Chapter 169: Plan in progress

The winter sun fell early, and golden rays of light slipped through the leaves and fell into a hidden tree hole in the forbidden forest, shining on a tree.

Inside the tree hole, Sirius Black's body curled up very uncomfortably. His fight against the werewolf left him scarred, dirty, with 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 Ivan told him yesterday when they met in Hogsmeade.

If he could clear his name, he could return to the world and live with James' son, Harry Potter. Black, who had never been afraid of anything, suddenly became nervous. He didn't know how to fulfill the duties of a godfather.

He had never had a similar experience before, and the happiness was too sudden for him.

In his mind, his father's stern, old-fashioned, cursing face appeared. He shook his head. Since leaving home at the age of sixteen, he had never seen his parents and had never returned to his family, The Noble and Ancient House of Black.

Sirius wore a sarcastic smile. He couldn't remember any other aspect of his father other than the pureblood theory that he wasn't worth a penny.

Perhaps, he should be like James's father, funny, kind, friendly, with an encouraging and tolerant attitude....

Just as Black was thinking about how he should get along with Harry, he suddenly heard a distant sound in the forest, a sound of stomping through the snow and fallen leaves. Something was approaching.

He immediately became alert, turned around and got up from the ground.

Black squinted, and in the dusk light, saw a ginger-colored figure appear in his field of vision. Crookshanks seemed to be carrying something.

Crookshanks walked over, arched his head, and handed Black a piece of paper. Then he hopped from side to side of the branch, meowing in satisfaction.

Black squinted and looked at the note in his hand.

On it was the new password for entry to the Gryffindor common room. It was Ivan who had sent Crookshanks.

He didn't know why, but he suddenly had a bad feeling.

He hesitated for a moment, then changed 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 Ivan, he didn't care. He had to act on his guts.

In the morning, he saw that all the students had left by train. There were no more people in the castle. No one could stop him from catching the rat.

Ten minutes later, a huge black dog and a ginger-colored cat appeared on the Hogwarts grounds, both deftly eluding Hagrid's hut.

There was a canine barking in the house, it was Hagrid's hunting dog, Fang. From the window, he saw Black and Crookshanks pass through the field. It was a warning to Hagrid, but Hagrid didn't look back, he was busy preparing food for Buckbeak, a big plate of dead ferrets.

Before the Dangerous Creature Removal Committee hearing, he would live with Buckbeak for the time being, and must make sure he lived 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 trembled.

"A dog and a cat?! If you don't know the password, I won't let you in!" Mr. Cadogan seemed to have had too much to drink, he staggered and stood up, the armor on his body made a loud noise, and he finally had to put his greatsword on the ground to support his own body.

"Curved scurvy!" Black said in a low voice, which had changed again.

"And the same to you, Mr. disguised as a dog!" Sir Cadogan took another drink, and didn't seem to recognize that Black was not a student of Gryffindor House.

Or to be precise, as long as he had the right password, he didn't care who he was.

The painting swung forward and Black climbed up.

Behind him, the two former Hogwarts Headmasters who had been drinking with Sir Cadogan looked at him in surprise. They looked at each other and disappeared into the frame.

The common room was very quiet and Black was about to enter Harry's dormitory.

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 had just taken two steps forward when he saw Harry and Hermione passed out on the floor.

Black stopped abruptly, a look of shock on his exhausted face. His bad feeling resurfaced and grew more intense.

"Harry, Hermione, wake up, why are you lying here, what happened?" Black shook Harry, his hands shaking uncontrollably from overexcitement.

"You're..." Harry woke up and looked at Black in confusion. Then he thought about it. There was a glint of joy in his eyes as he said, "Sirius Black?!"

Black nodded, looked at Harry, and tears swirled in his eyes.

He seemed to have a thousand words, but he didn't know what to say. He only knew that the boy in front of him was the son of his best friend, James.

Thirteen-year-old Harry looked a lot like James, and Black almost thought he was looking at his best friend in his youth.

The exception was those green eyes, Harry had his mother's eyes.

Looking at Harry, Black opened his mouth and closed it many times. He seemed to have lost his ability to speak, and every time he wanted to speak, he swallowed his words.

"Oh, Mr. Black," Hermione's voice suddenly came to him. She said shyly, "May I call you that?"

Black was very surprised to hear that name. He looked at Hermione, as if he had forgotten how other people would speak politely to him.

"You shouldn't be here now, you'll be found out!" said Hermione.

"Yes!" Harry seemed to have thought about it, he got up from the floor and said hurriedly, "Ivan said you should be back here by eight o'clock this evening, if other people see you....."

"I don't care, I don't care if I'm spotted." Black's voice was extremely hoarse, "Where is that rat, where is Peter Pettigrew?"

Harry and Hermione looked at each other hurriedly and then looked 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 the Desmaius spell, and then, they didn't know where he had gone with Peter Pettigrew.

He was definitely planning a plot, and Black was in a very dangerous situation.

"You should get out of here immediately, Sirius!" said Harry quickly.

"I don't think you have time to escape!" Following Harry's voice came a cold voice.

The three of them turned their heads hurriedly. They saw the portrait door open again.

Severus Snape slowly walked in with his wand pointed directly at Black.