<h4>Chapter 216: Peter Pediru</h4>
"Is this the pet rat that Wes Lai raised?"
Drac opened his palm, and as if there was an irresistible suction force in his palm, therge gray-ck rat suddenly floated uncontrobly from the ground and flew towards Drac.
Suddenly rising from the ground, a few moments of shock first appeared in Bamm-Bamm''s eyes, and then, it saw the two professors in front of it, and the emotion of extreme fear surfaced on that pointed rat face.
It fluttered its four paws and twisted its head, struggling violently.
Spotty''s struggles were obviously to no avail, and Drac easily crushed it in his hand, somewhat disgustedly pinching the obese rat''s neck with the tips of his thumb and forefinger.
In a panic, it struggled and twisted its rat head around, biting Drac''s index finger with a mouthful of sharp teeth.
Then ...
the four long incisors above and below crumbled in unison, while Drac''s index finger didn''t even leave a tooth mark.
"Yo, this rat is quite fierce." Drac nced at Bamm-Bamm in his hand in an unsavory manner and threw it towards Dumbledore, "You''re better at Transfiguration, let''s see if there''s anything wrong with it."
"Does Professor Drac think that Bamm-Bamm is an Animagus that has not been legally registered?" Dumbledore asked with a frown as he picked up Bamm-Bamm.
He wasn''t as big-hearted as Drac, wrapping an Iron Armor spell around his hand before taking Bamm-Bamm.
"Who knows?" Drac shrugged, "Anyway, Sirius ck seems to have infiltrated themon room not for Potter, but to find this rat, which is supposed to have some problems."
Dumbledore nodded approvingly, then looked down at Spot, who was struggling violently in his hands.
Looking at the long-lived pet rat, his eyes first looked a little surprised, then changed to zed over.
"Might actually have you right, Professor Drac." Dumbledore said softly.
He took out his wand with his other hand and pointed it at the mouse in his hand, a circle of blue-white light slowly surfaced in front of the wand.
As the glow lit up, Bamm-Bamm hung in mid-air, its small gray-ck body writhing and struggling madly ...
A momentter, the mouse in the glow dropped andnded on the ground.
There was another dazzling sh of light, and then ... before his eyes it was as if a fast-motion shot of observing the growth of a nt was taking ce -
The rat''s body gradually expanded, and first a head appeared on the ground, then limbs came out of the body, and in a moment more a man stood where Bamm-Bamm had been a moment before, cowering and wringing his hands.
The man was short, not much taller than a lowly young wizard. His thin, tantalizingly colored hair was unkempt and he had arge bald spot on the top of his head.
His size didn''t fit his body very well, like that of an obese person who had lost a lot of weight in a short period of time, and his dirty skin had so many fat folds that it was almost like a rat''s fur.
Not only that, but his pointy nose and small watery eyes had some of the characteristics of a rat.
The man''s breath caught in his throat as he looked at the exuberant Drac and the surprised Dumbledore in front of him. His small eyes subconsciously nced towards the forbidden forest and quickly retracted.
Looking at the man in front of him, Dumbledore silently collected the surprise in his eyes and his eyes became extraordinarily deep.
"It''s been a long time, Peter." He said softly as he exhaled slowly.
"Do you recognize this rat, Dumbledore?" Drac asked Dumbledore as he eyed the short man curiously, "Tch, this guy looks itsy-bitsy, what''s Sirius ck doinging over here all the way to catch him."
"You, hello ... School Dumbledore ... Headmaster ...," the voice of the man called Peter was also shrill. His eyes looked at Drac with some trepidation, "Professor Drac ... I, too, know you ..."
"Oh?" Drac put a yful smile on his face, "It seems that I am quite famous in Weasley and Potter''s dormitory, actually even a pet knows my name."
"Professor Drac, this is no pet ...," Dumbledore''s voice rang out beside him.
His voice was soft, but Drac was surprised to feel the anger lurking in it.
"This is the recipient of the Order of Merlin, First ss, Peter Pediru." Dumbledore said softly. "A ''hero'' who should have died twelve years ago."
