Ron suddenly lunged at one of the glass tanks, pounding on it frantically, drawing everyone's attention toward him.
Jane Yu suddenly recalled Ron's complaint from two days ago about his corn snake trying to eat his pet rat.
Sure enough, Ron let out a piercing cry for help:
"My Scabbers! It's going to be eaten by the snake! No—!"
Jane leaned forward to peer into the glass tank, only to find that one of the corn snakes had already swallowed the tailless rat with a missing toe almost entirely. Only two thin hind legs were left, weakly struggling outside the snake's mouth, desperately trying to escape.
But its efforts were futile. The corn snake clamped down tightly on its prey, giving it no chance to flee. The rat's strength soon waned, and it eventually stopped struggling altogether.
With a final gulp, the snake swallowed the remaining legs, and its body bulged into the shape of the rat.
"Scabbers—!" Ron let out a heart-wrenching wail.
But in the very next moment—
The previously calm snake suddenly began thrashing violently. Its upper body convulsed painfully, and Jane could almost see the desperate movements of the rat inside through the snake's translucent skin. This seemed normal enough—after all, regurgitation is a common behavior for snakes.
But as the snake attempted to expel the rat, a horrifying scene unfolded…
Four human fingers suddenly stretched out from the snake's mouth!
"Ahhh!!!"
Ron was so terrified that he fell to the ground, landing hard on his backside.
His mouth opened wider than the snake's, letting out a shrill scream as his limbs flailed uncontrollably, scrambling backward.
The bizarre and horrifying sight drew gasps from the entire crowd of students and teachers.
Like a scene straight out of a horror movie, the four fingers clung desperately to the snake's mouth, as if trying to pull their owner out of the snake—
And they succeeded. The corn snake writhed and recoiled, finally regurgitating its slime-covered prey halfway out.
But what emerged from the snake's mouth could no longer be called a rat. What came out first was a thin, flesh-covered bone—a human arm, attached to the rat's body!
The arm flailed weakly, pushing against the snake's mouth. With its relentless effort, the rat's body began to transform—first the limbs, then the torso, and finally the head. The glass tank cracked with a series of loud "pop, pop, pop" sounds, and shards of glass scattered everywhere!
Moments later, a short, emaciated man lay sprawled amidst the shattered glass, his condition utterly pitiful—his body was drenched in blood from the snake's bites and the glass cuts, and his skin was covered in horrifying bruises from being constricted by the snake. His sparse, lifeless hair was disheveled, with a bald patch on top.
He looked like a corpse, completely motionless, his breathing faint and shallow.
This pet rat of Ron's, Scabbers, turned out to be an unregistered Animagus!
What a thrilling "human transformation" performance for the students and teachers!
Jane glanced at Ron and saw his pale face, shaking his head in disbelief, seemingly unable to accept the truth.
She couldn't help but shed a tear of sympathy for him—
The poor boy had shared his bed with a shriveled old man for so many years. How deep must his psychological trauma be?
The professors, however, exclaimed in shock, recognizing who it was—
"Peter Pettigrew!"
A man who was supposed to have been dead for twelve years suddenly appeared alive before them, and as an unregistered Animagus, no less!
Faced with this shocking turn of events, Severus Snape reacted immediately. He swiftly drew his wand, and ropes shot out from its tip, binding Peter's hands and feet tightly, like a bundle of firewood.
His face was pale, as if a rigid marble mask had been placed over it, and hatred burned in his eyes like tangible flames.
"Remus Lupin, Sirius Black... It must have been the three of them working together! It has to be!"
"Calm down, Severus," Dumbledore said, maintaining order with his usual composure. He, too, realized there was more to the story from twelve years ago. "Please fetch the strongest Veritaserum. I will summon Remus."
...
Jane, Harry, and Ron were left behind to witness the interrogation.
Interrogator #1, Severus Snape, rudely splashed a jet of water with an Aguamenti spell to wake up the tightly bound suspect, drawing a cough from Chief Interrogator Albus Dumbledore.
The forcibly awakened Peter Pettigrew still looked half-dead.
Many of his bones had been broken during the struggle, but his soft bones didn't stop his hard mouth.
During the interrogation, Peter refused to cooperate, stubbornly resisting, trying to cover up his crimes and using sophistry to evade accountability, causing the interrogation to stall.
Even though Chief Interrogator Dumbledore repeatedly warned him that any attempts to mislead or resist the interrogation would not only fail to absolve him of guilt but also forfeit any chance of leniency, Peter continued to claim that he transformed into a rat out of fear of Voldemort's followers. He shifted all the blame onto his absent former friend, Sirius Black, another suspect, declaring that he was not the only unregistered Animagus.
What a despicable act.
The merciless Interrogator #1, Snape, sneered coldly and decided to let him taste the effects of the strongest Veritaserum.
Peter lost control of his mouth and had no choice but to confess his crimes truthfully.
—It turned out he was the one who betrayed the Potters to Voldemort and killed innocent Muggles!
Interrogator Snape flew into a rage. In a fit of fury, he attempted to use an incomplete Sectumsempra spell on Pettigrew, only to be stopped by Chief Interrogator Dumbledore. Not one to give up easily, Snape redoubled his efforts and successfully cast a Sectumsempra spell that severed one of Pettigrew's ears.
If not for the professors shouting, "Severus, that's enough!" and physically restraining him, Pettigrew's head might have been next.
Pettigrew screamed in agony and, under the influence of the Veritaserum, wailed pitifully:
"Twelve years! Do you know what I've endured these twelve years?"
"I lived in the Weasley household, scavenging for scraps, until you—yes, you, that cursed girl—"
He suddenly turned his head sharply to glare at Jane in the spectators' seats, only to twist his neck awkwardly and let out another cry of pain.
"If it weren't for you teaching Ron to keep snakes, I could've lived out my days in peace! I wouldn't have ended up like this!"
"Do you know what it feels like to be bitten by a snake? To be constricted to the brink of death? They made me go a week without a proper meal! Why would you torment me like this?"
Jane, sitting in the spectators' seats, stared at him blankly.
The furious onlookers, Harry and Ron, stepped forward in unison, shielding her from Pettigrew's murderous glare.
"Do you know what it feels like to have my parents murdered by Voldemort because of you?" Harry, who had just learned the full story during the interrogation, glared at Pettigrew with his emerald-green eyes blazing with hatred. "You betrayed them! Twelve years—they've been lying in cold graves, while you enjoyed the warmth of the Weasley hearth. And now you dare to accuse Jane?"
Ron, equally disgusted, glared at Pettigrew with utter loathing, feeling as though his entire being had been defiled.
"I kept a murderer as a pet! I let you sleep in my bed!"
"If it weren't for Jane, I'd still be in the dark!"
"Harry, Ron..." Pettigrew tried to plead with the two boys. "You must understand... Show mercy... Haven't I been a good pet, a good friend?"
"Save that line for the Dementors," Interrogator #2, Remus Lupin, cut him off coldly.
In summary, Pettigrew's crimes were clear, and the evidence was irrefutable. Chief Interrogator Dumbledore immediately approved the arrest order, instructing Interrogator Snape to knock Pettigrew unconscious and await the arrival of Ministry officials.
Snape, ever the overachiever, executed the task with gusto, casting multiple Stupefy spells and ensuring Pettigrew was thoroughly incapacitated.
Interrogator #2, Lupin, commended his colleague's thoroughness, only to receive a cold, venomous glare from Snape in return.
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