"This is the first time I've met anyone during my amnesia..." Peter Pettigrew walked up to Percy and said. Percy's face flushed with excitement. He felt honored that he played an important role in such a legendary experience. Thinking of this, he unconsciously straightened his body.
"If only I had known..." Percy began to blame himself, thinking this might be helpful to his future, but Peter Pettigrew interrupted him, "Oh, your family has been good enough to me, besides, you didn't know the truth."
"Although I was just a rat at the time, you treated me like a member of the family. I have to say, the Weasley's education is really good. Everyone in your family is full of love," Peter Pettigrew paused and continued, "I heard you're the Head Boy now, Percy?" Peter Pettigrew's eyes drifted away, and he said in a nostalgic tone, "James was too, and I believe you will achieve great things in the future."
"And then there's you, Ron." Peter Pettigrew then walked to Ron's side.
"I'm sorry, your pet Scabbers will never come back." Peter Pettigrew's tone was full of apology.
"No, no, oh my goodness, I still can't believe that a rat who lived in our house for more than ten years is an Animagus? And a recipient of the Order of Merlin, First Class?" Ron's eyes widened, and he muttered to himself, still feeling like he was dreaming.
"Ron, life is sometimes more bizarre than you think. Would you like to accept a new pet from me?" Peter Pettigrew blinked and said with a smile.
"Of course, I'd be honored." Ron nodded vigorously.
"And then there's you, Harry." Peter Pettigrew turned to look at Harry, his small eyes revealing a hint of sadness. "You look so much like your father. Seeing you is like seeing James. For three years, I've been quietly watching you, but unfortunately, I've hardly brought you any help."
"Can I give you a hug, Harry?" he asked.
"Meow, meow, meow." Just then, Crookshanks, who was in Hermione's arms, suddenly broke free and pounced on Peter Pettigrew.
"He must have remembered my scent." Peter Pettigrew was not frightened at all, and said with a smile. An invisible barrier suddenly erected beside him, blocking the attack of the ginger cat. Crookshanks could only frantically wave his claws, baring his fangs to show intimidation.
"I'm sorry, sir." Hermione quickly walked to Crookshanks, apologizing as she picked him up.
"Miss Granger, you don't need to apologize at all. This is just a cat's instinct. He just remembered my scent. With his intelligence, he can't understand the difference between a human and a rat," Peter Pettigrew said nonchalantly.
"Crookshanks is very smart." Hermione was a little unconvinced when she heard this, but she still said, "I will definitely teach him a lesson when we get back."
After the interlude, Peter Pettigrew turned to face Harry again. He rubbed his hands somewhat nervously and said, "Harry, I mean if, if you're willing, can I choose to be your guardian now?"
"I have now recovered my magic and memory, although I can't compare to Mr. Moody and Professor Dumbledore,
But I do have some power, at least if Sirius Black ever wants to harm you, he will have to get past me first."
"Peter, you should still go to St. Mungo's Hospital for another check-up to see if there are any after-effects." Lupin stood in front of Harry.
"Besides, don't you think these words are too stimulating for Harry right now?" Lupin then said calmly.
"I didn't think it through." Peter Pettigrew's eyes welled up again, and then he said, "But I'm excited! This is James' son! He defeated that person, even better than his father! How can I not be excited?"
"For the past few years, I could only watch him like a stranger, without realizing it myself. Do you know how terrifying it is when I regained consciousness and those scenes of what I saw and heard over the years played back in front of my eyes?"
He lowered his voice and said in Harry's ear, "The Sorcerer's Stone, the Basilisk, I still feel scared when I think about it now. Fortunately, you are lucky enough, Harry, you are as brave as your father."
Listening to his praise, Harry scratched the back of his head a little embarrassedly.
He remembered many things he had heard about his father in the Three Broomsticks pub in Hogsmeade. This man was killed by Black's curse in order to avenge his father. Whether it was Fudge or Professor McGonagall, their tone was full of sympathy and respect for him at the time, but today he appeared in front of him again, giving him such an incredible explanation.
Just think, his father's best friend had been by his side for three years, and as his friend's pet.
His face suddenly turned red. He thought that he had actually made a lot of mistakes in the past three years and violated a lot of school rules, and they were all seen by this elder.
"Of course, I will keep some small things secret for you." Peter Pettigrew seemed to see what Harry was thinking and said close to his ear.
"Such pranks, your father and I often did in the past," he said.
Harry immediately felt that the distance between them had narrowed a lot.
"Click, click." The students' photographers frantically pressed the shutter, bringing a burst of intense flashes. This will surely become tomorrow's headline.
The hero who once fought with Black and unfortunately died did not actually die? He even returned to Hogwarts by chance, guarding his friend's son.
And Fudge's plummeting reputation will rebound because of this.
No one knows what Peter Pettigrew is thinking now, except himself.
This is the first time in so many years that he has appeared in front of people, and as a hero, which makes him feel extremely emotional. When he was still in that rat body, he never dared to restore his human form.
It wasn't that he hadn't thought about standing up and admitting his so-called "merits." But whenever he thought of that time, the unforgettable hatred revealed in Black's eyes, the flames that could burn everything, he shrank back. He was always afraid of Black's revenge, even if that man had been imprisoned in Azkaban, even if he was likely to have been tortured mad by those extremely evil creatures, he still didn't dare to relax.