"Peter Pediru?" Drac froze for a moment, then his eyes became more yful, "A friend of Professor Lupin and that Sirius ck, right?"
"Precisely." Dumbledore nodded softly, "I''m actually curious, Peter, what on earth has sustained you for twelve years as a pet rat in the Weasley household."
"Headmaster!" Peter did not answer Dumbledore''s question head on, but instead eximed under his breath,rge beads of sweat bursting from his pale face, "Headmaster Dumbledore, you should know that he ... tried to kill me then, he ... "
"Yes, I know." Dumbledore''s voice became a little cold.
"He''s here trying to kill me again!" Peter suddenly screamed, "Sirius ck, he killed Lily and Jaime and now he''s trying to kill me ... You must help me, Mr. Headmaster ... "
"Don''t worry, I won''t let him get his hands on you until we figure out a few things." Dumbledore said.
"Get things straightened out?" Peter screamed, looking around hastily once more, his eyes ncing around at all the ces suitable for hiding, "I know he''s after me! I know he''lle after me! I''ve been hiding, I''ve been hiding for twelve years!"
"Did you know Sirius would escape Azkaban?" Dumbledore shook his head, "But no one has ever escaped before."
"He must have an evil spell that the rest of us can''t even think of!" Peter screamed at the top of his lungs, "How else could he have escaped from there? I''m guessing the man who can''t even be mentioned by name taught him some tricks once!"
"The conclusion you''re talking about doesn''t hold water." Drac suddenly let out a softugh, "There''s no reason why Voldemort would only teach the method of escaping Azkaban to a wizard who temporarily defected to the Death Eaters and not to those who have been with him for decades in his inner circle."
Judging from the fact that Voldemort had to rescue his former subordinates from Azkaban even though he hadn''t fully regained his strength, it was obvious that he trusted those prisoners, and there was no reason for him to value Sirius ck alone.
Hearing Drac say the name "Voldemort", Peter trembled a little, but under the strong desire to survive, he still gathered the courage to retort:
"That''s because ..."
"Enough, I''ll figure these things out." Dumbledore interrupted, looking up at the sky, "Now we just have to wait for the moon to set and the sun to rise ..."
Drac simrly looked up at the full moon in the sky and slightly ticked the corners of his mouth.
"Actually, we don''t have to wait until dawn ..."
...
In the faculty lounge, Dumbledore and Drac sat on two separate couches.
Peter Pettigrew didn''t seem to be embarrassed by Dumbledore, and was at that moment sitting hunched back in one of the chairs.
But when he tried to leave the chair to steal butchers, he found that the chair had an inexplicable power sticking to his body, making it impossible for him to break free from it.
This bad sign added to the panic in Peter''s mind, and the despair in his small eyes could scarcely be hidden.
After a short while, Professor McGonagall came in.
When she saw the figure of the author in that chair, she involuntarily covered her mouth with her hand and looked at Peter with open eyes.
"Merlin''s beard! Peter, I can''t believe you''re still alive!" Professor McGonagall eximed, her eyes still filled with disbelief.
"Good evening ... evening, no, no ... morning, Professor McGonagall." Peter stumbled over his words, the near-dawn sky outside the window making it almost impossible for him to tell what to say in greeting.
"This is incredible!" Professor McGonagall covered her face with her hands and looked to Dumbledore, "Albus, did you and Professor Drac find Peter? Where did you find find him?"
"Professor McGonagall, in case you don''t believe me, Mr. Pediru is the rat that Ron Weiss came to keep." Drac ticked the corner of his mouth, "It wasn''t Potter that Sirius ck infiltrated the Gryffindormon room to find either, it was this Mr. Pediru."
"Wait a minute ... Professor Drac, I''m not quite sure I understand what you mean." Professor McGonagall didn''t respond for a moment.
"I mean, Mr. Pediru turned into a mouse and lived in the Weasley household for twelve years." Drac exined.
"You mean ... Peter was an Animagus?" Professor McGonagall asked in surprise.
Drac smiled softly and nodded.
