บท 380: Chapter 380: Fudge's Reaction (Edited)
Dumbledore observed Peter Pettigrew with great interest, as if he were watching a theatrical performance.
Peter's emotions suddenly spiraled out of control, and he shouted at everyone, his shrill voice almost piercing everyone's ears: "He killed James and Lily!"
He jumped and pointed at Sirius with his missing finger, "Now he's coming to kill me! Professor Dumbledore, save me..."
When a person's anger reaches a threshold, it suddenly becomes cold and calm. That's exactly what happened to Sirius. At first, he was furious, but when he saw Peter and heard his voice, his anger intensified, but he himself became strangely calm.
Sirius looked at Peter coldly, not bothering to argue with him, and let him jump and hop around on his own.
"Can you explain why you were willing to be a rat for twelve years? I'm not an Animagus, so I can't fully understand your thoughts. Do you become addicted to that feeling after turning into an animal? It seems that Minerva often transforms into a cat, but that doesn't mean she spends the whole day as a cat," Dumbledore interrupted, very curious.
He had a curious expression, like an intrigued student.
"Because... because..." Beads of sweat began to appear on Peter's forehead.
Sirius snorted with disdain, "These twelve years, you weren't hiding from me, but from Voldemort's old followers, right? I heard interesting things while I was in Azkaban. Voldemort's loyalists mumbled in their sleep, wanting to find you and make you confess how you deceived their great master. Voldemort went to the Potter's house based on the information you gave, and there he was defeated... Tsk, tsk, not all Death Eaters were sent to Azkaban, many remained outside, waiting for the right moment. Peter, you should consider yourself lucky. Everyone believes you're dead."
Peter trembled, as if the scenes described by Sirius had frightened him, or rather, as if the word "Voldemort" had scared him.
"No... I don't understand what you're saying... It's normal for Voldemort's followers to want to get revenge on me because I sent their loyal servant, the one who infiltrated the Order of the Phoenix, to Azkaban..." But under the gaze of Lupin and Sirius, Peter grew weaker and his voice lower, until he finally broke down in tears.
"Professor Dumbledore, how long do you want to keep watching this spectacle?" Sirius impatiently looked at Dumbledore. "I think you've already reached a conclusion. If you don't believe us, you can ask Snape to provide us with some Veritaserum."
Dumbledore nodded, he believed Sirius almost as soon as he saw Peter.
"Perfect, Fudge will be here in a moment. I think all of this should be wrapped up before Christmas," Dumbledore said as he glanced at the wall clock.
At Dumbledore's reaction, Peter lamented and then fainted on the spot. But no one in the room cared anymore about what he did.
Dumbledore looked at the wall clock and murmured to himself, "Fudge should be arriving soon."
As expected, a few minutes later, there was a knock on his office door. Percy opened the door, and Fudge and Professor McGonagall entered together.
"Albus, you have quite a crowd here..." Fudge's voice choked when he saw Sirius standing in the office, looking at him coldly.
"Sirius... you, you..." Fudge was so excited he couldn't speak. He drew his own wand, "Albus, thank you, this is the best Christmas present I've ever received."
He thought that Sirius in the room had been captured by Dumbledore.
"The Christmas present isn't limited to just Sirius; there's also this." Lupin dragged Peter, who looked like a dead pig, in front of Fudge. "Minister Fudge, I believe you should recognize him."
Looking at Peter, Fudge felt he looked familiar, and when he recognized who he was, he gasped.
"This... this..." Fudge didn't know how to describe his feelings. Even someone as slow as him realized that the course of events had taken a sharp turn with the appearance of Peter Pettigrew. Now he would have to deal with a much more complicated problem than simply capturing a fugitive.
Dumbledore patiently explained the truth to Fudge.
After hearing it, Fudge remained motionless in his place.
"Merlin's beard!" he groaned. Fudge now felt it might have been better not to have caught Sirius. He was now facing a much more complicated problem than simply capturing a fugitive.
It was a serious breach of duty.
The Ministry of Magic had sent an innocent man to Azkaban for twelve years, while awarding a medal to the real culprit, without even bothering to verify whether that person was alive or dead!
Just putting these plain and direct words in The Daily Prophet would cause a huge uproar, not to mention those expert journalists who thrived on stirring emotions.
To make matters worse, the direct person in charge of Black's case back then was Cornelius Fudge himself.
Fudge's body trembled slightly.
"Now that the truth has come to light, I believe it's time to restore Sirius's innocence and bring the real culprit to justice," Dumbledore said beside him. His voice wasn't loud, but it was extraordinarily firm.
Fudge's face turned pale, and several times he tried to say something, but he finally nodded. Sirius and Lupin by his side breathed a sigh of relief, feeling like a massive weight that had been on their hearts had finally been lifted. Sirius even experienced a profound sense of relief.
Although he hadn't mentioned it much out loud, deep down in his mind, he had worried about the identity of that fugitive. After his injustice was revealed today, a feeling of relief that he hadn't felt in a long time welled up in his heart.
"Should we call Harry?" Lupin thought for a moment and felt that this was a perfect opportunity to reconcile Sirius and Harry.
After a brief moment of consideration, Dumbledore agreed with his proposal.
"Then, where is he? I trust the two of you can find him," Dumbledore looked at Lupin and winked.
Lupin understood what he meant and approached a corner to retrieve the Marauder's Map and search for Harry's footprints. But as he searched, his expression became increasingly strange. He was surprised to find that there wasn't even Harry's name on the map.
A herd of hippogriffs seemed to rush through his mind.
Today is Hogsmeade Day at Hogwarts, and with the Invisibility Cloak that James passed down to him, Lupin suddenly realized that Harry had surely sneaked into Hogwarts without anyone knowing.
Wow, this is very Gryffindor, no wonder he's James's son! He thought to himself.
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