He looked at everyone, breathing rapidly and weakly.
"Oh, hello, Peter," Lupin said cheerfully, as if it was common for him to see a rat turn into an old classmate, "long time no see."
Ron, who had been standing, suddenly sat down on the ground, one hand covering his mouth, the other pointing at Peter Pettigrew, making a "heh-heh" sound, too shocked to speak.
Anyone finding their pet to have transformed into a bald, greasy-looking middle-aged man would not take it normally, let alone Ron.
"Remus?" Peter Pettigrew's voice was sharp, much like a rat, "my old friend... and professors, long time no see..."
"We need to clear up some things, Peter." Lupin said in a serious tone: "Now we've brought you to the Headmaster's Office—you know what that means, right? We already know what you did, you betrayed James and Lily, didn't you? You sold them out to the Black Demon?"
"Oh..." Peter Pettigrew's eyes turned, "how could it be? How could it be? You all know, the secret keeper of James and Lily was—was Little Sirius..."
As he spoke, Peter Pettigrew turned his head and looked at Harry.
"Harry, it's Harry, right? Goodness, you really look like James, just like your father..."
"You have the nerve to mention James!" Lupin said coldly, "How dare you mention him!"
"James was..." Peter Pettigrew's eyes rolled, "but my friend, why would I..."
Lupin stared coldly at him, and after a moment, he seemed exhausted and sighed.
"Severus." He said.
Snape didn't say a word; he walked up to Peter Pettigrew and picked up the bottle of Truth Serum from the Headmaster's Office desk.
"Greasy... Severus..." Peter Pettigrew looked at Snape in terror.
But just as he said 'greasy,' without finishing the last word, a look of extreme disgust rose in Snape's eyes.
Without a word, he pinched Peter Pettigrew's mouth, pouring the whole bottle of Truth Serum into it.
Choking on it, Peter Pettigrew coughed for a while and took quite a long time to come around.
"Let's hear it." Lupin asked first: "How did you betray James and Lily? Why did you go over to the Dark Demon?"
"I didn't want to... I didn't want to!" Peter Pettigrew said in a tearful voice, "You know that Black Demon... the Black Demon is powerful, he has strength that others find hard to match... even you'd be afraid, right?"
"Then how did you betray James and Lily?" Lupin asked again.
"Ah, ah..." Peter Pettigrew shrank his neck: "This matter, ah, it's not my fault... it was Little Sirius, Little Sirius thought he'd be targeted by the Death Eaters, so he took it upon himself to suggest me as the secret keeper, thinking that since I was timid as a mouse, I wouldn't be noticed—James, that big fool, he actually believed our friendship was unbreakable, so he agreed with Little Sirius's idea, thus the secret keeper was secretly changed to me—oh my..."
Harry clenched his fists tightly, holding back the urge to throw a harmless Minor Evil Curse.
Vivi reached out to hold Harry's fist, gently patting it to calm him down.
"Then why didn't he harm Harry?" Hermione said with a frown: "I mean—we all know you can't lie under Truth Serum, then why, if he went over to You-Know-Who, did he stay in the Gryffindor common room for almost three years without harming Harry?"
With Hermione saying this, everyone also curiously looked at Peter Pettigrew.
Who knew Peter Pettigrew suddenly showed a look of terror.
"Oh, silly girl, perhaps only you would think so..." Peter Pettigrew said, trembling: "Harm Harry? I fear any normal person wouldn't think that way, I've seen him deal with the Black Demon myself—right in your first year, he used Crucio the moment he saw the Black Demon... The second time he encountered him, without saying a word, he used Avada Kedavra—otherwise, what do you think happened to Quirrell? Believe me, silly girl, this kid is even more terrifying than the Black Demon..."
Hermione looked at Harry with an "excuse me" expression.
They all knew that in the first year, Harry had defeated Professor Quirrell under Voldemort's control.
But no one knew that Harry almost started off, directly giving Professor Quirrell… or rather, Voldemort a greeting gift—Avada Kedavra.
"Because it wouldn't benefit him, Hermione." Lupin made a summary: "The Dark Demon King is already dead, his master can no longer give him any rewards or punishments—because the reason driving him to the Dark Demon King's side is nothing other than fear..."
It has to be said; as expected from an old friend of the rat, Lupin hit the nail on the head.
Upon hearing Lupin's words, Peter Pettigrew's teeth began to chatter, making a constant rattling sound.
"I fear we need to invite our Minister of Magic over." Professor Dumbledore said with twinkling eyes as he looked at Peter Pettigrew in front of him: "I'll send Fox to deliver a message to Cornelius, hoping he's still awake, able to catch this scene... a good show."
Peter Pettigrew's expression suddenly turned to terror, and he trembled as he looked at Dumbledore, kneeling on the ground.
"Headmaster, headmaster..." he kept saying, "I don't want to go to Azkaban—I'm begging you, I'm begging you..."