A Certain Magical Hogwarts

Chapter 480 Ron is lying!

Everyone left the room.

Only Sirius, Lupin, and Snape remained in the office, watching Peter Pettigrew without stopping.

Fudge pulled William along and said enthusiastically, "William, I'll go to the principal's office first. We can talk about our business later."

"Yes, Minister," William replied politely with a smile.

Dumbledore, Fudge, and Professor McGonagall walked toward the Headmaster's office, followed by two Aurors.

"Where are you going?" William asked.

"We're getting ready to go back to the Gryffindor common room," Harry said.

"Tonight was too much of a shock for me, I need to get a good night's sleep."

Ron nodded in agreement.

"And you, Annie, are you coming back too?"

"No, it's still early! Luna is waiting for me in the Ravenclaw lounge, I'm going to find her," Anne said quickly.

William thought about it and did not object.

After getting her brother's permission, she skipped and hopped toward the other side of the corridor.

"We'll head back now," Harry said. "Hermione, are you going back to the common room?"

Hermione shook her head and said softly, "I have something to do. You guys go ahead."

Harry and Ron shrugged and turned to leave.

William watched their retreating figures and suddenly asked, "Ron, do you still have your tonic?"

"Um, no... he's gone. What happened?" Ron paused, then turned around and stammered.

"Bobo Tea is sick; the tonic should work for it." William squinted and asked, "Have you already used it? When did you use it?"

"Yes, I used it on Banban a few days after school started," Ron quickly replied.

"Of course, I never expected him to be Peter in disguise... I should just poison him!"

"Hmm, never mind then, I'll just buy another bottle." William nodded thoughtfully.

The two turned and left, while William and Hermione strolled slowly down the corridor.

"Is Bobo Tea sick?" Hermione asked William suspiciously.

"In the afternoon, it was still lively and playing with Mrs. Lorris in the garden."

"I'm not sick... I just said it offhand," William said softly.

"Why did you lie to Ron... By the way, shall we go to the Room of Requirement now?"

Hermione stretched and laughed:

"Finally caught Peter...it's so much easier now. We can grade papers all night without being bothered!"

"I probably can't go tonight." William shook his head, his brows furrowed as he pondered the matter.

Hermione looked at William, reached out her finger, and rubbed his furrowed brow.

She asked softly, "What happened?"

William looked into Hermione's eyes and said slowly:

"Hmm, there are some things I've been thinking about... I feel like I'm overlooking something, and I need your help to analyze it."

Hermione nodded, and the two of them snuggled up by the window, gazing at the sky.

Outside the castle, a full moon was gradually obscured by thick clouds.

"I just said that Bobo Tea was sick, but I did it on purpose by borrowing that bottle of tonic," William said softly.

"Ron said that he used it on Banban a few days after school started."

William shook his head: "That's impossible. If Ron had used it, I would have known!"

"Why?" Hermione's eyes widened.

"Hmm... Last summer, George and Fred put some aphrodisiacs in the tonic."

"..."

"No harm intended!" William grinned. "I just wanted to test whether the love potion works between animals."

A purely magical experiment.

Hermione gave William a wink.

"Okay, let's not worry about the details... but thankfully the twins managed to drug it."

If Ron gives it to Scabbers, that is, Peter… he will definitely get restless and look for Fred’s Sniff.

Fred had already prepared beds for them both.

But it never happened.

"But..." Hermione hesitated, resting her chin on her hand.

"Does the Niffler's fur work? I mean, maybe the Niffler's fur won't work on wizards?"

"No, it will definitely work! Remember last year?"

Hermione thought for only a second before quickly replying, "Lockhart?!"

"That's right!"

William was pleased that Hermione could immediately follow his train of thought.

Of all the girls he knows, Hermione is probably the only one who can keep up with his train of thought.

Having such a smart girl by your side is truly incredibly relaxing.

If you follow idiots like Harley and Ron, something obvious will take forever to explain.

William wanted to kill them all.

Thinking this through, William spoke quickly without pausing:

"After that Christmas, Lockhart took Snape's love potion, which contained dwarf hair."

"Strictly speaking, dwarves, centaurs, werewolves, and Nifflers are all magical creatures."

Peter has taken the aphrodisiac; he's bound to react.

"Therefore, I conclude that Ron did not give it to Peter."

"But there's a problem, William," Hermione said astutely.

How can we be sure that it was Scabbers or Peter at that time?

As we all know, Peter found a very similar mouse as a substitute.

"A love potion with magical creature hair might work on wizards, but would it also work on ordinary rats?"

"Your doubts are valid; I was just thinking about this too," William said approvingly. "We can only offer our bold analysis."

"See? Peter had no reason to suddenly find a mouse as a backup plan and hide away, did he?"

He wasn't even sure if Sirius's target after his escape was him.

Peter would think, "I've been hiding for twelve years, and no one has found me."

