Chapter 154: Harry's Choice

"Children, I'm helping you, I'm protecting you from harm!" Peter muttered, pleading. "Don't listen to Black, that madman wants to kill me!"

"'Protecting us?!' This is ridiculous; you didn't say that in Professor Lupin's office." Ivan whispered, "Need I remind you, Wormtail? This is what you were going to do to the four of us. First you used the Imperius Curse to control Ron, you planned to use the dememorizing spell against Harry and Hermione, and you just wanted to kill me with the Killing Curse. That's how you've been protecting us, isn't it?"

"What?!" Hearing Ivan's words, Black, Harry and Hermione let out a gasp. They looked into Peter's eyes, and all the sympathy they had for him disappeared.

All that remained was astonishment and anger.

"How could you do this, you foul creature? how dare you treat these children like this?" Black snarled savagely, trembled, and ran back to Peter.

"No, don't come!" At the sight of Black, Peter's face paled.

He knelt on the ground, crawling hastily on his knees to get to Ivan, his hands clasped together, as if he were crying, and praying.

"Ivan, Ivan, there must be some misunderstanding between us. Even though I said those things, I didn't do anything, did I?" Pettigrew shouted. "Believe me, what I just told you is to make you understand, because..."

"I know!" Ivan narrowed his eyes, looking at Peter, "Controlling Ron with the Imperius Curse to frame the innocent Professor Lupin, and after getting the Marauder's Map, notifying Snape to catch Sirius Black. You secretly made contact with Lucius Malfoy and other pureblood families who were unhappy with Dumbledore, allowing them to join forces to control public opinion and put pressure on the Ministry of Magic, thus giving you the right playing field and helping you make up for any unreasonable loopholes. When it's all over, you could reappear as the hero who captured Black and protected Harry, and all the other young wizards."

"No, no, it's not...," Peter muttered.

"You don't have to tell me anything, Pettigrew! And don't touch me with your dirty hands!" Ivan avoided Peter and approached Hermione.

Hermione looked frightened and her body trembled slightly.

Ivan gently held the girl's cold little hands. Feeling the warmth of Ivan's palm, Hermione gradually calmed down.

Looking at the child beside her, though his body was not particularly strong, Hermione felt an inexplicable relief. She had a feeling that as long as Ivan was here, no matter how crazy things were getting, she shouldn't feel the slightest bit afraid.

"Good girl, clever girl, you can understand, help me, you won't let them kill me..." As Ivan turned him down, Pettigrew looked at Hermione.

He seemed to want to come, but he saw that Ivan was standing next to Hermione and coldly pointed his wand at him. He was afraid. He stepped backwards, his body shaking uncontrollably, and slowly turned his head towards Harry. "Harry, Harry, you're just like your father, just like he was..."

"How dare you say that to Harry?!" shouted Black. "How dare you stand up to him? how dare you mention James in front of him?"

"Harry!" Black's roar frightened Peter more. He hurried, crawled forward towards the boy, opened his hands, whispered, cried and begged, "Harry, James and Lily wouldn't let them kill me, they'd understand! They'd be merciful to me!"

"But I'll never know how they would think, they were both killed because of you!" said Harry sadly. He wiped his tears hard, but the tears were still flowing uncontrollably.

"No, I won't!" Harry said, as if he had sentenced Peter to death.

Peter sobbed; the skin on his face was all tangled and contorted. It looked terrifying and weird.

"It's time to end it all; I'll kill you to avenge James and Lily!", Sirius Black stepped up, rolled up his sleeves, and there was a glimmer of joy on his thin face.

"No, Sirius! I'm Wormtail, I'm your friend, and you're not..." Peter struggled to hold Black's robes tightly.

"Get away, I don't need you to touch him, my robe has enough dirt on it!" Black kicked Peter away.

"I know, I admit, I was very confused, but you have to think about it, what could I do? You don't know the Dark Lord and his powerful weapons, you can't even imagine. I was scared, Sirius," Pettigrew said trembling. "I've never been as brave as you, Remus and James, but believe me, I never did it intentionally, he who must not be named made me."

"Don't lie!" growled Black. "Before James and Lily died, you had been sending him information for a year, Dumbledore suspected there was a spy in our midst, but James and I backed you up in front of him. I was blind, and I even suspected Lupin!"

"You don't understand, He Who Must Not Be Named was interfering everywhere, I couldn't do anything!", Pettigrew gasped, "Besides, what's the advantage of turning him down?"

"Well, what's the advantage of fighting the most vicious and evil man in history?" Black's face showed fearful rage, "To save innocent lives, Peter!"

"You don't understand!" Pettigrew wailed, "He would have killed me, Sirius!"

"Then you deserve to die!" Black shouted, "It's better to die than to betray a friend, as we would have done for you."

"No, I can't die. There's so much waiting for me. I don't have what I deserve..." Pettigrew shouted, but this simply couldn't stop Black from approaching him.

Black was walking step by step towards Peter, and every step meant that Peter was a little closer to death.

Ron looked pale and watched everything going on before him. It moved him so much that he seemed to be able to break free of the Imperius Curse's grip.

Pettigrew pleaded helplessly, and Hermione turned her face and rested gently on Ivan's shoulder.

Looking at the frantic Black, Ivan hesitated.

In his opinion, it was quite inappropriate to let Black kill Pettigrew. They should give Peter to Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic for trial and make him pay the just price for what he did. That was the wisest thing to do.

But Ivan didn't move. He watched Harry walk out. Dealing with Peter, he had more right to speak than he did. Harry ran up and stopped in front of Pettigrew. He gasped and said, "Sirius, you can't kill him!"

"Harry, do you know what you're doing? This scum has made you lose your parents!" snarled Black. "This despicable, dirty bastard could watch you die without feeling a thing. You heard what he just said, his own stinking hide is more important than the lives of your entire family."

"I understand!" Harry gasped. "He had my parents killed. He set Professor Lupin up. He took control of Ron and tried to kill Ivan, I'll never forgive him for doing all these things, never! But you can't kill him, Sirius, I don't think my father would want his best friend to kill anyone! Especially such a despicable person!"