Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 226 Reply
After arriving at Arthur's workshop hidden behind the Burrow with him, Severus finally understood why Arthur had said that the street lamp's modification level wasn't very high when they investigated it together.

In this small room filled with the smell of machine oil, there were various honest machine parts, which were obviously taken from the original intact machines, and had been modified by Arthur.

For example, a wrench that can walk on its own, a crane pulley that can retract and extend its steel cable on its own, and gears that roll around everywhere.

The most prominent of them all is undoubtedly the Ford Anglia sedan in the center of the garage!
The source of the explosion was clearly that vehicle, as black smoke was billowing out of its hood.

"My God!" Arthur looked heartbroken. He hurriedly lifted the hood, revealing the engine inside the car, which was spraying oil continuously. "This shouldn't be happening! It shouldn't be like this! I had already designed it correctly."

"You modified this car with magic?" Severus opened the car door. He could tell at a glance that the back seats had been enchanted with a Stretch-Without-Trace Charm; the length of the seats was completely mismatched with the car's model.

As Arthur raised his wand to clean the oil, he said awkwardly.

“I made some minor modifications to it.”

Severus glanced at the still-smoking engine.

"Such modifications are quite significant. If the Ministry of Magic discovers them, you will most likely be held accountable."

“Don’t worry, I am the one who revised the law on the prohibition of Muggle items. That law is not perfect yet,” Arthur said in a low voice. “At least until it is truly perfected, everything here is definitely legal.”

At this point, he suddenly looked warily toward the humble dwelling.

"But Molly must not know about this. She doesn't know what I did to the car."

Severus shrugged at this, watching Arthur repair the engine that had exploded due to a spell problem. It was clear that the patterns he had engraved on it were of alchemical origin.

"Where did you learn alchemy? I remember that alchemy was only offered as an elective at Hogwarts a long time ago, but it was discontinued because almost no students chose it," Severus asked curiously.

“Self-taught.” Arthur smiled smugly. “Since my student days, I have read a lot of books related to alchemy in the library. Later, when I was in my senior year, I came into contact with Muggle machines. Since then, I have been very interested in Muggle tools. This interest led to my current position in the Ministry of Magic.”

The Weasley children each possess unique talents; none of them are mediocre.

Their parents were no less impressive. Although Molly had been busy with housework all these years, her spell power was by no means weak.

Needless to say, Arthur was even more so.

Severus always felt that the rarest quality among wizards was their ability to see clearly. The biggest advantage wizards had over Muggles was that the tools and equipment created by Muggles could also be used by wizards. Once they learned how to use them, there were no barriers to entry.

However, the pure-blood families have a great prejudice against Muggles, which leads to their complete isolation and complete indifference to what Muggles have invented and created.

Those lucky Muggle wizards who were admitted to Hogwarts integrated into the magical world's life system after seven years of magical studies, almost completely separating themselves from Muggle society.

This is obviously problematic.

Of course, some people had noticed the tools and weapons that Muggles had invented and used, which terrified him. So he wanted to strike first, break the law of secrecy, and let wizards rule the world.

Severus felt that he could have avoided starting with wizards and instead arranged for some bright young people who had just graduated from magic school to study Muggle natural sciences, then go to university, and eventually enter the government or academy of sciences. That might have had a surprising effect.

As for Arthur in front of them, he was clearly an outlier among wizards, so it's no wonder that the Malfoys and others called him a pure-blood traitor.

But it is precisely this unconventionality that guides wizards toward the right path.

“Your twins seem to have a knack for this too,” Severus remarked, “except they prefer tinkering with prank products.”

"Passion is the best teacher." Arthur is a very open-minded father. He said with a smile, "Although Molly may nag them for not doing anything productive, I think as long as they like it, they will always find a way out of it."

They've dealt with the exploded engine here. As for how to fix it later, Arthur will have to figure that out himself. There are still guests at home, and Molly won't allow him to stay here indefinitely.

As the two chatted and walked back to their humble abode, they heard crying and roaring sounds from inside even before they entered.

"Please, please, I was forced. Mrs. Ron, you are my masters, aren't you? Please have pity on me."

"You shameless rat! How dare you say such things at a time like this! You killed James! You killed Lily! And now you're pretending to be innocent!!"

"What on earth is going on! I need an explanation! Why did our mouse turn into Peter Pettigrew?!"

Just hearing the chaotic arguing was enough for Arthur and Severus to imagine just how chaotic things were inside.

"What's going on with them?" Arthur heard Molly's shout and rushed toward the Burrow.

Severus followed behind him, clearly having guessed that Black and Lupin had discovered the rat Scabbers and forced him to reveal his true form in front of the Weasleys.

When the two of them entered the humble dwelling, everyone inside seemed to have found their anchor, and each looked toward the person they needed.

"Arthur! Look! Scabbers is actually a human! Peter Pettigrew! You should remember that name, the wizard who was supposed to be killed by Black eight years ago, the one the Ministry of Magic called a hero!"

"Daddy! Banban has turned into a human! Banban has turned into a human! And he's a stinky man!!"

"Teacher! Teacher! Remus and the others have caught the real traitor! He was alive all along and was hiding in the Weasley house!"

"The living Peter Pettigrew is the most unmistakable evidence of Severus's innocence! We can prove Sirius's innocence to everyone and reveal the truth to the world!"

"Kill him!! He must be killed!!!"

