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Even so, the Dementors have not left.

The Azkaban guards had made a deal with them: as long as they didn't kill anyone, they could do whatever they wanted with the drugs.

"Hey, do you think they won't kill her?" the guard asked, shivering slightly from the cold.

"Probably not, I've told you several times," his companion said, sounding slightly uncertain.

"Let's go in and check later. What if he's really dead? If he is, we won't be able to explain it to our superiors."

"I know, I know."

While the two guards chatted, Peter slowly infiltrated the prison wall, his only thought now being to escape.

As for Bella, who led the guard to open the cell, Peter said he had never seen her before, and whether she was dead or alive was none of his business.

Chapter 339 Fudge Gets Slapped in the Face

"Did it get out?" Leona, hidden outside Azkaban, watched as a rat scurried out from under the gate and disappeared in a flash.

“Yes, that mouse is Peter,” Professor McGonagall nodded.

They were surrounded by an invisibility spell, protecting them from being discovered by others.

Fudge's expression was very bad. They had come here to give Peter a chance to escape. On the way here, Fudge kept telling Leona how tight Azkaban's defenses were, and that Peter would probably have to be given several chances before he could escape Azkaban.

As a result, the plan has only just begun and has not yet been formally implemented, yet the goal has already emerged on its own.

This was a slap in the face to Fudge. It seems that the guards and batters stationed here in Azkaban are going to have a tough time in the coming days.

Moreover, Fudge had a very reasonable reason to clean up the mess: another wanted criminal had escaped. If he didn't deal with you, who would he deal with?

"Do you think we still need to offer him the opportunity to leave this island?" Leona asked, looking at Fudge.

Fudge opened his mouth, wanting to say that it was impossible for Peter to leave without anyone to help him, but he swallowed the words back. He might not be able to accept another slap in the face.

Professor McGonagall gave a mocking laugh where Fudge couldn't see. Mistakes were common in the Ministry of Magic, so she wasn't surprised at all. In fact, she was quite pleased to see Fudge make a fool of himself.

“I think it’s unnecessary. Too much interference will only make Peter suspicious. We should trust this coward. He even managed to escape from Azkaban, so escaping from this place isn’t impossible for him,” Professor McGonagall finally spoke up to help Fudge out of the predicament.

Leona nodded and said no more. What she wanted was for Peter to get out. From now on, every area Peter walked through would be closely monitored, because Voldemort might be hiding in one of the places he passed through.

If they come up empty-handed, Leona isn't worried. The Human Alliance has already organized people to start analyzing the bottle of Bella's blood. It would be best if Voldemort could be caught sooner, but if not, so be it.

In Peter's eyes, after leaving Azkaban prison, he once again gained a brief period of safety.

Exhausted and trembling, Peter dared not transform back into human form. Fortunately, having been a rat for so long, he had gained some experience.

After wandering around the barren meadow for half a day, Peter dug some edible plant roots out of the soil with his paws.

Looking at the roots and stems filled with the fresh scent of earth, Peter's eyes reddened. Without hesitation, he took a bite and wolfed it down. As he felt the fullness gradually creeping in, Peter finally felt like he had come back to life.

All that's left is to leave this wretched place. Peter is quite experienced in this regard; he had been to Azkaban with Voldemort before.

After all, for a group of terrorists, prisons are a good place to gather manpower.

Unfortunately, there were very few pure-blood wizards in the prison at the time, so not many joined Voldemort's army as Death Eaters.

This is something they should have thought of when they came. How many pure-blood wizards would actually be locked up in this place? Even if they commit crimes and get arrested, they'd just be locked up in their own homes. In fact, as long as they don't wander around, they wouldn't even need the formality of being "locked up."

Sure enough, just as McGonagall had predicted, Peter managed to escape the area without a wand, just like the other criminals who were released on time.

Fudge felt like he'd been slapped in the face again. If it weren't for the smooth running of the plan, he would have stormed into Azkaban and dragged out the guards one by one to give them a good scolding.

Four or five hours passed between Peter leaving his cell and leaving the area. Did he really not check on the prisoners unless absolutely necessary?

