When Dumbledore mentioned the man's name, the young wizards panicked.
However, the thought of the Dark Lord's worst enemy standing in the stands reassured them, and they began to discuss who the traitor was.
"It must be Black!" Percy exclaimed, immediately thinking of Black, who was on the run.
More and more people guessed this and spoke out angrily against Black, thinking he was a disgraceful villain…
"Yes, there have been many others in the past, including myself!" Dumbledore paused, his voice rising as he continued.
"However, my investigation revealed that the traitor was someone else, and the Ministry of Magic made the wrong decision in locking Black up in Azkaban without trial!"
"Based on this, I owe Mr. Black an apology for part of my mistake!" Dumbledore finally added.
When Dumbledore finished speaking, there was dead silence, and all the young wizards were shocked speechless, wondering if they had misheard.
Sirius, wanted by the Ministry of Magic, is actually innocent?
How was this possible?
When Black sneaked into the castle the other day intending to kill Harry…
Numerous questions hung over the heads of the students, and even when they were voiced by Dumbledore, they were questioned.
After all, they had been brainwashed by the Ministry's bulletins for months, and it was hard to shake off the stereotype.
"Silence!"
Dumbledore cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention once more.
"I know this news is shocking, and you may have a lot of doubts, but it would be inappropriate for me to explain, so I think it would be best to let the person involved elaborate!"
Dumbledore clapped his hands, and the doors of the Great Hall flew open!
Sirius, dressed in a long black robe, strolled through the door and down the aisle from where the Heads of the Four Great Colleges were seated. He was holding a struggling rat in his right hand.
Harry, on the other hand, followed him nervously.
Despite Sirius's unusual appearance, many clever young wizards were able to guess what he was up to based on Dumbledore's words.
"He's the fugitive, Black!" Seamus screamed from the front row.
Sirius turned to look at him, causing Seamus to shiver, but Seamus soon realised that Sirius was only smiling gently at him without saying anything…
Seamus was relieved to hear that.
The rest of the students were equally fearful of Sirius.
Harry's presence was noted by a number of observant people, and a number of voices were soon heard from below.
"I can't believe that Black is with Harry. It seems that Professor Dumbledore was telling the truth…"
"Has the Ministry really made a mistake, locking up an innocent man in Azkaban for over ten years? And now they're after him?"
…
As the crowd discussed the match, Sirius and Harry entered the stands, and Dumbledore moved to the side to make room for them.
Harry took a few nervous steps forward and summoned up his courage.
"What Professor Dumbledore said was true! I thought Black was a murderer through and through, just like you, and hated him for revealing my parents' whereabouts to Voldemort…"
Harry's speech became more and more fluent, and his words were so infectious that many people agreed with him.
"So… not only was Sirius not a murderer, but he was also a hero who fought against Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters! The true traitor was Peter Pettigrew, another friend of my father's.
Sirius was willing to act as bait to attract the Death Eaters' attention in order to confuse Lord Voldemort, but privately agreed with Peter to replace the Secret-Keeper!"
Harry spilled everything he knew in one breath.
"But Peter Pettigrew is dead!" a Hufflepuff wizard near the front protested, jumping to his feet.
"My mother once told me that he was incompetent but brave when it mattered, and that he went after Black alone and was killed!"
"No, it's not like that… child!"
Sirius, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke. He looked at the Hufflepuff wizard and felt that he was most likely the son of an old friend who knew about the past.
However, this was not the time, so Sirius quickly replied, "Peter Pettigrew is not dead, but has gone into hiding, and now I have him, and he is here!"
Sirius threw the rat up into the air and waved his wand, sending a blinding light towards Scabbers.
The rat screamed like a mad thing, and then, in front of everyone, transformed into a squat, bald, middle-aged wizard.
The young wizards sitting nearby squeezed back in fear…
Dumbledore waved his wand and tied Peter up, pointing him out.
"As you can see, Peter Pettigrew is an unrecorded Animagus who managed to trick the Ministry, as well as all of us, by transfiguring into a mouse! After hiding in the home of a wizard for over a decade, he eventually became Mr Weasley's pet…"
Some of the lesser witches and wizards turned to look at Ron. Many of the lesser Gryffindor witches and wizards had seen him playing with his rat on occasion, and had even brought it with him when he showered.
Ron stood up with a look of disgust and nodded to confirm this.
On the other side of the room, Percy Weasley's face fell. Scabbers had also been following him around as a pet for a while, but fortunately, he had given Ron the rat years ago…
"God, this is disgusting!" George looked at Peter, who was filthy, short, and fat, and felt sick at the thought that Peter had been in the house for so long without being discovered.
"Yes! Mother would be horrified if she knew!"
Fred was even more horrified. After all, they had toyed with Peter and used him for interesting experiments. It must have been very difficult for him to survive until now…