Humiliation

At that moment, not only was Fudge's mind in complete chaos, everyone else wore equally incredulous expressions.

Peter Pettigrew was still alive?

How was that possible!

Hadn't Peter died twelve years ago?

How could he still be alive?

Everyone stared at the cage in Dumbledore's hand. If the rat inside really was Peter Pettigrew, then Sirius Black had been innocent from the very beginning?

What the hell was going on?

"No, that's impossible! Peter Pettigrew is dead. I was there at the time... How could he still be alive?" Fudge was highly agitated. Once it was confirmed that Peter Pettigrew was alive, the Ministry of Magic would become a complete laughingstock.

Just look at what the Ministry of Magic had been doing for the past year.

Hunting Sirius Black.

If Peter Pettigrew was alive, it basically meant Black was innocent. Even if there needed to be repeated investigations, the truth was still the truth.

The nearby Aurors were also startled by Fudge's words. Their gazes drifted involuntarily to the metal cage in Dumbledore's hand before they secretly glanced at Albert, who stood waiting nearby.

Scrimgeour had actually realized long ago that tonight, the fellow named Albert Anderson had trampled the Ministry of Magic's dignity beneath his feet.

What frustrated them most was that Fudge had actually offered his face up himself. After letting the other party slap it swollen, they even had to thank him—thank him for catching Black for the Ministry, thank him for uncovering the truth about what had happened all those years ago.

Yet who had betrayed the Potter couple back then did not truly matter to the Ministry of Magic, nor did they have any desire to reopen the case. If Sirius Black was innocent, Scrimgeour could already imagine how much pressure the Ministry would face.