Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 252 Snape's Weakness
Mike looked at Peter Pettigrew with interest, who was smiling flatteringly in front of him, and completely ignored the hand that was reaching out to him.

Before, he had always thought that Animagus transformation was simply turning a person into some kind of animal. Now it seems that even this mature human transformation technique will have some degree of influence on the caster.

Just like Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black in front of us.

Since Blake often maintained his dog form during this period, he still exhibits some actions unique to general animals, such as sniffing others with his nose at every turn.

Peter is even more amazing. He has been in the form of a mouse for more than ten years.

This made him look and behave like a mouse.

"It seems that the risk assessment of Transfiguration needs to be raised one level."

Thinking of this, Mike kicked away Peter who was trying to hug his thigh.

"Mr. Peter, can you explain why you are still alive?"

Fudge was obviously in a very good mood now. He squatted down with difficulty and carefully examined Peter's hand. After discovering that he was indeed missing a finger, he asked kindly.

Peter also obviously noticed Fudge's mood change at the moment, and quickly grabbed Fudge's windbreaker and explained:
"Mr. Minister! It's great to see you again! I heard that you also awarded me the Order of Merlin, is this true? And my mother, is she okay?"

"I'm sorry, your mother died shortly after you 'sacrificed' her." Fudge pried Peter's hand apart with disgust, then took out a handkerchief and wiped his hand. "Please answer my question, Peter. Why are you still alive? Why are you here?"

"I was just scared, scared that the mysterious man and his men would continue to hunt me down! So I hid!" Peter screamed, "By the way, Blake! That lunatic! Did you catch him?"

"It looks like you don't intend to tell me the truth."

Fudge was very dissatisfied with Peter's answer. It was not the answer he needed at all.

But he was too lazy to argue with Fudge any more. There were specialized interrogation experts in the Auror Corps, so finding the truth could be left to professionals.

So he clapped his hands after he finished speaking, and then the two Aurors took the crying Peter to the prison inside Hogwarts.

Yes, there is a prison inside Hogwarts.

This was originally the place where enemies were imprisoned when Hogwarts was first founded. After the war in the European wizarding world stopped, it became a place used to punish students who made mistakes. It was not until Dumbledore became the headmaster that this place was completely abandoned.

But although it was abandoned, the various facilities in the prison, including torture instruments, were maintained very well.

All this is thanks to Filch, the Squib janitor at Hogwarts who has been looking forward to reopening the prison to punish students who have always been against him.

Now, Mr. Filch's wish has finally been half fulfilled. Although the students who made mistakes were not punished, at least these things that he had carefully maintained were put to use.

When Michael and Fudge arrived at the prison, they saw the Aurors torturing Peter Pettigrew.

Their interrogation method is very simple, that is waterboarding.

As the name suggests, waterboarding is a form of punishment carried out using water.

The interrogation subject is restrained on a tilted table with the subject's head at a low position.

Then he covered his face with a wet towel and poured water on it continuously.

The most painful way to die in the world is drowning, and this kind of punishment can make the prisoner feel the feeling of drowning indefinitely without taking his life, thus forcing the prisoner to feel the pain of living a life worse than death.

This form of punishment is very useful, but in fact wizards have better interrogation methods.

Like Veritaserum and Cruciatus Curse.

But the former would make the interrogator mentally retarded, and it obviously cannot be used on someone like Peter who is not sure whether he is a criminal.

The latter is one of the three unforgivable curses, and the most notorious one. Of course, law enforcers like them cannot use it.

As for Legilimency, unless one has reached the level of a legendary wizard like Dumbledore, it can only obtain some memory fragments when used in interrogation, and the effect is not very good.

The cold water was poured onto Peter's face at an extremely slow speed, causing him great pain. He screamed miserably, but because his face was covered with a wet towel, others could only hear some muffled sounds.

It was these muffled sounds that made Blake, who was imprisoned in the cell next door, extremely excited.

He kept banging on the iron door of the prison, shouting some strange sounds that were not like human language.

The guard next to him probably thought he was too noisy and whipped him in the face.

A deep blood mark instantly appeared on Blake's face, and fine blood beads continued to seep out of it, which looked very painful.

But Blake seemed to have no sense of pain at all. He stuck out his tongue to lick the blood that flowed to the corner of his mouth, and became even more excited.

Fudge was obviously not used to this kind of scene. He turned his head away in disgust and shielded Mike's eyes with his hands, saying:
"Oh, Merlin! Stop it! How can you use such brutal means?!"

The guards in the prison curled their lips when they heard this. This was basic operation for them, and every prisoner they caught suffered the same fate.

Minister Fudge knows all this!
However, although they kept complaining in their hearts, they stopped what they were doing when they saw Mike with his eyes covered by Fudge.

"Mike, there's no need for you to follow me down here. You're a good kid and you'll have a bright future. Be good and go upstairs to play with your classmates."

Fudge said this to Mike in a soothing tone. He was really troubled by Mike. Wouldn't it be better for Mike to just stay there? Why did he have to follow him all the way?
However, Mike was obviously not ready to give up. He pushed Fudge's fat hand away and asked:
"What are you going to do with Black and Lupin?"

Hearing this, Fudge turned to look at the guards wearing iron masks. Seeing them shaking their heads, he said to Mike:

"Peter is still unwilling to confess, so I plan to transfer him, Black, and Lupin to the Ministry of Magic for further interrogation as soon as possible. We still have too few tools here."

When Fudge said that there were too few tools here, Peter, who was lying on the table like a dead dog, suddenly struggled violently again, but then a pair of big hands wearing dragon leather gloves covered his mouth.

Fudge glanced at him before continuing:

"But don't worry. Please believe us. With the ability of our Ministry of Magic, we will soon find out the truth of the matter. If things are really as you said, then we will clear Black's name."

