Do You Want to Hear Another Story?

"The other producer? Who? James? No, it can't be him… that's Peter! He's not dead?!" When Ivan finished speaking, Lupin's face was filled with shock and excitement.

There are only four makers of the Marauder's Map, and since Ivan says he didn't get the information from Sirius, that leaves James and Peter!

He learned that James was killed by the You-Know-Who's Avada Kedavra.

After You-Know-Who's downfall, Lupin attended James and Lily's funeral and saw their bodies, so James couldn't have come back from the dead…

The only person who might still be alive is Peter, who was rumoured to have been "killed" by Sirius and whose body could not be found!

"Hales, do you have any proof that Peter is alive?" Despite his suspicions, Lupin found this hard to believe.

After all, if Peter was alive and well, why would he hide? Where had he been hiding all these years?

Lupin wondered if Ivan was lying, or if he too had been tricked!

"Proof! It's on this map!" Ivan pointed at the Marauder's Map, then tapped his wand on the blank parchment and read the secret code.

"I solemnly swear I did no good!"

Fine lines of ink emerged from the blank parchment and spread like a spider's web across every corner of the parchment, forming a dynamic map on which one name after another appeared.

After so many years, Lupin could no longer be bothered to be emotional when he heard this familiar code name. He stared at the map and soon saw a familiar name.

Peter Pettigrew!

"He's really alive, but… how can he be alive! And he's with Harry?" Lupin was completely lost. As one of the makers of the Marauder's Map, he knew exactly how powerful it was.

Now that the name was there, it proved that Peter was in the Gryffindor dormitory, alive and well and with Harry!

"I'm sure you know something about what happened in the first place, but would you like to hear a different version of the story? The one I tortured out of Peter and confirmed with Sirius Black?" Ivan suggested.

Lupin thought for a moment and nodded solemnly. When he confirmed that Peter was alive, he knew that what had happened back then must have been more complicated than he had imagined!

Ivan was surprised at Lupin's cooperation. He thought he would have to waste some time convincing him, or even beat Lupin into a pulp.

However, it made sense. Lupin knew more about Sirius and Peter than he did. In the original timeline, Lupin did not even need to be told. He could already guess Peter's name from the Marauder's Map.

With this in mind, Ivan decided to let the cat out of the bag and told them about Peter Pettigrew's revelation about Lord Voldemort's death.

"Wait a minute, did you just say that Peter gave away the location of James's house to You-Know-Who? But if I remember correctly, Sirius was the Secret-Keeper, and James and Sirius told me so themselves!" Lupin interrupted Ivan with a frown.

"Yes, at first! But Black decided he was too conspicuous, so he had an idea!

He will be the obvious target to attract the attention of the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord, and another trusted friend to serve as the true Secret-Keeper!" explained Ivan.

"That's Peter Pettigrew?" sighed Lupin, having got the message.

No wonder Sirius went after Peter after James was killed by You-Know-Who.

However, Lupin wondered why Sirius had been arrested by the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic without a word of protest.

In response to Lupin's doubts, Ivan thought about Sirius's behaviour in the past and guessed.

"He must have decided that he trusted the wrong person and indirectly killed his best friend, so he became so disheartened that he believed he was partly to blame and was willing to be punished by entering Azkaban… and the Ministry didn't give him a chance to explain, did they?"

Lupin nodded thoughtfully, thinking that Sirius must have believed Peter to be dead at the time, and that the fall of the You-Know-Who meant that Sirius was the only one who was responsible for James's death.

From what he knew of Black, it was only natural that he would be willing to accept punishment under the weight of his own self-blame…

"By the way, Professor Lupin, why didn't you let Professor Dumbledore be the Secret-Keeper in the first place?" Yvonne asked.

Ivan had never understood this, and if the Fidelius Charm was so powerful that only the Secret-Keeper could reveal its weakness, why not ask Dumbledore to keep it a secret?

This way, Harry's parents won't have to die…

"Because there is a limit to how many secrets a wizard can keep, otherwise there could be conflict, and your Headmaster Dumbledore already had a secret to keep in the first place… there are also some extra restrictions on the Fidelius Charm," Lupin explained vaguely.

Was it because Dumbledore wanted to keep the Order's location a secret?

The idea occurred to Ivan, and it dawned on him…

"Well, enough of that! Now that we've found the real traitor, we can clear Sirius's name. There's no time to lose. We'd better move now!" Lupin was clearly agitated.

Since James's death, Lupin thought he had lost three of his best friends in a row, two dead and one betrayed!

How could Lupin not be furious when Black was innocent and Peter, the man responsible for James's death, was alive and well?

"Professor Lupin, you'd better calm down!" Ivan had to interrupt Lupin's reverie. "There's too much at stake with Sirius in prison, and the Ministry will most likely get in the way, so we'd better wait until Professor Dumbledore gets back!"

Fudge may not have seemed to have anything to do with the misjudgment of Sirius, but he was never the only one in charge of the Ministry of Magic… the Minister was, at best, a representative of an interest group.

More importantly, the Ministry's reputation would be damaged if word of this got out, and the angry wizards would ignore Fudge's explanation.

Ivan vividly remembers Barty Crouch Junior's fate in the original timeline, when Fudge, in an attempt to cover up the Ministry's scandal and the return of Lord Voldemort, had the Dementor end his life with a kiss.