Victor Wick looked at the rat in surprise, his gaze falling on the paw clutching the edge of the pocket.
A toe was very clearly missing from it...
The others felt it was strange to hear Victor speak like that, unsure why he had suddenly said it.
Ron was even more baffled. He looked at Scabbers in his breast pocket and reached out to grab him.
"Um... maybe all rats look more or less the same? If Scabbers wasn't so ugly, I wouldn't be able to tell either..."
Before Ron could finish, Scabbers, who had been staring blankly at Victor from the pocket, suddenly bit Ron's hand. He lunged out as Ron let go with a cry of pain!
"Squeak!"
Scabbers shrieked and dove toward the floor, scurrying for his life toward the window!
In the next second, however, his body suddenly levitated. His four short legs paddled uselessly in the air, unable to gain even an inch of ground...
"Scabbers! You actually bit me!" Ron said indignantly, though he was also puzzled.
Scabbers had originally been Percy's pet, but after the Weasleys bought Percy a new owl, the rat had been handed down to Ron.
Normally, the rat seemed so old it could barely move. Aside from eating, it did nothing but sleep. Ron had never seen it react so violently!
Victor had a slight smile on his face as he watched the rat.
To anyone else, this was just an ordinary rat, but to him, it was entirely different.
The runic sequence swirling around the rat's body was far too obvious. Victor recognized it at a single glance: it was the Animagus sequence!
Moreover, peering through those complex runes, Victor could see the faint image of a familiar, panicked, fat face.
That was why Victor had said the rat looked familiar...
'So it was an Animagus! That explains everything!'
No wonder he had been able to escape so silently back then!
Victor sighed softly.
Years ago, upon returning from a mission, he had discovered Peter Pettigrew meeting with the Dark Lord...
It was then he realized this wretched little man had secretly joined the Dark Lord's side!
Actually, that didn't mean much on its own... At the time, there were plenty of people who chose to serve the Dark Lord out of sheer terror.
Victor hadn't initially paid it much mind.
Furthermore, the Order of the Phoenix had already made arrangements for the Potters' safety after receiving Victor's detailed intelligence regarding the prophecy.
However, while eavesdropping, Victor heard Peter Pettigrew inform the Dark Lord of the Potters' address without a moment's hesitation...
At that moment, Victor realized that the Secret-Keeper for the Potters' safe house—which should have been perfectly secure—was none other than the traitorous Peter Pettigrew!
Unfortunately, he had found out too late to intercept Peter.
He had planned to use an emergency channel to notify Dumbledore during the brief window before the Dark Lord set out. However... Snape, who had only just defected to Dumbledore's side, didn't know Victor's identity. He assumed Victor was heading out on some Death Eater business and had blocked his path...
At that time, Victor didn't know Snape had turned spy, and his own strength was far from what it was today.
By a cruel twist of fate, Victor's information arrived just a moment too late—all because of Snape's interference...
By the time Dumbledore and Victor arrived, the Potter home was a pile of ruins. Only baby Harry remained as an orphan, along with the Dark Lord's yew wand lying on the floor...
When he learned that it was his actions that led to Lily's death, Snape was nearly shattered by the weight of his guilt...
Had Dumbledore not acted quickly to restrain him, Snape would have taken his own life.
Later, whatever Dumbledore had said to him, Snape finally abandoned the thought of suicide.
Snape knew full well that if he had only listened to Victor's warning and hadn't told the Dark Lord about the prophecy, Lily would still be alive.
And later, if he hadn't let his impulses get the better of him and tried to block Victor, Dumbledore might have arrived in time to save her!
This was why Snape's attitude toward Victor was so complicated.
He couldn't help it; every time he saw Victor, it felt like his inner wounds were being torn open anew...
Consequently, Snape felt toward Victor a mixture of resentment and a faint, hidden gratitude, but for himself, there was nothing but pure loathing!
Back to the present, because Victor had witnessed Peter Pettigrew's betrayal firsthand, he knew that the person who sold out the Potters wasn't Sirius Black!
After the war ended, he had attempted to clear Sirius's name. But back then, he had only just been vouched for by Dumbledore, and the Ministry was still suspicious of him. Moreover, many had benefited from Sirius's arrest; if the case were overturned, their rewards and prestige would vanish. Thus, they refused to accept his testimony.
Coupled with the fact that Peter Pettigrew was "dead," there was no concrete evidence. Even Dumbledore couldn't overturn the case for Sirius!
And Sirius, believing himself responsible for the Potters' deaths and seeing that Peter was dead, had lost all hope. He allowed the Ministry to throw him into Azkaban without a trial, where he remained to this day!
But now... everything was different!
Peter Pettigrew was right here! Now, the case could be overturned!
"Professor... Scabbers is just an old, frail rat. He's never been like this before..."
