Did Peter Become Ron?

Arrogance prevents others from loving you, and prejudice prevents you from loving others.

If you view others with arrogance and prejudice, everything they do will naturally be wrong.

This is also Black's biggest problem.

Back then, if it weren't for this prejudice, he would have told Lupin, one of the Marauders, about the change of Secret Keeper.

Perhaps everything will be different.

Judging from William's contact with Lupin, the professor would definitely do everything in his power to save Black.

At the very least Dumbledore would know the truth and wouldn't let him stay in Azkaban for twelve years.

Therefore, prejudice can be deadly, and Black chose prejudice when he should have been least prejudiced.

"Why didn't you make Dumbledore Secret Keeper in the first place?" William stared at Black and asked another pointed question.

"As far as I know, the principal once suggested that he be the Secret Keeper!"

Black looked up and asked, "William, I overheard your conversation over the summer. You also have a safe house."

Did you appoint Dumbledore Secret Keeper?

"No." William shook his head. "I'm the Secret Keeper. I'm confident nothing will happen, and besides, it's my home."

He had considered having Nicolas or Dumbledore the Secret Keeper, but ultimately chose himself.

On the one hand, it was his home with Hermione and Anne. Only the Secret Keeper was allowed to enter the house.

He can't possibly go to Dumbledore to ask for help every time, can he?

"That's right." Black smiled sadly. "We thought so too at the time, that nothing would happen."

I don't want to bother Dumbledore every time.

He was the Secret Keeper of at least twenty safe houses, maybe... more!

Countless Death Eaters wanted him dead, and Voldemort also considered him his most terrifying adversary.

We don't want to put any more pressure on him, nor do we want to put all our eggs in one basket.

So James chose me.

William looked up, his brows furrowing slightly. Hermione noticed his movement; they were of one mind, and without him asking, she spoke:

"What about James or Lily? Why don't they become Secret Keeper themselves?"

Black stared dejectedly at the cave ceiling.

"You're too young to know what happened back then... The Wizarding Wars had already been going on for several years."

People are dying every day... familiar faces, unfamiliar faces, people we've seen before, people we've never seen before...

He shook his head sadly and said, "In that kind of environment, anyone could die. No one would naively believe that they are the one who shouldn't die!"

"You're even less likely to hide away forever and become a coward, watching your companions die one by one, just because Voldemort wants to kill you."

That's not Gryffindor!

His voice came out in a low growl from his throat.

Even after Voldemort issued the kill order, James and Lily still left the safe house to fight secretly and carry out missions for the Order of the Phoenix.

Every time they went out, one of them would stay home to take care of Harry, who was still a baby.

"But because of Voldemort's orders, the Death Eaters went mad when they saw them."

They then replaced the Secret Keeper with me, who was under much less pressure.

That way, even if something happens to them, their family's Fidelius Charm will still function normally.

"But someone leaked the secret, revealing my identity as the Secret Keeper."

I suddenly had a brilliant idea: I secretly switched places with Peter and distracted the Death Eaters by myself.

After I took it upon myself to persuade James, I didn't tell Dumbledore and Remus, for reasons you already know."

Black's face contorted in spasms.

"... On the day of the incident, I chased after Peter. I cornered him, and he yelled so loudly that the whole street could hear him. He said I had betrayed James and Lily."

Before I could kill him, he used the wand hidden on his back to blow up the entire street, killing everyone within twenty feet of him, and then escaped into the gutter with the other rats...

I was not tried, nor did I offer any defense; I spent twelve years in Azkaban in remorse.

That's the whole story...

Black clenched his fists, his lips trembled, and he closed his eyes.

"It's all my fault. If I hadn't persuaded James, he and Lily wouldn't have died... I'm the one who killed them..."

Hermione's eyes were glistening with tears, her knuckles were white, and she clung tightly to William's arm.

Anne's face was also covered in tears, which she wiped haphazardly.

William's lips moved, but in the end, he could only sigh silently.

Black's words are logically sound and completely corroborate the previous speculation.