Professor McGonagall kept her eyes straight ahead; she could already feel that Fudge beside her had turned into a gas cylinder. At this moment, remaining silent was the best course of action.

The next day, shortly before noon, as the guards were preparing to give Peter an injection, Fudge glanced at Leona and McGonagall. After receiving their signal, he angrily released the invisibility spell from his body and charged towards Azkaban.

"Who's there! Put your hands on your head!" the patrolling sniper shouted at Fudge.

"Fuck your mother!" Fudge was furious, but apart from cursing, he didn't do anything to the striker. McGonagall and Leona were still watching from behind, and he couldn't afford to lose face any longer.

"Bring your leader out here!" Fudge took a deep breath and shouted, feeling a little embarrassed because he realized he really couldn't remember who the strikers' leader was in Azkaban.

Compared to the strikers and Aurors elsewhere, Azkaban is sometimes a place with a very weak presence.

The slappers, who had been scolded by Fudge, were stunned for a moment. Their first thought was that this was a fake Fudge. How could the Minister of Magic come to Azkaban alone?

However, seeing Fudge's imposing presence, the batter still dared not gamble this time. If he lost, who knew where he would be thrown into the most remote corner.

Soon, the Azkaban leadership rushed over. After examining Fudge, they felt a little uneasy. The magic ornaments were correct, the wand looked right, and all the details were right. This didn't seem like a fake minister.

"Ten minutes, good, very good. I'll be standing right here, and it will take you all ten minutes to get here!" Fudge's face darkened even more.

"Minister! We were preparing to thoroughly inspect all the prisons, so there was a slight delay!" The leader of the strike force readily spouted lies.

"Very well, very well indeed." Fudge's face darkened further upon hearing about the prison inspection. "Let's go, I want to see what you've actually inspected!"

Leona, who was hiding in the back, shook her head. She was no longer suitable to stay here. She should give Fudge some face, since she would need his cooperation in the coming days.

"Professor McGonagall, I'll be leaving now. I'll leave it to Fudge to keep this charade going."

“No problem.” Professor McGonagall nodded, waved her wand, the invisibility spell disappeared, and she walked towards Fudge.

After whispering something in Fudge's ear, Fudge breathed a slight sigh of relief. McGonagall was, after all, on the magic side, and was considered one of their own. It was better for their own people to know about the embarrassing thing than for others to know.

As soon as the group reached the door, two guards rushed over in a panic.

The leader frantically gave them meaningful glances, signaling them to step aside and discuss the matter privately.

"Wait, let them speak. What is it that I can't hear?" Fudge said, stopping the guard from moving aside.

The guard stared back and forth between his leader's face and Fudge's face, his face turning red as if he were constipated.

“You two were quite the lively ones in Gryffindor; I don’t recall you being mute,” Professor McGonagall said, taking a step forward.

After being criticized by McGonagall, the two guards immediately stood at attention. Having studied at Hogwarts for so long, Professor McGonagall's authority was deeply ingrained in their minds, and her criticism was even more effective than that of their direct superiors.

"Professor McGonagall, Minister Fudge, Pettigrew has escaped!" the guard shouted with his eyes closed, as if he had resigned himself to his fate.

The leader of the snipers stepped forward and grabbed the guard's clothes, shouting, "Who did you say escaped?!"

"Are you deaf?!" Fudge slapped the guy blocking his way aside. "You two, take me to Pettigrew's cell!"

"Yes!" the guard replied loudly.

A dozen minutes later, after a perfunctory inspection, Fudge and McGonagall sat down in the office with cold faces, while the people and leaders related to Pettigrew's escape stood obediently below, waiting to be reprimanded.

“Tell me, how did he escape?” Fudge tapped the table and said.

The guards exchanged glances, then swallowed hard. "Last night, the prisoner Bella suddenly went berserk. We immediately went to check on her, and it was probably then that Little Star transformed into a rat and broke through the door specifically designed to protect Animagus."

"Specifically to guard against Animagus? Just a broken door?" Fudge almost laughed, his gaze shifting to the leadership. He remembered that although he was stingy, after Sirius's escape, he was pressured to approve a thousand Galleons to reinforce Azkaban, and this was how it was reinforced? Did it cost ten Galleons?

