Although this was hardly the right moment for it, every person in the room wore an extremely strange expression.
"Why isn't anyone saying anything? Where's my Scabbers?" Ron Weasley looked close to breaking down. He absolutely refused to believe that his Scabbers had turned into this short, fat tramp. His first reaction was that his rat had been swapped out.
That was why he had asked where his Scabbers was.
Hearing that question, kindhearted Dumbledore's first instinct was to shield the boy's fragile heart with a gentle lie.
After all, forcing a child to accept that the pet who had eaten and slept beside him was actually a sleazy-looking fat man was simply too cruel.
But clearly, not everyone present possessed Dumbledore's kindness or tact.
Before Dumbledore could say anything, Tonks blurted out from the side, "Your Scabbers? Isn't that fat slob your Scabbers?"
Even as she said it, despite her best efforts to endure it, Tonks still could not help making a nauseated face.
"What...? Th-this... that's impossible!" Ron Weasley muttered blankly, his eyes vacant, looking like a man whose heart had already died.
Good news. The pet he had lived with day and night had turned into a person.
Bad news. It was not some grateful girl come to repay a favor, but a coarse, indescribable man.
Worse news. That coarse man was now holding him hostage.
Dumbledore shot Tonks a helpless glance, then turned worried eyes toward Ron Weasley, afraid the boy might lose his head and provoke Peter Pettigrew into dragging him down together.
Three students had already died at Hogwarts two years earlier. There absolutely could not be another accidental student death or injury. Otherwise, he might become the headmaster under whose tenure the most students had died.
That was not a record Dumbledore wanted to...
Wait. Had he already broken it?
In all of Hogwarts history, aside from the three students who had died during his own tenure, the highest number had only ever been two, and that count had included the Triwizard Tournament.
The thought nearly made Dumbledore want to shut down completely.
And more importantly, Ron Weasley's parents were both people Dumbledore thought highly of. He had even been considering drawing them into the Order of the Phoenix. Their child absolutely could not be harmed again.
"Calm down, Peter." Dumbledore softened his tone. "As long as you don't hurt the boy, everything can be discussed."
Though showing your weakness in a negotiation was very unwise, it also made Peter Pettigrew subconsciously value the hostage in his hands and less likely to kill him outright.
Sure enough, Peter Pettigrew instinctively eased the pressure of the wand that had been digging into Ron Weasley's neck as though trying to pierce straight through it. Even so, he remained extremely cautious, afraid someone might suddenly make a move and subdue him.
After all, he was facing Dumbledore, the legendary wizard even the Dark Lord feared.
"Enough nonsense. Back away, all of you!" Peter Pettigrew retreated step by step. "No one follows me, or I'll kill the boy immediately."
As he spoke, he scanned the room for a route of escape.
The first thing he fixed on was the fireplace behind Dumbledore. Floo Powder was the best way out. As long as he picked any destination at all, once he got away and turned back into a rat, no one would ever catch him.
What a pity about the identity of Scabbers. For an Animagus whose form was a rat, finding a place with food and shelter was not easy.
Peter Pettigrew was almost nostalgic.
"All of you move aside and clear the way," Peter Pettigrew shouted.
"You can't let him!" Sirius roared at once.
He understood Peter Pettigrew's intention. If they really let him escape through the fireplace, Sirius might never get another chance in his life to catch that damned rat.
"Shut up! Do you want him dead?" Peter Pettigrew shrieked hysterically. "Don't force me to kill him."
"Sirius, calm down," Dumbledore said quietly, pulling Sirius back while keeping his eyes fixed on Peter Pettigrew.
He was not afraid of Peter choosing Floo Powder as his escape route. Floo Powder depended on the Floo Network, and as headmaster of Hogwarts, Dumbledore had the authority to cut that connection.
And Floo Powder could only be used by one person at a time. If Peter Pettigrew wanted to escape, he would have to let go of Ron Weasley.
All they needed to do was act at the moment Peter let go.
Peter Pettigrew glanced at the narrow fireplace and slowly edged toward it. Then he suddenly realized something. He looked again at the crowd glaring at him with wands in hand, and at long last, a bit of intelligence returned to him.
"Throw down your wands!" Peter Pettigrew screamed shrilly.
He had realized it. If he rushed into the fireplace without a care, he probably would not get away at all. These wand-wielding people could turn him into a sieve in an instant.
The crowd hesitated. Seeing that, Peter Pettigrew let a trace of magic spill from his wand tip, pricking Ron Weasley's skin.
"Do it! Do you all want him dead?"
That forced everyone to set down their wands.
Seeing them disarmed, Peter Pettigrew let out a sigh of relief. If Voldemort or any other dark wizard had been in his place, they would probably already have been plotting to kill one or two people on the way out.
But Peter Pettigrew had no such nerve. Right now, all he wanted was to run.
He slowly backed toward the Headmaster's office door, no longer looking at the fireplace.
The fireplace was not a way out. It was a guaranteed death trap. Peter Pettigrew had suddenly realized that.
This was the Headmaster's office. Everything here was under Dumbledore's control.
Better to escape through the door.
Peter Pettigrew backed away slowly, his eyes locked on the others for fear they might suddenly snatch up their wands again. Once he reached the doorway, he activated the staircase outside the Headmaster's office. Listening to the slow rise of the stairs, his expression relaxed more and more.
Now he could escape.
He was overjoyed, completely unaware of the astonished looks on the faces of everyone inside the office.
There was someone standing on the staircase.
It was Leonard William.
The people inside the office all started shooting meaningful looks at Leonard.
Leonard was taken aback when he saw the scene in the Headmaster's office. He had thought the matter of Peter Pettigrew was already settled, but apparently there was still one more twist.
If he had not shown up at this crucial moment, Peter Pettigrew really might have escaped.
What was this supposed to be? Plot necessity? Did Peter Pettigrew absolutely have to get away, become Voldemort's lackey, and help bring him back?
He was not even an Eternal Wizard. If he came back, was he really going to turn the world upside down?
With a helpless shake of his head, Leonard quietly drew his wand.
Let him be the one to put an end to this farce.