bioinnovel Chapter 196 Final Conclusion
Chapter 196 Final Conclusion
Chapter 196 Final Conclusion
Not long after, Belvina, who had left the library, emerged from behind a tapestry on the second floor of the castle.
This is a well-known hidden passage, with a staircase connecting the second and fifth floors, and a tapestry hanging at each entrance.
Belvina quickly reached the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, where she happened to bump into Lupin, who was walking out of the classroom. The two looked at each other in the long corridor.
Lupin, who was about to go downstairs for lunch, spoke first: "You need to talk to me, Bellevue—"
Before Lupin could finish speaking, Belvina shoved him into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom without a word and then closed the door behind her.
Belvina cut to the chase, pulling out the crucial Daily Prophet and saying, "Look closely at this photo. If you find anything strange, tell me immediately."
Looking bewildered, Lupin took the old newspaper. With the Christmas holidays approaching, the full moon was just around the corner, and Lupin was once again looking haggard.
He said, "Isn't this just an old, expired newspaper? Oh, and there's a family photo of the Weasleys, Percy,..."
Fred, George, Ron, and their little sister Ginny—what an enviable family!
As Lupin spoke, he wore an envious smile, clearly admiring the Weasleys' warm and ordinary life.
If Lupin hadn't been bitten by Fenrir Greyback and hadn't turned into a werewolf, his family life would have been very happy.
"Wait a minute!" Lupin's brows suddenly furrowed, his pale, tired face showing even greater confusion. He muttered to himself, "What's going on? The Weasleys' pet rat looks familiar; I feel like I've seen it somewhere before!"
Although Lupin felt the pet mouse in the photo looked remarkably like an old friend, his cautious and self-conscious nature prevented him from making a direct judgment; he simply kept muttering that it looked familiar.
"This pet mouse is missing a part of its front paw," Belvina pointed out, and through observing Lu Ping's facial expressions and body movements, Belvina believed her judgment was confirmed.
"I saw it," Lupin repeated, his brow furrowed. "I saw it very clearly."
Lupin turned the old newspaper over and over in his hands, carefully examining the pet mouse moving around in the photos and comparing it to the Animagus form of Peter the Pettigrew in his memory.
"In 1981, after Cornelius Fudge led his team to the scene, they only found a small part of Peter Pettigrew's body," Belvina continued, adding, "The Ministry of Magic gave a finger and a medal to Peter's mother."
After a while, Lu Ping's tightly furrowed brows relaxed again, as if a heavy stone had been lifted from his heart.
He said slowly, "I'm sorry, I can't make a definitive statement right now, but my intuition tells me that this pet mouse is him."
Lupin pondered for a moment, then asked with a serious expression, "This is a July newspaper. Where did you find it? How did you come up with this particular newspaper? And how did you recognize it?"
If Belvina recognized Sirius's Animagus form at a glance, Lupin wouldn't be surprised at all, after all, the two are blood-related siblings.
However, Belvina was not familiar with Peter Pettigrew at all, and didn't even know that Peter was an Animagus.
How did she recognize her? How could she possibly recognize her? It doesn't make sense!
"I was asked three questions at once, and I didn't know which one to answer first," Belvina said. "I couldn't recognize this mouse as an Animagus just from this photo."
Belvina paused for a moment, then continued, "Back in July, Connelly impulsively went to Azkaban for an inspection and even chatted with that bastard. That bastard asked the minister for the newspaper he was holding—the one you're holding."
After explaining her reason for seeking out this outdated issue of the Daily Prophet, Belvina muttered under her breath, "What a load of crap, he'll recognize it right away!"
Lupin once again took the Daily Prophet to his eyes and examined it closely, not missing a single detail about his pet rat.
Peter Pettigrew can fool everyone in the world with his Animagus form, but he can never fool Sirius Black, who is serving time in Azkaban.