The scene became even more chaotic, with everyone talking at once, saying whatever they wanted to say.

Soon Arthur and Severus exchanged a glance, and they each commanded the mouths surrounding them to shut up.

Finally, Arthur looked at Severus and said seriously.

"You know exactly what's going on, don't you?"

Severus raised his arm, gesturing for the children and adults who had stood up to sit down first.

"The reason I'm here today is precisely this: I must explain to you the true origin of this rat, and the truth about the betrayal suffered by the Potter family." Arthur was certainly not a dim-witted fool. From the rat poison Severus had sent him a month ago that had left Scabbers listless, to what had happened today, it was easy to guess that Severus was definitely involved.

Under Severus's direction, the scene finally quieted down. After Peter huddled in a corner and cried, he first told the Weasleys the truth about how Harry's parents had been betrayed.

“I knew the secret that Remus was a werewolf when I was at Hogwarts. Later I also found out that the other three had learned Animagus, but I only knew that Peter’s form was a rat.”

This statement was, of course, a fabricated reason by Severus. When facing anyone other than Dumbledore, he still needed to conceal the reason why he knew so many things without any apparent cause.

“At the Leaky Cauldron, after hearing Arthur’s description of Scabbers, especially his description of missing a finger, I connected this rat with Peter, who was supposedly dead. However, I wasn’t sure at the time. To prevent Scabbers from being Peter and running away after learning about Black’s escape, I sent that bottle of medicine and kept it a secret from you for the time being.”

"The first thing I did after returning from Albania was to bring Blake and Remus here so that they could confirm that this spotted rat is their former friend Peter."

Severus was a blatant liar, and Snape acknowledged it.

Moreover, upon closer examination, there are actually some inconsistencies in this explanation, but at this point, everyone in the Weasley family was so shocked by the incident itself that they didn't notice what Severus said next.

As for Black and Lupin, their focus was entirely on Peter at this moment.

"I never imagined that something like this would happen!" It took Molly a while to recover. Her expression was sad, and she began to wipe away tears with her wrist.

"However, if we can find out the truth about this matter now, it will be good for that poor boy Harry Potter. At least he won't hate someone he shouldn't hate or admire someone he shouldn't admire."

Arthur had a lot to consider. He frowned and glanced at Peter, then turned to Severus, Lupin, and Black.

“You can’t just hand him over to the Ministry of Magic. Bagno will be stepping down soon, and during that time she would like no dark wizards to appear in the whole of Britain so that she can retire peacefully.”

Lupin said, somewhat puzzled.

"Even if the Ministry of Magic is corrupt, do you think they can suppress the truth of this matter?"

Having worked there for so long, Arthur was clearly more familiar with the nature of those officials than they were.

"Of course they wouldn't dare to suppress the truth of this matter, and it's impossible to hide it any longer. But at Bagno's instigation, they will likely keep delaying the formal trial of Peter until the new Minister of Magic takes office and dumps this mess on him!"

“That would take too long,” Lupin said, frowning.

"Yes, that's why I don't recommend that you hand the person over to the Ministry of Magic directly."

Molly didn't quite agree with Arthur's words.

"If they can't hand them over to the Ministry of Magic, then who else can they hand them over to?"

Arthur didn't say anything more; he simply turned to look at Severus.

At that moment, Harry suddenly shouted.

"Just like what happened with Bloody and Patty! We need to let the public know the truth first!"

Harry's words reminded everyone present of how Severus had acted when the Ministry of Magic refused to handle the case of Bloodny and Patty.

Although the cases of Blake and Peter are now more startling and complex, there are some commonalities.

But then someone suddenly raised an objection.

"I don't want any reversal of the verdict! He must die! He must die!!"

Blake stared intently at the weeping Peter, his eyes filled with hatred and anger, completely disregarding whether he was a wanted criminal or not.

Severus suddenly slapped his dog's head, the force of which was so strong that it almost knocked Blake unconscious on the spot.

"Are you stupid? You think he'll survive if you hand him over to the Ministry of Magic and send him to Azkaban? He didn't just deceive you; he deceived the entire Ministry of Magic, all the wizards in Britain. If all these crimes are added together, I guarantee the Ministry of Magic will have the Dementors suck his soul away."

"If you kill him now without considering the consequences, it only proves that you're a brainless idiot."

Blake turned and glared at Severus, but after hearing his words, the black dog, who was usually so argumentative, didn't say anything more. He just looked at Severus with a strange expression.

Severus ignored what Lupin was thinking and turned to speak.

"I'll leave this to you. I'll give you Xie Nuo's contact information later. You can contact him directly. The sales of 'Singing the Divergent' now are vastly different from before."

Lupin couldn't help but ask.

"So what are you going to do?"

Severus blinked.

"What else can I do? I'm just a guest at the Weasleys' house."

Finally, Molly cried out in surprise and realized what was happening. She rushed into the kitchen, trying to salvage the pot of cream soup, which she didn't know if it could be saved.

Arthur also took Ginny, Ron, Harry, and Draco to the garden and lit up the entire garden.

Severus, his companion, and their dog, who remained behind, used a stun spell on Peter, putting him into a deep sleep.

“You must have something important to do later.” Lupin clearly wasn’t going to let Severus get away with it.

Severus smiled.

"I'm just going to give some people an answer they both want and don't want."

(End of this chapter)