The Shopkeeper of All Worlds in the British Wizarding World

Chapter 226 Interrogation (Please subscribe, collect, and vote)
Because Ryan actually held back when he cast the stunning spell just now. After all, he was worried that if his defense would drop to the same level as a mouse after turning into a mouse, the stunning spell might kill him.

So when Lupin took Scabbers out of the cage, it had already woken up. While Professor Lupin was trying to catch it, Scabbers kept screaming and twisting, with its small black eyes bulging out. It was struggling with all its might to try to escape.

Now everyone in the office could see that the mouse was not normal. After McGonagall and Lupin checked it separately, they gathered together to discuss it and said, "We are sure that this mouse is an Animagus."

"Okay, please ask Mr. Mouse to change back to his original form." Dumbledore said to Scabbers, but unfortunately Scabbers was unmoved and even ran quickly to the door after Lupin put it down.

But how could he escape with so many wizards in the house? Soon Scabbers was suspended in the air by Mr. Weasley.

"It seems that we can only resort to coercion." Dumbledore nodded slightly to Professor McGonagall. Professor McGonagall's wand emitted a blue-white light to Scabbers, who was suspended in the air, with his small black body twisting wildly.

Soon it fell from midair and landed on the floor. There was another blinding flash, and then—it was like the fast-forward arrows of plant growth in a documentary. A head appeared on the ground; limbs also stretched out; a moment later, a man stood where Banban had been.
This was a short man, about the same height as Ryan. Like Mr. Weasley, he was bald, and his light hair was unkempt. He looked like an obese person who had lost weight quickly, with wrinkles on his skin and a dirty, almost mottled fur. His pointed nose and watery eyes had the characteristics of a rat. He looked at the group of people in the office, breathing rapidly and weakly.

"Oh, hello, Peter," Professor Lupin was the first to react, and said calmly as if he hadn't seen his previous transformation, "Long time no see."

"Professor McGonagall, Headmaster Dumbledore, and Lu-Lupin..." Peter's voice was sharp, and his eyes kept glancing at the exit of the Headmaster's office. "My professors - and my friends -"

"Peter, we are here to ask you why you have been a mouse for twelve years?" Dumbledore lowered his head, looked at Peter through his half-moon eyes, and asked in a very stern tone.

"Because - because I want to escape from Sirius's pursuit. Yes, I am avoiding his pursuit. I feel that he will come to kill me one day." Peter stammered in defense.

"I don't think an innocent person would hide so shamelessly for twelve years, not to mention how do you know Sirius will escape from Azkaban? You know, no one has ever escaped from there." Professor Lupin asked on the side.

"I, I'm just scared. After all, Sirius must have learned unprecedentedly powerful evil magic from that man." Peter stumbled in his defense. If his eyes were not darting around like a mouse, this sentence might be more credible.

"No, this is not reasonable. We had quite a few tainted witnesses back then, and some even gave out many Death Eaters. But they have lived a normal life under the protection of the Ministry of Magic until today. You are an ordinary person who only offended Sirius, but you have been hiding for twelve years after Sirius was arrested. The reason you just gave is not credible." Amelia Bones said, adjusting her monocle.

"Besides, you had a full week to seek asylum at the Ministry of Magic. Especially since you could turn into a mouse, Sirius couldn't stop you at all. But you didn't. Instead, you chose to fake your own death in a strange explosion after a week of chasing Sirius alone until today. This doesn't match what you just said about being afraid at all."

As the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Bones was indeed experienced in interrogation, and she immediately exposed Peter's lies on the key issues. Her questions also made Peter completely lose his composure.

"I, I went to find him alone because I wanted to avenge Lily and James. After all, the Ministry of Magic ruled that no matter how vicious the criminals were, they would only be sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban. I knew Sirius must have learned evil magic from that man, and Azkaban could not punish him at all, so I wanted to kill him." Peter spoke more and more smoothly, as if it was true, but everyone present had already discovered that something was wrong. "In that case, why did you hide for twelve years? If it was according to what you said, you should stand in front of people openly. In this way, even if Black escaped from prison, you could wait for Black to come to your door to avenge Lily and James. And you just said that you were hiding from Black, so you are basically lying now." Lupin said coldly at this time, because he had guessed the truth of some things.

"We don't need to sit here and listen to this guy making up lies. I have a bottle of strong truth serum in my office. Just three drops will make him tell everything. What do you think, Ms. Bones?" Professor Snape was already disgusted with Peter making up lies, so he slowly expressed his idea.

"Well, this involves a very serious murder case that happened more than ten years ago. So I approved the use of the truth serum as the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. By the way, Principal Dumbledore, I would like to borrow your office for a formal interrogation. After all, there are two Wizengamot members here including you, and there happen to be five adult spectators nearby. It just meets the minimum requirements for a legal interrogation." Amelia Bones thought for a moment and asked Professor Dumbledore.

"Of course." Headmaster Dumbledore nodded. "I also want to know what happened back then."

"No, no, I'm just a suspect. You don't have solid evidence, so you can't use truth serum on me." Peter struggled hard, but Professor McGonagall waved her wand and froze Peter there.

The office was silent for a few minutes, and then the spiral staircase began to rub again. Professor Snape came back with his truth serum.

"Thank you! Severus." After saying that, Dumbledore turned around from behind the table and took a bottle of truth serum that was as clear as water. Then he waved his wand to force Peter's mouth open and poured three drops of potion.

Peter struggled for a while, but soon he just stood there motionless.

Amelia Bones pulled out a strange instrument made of brass and crystal and pointed it at Peter, then took out parchment and a quill. "I need someone to take notes when I ask questions later."

"Let me do it." Percy replied nervously. Bones glanced at him, and Mr. Weasley next to him replied, "He is my son and the president of the student union. He will definitely be able to help you record the trial completely."

"Then please." After saying that, Bones waved his wand, and the paper and pen flew towards Percy.

Percy was a little excited when he took the paper and pen. Ryan saw him trying to put the parchment on his thighs to write it down, and he used his wand to turn the cushion on the back of his chair into a board and handed it to Percy.

"Transfiguration is very good." Professor McGonagall praised. Before Ryan could answer, Director Bones' interrogation began. Everyone's attention was drawn to him.

(End of this chapter)