Seeing Victor's somewhat fierce expression, Ron felt afraid, worried the professor might harm his pet.
Scabbers was his pet, after all. Even if the rat was old and ugly, he was a source of comfort...
In a family as large as the Weasleys, as the youngest son, he was far less pampered than his sister and less focused on than his older brothers.
There were very few things he could truly call his own... this pet rat was one of them.
"A rat? Is that what you think?" Victor looked at Ron with a peculiar smile.
Harry and the others were equally confused by Victor's sudden change in demeanor.
Without wasting any more words, Victor flicked his wand, tossing Scabbers onto the open floor in front of the door.
Before the rat could struggle, a brilliant spell struck its body!
Ron didn't even have time to cry out before he saw Scabbers' body twist violently, suddenly elongating and expanding!
In an instant, the old, ugly rat was gone, replaced by a short, stout, balding man!
Harry, Ron, and the others stared in shock, speechless.
They had no idea what had just happened—how a rat could turn into a man!
The balding man lay on the ground, habitually twitching his nose like a rat as he moved his limbs. But he quickly realized that he had returned to human form!
He slowly looked up, meeting Victor's beaming face.
"Long time no see... Peter Pettigrew."
"Whimper..." Seeing Victor, Peter Pettigrew whimpered and shrank back.
"Wh-what is going on?" Ron's voice trembled as he stared at the man.
Victor said nothing. He raised his hand and cast a Body-Bind Curse, bringing Peter Pettigrew under total control.
"Please wait a moment... I'll explain everything in detail once Professor Dumbledore arrives." Victor looked at Harry, a pleasant smile spreading across his face. "Congratulations, Harry. If everything goes as expected, you might soon have a godfather again, officially."
Harry looked at Victor in bewilderment, not understanding what he meant.
Not long after the hummingbird Patronus flew out, a group of people arrived outside Victor's office.
Dumbledore entered first, followed by Professors McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, and Sprout!
Everyone let out a collective gasp when they saw the stiff, unmoving Peter Pettigrew on the floor.
"This... he really is Peter Pettigrew!" Professor McGonagall gasped in shock.
Peter Pettigrew had been a Gryffindor student, and McGonagall recognized him instantly.
"Victor, what is going on here?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Pettigrew.
Coming to her senses, McGonagall noticed the students from her house in the office. "Children, you should head back first..."
"Professor McGonagall, I believe they deserve to know the truth," Victor interjected.
McGonagall looked at Victor, then at the pleading looks in the children's eyes, and sighed softly. "Very well... you may stay for now."
"It started just a moment ago. I was chatting with Harry and the others when I noticed Ron's pet rat, Scabbers... Professor Dumbledore, you know me. Others might not have seen it, but I could tell that rat was an Animagus..."
At these words, all the professors' eyes fell upon Peter Pettigrew!
Professor McGonagall's eyes were filled with disbelief. "Peter Pettigrew's grades weren't very good back then. To think he actually learned to be an Animagus!"
"But... isn't Peter Pettigrew a hero? Professor Wick, what are you...?" Professor Flitwick looked at Victor in confusion.
When Sirius was sent to Azkaban, he was branded a traitor. The real traitor, Peter Pettigrew, had been depicted as a hero who died fighting the betrayer, and was even posthumously awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class...
Thus, in the eyes of most people who didn't know the truth, Sirius Black was the traitor and Peter Pettigrew was the hero.
Even Snape, who loathed James Potter's old gang, felt that Victor's actions were somewhat irrational and might bring him trouble—everyone except Dumbledore, that is.
"Professor, do you remember what I told you back then?" Victor said quietly. "The true traitor is Peter Pettigrew. Sirius Black was framed... I witnessed the entire process of him informing the Dark Lord of the Potters' location."
The professors were stunned, their eyes wide with disbelief...
Harry, who had been confused until now, suddenly felt a surge of hatred in his eyes as he stared directly at Peter Pettigrew on the floor!
Harry trusted Professor Wick; he knew the professor would never lie about something like this!
Dumbledore nodded with a frown. "It's true... there was no evidence back then, so we couldn't clear Sirius's name. Later, to avoid a scandal, the Ministry forbade us from leaking this information. But Victor and I have been secretly searching for his whereabouts..."
"Heh... avoid a scandal? More like avoiding a stain on their political careers," Victor sneered.
With that, he released the Body-Bind Curse on Peter Pettigrew.
"No! I was framed! Victor Wick is the Death Eater! He's lying!" Peter Pettigrew had only been petrified, not unconscious, so he had heard everything. He scrambled to defend himself.
But Victor ignored him and looked directly at Snape. "Severus... Veritaserum! The maximum dosage!"
Snape's face had been grim throughout, but hearing this, a savage smile suddenly flickered across his face as he turned to look at Peter Pettigrew once more.
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