Chapter 368: Hunting Sirius (Edited)

Bandits are a peculiar profession. They need to find a balance between achieving their goals (theft) and surviving (avoiding being caught by law enforcement). To achieve this, the bandits have a strategy: operate in a neutral zone between two jurisdictions.

Sirius Black, hailing from the noble pure-blood Black family, surely had never had contact with bandits. However, in the face of the Ministry of Magic's pursuit, he adopted the same strategy as them: seeking refuge in a neutral zone. The place had to be close enough to Harry but also far enough from the Ministry pursuers. After some thought, Sirius concluded that there was only one place that met those requirements: the Shrieking Shack in the village of Hogsmeade.

During these days, Sirius had been hiding in the Shrieking Shack, considering it his base of operations.

Originally, this wooden cabin was a "safe place" that Dumbledore had prepared for Remus Lupin. Every time the full moon night arrived, Lupin came here to transform into a werewolf. After years of abandonment and the reputation of being a haunted house, people avoided it, and tourists barely peeked through the fence. This made the Shrieking Shack, abandoned and desolate, a perfect hideout.

At least Sirius didn't have to worry about being discovered while taking a nap.

Of course, the absence of visitors wasn't the only advantage of the Shrieking Shack. Sirius chose to take refuge there because it connected the village of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. From the Shrieking Shack, Sirius could approach Peter when he had the chance and also get supplies from Hogsmeade. If he encountered the Dementors in his search, he could escape to Hogwarts. It was perfect.

Moreover, despite being in poor condition, the Shrieking Shack was still a house. Living in a house was much more comfortable than being outdoors. With the sudden drop in temperatures in recent days, Sirius had also taken shelter inside the Shrieking Shack, spending his time lazing around and thinking about how to torment his old friend Peter Pettigrew.

However, something seemed different today. It had started snowing outside, and some noises could be heard as well. Through the cracks in the boards covering the windows, Sirius saw a couple of lovers approaching the cabin, seemingly seeking thrills.

Sirius didn't care. He thought those two probably didn't have the courage to venture inside the house. But what happened next was unexpected.

A couple of boys had confronted them.

By the appearance and the way the leader of the group spoke, Sirius recognized something familiar.

"That blond kid smells like the darn Malfoy family," Sirius thought, recalling many things from the past.

Then the conflict and its consequences happened, and Harry suddenly appeared.

When he saw Harry, Sirius felt like his heart stopped. For a moment, he was so excited that he had trouble breathing, as if all the blood in his body was flowing to his brain. It wasn't the first time he had seen Harry, but that excitement was still there, just like the first time he saw him.

After escaping from Azkaban, the first thing Sirius did was head to Privet Drive in Surrey, just to catch a glimpse of Harry from afar.

He had achieved his goal, but there was a small hiccup...

After seeing Harry, Sirius was so excited that he couldn't control himself. Unconsciously, he got too close, and Harry saw him. He seemed surprised. This made Sirius tone down his behavior a bit.

After parting ways at Privet Drive, Harry went to Diagon Alley, while Sirius went to Hogwarts before him.

But when he heard that Harry was the Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Sirius couldn't contain his thoughts and went to witness a Quidditch match on the Hogwarts pitch that Harry participated in. Despite the pouring rain, Sirius could see that Harry flew very well, just like his father, which delighted him greatly. Seeing Harry's figure flying, he even glimpsed a shadow of James.

As for the times he revealed himself and caused trouble for Harry, Sirius had no idea. Sirius couldn't imagine that, by wanting to catch a glimpse of his godson, he was leaving such a deep mark on Harry's mind.

While looking at Harry, Sirius's gaze became increasingly affectionate. But as he watched him, he noticed that something seemed out of place.

Sirius rushed out of the house in a hurry, and within seconds, Harry saw him.

Harry saw a dark shadow out of the corner of his eye. He turned around and found a large scruffy dog staring at him.

Harry felt a chill instantly. But he quickly recovered and thought that this could be a good opportunity, a chance to unravel the mystery of the "Grim." Tom was here, and so was Hermione. Among the Hogwarts students, the two of them were the most trustworthy.

With them by his side, maybe he could try to uncover the truth about the "Grim" and reveal its true identity.

So, Harry let go of the invisibility cloak and, taking three quick steps, jumped over the barbed wire fence. The wire cut his palm, but he didn't notice. With all his might, he ran in the direction where the large dog had disappeared.

Tom tried to follow him but saw a yellow spot in the snow. He bent down and picked it up. As expected, it was an ordinary scroll.

Tom stored the parchment in his pocket and also grabbed the invisibility cloak on his way.

"Hurry!" exclaimed Hermione as she stood by the fence, pulling out her wand. "Diffindo!"

The barbed wire broke immediately, creating a large opening for her and Tom to slip through.

From Sirius's perspective, the situation became strange: his dear godson Harry saw him and ran toward him with an excited expression. However, unfortunately, his expression was somewhat fierce and nothing like the reunion between godfather and godson one would expect.

Sirius didn't react immediately, but after being a fugitive from the Ministry of Magic for a long time, he had become very cautious. His instinct led him to make a decision: to flee. So he quickly retreated back into the Shrieking Shack.

All the exits of the Shrieking Shack were blocked, except for a small opening that was large enough for Sirius to slip through.

Not long after he got inside, there was an explosion behind him. The wall opened, and Tom and the others entered.

Sirius cursed in his mind and continued to escape. It wasn't that he was afraid of the young wizards, but he was afraid that he might accidentally harm Harry.

"Harming him" was only a superficial reason; Sirius also had a deep-seated reason in the depths of his mind, a reason he didn't dare to face, and that was guilt.

