While Fish was alone in his brooding, Snape, as Lupin had predicted, didn't believe him at all.
He pointed out the core of the problem: "If you're saying that Ron Weasley's pet mouse is Peter Pettigrew, why don't you go and get him and reverse the case against Black?"
"He... Wormtail found out the news before school started, and he'd already run away..." replied Lupin with a bitter smile.
"Hahahaha..." Snape laughed, then glared at him and said, "Do you take me for a fool? Lupin! It's a good lie, but are you trying to get away with such unsubstantiated nonsense?"
"Scabbers really did run away during the summer vacations."
Harry, who still didn't know whether to believe them or not, unconsciously helped to clarify a point.
"You idiot!" growled Snape at Harry, and at the same time gagged Fish.
"They're the ones who decide what animal Peter Pettigrew can become, aren't they? Even if Peter could turn into a mouse, and there are thousands of them, how would Black know which one to catch when he's locked up in Azkaban? Based on a picture in the Daily Prophet?"
Lupin's explanation was so full of holes in Snape's mind that he spat out a spiteful rebuttal.
"There are many students at Hogwarts who have lost their pets, even without Scabbers, there would be other animals to choose from, why else do you think Lupin would ask Weasley about his pet? It's even possible that they killed the rat in secret and hid it, claiming it had escaped!"
Since there was no real evidence of Scabbers, from Snape's point of view, there was another explanation for what Lupin had done.
"The runaway pet mouse, that was just Sirius knowing that if he was caught again, he would be greeted with a Dementor's kiss, and he happened to see the mouse in the newspaper, so he made up this lie with Lupin so that the Ministry of Magic would spare his life and go in search of the long lost Peter Pettigrew!"
Harry, who had not quite believed Lupin, hesitated again, and the cat, who had wanted to tell them that Scabbers was indeed an animagus, was left confused by Snape's analysis....
Because what he said was very reasonable, which made Fish's previous speculation less credible. After all, Scabbers had never done anything to Harry and Ron, and the name he told him wasn't Peter Pettigrew.
Of course, if Scabbers was really Peter Pettigrew, it would be normal for him to use a pseudonym, but....
Sirius used a fake name too! And tricked him into eating a lot!
The cat, whose mind had jumped back to food, forgot about Scabbers and started looking at Black again.
"That mouse is missing a finger!"
Seeing signs that Harry and Fish had been convinced again by Snape, Black finally stopped being silent, he could accept being put back in Azkaban, or even killed outright, but he would never allow Peter Pettigrew to follow Pettigrew.
"After I caught him, he shouted loudly across the street that I betrayed Lily and James. Then, before he had a chance to recite a spell, he blasted the street with a wand hidden behind his back, killing everyone within twenty feet of him.... And then he left a finger at the scene, making me think he was dead!".
"Ha... If that's the truth, then why didn't you tell the truth when you got caught? Besides, you're the secret keeper, aren't you? You were the one James Potter trusted the most."
Snape almost gritted his teeth as he said this.
"I killed them," Black said hoarsely, "I convinced Lily and James to use Peter instead of me as secret guardian at the last minute...it's all my fault, how could I have come up with such a stupid idea?"
His voice was full of remorse, then he looked at Snape,
"You can hand me over to the Dementors, I deserve it, but Peter is still alive, he betrayed James and Lily!".
"Hmph!"
Snape only replied with disdain, in his opinion, this was only Black's last fight, and it wasn't worth believing at all.
"You have to listen to me!" Black, seeing that Snape wasn't taking his words seriously, reeled anxiously and shouted incoherently, "That mouse! Peter Pettigrew! I can't let him go!"
After a couple of shouts and a sneer from Snape, he turned his attention back to Harry and Fish, "Harry! Fish! I'm not lying!"
Harry was speechless, and Fish was confused.
The cat was not experienced enough to deal with such a complex matter.
Sirius had no hope of Snape letting him and Lupin go, unless Harry and Fish told Dumbledore about Wormtail to capture Peter Pettigrew for them.
But he had planned to turn himself in, but it was Sirius who was upset about getting Lupin involved.
"Sorry, Remus, I might have to put you in Azkaban." Sirius stopped shouting, but told Lupin very calmly.
Lupin shook his head and replied, in his usual polite tone, "Maybe I'll get kissed by a Dementor with you."
The two's utter disregard for death shocked Harry, who suddenly felt that they weren't lying, but for the moment he couldn't think of how to convince Snape and Fish.
And Sirius continued to calmly instruct Harry, "If you really want to avenge James and Lily, you must remember to tell Dumbledore."
"Actually..."
Fish hesitated, but felt he should tell them about Scabbers, only to be interrupted at the beginning of his sentence.
"What do you want to tell me?"
Speak of the devil.
Dumbledore suddenly appeared in front of them, his calm blue eyes now glowing with intimidating anger, and both Harry and Snape unconsciously relaxed their breathing....
Of course, this did not do a certain small-furred cat any good.
"Albus!" Fish pounced on Dumbledore, "Black was captured by Fish! And his assistant Lupin.... Has to remember to give Fish nys extra points."
?(?ΦДΦ?)?
At this point Fish didn't care if Black was a bad guy, or if Scabbers was Peter Pettigrew, it was too complicated for the cat to understand.
For Fish, the most important thing was to earn his House points first, otherwise, if it really was a misunderstanding, he would not only lose his reward, but also his House points, and that would be a big loss!
Dumbledore, who had become furious and had enjoyed the interruption of Harry and Snape's moods, twisted the corners of his mouth and then squeezed out a smile, "Alright, 100 points for Gryffindor, Fish, you did a good job, but Minerva is very angry, she should be running over here now and I can't help you at that time."
"Nya!"
(?≥∆≤?)
Fish's face changed slightly, but this was well within his expectations, so he quickly recovered and continued to tease Dumbledore, saying, "There's Lupin, he's helping Black!"
"Yes, that's another fifty points for Gryffindor."
Dumbledore was going to do this secretly anyway, so he was more than happy to give Fish another fifty points.
With the one hundred and fifty points in hand, and the seventy-five he had saved, there should be enough for Professor McGonagall to deduct, so Fish took a step back and began to think about how he was going to deal with Professor McGonagall's other punishments later.
Dumbledore, meanwhile, looked at Lupin and said with a disappointed look on his face, "Remus, I've always trusted you."
"I can explain," Lupin said in a relaxed tone, relieved to see Dumbledore appear, "There's something else about Sirius, he didn't betray James and Lily."
"Do you want to continue to be fooled by this werewolf, Dumbledore!"
Unlike Lupin, Snape became anxious, shouting at Dumbledore as he raised his wand to summon the Dementors guarding the school.
"Severus, I think I can tell if they're lying or not."
Dumbledore looked at Snape calmly with his blue eyes, and Snape stared at him for a moment before reluctantly lowering his wand.
"Let's find a seat, sit down and chat."
Dumbledore nodded and told them all.