Black walked along the empty Hogwarts corridors, holding the Marauder’s Map in one hand and a wand in the other, a bulbous light shining at its tip.
Sirius Black, as a huge black dog, followed the boy closely, a step behind, prepared to attack at a mont’s notice.
I still haven’t got a wand, Sirius thought, his heart beating loudly in his chest. This can get ugly...
He lifted his head, and the wand’s light lit the boy’s face montarily, making him curse again.
No... Sirius shook his head. Not just ugly, but worse...
Only a day ago, he had taken Crookshanks’ help to access the secret passage that ran under the Whomping Willow, leading to the Shrieking Shack. It was all in the hope of buying a wand from Knockturn Alley.
All paths leading out of Hogwarts were guarded by those cabinets, holding strange Boggarts within them.
Sirius didn’t even rember most of the secret passages at Hogwarts from his school days.
The only one that he did rember was the Whomping Willow one because they had used it excessively years ago.
The plan had been simple, Sirius rembered.
After reaching Hogsade, he would contact soone at the Three Broomsticks. That place always attracted all sorts of crowds. Not necessarily dark wizards, but... the more practical ones. Through them, he would get a wand, and then obliterate Scabbers without anyone knowing about it.
The entire plan ca crashing down when Sirius found Lupin waiting for him at the Shrieking Shack, though.
It seed his old friend had been expecting him to show up at the ramshackle place.
Lupin had been having doubts about him ever since he had seen him as a dog on the train. The fact that the Boggart had turned into a Dentor had only solidified that doubt later. Still, Lupin had not acted... struggling against old emotions. However, the matter of ripping off Fat Lady’s portrait seed to have pushed him past the edge.
Lupin had all but turned Sirius over to the Ministry yesterday.
If it weren’t for Sirius’ constant pleadings to let him prove his innocence by bringing in Peter Pettigrew, that traitorous rodent, Lupin would have ignored the entire past they shared between them.
It was obvious to Sirius that Lupin still did not totally believe that he had betrayed Jas and Lily. Otherwise, he would have never let him return to the boys’ dormitory, even as a dog. It was that decision that had brought anger to Lupin’s face, ending the argunt between them.
His friend had given Sirius only one week.
One week — to find Peter Pettigrew and bring him to Lupin alive — or... face Lord Black Phoenix’s judgnt.
Sirius had been determined to plunge his fangs into Scabbers right after returning from Hogsade and take him to Lupin. To his great surprise, the rat had again gone missing last night.
As if that hadn’t drastically reduced Sirius’ chances of proving his innocence, now another trouble appeared in front of him...
Barty Crouch Jr.!
Sirius rembered the Death Eater, the sha of the Crouch household.
The last ti he heard of him — it was the matter of Crouch Jr’s death at Azkaban.
But if the Marauder’s Map had shown his na, then he couldn’t possibly be dead, Sirius thought. Also, if Crouch Jr. was alive, then it solved the mystery of who had attacked the Fat Lady, either to distract or to get his hands on Harry.
Not only that, but Crouch Sr’s na’s sudden disappearance now also suggested sothing... sothing truly dark.
"He’s here!" Black suddenly said, stopping. "He’s coming right toward us!"
Sirius steeled his heart.
He couldn’t let the boy suffer if it truly was Barty Crouch Jr. who had infiltrated the castle.
Growling, he had just prepared to rush off alone, when the boy made a puzzled sound, stopping altogether.
"... He is... eting with soone..." the boy said. "... Peter Pettigrew?!"
Sirius’ heart jolted.
A primal urge to rip everything to pieces exploded in his mind, making him growl.
So that was it! Sirius realized. The Death Eater and the rat were working together!
"Uh, oh!" Black’s face looked paler under the white light this ti. "Snape’s here! Nox!!"
The light had just gone out when it reappeared behind them, held at the tip of another wand.
"Well, well, well..." Snape drawled, holding a smirk on his lips. "What do we have here..."
Sirius licked his lips, holding himself back from biting this slick-haired bastard right away and going after the two conspirators.
But that would only give Snape another reason to make things worse for the boy.
"I was lost, Professor," Black said. "Was trying to get Uncle Black to sniff our way back to the dormitory."
The dog woofed in agreent.
Snape’s eyes fell upon the dog before they returned to the boy. "Soone’s been stealing ingredients from my office," he said nastily. "Empty your pockets."
Black stared at the Professor for a while before emptying his pockets.
"What is this?" Snape snatched the large piece of parchnt from the boy’s hand.
The boy has good hands... Sirius thought, sighing in relief within. He erased the Map’s contents in ti...
Next, Snape tried all kinds of Spells to make the Map reveal its secret.
In the end, all he got were a few words, telling him to keep his large nose out of others’ business.
"You dare..." Snape snarled.
"Snape?!" A figure appeared from the darkness, his pale face looking whiter against the cloudy light.
"Ah, Lupin," Snape drawled. "Out for a little moonwalk, are we? I have confiscated a curious artifact from one of your... prized students. Take a look. Supposed to be your area of expertise. Clearly, it’s full of dark magic."
Lupin took the parchnt and chuckled. "I hardly believe it so, Snape," he said. "It’s more likely to be one of Zonko’s products. ant to make fun of anyone who reads it. Nevertheless, let search for any hidden tricks... Black, with , please. Bring your dog along."
Sirius followed the boy and Lupin, sensing Snape’s eyes on him.
It was now or never, he thought, knowing that Lupin would never let the boy keep the Marauder’s Map. With that, his friend would also snatch all the hope of finding the two bastards roaming through the castle.
No.
Sirius couldn’t let it happen.
The ti had co, it seed — to go on a hunt!
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