"Actually, the effect was not bad, it's just that we were fooled..." another guard muttered, the idea of ​​installing iron gates was his.

"Alright!" Fudge slammed his hand on the table. "I don't want to hear your lies now. I'm giving you twenty-four hours to find that guy, and I'll pretend nothing happened. If you don't find him, well..."

Professor McGonagall sat calmly, not at all convinced that these guys could catch Peter, who had already run away, within twenty-four hours.

As an old Animagus, McGonagall knew all too well how well an Animagus could hide when shamelessness was no object.

Before getting up and leaving Azkaban with Fudge, McGonagall paused as she passed the guards, giving them a fierce glare—those two good-for-nothings.

The two guards breathed a sigh of relief at this point. The fact that McGonagall hadn't ignored them meant that she was at least willing to say a few words in their defense. That way, even if they lost their jobs in the end, at least they wouldn't become criminals and be locked up.

Meanwhile, taking advantage of the time difference, Peter successfully landed on land.

Before he could even catch his breath, Peter suddenly realized something was wrong. Several thugs had suddenly called back all the wizards whose sentences were up, and they had all drawn their wands, seemingly ready to launch an attack at any moment.

Oh no! We've been discovered!

Peter tensed up and burrowed even deeper into the clutter.

Immediately afterwards, Peter saw the thugs begin to search the released wizards, searching them very thoroughly, even checking parts of their bodies.

Now Peter was even more certain that his escape had been discovered. After looking around, Peter gritted his teeth, stomped his foot, and crawled directly into the narrow sewage ditch.

In the stinking sewage ditch, Peter frantically waved his four little paws, struggling towards the sewage inlet.

Then it went directly into the sewer along with the sewage.

As the noise from the outside world gradually faded away, Peter felt increasingly relieved. Luckily, he had acted quickly enough; he was almost caught and taken back.

After an unknown amount of time, Peter was exhausted and leaned against a small platform in the sewer, where he fell asleep.

Freddy emerged from Peter's body and waved his hand dismissively.

Uncle Freddy is very clean, and for wizards who don't like cleanliness, the dosage must be increased as punishment.

So, in his sleep, Peter found himself seemingly transported back to over a decade ago, to a time before he betrayed James and the others.

"Why are these people looking at me like that?" Walking on the territory of the Order of the Phoenix, Peter felt something was wrong. The wizards around him seemed to be casting contemptuous glances at him.

Suddenly, a spell flew from afar. Peter was caught off guard and struck, binding him.

Sirius Black emerged from behind Peter, holding a wand, and glared at him with hatred.

"You like being a mouse, don't you? You like betrayal, don't you?" Sirius Black slapped Peter's face repeatedly with his wand.

Peter struggled frantically, trying to defend himself. He argued that he hadn't accepted Voldemort's mission yet, that he was still a good person, and that they couldn't wrong an innocent person!

However, Peter felt as if his mouth was sealed shut by something, and he couldn't open it at all. When he managed to make a sound, it was just a series of "mmm" sounds.

Sirius Black tapped Peter's forehead with his wand, and under the influence of the light emanating from the wand, Peter found himself shrinking little by little. He was forced to turn into a disgusting rat, bouncing around on the ground.

Before he could figure out what was happening, Peter felt himself being lifted up and thrown into a circle made of bricks.

Then, pairs of frightening eyes appeared in the surrounding darkness.

One by one, Hermione's cats emerged from the shadows, sharp claws springing from their paw pads. This time, however, Ron was no longer there to protect him.

Meanwhile, Sirius and the others who might be protecting him at this moment were watching the show from the sidelines with their wands in hand.

In this situation, the cats swarmed forward, their sharp claws tearing open wounds on Peter's body. In excruciating pain, Peter howled in agony.

After he was completely torn apart, Peter suddenly woke up from his dream and realized that he was hiding in the sewers.

Peter leaned forward twice, then leaned against the wall, trembling, muttering something no one could understand.

Chapter 340 The Scourge of the Plague Department, Reported From Morning to Night

At the Clock Tower and the Blood Research Institute, Merlin and Anne stopped immediately after delivering Bella's blood to the location, awaiting the test results.