Chapter 148: Ivan's Nerves

"NO!" shouted Peter Pettigrew in horror. He saw Ivan throw the Marauder's Map into the fire, so he unconsciously ran and searched for the map.

This map was the key to Sirius Black's capture; he couldn't let it burn.

So he grabbed the parchment. In the glow of the fire, the expression on his face was contorted; greed, shock, humility, joy and other emotions merged, and looked ugly.

As Pettigrew was sucked into the map, Ivan waved his wand and shouted, "Desmaius!". A red light emerged from the tip of his wand and hit Peter Pettigrew.

The latter picked himself up off the ground, crashed into the wall and then slid to the floor. He lost consciousness, lying there motionless and the wand in his hand rolling to the side.

Ivan gasped, reaching over to retrieve the Marauder's Map.

The room quieted again, and the Grindylow emerged from the undergrowth looking at them in awe. Ivan pointed his wand at Pettigrew, its tip emitting a snake-like belt that entangled Peter's neck, wrists, and ankles, and wrapped tightly around him.

A few minutes later, Pettigrew woke up.

"What do you mean by this, dear boy?" Peter said trembling. He was shocked to look horrified that he was bound, and his breathing almost stopped.

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

"I don't understand what you're talking about!" Peter looked at Ivan as if he was being kind. Sweat was running down his cheeks. "There must be some misunderstanding. Just now, I was helping you get the map..."

"Don't you understand?! The Marauder's Map was just bait. I deliberately threw it down the chimney. And as I expected, you actually fell for it." Ivan looked at Peter and sneered, "Otherwise, I wasn't sure if I could take you down with the Desmaius Spell."

"Seeing you do that, of course I'd rush ahead, I can't watch you destroy this map!" Pettigrew shouted, "Dear Ivan, you may not know you did it!"

"I wasn't as ignorant as I thought, Mr. Peter!" Ivan shook the Marauder's Map in his hand and continued, "You are only one of the Map's creators. Besides you, there were three other people - Lunatic, Antler and Canute."

"All three of them are my friends, and we did it together," Peter said with no self-confidence; he avoided Ivan's gaze, and his face was all sweaty.

"Friends?!" Ivan's wand emitted a few flashs. Unprecedented anger surged from deep inside him. "Do you really see them as friends? Or just props for profit, ready to be sold?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Peter said in a panic, and looked uneasy at the wand in Ivan's hands.

Things had unfolded in a way that completely exceeded his expectations. He felt very bad.

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

"Looks like I need to make it more clear." Ivan looked at the cowardly Pettigrew. "You're Wormtail. Lunatic is Professor Lupin, Antler is Harry's father, James Potter, and Canute is Sirius Black!"

"Sirius Black!" Peter Pettigrew was like a drowning man; sweating to the last drop. He shouted in a high-pitched, thin voice. "I just said it, Ivan! Black sold James to that man. He tried to kill me too, we both know that. He wanted to kill Harry first, for that man's sake..."

"It's Voldemort!" said Ivan.

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

"What, are you afraid to hear your former master's name?!" Ivan laughed. "Give it up, Pettigrew! Since I was the first to find the map, your conspiracy tonight is doomed to failure!"

Peter did not speak, staring between the wand in Ivan's hand and the wand on the ground.

"To me, the Marauder's Map is a fine magical accessory, but it is essential if you are to catch Sirius Black tonight." Ivan 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. There's no way he'd believe you. Oh, and if he finds out anything about what happened that year, he might kill you with his bare hands!"

"That was my initial plan, Ivan! Black is a powerful dark wizard, and if you rush into him, that could be dangerous. So I wanted to use Snape to my advantage." Peter said anxiously. "If you don't like it, we can change the method. We don't need Snape. The two of us can join forces, take Black down together and share all the honor. Maybe, like me, you'll get the Order of Merlin."

"Like you?!" Ivan laughed, "Like you, living like a rat for over twelve years?"

Peter said hurriedly, "Now the situation is completely different, we don't have to worry about Black's revenge, a few days ago I saw the paper 'The Prophet', when we catch him, the dementors will get rid of all the trouble and use their kiss against Black. Then, he'll be an empty shell, no soul, a corpse, no..."

"Say no more, you make me feel bad!" Ivan said in disgust and the tip of his wand emitted a few flashs. "I'll tell you the truth, I've met Black before. He told Harry, Hermione and me all about that year. You don't have to act like this anymore. This charade is over."

"Listen to me, Ivan!" Peter was shaking, and out of breath, "I don't know what Black told you, but what happened that year wasn't what you imagined."

Said Ivan, "I'm not an idiot. I can recognize who is telling the truth."

"We have to talk about this, Ivan!" said Peter Pettigrew, gasping and shouting. "How about we do this? Get Black. And the honors are all yours. I don't want any. And there's no need to worry about Harry and Hermione, I can use the Dememorizing Charm or the Confundus Charm on them. No one will know..."

"Shut up!" Ivan kicked Peter Pettigrew so hard he couldn't even believe it, "Don't get on my nerves, or I'll kill you with my bare hands! And I'll tell you again. What you call honor means nothing to me."