Chapter 85 - 86

In the Great Hall, the four house tables were stacked against the walls and hundreds of purple sleeping bags were laid on the ground. There was no sound and everyone seemed to be asleep.

Evan, under Percy's gesture, got in a sleeping bag near the door.

The Magical Ceiling was like the sky outside, filled with stars. With a faint starlight, Evan saw a slender, white origami crane flying over quietly from the corner of the wall. It hovered in the air and accurately fell in front of him.

The paper crane made a slight noise and turned in to a silvery white note with Hermione's delicate hand writing on it.

"What did you do, why did it take you so long?"

The handwriting was slightly scribbled and the girl's worry could be seen.

Evan thought for a moment, took out his wand from the sleeping bag and gently tapped it on the sheet of paper. The black lettering on top of it disappeared like smoke, reuniting into new words.

"I went to get Crookshanks. I found him in the grass next to the Forbidden Forest."

Then he used his wand to re-tap the sheet of paper. The paper refolded itself and fluttered itself back to Hermione.

"Fortunately, you found him! But you shouldn't run out of the castle. It's too dangerous. Black maybe hidden in the school. You may meet him at any time."

"Don't worry. I just heard Dumbledore talk to Snape. They did not find him in the castle. Dumbledore thought he had left."

"But how did he do it he could not have apparated out of the castle, and quietly leave! The castle has applied a variety of spells to prevent outsiders from sneaking in, he is certainly not invisible or able fly in. Perhaps some kind of Transfiguration, like in our last year when taking the Polyjuice or . . ."

Looking at the paper that Hermione returned, Evan felt she should talk about this topic anymore. Otherwise, with the smartness of Hermione, he was afraid it would not take a long time to guess that Black is an Animagus.

Since he is not prepared yet, it is too early for Black to be revealed yet.

"I forgot to mention this, it's almost midnight. Why are you not asleep?"

Hermione's face turned slightly pink when she saw Evan's question. Fortunately, the Great Hall was very dark and there was no need to worry about getting discovered.

She can't tell Evan the she was waiting for him to come back. It's too embarrassing! She hesitated for a moment and tapped her wand to the note.

"I was worried since Harry kept say that he saw the dog again. It was an unknown death omen, but it was obviously absurd! And you, you hadn't arrived back so in case something happened. . ."

"This little problem is not a problem. You have not forgotten that Harry and I had entered the chamber of secrets last year. We defeated the Basilisk and the young Voldemort"

"I was just so worried. I was afraid that you would go to Black alone and… Evan promise me not to do anything dangerous anymore, okay?"

Seeing Hermione's handwriting, Evan had a weird feeling, even though the other person said it very vaguely. He could feel the other person's heart that is hidden behind a strong appearance. Hermione at that this time is like any other ordinary, weak girl who couldn't help but care.

He didn't know how to answer, and an "ok" wasn't the right word.

Regardless of the current situation or the returning of Voldemort, what is place in front of Evan is a road that is full of danger and hardship. He cannot do nothing, and the result may be even worse.

Evan sighed and looked up to if any was paying attention to himself. He decided to do something . . .

In the dark, Hermione was nervously waiting for Evan's reply. Harry and Ron were giving off a slight snoring sound.

Looking at the stars in the ceiling, her mind unconsciously recalled last year. When the basilisk was in the Gryffindor common room, suddenly rushed over to them Evan ignored himself and hugged her into his arms and turned his back to the basilisk. That scene.

This picture reappeared in Hermione's head. She thinks this is something she would never forget in her life.

Suddenly, she felt something was approaching herself. Hermione looked up and was surprised to see that Evan's sleeping bag was rolling over to her quietly.

Evan rolled over to Hermione, and he reached out and tried to take a shot of her sleeping bag, which might have cause Hermione to feel at ease.

Unexpectedly, his hand met another soft, cold little hand in the darkness.

In the next second, Evan found that his hand was being held tightly.

The opposite little hand trembled slightly but never seemed to let go.

At the same moment, in the secret tunnel under the Weeping Willow to the Shrieking Shack, Lupin moved forward cautiously, with his wand giving off a weak light, he looked thoughtful around the familiar and strange scene.

He never thought that he still had the opportunity to return here and re walk the secret tunnel that he had once walked countless times.

Everything was just like yesterday. He seemed to have returned to his time at Hogwarts more than two decades ago, the best days of his life.

Prior to Hogwarts, Lupin never had friends.

When he was four years old, his father offended Fenir Greyback, a werewolf. In retaliation, the werewolf attacked him. Since then, he has become a werewolf.

Because of this identity, everyone hides from him. Regardless of where they go, werewolves are discriminated against. Lupin still remembers asking his father why they did so, but his father did not say anything and just held him silently crying.

At that moment, Lupin secretly vowed that he would never cry again no matter what he encountered.

Before eleven years old, his life was very dark and without any colour.

Lupin thought that he could not go to Hogwarts like other children. Other parents would not want their children to be close to a werewolf, but Dumbledore gave him hope.

Dumbledore ordered a willow to be planted on the school grounds and used it to conceal the passage to the Hogsmeade shrieking shack.

When there was a full moon, he would go there.

This was to protect the safety of the other classmates, because he became very brutal, Hogsmeade's villagers heard the noises and screams and thought it was a fierce ghost. Dumbledore encouraged the idea and had people spread the rumour so that people would stay away from it.

Lupin still remembers those days when he was afraid that his classmates would know his identity. He concealed this secret from everyone.

Every night of the full moon, he had to tell people he was going to visit his sick mother or some other reason. Then he came here alone and became a brutal monster in the shrieking shack, slamming, sabotaging, and howling in the hut.

