Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Chapter 148: Evan’s Bottom Line

“NO!” Shrieked Peter Pettigrew in horror. He saw Evan throwing the Marauder’s Map into the fire.

He rushed subconsciously and reached for the map.

This map was the key to Sirius Black’s capture; he couldn’t let it get burned.

So, he grabbed the parchment. In the fire’s glow, the expression on his face twisted; greed, chock, lowliness, joy and other emotions merged together, and looked ugly.

While Pettigrew was absorbed by the map, Evan waved his wand and shouted, “Stupefy!” A red light emerged from the tip of his wand and hit Peter Pettigrew.

The latter rose from the ground, bumped into the wall, and then slid to the floor. He lost his consciousness, lying there motionless and the wand in his hand rolled aside.

Evan gasped, he walked over to get the Marauder’s Map back.

The room calmed down again, and the Grindylow got out of the weeds looking at them in amazement. Evan pointed his wand at Pettigrew, its tip issued a snake-like belt that entwined Peter’s neck, wrists and ankles, and it wrapped him tightly.

A few minutes later, Pettigrew woke up.

“What do you mean by this, dear child?” Peter said trembling. He was surprised looking at his rope in horror, and his breathing almost stopped.

“Obviously, we both understand what this means.” Evan pointed his wand at him. “You were going to attack me, I did it first.”

“I don’t understand what you are talking about!” Peter looked at Evan as if being kind. The sweat ran down his cheeks. “There must be some misunderstanding. Just now, I was helping you to get the map…”

“Don’t you understand?! The Marauder’s Map was just a bait. I deliberately threw it into the fireplace. And as I expected, you really got hooked.” Evan looked at Peter and said scornfully, “Otherwise, I was not sure if I could knock you down with the Stunning Spell.”

“Seeing you doing that, of course I would rush ahead. I can’t watch you destroy this map!” Pettigrew screamed “Dear Evan, you may not know that I made it!”

“I was not as ignorant as you thought, Mr. Peter!” Evan swayed the Marauder’s Map in his hand and continued, “You are only one of the Map’s makers. Besides you, there were three other people: Moony, Padfoot, and Prongs.”

“The three of them are my friends, and we made it together.” said Peter with no self-confidence; he avoided Evan’s gaze and his face was full of sweat.

“Friends?!” Evan’s wand issued a few sparks. An unprecedented anger rose from the depths of his heart. “Do you really see them as friends? Or just props for profit, ready to be sold?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about!” Peter said in panic, and he looked uneasy at the wand in Evan’s hands.

Things had developed in a way that completely exceeded his expectations. He felt really bad.

He could feel that the boy in front of him surely knew the truth about what happened on that year. No matter what he told him, it wouldn’t go well for him.

“It seems like I need to make it clearer.” Evan looked at the cowardly Pettigrew. “You are Wormtail. Moony is Professor Lupin, Prongs is Harry’s father, James Potter, and Padfoot is Sirius Black!”

“Sirius Black!” Peter Pettigrew was like a drowning man; hanging to the last straw. He shouted with a sharp, thin voice. “I just said, Evan! Black sold James out to that man. He also tried to kill me; we both know that. He wanted to kill Harry first, for that man’s sake….”

“It’s Voldemort!”

Hearing this name, Peter Pettigrew shivered and looked as if he could faint at any moment.

“What, afraid to hear your old master’s name?!” Evan laughed. “Give up, Pettigrew! Since I was first to find the map, your conspiracy tonight is doomed to fail.”

Peter did not speak, his gaze cruising between the wand in Evan’s hand and his wand on the floor.

“For me, the Marauder’s Map is just a good magical prop, but it is an essential thing for you to catch Sirius Black this evening.” Evan continued, “If you don’t have this map, how can you tell Snape that Black is in the castle? Snape is not Lucius Malfoy. With his character, he is not likely to trust a person who was in the dark. He could not possibly believe you. Oh, and if he finds out anything about what happened that year, he might just kill you with his own hands!”

“That was indeed my initial plan, Evan! Black is a powerful Dark wizard, and if you rush at him, that can be dangerous. So, I wanted to use Snape to get an edge!” Peter said eagerly. “If you don’t like it, we can change the method. We don’t need Snape. We two can join our forces, take down Black together, and we can share all the honour. Perhaps, like me, you’ll get the Order of Merlin.”

“Like you?!” Evan laughed, “like you, living as a rat for over 12 years?!”

“No!” Pettigrew screamed, “Now the situation is completely different, we do not have to worry about Black’s revenge, a few days ago I saw “The Daily Prophet”, when we catch him, the Dementors will get rid of all the troubles and they will use their Kiss against Black. Then, he will be an empty shell, with no soul, a corpse, not…”

“Do not say anymore, you make me feel sick!” Said Evan in disgust and the tip of his wand issued a few sparks. “I’ll tell you the truth, I’ve met Black before. He told Harry, Hermione and me everything about that year. You don’t need to keep the act up anymore. This farce is over.”

“Listen to me, Evan!” Peter was trembling, and out of breath, “I don’t know what Black told you, but what happened that year was not what you imagined.”

“I’m no idiot. I can recognize who is telling the truth.”

“We need to talk about this, Evan!” said Peter Pettigrew, gasping and yelling. “What about doing this? Catch Black. And the honours are all yours. I don’t want anything. And there’s no need to worry about Harry and Hermione, I can use the Memory Charm or the Confundus Charm on them. No one will know…”

“Shut up!” Evan kicked Peter Pettigrew so hard that he could not even believe himself, “Don’t get on my nerves, otherwise I will kill you with my own hands! And I’m telling you again. What you call honours doesn’t mean anything to me.”