Hermione, join me as Minister of Magic!

He looked up to the sky and screamed, and that posture made Lockhart even a little worried whether this guy would suddenly go crazy.

But Dumbledore was still as steady as a bell, and Lockhart had no choice but to pretend to be himself.

He looks very calm.

After venting for a while, Blake sat down dejectedly back in the chair that restrained him just now.

"If you have any questions, feel free to ask! In advance... I advise you to find and catch the mouse next to the boy first."

His voice was so low that he seemed to be sentenced to death tomorrow.

"Rat? What rat?" Dumbledore demanded.

"Peter Pettigrew, he's an Animagus like me, and his Animagus form is a mouse...Because I was cornered, he blew up a street and cut off his own Finger, I thought he was dead, but I read in the Daily Prophet that he was alive..."

He didn't say "Lupine knew this too" because he wasn't sure why his former friend was hiding it.

But Dumbledore obviously knew more than he did: "It's the same as what Remus just told me... So can you please tell me, what are the characteristics of that mouse?"

Black thought that Lupine still couldn't stand it, but since he didn't cast a harmful spell on himself immediately, he decided to put him in a good word.

"Lupine doesn't know everything. The other three of us are more familiar because we often transform together... That mouse has gray hair, eyes are bigger than ordinary mice, and the right front paw is missing a middle toe..."

"Is that what it looks like?"

Lockhart lifts a mouse cage out of nowhere and places it on Black's right

Blake turned his head subconsciously: "Yes, it is this kind of mouse, but because Peter is not good at learning, the left side of his body always becomes a little flawed and looks tattered..."

But when he was halfway through speaking, he suddenly stopped talking.

Black stared at the mouse cage that Lockhart brought over, his eyes widened and his body trembled slightly.

Immediately afterwards, he suddenly jumped up from his seat, let out a roar, stretched his whole body and rushed towards Lockhart.

Without Lockhart's shot, Dumbledore just raised his wand a little, and Black was pushed back as if caught by an invisible giant hand in the air.

Not only was Lockhart not afraid, but on the contrary he looked like he was watching the show.

"Wow, it is said that after an Animagus has been around for too long, people's daily movements will gradually become beasts. I thought it was an exaggeration, but I didn't expect it to be true." He said.

"Not surprisingly, Minerva also catwalks unconsciously when turning around or going up the steps." Dumbledore echoed.

"After the five-wizard competition begins, won't our students have to face a group of beasts from African wizards? Do we need to provide them with a hunting ground?"

"Hagrid will take care of it, but I personally suggest that the Ministry of Magic don't think too much about field projects when they set up projects."

The two talked to each other as usual, as if the person struggling on the chair was just a neighbor's kid who came to play with building blocks.

After struggling for a few minutes, Black finally gave up, but his gaze towards the rat cage was still full of hatred.

Give me that niuba guy! ' he cried to Dumbledore, 'let me tear him up with my own hands!Then I will give you whatever you want. "

Dumbledore glanced at the cage, then at Black.

"Speaking of it, Gilderoy, you haven't explained it to me yet? How did you find out about all this?"

Dumbledore wanted to hang Black out, and of course Lockhart noticed. "To be honest, I just discovered it just now." Lockhart said without changing his expression.

He jumped up and made up a lie, "But the letter he sent to Baldmore Company finally aroused my suspicion. Although it is the standard official letterhead of the Ministry of Magic, I personally think that there is too much blank space on the top of the letterhead. , so I always make a habit of cutting off half an inch before writing a letter."

"And you also cut the letterhead of the order credit?" Dumbledore understood.

"Yeah, when I got suspicious, I went to check my old wand. As careful as this guy is, the Oblivion Charm is my forte. Everyone uses a slightly different Oblivion Charm. The effect of the flashback Also different..."

Lockhart was eloquently explaining the process of his "discovery", and Dumbledore seemed to be very patient, so he just kept listening.

But Sirius didn't have that kind of temper, he stared at the trembling mouse still glued to the mouse cage, wishing he could eat it alive.

But unfortunately, Dumbledore just wanted to boil him so that he could see his reaction.

So it is, but I still don't know how on earth you found this mouse. Dumbledore asked with great interest, "If they hadn't told me themselves, I might not have found out in my life. "

"I don't know either." Lockhart said something that surprised Dumbledore.

"Don't know?" Dumbledore asked back.

"Yes, but I thought about it and found that Black and Hermione's cat were connected in series, and the target should be Ron's mouse—if his target was Harry, then the last time he was in Hogsmeade , he should have done it long ago, so I guess he has other goals, plus Hermione and I have secretly complained that her cat always stares at Ron's mouse, but usually sees other rats in the dormitory. The mouse is too lazy to catch

"I see."

