"Severus, what are you doing?!" Snape's sudden movement startled Professor McGonagall.

She hurried over to Peter, and saw that he hung his head feebly, already in a groggy state.

"Severus, what did you feed Peter?" Professor McGonagall clutched Snape's sleeve and pursed her lips sternly, "I know you had a lot of conflicts with Jaime and them at the time, but it's been more than a decade now!"

"Severus, you really don't need to hold a grudge to this extent......

"There's no need to worry about him, it's just a little bit of truth elixir." Snape's gaze was still fixed on the groggy Peter, and he said in a stiff tone, "I wish it was not a truth potion that was poured into his mouth, but a poison made from mandrake juice."

"What exactly are you suspicious?" Professor McGonagall frowned tightly.

At this moment, Dumbledore, who had not spoken, suddenly interrupted Professor McGonagall.

"Let Severus go, Minerva, I told him to do it." He said.

"Albus?" Professor McGonagall turned her head to look at the couch where Dumbledore was, and asked in disbelief, "Why did you do that?"

"I'm just trying to confirm something." Dumbledore shook his head at her gently, "Don't be too impulsive, Minerva, many things you see aren't necessarily the truth."

Professor McGonagall gave him a suspicious look, but her trust in Dumbledore was much stronger than that of her former students.

So she let go of the hand that was tugging at Snape's sleeve and took two steps to the side slightly.

Snape didn't let up the whole time, he stared at Peter, his eyes gradually bloodshot and red.

"Tell me, twelve years ago...... Who the hell betrayed Lily, who betrayed Potter's arrogant idiot!" He forced himself to calm down, but his words were noticeably trembling.

Everyone present looked at the short, haggard figure with his head bowed and looking haggard, to see what kind of answer he would say.

"It's me...... I was the one who betrayed James......" Peter said in a tone that was not mixed with any emotion.

His first words made Professor McGonagall's eyes widen and she covered her mouth in disbelief.

"But...... Isn't Jaime and Lily's secret keeper Sirius Black?" Professor McGonagall stepped forward and asked urgently.

"He was chosen in the original plan...... But Sirius felt that he was too conspicuous, and anyone could have thought that James would choose the clever Sirius as his secret man, so he convinced Jaime and Lily to replace the secret with me at the last minute......

Professor McGonagall suddenly tightened, and Snape clenched his fists and grabbed Peter's collar hard.

"Tell me, Pediru, why did you join the Dark Lord?!" In a trembling voice, he said viciously, "How can you take refuge in the Dark Lord?! How can you be worthy of Lily's trust in you!"

"The Dark Lord is too powerful for me to have the courage to stand up to him, I'm a coward, and I don't deserve to be in Gryffindor." Peter said, "It really happened that not long after I agreed to the Dark Lord, Sirius persuaded Jaime and Lily to replace the secret with my ..........

"I thought I would get a lot of credit and I wouldn't have to worry about my safety from now on. But the Dark Lord disappeared on the night he went to Godric's Hollow, and no one could contact him......

"I freaked out because I had to endure two factions at the same time - Sirius questioning me why I had betrayed James; The Dark Lord's supporters thought I was still working for the Order of the Phoenix, and deliberately tricked the Dark Lord into going to Godric's Hollow to make him miss out......

"So I have to think of a way, a way to keep myself alive."

"Sirius had already found me by that time, and he always knew where I would hide...... So I had a flash of inspiration when faced with a life-and-death crisis, and I shouted on that street, 'You betrayed Jaime and Lily, and then blew up the entire street before he could do anything, turning dozens of feet into the neighborhood

ruins."

"Sirius is so good, he naturally won't die easily under such an attack. But he didn't know that I wasn't as weak as they thought, and he thought I was just emotionally driven out of control and blown myself to ashes along with the street......

"But I didn't, I saved myself under the spell, and cut off my index finger to make him think I was dead, and then turned into a rat and fled into the sewers, mingling with other real rats...... Until he was adopted by the Wesley family."

"I've been a pet rat ever since, but at least I've survived."

Under the influence of the elixir, Peter's tone was still unhurried and unfluctuating, which made the few people present sound even more sullen.

Professor McGonagall couldn't believe that the student who couldn't speak clearly had turned himself into a demon step by step, causing the deaths of dozens of people, including his friends!

She took a long breath before she finally let it go.

"But...... But if you're scared, why don't you tell Dumbledore? We don't have to let you join the Order of the Phoenix, you can quit at any time!" Professor McGonagall said bitterly, "Besides, Dumbledore can clearly protect you......

"Dumbledore can't protect everyone." Peter continued, expressionlessly, "As a friend of James, Sirius, and Remus, three loyal members of the Order of the Phoenix, I naturally stand on the obvious opposite of the Death Eaters, and they will find me anyway."

"Become a Death Eater and be captured by Dumbledore, at least for the rest of your life in Azkaban; But if the members of the Order of the Phoenix are caught by the Death Eaters, then I will definitely die at their hands......

