The Shopkeeper of All Worlds in the British Wizarding World

Chapter 227: Vindication
In the Hogwarts headmaster's office, a short middle-aged man stood woodenly in the middle of the office, surrounded by a group of people.

"Okay, Peter, tell me what happened back then?" Director Bones asked her question.

Peter took a deep, trembling breath and began speaking in a flat, emotionless voice.

"Because Sirius gave me the identity of the Potters' Secret-Keeper for safety reasons, and he claimed to be the Secret-Keeper to divert the pursuers. After becoming the Secret-Keeper, I found the Dark Lord as soon as possible and told him the secret about the Potters. I could have received an unprecedented reward for this, but the Dark Lord failed. Black later kept hunting me down after he learned that I betrayed the Potters."

Hearing this, Lupin seemed a little excited, and he seemed to rush up to beat Peter. But Mr. Weasley next to him stopped him. Ryan looked at Professor Snape and found that although Professor Snape looked calm, his clenched fists and slightly trembling body showed his inner anger.

Peter took another deep breath at this time and continued speaking in a flat voice.

"I was chased into a Muggle street and couldn't escape, so I had to blow up half of the street and then escape through the sewers. After that, I became a pet in a wizard family until today."

After hearing this, Mr. Weasley covered his face in annoyance: "Oh my God, when I picked it up in the garden, I really thought it was just a mouse. I swear I will never bring these messy things home again." Mrs. Weasley next to him patted his back to comfort him.

"Since you have joined the mysterious man, why didn't you hurt Harry when you lived in the same house with him these years?" Director Bones asked an important point that everyone was concerned about. The people in the room fell completely silent and began to listen.

"Because I heard that the Dark Lord was in a very bad condition after he failed to kill Harry that day, so if I hurt Harry at this time, I would also be in trouble. So I can only stay quietly in a wizard's family to gather information. Only when I am sure that the Dark Lord has really made a comeback will I offer Harry to the Dark Lord. After all, my previous mistakes have made many Death Eaters hate me. I can only protect myself in front of the Dark Lord if I have made enough achievements."

"Why did you betray Potter and Lily? They treat you as a friend." At this time, Lupin finally couldn't help asking. Bones just frowned at this interruption of her interrogation and didn't say anything.

"Friends, do you really consider me your friend?" Peter's tone fluctuated at this time. It seemed that this was a great stimulation to him. "Potter and Black are both from noble pure-blood families. You are a good student and a class leader in school. Only I am nothing. I follow behind you like a little follower. You always say that I am too timid. Even if I try very hard to integrate into the small group, you always ignore me. No matter what I say, you will just ignore it."

"But - but this is not a reason for you to make the Potters pay with their lives." Lupin said somewhat puzzled.

"Why not? After graduation, you took me and the Dark Lord's men to fight without asking me. The Dark Lord arrived in the first battle and two Aurors fell down with a wave of his hand. Fortunately, the Dark Lord did not continue to chase us and we escaped. You seemed very excited after the battle, but I was really scared. I really don't want to feel that feeling of being on the verge of death again, so I must find a way to survive."

"So you choose to become the mysterious man's lackey?" Director Bones asked seriously at this time.

"What else could I do? I just wanted to live, I didn't want to die. But Potter and the others kept dragging me to fight on the front line against the Dark Lord. Several times the Dark Lord himself showed up and caused heavy casualties among our people. The well-trained Aurors were vulnerable to the Dark Lord. So after two or three years of struggling, I found the Dark Lord and begged him not to kill me."

"So what did you do after you joined the You-Know-Who?" Amelia Bones asked. "I revealed a lot of valuable information during the one year I joined the Dark Lord, and he praised me." At this point, Peter showed a twisted smile on his face. "Finally, when I told the Dark Lord where the Potters were hiding, he told me that I would receive an unprecedented reward."

"Just for this, you killed so many people." Lupin roared out of control.

"There is no benefit in rejecting the Dark Lord, but as long as I obey him, I will gain unprecedented power. For example, the spell that blew up half of the street, I just told him a few names and he gave it to me."

"Don't you know that fighting the most evil demon in history is to save innocent lives, Peter! This is much more important than strength and life." Lupin seemed to have calmed down a little, and he spoke to Peter in a hoarse voice.

"You don't understand!" Peter Pettigrew returned to his previous calm tone, "He would kill me, Lupin! I just want to be alive. Not to mention he gave me power."

"Okay, now the facts have been clarified." Director Bones reached out to stop Lupin who was about to say something. "I know you were friends before, but now we have important things to do."

After saying that, she took the record from Percy, looked at it, and signed her name at the end.

"You are Percy, right? This transcript is well written." Hearing Bones' praise, Percy seemed a little excited, smiled and nodded vigorously, almost taking his glasses off.

However, Bones only said this out of courtesy, and then said to Professor Dumbledore, "Mr. Headmaster, the situation is now very clear. Peter was the one who committed all the previous crimes, but he framed Sirius. I would like to ask you to go with me to the Ministry of Magic to be a witness for the redress of this case."

"Of course, of course. I am glad to see an innocent man being freed from the bad reputation that has been brought upon him." Dumbledore stood up. "I think we can use the fireplace in the office to get through."

Afterwards, Professor Dumbledore and Director Bones took the tightly tied Peter to the Ministry of Magic. Before he left, he said to Ryan and Percy: "Thank you for your contribution to this matter, but this matter can only be made public after the Ministry of Magic has discussed it, so please keep it secret for the time being."

Ryan and Percy nodded quickly to show their agreement, and after a burst of green flames, Dumbledore left. Everyone also left the office one by one.

Ryan met the Weasley family at the door. Arthur Weasley took the initiative to reach out his hand to shake hands with Ryan and thank him: "Thank you so much this time. I heard from Percy about your help this time. Our family owes you a favor."

"You're welcome. After all, your sons and I are friends. Isn't it normal for friends to help each other?" Ryan said modestly.

(End of this chapter)