A Certain Magical Hogwarts

Chapter 451 Is Scabbers Peter?!

Dumbledore sat in his chair, his brow furrowed.

His two long, slender fingertips touched together habitually, and he rested his chin on his fingertips.

Blue eyes peered through crescent-shaped lenses at the ceiling of the room, as if lost in thought.

In front of him was a mirror, the image indistinct... William, Hermione, and Anne, huddled together, were trying to grab the mirror.

These are two-way mirrors. They were a Christmas present Dumbledore gave to Anne when William was in his first year of school.

William tried to deceive her multiple times but failed. One of the items was given to Dumbledore by Anne.

William was so jealous.

"An interesting deduction, Hermione." Dumbledore finally snapped out of his reverie and looked at the two-way mirror.

"So, you believe Black is an illegal Animagus who always appears in the form of a black dog?"

"Professor, that's not a deduction, that's a fact," Hermione said firmly, very confident in her judgment.

"Yes, I trust your judgment," Dumbledore said approvingly.

"Those details that go unnoticed are not obstacles, but rather clues."

Hermione, you've always excelled in this area.

But we need more direct evidence; these details alone are not enough to convince our Minister Fouché to believe you.

He doesn't have your reasoning skills to see the truth hidden beneath the details.

"What do we do then?" Hermione exclaimed urgently, "Unless we can catch Black..."

"Hermione, you've overlooked someone," William reminded her. "Professor Lupin was Black's close friend back then; he must know something."

"That's right." Dumbledore sighed, grabbed a handful of Floo Powder, and threw it into the fireplace in the distance.

A bright green flame suddenly blazed up, and soon a head appeared from the flame.

"Remus, I'm sorry to have kept you from recovering. But I have some things I urgently need to ask you."

"If it's convenient for you, please come over. If it's not convenient... please still come over!"

"Um..." Lupin hesitated for a few seconds before replying, "Oh, okay."

A moment later, the fire in the fireplace flared up and made a crackling sound, and Professor Lupin walked in, wrapped in a tattered long robe.

"What's wrong, Principal?" Lupin asked, puzzled. "What happened?"

"How are you feeling?" Dumbledore asked, gesturing for Lupin to sit down.

"I'm just a little weak; Professor Snape's potion gave me constant diarrhea," Professor Lupin said, sitting down in his chair. "Other than that, everything is fine."

"I will remind Severus."

Lupin smiled gratefully, glancing at the table and seeing the two-way mirror, and William and the other two reflected in it.

"Professor, is there something urgent?" he asked again.

"There are some, actually. Miss Granger just told me something interesting."

She said... Blake is an illegal Animagus.

I want to ask Remus, do you know about this...?

Dumbledore's sharp eyes stared at Lupin like an eagle's.

Professor Lu Ping's face immediately turned deathly pale, as if it had been coated with frost.

Needless to say, you can tell the answer just by looking at the professor's expression.

Lupin lowered his head, as if he had made a mistake and was trying to cover it up, but he was still discovered.

He gripped the armrests of the chair tightly, his fingers pale, and said in a trembling voice, "Professor Dumbledore, I'm so... sorry."

I knew about this, but I kept it a secret..."

"Remus, you shouldn't have apologized to me!" Dumbledore said, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"You should apologize to Anne, William, and Hermione; the three of them spent the summer living with a black dog."

Aside from William, I don't think Hermione and Anne could handle a Death Eater.

"I'm sorry, I really didn't know this would happen," Lupin said, blaming himself.

"Why don't you say it?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

Lupin's face was deathly pale, and his voice was filled with self-loathing.

"For the past six months, I've been struggling with myself, unable to decide whether or not to speak out. But I still haven't."

Why?

Because I am too cowardly.

Telling you this means that I betrayed your trust during my student days; it means admitting that I once led others like myself on nighttime outings.

Your trust is extremely important to me.

When I was a child, you accepted me into school, but now that I'm an adult, I can't find a job anywhere, simply because I am…”

Lupin stopped and glanced at his glasses.

"William and Hermione have known you're a werewolf for a long time, and they've kept it a secret," Dumbledore said.

Lupin stared in astonishment at the two-way mirror, feeling utterly ashamed.

"Later, I convinced myself that Sirius Black used the magic he learned from Voldemort to get into the school."

It has absolutely nothing to do with him being an illegal Animagus…

Dumbledore squinted and tapped his fingers on the table, making a strange rhythm.

"Of the four of you, besides Blake, has anyone else learned Animagus?"

"All three of them have learned it!" Lupin said, clutching his head in pain.

"After they found out I was a werewolf, they didn't distance themselves from me. Instead, they spent almost three years secretly learning Animagus in fifth grade."

James was the first to learn it. He was very talented in Transfiguration, and even Professor McGonagall was full of praise for him.

Next up is Blake.

Peter needed a lot of help from Black and James, but he gradually became proficient himself.

"What can they become?" Annie asked curiously.

"James was a stag, so he was called Forkhead; Black was a... big black dog, so we called him Bigfoot."

Peter is a mouse, nicknamed Wormtail.

On the night of the full moon, it was James and Black who kept me in check.

Peter was small enough to easily press the knots on the Whomping Willow, allowing us to enter the Screaming Shack through the passage…”

Wait... Peter Pettigrew's Animagus is a mouse?

William's heart suddenly raced, as if it had missed a beat.

He suddenly remembered Tom's little mole.

After the incidents involving the diary and the sale of Snape's photos in women's clothing, William basically concluded that the mole was among Ron's people.

She knew him very well, even to the point of understanding Ron's inner thoughts.

Such people are rare, and William once thought that Harry was the only one who met the criteria.

Now I suddenly have a new idea.

Because the spots are strange.

Crook Mountain never attacks other animals, but only targets Spot.

When William entered the school, Scabbers was Percy's pet. Now, four years later, it is still lively and energetic, but it started to become listless after Blake escaped from prison.

Most rats only live for two or three years at most.

If even Blake can become Anne's pet Blackie, why can't the mole be Peter?

A real rat can't be a mole, but an illegal Animagus can!

If we're talking about understanding Ron and controlling him without him even noticing, who else besides Scabbers could do it so easily?

William was startled by his own thought.

Peter died thirteen years ago. If it really is him, what does that mean?

If the impossible is ruled out, then whatever remains, no matter how small the probability, must be the truth.

William pushed up his non-existent black-rimmed glasses.

New machine words, dig one more, Mohe more!

William pondered for a long time before finally raising his head and interrupting Professor Lupin.

After three minutes,

Dumbledore grabbed another handful of Floo Powder.