Peter was sobbing and kept recounting his helplessness, "I was forced too, You-Know-Who found me, I had no choice... He's too powerful!"
Sirius shot him a look of contempt.
Peter became furious directly. "Don't look at me like that! If it were you, you would confess too. Besides, the Dark Lord can use the Imperius Curse, Veritaserum, and Legilimency..."
"Peter, when you learned about the Fidelius Charm, perhaps you didn't pay enough attention," Dumbledore interrupted, looking at Peter. "The Fidelius Charm is an extremely complex spell. It involves using magic to hide a secret within the soul of a living person, known as the Secret Keeper. That secret will never be discovered unless the Secret Keeper willingly reveals it."
Peter: ...
Harry, watching this chaotic spectacle, felt that everything was absurd.
"Peter's guilt has been confirmed." Seeing that Peter was stupefied by the interrogation, Dumbledore deemed that it should end. So he looked at Fudge and waited for his response.
"Well, yes, of course," Fudge, nervous, adjusted his top hat with his hands. "I'll go to the Ministry first and bring someone to take him..."
Fudge's heart was filled with anxiety. He was aware that Sirius only hated Peter at this moment, but once Peter was punished, he would likely direct his anger towards the officials who handled the case back then, meaning him. Such an incident on his record wouldn't bode well for his campaign as Minister of Magic.
Oh, the elections. Even wizards have elections! The Minister of Magic is elected through democratic elections. However, in cases of emergency, someone can be directly appointed to the position without the need for elections, though this situation is very rare. The term of the Minister of Magic doesn't have a fixed limit; if their prestige is enough, they can remain in office until their death, but periodic elections must be held, with a maximum interval of 7 years.
By the way, because the term doesn't have a fixed limit, since the foundation of the Ministry of Magic, very few Ministers have left the office gracefully. From the first Minister, Ulick Gamp, to the current Fudge, there have been a total of 32 Ministers, the longest of them ruling for 18 years and the shortest only lasting two months. Often, they left the office due to various reasons: mishandling a goblin rebellion, inability to cope with work pressure, being too complacent, reaching the end of their term, or even unexpectedly passing away. The strangest case might be Hortensia Milliphut, who was Minister of Magic from 1841 to 1849 and had to resign due to a regulation she established for pointy hats.
Fudge was worried, fearing that the Black case would be the trigger for his departure. However, after a brief moment of panic, Fudge quickly calmed down. Because upon careful thought, he realized that this wasn't particularly bad for him.
There were three people involved in the Black case, excluding the insignificant henchmen, and these three were the main culprits: himself, Barty Crouch, then head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and the former Minister of Magic, Millicent Bagnold.
He handled the arrest of Black, gathered evidence, and filed a report, as well as initiating the trial process, Barty Crouch handled the legal proceedings, and Millicent Bagnold merely gave her approval. Of the three, Millicent Bagnold had long retired, so let's leave it at that. Barty's career had been ruined due to his son's affairs, and he was now in full bloom and prosperous, even becoming the Minister of Magic.
Who would be more afraid of Black making a big scandal? Or rather, who couldn't afford the price? The former Minister, Barty Crouch with his ruined future, or himself? It had to be me! But Fudge recalled a detail that suddenly gave him the strength to do it.
It's not terrible to make mistakes, but it's terrible not to find blame, and Barty Crouch Sr. is very suitable for taking the blame.
Although Fudge had committed countless mistakes, in the end, it was Crouch's decision that made everything irreversible: he sent Sirius to Azkaban prison without a trial. At that time, this decision boosted his reputation for a while, but now it had become an excellent excuse to stir the pot.
Looking back and reanalyzing the Sirius case, it's not difficult to see that this unjust case was largely caused by not following the correct judicial procedures.
'So, could I use this to clear myself?' Fudge thought. It had been three years since 1990 when Millicent Bagnold retired and Fudge assumed office. Fudge had become familiar with the role of Minister of Magic, and with his previous experience in the Ministry of Magic, it would be an understatement to call him a veteran.
He found it not difficult to shake off the guilt, nor impossible to clear his name and take advantage of the situation.
As he thought quickly, Fudge calmed down. He put on his top hat and calmly told Dumbledore, "Please ensure that Peter is under surveillance. I will return to the Ministry of Magic to recruit personnel and convene a trial hearing to bring this criminal to justice."
"Very well," Fudge's calm took Dumbledore by surprise, but that didn't stop him from agreeing with Fudge's plans. After all, it would be unacceptable for the Minister of Magic to take Peter back alone.
"Goodbye," Fudge waved his hand and left through the door. He walked quickly, unaware of a malicious gaze that stared at him intently.
On his way back, Fudge had already devised his strategy: he just needed to firmly assert that he was deceived and that it was all Bartemius Crouch's fault.
After all, it was Crouch who made the decision to send Sirius straight to prison without a trial. Fudge was just a humble and miserable civil servant with an excessive workload.
At that time, he was devoting all his efforts to eradicating the remaining followers of the Dark Lord. Making some minor mistakes was understandable, right?
As for whether Fudge, the Deputy Minister of Magic, could be considered a "miserable civil servant," and if the mistakes he had made were really minor, he refused to answer.
If Fudge were acquainted with the great British jurist Sir Francis Bacon, he would probably shout to the Daily Prophet journalists, "A wrong decision is worse than ten crimes, for crimes only pollute the stream of water, but a wrong decision pollutes the very source."
Crouch had polluted the source of justice in the British Magical Law Department.
Before reaching the Ministry of Magic, Fudge already had his strategy in mind.
Meanwhile, the conversation in Dumbledore's office had not yet concluded among some individuals.