Chapter 109: Lone Avenger

Ivan climbed the dark stairs to the second floor, and the old black wooden floor creaked under his feet as owls flew overhead.

The layout of the post office on the second and second floors was similar. There were owls everywhere. On the shelves below them, there were codes of various colors.

Crookshanks lay on a semicircular balcony. When he saw Ivan, he purred with satisfaction.

Wait, where's Sirius Black?

Ivan suddenly realized what was happening; he quickly turned around, and behind him, in the shadow of the hallway, a black figure ran out.

At that moment, Ivan was thrown to the ground and splattered with dust.

Several gray long-eared owls spread their wings and flew higher, glaring at Ivan and the large black dog below them.

Sirius Black quickly jumped up and grabbed the wand from Ivan's hand.

His body quickly transformed in midair, and when he fell to the ground, Ivan saw a middle-aged man who looked exactly like the one the Ministry of Magic wanted: his dirty, tangled hair hung down to his elbows. In the dark pupils of his eyes, there was no light at all, and dark sockets and a waxen skin stuck to the bones of his face, which looked like a skeleton.

"You've been too careless, boy!" Black held Ivan's wand tightly and grinned showing his yellow teeth. "Don't fight it. Since you're Harry's friend, I'll just use the dememorizing charm on you and erase all memories of me from your head."

Black's voice was low and husky, sounding as if he hadn't spoken in a long time.

"Listen, I need to talk to you, Sirius!" Ivan whispered. "I'm not going to resist. You can have my wand if it makes you feel safer."

"Hmph, safety means nothing to me!" Black sneered. "If you, like me, were locked up in Azkaban for twelve years, and like me, were tortured by hundreds of Dementors day and night, with your head full of the darkest memories, and enduring the suffering caused by the loss of your best friends frying your mind; if you've endured all that, you'd forget about fear and safety too."

"That sounds really bad," Ivan said worriedly.

"You know how I got over it?" Black's expression suddenly turned fierce. "It was revenge, it was the power of revenge is what kept me sane, what kept me from becoming a walking corpse like the others."

"Maybe I can help you get revenge." Ivan sat up from the floor.

"Help me?!" The grin on Black's face became even more pronounced. The wand in his hand pointed steadily at Ivan. "I don't think so, you better stand still and don't play games with me, I've been watching you for the past few months since our first meeting in the Muggle World in August. I know your skills are truly amazing. I wasn't that strong at your age."

"Thank you for the compliment. If I was as powerful as you said, I wouldn't have been in this situation right now!" Ivan paused and continued, "But I want to help you. Remember when we met at the edge of the forest for the second time on Halloween? I covered for you so you could run away; otherwise you would have been discovered by Professor Lupin!"

Ivan secretly gathered his magical power. Ever since he saw Tom Riddle use Ron's broken wand to release curses last semester, he had been studying Wandless Magic.

Although he found many theoretical books on this subject, the actual process was extremely difficult.

Ivan had to practice for almost a year, but he could not control his magical power well and all he was able to make was a light that is even less impressive than that of a young wizard with his wand.

Such a light was of no value in actual combat.

But perhaps, it could distract Black if it took him by surprise.

Ivan had to be careful, it was his last resort if communication didn't work, he didn't want to be turned into an idiot by Black's dememorizing charm.

"If it wasn't for you, I never would have been found out." Black hummed and the wand glowed slightly. "And by the way, I don't need anyone's help!"

He waved his wand, but Ivan was faster than him.

A blinding white light shone like a bolt of lightning and Black closed his eyes unconsciously.

Hundreds of owls soared into the sky and the entire second floor was in chaos.

Seizing this opportunity, Ivan rose from the ground and crashed into Black. Though he was short and slender, far from his tall opponent Black, but the sudden flash of light caught Sirius off guard

Black failed to get the wand up in time, and Ivan grabbed Black's hand holding the wand with one hand, forcing the end of the wand to change direction; the knuckles of his other hand hit the side of Black's head, and they both fell backwards, crashing into the wall.

The sharp impact finally brought Black back to his senses, and the wand in his hand sent a red light into the air that missed Ivan's face by inches; the latter felt the shrunken arm under his fingers twist wildly, but he held on tight, his other hand hitting every part of Black he could reach.

But Black was much stronger than he was, and his free hand had found its way to Ivan's throat.

Just as Ivan was feeling desperate, Crookshanks, who was crouching on the balcony, suddenly jumped up to join the fight, sinking his two front paws into Black's arm.

Black growled and let go of Ivan, he wanted to get rid of Crookshanks, but failed. Taking this opportunity, Ivan threw some punches in Black's stomach, and the latter suffered a lot.

He curled up letting go of his hand and also letting go of his wand.

Ivan grabbed his wand and quickly stood up, pointing it at Black's chest and looking down at him.

Black slumped against the wall with his limbs spread wide, his thin chest rising and falling rapidly.

"Good job, Crookshanks!" Ivan gasped.

Crookshanks meowed softly and hopped back onto the window balcony, as if he had finished a trivial matter, and the owls in the air swooped back down.

Ivan looked at Black. He could vaguely see the handsome man he used to be in his weak pale face. Twelve years of prison life had made his character cold. Before he kills Peter Pettigrew, he won't believe anyone, nor will he need help.

As a lone avenger, he would use his own power to capture Peter.

He would rather trust a cat than the others.

"I underestimated you. You're much better than I thought Spells without Wands! I haven't seen a wizard with that much skill in a long time." Black's lips hung again in his sarcastic sneer. "What do you intend to do, hand me over to the Ministry Aurors, or the Dementors?"

"I repeat, I only want to help you, believe it or not!" Ivan wiped the blood from his mouth, there were a few sparks on the tip of his wand. "But if you like this form of conversation, we'll communicate well."

"Speaking of which, I want to thank you," Black said calmly. "I thank you for the 'Hogwarts Magic' newspaper you run, when Fudge visited Azkaban, he gave me a copy, it had pictures of him giving special awards to several of you. On the front page of the paper, on the boy's shoulder, I recognized him immediately, I saw him so many times transforming, he was still alive, he's still at Hogwarts, near James and Lily's son.... That night, I escaped Azkaban because I knew I had to kill him, it's the only way I can make up for my mistakes, even if I have to face death."

Black's body trembled slightly, and his voice was full of pain.