Chapter 45 The Wishful Godfather! The Golden Cup Horcrux!

On the second floor of the Dursleys' house, in Dudley's large bedroom.

With familiar people in this familiar place, another meeting got underway.

"Alright, Dumbledore, what have you discovered?" Dudley asked.

Dumbledore gathered his thoughts and organized his words before speaking:

"First of all, I verified the initial truth from Sirius. Just as we analyzed, Sirius is not Voldemort's accomplice. It's Peter Pettigrew who is.

At that time, Sirius had a sudden idea. He thought that Peter Pettigrew, a cowardly, timid and unassuming companion, was more suitable to be the Secret - Keeper of the Potter family than he was. So he actively approached James and proposed to transfer the identity of the Secret - Keeper to Peter Pettigrew, and James agreed.

Unexpectedly, Peter Pettigrew had already defected to Voldemort out of fear and became Voldemort's spy, which led to the tragedy of the Potter family."

Hearing this, Dudley didn't show much reaction. He just sighed again in his heart at Sirius's stupidity.

Harry's eyes fluctuated, and his heart was stirred. Although he had anticipated it, it was only at this moment that he fully confirmed the specific process of his parents' murder.

"Write it down, Harry!"

Dudley reminded him. Harry took out the previous black leather notebook and added Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black below the content related to the accomplice Snape.

Peter Pettigrew, the hateful traitor, the biggest accomplice who caused Mom and Dad's death. He is unforgivable and must pay a bloody price! Currently, his whereabouts are unknown.

Sirius Black, a stupid family friend of the older generation. His unintentional mistake indirectly led to the tragedy. He can be forgiven, but for now, he can only be treated as a stranger.

"Dumbledore, you should have asked something else from Sirius, right?"

Dudley looked at what Harry had written in the notebook and then asked Dumbledore in a conclusive tone.

"I've asked. Sirius said that Peter Pettigrew, with the help of him, James, and Remus, managed to become an Animagus and could transform into a rat.

I think that over the years, Peter Pettigrew, who faked his death and escaped, should have hidden his whereabouts by using this trick!"

Dumbledore replied.

"It seems that the focus of our search should be on a rat missing a toe. Without a direction, it's really like looking for a needle in a haystack!"

Dudley sighed with emotion, and he already had a plan in mind.

"By the way, this was found for me by Sirius. It was torn from a group photo of their student days."

Dumbledore took out half a moving magic photo from his pocket. It seemed to be torn from a group photo. On it was the human form of Peter Pettigrew, with a roe deer - like head and rat - like eyes, looking rather young.

Dudley took the photo, took a look, and silently memorized it, then handed the photo to Harry.

"Dumbledore, you didn't tell Sirius the news that Peter Pettigrew might still be alive, did you? Also, you picked Sirius up from Azkaban? Where did you take him?"

"As you said, I didn't tell him. I told Sirius that I asked these questions to help him clear his name, and he didn't suspect anything."

Dumbledore replied, "Sirius is in a very poor state now. He's hunched over and his face was sallow. I took him back to the Blacks' ancestral home, 12 Grimmauld Place in London, an ancient building concealed by magic.

There's a house-elf named Kreacher there who can take care of him. I told him that he needs to stay there and not go out until he's officially exonerated, and he agreed.

It's just that Sirius really wants to see Harry. He wants to apologize for the mistakes he made back then. He also…"

"What?"

Seeing Dumbledore being a bit hesitant, Dudley had a premonition that it wasn't good news. He frowned and urged.

"Sirius said that if Harry isn't happy living with the Dursleys, he can go to his place. Also, when Harry was just born, the Harry Potter family made an agreement with him that he would be Harry's godfather."

Dumbledore looked at Dudley's increasingly ugly expression and blurted out the words in a rush. After saying that, he even took two steps back. He anticipated that a volcanic eruption was imminent!

"He's dreaming! What a stupid idiot spouting nonsense!"

Sure enough, Dudley flew into a rage, jumped to his feet and roared angrily, "Godfather?! He still wants to be Harry's godfather? In his dreams! I'll never let a complete moron be Harry's godfather!

No, no one can be Harry's godfather. Harry simply doesn't! Need! A! Godfather!

Let godfathers go to hell!"

Watching Dudley fly into such a rage, Dumbledore was quite surprised. This kind of surprise was different from the ones Dudley had brought him before, which were full of reason and wisdom. It was a very strange, inexplicable surprise.

Harry also widened his eyes, but soon he understood the reason for his cousin's rage.

His cousin didn't want some outsider to run off with his family member.

"Don't worry, cousin! I'm really happy and content living at home. I won't go to find Sirius!" Harry promised.

Dudley took a long deep breath and tried hard to calm his excited mood before saying:

"No, when we have time, I'll go with you to meet this moron. If I don't give him a scolding that leaves him looking ashen, he won't know why the clouds are so white!"

"Well… Dudley, let's talk about something else!"

Noticing that the atmosphere was turning sour, Dumbledore wisely changed the subject.

"Whoosh—" Dudley let out another long breath, regained his calm, and sat back in his chair. "Alright, Dumbledore, carry on!"

"It's about the Death Eaters and Voldemort's Horcruxes!"

Dumbledore said seriously, "I found a clue about one of Voldemort's Horcruxes in the memory of Bellatrix Lestrange, one of Voldemort's most fanatical Death Eaters, a witch.

Voldemort transformed the goblet left behind by Helga Hufflepuff, one of the founders of Hogwarts, into a Horcrux.

He told Bellatrix that it was a very precious treasure to him and told Bellatrix to deposit the goblet properly in the Lestrange family vaults at Gringotts."

"That's great news, Dumbledore! When do you plan to go get it?" Dudley asked.

Regarding Voldemort's other Horcruxes, he originally planned to reveal them to Dumbledore one by one after starting school, then collect them all and decide what to do with them later.

But now, Dumbledore himself found a clue and sped up the collection process. Well, he had no choice but to let the old man be busy for another month.

"I've retrieved it!"

Dumbledore said proudly, a smug look on his aged face. He took out a delicate golden cup with two handles from his pocket and placed it on the desk in front of Dudley, looking just like an old kid at heart.

"What?!"

Dudley stared at the golden cup on the desk, then at Dumbledore's wrinkled face all smiles, shocked.

He originally thought that Dumbledore had come to ask him how to legally enter someone else's family vaults to get something. He never expected that this old man had just gone ahead and done it without asking first!