Chapter 68: A stray dog

Ivan watched in amusement as Dobby disappeared from sight, it seemed that being a cat wasn't entirely useless, at least when it came to hiding.

Almost all Animagi were masters of hiding, looking at Peter Pettigrew, he had been hiding in the Weasley's house for twelve years, at least that was to be admired.

But he could laugh no more, as Ivan heard a loud noise coming from the garbage bin behind him, as if something was about to come out of it.

He hastily jumped a couple of steps back, if it was a stray cat, he didn't know what to do. But what came out of the garbage can was much worse than a stray cat.

Ivan saw a black dog emerge, staring at him with its two beady eyes.

In the dimly lit alley, a black cat and a black dog looked at each other for about three seconds, both with extremely human expressions on their faces.

Ivan realized immediately that the dog was not a stray, but Sirius Black.

He had been lucky enough to hide behind a wastebasket and meet a fugitive who had been wanted by the Ministry for over a month.

Just as Ivan realized who it was, Sirius Black immediately realized that the black cat was an Animagus, gave Ivan a fierce look and barked twice.

The atmosphere was becoming increasingly tense and Ivan sensed a hint of danger.

His muscles tensed and, before he could react, Sirius ran away.

Seeing him run, Ivan froze for a moment before realizing what had happened, and without even thinking about it, he went after him.

A cat was chasing a dog in a dimly lit alley in London, what would others think if they saw this strange scene?

They were both running very fast, much faster than a normal dog or cat.

The speed of Ivan's black cat form was so high that he only needed to push himself lightly on the ground before he advanced more than a meter, quickly closing the distance between him and Sirius Black.

Sirius Blacks endurance was better than Ivan's, but after twelve years in Azkaban and a month of hiding, he was no longer as resilient as before, and after running a little further, his speed slowed.

Ivan had a grin on his catlike face, he forced the other into a dead end.

Sirius Black backed up cautiously, and when he realized he had nowhere to retreat to, he bared his teeth, his growl grew louder, and he looked at Ivan. After a long moment, he finally seemed to make up his mind and lunged at Ivan.

Unprepared for the sudden onslaught, Ivan backed up a meter or so.

He suddenly realized he had done something stupid, why he was chasing Sirius Black, someone he couldn't beat.

Ivan wanted to return to his human form and talk to Sirius, maybe work out a plan to catch Peter Pettigrew and let the events of this year play out smoothly.

But he had no mana left, he couldn't transform back into human any time soon, and seeing Sirius Black getting closer and closer, Ivan took a few steps back.

The atmosphere became more tense, Ivan meowed faintly, but the black dog's footsteps did not stop, but advanced faster.

Unable to communicate, Ivan turned and fled before he could be torn apart by his opponent.

He could feel Sirius Black chasing him, so Ivan had to speed up. As he turned and ran through a garden, he saw a figure holding a huge box in a dimly lit corner.

Just as Ivan wondered why the figure looked familiar, a bright light suddenly came from across the street and he knew immediately who it was.

...

Harry couldn't stand, he was shaking all over, it made Marjorie Dursley puff up like a balloon, but she shouldn't have insulted her parents like that.

She had learned last year, from her friend Ivan, that her parents had fought Voldemort to the end and died protecting him, and she was proud of them. They were not jobless tramps who had died in a car accident, as Marjorie Dursley had said.

Despite having blown Marjorie Dursley up like a balloon, Harry had no regrets.

He left the Dursley house with all his things, walked a few blocks and then was left alone in the darkness of the Muggle world, with nowhere to go.

Worst of all, he had just used magic, which meant he was almost certainly going to be expelled from Hogwarts. He knew he had seriously violated the law restricting the use of magic by minors, so the Ministry's response would not surprise him.

He didn't know what to do now, he asked Hedwig to send a letter to Ivan saying that maybe he should go to his house, since he was close by. But Harry hesitated immediately, he didn't want to get Ivan in trouble when he was almost certain he would be expelled.

Harry looked at the wand in his hand, if he was destined to be expelled, a little magic wouldn't hurt. His suitcase had his father's invisibility cloak in it, if he did magic on the suitcase to make it lighter and then strapped it to his broom, he could cover himself with the cloak and fly to London to get all his money out of Gringotts.

Then she could go and explore the world!

The idea was terrible, but he couldn't sit on the sidewalk all the time or he'd have to explain to the Muggle police why he was out on the street at midnight with a suitcase full of spell books and a broom.

After a minute or so, Harry finally made up his mind, opened his suitcase and pushed the contents aside, looking for the invisibility cloak.

Then, with a sudden tingling sensation, he stood up, and could feel someone or something approaching him quickly.

"Lumos" whispered Harry, and a small pale white light was produced by the end of his wand.

The next second, he saw a small black kitten run up to him and jump into his arms.