For example, why would Peter, a hero, hide his identity as a mouse for so many years, and then become Tom's spy?

Because he wasn't originally from this area!

"If you don't believe me, just catch that rat," Black pleaded.

"If we catch him and give him Veritaserum, he'll know everything."

William waved his wand, breaking the spell on Black, and conjured a chair, gesturing for him to sit down.

"In fact, we noticed something was wrong with Scabbers around Christmas," William said softly.

Black stared at William in astonishment.

"You..." he stammered. "How did you find out...?"

Twelve years ago, Peter was sealed; he was posthumously awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class. How could they possibly detect anything amiss?

He knew William and Hermione were smart, but he didn't expect them to be this... smart!

"That makes things simple." He became inexplicably excited. "Go and catch him... he's with the Weasley family boys."

"The rat died earlier tonight," Hermione, shaking her head.

"What? He died of illness?!" Black was stunned.

"Peter is dead, he's really dead..." Black looked bewildered, unsure whether to be happy or disappointed.

"Don't be so happy yet, it was just a real rat that died," William said slowly.

"We told Dumbledore about this guess at Christmas, and we also found Scabbers."

But when the Revealing Charm was used on him, there was no reaction.

"Peter must have switched them," Black said in a hoarse voice.

"He must have sensed the danger and found a similar rat beforehand. Nobody knows how to play dead better than him!"

He did something similar thirteen years ago!

"That's the problem, we don't know where Peter is hiding!" Hermione said seriously.

Black thought for a moment, then suddenly grinned and said:

"The Marauder's Map, we made one. When we graduated, we deliberately let Filch take it, thinking we could keep it to help other students..."

He glanced at Anne and immediately used a slightly more polite word. "Study!"

"That map can display names... if we find it..."

"You mean this?" William pulled out a parchment map.

He tapped it, and it immediately became covered with lines and names.

"..."

Black was eager to know if these three little guys knew anything or had anything to hide.

He seriously suspected that if he asked for Ravenclaw's lost Diadem, they would pull out a huge surprise for him in no time!

Suppressing his frustration, Black picked up the map and examined it carefully.

After a moment, he shook his head. "Very similar... but the painting technique is much better than what we make."

"This Hogwarts Map is the reborn version of the Saving Marauder's Map," William explained.

Many years ago, Fred and George stole the Marauder's Map from Filch's office.

I further improved the map based on the Tracking Charm; its functions are basically the same as Marauder's Map.

"That's great!" Black realized this too, rubbing his hands together in delight. "We just need to find Peter's name on it..."

His expression froze.

If Peter could be found on the map, these two incredibly clever little wizards would have already gone to capture him.

"Peter must have erased his name." Black was unusually clever; his eyes were sinister.

"Or they escaped Hogwarts."

They all sighed at the same time.

William thought for a moment, then looked toward the Gryffindor Common Room.

He suddenly had a crazy idea.

Ron is a bit irritable tonight!

He had no reason not to recognize that the mouse wasn't his Scabbers.

After all, we've lived together for so long, so even if we really want to imagine it, there are bound to be subtle differences.

Others would admit their mistakes, but he probably wouldn't.

Professor Snape's office was burgled; would Peter have stolen the herbs and used the opportunity to brew Polyjuice Potion, thus transforming into Ron?

Was the real Ron secretly imprisoned by Peter?

William was also startled by this idea.

His gaze quickly swept over the Gryffindor dormitories.

But he immediately shook his head, dismissing the idea.

Because there are five names clearly marked on the map where Harry's dormitory is located.

Besides Neville and his two companions, the names representing Harry and Ron were moving rapidly through the dormitory.

Ron seems to be chasing Harry... the two are probably just playing around.

Peter can erase his own name, but he can't simply change it to Ron.

If he had transformed into Ron using the Polyjuice Potion, Ron himself would certainly have been imprisoned and wouldn't have been able to move so quickly.

Their names probably won't appear in the dorms.

After all... maps don't lie!

(Please vote for this post, everyone!)