Chapter 756 Padfoot
Ron Weasley has been in the spotlight since the attack, and he seems to enjoy being a celebrity. As long as anyone wants to hear it, he is willing to tell them what happened that night, and he will also add many "details" to the description.
Neville Longbottom, who led Sirius Black to successfully invade Gryffindor Tower, was also punished for this incident. The day after Black broke into Gryffindor Tower, Longbottom received a shouting letter from his grandmother. For a time, Mr. Longbottom succeeded in replacing Malfoy as people's after-dinner joke.
However, none of this affected Albert, who still lived a busy and fulfilling life every day.
"Give!"
After class, Albert handed the folder to Katrina, "All the test papers you want are in it."
“Thank you.” Katrina held the folder in her arms and whispered her thanks to Albert.
"You're welcome, this is the agreement." Albert turned and walked towards Fred, George and Lee Jordan who were still waiting for him.
“We are going to check out the secret passage.”
Fred looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping, then lowered his voice and said, "We might be able to find out where Blake invaded the castle from."
"I have confirmed again and again that the side of the portrait is not within the security patrol range, and Filch doesn't know that there is a secret passage leading to the outside of the castle." George added, "The old guy has discovered many secret passages recently. It’s all blocked.”
"If Black really entered that way, should we tell Professor McGonagall about it?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Jordan found that the surroundings suddenly became quiet.
The three of them looked at Albert, waiting for the other person to make a decision.
"Let's talk! Okay, there's no one around, hurry up." Albert glanced at the map in his hand, and after making sure there was no one around, he urged the three of them to move faster.
The portrait slowly moved away to reveal the passage behind it, and the four people immediately swarmed in. George immediately closed the entrance to the secret passage again to prevent others from discovering the existence of this secret passage.
After lighting the wand, their attention was attracted by the footprints on the ground.
“There are footprints, and we guessed it correctly.” Li Jordan pointed to the vague footprints on the ground and excitedly announced the good news to everyone.
The twins once sprinkled a layer of chalk powder in this passage. Although a long time has passed, they can still tell whether someone has used this secret passage.
"Sirius Black indeed entered the castle through this secret passage." Fred was very excited about their new discovery. He held up his wand and walked at the front of the team. He soon discovered that the footprints on the ground disappeared and were replaced by They are the footprints of an unknown animal. "
"What kind of footprints are these?" George lowered his wand and tried to see clearly the footprints on the ground. They were the footprints of some kind of animal.
“Cat paw prints?”
“Blake turned into a cat?”
The three of them all remembered Albert's last speculation and said in unison: "Black is an Animagus. Professor McGonagall has the ability to turn himself into a cat. If Black can also turn into a cat, , it’s not surprising that he can escape from the Azkaban prison. I dare say that the cell over there can’t hold Black. Moreover, the dementors have no eyes, so even if Black turns into a cat, they won’t know. "
Albert didn’t answer the three people’s words. He silently took out his camera from the deformed lizard skin bag and took some photos of the footprints.
A few people continued walking along the passage and found other similar animal footprints where the chalk dust had been sprinkled.
On the way back to the castle, the four of them were discussing the matter, and they even boldly suspected that Sirius Black had turned into a cat and hid in the school.
“Why do you think Black will turn into a cat?”
Albert handed the photos he took to the three friends respectively, "If Black turned into a cat, he would not need Gryffindor's password at all, because no one would doubt a cat, and this It should be dog footprints. I can still tell the difference between cat footprints and dog footprints. Look at their flesh pads. If you don’t believe it, go back and ask Tom to step on the footprints and compare it with the photo. Just like I guessed last time Yes, Padfoot should be Black, if he really is an Animagus."
"Perhaps, we should go to the library and look up the Animagus records." Lee Jordan suggested.
"Don't be stupid. If you were an Animagus, would you go to the Ministry of Magic to register?" George shook his head and said, "If Black is really an Animagus, I think he will definitely not announce this." thing."
"I checked the relevant information and found that there are only seven Animagus in this century." Albert added: "However, as George said, there must be some missing, because if I were an Animagus Si, I won’t register it, anyway, as long as it’s not used to steal information and the Ministry of Magic doesn’t know about it, it’ll be fine.”
"I think we're pretty close to the truth," Fred said excitedly. "If there's a dog wandering around the school, it's probably Blake."
“It should be a black dog.” Albert reminded.
“Why a black dog?”
“Because of Blake.”
"Well, my prediction about Blake turned out to be a black dog." Albert did not deny this, "I didn't tell you directly because I needed evidence."
