Harry and the others were disappointed, and Ivan refused to say anything, no matter how hard they tried.
Given that there were still two or three days until the hearing, Ivan was worried that they would have too much time on their hands, so he decided to speak up.
"Harry, if you're in the mood, you might as well think about how you're going to present your case in court. Your testimony is very important, and it may affect the outcome of the trial!"
Reminded of this by Ivan, Harry became nervous, as he had never been to court before and had no idea what to do.
"Why don't we go to the library and look up the court's procedures, as well as the major cases that have been recorded in the last hundred years?" Hermione suggested.
"Good idea!" Harry nodded.
With this in mind, Harry dragged Ron and Hermione to the library.
Ivan, of course, did not follow, and declined Harry's invitation with an excuse that he had other things to do later.
In fact, there was no such thing as being a witness. It was not like you were going to be a lawyer or give false testimony.
The only reason Ivan had brought it up was to give Harry and the others something to occupy their attention.
While he was thinking, Ivan sensed something and turned to look out of the window. The sky was grey and there were creatures moving in the clouds.
"Dementors? Are they that fast?" Yvonne immediately recalled Snape telling her about the Ministry's plans to send Dementors to assist the Aurors.
Ivan had always distrusted such evil creatures, and expected the Dementors to have any sort of self-control at all, so he planned to see what the Ministry was up to that evening.
…
As night fell, dozens of caped figures floated around the top of an abandoned observatory atop Hogwarts Castle…
Ivan, in his owl form, flew past the Dementors and stopped at the vent.
Dementors have nearly zero vision, and with their special senses, they seem to have no interest in animals, so they do not notice owls at all…
This gave Ivan an easy view of the interior of the observatory.
It looked like a small cage, the walls of which had fallen into disrepair over the years.
Sirius and Peter are tied face-to-face at opposite ends, not only in shackles, but also in very tight ropes…
They were joined by an Auror, who was scribbling on parchment with a quill.
"What else do you have to say, Peter Pettigrew? You still haven't told me exactly how you were discovered…" The Auror wrote down Peter Pettigrew's confession on a piece of parchment before continuing his questioning.
"I really forgot. I don't remember anything. He used the Memory Charm on me and made me forget a lot of things…" Peter shook his head.
"Someone put a Memory Charm on you? Who? Albus Dumbledore? Why would he do that to you? Because you knew something secret?"
Aurors were suddenly very excited. He had been ordered to come here to find out what was going on, but it seemed that there was an unexpected bonus.
He was well aware that Minister for Magic Fudge had recently been very unhappy with Dumbledore, and if Fudge could find something to use against Dumbledore, he might be able to gain the Minister's favour.
"No, not Dumbledore, it's Ivan Hals, the devil!" Peter replied, horrified.
Whenever Peter thought about that experience, he felt a chill. He didn't know how much he had forgotten or if his memory had been altered…
"Ivan Hals?" Aurors had a vague feeling he'd heard the name before, but couldn't place it.
Sirius, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly said, "He was a very good young wizard, and it was he who found Peter's tracks… As to why he used the Memory Charm on Peter, I would imagine he was worried about what Peter might do during the investigation."
Aurors frowned. It was illegal to use Memory Charms to erase or alter a wizard's memory.
However, he did not say much about it, as the situation was special. The victim, Peter, was a criminal and the other party had a reason to use the Memory Charm, so he only wrote it down on a piece of paper.
After repeated questioning and confirmation that Peter had said everything he needed to say, the Auror turned to Black and spoke with anticipation.
"Mr. Black, have you thought about my earlier suggestion?"
"You expect me to tell everyone that I had a good time in Azkaban after the trial? That being locked in a cell is like going home?" Black scoffed.
"I didn't ask you to say that, Mr. Black… all you have to say is that there was no abuse or other unjust treatment in Azkaban…"
The Auror looked embarrassed. He understood that this was not very appropriate, but this was an order from above, and he could only try to negotiate.
"If you cooperate with us, the Ministry will reward you handsomely when you are released!"
'Compensation? You mean some Galleons?' Sirius pursed his lips in disdain. He had no shortage of Galleons, and the Ministry of Magic's attempt to buy him off with a few might have been a mistake.
More crucially, Sirius looked down upon the Ministry's actions from the bottom of his heart.
"I'll tell you the truth!"
Seeing Sirius's stubbornness, Auror could no longer hold on to his dignity. In his opinion, the Ministry of Magic had already given him enough good faith, and he had even humbled himself to make a request, but the other party still did not appreciate his kindness.
Thinking of this, the Auror could not help but threaten him.
"Mr. Black! I urge you to reconsider. Going against the Ministry is not a wise choice! You have not cleared your name…"
Sirius, however, was having none of it, ignoring the other man, knowing full well that the Ministry would not have sent someone to beg him to put in a good word or mention compensation if they had no other choice…