"If Peter is the Weasleys' pet mouse, why would he hide?" Lupin asked, his personality preventing him from making definitive statements and instead using hypothetical scenarios for discussion.
"Yes, why hide?" Belvina said sarcastically. "He's a hero of wizarding society, a recipient of the Order of Merlin, First Class. And hasn't he thought about his poor old mother?"
The matter of Sirius betraying James and Lily was already shrouded in mystery, and Peter Pettigrew's "inexplicable" disappearance only made the whole affair seem even more shrouded in mystery.
If Peter Pettigrew was afraid of retaliation from Sirius's allies, why did he still not show up after the Ministry of Magic arrested a large number of Death Eaters?
Don't forget that Peter Pettigrew was a member of the Order of the Phoenix before, so why should he fear the Death Eaters' revenge?
For twelve years, Peter Pettigrew has been hiding in the Weasleys' house disguised as a pet mouse. What is he really afraid of?
Just as Lupin was deep in thought, there was a knock on the closed wooden door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, interrupting Lupin's thoughts.
"It should be Professor Dumbledore," Belvina explained. "I sent Bathsheda to find Professor Dumbledore first."
Let's make sure our principal doesn't suddenly disappear.
"Look," Belvina said, walking to the entrance and opening the classroom door.
Sure enough, Dumbledore stood ramrod straight outside the classroom door, with Bassheda standing behind him.
Belvina originally planned to get confirmation from Lupin first, and then go to the headmaster's office to find Dumbledore. She didn't expect the centenarian to be so impatient.
"Where's the newspaper?" Dumbledore asked directly, getting straight to the point without any preamble.
Belvina stepped aside from the doorway and said, "It's on the desk. That photo is from the 'Day of Reincarnation' series." Now it was Belvina's turn to have so much to say, but Dumbledore raised his hand to interrupt her, walked directly to the desk, and picked up the expired old newspaper.
"Remus, are you sure this pet mouse is Peter?" Dumbledore asked, looking at the mouse in the photograph.
Even the great Albus Dumbledore couldn't tell from a photograph whether his pet mouse was an Animagus, but the mouse's front paws did catch the headmaster's attention.
"I'm sorry, Professor," Lupin repeated, "I can't give you a definite answer, but I think it's Peter."
Dumbledore then looked at Belvina and asked, "Did Sirius ask Cornelius for this newspaper? He said he wanted to do the crossword puzzle to pass the time?"
“That’s right,” Belvina nodded. “The idea that Azkaban’s most dangerous criminals have to play crossword puzzles sounds absurd.”
Most of the prisoners in Azkaban were tormented by Dementors to the point of wishing for death, while serious offenders like Sirius Black received special care, being accompanied day and night and inseparable from them.
Even so, Sirius Black managed to remain rational, even wanting to play crossword puzzles in the newspaper to pass the time.
This is an extremely obvious signal.
Unfortunately, Cornelius Fudge didn't see anything and had no idea that it was his inspection that led to Sirius's escape.
"It seems there was indeed more to the story than meets the eye back then," Dumbledore said calmly, putting the old newspaper back on his desk.
It sounds like Dumbledore said something pointless, but it's actually a crucial pointless statement that sums up the whole thing.
From this moment on, the capture of Sirius Black officially became the search for Sirius Black, and the search for Peter Pettigrew, who was hiding.
Standing by the door, Bassheda asked, "Even if we're now certain that Peter Pettigrew is the Weasleys' pet mouse, how are we supposed to find him? Our search of the Gryffindor tower last time might have alerted him."
Just as Bassheda had feared, Sirius's attempt to break into Gryffindor Tower and the professors' search of Gryffindor Tower could alert Sirius.
If Peter Pettigrew were to run away or go into complete hiding, finding him would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. Belvina frowned, feeling deeply troubled by the situation, and she couldn't think of a solution for the time being.
Not to mention the young Belvina, even the seasoned Dumbledore looked troubled.