Although he tried to cover it up, several classmates quickly guessed the truth of the matter.

At that time, Lupin felt that he was definitely finished and he would be driven out of Hogwarts and return to a life without colour.

But James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black accepted him and became his first friends in life. They even went to study Animagus for this purpose. After the fifth year, they would come to stay with him every night of the full moon.

They travelled through Hogwarts, under the influence of his friends, Lupin felt happy that he became a werewolf.

If possible, how much he wished he could freeze time in that moment.

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Lupin pushed the gate of the secret passage aside, splashing a lot of dust.

He quickly climbed out of the secret road into a messy, dusty house. The wallpaper had been detached from the wall. There were stains everywhere on the floor. A piece of furniture has been damaged. It seemed that it had been broken. The windows were nailed with boards.

This was the Shrieking Shack. Lupin and his friends had been here numerous times. Since Black invaded the castle, it was very likely that he would hide here.

Lupin sniffed the familiar smell in the air. He put his wand across his chest, cautiously crossing the dark aisle and climbed the stairs that were about to collapse.

Like the first floor, everything on the second floor was covered with a thick layer of dust.

But this did not apply to the floor. Something had recently passed from here. It was a paw mark left by a canine.

Lupin looked down and he was too familiar with the footprint. It was a sign left by Sirius Black Animagus. Black must have been here recently, and he was still very likely to remain hidden in the house.

Lupin tightly grabbed his wand and carefully looked at the closed doorway at the end of the corridor. Black might be hiding behind this door, ready to rush out. Although Sirius did not wand, Lupin still felt that he should keep up his guard.

He approached slowly, trying not to make any sound, and focused all the power he had into the tip of his wand that started glowing faintly.

"Come on, Sirius, I know you are in there!" Lupin shouted outside the door; his voice echoed in the empty room.

Nothing happened; nothing could be heard but silence.

Lupin blinked and the next second, his wand quickly emitted a stout red light and knocked out the door.

In the room, there was only a luxurious four-poster bed, and the curtains around the bed were all dusty. No one was in there, only he was standing at the door and gasping.

Lupin dazedly dropped his wand. Black was not here. Maybe he had been there. But after he knew he had been seen this evening; he would hide in another place.

"Desperate coward!" Lupin whispered.

Black's behaviour did not meet Lupin's expectations. He was not a man who would run away. He was the bravest among them when he was a student, but when he kneeled down and kissed the robe of Voldemort, courage of the past may have disappeared.

Now Black was no longer a brave Gryffindor, more like a sinister crafty Slytherin.

Lupin stood for a minute at the entrance of the room and there was an unclear desolateness on his face.

He sighed deeply and turned to leave. But he stopped immediately and he saw something left on the bed. It was a photo.

Lupin went over and picked up the photo.

There were four boys on the picture. From left to right, they were himself, James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew.

The four people in the photo were laughing so happily.

Lupin suddenly felt a little sad. He still remembers that this picture had been taken on the lawn in front of the castle gate when they graduated. Everyone was given a memorial.

His own photograph was sent out by Hagrid for Harry in the previous year when he collected photos; James's piece was lost in the ruins on the night he was attacked. Peter's piece should have been blown to fragments by Black along with his body.

The only one who still had this picture was Black himself.

It was possible that he had accidentally left it behind in the Shrieking Shack. Unexpectedly, Black kept this photograph. Lupin thought he had already lost all sense of friendship.

Looking at this yellowed photo, Lupin's thoughts returned to the time at which they had just graduated, the darkest age of magic.

At that time, the black wizards led by Voldemort were raging in the magical world. They openly resorted to violence, spreading terror everywhere, killing mud-bloods and Muggles in the name of "pleasure", and even launching a war of wizards to change the face magical world.

In that protracted war, Lupin witnessed the deaths of many people, including his former elders, classmates, and many innocent bystanders.

The year they graduated was three years before the end of the war. They could not wait to join the Order of the Phoenix and stand on the front line against Voldemort, even though Voldemort and his Death Eaters had far more power than the Order of the Phoenix

However, relying on close cooperation, they have repeatedly stopped the plots of Voldemort and escaped from his hands.

Lupin thought this will carry on until Voldemort is defeated.

But in the last year of the war, everything changed. Dumbledore got a tip that, for some reason, Voldemort was chasing Harry, James and Lily's son. James originally intended to fight, but for Harry's sake, he finally listened to Dumbledore's proposal and hid himself, protecting himself with Fidelius Charm.

In addition to Dumbledore, he and Peter Pettigrew were the only two who knew where James was. James chose Sirius Black, he used to think that Black was his closest and strongest

Lupin also naively believed that this was the best choice.

But he was wrong… They were all wrong!

Less than a week after Black became James and Lily's secret keeper, he sold them out to Voldemort. Voldemort broke into their house that night. He killed them, but he didn't know why he had failed at killing Harry!

After knowing this news, Lupin still remembered his reaction at the time. He was madly searching for Black. He needed to ask his to understand the truth. There must be a something that went wrong. Why did James and Lily die and why did the Fidelius Charm fail?

Until that time, he did not believe that Black would sell them to Voldemort.

Two days later, Lupin found Black.

But he was one step too late, and Peter Pettigrew had found him before him.

When Lupin saw Black on that street, he was surrounded by Aurors. He shattered Peter and the Muggles of the entire street into pieces a minute ago.

Everything was clear. Black sold James and Lily out to Voldemort. In the subsequent questioning, he admitted that he killed Peter Pettigrew.

Lupin helplessly stood on the corner of the street. He saw Black laughing wildly there and he silently wept in the corner. This was the only time he had shed tears since he had been a child when he took the vow to never cry again.