dead?"

"It turns out that he just faked his death." Professor Dumbledore explained, "He is an unregistered Animagus. For many years, he has been staying in school as a mouse next to a classmate who does not want to reveal his name as his pet."

When he said this, Ron lowered his head, and Hermione reached out and held him in her arms, comforting him softly.

"We just discovered this recently," Professor Dumbledore concluded. "In short, the truth is this: the person who betrayed James and Lily was Peter Pettigrew. And the so-called Azkaban fugitive Sirius Black is an innocent man. He was accused of killing Muggles and Peter Pettigrew, but the charge was not established."

Fudge nodded stiffly, looking at Peter Pettigrew, then at Lupin who was standing nearby.

"But just because Peter Pettigrew is alive doesn't mean Black is innocent, right?" Fudge said with a frown.

really.

When Harry saw Fudge's behavior, he immediately understood why Dumbledore had said that before.

Rather than the truth of the matter, he hoped to capture the fugitive Sirius and bring him to justice, rather than arresting another Peter Pettigrew and making him admit the Ministry of Magic's mistake.

"I caused the explosion in order to put the blame on Black." Peter Pettigrew said weakly. The effect of the truth serum had not yet worn off. "In fact, he is the only one who knows that I am James and Lily's secret keeper. As long as he is sent to Azkaban, I will live safely in this world..."

"Black cannot be cleared of his guilt based on one-sided statements alone." Fudge reiterated, "You should know that this is an ironclad case! The Ministry of Magic must have corresponding procedures to redress Black's innocence, rather than relying solely on the one-sided statements of Peter Pettigrew - we don't even know whether we have confirmed that he is Peter Pettigrew!"

"Hey!"

As soon as the portrait of Phineas said "hello", Dumbledore held him back to prevent him from bursting into a swear and unnecessarily angering Fudge.

"Can't we prove his identity?" Professor Sprout asked with a frown. "We are his professors. Even our testimony is useless?"

"But the law is the law, your honor." Fudge still looked unmoved.

Harry suddenly stood up and walked over to Fudge.

Professor Dumbledore frowned and shook his head at Harry imperceptibly, signaling him not to do anything stupid.

However, Harry gave him a reassuring look, walked up to Fudge and said, "Hello, Minister."

"Oh, it's Harry." Fudge rubbed his eyes. "You've been having a hard time lately. Listen, kid, with the Ministry of Magic here, we will never let you come to any harm from Sirius Black..."

"Can I talk to you for a moment, Minister?" Harry asked softly.

"Of course, my child." Fudge said with a smile, standing up.

The two of them walked to a corner together, and Harry spoke first.

"Mr. Minister, I remember that the person who handled the Sirius case was old Barty Crouch, right?" Harry asked in a low voice.

"Yes, my child, the case of Sirius Black was indeed handled by old Bartie." Fudge tried his best to appear kind, but he couldn't help frowning when he mentioned old Bartie.

Seeing Fudge's expression, Harry felt relieved.

All the knowledge he had learned at Malfoy Manor - a hundred years ago - flooded his mind all at once.

"If I remember correctly," Harry said with a grin, "Mr. Crouch once competed with you for the position of Minister of Magic?"

Fudge's face turned a little ugly when this matter was mentioned, but he still held back and said calmly, "That's just a political competition. I still respect Mr. Crouch very much - you know, even his son Barty Crouch Jr. was sent to Azkaban by him!"

Yes, of course I know.

Harry complained in his heart, it was precisely because of this incident that he could not compete with you for the position of Minister of Magic, otherwise, would you still want to be the Minister of Magic?

Dream on...

In fact, to this day, Batty Sr. remains his political enemy.

"What a selfless person..." Harry said with emotion: "If it were me, I would also be attracted by his charisma."

Fudge's face turned even uglier when he heard what Harry said.

However, Harry's next words made Fudge's heart skip a beat.

"But this is doomed to be impossible, Mr. Minister." Harry changed the subject and said, "You know, he was the one who caused the unjust case of my only relative in this world, my godfather, and made him stay in Azkaban for twelve years... No matter how charismatic he is, no matter how impartial he is, I will not support him..."

These are the political tricks that Mr. Septimus taught him - just learn them.

This kind of thing only needs to be tacitly understood, but if it is said in a direct way - Fudge will definitely not accept it.

But if you beat around the bush like this...

Fudge's breathing became a little rapid, as if he had grasped something.

Yes, what do the previous unjust, false and wrong cases in the Ministry of Magic have to do with me?

Besides, this case was handled by old Barty Crouch, and I, Cornelius Fudge, had no say at the time, so you should take the blame...

As we all know, it is absolutely not okay to take the blame yourself, but letting your political opponents take the blame...

Even a political idiot knows what this means.

As long as he took on this blame, it would mean that he would never have the chance to get involved with the Minister of Magic and threaten his position in this life...

Seeing Fudge gradually becoming interested, Harry continued to heat the pot.

"Of course, I know that the Minister has always taken the happiness of ordinary wizards as his own responsibility and has never cared about any false reputation." Harry spoke sweetly, his mouth full of beautiful words, "But if the Minister can help to redress the unjust, false and wrong cases that happened more than ten years ago, I think this will also let wizards all over the UK and even the world know the noble character of the Minister - he would rather take the risk of destroying the prestige of the Ministry of Magic, but insist on seeking truth from facts and redress the poor wizards who have been wronged for many years - what a great and noble character this is?"

"When that day comes, no one will forget that there is still a warm human heart beating in the office of the Ministry of Magic," Harry continued.

"Well... in principle, it doesn't conform to procedure, but I think there should be an exception for everything."

Fudge was actually very moved, but he still had to maintain his dignity as a minister.

But he still had some concerns about whether this would have a negative impact on his personal reputation.

Harry had seen Fudge's concerns, so he continued, "Perhaps after all this is over, you should give a speech to your classmates in the auditorium, with the theme of how to maintain a people-oriented conscience - I think it would be a good choice to ask an influential newspaper like the Daily Prophet to give it to you, what do you think?"

"Indeed, Harry." Fudge seemed to have thought of how important that moment would be for him - how glorious it would be.

Just imagine it, an auditorium surrounded by flowers and applause, and the flattery of the Daily Prophet - most importantly, the gratitude of the Savior Star.

Harry's final killing move was also the killer move that made Fudge make up his mind.

“I also happen to have a unicorn friend,” he said.

No one can resist a unicorn - for they are only friendly to those with the purest souls.

Being able to witness the unicorn coming under the flash lights...

Not to mention Fudge, even Grindelwald couldn't resist this temptation, okay?

"Well," Fudge turned around and said loudly to everyone in the headmaster's office, "As the Minister of Magic, although sometimes I do have to consider the reputation of the Ministry of Magic, I still think that sometimes I shouldn't be too concerned about these gains and losses - what is more important is to redress the grievances of those who have been wronged, isn't it?"

He was responded to by a unanimous response from the principal's office.

"Yes, Minister!"

(Ask for monthly ticket)

(Progress 8000/50000)

(End of this chapter)