“Harry said he once met a black dog.” Fred said suddenly.
"Well, his black dog took it as a bad omen and even talked to me about it." Albert nodded and said that this was indeed the case: "Now it is completely confirmed. By the way, I was in Hogmore I saw a black dog in the alley of Germany."
"If that was Black, why did he give up killing Harry, and...the attacks a few days ago were also strange. I remember you said that Sirius Black was Harry's godfather." George felt more and more This thing is weird.
“There are now various signs that Sirius Black’s target may not be Harry, but someone else.” Fred agreed with George’s point of view.
"Could it be Peter Pettigrew?" Lee Jordan said tentatively: "I think Wormtail should be him. Since Black may be an Animagus, then Harry's father and Peter Pettigrew Could it be that they are all Animagus? I remember Albert once said that the nicknames on the Marauder's Map may represent transformation."
“Who is Harry’s father?” Fred asked.
"Stag, Potter's patron saint is a stag. He is very similar to his father, so he is probably also a stag, which just corresponds to the nickname Prongs."
"Harry's patronus?" George's voice rose slightly.
I don’t know why, but the atmosphere at the scene suddenly became a bit depressing.
“How long did it take Harry to summon the physical Patronus?” Fred suddenly asked.
"About half a year, if you count it from the time he went to Professor Lupin's training, it would be about more than a month?" Albert didn't know the specific time.
There was an eerie silence. Fred and George suddenly stopped, put their hands on Lee Jordan's shoulders, and said sincerely: "It's time for you to work hard."
"Shut up, we are discussing Blake now." Lee Jordan broke free from the twins' hands and brought the topic back, "I am a little suspicious of Blake now. After all, dogs generally represent loyalty. It is really hard for me to imagine that Blake would Would you betray your friends?"
“No?” Fred and George shook their heads together.
“What if the mysterious person threatens you with your family?” Albert suddenly asked.
There was a longer silence.
Yeah, what if the mysterious person threatens his family?
"So, the person who betrayed Harry's father might be the dead Peter Pettigrew?" Fred frowned and said, "That guy is actually not dead?"
“His code name is Wormtail?”
“What do you think he would be if he were an Animagus?” George asked.
“Bug?”
"Obviously impossible. Wormtail should mean that the tail is like a worm." Albert speculated, "It should be a mouse."
"Rat?" George repeated softly. He remembered something and suddenly felt horrified: "Scabbers! Yes, Scabbers, Ron's mouse is probably Peter Pettigrew."
"But... how is it possible?" Fred looked at Albert, and when he saw the other man nodded slightly, his face turned slightly pale.
"Don't forget, Scabbers has lived a long time. Ever since Percy bought the new owl, that mouse became Ron's pet. God knows how long it lived, five years, seven years, or even more ?" George pointed out the evidence, "I still remember that Albert mentioned before that the lifespan of that mouse was a bit abnormal, and he joked that selling it to Muggles... would be very valuable."
If Banban was really a wizard, it would be really scary.
However, everything is very reasonable. If Scabbers is really Peter Pettigrew, then he may be the one who betrayed Harry's father. Otherwise, why would a living person disguise himself as a mouse for more than ten years?
Sirius Black apparently discovered that Peter was still alive from the Daily Prophet, so he escaped from Azkaban and tried to kill Peter Pettigrew to avenge his friend, while Scabbers was in Harry's dormitory.
"If Blake is really innocent, then should we arrest him in exchange for the reward?" Lee Jordan suddenly asked.
There was another long silence.
"Catch that guy first. Then we can prepare some veritaserum, or use Legilimency on him. I think we definitely need to find out the specific truth first." Albert made the final decision: "There Before that, we have to be prepared. I think if Black shows up, he is probably going to capture Peter Pettigrew. If that guy is really still alive, we can capture Peter in exchange for money. If the Ministry of Magic doesn't want it, we can Just trade it with Black, I believe he will be willing to pay a large sum of money to buy that mouse."
At this moment, Fred, George and Lee Jordan all looked at Albert in shock, never expecting that it could still be like this.
“This is considered blackmail!” Fred reminded in a low voice.
"How can this be considered blackmail? We spent so much energy, took such big risks, and finally upheld the justice of the magical world. We can't return empty-handed!" Albert said seriously, "What's more, Black himself There is a reward. If we catch Black before the reward is cancelled, we should get the reward. As for whether Black is innocent, that is something that the Ministry of Magic should worry about. It has nothing to do with us. Besides, you don’t want to go home empty-handed. Bar?"
(End of this chapter)