Why Do You Have to Apologize to the British Isles?

"Forgive me, Professor, for leaving this mess to me…" Ivan sighed. After all, he had no choice but to do this.

Ivan then looked at the clock, decided it was almost time, and waved his wand to perform a Transfiguration.

When Ivan looked around again, he found himself in the Shrieking Shack, where a loud noise was coming from one of the rooms.

Ivan adjusted his clothes, then sauntered in and spoke.

"You might want to explain something to me, Hales!"

…

The next morning, Ivan woke up with a yawn, washed up, and went to the Great Hall to enjoy breakfast as usual.

However, today's situation was slightly different. As soon as Ivan sat down, he saw a large group of owls rushing into the Great Hall towards their respective targets, delivering letters to the long tables of the four houses.

One of the owls flew accurately towards Ivan and landed on his shoulder.

Ivan, unsurprised, reached out and removed the newspaper from the owl's foot.

He had ordered a copy of the latest Daily Prophet yesterday to see if the other party had acted according to the agreement.

[Shocking! Ministry of Magic's big mistake? Azkaban fugitive Black clearing his name today? Real killer Peter Pettigrew caught at Hogwarts?]

Yvonne opened the paper and saw the headline, which took up a quarter of the page.

Ivan was also pleased with the contents, which detailed how the Secret-Keeper had been temporarily replaced, criticised the Ministry for locking Sirius up in Azkaban without a trial, and suspected that something like Sirius Black was probably not alone!

The entire article was scathing and sarcastic, and although there was no editor's signature on the bottom, Ivan immediately recognised it as Rita Skeeter's style.

At the end of the article, Rita Skeeter wrote:

[Even if a wicked mystic were to be caught by Aurors, he or she would have to go through a judicial justice trial to be convicted. The Ministry of Magic's abuse of power is punishable by an apology to the entire British wizarding community!]

"It was the right choice to choose Rita Skeeter!" Yvonne muttered to herself, wondering if Fudge would be furious if he read the article…

No wonder Rita Skeeter had the nerve to write an article without signing it…

While Ivan was reading the newspaper, Harry, Ron, and the others crowded over curiously. When they saw the information on the front page, Harry shouted in surprise.

"Sirius, come and see this! The Daily Prophet is reporting about you and Peter Pettigrew!"

Sirius, who was catching up with Lupin at the teachers' table, raised his eyebrows at Harry's shout and stood up.

Most of the Gryffindors welcomed Sirius with open arms, and after listening to his story for an entire night, their opinion of him changed.

The young wizards from the other three academies stayed away from Sirius as he passed by.

Sirius did not care, as he was well aware of how hard it was to remove an impression once formed, and could not change it in a short period of time.

When Sirius sat down, Ivan handed him the newspaper.

"Thanks!" Sirius was surprised when the Daily Prophet got hold of the news and reported it without being interviewed.

Sirius, of course, knew more than Harry and the others, and was immediately moved when he guessed that Dumbledore must have used his influence to get things going.

He knew exactly what the Daily Prophet was like, and it would not be easy to get their help…

"There's also a mention of you on the second page, which says that the court has decided to reopen the case for you, which should be within the next few days…" Hermione reminded Sirius.

"Does that mean you'll be cleared of all charges in a matter of days, Sirius?" Harry asked happily.

'That's right… looks like it!' Sirius laughed.

"Since it's our day off, why don't we go to Hogsmeade to celebrate? We didn't have a good time there yesterday…" Ron suggested with some resentment.

"Of course, no problem. I'll cover all the expenses this time as compensation for scaring you yesterday!"

Sirius agreed, thinking it was a good idea, and offered to buy Ron a new pet.

After all, Peter Pettigrew would either spend the rest of his life in Azkaban or be executed by the Ministry of Magic, and would never be Ron's pet again.

Considering that he was partly to blame for Peter's death, Sirius asked Ron what kind of pet he wanted.

'How about a nice, fat rat? I could get one about the same size as Scabbers…' Sirius ventured, thinking of Ron's fondness for rats.

"No, I don't want a rat!" Ron shook his head frantically. Ever since he had discovered that Scabbers was actually a middle-aged, bald-headed wizard transformed into a human, Ron's greatest fear had been mice, as opposed to spiders.

"Or an owl?" Sirius asked, surprised by Ron's reaction.

Ron considered the possibility of a wizard disguising himself as a messenger owl and agreed…

Of course, Ron didn't forget to express his gratitude. If Sirius hadn't been willing to pay, he probably wouldn't have had a pet for a long time.

Because his mother would definitely make him wait a few years and then dump George or Fred's unwanted pets on him after they graduated…

While Harry and the others were excitedly discussing how to celebrate with Sirius, Ivan turned to look out of the window and saw a golden-red-feathered phoenix circling in the sky, letting out three cries as it flew straight towards them.

Before returning to his room to sleep the previous night, Ivan had instructed Fox to patrol the skies above Hogwarts today and inform him if he saw anyone from the Ministry of Magic at Hogwarts.

Three chirps meant Minister for Magic Fudge!