"In that case, I'll leave it to you."

Mike thanked him, said goodbye to Fudge, and left the gloomy prison.

Shortly after he left, Peter's screams of pain were heard again in the prison.

When Mike came to the hall again, Harry was sitting in the corner in a depressed mood, while Hermione was constantly comforting him.

Curious Mike immediately stepped forward and asked what was going on.

Harry obviously didn't want to talk about it, but Hermione told him everything. It turned out that the Firebolt, Harry's Christmas gift this morning, had been taken away.

"Don't be unhappy. I've already asked Professor McGonagall. That Firebolt was not given by her at all. Such an unknown gift must be someone else's to harm you! Just think about it! When you used that Firebolt to fly into the sky, it suddenly lost control, and then you fell down and turned into meat paste..."

Facing Hermione's persuasion, Harry's lips moved slightly. Although he didn't say anything, his disdain was evident.

Mike knew what Harry wanted to say. He had received an invisibility cloak in his first year. It was his father's relic and one of the three deathly hallows.

Although it was also a gift of unknown origin, there had never been any accidents in Harry's hands for so long.

Hermione's EQ obviously didn't notice Harry's dissatisfaction, she continued:

"You don't have to worry too much. Those Aurors just took your Firebolt away for investigation. They will return it to you after the investigation is completed and they confirm that it is fine!"

"Wow! You are so naive, Miss Know-It-All!"

A disgusting voice came, and the three turned around to find Malfoy looking at them arrogantly.

"The Firebolt is a masterpiece of the highest level of alchemy today. It is easy to disassemble something of this level but very difficult to reassemble it. I'm afraid you will only get a pile of fragments! Scarhead Potter!"

Hermione and Harry glared at Malfoy when they heard this.

But Malfoy completely ignored their murderous looks, looked at Mike with ill intent and said:

"Professor Snape asked you to go to his office, Townley!"

After saying that, Malfoy laughed twice and left the hall with his two followers.

"Snape must be looking for something bad!" said Hermione.

"Yeah, that old bat is the worst!" Harry echoed, "By the way, do you know what happened today? Why are there so many Aurors in Hogwarts?"

Mike smiled coolly, made a victory gesture to Harry and Hermione and said, "Don't worry, he can't do anything to me. I will explain the rest to you slowly after I come back."

Then he left the hall under the worried eyes of Harry and Hermione.

The furnishings in Snape's office were exactly the same as when Mike came last time. Various bottles, jars and specimens made the place look very eerie.

The only difference from the last time was that there was an angry Snape in the office.

Mike had just stepped into the office when a slender hand poked in front of him. If he hadn't raised his head in time, he would have been poked to death.

Then Snape's angry voice came.

"Give me!"

Mike took a step back, straightened his collar and said:

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Professor Snape."

"You know it! You thief! Give me back what you stole from my storeroom!"

Mike curled his lips. If I returned the Half-Blood Prince's notes directly to you, wouldn't that mean I admitted that I had stolen something from you?
Then you have to punish me by putting me in solitary confinement?

Thinking of this, Mike decided to continue playing dumb.

"Professor Snape, you can't slander me. I have never stolen anything." Mike picked his ears, then made a gesture to flick away earwax and said.

Snape was furious when he heard this. He grabbed Mike by the collar and whispered in Mike's ear with a suppressed angry voice:
"Don't play dumb with me! Since you can use the Shadowless Magic, you must have got that thing!"

"Oh, I learned the Sharp Spell from a Potions textbook I found. Is this book yours?" Mike smiled meaningfully, "But the owner's name on the textbook is Half-Blood Prince. Are you the Half-Blood Prince?"

The expression on Snape's face froze, and taking this opportunity, Mike broke free from Snape's big hand.

"That Half-Blood Prince is simply the most talented wizard I have ever seen! I tried to prepare some simple potions according to his notes, and found that his formulas are even better than those in the textbooks!" Mike said pretentiously, "But he is really a little too childish to actually name himself the Half-Blood Prince!"

Snape felt a little guilty and instinctively agreed with Mike's words to prove that he was not the half-blood prince.

But he immediately reacted after seeing Mike's teasing expression.

F*ck! This guy already knew that I was a half-blood prince, and now he is just humiliating me!

"The Upside Down Golden Bell!"

Snape attacked angrily, but Mike, who had been on guard, easily blocked it with his wand.

"Wow! Professor Snape, you actually attacked students for no reason!" Mike said with exaggerated gestures, "Where is your quality and upbringing as a teacher?"

"Don't talk nonsense! I'm going to beat you to death today, you little brat!"

Snape felt like he was about to explode with anger. At this moment, he had already decided that even if all his immature past was exposed, he would teach this hateful boy in front of him a lesson that he would never forget.

Mike also felt that Snape had been pushed to the limit by him, so he quickly admitted his defeat:

"Stop! I'll give it back to you!"

Snape put down his half-raised wand.

"But you have to give me your other notes. They have to be from lower grades. I can't understand them because they are too advanced."

Snape raised his wand again.

"Don't! Even if you're not afraid of others knowing about the Half-Blood Prince, aren't you afraid of others knowing about the Snotlout?"

Snape's hands froze again.

Mike heaved a sigh of relief when he saw this, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said:

"I learned everything about your past from Black and Lupin. To be honest, I still admire you. The poor boy who was once bullied became a world-famous potion master, while those rich second-generations who once bullied you are now dead or disabled. What is this? This is a loser's counterattack!"

"Shut up! What on earth do you want to say?!"

"I want knowledge. As long as you can give me knowledge, I will keep the secret for you!" Mike said seriously, "Think about it, if Harry knew about you and his mother, how would he look at you? How would your students laugh at you in private if they knew about your past?"

(End of this chapter)