Chapter 1008: Shrieking Shack!
The boys and girls climbed up through the trapdoor, leaving the dark tunnel.
Black, who had explored all secret passages with Harry on the Marauder’s Map, immediately guessed where they had arrived. "We are at Shrieking Shack!" he hissed quietly. "Filch had all other secret passages blocked, but this was the only one guarded by the Whomping Willow."
"Let’s alert Professor Dumbledore," Hermione suggested.
"And tell him what?!" Black snapped. "That Uncle Black went mad and dragged Ron away? Five students and one monster aren’t enough to get him back?!"
Despite the scary circumstance, Harry and Draco’s mouths twitched as Black called Darcie a monster.
"Professor Dumbledore is not at Hogwarts," Darcie said, dropping the bomb on them. "Nor is Madam Villanelle."
Silence.
It was one thing not to call on the Headmaster; another thing entirely to not be able to ask him for help.
A creaking noise came from upstairs.
Hermione involuntarily grabbed Black’s robe from behind.
Nodding at each other, they all killed the lights on their wands with Nox and walked up the crumbling staircase, as quietly as they could.
When they reached the door, from which Ron’s moans were crawling out, Darcie suddenly stepped forward, pulling Harry and Draco away.
"On count of three," Darcie whispered, her green eyes almost glowing in the darkness, "close your eyes."
What?!
Before anyone could have made sense of her words, though, Darcie... kicked the door open with a WHAM.
"Three!" she shouted before flicking her wand. "Lumos Maxima!"
In the darkness, a mini sun lit everything up.
It was so blindingly white that, despite their eyes being closed, the children could see it under their eyelids.
Harry and the others had just begun opening their eyes when they heard Darcie again. "Expelliarmus!"
Disarming Charm?! On whom?!
Confused, the students stormed inside, and what they saw made them immediately step back.
On one side, Ron was on the floor with his eyes shut tight, his left hand pressed tightly on the wet robe over his right shoulder. In his right hand, he was still holding Scabbers, who seemed to have gone as blind as his master.
There was a bed in the middle of the room, where Crookshanks sat, looking right back at them.
But these two scenes weren’t the reason behind the students’ shocked reactions.
It was the scene on the other side of the room, opposite Ron, past the bed.
Darcie had her wand raised out, pointed at... not a dog, but a... person.
Long black hair, clean black robes, and pale, rosy skin, as if he had just recovered from many years’ long sickness. He kept massaging his eyes, as if he dearly wanted to see what was going on in front of him.
Yet, despite all these changes, all students recognized this man.
"Sirius Black!" Hermione gasped.
Rage, from the depths of his heart, bubbled in Harry’s mind. He gnashed his teeth and took a large step toward him, but Darcie looked over her shoulder, making him stop.
"Check on Ron first," she said. "Do not let your personal grudge cloud your judgment. Remember what you learned in the Battle Workshops."
The words woke up everyone.
Harry’s rampaging breathing slowed down, his face gaining redness. When he turned around, Daphne had already gone to Ron and was now checking his injury, turning that redness into a full blush.
"Where’s my dog?" Black asked, rushing past Draco.
Darcie looked at him as if he were an idiot. "He is
your dog," she said, her calm face reflecting shock. "Sirius Black is an Animagus." Hermione gasped again.
Even Harry and Daphne, near Ron, had their eyes popping out.
Draco’s jaw lowered and remained like that for some time. "Wait... that coat..." he suddenly pointed at the dark wizard. "Isn’t that your father’s, Black?"
But Black couldn’t reply.
His face had turned very ugly.
In silence, Black and Darcie kept looking at each other.
Soon, everyone realized what was going on. Black had been teasing Darcie about the Magical Suitcase ever since the start of the term. The same Magical Suitcase that she had kept at Hogwarts for the last two years. The same Magical Suitcase in which Yellow Warlock had hidden himself, right under their noses.
But how was that any different than adopting a dog, who was Sirius Black, and bringing him to Hogwarts — to the Gryffindor dormitory where Harry slept?!
The initial shock of seeing Sirius Black had failed to raise these questions in the students’ minds. Now that they did appear, a nauseating feeling welled up inside them. It was especially so for Harry, who had... played with the dog for months!
"Cough!" Black cleared his throat. "Call it even?"
"..." Darcie stared back for a moment, then shrugged. "Whatever."
Meanwhile, Sirius had regained his vision.
"Dark Wizard thing is fine..." Black said, looking at the Animagus. "But what kind of sick fetish is this?! And to think I gave you my last name!"
Sirius wanted to wince, but also couldn’t help but smile, making his lips twist into something in between. "No, no," he said. "You are all mistaken. I was never after Harry."
"Don’t you dare take my name!" Harry snapped from across the room. "You murdered my parents!"
"I don’t deny it," Sirius said quietly. "But if you knew the whole story."
"The whole story?" Draco repeated, twisting his lips. "My father said you sold Harry’s parents to Voldemort. I have rarely seen him so happy talking about something. So that could not have been a lie."
"No, you all need to listen to me!" Sirius said, shuffling on his feet as if he were in a hurry. He looked at Harry. "You’ll regret it if you don’t... You don’t understand..."
"I understand enough!" Harry said, his voice shaking. "You never heard her, did you? My mum... trying to stop Voldemort from killing me... and you did that..."
That was the scene Harry experienced every time he faced a Dementor.
Now, the memory had become a constant nightmare.
Sirius stepped back as if struck by an invisible blow. "I... I didn’t mean that to happen..." he mumbled, like a madman’s ravings. "It was not me... It was not me!"
Darcie frowned.
At one moment, Sirius looked completely sane.
At another, he looked like a man who was recovering from deep psychological issues.
"Daphne, use Mobilicorpus on Ron," Darcie said. "Draco, be ready to Apparate to Professor McGonagall’s office. Hermione, go back to the tunnel with Black and scout ahead. I will petrify Sirius and follow you with Harry..."
"Always knew that you would not only be a brilliant witch, but also an outstanding leader."
The words came out of nowhere.
Darcie looked over her shoulder, and the man’s identity made her pause momentarily.
In the next moment, Lupin’s hand blurred, and Darcie, Black, Draco, and Hermione’s wands shot out of their hands toward him.
Simultaneously, Crookshanks pounced on Harry and Daphne, knocking their wands off, which flew into Lupin’s hands in the next moment as well.
Then Lupin looked at Sirius and asked, "... Where is he?"
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