"Excuse me, I didn't mean to eavesdrop on your conversation," Neville suddenly said, walking down the stairs with his toad in his arms, "But you mentioned Pettigrew Peter, didn't you?"
Harry looked up, exchanged a glance with Ron and Hermione, but said nothing.
"I just want to know who Pettigrew Peter is." Neville waved his hands repeatedly, worried that Harry might misunderstand.
Harry countered, "You've heard of him?"
"This morning Fred and George asked me if I knew Pettigrew Peter —was he famous?"
"They even told you? I can't be the last one to know, can I?" Ron exclaimed incredulously.
Harry scoffed. "No, they haven't told me yet."
Hermione gestured for Neville to sit down and explained, " Peter Pettigrew was a recipient of the Order of Merlin, First Class. He passed away in 1981. We're discussing him because..."
Hermione glanced at Harry, and only after receiving a nod of approval from him did she continue, "It's because he's connected to Sirius and Harry's parents. Sirius's escape from prison is likely aimed at Harry, so we need to be prepared."
Neville nodded thoughtfully. "Then we might not be talking about the same person. I remember Fred and George saying before they left that Peter Pettigrew might be Ron's dream girl."
Ron slammed his fist on the table. "What? How dare they spread such rumors about me? Others are one thing, but they're my own brothers!"
The Geminis are still at the detective agency, and they have their own big case to solve.
Fred scribbled on the paper. "I've asked almost everyone around Ron, and none of them know Peter Pettigrew, not even the dead one."
George stroked his chin. "Let me summarize. So, there are two Peter Pettigrew in the world, one of whom died long ago, and the other is being kept by Ron? Is that a common name? And isn't it a boy's name?"
Fred's eyes gleamed with amusement. "Perhaps..."
George understood immediately. "Then he and Harry..."
Poor Ginny, she never imagined that her brother would become her rival in love.
Fred and George clapped their hands. They had stumbled upon Peter Pettigrew's name on the list of recipients of the Order of Merlin, First Class, earlier that day. They had only vaguely felt that they had seen the name somewhere before, but after thinking back carefully, they suddenly realized where they were.
They've seen each other on the Marauder's Map.
Two years ago, when they were playing pranks on the castle using the Marauder's Map, they saw a person named Peter Pettigrew next to Ron, but at the time they didn't know who this person was, and this person was not with Ron most of the time, so they didn't pay attention to it.
But this time was different. Fred and George stared at the Marauder's Map for most of the day, Peter Pettigrew stayed by Ron's bedside the whole time.
Fred suddenly dismissed his previous thought, "Do you think it's possible that Ron is the one who's secretly in love, and that Peter Pettigrew sneaks into Ron's dorm every night to watch him sleep, which is why he appeared on the Marauder's Map at night before..."
"That makes sense," George chimed in. "When we mentioned the name to Ron today, he didn't react at all, and it didn't seem like he was faking it. Even his roommate doesn't know who this guy is."
Fred and George packed their things to go back to their dorm to study the matter properly. Along the way, they considered all sorts of possibilities, even speculating that the buried secret passages were where Pettigrew was hiding.
"What if we tell Ron everything? Won't he get furious? Oh, Ron, what are you doing squatting by the door?"
Fred, who was laughing and joking, caught a glimpse of the red-haired man in the corner and immediately shut his mouth.
Ron stood up with a resentful look on his face, so angry that he even used the same words Draco used to insult him. "I've been waiting for you two for ages, you two Red-Haired Ghost!"
A moment later, the long table in the Gryffindor Common Room was full of people, including the Weasley family boys, who were disheveled and clearly had just been playing around.
Harry, Neville, Hermione fidgeted, while Fred and George stared at Ron suspiciously, asking, "Are you sure you want us to tell you everything?"
Ron, panting heavily, said, "I'd like to see how you explain this."
Fred glanced at George, who alertly drew the curtains and cast a Nonverbal Spell at the long table.
"Since you insist we say it," Fred cracked his neck, "then I'll get it all out in the open. Please, everyone—"
As soon as Fred finished speaking, George spread out their treasure, the Marauder's Map, on the table.
"This is something we acquired a long time ago from Filch's collection; it's called the Marauder's Map."
"A map?" Ron scoffed. "It's just a blank piece of parchment folded up several times and completely wrinkled."
Fred ignored him, took out his wand, and lightly tapped it against the Marauder's Map: "I solemnly swear that I will not do anything good."
The brown parchment trembled slightly, and black ink rippled from the center, slowly revealing clear lines and frames, causing the onlookers to gasp in astonishment.
Fred was pleased with everyone's expressions, but he wouldn't steal the spotlight. George took his place and continued explaining, " The Marauder's Map shows all the secret passages leading to Hogwarts. We sneaked into Hogsmeade before we were even in our third year—but that's not the point. The point is that everyone's name in the castle is displayed on it, and that's how we avoided being caught by Filch and the other professors."
Fred looked at Harry and his trio. "That's the difference between us. We have an organized and planned night out, while you guys are just trying to boost the professors' performance records."
George pointed to a spot on the map. "Look, Dumbledore pacing back and forth in the Headmaster's Office, Professor Snape is in the Slytherin common room, and here—"
Following his finger, everyone looked and saw a name suddenly appear on the Marauder's Map.
Pettigrew Peter
"He was right next to Ron's bed. In fact, ever since Ron entered the school, we've noticed that there's sometimes a guy Peter Pettigrew who's with Ron, but at the time we didn't know the name Peter Pettigrew and just thought it was a coincidence."
"But we found the name Peter Pettigrew at the detective agency, so we wanted to find out if Ron knew him, and if they had some kind of secret relationship. Because recently, he's been staying by Ron's bedside."
"What are you talking about?" Ron stared in disbelief. "Me, sharing a bed with Peter Pettigrew? Nobody in our dorm has ever seen anyone like that. If you ask me, your Marauder's Map is faulty. You should send it to Dervish and Banges during the next Hogsmeade week to get it fixed."
"Impossible." Fred and George shook their heads firmly.
"Well, I think Ron has a point," Harry suddenly said weakly. "The map must have included people who have appeared before, otherwise why would he still be in Director Lorne's office?"
Everyone looked at the Marauder's Map and saw a name lying in the General Affairs Office on the second floor of the castle.
Sirius Black.