Chapter 89: Identifying and Killing Werewolves

For a few days after Halloween, all the talk at school was about Sirius Black.

Discussions centered on how he managed to infiltrate the castle. Ivan heard people say that Black was invisible and other such things. Hannah from Hufflepuff even wrote an article about it as a contribution to the 'Hogwarts Magic' newspaper. She swore to witness Black turning into a flower-shaped bush.

The article was rejected by Hermione before it reached Ivan.

Thanks to a series of articles on Dementors, since the beginning of the school year, the sales of the newspaper 'Hogwarts Magic' had been good, and the article "Patronus Charm" had reached the highest record with a complete quantity of over two thousand copies.

In addition to the school's wizards, many adult wizards learned about this defensive enchantment through 'The Magic of Hogwarts' newspaper. Ivan ended up discovering that many people had never heard of this spell. He was concerned about the general level of power in the magical world.

In addition to the growing rumors that had spread, there were many changes in the castle.

For example, the portrait of the Fat Lady, which had been damaged, had been taken off the wall and replaced with a portrait of a fully armed Sir Cadogan along with his obese gray pony.

No one was happy about this. Sir Cadogan spent half his time challenging people and asking them to fight him. The rest of the time was spent pondering complex and ridiculous passwords. He actually changed his password twice a day.

Harry, for example, was now under close surveillance.

Professors walked with him down the corridor for various reasons and with various excuses; Percy followed him everywhere, as if he were their watchdog.

Black's intrusion into the castle must have affected Peter Pettigrew the most.

Ron told Ivan that the rat tonic he gave him had no effect. Now, besides drinking water, Scabbers was not eating anything. He stayed in the corner of his bed all day and didn't move at all, as if he were dead.

A more accurate description would be that he was waiting for his death. Ivan had already tried it. The tracking potion was effective; he could sense the rat's presence when it was within 100 meters of him.

The next step was to look for opportunities to contact Sirius Black, and then he could put an end to this year's events. But the first two failed contacts made Black wary of Ivan. He became more cautious and Ivan did not know where he was hiding.

According to the books, Black should be hiding in the Shrieking House, but Ivan checked after Halloween and he wasn't there.

On the eve of Halloween, Lupin also saw Black. He knew the Shrieking House. As cautious as Black was, he couldn't stay there.

Just as Lupin didn't trust Black, Black didn't trust Lupin either.

Twelve years of life in Azkaban left little of his sanity, he didn't even trust Dumbledore, all he could think about now was revenge.

It was now very likely that Black was hiding in the Forbidden Forest. Ivan was not interested in finding a dog in that forest. He decided to devise a plan to bring him out into the open.

At the lunch table, Ivan saw Crookshanks running out of the auditorium with a large loaf of bread in his mouth, and it occurred to him that he could use him....

Hermione's cat was clever and incomprehensible, and sometimes Ivan suspected that he was also an Animagus. He must have made friends with Sirius Black by now, and the bread he had just picked up must have been for Black.

Just as Ivan looked at Crookshanks, who had escaped, he saw Harry, Ron and Hermione enter the Great Dining Hall with downcast faces.

"Do you know what Snape told me to do?! He asked me to clean the cauldrons in the school potions room! And I wasn't even allowed to use magic!" Ron gasped, his fists clenched tightly. "Why can't Black hide in Snape's office, so he can look after him for us?"

"How did that happen, Ron?! Don't the third years have Defense Against the Dark Arts class this morning?" asked Colin. "How could you get punished by Snape?"

"Good question, Colin!" Ron shouted loudly. "Actually, I was punished by Snape in Defense Against the Dark Arts class in the morning. Then I went to Potions class in the afternoon and had to endure it yet again..."

Colin asked, "But why?"

"Because Snape said Professor Lupin was ill and couldn't attend classes, this Defense Against the Dark Arts session was his." Harry sat up angrily. "Snape must have something to do with this. Remember when I said I gave Professor Lupin a potion a few days ago? He must have put something in that potion."

Harry's words were approved by Ron. Ivan knew that Snape's potion was a Matalobos potion. The potion was to be taken a week before the night of the full moon.

Apparently, these were the days when Lupin transformed, so it was no wonder he had not been seen for some time.

"Don't talk garbage, Harry, why would Snape do that?" Hermione pulled out her Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook.

"He's always wanted to teach this course." Ron shouted, "Look what he did in class, he spent half the time criticizing Professor Lupin's teaching methods and the rest of the time asking us weird questions."

Colin asked, "What did he ask you?"

"It was about werewolves, Colin!" Ron turned and said, "Snape has been asking us how to recognize a werewolf. Hermione knew the answer. But he wouldn't let her talk. I asked her, if she doesn't want to hear the answer, why does she keep asking? and that's why I've been punished!"

"But there must be a reason for this. Why does she want us to know how to identify werewolves?" said Hermione, thoughtfully.

"Anything's possible; maybe he was bitten by a mad werewolf, so he went mad!" Ron snorted, "I mean, look at this. Snape left us with homework that discusses identification and how to kill a werewolf. At least two scrolls, he's completely insane!"

"The difference between werewolf and real werewolf, the symptoms of werewolf in human form..." Hermione looked through her Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook.

Ron looked at Hermione in disbelief as he said, "Gosh, Hermione, you're not going to finish the task of identifying an evil werewolf and killing it, are you?"

"Middle finger same length as ring finger, weakness, full moon, transformation time, fear a...." Hermione ignored him. Her hands quickly crossed the book. Then she seemed to find something. She snapped her head up sharply, and her beautiful brown eyes filled with astonishment.

"A werewolf isn't necessarily evil, Ron!" Seeing the look in Hermione's eyes, Ivan knew he had discovered the truth and sighed. "Wizards often think that werewolves have no sense or emotions, that they only destroy and kill, that they are full of bloodlust, but that is wrong."

"You must know that even a pure-hearted person, a person who does not forget to pray every night, will inevitably transform into a wolf every night of the full moon when exposed to moonlight." Ivan looked calmly at Hermione, "But some people are kind by nature. Just because he's a werewolf doesn't mean we can't trust him."

"Is that so, Ivan?" Hermione asked this question in concern. But this being him, she became less worried.

"Yes, I trust him!" Ivan nodded.

Harry, Ron and Colin looked at Ivan and Hermione. They were confused and couldn't understand what the two were saying.