bioinnovel Chapter 185 Doubts
Chapter 185 Doubts
Chapter 185 Doubts
The two groups, having come up empty-handed, reunited in the common room.
Belvina looked anxiously at Lupin, placing her last hope on him.
Belvina believed that Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were longtime friends, so Lupin would definitely recognize Peter's Animagus form.
However, Lupin, after leaving the boys' dormitory, avoided Belvina's expectant gaze and then shook his head.
He also found nothing unusual.
In reality, Lupin was not as familiar with Peter Pettigrew's Animagus form as Belvina had imagined.
The person most familiar with Peter Pediruanimagus's form is Sirius Black, who was on the run.
In an instant, Belvina fell down at a speed visible to the naked eye, like a fighting rooster that had been pecked badly, or a chicken burger without a leg, as if she had lost her soul.
The fact that the speculation was wrong was not enough to have affected Belvina to this extent. Her mind was in a mess right now, and all her thoughts were focused on Sirius and Peter Pettigrew, which is why she gave people the impression of being mentally confused.
In the Gryffindor common room, Dumbledore remained silent, offering neither blame nor criticism. The headmaster simply looked around at the arrangement of the common room, seemingly filled with nostalgia for the Gryffindor Tower.
Snape, who had just stepped out of the boys' dormitory, was eager to say a few words. How could the Potions Professor miss such a rare opportunity to kick someone when they were down?
Take advantage of your weakness; Belvina's "vulnerable" moments are few and far between, and this opportunity will be gone forever.
But fate had other plans. Before the Slytherin headmaster could even utter a sarcastic remark, the Hogwarts headmaster stopped him with an extremely stern look.
Dumbledore said slowly, "Severus, have you searched the fourth floor of the castle?"
"The entire fourth floor has been searched, and nothing has been found, Headmaster," Snape said. "What I'm about to say is that Dumbledore interrupted Snape abruptly, continuing, "What about the third floor of the castle? The Astronomy Tower? The Owl Shack? And Professor Trelawney's room? Sybil probably still doesn't know what happened."
The third floor of the castle was manageable, but the remaining three locations were all increasingly distant.
The Astronomy Tower is the tallest tower in the castle, the Owl Hut is in the West Tower, and the Divination Classroom is in the North Tower.
It's true that the leaders just need to say a few words, but the people below have to run themselves ragged.
With the Hogwarts headmaster throwing out a series of locations, how could the Slytherin headmaster not understand that his plan to take advantage of the situation was unlikely to materialize tonight?
Snape glared venomously at Belvina.
Seeing his nemesis's distracted state, Snape's mood instantly brightened, and his gloomy expression returned to its original sallow color.
"I'll search every tower right away, Headmaster," Snape said in a lazy tone. "I'll leave no corner unchecked, hoping to catch the stinking rat that's broken into the school."
Snape deliberately emphasized the word "tower," and he also noticed that during the search of the boys' dormitory, Lupin seemed to pay special attention to the students' pet rats.
Faced with Snape's mockery once again tonight, the clueless Belvina did not retort. She had neither the time nor the inclination to deal with Snape, and she couldn't be bothered to lower herself to his level.
Belvina's mind was filled with her own speculations. She reviewed the entire guessing process over and over again, trying to find any mistakes and correct them in time.
Furthermore, the professors spent all their time in the Gryffindor Tower, but Belvina couldn't give them a reasonable explanation. How could she possibly have the face to have a passionate interaction with Snape now?
With a victor's smile and his black robes billowing, Snape crawled out of the common room through a hole in the wall.
"Minerva, I need you to inform Filch for me," Dumbledore said. "The portrait of the Fat Lady needs repairs, and we also need to find someone willing to replace her."
"No problem, I'll go inform Filch right away," Professor McGonagall said, frowning. The Fat Lady, who guarded the Gryffindor Tower, had just suffered such a terrible fate, and it was unlikely that any portrait would be willing to take her place.
Before leaving, Professor McGonagall gave Belvina a long look, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she couldn't bring herself to say it.
Regarding Sirius Black's escape, Professor McGonagall was willing to believe Belvina, but she also felt that Belvina was being silly tonight.
"Remus, you should know where you're going," Dumbledore said to Lupin. "I suppose you haven't forgotten those little tricks you played in your school days."
Lupin did not reply and left the common room directly.
Remus Lupin knew that Dumbledore wanted him to search all the secret passages in the school, those that Filch had not discovered.
For example, the secret passage behind the statue of the sycophant Gregory, the secret passage behind the statue of the One-Eyed Witch leading to the Honey Duke, the secret passage behind the mirror on the fourth floor, and the secret passage from the Whomping Willow to the Screaming Shack.