"Then I fiddled with Ron's rat tonic by mixing in some of the tracer that Remus gave me... I was just thinking, since Black cares so much about that rat, I might as well put it in first. This mouse is in my hands, so no matter what the problem with the mouse is, the initiative is in my hands, I didn't expect to win the big prize."

It is quite difficult to make up a lie in front of Dumbledore, but fortunately Lockhart's lie is still passable, even if Dumbledore always found out that Lockhart knew something else, he didn't continue to ask. Go on, sometimes you still have to save some face for others.

Anyway, Lockhart's purpose of concealing these things cannot be for power, power, and power—Dumbledore has seen Lockhart through.

Chapter 220 Confrontation

The reason why Lockhart has concealed it until now is of course for the sake of power.

If Sirius' grievances are cleared up quickly, Mr. Crouch, who has supported himself in the early stage of the project, may lose his power immediately because of this.

But now, Lockhart is no longer afraid to sell his boss, because he has basically completed the affairs of the Five Powers Tournament, and from negotiating sponsors to venue construction, to arranging receptions and internships, he is all on his own. Even if others want to do it, they can't take away his credit.

Not to mention that there is a high probability that Mr. Crouch will not resign, even if Crouch does take the blame and resign, Lockhart is not afraid.

Because those stakeholders, including pure-blood families and sponsors, have negotiated contracts with him, especially since the Ministry of Magic has no relevant regulations for the time being, they must I don't want to change people casually.

No matter who the new boss is, he will rely on himself to negotiate with sponsors.

If Mr. Crouch was really forced to retire because of this, then Lockhart would only be very "regretful" and would take the initiative to go over to greet him after his retirement, but it is absolutely impossible for him to stand up for Crouch.

In his mouth, he discovered Sirius' true identity purely by "accident". If Sirius hadn't spent money on the Firebolt last Christmas, he would not have guessed who he was.

Compared to Lockhart's lies, in front of Dumbledore, Sirius was very honest and confessed everything.

He started talking about the fact that he "betrayed" the Potters back then, to "I" because he suspected that Remus was a traitor, so he temporarily changed Peter Pettigrew to be the secret keeper of the Potters, and then he discovered the omission , went to hunt down Peter himself, and was finally

Fang feigned death to escape.

Then, he confessed what he had done for a while—swimming from Azkaban back to England, then walking to London to find his godson, and finally smuggling to Edinburgh by boat to Hogsmeade...

Dumbledore listened to him narrating his journey, although his face remained expressionless, his heart was filled with turmoil.

He has lived for 120 years, and he thinks he has seen all kinds of storms, but when it comes to feelings, he still often feels helpless.

There would be someone who voluntarily punished himself for the death of his best friend, and squatted in a place like Azkaban for more than ten years. Human beings are really weird.

From less than 20 years old to 30 years old, the most precious golden ten years in a person's life, Sirius spent in prison, and he was charged with crimes that he should not have suffered.

At this moment, Dumbledore even thought of Grindelwald who was still imprisoned in the tower—is it because of this that the guy drew the ground as a prison, imprisoning himself with the shackles in his heart for decades?

Although Sirius downplayed it, Dumbledore could feel the fiery passion in his heart.

You know, Azkaban is in the middle of the North Sea—it is also 350 kilometers away from the shortest landing point in the UK.He couldn't have imagined anyone swimming back to England from Azkaban without this emotional basis.

Just as Snape gained Dumbledore's trust only by relying on the doe patron saint, even though Black's only evidence was the mouse, Dumbledore still chose to believe him.

"However, even with the Wizengamot, we must allow the accused to speak..." said Dumbledore slowly.

He turned to the mouse cage, and with a flick of his wand, the cage split itself in two.

Lockhart felt a little helpless in his heart—whether it was the strengthening spell or the locking spell he had cast, it seemed as if they didn't exist in front of Dumbledore, and he didn't even understand how he did it.

Thinking about it carefully, I have been busy with official duties these days, and I haven't practiced new spells for a long time, and the field-control magic system I created hasn't been updated, so I still have to practice if I have the chance.

…what?By the way, isn't Sirius a good sparring partner?

Just as he was thinking wildly, the shivering mouse had regained its human body and stood up awkwardly.

This man has a conical face with a pointed nose, short stature, and a slight baldness in the middle of his gray hair. As a man under 30 years old, this is undoubtedly a sign of his suffering these days.

But no one here will sympathize with him.

Seeing the gazes of the three gathered on him, Peter spoke out with his mouse-like shrill voice.

Obviously, he had listened to the conversations of the few people just now, and felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.

