"Bang," with a loud explosion, Sirius stood on the streets of Hogsade, covered in leaves and burdock, his once decent wizard robe torn to shreds by the bushes.
The sky was already a bit dark, and the streetlights were lit early.
The Three Broomsticks Inn was nearby, and the scent of butter beer and at pies wafted out from it.
Sirius’s stomach was already very hungry, and he licked his lips, recalling the important information he had just overheard, not wasting a second as he headed towards Hogwarts.
This matter was too important. He had to report it to Dumbledore face to face.
Walking through the winding alleyways, on the path leading to the school, the surrounding environnt gradually beca peaceful and deep, and the woods on both sides of the road reminded Sirius of his journey tracking Wormtail.
He ground his teeth, tasting the bloody taste of a rat being swallowed whole in his mouth.
—Once again, that guy escaped right from under his nose...
Back in school days, Sirius looked down on Wormtail’s Animagus form and mocked it several tis.
But when he really encountered the guy, he realized how troubleso it was when the opponent could turn into a rat.
Suddenly, sothing in his pocket started to throb, like he was harboring a restless rabbit.
Sirius took out the communication pea, and the jumping bean imdiately quieted down. He placed the pea in his ear and heard a tiny voice coming from it:
"Harry Potter requests a call... Harry Potter requests a call..."
If it was any other unimportant person, Sirius would have hung up without hesitation. But since it was Harry’s call, he naturally answered imdiately.
"Harry?" Sirius asked with concern, "How have you been lately?"
"Alright, though Aunt Petunia is making us all help Dudley with his weight loss, everyone’s been sending a lot of snacks. Remus and Vid also ca today, so I’m not starving."
Harry didn’t complain about the Dursley family’s outrageous als lately and quickly moved on to the purpose of his call.
"I had a nightmare, Sirius."
"A nightmare?"
Calling his godfather in the middle of an important mission because of a nightmare seed even more far-fetched than claiming mistreatnt by a foster family.
But Sirius didn’t think Harry was being overly dramatic and patiently asked, "What did you dream about?"
"I, I dread about..."
Harry stared blankly at the spellbook thrown on his desk last night, suddenly forgetting what he was going to say.
Everything in the dream quickly faded away like the tide, but before the images completely disappeared, the scar on Harry’s forehead burned fiercely, pulling back the mory that was about to vanish.
"I dread of Professor Lockhart."
Harry mumbled, "He and that person called Gall Trokka on the newspaper... were being tortured by the Cruciatus Curse from ..."
"Wait, by whom?" Sirius felt sothing was off and quickly asked.
"By ..."
Harry found it unbelievable too. He furrowed his brows, trying hard to recall the scenes from the dream.
The lifelike images and the heart-wrenching screams made him almost suspect that he had killed the two of them.
Yet more strangely, the person in the dream felt not the slightest guilt or hesitation, feeling so cold... cruel... even with a hint of pleasure... as if a devil was lurking within his heart.
Harry instinctively swallowed that feeling and said ambiguously, "I dread I was torturing them... and I think I saw a big snake..."
Sirius was speechless for a long while.
Lockhart and Gall... Sirius watched them walk into that old house and never co out.
From "Barty’s" tone, it seed they were probably tricked by Peter Pettigrew, used as offerings, given to Voldemort.
But... why did Harry imdiately see this in his dream just after it happened?
It sounded like he saw everything from Voldemort’s perspective... even things Sirius didn’t know... what happened to those two after entering the house.
This bizarre situation made Sirius feel extrely uneasy.
His silence also made Harry more uneasy, sowhat worried if his call made his godfather think he was being too dramatic and immature.
So Harry added, "When I woke up, my scar started hurting again — it hasn’t hurt in a long ti."
Sirius’s originally brisk steps suddenly stopped, as if ti had frozen, unable to speak for a while, leaving only slightly trembling breaths.
He vaguely felt like he had caught sothing... a thought flashed through his mind for a mont...
But that inspiration was too fleeting, disappearing as quickly as it ca.
In a daze, he felt as if he stood in a dimly lit room, surrounded by towering bookshelves, the peculiar sll of parchnt and ink lingering at his nose, his fingers sensing a delicate and soft touch, even faintly warm.
He seed to hear Regulus’s childish voice: "Sirius, what are you doing here?"
...
"Sirius? Sirius?"
There was no voice for a long ti in the communication pea, only the vague sound of the wind could be heard.
Harry took off the communication pea, looked at it questioningly for two seconds, then put it back in his ear and called again, "Sirius?"
"I’m here," Sirius took a deep breath and said, "I’m just about to et Dumbledore, and I’ll ask him about it... to see if he knows why your scar started hurting."
Harry felt a bit embarrassed, "Is it... a bit of an overreaction? It only hurt for a few minutes, maybe it’s normal, just my imagination..."
"No, Harry." Sirius said seriously, "No one in the magic world has survived the Killing Curse like you. Any change related to that scar is no small matter!"
"Okay," Harry said insincerely, "Actually, it doesn’t hurt anymore now... don’t worry."
Although he said that, Harry actually felt that the pain in his scar was not trivial.
Sirius didn’t dismiss it by saying, "It’s no big deal," but instead took it very seriously, which reassured Harry greatly, easing his previous worries and heaviness.
He then tried to dig out more details from the dream, telling them to Sirius. After ending the call, Harry lay down on his bed again, pulled up the covers, and relaxed into sleep.
Sirius, on the other hand, looked gravely at the towering and grand castle, extending his magic wand, sending a signal to the people inside.
Not long after, Hagrid ca over holding a lantern, "creak, creak," pushing the wooden door open.
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