CH 333

Chapter 333 “Veritaserum”

“Jerry, you have the Marauder’s Map and found out that Pettigrew, who had been dead for many years, was in the castle? And then you found out Pettigrew moved in the same trajectory as Scabbers, so you became suspicious?”

After listening to Jerry’s explanation, the three understood the Marauder’s map functionality and why Jerry thought Scabbers was Pettigrew.

“Yes, I thought it was a problem with the map before. But the Sirius incident made me think that maybe it wasn’t the Marauder’s map that had a problem. But Scabbers might be an Animagus form for Pettigrew.”

Jerry nodded and looked at Ron again, “Originally, I wanted to tell the principal about it. But considering that Scabbers is your pet, I thought I let you know about it first and then make a decision after you understood the situation.”

“Thank you, it’s just… I don’t know what to do now. Why did he turn into a mouse and hide in our house?” Ron looked at the guy in front of him. He couldn’t believe the fact about the pet he kept in his pocket every day.

“In “The Important Magical Events of the Twentieth Century”, it is recorded that Peter Pettigrew was killed by Sirius twelve years ago, which also killed many Muggles at that time. He was recognized as a hero in the wizarding world and was awarded with an Order of Merlin medal.” Hermione recalled the book she had read and said all the information about Pettigrew.

“Why should an innocent person turn into a mouse and hide? Why should everyone think he’s dead? Why is the first thing he did after being restored to a human form to run away?” Jerry asked several questions, which suddenly made them fall into contemplation.

After a while, Harry was the first to notice that Jerry had something to say, “Jerry, do you think Pettigrew isn’t a hero as the book says, but there’s something else he kept as a secret?”

Jerry nodded, indicating that he had guessed correctly.

At this time, Ron frowned and had a different point of view, “I don’t think he’s a bad guy. Why not unbind him and let himself explain the situation?” Ron still has some feelings for Scabbers, knowing that it’s been his pet for some years.

Hermione shook her head, “I think it should be handed directly to the professors and the principal. We can’t be so sure that he’ll be telling the truth. He might attack us directly once we set him free.”

Seeing Hermione’s answer, Jerry nodded silently.

Under normal circumstances, the safest solution in handling wizards like Pettigrew was to hand it away to the adults. It is obviously not a normal situation they can handle easily.

“Hermione is right, but I happen to have something here that can confirm whether he is a good person or not, why he didn’t die back then, turn into a mouse, and hid in Ron’s house.” Jerry smiled and took out a small bottle of potion from inside his robe.

“What is that?” Ron looked at the potion with a curious look on his face.

Jerry replied, “Veritaserum.”

“What? Veritaserum? That’s a very difficult potion. I remember to use 5 mg of Sri Lankan vulture’s bile, 3 grams of Boroxia grass, 3 grams of grass buds, and…”

Seeing that Hermione seemed to want to explain the entire recipe and the method for creating Veritaserum. Harry interrupted her.

He asked, “What does it do?”

Hermione looked a little unhappy but continued to explain,

“It’s a potion that can make spits out any truth. Three drops are enough. However, the materials are rare, and making one is extremely difficult. Even Professor Snape couldn’t make much out of it. You should pay more attention in the potions class as it’s been explained before. Anyways, Jerry, did you make this yourself?”

“Yes, I bought a lot of herbs and materials about Veritaserum when I traveled to Greece, and I tried to make it according to the method taught by Professor Snape, but I didn’t expect it to be successful. If you are interested, you can make one too. I have quite a few leftover herbs and ingredients for it.”

Jerry opened the cork on the bottle and put three drops of Veritaserum into Pettigrew’s mouth. Although the herbs for Veritaserum are rare, as long as he can buy them, he can use his magic to grow them and multiply them every time.

Therefore, Jerry can collect a few baskets of various herbs for making Veritaserum by simply harvesting them. Others, like the auxiliary vulture bile, grass, etc., are not a problem. Because he also bought a lot of them beforehand.

Seeing the Veritaserum, Pettigrew’s eyes immediately showed a look of horror. His body was restrained, and he couldn’t resist it.

After dropping the Veritaserum potion, Jerry the spell then tied it firmly with Incarcerous Spell.

The Incarcerous Spell is different from the Petrifying Charm. It is an extension of the Transfiguration Charm. It can make ropes and then bind the target. It is a magic spell specially invented to deal with some animals with high magic resistance, like a centaur.

Of course, it can also be used to tie Pettigrew so that he can speak normally and answer questions while his body is being restrained.

“Alright, Pettigrew, tell us what happened. Why you turned into a mouse and hide in Ron’s house?” Hearing Jerry’s words, Harry, Hermione, and Ron all stepped forward and started asking questions.

Under the influence of Veritaserum, Pettigrew began to answer one by one.

Half an hour later, Harry’s eyes were red. He drew out his wand angrily and yelled at Pettigrew. However, Hermione took away his wand before he could cast his magic.

“Harry, I think you need to calm down and think about it. If you kill Pettigrew now, no one will know that Sirius was wronged, and he’ll still be locked up in Azkaban.”