Sirius had left—and with him, the "rat" Scabbers.
Life at Hogwarts continued on peacefully, until one morning, Dumbledore suddenly received an owl-delivered letter.
"I'm already at this age, and yet people still insist on writing to me? Can't even enjoy a quiet breakfast anymore," Dumbledore chuckled wryly as he opened the envelope. But as his eyes scanned the contents, his expression gradually turned serious.
By the end, his gaze was burning with a near-tangible fury.
"Albus, I'm not going to help you reply to those people again—what's the matter?" Professor McGonagall began by cutting off what she assumed would be another one of Dumbledore's unreasonable requests, but then noticed the change in his expression and asked with concern.
"Sirius's whereabouts have been found…"
McGonagall: !
"That's good news," she said sincerely. "He's caused the school quite a bit of trouble."
"Peter Pettigrew has also been found." Dumbledore's next sentence left Professor McGonagall stunned.
McGonagall: ???
"Peter? That boy?! Didn't Sirius blow him to pieces?"
"This is more complicated than you think. In short, according to the letter, Peter Pettigrew only faked his death to escape—he's actually the real culprit behind the explosion and the one who betrayed the Potters," Dumbledore said, unable to stop himself from massaging his temples. Such a shocking reversal had even left him somewhat dumbfounded.
As for whether the contents of the letter were credible, Dumbledore believed they were.
Because something like this would be incredibly easy to verify.
If you claimed Peter Pettigrew wasn't dead and was actually the real perpetrator, then where was he? Produce him, and the case was as good as closed. If you couldn't produce him, then it was nonsense—this was also why Sirius had fallen into despair back then, giving up resistance entirely and refusing even to defend himself.
Because he, too, believed Peter had been blown to bits. So how could he explain anything? On top of that, the lead interrogator at the time was Barty Crouch, and so Sirius was ultimately imprisoned in Azkaban without trial.
But now, Peter had been captured! The truth was just a hair's breadth away from being fully revealed.
After processing the shocking news Dumbledore had told, Professor McGonagall realized something.
"Then, Albus, this letter…"
"Yes. As the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, I'll be presiding over the hearing and supervising the legal proceedings. This letter is basically a spoiler in advance for this doddering old man—so I don't end up making the wrong call due to senility," Dumbledore chuckled.
"Jamison Greengrass's little move isn't hard to read—he's laying his cards on the table."
Dumbledore wouldn't take a one-sided claim at face value—but as long as he was informed of the matter in advance, that was enough.
"There's something interesting mentioned in the letter," Dumbledore said as he handed it to Professor McGonagall.
"Both Sirius and Peter Pettigrew are unregistered Animagi. Sirius is a black dog, and Peter is a rat—which means everything that happened this year can basically be summarized as 'a dog catching a rat.' Minerva, as a cat anigagus, I honestly thought you'd be the one to figure it out first."
At first, Professor McGonagall didn't understand what Dumbledore was getting at. But once it clicked, she genuinely wanted to crumple the letter into a ball and throw it straight at his face.
"Fine. From now on, I'll mind my own business. You can handle all of Gryffindor House's affairs yourself!" Professor McGonagall said sternly.
"Ah—do you know where Peter's been hiding all these years?" Realizing he might've pushed too far with his teasing, Dumbledore quickly changed the subject.
And surprisingly, it worked. McGonagall's attention was successfully diverted by his little trick.
Dumbledore tilted, glancing left and right as though he were about to reveal a massive secret, before lowering his voice dramatically to deliver the punchline.
"He's been living at the Weasleys' this entire time!"
Dumbledore: (=ω｀=)
Professor McGonagall: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ
This news truly shocked Professor McGonagall.
"How revolting!" was her immediate reaction.
To think that the pet who had lived alongside you day and night—who even slept in your bed, completely exposed—was actually a greasy middle-aged wizard… Who could possibly accept that? Just imagining it sent shivers down her spine.
Her gaze swept over the Weasley children enjoying breakfast in the Great Hall, her eyes filled with sympathy. "Those poor children…"
Seeing that Professor McGonagall had completely forgotten his earlier "dog catching rat" remark, Dumbledore let out a quiet sigh of relief, then told her he had some investigating to do.
Although he already believed the story in his heart, he still needed to gather some solid evidence.
As for where to start looking for that evidence—well, that part was simple enough...
"Severus, back when Voldemort had his followers, was Sirius one of them?"
Caught off guard by Dumbledore's sudden question, Snape frowned in confusion. But despite his inner doubts, he still gave an honest answer: he had never seen him.
It wasn't until the explosion incident that he'd even heard Sirius was supposedly one of Voldemort's men.
"Isn't that perfectly normal?" A mocking smile tugged at the corner of Snape's mouth. "That whole family of his…"
Dumbledore didn't let him continue. If he allowed Snape to go on a rant, he wouldn't be able to leave until the Wizengamot hearing was underway.
"What about Peter Pettigrew? Did you ever see him among Voldemort's followers?"
Snape shook his head again. Though Peter had been part of James Potter's little group, Snape never had a strong impression of him.
He didn't understand why Dumbledore was suddenly bringing up someone who'd supposedly been dead for over a decade, nor why Dumbledore seemed to be implying that Peter might have been a Death Eater.
"Bring some Veritaserum to my office." As expected, not having received a conclusive answer, Dumbledore turned and left. He still had more evidence to gather.
The next person Dumbledore intended to speak with was Percy Weasley.
When Dumbledore called out to him, Percy's face turned ghostly pale. He turned around and took a deep breath, as if preparing to face judgment.
"Professor—"
"Percy," Dumbledore interrupted gently, "Ron's pet rat—when did it first come to your family?"
Percy looked as if he'd been caught off guard, taking several seconds to react.
"The rat? Oh, Scabbers! Professor, here's the thing—even though rats aren't on the school's list of permitted pets—"
"I'm not looking to assign blame," Dumbledore interrupted gently. "I'm simply curious—because for a rat, it seems to have lived a little too long."
Seeing that Dumbledore wasn't criticizing him or his younger brother, Percy visibly relaxed. He began trying hard to recall when Scabbers had come to their family, only to realize—he wasn't quite sure.
When he was younger, his parents had given him the obedient rat as a pet, and later, when little Ron had begged for it, he passed it down to him.
Thinking back now… Scabbers really did seem unusually long-lived. How long was a rat supposed to live, anyway?
Having gathered what he needed from Percy, Dumbledore returned to his office—his thoughts now fully in order.
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