How could Black, imprisoned in Azkaban, possibly know where he was?

And Hogwarts is the safest place; there's no need to run away.

William tapped on the window. "If I were Peter, I would definitely wait and see for a while."

The Halloween attack probably made him completely certain that Sirius was coming for him!

This should also serve as a wake-up call for him, reminding him that schools are not as safe as he imagined.

William gazed at the thick clouds that completely obscured the full moon, and his thoughts became increasingly clear.

He said quickly:

"After that, Peter probably had the idea of ​​escaping. Or, Tom probably came up with a detailed plan for him."

I'm inclined to believe the second possibility!

Without needing much detailed evidence, William could determine this solely based on his meticulous work style:

There must be Tom behind Peter's schemes.

If Peter were that smart, he wouldn't have needed to defect; he could have lived safely all by himself.

"A very reasonable analysis." Hermione thought it over and found no flaws.

"So... Ron is lying?" She raised an eyebrow. "Why would he lie?"

"This is probably not his first lie tonight," William said worriedly.

"Did you notice? Ron said Peter tried to steal their wands..."

"That's impossible!" Hermione exclaimed immediately. "Peter has a wand!"

"That's right." William sighed. "That's what made me have my doubts."

Last school year, Tom's diary suddenly disappeared from Ron's possession.

His old wand and Scabbers the rat were also missing.

William couldn't understand why Banban had also gone missing.

Later, Banban reappeared, but he didn't pay much attention, assuming it was just a lost mouse.

Looking back now, it's clear that Peter and Tom in the diary made contact.

Knowing that Ron would be suspected, he had moved the diary to Lockhart's beforehand, so he left with him.

It was only because Tom wanted Peter to be a spy that he returned to Ron's hands again as Scabbers.

But the old wand is definitely still in Peter's hands.

He didn't need to rob it at all!

Tom's spy... Peter hid for a whole school year, and William couldn't catch him... and he was caught by two weak little wizards?

It's still possible if Peter doesn't have a wand.

But the key point is,

He has it!

Even if there were ten of them, let alone Harry and Ron, they wouldn't be a match for Peter.

It was because of this detail that William abruptly asked about the tonic. Just to prove... Ron was lying.

"Ron had no reason to lie, yet he did..." Hermione's eyes widened, and she suddenly exclaimed in horror, "Could he be Peter?"

Professor Snape's office was burgled, wasn't it...? He brewed Polyjuice Potion?!

"I considered this possibility a long time ago," William said, his tone tinged with a hint of confusion.

"But Ron's name has always been displayed on the Hogwarts map... and it keeps moving."

Unless he carries Ron with him... wait...

The two exchanged a glance and said simultaneously, "That groundhog!"

Yes, if Peter turned into Ron, and turned Ron into a groundhog and put him on his body... his name would also appear.

There wasn't a single flaw!

"So, he's been arrested now?" Hermione asked, gripping William's hand in shock.

"It really is Ron!"

William quickly pulled out a map of Hogwarts and immediately found Professor McGonagall's office.

Inside the room, there were only three names:

Sirius Black, Severus Snape... Ron Weasley!

"We need to find Dumbledore," Hermione said. "We can't let Ron be mistaken for Peter and taken to Azkaban."

"No!" William shook his head, finally having sorted out his thoughts.

"The most urgent matter isn't Ron. It's Peter... he's about to run away!"

"Ah, why? His plan has succeeded. Everyone thinks Ron is Peter?"

"It almost succeeded." William shook his head.

"Remember in the office?" he said. "Harry and 'Ron' demanded Peter be killed immediately!"

"Peter's request is not without reason," William explained.

"If someone dies suddenly after taking the compound decoction, their appearance will not change; they will remain the same as they were before death."

"Peter gave Ron the Polyjuice Potion to make him become himself," William said with a serious expression.

"Once Ron is dead, this matter will be settled. Peter can then impersonate Ron until he runs out of stored hair."

With Ron's identity, he can do so many things!

No one will notice anything unusual, because no one in the world understands Ron better than Peter!

They shared a bed for three years!

Ron died in Peter's place, and that body was far more convincing than the severed finger from twelve years ago.

"But Fudge didn't agree; he demanded a trial," William said thankfully.

"Fudge did not intend to ruin Peter's plans, and the Polyjuice Potion has a time limit; Ron will revert back to his original form sooner or later."

Peter is probably busy running away right now.

"Yes, we must catch Peter immediately!" Hermione also realized the seriousness of the matter.

"Otherwise, Sirius... will be identified as... the murderer! He's in the office! He can't escape!"

William's eyes were unreadable.

If successful, he would replace Ron; if unsuccessful, he would escape and even let Sirius walk into his trap.

Tom Riddle...you're something else!

Even in Iphamoni, it can still cause such a lot of trouble.

However, if this is all there is to your plan... then I won't be polite and will accept your little spy!

……

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(End of this chapter)