Yes, guilt.

He had always felt a profound guilt toward Harry. He felt that his own mistakes had caused the loss of Harry's parents. If he hadn't made that reckless decision to switch to Secret Keeper, maybe James and Lily wouldn't have been betrayed and wouldn't have died...

This feeling of guilt had been hidden deep within Sirius, never revealed. He had also avoided meeting Harry because of it.

Sirius agilely jumped over the stairs and ran toward the secret passage, entered it, and disappeared.

"It's safe." That was the first thought that came to his mind. At the end of the passage was the Whomping Willow, enough to stop those three young wizards. But it was a pity; he couldn't stay in this house. Where would he go in this cold weather?

...

"Are you really a wizard?" Hermione pushed Harry, who was clinging to the opening, and with a spell, she shattered the wood, revealing the interior room.

The three quickly entered the room, finding themselves in a cluttered and dusty space. The wallpaper on the walls was peeling, and the floor was covered in thick stains and furniture debris. The room had barely any light, as the windows were covered with wooden boards, only allowing a few slivers of light to filter in.

The large dog was gone. Only the heavy breathing of the three could be heard inside the room.

"Look here!" Hermione pointed to a series of paw prints on the floor. "The dog's pawprints, they lead this way."

The three followed the dog's prints and finally found an entrance to the tunnel. Harry couldn't wait any longer; he was the first to jump and run downhill along a steep slope, turned a corner, and ran a few steps until he reached an exit shaped like a tree hole.

But when he emerged from the tree hole, he felt a sharp blow to his face, momentarily stunning him, with his vision darkened and his nose hurting.

Harry fell headfirst from the tree hole.

"Are you okay?" Tom quickly caught him.

"I'm fine..." Harry responded dazedly, feeling a trickle of blood from his nose.

"You're bleeding from your nose!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I'm fine... I found the 'Grim'..." Harry weakly said as he lay in Tom's arms.

"We need to take him to Madam Pomfrey," Hermione said with concern, taking out a handkerchief and trying to stop Harry's bleeding, albeit with little success.

"He might have a broken nose and possibly a concussion," Hermione made a preliminary assessment.

"Okay." Tom acted promptly and ran towards the tree hole exit.

"What are you going to do?" Hermione stopped Tom, worried. "Do you want to end up like him too?"

"Don't worry, we're under the Forbidden Forest now, beneath the Whomping Willow," Tom replied, stepping away from Hermione, and he ran to the edge of the tree hole and quickly exited.

When he emerged from the tree hole, he felt a gust of wind and instantly transformed into a phoenix to dodge a falling branch from the sky. Then, while avoiding the attacks of the branches, he observed the situation near the tree hole. Soon, a conspicuous knot appeared in his field of vision.

He dived down to the knot and pecked it with his beak, and the Whomping Willow, which had been furious, suddenly calmed down.

He returned to the entrance and together pulled out Harry and Hermione.

Tom saw that Harry was not in good shape, so he supported him on one side, and Hermione on the other, and they took him to the school hospital.

Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse, was an extremely skilled healer. With a simple flick of her wand, she stopped Harry's nosebleed and administered a calming potion. After Harry took it, he fell into a deep sleep.

Tom and Hermione stayed in the hospital for a while and then left, leaving the place quiet once again. In the entire hospital room, only Harry was soundly asleep, while Peggy, who had been there for a long time, was transferred to St. Mungo's for further treatment. Many doctors claimed that the chances of the girl waking up were very slim.

The hospital room was quiet. Suddenly, a window slammed open, and the large black dog entered through the window.

The dog looked at Harry with a gaze filled with complicated emotions.

"Desmaius," suddenly, a voice came from behind the dog. Sirius Black twisted to the limit and avoided the sudden spell that appeared.

Then, he felt a weight on his body, and a young man threw himself onto him.

"Sirius, surrender," shouted the young man, causing Sirius to shiver in fear.

How does he know my name? How does he know I can transform into a black dog? Sirius was full of questions. But now was not the right time to think about that. Sirius could feel a chill on the back of his neck, knowing that a wand was pointing at him.

He had no choice but to surrender.

"Return to your human form," that voice said again.

Sirius fell silent for a moment and then reverted to his human form, undoing his Animagus transformation.

The young man on Sirius's back was Tom. He had just pretended to leave and had actually hidden with the Invisibility Cloak in the hospital room, waiting for Sirius to fall into his trap.

Tom was confident that Sirius Black, who had accidentally injured his godson, would sneak into the room to make sure Harry was okay. And he did.

Very soon, a man who looked like a skeleton appeared in front of Tom.

But before Tom could observe him closely, he felt a strong force on his knees and was knocked to the ground. Sirius quickly got up from the floor and turned around, grabbing a chair next to the bed, trying to knock Tom down. But as he turned, he was met with yellow snake-like eyes.

Sirius felt a buzzing in his head, and his body stiffened for a moment, nearly falling. This time, his movement was frozen, and Tom seized the opportunity.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Tom was lying on the floor, but his Petrification spell hit Sirius accurately. Tom watched Sirius fall to the ground with an expression of disbelief on his face.

Tom breathed a sigh of relief after subduing Sirius and, panting, picked up the chair that Sirius had grabbed and sat in it.

After a while, he caught his breath and transformed into a phoenix, carrying Sirius in his talons and flying out of the window.

Sirius, trapped in the talons, showed a look of astonishment. The young wizard had just turned into a phoenix before his eyes. He felt like his view of the world had been overturned, he couldn't even believe his own eyes.

Amidst the confusion, Tom took Sirius to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and released him on the ground. Sirius knew he was about to face his final judgment.