If these also had to be split in half, that would almost put them on par with the current top pure-blood families.
As for the family's library, although it was more valuable than Galleons, it represented the foundation of a family.
But for Sirius, this was the part he valued the least.
The Black family's library was mostly about dark magic, and quite evil at that. Sirius had no interest in learning it.
He also had no intention of leaving it to Harry or anyone else. Trading it away now wouldn't cause him any heartache.
Finally, there was the item in Kreacher's possession. He cared even less about that and didn't want to know what it was or how Ethan knew about it.
But he could guess that a house-elf wouldn't have anything good.
If he wanted, he could even take Kreacher away.
Kreacher had already been warped by his mother's teachings, and his values were completely incompatible with his own.
"That's no problem."
"However, to reassure both of us, how about we make an Unbreakable Vow?"
Ethan nodded in agreement without hesitation, but insurance was still necessary.
Human nature couldn't withstand the test, especially since the value of this transaction was quite large. At another time or with another person, Ethan wouldn't have been able to take advantage like this.
Even if Sirius was relatively trustworthy, Ethan was still not very reassured.
If an Unbreakable Vow was made, there would be basically no problems.
Unless Sirius could think of a reasonable way to circumvent the vow.
For example, by preventing Ethan from capturing Peter, or waiting until the vow was lifted after the transaction was completed, and then reneging to take everything back.
But Sirius couldn't do either of these.
Besides, even Dumbledore couldn't withstand this kind of vow curse.
Hearing Ethan say this, Sirius was silent for a while before finally nodding in agreement.
He had never thought of going back on his word, so he didn't resist it much.
It just didn't seem like a third-year wizard at all!
Having been this age himself, not only his strength, but also his knowledge, way of thinking, and caution were inferior to him. (Thanks Zhao Hao)
"Penelope, you will be the witness later."
"Okay!"
Hearing this, Penelope nodded. She also thought it was necessary to make an Unbreakable Vow, after all, it was such a large amount of wealth.
This magic wasn't difficult to learn, it was just relatively obscure, and there were few records of it. Penelope had learned it when she was reading magic books in Ravenclaw's secret room.
Afterwards, Ethan and Sirius began to discuss the specific content of the vow. After Penelope was ready.
Ethan and Sirius stood face to face, holding each other's arms.
Penelope stood beside them holding her wand.
A thin, dazzling tongue of fire emerged from the tip of Penelope's wand, like a red-hot metal wire, which quickly wrapped around Ethan and Sirius' wrists after it appeared.
"I, Ethan Yaderian, will capture Peter Pettigrew and hand him over to Sirius Black."
"I, Sirius Black, will deliver the entire Black family library, half of the cash, and a magical item designated by Ethan Yaderian from Kreacher's possession to Ethan Yaderian within half a year after Ethan Yaderian captures Peter Pettigrew and hands him over to me."
At this time, every time Ethan and Sirius said a vow, a thin red flame would spew out from the wand in Penelope's hand, tightly wrapping around their hands.
[Thank you to the great Serpent God for the monthly ticket, thank you!]
Chapter 200: A Conspiracy Against Peter
After making the Unbreakable Vow with Sirius, the next day was Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
When the bell rang to end the class, Ethan didn't leave immediately.
"Yaderian, is there something you want to stay behind for?"
Lupin, who had already packed up his teaching tools, smiled and walked over to ask after seeing that Ethan was the only one left in the classroom.
"Professor, let's find a quieter place, I have something I want to say to you."
"Okay, then follow me, to my office."
Lupin led the way with an unchanged expression, but he already had many guesses in his mind.
Among them, what worried him the most was whether Ethan knew about his werewolf identity?
After all, Snape, who was determined to expose him, was at Hogwarts, always mentioning the werewolf thing overtly and covertly, and hoping to lead it to himself.
If it were the Gryffindor group, he wouldn't worry about them guessing in this direction, but Ethan, according to the excellence he had shown, might have discovered something.
Arriving at the familiar Defense Against the Dark Arts office, whether it was when Quirrell was the professor, or when Lockhart was the professor, he had come in quite a bit.
"Student Yaderian, is there something you want to tell the teacher?"
Lupin had to admit that he was a little nervous at the moment.
If his identity was exposed, the werewolf would definitely not be able to continue staying at Hogwarts as a professor.
Even if Dumbledore supported him later, the parents of the students wouldn't let it go. Lupin, who was familiar with Dumbledore's character, knew that besides taking the initiative to resign to save face, there was no other way.
This period of time could be said to be the happiest time he had spent since the Wizarding War.
"I saw Sirius Black last night."
Lupin's expression changed immediately when he heard this.
"Where, tell me quickly?"
"Then I'll notify the Ministry of Magic and Dumbledore, we definitely can't let him run away this time."
Lupin's face was full of anger and anxiety, as if he had a deep hatred for Sirius.
Ethan didn't expect that Lupin, this honest man, could also act so well.
If he hadn't asked Sirius clearly last night when they met, and hadn't used magic to detect it, he would have really been deceived by him.
"Professor Lupin, don't pretend, Sirius has told me that you and he have met."
"I know all about your affairs. I came to see you this time to catch Peter Pettigrew."
"Of course, it's not because I'm being kind, it's just that I made a deal with Sirius."
Saying that, Ethan directly took out the Marauder's Map.
After hearing Ethan say this, Lupin was silent. His performance just now was really like a clown.
However, when he saw the Marauder's Map, Lupin's expression was similar to Sirius', full of nostalgia.
"Can I take a look at the Marauder's Map?"
Lupin's outstretched hand stopped in mid-air. Now that the Marauder's Map was no longer his, it was better to follow Ethan's opinion.
He really wanted to see if Peter was on it, and where he was now.