Professor McGonagall turned her head to Peter and opened her mouth to speak.
"Well ... Peter, first of all I''m d you''re aplished in Transfiguration, Animagus isn''t for everyone ..." After a moment of hesitation, she spoke.
"But why are you in hiding? Do you have any idea how upset your mother really was when the news of your death got out? She received the remains of only one of your fingers ..."
"I ... I just ..." Peter cringed and wrung his hands, tears streaming down his face, "I''m really sorry, Professor, but I waspelled to ..."
"ke he ... he will do whatever he can to please the Mysterons, he will surelye to kill me as well, they always have a way to escape from the Ministry of Magic''s capture; not only that, but the other Death Eaters won''t let me go either, because I . . that I went and blocked the traitor."
Professor McGonagall''s eyes grew softer, and sadness and hurt surfaced in her eyes.
"Oh, Peter, don''t be sad." She said sentimentally, "I can guess how hard you''ve had it all these years ... but you should at least let your mother know that you''re still alive."
"I ... don''t dare, I''m afraid of involving my mother." Peter stumbled through his tears.
"What a poor child, it''s hard for you to be so dutiful and still take your friends so seriously, only to be betrayed by your best buddy." Professor McGonagall gently wiped the corners of her eyes, "But you forget you still have Hogwarts, and Dumbledore, and we''ll all protect you ..."
"Pfft."
While the two of them, Professor McGonagall and Peter, were touching each other, a less-than-harmoniousugh came from the side.
Professor McGonagall looked at Drac with a dissatisfied gaze and questioned, "Professor Drac, Peter is already pitiful enough, why are youughing at him?"
"It''s fine, just suddenly thought of something funny." Drac looked at Peter with a smirk and said pleasantly.
He also didn''t expect that in a short period of time, this Mr. Pediru, who had been a rat for more than ten years, would be able to make up this kind of lie that had quite a few holes in it, but was still believable.
A sentimental old witch like Professor McGonagall would easily be moved by his pitiful look.
Only ...
Drac looked over to Dumbledore, who was sitting on the couch next door, and couldn''t help but let out a softugh when he saw the still extremely calm look on his face.
Must Dumbledore has also long been like Drac himself, with the Regent to take the idea of Peter''s memory to turn over ... The great wizard does have his own principles, but it does not mean that he will be so pedantic that he will not use extraordinary means in the face of this particr situation.
The poor Mr. Mouse was still acting in self-hatred, wanting to use Professor McGonagall as a breakthrough, ying the emotional card, and winning a ray of hope for himself.
"Professor Snape should be almost here, right?" Drac asked suddenly.
"Severus, what''s he doing here?" Professor McGonagall, whoseplexion was already very soft, froze and frowned slightly.
She was aware of this Dean Slytherin''s feud with Peter''s foursome when he was in school.
Sure enough, as the words fell out of her mouth, a figure in a wide ck cloak menacingly pushed open the door and walked into the faculty lounge with a six-footed stride.
Professor McGonagall was surprised to see that Snape''s face had an indescribableplexity and hatred on it that was far beyond anything that could have been caused by his grudge with the foursome back in the day.
"Heh, who do I take this for?" He hissed, each word seeming toe out of his teeth, "The great hero who fought the brutal Death Eaters to the end and died heroically, huh?"
"S ... Snape ..." At the sight of this former antagonist, Peter cringed and shrank back inside his chair. If he hadn''t been unable to get out of this chair, I''m sure he would have been hiding behind Professor McGonagall.
"Professor, help me, he''s a Death Eater and he wants me dead too!"
"Peter, Severus is now a professor at Hogwarts, he can be trusted." Professor McGonagall exined, but sidestepped between Peter and Snape.
"Severus, what are you doing?" She asked seriously.
"Not doing anything, justing to see why this great hero, who died so bravely, is still alive!" Snape''s tone was still peevish at first, yet by the end of his words, he had be somewhat hysterical.
Without waiting for Professor McGonagall to react, he took a few steps forward menacingly and poured a bottle of clear potion, long hidden in his hand, into Peter''s mouth!