Chapter 169
Chapter 169: Plan in Progress
Chapter 169: Plan in Progress
The winter sun fell early, and golden rays of light slid through the leaves and shot into a hidden tree hole in the forbidden forest, shining on a man.
Inside the tree hole, Sirius Black’s body curled up very uncomfortably. His fight against the werewolf left him scarred, dirty, with his tangled hair hanging down to his elbows. Long-term malnutrition and running day after day made his face very gaunt and sunken. Still, he kept a smile on his lips.
He was thinking about what the boy named Evan told him yesterday when they met in Hogsmeade.
Provided he can clear his name, he can return to the world, and live with James’ son, Harry Potter.
Black, who had never been afraid of anything, felt suddenly nervous. He didn’t know how to fulfill his godfather’s duties.
He had never had a similar experience before, and happiness was too sudden for him.
In his mind, his stern, old fashioned, swearing father’s face appeared. He shook his head. Since he left home at the age of sixteen, he had never seen his parents and never returned to his family, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.
Sirius had a sarcastic smile. He couldn’t recall any aspect of his father other than the pure blood theory which was not worth a single penny.
Maybe, he should be like James’s father, funny, kind, friendly, with an encouraging, tolerant attitude… josei
Just as Black thought about how he should get along with Harry, he suddenly heard a distant sound in the woods, a sound of treading over the snow and fallen leaves. Something was approaching.
He immediately became alert, he turned over and climbed up from the ground.
Black squinted, and by the light of the sunset, he saw a ginger figure appearing in his field of vision. Crookshanks seemed to bring something.
Crookshanks came over, arched his head, and handed a piece of paper to Black. Then he jumped sideways to the side of the branch, meowing with satisfaction.
Black squinted and looked at the note in his hand.
On it was the new password for the entrance to Gryffindor Common room. It was Evan who sent Crookshanks.
He couldn’t tell why, but he had a sudden ominous hunch.
He hesitated for a moment, and then turned into his Animagus form.
Black was ready to go to the castle, and he couldn’t wait to catch Peter Pettigrew.
As for his plan with Evan, he didn’t care. He had to act according to his guts.
In the morning, he saw that the students had all left by train. There were no other people in the castle. No one could stop him from catching the rat.
Ten minutes later, a massive black dog and a ginger cat appeared on the grounds of Hogwarts, both of them skillfully bypassed Hagrid’s cabin.
There was a canine’s bark in the house, it was Hagrid’s hunting dog Fang. From the window, it saw Black and Crookshanks passing through the field. It was warning Hagrid, but the latter did not look back, he was busy preparing food for Buckbeak, a large plate of dead ferrets.
Before the hearing of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures, he will live with Buckbeak for the time being, and he must make sure that it will live comfortably.
Black and Crookshanks entered the castle and followed the empty staircase to the Gryffindor common room.
Standing in front of the portrait, Black’s body shook.
“A dog and a cat?! Do you know the password, without the correct password, I won’t let you in!” Sir Cadogan seemed to have drunk too much, he staggered and stood up, his body’s armor making a loud noise, and finally he had to put the big outrageous sword on the ground to support his own body.
“Scurvy cur!” Black said quietly, he had changed back.
“And the same to you, Mr. disguised as a dog!” Sir Cadogan took another drink, and he did not seem to recognize that Black was not a student at Gryffindor House.
Or to be precise, as long as he had the correct password, he did not care who he was.
The painting swung forward and Black climbed in.
Behind him, the two former Hogwarts Headmasters who had been drinking with Sir Cadogan looked at him with surprise. They looked at each other and disappeared into the frame.
The Common room was very quiet and Black was about to go into Harry’s bedroom.
He had seen it many times before, and Peter Pettigrew became the rat in the red-haired boy’s jacket pocket next to Harry.
He just had walked two steps forward when he saw Harry and Hermione fainting on the ground.
Black stopped abruptly; there was a glimmer of dismay on his exhausted face. His bad hunch re-emerged and became more intense.
“Harry, Hermione, wake up, why are you lying here, what happened?”
Black shook Harry, his hands shaking uncontrollably because of over-excitement.
“You are…” Harry woke up and looked at Black in confusion. Then he thought about it. There was a glimmer of joy in his eyes when he said: “Sirius Black?!”
Black nodded, looking at Harry, and tears swirled in his eyes.
He seemed to have thousands of words, but he didn’t know what to say. He only knew that this boy in front of him was the son of his best friend, James.
The thirteen-year-old Harry looked very much like James, and Black almost thought that he was seeing his late best friend in his younger years.
The exception was those green eyes, Harry had his mother’s eyes.
Looking at Harry, Black opened his mouth and closed it, so many times. He seemed to have lost his ability to speak, and every time he wanted to talk, he swallowed back his word.
“Oh, Mr. Black, Sirius?” Hermione’s voice suddenly came over. She said timidly, “Can I call you like that?”
Black was really shocked to hear such a name. He stared at Hermione, as if he had forgotten other people would speak to him politely.
“You shouldn’t be here now, you will be discovered!”
“Yes!” Harry seemed to have just thought about it, he stood up from the ground, and said in a hurry, ?Evan said you should come here again at eight in the evening, if you are seen by other people…”
“I don’t care; I don’t care if I’m discovered.” Black’s voice was extremely hoarse, ” Where is that rat, where is Peter Pettigrew?”
Harry and Hermione hastily looked at each other then at him in panic.
They suddenly realized that they didn’t know where Peter Pettigrew was. He should be with Ron.
Ron had just stunned them with Stupefy, and then, they didn’t know where he had gone with Peter Pettigrew.
They are definitely planning a plot, and Black was in a very dangerous situation.
“You should leave here immediately, Sirius!” Harry said quickly.
“I think, he has no time to escape!” Harry’s voice just fell, and a cold voice came in.
The three of them hurriedly turned their heads. They saw that the portrait door was opened again. Severus Snape walked in slowly with his wand pointed directly at Black.