"I'm not a traitor!" Peter Pettigrew argued, "I'm just an insignificant little character. James trusts Sirius the most, everyone knows it!"

Peter Pettigrew was very nervous—his eyes wandered, he stuttered and spoke incoherently, and his voice was intermittent, and many places were passed by the prison, which made Lockhart almost suspect that he would faint in the next moment.

Of course, this may also be related to the fact that he has not spoken for too long and his vocal organs have degenerated.

It's a pity that he said this without confidence, and he also knew that he had never had any attainments in Occlumency, and Dumbledore's Legilimency was no worse than Voldemort's, which Voldemort himself had to learn. acknowledged fact.

"Peterina!" Black yelled at him, calling him by his last name, "Why do you still have the face to mention him? After betraying him?"

"Quiet!" Dumbledore raised a finger warningly, "I also want to hear how this guy is going to explain what happened."

"I, I, I... I can understand and explain... I, I don't! I still have... By the way, I still have my mother! I can't die! I don't want James to become like that, we are the best friend!"

It can be seen that Peter originally intended to lie, but he just exchanged glances with Dumbledore before being defeated by his penetrating gaze, knowing that he could not fool him.

He couldn't tell a lie, but he didn't want to admit it, so he began to stammer.

Seeing this, Dumbledore turned to Lockhart.

"No matter what the truth of the matter is, I want to ask three people to come and listen together, because this matter is related to them."

"Who?" Lockhart was a little surprised.

"Remus Lupine, Severus Snape, and Harry Potter.

Lockhart saw nothing wrong and nodded, but Sirius quit.

"Snotling? What does it matter to him?" he demanded.

"It's Snape... I'll let him bring Veritaserum." Dumbledore said succinctly, "and in a sense, it does have something to do with him."

As he spoke, he observed the reactions of the two of them.

Dumbledore didn't plan to use Legilimency, because it would make him feel that he was on the same level as Grindelwald and Voldemort. As for Veritaserum, of course it was also a lie to Peter Pettigrew.

Although it is not sure if Snape still has the Veritaserum in stock, but when Dumbledore said the word "Veritaserum", Peter Pettigrew suddenly turned pale, while Black showed a satisfied smile .Just looking at this reaction, Dumbledore knew who to trust.

Although he knew it well, Dumbledore snapped his fingers and a phoenix feather appeared on his hand.

He whispered something to the feather, and it disappeared from the shed in a flash of flame.

"They should be here soon...you caught him, Gilderoy, what are you going to do about it?" asked Dumbledore.

Lockhart obviously thought carefully: "I hope that this matter will not expand as much as possible. If possible, I hope that my boss, Mr. Crouch, can express some opinions on this matter and give him a chance to recover. So many Luo didn't realize that Black entered Azkaban voluntarily."

"Mr. Crouch?" Dumbledore hesitated.

He didn't have much friendship with Crouch, and because of his support for Fudge, there was even friction between the two.

But since it was the prisoner caught by Lockhart, the right to dispose of it was in Lockhart's hands, which was Dumbledore's opinion.

As for the judicial settlement, Dumbledore hadn't thought about it at all, even if he himself was one of the members of the Wizengamot court.

In a small society with less than 1 people, human relations will always take precedence over the rule of law. This is the only rule.

Chapter 220 Five Responses

So far, Dumbledore has no doubts about what the truth is, but he still intends to complete the process.

Because he wanted to confirm how the savior would choose when faced with such "justice" and "private enmity".

And Snape too, after all these years, Dumbledore wasn't sure if he let go of the incident.

And at the beginning, I also promised Snape to protect Lily Potter, and gave the Potters the Loyalty Curse as an answer, but in the end they were betrayed by Peter Pettigrew, so I had to give Snape a explain.

As for the life of Peter Pettigrew, it is not so important to Dumbledore

Whether it was sent to the Ministry of Magic, or Harry vented his anger and killed him in the name of revenge: Peter Pettigrew deserved it.

After a while, a puff of black smoke flew over from the direction of the castle, and landed in front of the Shrieking Shack, turning into a human form.

"Good morning, Severus," Dumbledore called to him from the window.

Sirius was taken aback when he heard the words, but when he looked out of the window, he realized that during the time when he went and returned and Peter was captured, the sky was already bright

Snape slammed into the wooden door of the Shrieking Shack with a cold face, looked at Peter Pettigrew as soon as he entered the door, and didn't even say hello to the others present.

Lupine and Harry, on the other hand, were manifested by two house-elves with a entourage, and Harry had a tired and confused face.

Harry didn't sleep well last night, because of the invasion of Sirius, he still couldn't sleep

Death, and Ron, who was still in shock, kept rambling, and he didn't fall into a drowsy sleep until more than three o'clock in the morning.