"I didn't want to die, so I chose the Death Eaters."

"Oh my God! I can't believe it......" Professor McGonagall turned to remove her glasses and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her handkerchief.

Snape on the other side couldn't take it anymore, and the expression on his face seemed to be distorted.

"Don't want to die? Hehehe......" Snape grabbed Peter's collar with one hand, and raised his wand with the other, "Have you ever thought that there are people in the Order of the Phoenix who don't care about those ridiculous rules!" ….

A blinding green light poured out of Snape's wand, illuminating Peter's small, unfocused eyes green.

Just as the curse was about to hit Peter's face, a red light suddenly came back, striking Peter in the face first, sending it flying out of Snape's hand.

In the same way, it also made him fly out of the range of the Requisition Spell.

Stone droplets splashed, and green pillars of light slammed into the wall behind them, making a hideous gap in the solid stone wall.

"Albus, do you want to shield this shameful traitor?" Snape turned his head and looked at Dumbledore fiercely, "You know, he killed Lily!"

"Yes, I know, Severus." Dumbledore sighed softly, "But he has other uses, and I can't allow you to kill him like that."

"What else could he be used for?!" Snape roared, completely out of his usual cold and gloomy form, "Do you still want to use this traitor as Sirius Black's wanted criminal***?"

"Severus, now that the truth is known, we can confirm Sirius' innocence." Dumbledore whispered, "He only infiltrated Hogwarts to capture Peter and avenge James and Lily."

"But isn't he wrong?" Snape's tone was cold, "If it weren't for how powerful and conspicuous that megalomaniac thought he was, how would he have thought of handing over the secret man to such a traitor!"

"Severus, you're still too prejudiced against Sirius." Dumbledore shook his head helplessly.

"I'm just telling you a fact!" Snape gritted his teeth.

"I've seen them for what they are twenty years ago...... Arrogant, arrogant, showy, never taking other people's emotions and feelings into account, and now they are to blame for this end!"

Snape angrily walked back and forth in the faculty lounge, one ugly adjective after another coming out of his mouth, all of which were snapped on the heads of the original foursome, venting the emotions that had been pent up in his heart for more than a decade.

Dumbledore watched him silently, without interrupting.

Dracula also watched with interest the angry behavior of the Potions professor, who had always had a gloomy face, and found it very amusing.

The first to be overwhelmed was Professor McGonagall.

"Severus, Jaime, and Sirius did get a little headstrong and mischievous in school, and I'll admit they were the most troublesome students I've ever had, but they did give a lot to fight the mystery man."

Professor McGonagall had wiped away her tears, put her glasses back on, and regained her sleek appearance, only the still reddish eyes indicated that she was still not in a calm mood.

Snape's angry scolding froze.

He was one of the Mysteries who had been fought by Jaime and Sirius, and he was a little unconfident in the face of Professor McGonagall's rebuttal.

"If that's what you think, so be it." He pursed his lips and pushed open the door to the common room, "Whatever you want, I don't think the Ministry of Magic would compromise with an original criminal so easily!"

With that, he left the faculty lounge without looking back. ….

Every time he glanced at the culprit who had killed Lily, his heart ached again...... After all, it was actually himself who really got the Dark Lord to want to kill the Jaime family.

"Albus, what are we going to do next?"

In the faculty lounge, Professor McGonagall looked at Dumbledore with some hesitation and asked.

"Either way, let's let go of martial law in the castle first." Dumbledore looked out the window at the sky and whispered, "It's almost dawn, and it's time for another important person to wake up."

……

In a small bedroom, the curtains are closed on all sides, and the walls are full of soundproofing spells.

At this time, Remus Lew, pale and haggard, had woken painfully from his slumber.

Even with the wolf poison potion that Snape had been asked to refine for him by Dumbledore to keep him awake on a full moon night, the transformation process was not easy.

[Stable operation for many years, comparable to the old version of the book-chasing artifact, old bookworms are using.]

Suddenly.

"I should have thought of that," he muttered, "and Sirius and I actually had some scruples about each other......

"Sirius thought I was a werewolf, and most of the werewolves had joined Voldemort's side at that time; And I think he was a member of House Blake, and his brother and cousin were the most loyal Death Eaters at the time......

"The two of us can't give each other all the trust we have, but I didn't expect that Peter, the most inconspicuous and trustworthy of all, betrayed James."

Lupin's eyes were full of shame, as if he considered himself a sinner.

"More than a decade has passed, and there's no need to regret it now, Professor Lupin." Dracula turned his head to look at Lupin, "Why don't you take this moment and tell me some interesting things you all had at the time, and think about where Sirius Blake would be hiding......

Dracula curled the corners of his mouth, "You are the person who knows him best in the entire wizarding world right now, and your ideas are very valuable to us."

……

…….

Ripples of dust