He was taken in by the Weasley family, which was a very good outcome. His days were stable and peaceful. At the same time, this also meant that he wouldn't be completely out of touch with the wizarding world. Every day, after Arthur Weasley finished reading the Daily Prophet, he would carefully read every corner of the newspaper. He had hoped countless times that such news would appear: that the infamous Sirius Black had committed suicide in Azkaban prison due to mental derangement.
In Azkaban, this was a common occurrence. Many prisoners were unwilling to become living corpses, so they chose to give themselves a dignified death while they were still conscious.
But he had waited so many years and had not received the ending he had hoped for. Even recently, Black had escaped from prison.
Black had been in Azkaban for so many years, who would have thought that he would one day be able to escape from there.
He was also carefully recalling why he had been exposed. He had been careful enough to avoid exposure, but he was still unavoidably on the front page of the newspaper that time.
How he wished that the Weasley family hadn't won the lottery back then, so that he wouldn't have been caught in the photo.
Who would have thought that after so many years of prison life in Azkaban, under the influence of countless Dementors, this man could still maintain his sanity and happen to get that day's newspaper?
If, in the beginning, Peter Pettigrew still had a glimmer of hope, pinning his hopes on the possibility that he was just crazy and had escaped by chance, then when he learned that Black was already trying to get through the Fat Lady's portrait, he understood that Black's target was himself.
Black was as sober as he could be. When the Marauder's Map was created, he and James were the ones who explored the secret passages, and what about himself? He was just following behind them. Now that a sober Black knew all the secret passages of Hogwarts, it meant that his end was coming.
So he tried to rummage through Filch's office for the Marauder's Map that had been confiscated, which might become a talisman, a life-saving straw.
But he didn't find it.
He woke up from nightmares again and again, as if that big black dog would pounce out at any time and tear him to pieces. He felt that he was the one who was about to have a mental breakdown.
It wasn't until that Christmas Day that the sound of a dog barking completely crushed him. The familiar sound made him lose his mind all at once. He even forgot that Dumbledore and other professors were present at the time, and fled in a panic.
What happened later was even more incredible.
When he fled out of the hall and burrowed into a secret passage in his memory.
The cage seemed to have calculated his route of advance, falling from the sky, unavoidable, and he was caught by that Slytherin student in Harry's year.
Of course, Malfoy wouldn't tell him that almost all the secret passages had this trap set up.
He was caught, and even all the secrets hidden in his heart were revealed one by one. That boy seemed to know his past like a demon, and then used cruel words to force him to recall everything.
Just when he thought he was about to be handed over to Dumbledore or the Ministry of Magic for trial, Malfoy actually released him. Oh, and even pulled over a stool for him to sit on.
"You are very lucky, Peter Pettigrew." He would never forget this sentence, which took him directly from a suffering hell to heaven.
After that, Malfoy began to talk about his plan, in detail, without missing any details.
The more he listened, the more he felt cold sweat pouring down. This student had thought of too many things. If he were to do it himself, there would really be loopholes everywhere.
It was then that he remembered that the student in front of him was from Slytherin House, where the students were full of ambition and good at using all kinds of means to achieve their goals. If a Gryffindor student knew all this, their sense of justice might lead them to make everything public directly.
Think about it, which good student would know so much about Veritaserum? And use it at will. The recipe and ingredients of this potion are strictly restricted, and the Ministry of Magic will also try to register it on file.
Think about it again, Malfoy had caught Black before he caught him, and got the truth by injecting Veritaserum. If he really wanted to be unfavorable to him, he could directly tell Dumbledore, then he, who was still unaware at the time, would be like a turtle in a jar, and could be caught by the Aurors in the school at any time.
He didn't have any hope of escaping from Dumbledore's hands. Even if the old man didn't use any dark magic, he could easily subdue him.
Malfoy's previous words were just to pave the way for his next plan, to sound a warning to himself, to make himself behave.
To be honest, Peter Pettigrew didn't consider running away immediately, stunning the student, or even killing him, the moment he was released from the cage, but he felt that the student was definitely not as stupid as he thought, so he gave up the attempt.
"Since I dare to let you out, I can definitely lock you back up." This was the first sentence Malfoy said when he released him from the cage.
"If you want to play tricks, you can try it." Malfoy's tone was full of absolute confidence, a powerful feeling that everything was under control, which he could keenly perceive.
"I don't know whether your strength has regressed or improved in the past twelve years, although I guess it should be the former. But whether it's the former or the latter, I don't care. You can try to attack me, then you will lose your last chance to turn over."
After Malfoy finished speaking, he even turned his back to him, leaving himself wide open, without any intention of defending himself.
"Thousands of letters about your secrets are well hidden in my home and can be sent out at any time. Of course, empty words are not enough. I also used a Muggle camera to record Black, who would say anything when asked at the time, and I also made many backups. If you still superficially hope to kill people to silence them, then I can only clearly think that I have found a cooperation partner who is not so intelligent, so maybe I will change it."
After that, Malfoy came to his desk, casually picked up a quill and began to look at it, just like a person who is extremely bored, always doing some meaningless things.
"No, how could I do such a thing?" Peter Pettigrew said ingratiatingly, his already small eyes narrowed into a slit, with a strong flattering tone.
He was glad that he hadn't made the wrong choice at that time.
If he had really done that at that time, how could he now experience the taste of being respected by everyone, with countless honors and halos added to his body?
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