Although Sirius had given him that issue of the newspaper, he had indeed confirmed that Peter had not died.
Peter, who faked his death to escape, had been living a life of ignoble ease for over a decade using his Animagus form. Anyone with a brain would know there was definitely something wrong with that.
This was also the main reason Lupin could believe in Sirius's innocence.
Also, during the first class, the thing Ron was afraid of, the rat that the Boggart transformed into, looked very much like Peter's Animagus form. It's just that they didn't think much of it at the time, and only realized the truth when they recalled it later.
But Lupin couldn't pinpoint where Peter was. It was easy to see Ron in class, but was Peter really on Ron?
If he pushed him too hard, based on what Peter did back then, blowing up thirteen Muggles, he would definitely attack the young wizards, possibly causing casualties.
Last semester, regarding the incident in the Gryffindor dormitory, although he hadn't experienced it himself, Lupin knew some details. He absolutely couldn't accept such a thing happening to him, and caused by him.
In that case, whether it was in class or in the Gryffindor dormitory, he couldn't act.
Plus, since he couldn't even determine where Peter was, he only had one chance.
As a result, he had to endure and endure during this time, until he could find a suitable opportunity.
But until today, he hadn't encountered Peter, not even once, so naturally there was no opportunity.
If he could obtain the Marauder's Map, it would definitely be much more convenient for him.
"Okay."
Seeing Ethan nod in agreement, Lupin immediately took the Marauder's Map.
A pair of rough hands kept stroking it, as if it were a rare treasure.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!"
Along with this familiar incantation spoken from Lupin's mouth, ink lines instantly appeared on the parchment, beginning to sketch and draw. A detailed map of Hogwarts instantly appeared on the map, and names also appeared on it.
Lupin quickly saw his and Ethan's names, right in his office.
But this was not Lupin's goal at the moment. Finding the third-year students who had just left class, as he expected, Peter Pettigrew's name was on it. His name was overlapping with Ron's, and Harry was beside them.
Obviously, Peter was in Ron's pocket when he was teaching the class.
It's just that he hadn't noticed it all along. On the contrary, Peter didn't know how many times he had spied on him.
Now that he knew Peter's location, he should start thinking about how to catch Peter.
"Adrian, what's your plan? I mean, the plan to catch Peter."
After staring at the Marauder's Map for a while, Lupin finally looked up.
He knew that his brain wasn't very clever, definitely not as good as the wizard much younger than him in front of him.
If he were to think of a solution, he might not get a good result. It would be better to follow Ethan's plan.
Anyway, he had made a deal with Sirius, so he was definitely on his side.
As for what the deal was, Lupin didn't want to know.
After all, it had nothing to do with him. Apart from a few rags, he only had a bit of salary from this period. Ethan could cooperate with the Worrell family to sell alchemy products, so he definitely wouldn't be interested in his little bit of Galleons.
"Recently, Peter Pettigrew has been inseparable from Ron. If we want to act, we can only do it in a place where there is no one."
"And if we want to take Ron out, we definitely can't do it. If it's too outrageous, Peter will definitely notice."
"So, we must first win over Harry, and let Harry bring Ron out. Given the relationship between the two of them, only if Harry invites him will Peter not suspect anything."
This was Ethan's plan.
In fact, Ethan could have solved it with a single Imperius Curse. After Ron was controlled, he would definitely offer Scabbers with both hands. If Scabbers dared to escape, he would give him a Cruciatus Curse, and he wouldn't be able to run.
But Dumbledore would definitely not allow this, even if it was to catch Peter, clear Sirius's name, and reveal the truth of what happened back then.
"Okay, let's do as you say."
After listening, Lupin immediately decided to listen to Ethan's arrangements.
Everything was already planned, and he didn't have to use his brain at all.
"But not yet. If we tell Harry the truth in advance, Harry will inevitably reveal some flaws, which will be noticed by Peter Pettigrew."
"It won't be suitable to tell Harry the truth until the next Hogsmeade day, which is the day after tomorrow, in the morning of that day."
"Let Harry come forward and lure Ron out of Hogwarts to Hogsmeade."
Ethan didn't trust Harry's acting skills. After all, when he first learned that Sirius had killed his parents, his face was quite ugly and he couldn't hide it at all.
It would be strange if he could calm down after knowing that the real culprit was Ron's rat.
He was probably going to grab his wand that night and try to fight Ron's rat.
"That's possible, but if I remember correctly, Ron hasn't gone to Hogsmeade twice."
Lupin was quite concerned about Harry, so he naturally knew some information about Harry's best friend Ron.
"Mrs. Weasley signed permission slips for every child in her family except Ginny. They all have the qualifications to go to Hogsmeade, and based on Ron's past performance, it's impossible for him not to be interested in Hogsmeade, especially after he earned a sum of Galleons by using Snape's photos."
"The only possibility is that he was influenced by Peter. This requires Harry to take action. As long as he can loudly announce in front of everyone that Harry will pay for all of Ron's expenses, whether it's Zonko's Joke Shop, Honeydukes Sweetshop, or Dervish and Banges, he'll cover everything."
"As long as Harry says this, it's impossible for Ron not to go. If he's not controlled by Peter Pettigrew, then everything will be fine."
"If he is controlled by Peter and refuses in front of all the young wizards and even Dumbledore, this is completely inconsistent with his character, which is likely to attract Dumbledore's attention. Peter will definitely not make this mistake."
"When that time comes, whether Peter is willing or not, Ron will have to go."
"If only Ron goes to Hogsmeade and Peter doesn't go, we can also use the Marauder's Map to find Peter's location. On that day, there are basically not many young wizards in Hogwarts. After finding a reason to dismiss these young wizards, we can also catch Peter Pettigrew in Hogwarts. I can get Hermione to help with this."