Upon learning that Sirius Black had infiltrated Hogwarts, Lupin immediately thought of these hidden passages.
Using these hidden passages, Sirius could bypass the Dementors' patrols and sneak into the castle unnoticed.
After the three professors left one after another, only three professors remained in the common room: Dumbledore, who looked calm; Belvina, who seemed lost in thought; and Bassheda, who looked left and right.
"Professor Dumbledore!" Bathsheda exclaimed suddenly, "Then I'll head back to the Great Hall. I think young Mr. Weasley would greatly need me!"
"Thank you for your trouble, Basilda," said Dumbledore. "I will return your friend to you soon."
Although Bathsheda had been engrossed in studying ancient runes, she was not ignorant of human relationships. She could tell that Dumbledore wanted to speak with Belvina alone.
After giving Belvina a look of farewell, Bassheda also left the Gryffindor Tower.
Only two people remained in the comfortable, round room.
Dumbledore walked directly to the fireplace, chose a soft armchair, sat down, and pointed, causing a roaring fire to immediately ignite in the fireplace.
The principal said, "Please sit down. We can take this opportunity to chat for a bit."
Belvina also sat down by the fireplace, her furrowed brow gradually smoothing out, the firelight illuminating her fair face. "I once suggested to James that I be their Keeper of Secrets," Dumbledore said. "Not to boast, but if I were the Keeper of Secrets, Voldemort would never have found them in his entire life."
It is said that Albus Dumbledore was the only person Voldemort ever feared.
"Later, James told me that he still decided to choose Sirius as their Secret Keeper," Dumbledore continued. "To be honest, I didn't think much of that decision."
Belvina looked up and asked, "Because of the Screaming Shack incident?"
"It seems Remus has talked to you a lot about the past." Dumbledore lightly changed the subject, seemingly not very keen to discuss the past of the Screaming Shack.
He continued, "I want to personally act as the Potters' confidant because someone has been secretly leaking their whereabouts to Voldemort; someone has betrayed us."
"You started suspecting Sirius back then?" Belvina asked. "Because of the Shrieking Shack, because he was Black, because his siblings were Death Eaters?"
As if possessed by a fighting rooster, Belvina seemed to have regained her aggressive nature.
Dumbledore's tone remained calm; it was not easy to see him get angry or upset.
"As you said, I have reason to doubt Sirius's loyalty and devotion to James," Dumbledore said. "I have also doubted Remus, because of his special status and because he often associates with darkness."
Dumbledore glanced at the flickering fire and said, "I also had my doubts about Peter Pedyru. He wasn't good enough, and he was cowardly. He was the least impressive of the four."
"The most unassuming and cowardly person did something incredibly brave," Belvina said. "According to the Ministry of Magic, Peter Pettigrew found Sirius Black and wanted to avenge the Potters."
Of course, the Ministry of Magic's records are based on the testimonies of eyewitnesses at the scene—that is, Muggles.
According to the Muggles, Peter Pettigrew cried out: "Lily and James! Sirius, how could you do this?"
Then Peter Pettigrew pulled out his wand, and magic swept across the entire street, killing twelve Muggles. Peter Pettigrew himself was reduced to pieces, and Sirius Black stood in the street laughing hysterically.
Dumbledore's gaze returned to Belvina, and the young witch regained her former composure.
The moment of confusion seemed like just an illusion.
"Yes, it was remarkable, very heroic," Dumbledore said.
He continued, "Later, the Ministry of Magic contacted me, and I told them what I knew. James decided that Sirius would be the Keeper of the Secrets. James also said that Sirius would rather die than reveal where they were."
Subsequent events proved Dumbledore's fears to be correct: the Secret Service betrayed the Potters, revealing their hiding place to Voldemort.
"Voldemort is down, Sirius Black is in jail, a large number of Death Eaters have been arrested, and some have been killed. Of course, some have escaped punishment." Belvina clapped her hands. "Peace reigns."
"We all know Voldemort will return, don't we?" Dumbledore said. "Isn't that why you switched sides and sided with me?"
Belvina smiled and said dismissively, "You really can't hide anything from me, that's for sure."
"I don't have the ability to know everything," Dumbledore said. "There's one thing I've never understood. That night in Godric's Hollow, when Hagrid took Harry away, why didn't Sirius stop him? He even lent Hagrid his motorcycle."
Previously, Dumbledore had never doubted that Sirius Black was the Secret Agent.
However, Sirius's strange behavior that night in Godric's Hollow made Dumbledore waver, and he began to have doubts.
Belvina took a deep breath and said, "What if—and I mean, what if—Peter Pedirou was the Potters' confidant?"