Peter Pettigrew Was a Gryffindor, So How Could He Possibly Lack Courage?

"This is impossible."

Dumbledore immediately began to question whether it was true.

As the headmaster of Hogwarts, Dumbledore had seen Peter Pettigrew's behavior before. When Peter was at school, all he had known to do was follow Potter and his friends around.

No matter how one looked at it...

Peter Pettigrew simply did not have what it took to become the Dark Lord.

Even if James Potter, Sirius Black, or Severus Snape wanted to become the Dark Lord, they would still be more likely candidates than Peter Pettigrew...

Peter Pettigrew...

Could barely be considered a decent wizard.

"I know this is difficult for you to believe."

Snape took a deep breath. Staring at Dumbledore, he said heavily, "But I saw him with my own eyes. He even gloated about it to me just now!"

"Everything that happened in the past followed his plan. Peter was the real traitor who betrayed Lily and the others back then. It was all his plot!"

Snape bluntly laid out everything he had learned: "Because Sirius, that idiot, thought Peter was a useless nobody who wouldn't attract Voldemort's attention, he made Peter the Secret Keeper of the Safe House..."

"..."

Dumbledore slowly furrowed his brow.

This really might be true.

After Voldemort and the Potters died, Sirius had hunted Peter Pettigrew down like a madman. This explanation did make sense.

Snape leaned weakly against the wall and closed his eyes. "Peter had learned in advance that Lily had mastered a spell capable of sacrificing herself to counter Voldemort. He told Voldemort the Safe House's secret and made them die together..."

Snape forced down his pain and anger and continued in a low voice, "That despicable bastard... stole Voldemort's knowledge. His Wandless Magic is now more practiced than anyone I've ever seen!

"To hide himself, he used that idiot Black to create the explosion eight years ago, faked his death, and escaped. He only showed himself now that he had gained enough power..."

"And he no longer fears being discovered."

"Because he no longer fears your power, either."

"He even arranged everything that comes next long ago."

"Dumbledore, he arranged everything long ago."

Snape slowly opened his eyes and stared at Dumbledore. He continued grimly, "That man told me Voldemort was able to live forever because he created Horcruxes in advance!"

"...Horcruxes."

Dumbledore's eyes widened involuntarily.

The appearance of this term made everything fall into place.

The reason Voldemort had not died and would eventually return was precisely because he had Horcruxes to preserve his soul, bringing him infinitely close to true immortality...

If Voldemort's Horcruxes were not dealt with, that meant the Wizarding World could never eliminate the threat of his return.

Indeed.

Peter's design was exquisite.

It was so flawless that even Dumbledore could not find a way to break it.

If they wasted time hunting Peter Pettigrew now, they would have no time to search for the Horcruxes. Voldemort could resurrect and return at any moment, ultimately bringing disaster upon the Wizarding World.

But...

It was not completely flawless after all.

Because Dumbledore had more or less guessed one thing.

"If they really are Horcruxes..."

Dumbledore fell into thought and continued solemnly, "I think I already know what the reason is. I'll find a way to resolve this as quickly as possible. Once we find a clue, perhaps we'll be able to locate them soon..."

"You already have a clue?"

Snape felt slightly relieved, but still asked uneasily, "Voldemort created six Horcruxes, and there's another secret Horcrux that you must know about. Seven Horcruxes—each one could be dangerous to deal with. Is that true?"

"Wait... Seven?"

At that number, Dumbledore suddenly turned toward Snape!

Was he joking?

Generally speaking, creating even one Horcrux was extremely dangerous. That man Voldemort actually had seven!

Even excluding the so-called secret Horcrux, there were still six completely unknown ones!

How long would it take him to find them all?

And besides...

Destroying a Horcrux was no simple matter!

"So..."

Snape's expression gradually grew grim as he said in a low voice, "You don't know... exactly how many Horcruxes Voldemort created?"

"...In theory, creating Horcruxes is extremely dangerous."

The white-bearded old man Dumbledore began explaining the difficulties involved: "Every time Voldemort created a Horcrux, he had to split his soul into fragments. Generally speaking, no one would dare divide their soul into so many pieces."

"But..."

Snape suddenly clenched his fist and slammed it into the wall. "He's a madman! We all know he's a madman!"

A lunatic like Voldemort!

He would certainly create Horcruxes without restraint!

The number Peter Pettigrew had given was correct. The murderer who had always pretended to be a coward had indeed prepared in advance to use Dumbledore!

"Calm down, Severus."

Dumbledore soothed Snape, then raised his hand and cast a spell to heal the wounds on Snape's fist before continuing, "Perhaps things aren't quite so bad. What Peter Pettigrew said may not be true. We need to verify it first."

"How do we verify it?"

"Azkaban."

Dumbledore named the place feared by every person in the Wizarding World. The old man calmly continued, "Perhaps there really is an innocent man there seeking redemption. We only need to ask him, and we'll know whether Peter was the one who betrayed the Potter family..."

That was right.

Azkaban still held one of the people involved.

Sirius Black, supposedly a Death Eater, had used magic to create a terrifying explosion, murdering Peter Pettigrew and twelve Muggles.

Since many people knew that Sirius Black was the Potter family's Secret Keeper, they believed Black had defected to Voldemort and leaked the secret, causing the Potter family's deaths.

Furthermore, the man who had overseen the trials of the Death Eaters back then was Old Barty Crouch. That man had thrown Death Eaters into Azkaban without even using normal judicial procedures.

Sirius Black had never been tried, either.

Sirius himself had not cared about it. When he was arrested, he had still been at the scene of the explosion.

After Sirius Black was locked away in Azkaban, no one ever heard from him again.

"We'll go after Peter first!"

After explaining everything to Dumbledore, Severus Snape immediately remembered why he had lured Dumbledore to the first floor. "Perhaps we can catch Peter right now!"

Unfortunately.

It was already too late.

A heavy snow had fallen over Hogwarts that night.

From the entrance of Hogwarts Castle all the way to the school gates, a clear line of footprints led outward through the snow. Peter Pettigrew had already left Hogwarts.

"I'll make a trip to Azkaban."

Dumbledore patted Snape on the shoulder and continued reassuring the Potions Class professor: "Don't worry. We still have time. First, we'll uncover the truth of the past..."

"It was him!"

Snape slowly crouched down and stared at the line of footprints in the snow. Gritting his teeth, he said, "How could someone who mixed with that arrogant fool James Potter and his group have truly been a coward all along? He was pretending the whole time..."

At that point, Snape even found another piece of evidence: "Peter Pettigrew... was a Gryffindor!"

As it happened.

Gryffindor was the house with no shortage of courage.

Dumbledore felt that he did not quite know what to say.

Generally speaking, shouldn't the sort of person who schemed behind the scenes have been a student from Slytherin?

All right.

The Sorting Hat might indeed have had a problem.

Because today, the Sorting Hat had placed a new student capable of drawing the Gryffindor Sword into Hufflepuff.

Please keep the recommendation votes coming!!!!

Well-reasoned and convincing.