Scabbers Is Peter?!

Dumbledore sat in his chair, his brow furrowed.

His two long, slender fingertips touched together habitually, and he rested his chin on them.

Blue eyes peered through crescent-shaped lenses at the ceiling of the room, seemingly lost in thought.

In front of him was a mirror, the image blurry and indistinct... William, Hermione, and Anne, huddled together, were trying to grab the mirror.

These are two- Two-Way Mirror. They were a Christmas gift from Dumbledore to Anne when William was in his first year of school.

William tried to deceive her multiple times but failed. One of the times, Anne gave the Dumbledore.

William was so jealous.

"An interesting deduction, Hermione." Dumbledore finally snapped out of his reverie and looked at the Two-Way Mirror.

"So, you believe Black is an illegal Animagus who always appears as a black dog?"

"Professor, that's not a deduction, that's a fact." Hermione's tone was firm, and she was very confident in her judgment.

"Yes, I trust your judgment," Dumbledore.

Those details that go unnoticed are not obstacles, but rather clues.

Hermione, you've always excelled in this area.

But we need more direct evidence; these details alone are not enough to convince our Minister Fudge to believe you.

He doesn't have your reasoning skills to see the truth hidden beneath the details.

"What do we do then?" Hermione exclaimed urgently, "Unless we can catch Black..."

"Hermione, you've overlooked someone," William reminded her. "Professor Lupin was Black's close friend back then; he definitely knows something."

"That's right." Dumbledore sighed, grabbed a handful of Floo Powder, and threw it into the fireplace in the distance.

A bright green flame suddenly blazed up, and soon a head appeared from the flames.

"Remus, I'm sorry to have kept you from recovering. But I have some things I urgently need to ask you."

"If it's convenient for you, please come over. If it's not convenient... please still come over!"

"Um..." Lupin hesitated for a few seconds before replying, "Oh, okay."

A moment later, the fire in the fireplace flared up and made a crisp snapping sound, and Professor Lupin walked in, wrapped in a tattered long robe.

"What's wrong, Principal?" Lupin asked, puzzled. "What happened?"

"How are you feeling?" Dumbledore, gesturing for Lupin to sit down.

"I'm just a little weak; Professor Snape's Potions gave me constant diarrhea," Professor Lupin, sitting down in his chair. "Other than that, everything is fine."

"I will remind Severus."

Lupin smiled gratefully, glancing at the table and seeing the Two-Way Mirror, and William and the other two reflected in it.

"Professor, is there something urgent?" he asked again.

"There are some, actually. Just now, Miss Granger told me something interesting."

She said... Black is an illegal Animagus.

I want to ask Remus, do you know about this...?

Dumbledore's sharp eyes were fixed on Lupin like an eagle's.

Professor Lupin's face immediately turned deathly pale, as if coated with frost.

Needless to say, you can tell the answer just by looking at the professor's expression.

Lupin lowered his head, as if he had made a mistake and was trying to cover it up, but he was still discovered.

He gripped the armrests of the chair tightly, his fingers pale, and said in a trembling voice, "Professor Dumbledore, I'm so... sorry."

I knew about this, but I've been keeping it a secret..."

"Remus, you shouldn't have apologized to me!" Dumbledore's voice carried a hint of disappointment.

You should apologize to Anne, William, and Hermione; the three of them spent the summer living with a black dog.

Aside from William, I don't think Hermione and Anne can handle a Death Eaters.

"I'm sorry, I really didn't know this would happen," Lupin said, blaming himself.

"Why don't you say it?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

Lupin's face was deathly pale, and his voice was filled with self-loathing.

"For the past six months, I've been struggling with myself, unable to decide whether or not to speak out. But I still haven't."

Why?

Because I'm too cowardly.

Telling you this means that I betrayed your trust during my student days; it means admitting that I once led others like myself on nighttime outings.

Your trust is extremely important to me.

When I was a child, you accepted me into school; now that I'm an adult, I can't find a job anywhere, simply because I am...

Lupin stopped and glanced at his glasses.

"William and Hermione have known you're Werewolf for a long time, and they've kept it a secret," Dumbledore said.

Lupin stared in astonishment at the Two-Way Mirror, overwhelmed with shame.

"Later, I convinced myself that Sirius used the magic he learned from Voldemort to get into the school."

It has absolutely nothing to do with him being an illegal Animagus...

Dumbledore squinted, tapping his fingers on the table in a strange rhythm.

"Of the four of you, besides Black, has anyone else learned Animagus?"

"All three of them have learned it!" Lupin said, clutching his head in pain.

"After they discovered I was Werewolf, they didn't distance themselves from me. Instead, they spent almost three years secretly learning Animagus in fifth grade."

James was the first to learn it; he was very talented in Transfiguration, even Professor McGonagall praised him highly.

Next up is Black.

Peter needed a lot of help from Black and James, but he gradually became proficient himself.

"What can they turn into?" Anne asked curiously.

"James is a stag, so he's called Prongs; Black is a... big black dog, so we call him Padfoot."

Peter is a mouse, nicknamed Wormtail.

On nights with a full moon, it was James and Black who kept me in check.

Peter was small enough to easily press the knots on the Whomping Willow, allowing us to enter the Shrieking Shack through the passage...

Wait... Pettigrew Peter's Animagus is a mouse?

William's heart suddenly raced, as if it had skipped a beat.

He suddenly remembered Tom's little traitor.

After the incidents involving the diary and the sale of Snape's photos in women's clothing, William was basically convinced that the mole was among Ron's men.

She knew him very well, even to the point of understanding Ron's inner thoughts.

Such people are rare; William once thought that Harry was the only one who met the criteria.

Now I suddenly have a new idea.

Because the Scabbers are strange.

Crookshanks never attacks other animals, but only targets Scabbers.

When William entered the school, Scabbers was Percy's pet. Now, four years later, it is still lively and energetic, but it started to become listless after Black escaped from prison.

Most rats only live for two or three years at most.

If Black can become Anne's pet Dahei, why can't the mole be Peter?

A real rat can't be a mole, but an illegal Animagus can!

When it comes to understanding Ron and controlling him without him even noticing, who else besides Scabbers could do it so easily?

William was startled by his own thought.

Peter died thirteen years ago. If it really is him, what does that mean?

If the impossible is ruled out, then what remains, however small the probability, must be a fact.

William pushed up his non-existent black-rimmed glasses.

New machine words, dig one more, Mohe more!

William for a long time before finally raising his head and interrupting Professor Lupin.

Three minutes later

Dumbledore grabbed another handful of Floo Powder.

"Minerva, bring Mr. Weasley. Ron Weasley here immediately! And his rat, Scabbers!"

Dumbledore's voice became exceptionally serious.

He repeatedly warned, "Remember, be careful! Scabbers might be the dead... Pettigrew Peter!"

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