"Really? Then you'd better hope you're not mistaken…" Fudge ground his teeth, furious, but aware that he did not have sufficient excuse to confront Dumbledore.
"But of course, I am quite confident in my judgement and will take you to Peter now!" Ivan said, ignoring Fudge's impotent rage and making an inviting gesture.
Fudge snorted and started walking towards the castle entrance, the other Aurors moving around Ivan to follow.
Ivan was rebuffed, but he was too generous to take it personally.
They entered the noisy Great Hall.
As it was a day of rest, there was still a large number of wizards hanging around after breakfast.
Sirius was there, chatting and laughing with some young Gryffindor wizards about his adventures with James and Lupin as students.
"Blake!"
When the Aurors behind Fudge saw that the wanted criminal they were after was openly in the Great Hall, they instinctively drew their wands and pointed them at each other.
Such a large display frightened the young wizards in the Great Hall, and Ivan, seeing this, turned to Fudge.
"Cornelius, I'm sure you've seen the news. Not only is Mr. Black not a murderer or traitor, but he has also been involved in numerous battles against the Death Eaters. I think he should be removed from the wanted list."
"Who knows if it's true or not? Maybe it's a lie made up by Black. Anyway, he's still a suspect, isn't he? Lock him up!" Fudge sneered. He waved his hand and glanced at the Aurors behind him.
The Aurors immediately understood and took out their magical shackles to put on Black.
Ivan frowned and hesitated, but did not try to stop him.
Because Sirius was indeed a suspect prior to his trial, Fudge's hold on him was perfectly reasonable and legal, and if he tried to stop him, Fudge would use the excuse of hindering Ministry law enforcement against him.
It can be seen from the way that the headstrong Fudge enthusiastically led his men to capture Dumbledore, that the power-addled fool had no regard for the difference in their abilities, and that his bluff might not work!
So sometimes idiots are tougher than smart people…
Yvonne knew that she could never predict what Fudge would do, so she decided to put up with him.
Sirius did not resist when confronted by his fellow Aurors, and remained silent the entire time, without Dumbledore's permission, in case he said something wrong to upset Dumbledore.
The surrounding Aurors were relieved to see Sirius's cooperation, but they proceeded to put on the manacles.
It is a special magical object that can be worn to limit a wizard's magic, rendering the prisoner unable to perform any magic…
"You can't take him like this, Sirius is innocent!" As the Aurors were about to take Sirius away, Harry and the others rushed to stop them.
The Law Enforcement Aurors were at a loss as to what to do, and no matter how much they scolded Harry and the others, they refused to let them go.
'Well, if it isn't Potter.'
Fudge pushed aside an Auror and approached them, speaking impatiently to Harry.
"Please do not disturb the normal enforcement of Aurors, as we are trying to get justice for your parents…"
"Minister Fudge, if you really want to get justice for my parents, then you should release Sirius and go get Peter Pettigrew…" Harry looked at him defiantly, not backing down.
"I'll get Peter, now go away and stop causing trouble for us…" Harry's pestering caused Fudge to lose his patience, and he waved the Aurors away.
It was then that Sirius spoke.
"Harry, get out of the way. It's just a formality for them to catch me. Nothing will happen!"
Despite the shackles on his hands, Sirius did not look worried, as if he had been invited somewhere rather than arrested.
Harry looked at him for a moment, then looked at Dumbledore, who was standing nearby, and when the professor shook his head at him, Harry reluctantly took a few steps back.
Fudge watched coldly, irritated by Harry's disregard for his words and Sirius's nonchalant attitude, feeling his authority being challenged…
"I thought you were going to see Peter Pettigrew, Cornelius," Ivan said suddenly. "We can go now!"
Fudge nodded and ordered the other Aurors to take Sirius to the staffroom.
When they opened the door, they saw a short, fat, middle-aged wizard curled up in a corner, tied up by thin ropes.
"What's going on?" Fudge turned to Ivan.
"Pete Pettigrew was an unregistered Animagus who could transform into a mouse, and was not useful in general supervision. To be on the safe side, I had him put under a Stunning Charm every two hours…"
Ivan explained to Fudge in detail that he did not want to hand Peter over to the Ministry of Magic, as their mismanagement had caused Peter to escape.
When the Aurors heard Ivan's methods of restraining Peter, they were secretly nervous and looked at Peter with pity. This was too cruel!
Whether there would be any aftereffects from being repeatedly inflicted with the Stunning Spell in a short period of time was anyone's guess…
"Well? Is he Peter Pettigrew?" Fudge asked, looking expectantly at a tall, thin Auror.
He was counting on the fact that Dumbledore had made a mistake, in which case he wouldn't have to worry about what happened next and Dumbledore's reputation would be ruined…
"Yes, Minister! I've met Peter a few times and have some impression of him. I'm eighty percent sure this is Peter Pettigrew!" the tall, thin Auror said with certainty after looking at Peter carefully for a while.
Although he had not seen him for more than ten years, there were not many people who looked as distinctive as Peter, so he easily recognized him.
Fudge looked disappointed, then remembered the report about the Dark Mark, and personally ripped Peter's shirt off.
Sure enough, Peter's left arm had a clear, serpentine skull mark, vivid and alive…