Chapter 247: The Pettigrew Verdict

In addition to being forgetful, Neville's problem was having very little self-esteem. Due to his parents' problems, Mrs. Longbottom's excessive expectations, and his own magical talent, he had been suffering losses and self-doubt, not realizing the hidden courage within himself.

But he was to grow slowly as time went on.

Ivan and Hermione told no one about Neville's parents. If he wanted them to know, he would have told them himself.

Ron recovered the next day and was discharged from the hospital. Ivan, Harry and Hermione also went to the Burrow that afternoon. The Weasleys gave them a warm welcome.

For the rest of the Christmas vacations, Ivan had a great time.

Not since the Sirius incident had he been as relaxed as he was at that moment, no conspiracies, dark wizards, vampires, or any death threats to contend with.

He discussed Muggle Machines with Mr. Weasley, and followed Fred and George to work on new joke products in secret.

On the first day of the New Year, Sirius also took some of them to watch the match between Puddlemere United and Wimbourne Wasps.

The game took place deep in the mountains, and everyone planned to sleep in the wilderness that night, but the Puddlemere United seeker caught the golden Snitch in just twenty minutes.

Although the game was short, it was very exciting.

The caliber of technique and high level of confrontation were higher than Ivan was used to seeing, and the teams' performances kept the eyes wide open.

All the Wimbourne Wasps fans wore yellow and black wizard robes, and had a wasp sewn on their chest and back. Every time a player scored a goal, he would make a wave, with a rhythmic buzzing sound, in a spectacularly coordinated fashion.

As Puddlemere United's Seeker seized the Snitch to end the game, throughout the Quidditch stadium their team anthem "Beat Back Those Bludgers, Boys, and Chuck That Quaffle Here" rang out. The cheerful tune echoed throughout the crowd, and Ivan even mumbled a few words with them.

For fans like Harry and Ron, a game that ended so quickly was not satisfying.

Ivan didn't mind this. He paid attention to the configuration of the Quidditch pitch, the advertisements placed around it, and the memorabilia, badges and the like of the two teams sold by the staff. He was considering whether it was possible to refer to these experiences in the Quidditch competition at Hogwarts.

In addition to these things, Ivan spent most of his time at the Diagon Alley store, where everyone worked together to clean and repair the store.

This was mainly handled by Lupin, Sirius and Mrs. Weasley. The house elves Dobby and Kreacher helped. Every morning after breakfast at the Burrow, Ivan and the others would fly to Diagon Alley to help.

According to Ivan's plan, the first floor of the store would be used primarily to sell Weasley's joke products.

Therefore, Fred and George were the most active people. They designed and decorated the place according to their own ideas. If it wasn't for Mrs. Weasley, they would definitely have stayed in the store for a couple of nights.

Although Ivan did not participate himself, he was not idle.

He and Hermione wrote many promotional articles, used two sections of the 'Hogwarts Magic' newspaper to advertise the store that was about to open in a week, and even bought advertisements in the 'Daily Prophet'.

With everyone's efforts, the store opened successfully on the last day of the Christmas holidays.

The first floor of the store was filled with exquisite products, which were both numerous and diverse.

They were all made by Hogwarts wizards, and Ivan had contacted and collected them with his classmates through owls and Dobby over the past few days.

Between them, Fred and George made most of the joke products.

With Ivan and Mr. Weasley's persuasion, Mrs. Weasley finally reluctantly agreed to let Fred and George continue their research on the Weasley prank products, as long as she could check those things out for safety and that the matter was not affecting her studies.

Mrs. Weasley quickly found an assistant. She and Hermione joined forces to rigorously examine the prank products that Fred and George were about to sell, such as Fetid Bombs, Skiving Trinket Boxes, Canary Creams, and all the things that were banned.

Most of the prank products that were currently placed in the store were soft, non-hazardous, and very hygienic.

Fred and George had complained more than once to Ivan about this, saying it affected their naughty inspiration.

However, they did not abandon the development of other joke products that they themselves called 'really valuable', but moved underground.

Fred and George were going to work hard and save money and then open a joke store on their own.

In addition to the various things made by the young wizards, in the corner of the first floor, Ivan also deliberately opened a small place to sell Muggle items, such as light bulbs, video cameras, video game consoles and other products that wizards rarely touched.

Ivan didn't know how it would work. He was willing to try to sell them.

These things were very practical, and should be very interesting to some people. And from Ivan's point of view of wizards, they wouldn't go to the Muggle world just to buy them.

On the other side of the first floor, there was a spacious wooden staircase leading to the first and second floors of the store. It was the home of the Hogwarts Magic newspaper, run primarily by Lupin and used as a place for the daily operation of newspapers and advertising contacts.

To celebrate the smooth opening of the store, Ivan also printed a special issue with the facts of the event and Sirius' experience when he fled.

He was even inspired by Lockhart to persuade Sirius to sign autographs at the store on opening day to attract more people.

Despite all the preparations, Ivan was surprised by the number of customers waiting outside the store on the first day of business.

Many wizards gathered outside the store, and there were thousands of people, including many foreign wizards, almost all of whom came for Sirius.

After all, the case of Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew was the hottest topic in the wizarding world, especially since it was related to Voldemort's secret. Everyone was very interested.

Two days before the opening of the store, the Wizengamot, after a long trial, finally sentenced Pettigrew to life imprisonment in Azkaban.

Ivan learned from Mr. Weasley that most of the Wizengamot members had planned for Pettigrew's verdict to be kissed by a Dementor, but there were many peace organizations outside demonstrating and writing to the Ministry of Magic against such a cruel verdict.

At the current low rate of support, Fudge worried that this incident would cause unnecessary trouble, and ultimately decided to adopt a more conservative judgment by keeping Peter Pettigrew in Azkaban forever.

After all, such a judgment had a precedent to follow. After the fall of Voldemort, many evil dark wizards were also punished in the same way.

For Fudge, the most important thing was to dodge the questioning of the masses.

It was said that after Peter Pettigrew heard the judgment, he collapsed to his knees in an instant, like a child, crying loudly on the floor.

Not out of fear, but out of overwhelming joy.

He didn't expect to escape death, and Azkaban, as bad as it was, was better than losing his life or having his soul sucked out by a Dementor.

He was even deluding himself about the day Voldemort would return. For all the Death Eaters who were trapped in Azkaban, as long as they lived, there was hope!