"Have you ever seen the tattoo on Sirius Black's body?"
After a bare-chested boxer appeared on the screen, Severus asked Lucius Malfoy.
"What?" Lucius asked, puzzled.
"A tattoo." Severus pointed at his own chest. "A symbol that looks like a ram's horn."
"I never noticed." Lucius said, "I've never seen him without clothes."
Severus stared at him for a while, then turned back to the screen.
The boxer's wife and children appeared onscreen.
"He's no different from The Man Who Laughs," Severus said as he looked at the heroine's bright eyes. "They're both making money to support their families."
"Why are you asking?" Lucius asked.
"The Black family has a secret study. I was wondering whether he tattooed some sort of spell onto himself."
Lucius pondered this.
"I've seen runes on his neck," Lucius said. "I thought they were left by Azkaban. You can wait until Kreacher returns. Perhaps he knows something."
"Did the Black family ever dabble in alchemy?" Severus asked.
"Of course," Lucius said without hesitation.
"How do you know?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Lucius spread his hands.
For a moment, Severus could not find the right words.
"He was a huge nuisance," Lucius said quietly. "But Cissy was still saddened by his death. After all, he was the last man of the Black family."
"If he had an amulet on him, perhaps he isn't dead."
"That's impossible." Lucius smiled. "Harry Potter confirmed it himself. Those ghosts said he was dead. You were the one who told me."
Only then did Severus suddenly understand.
"I saw a dog over there that looked just like him," he said after a moment. "It led me into the French Army's intelligence division."
"What did you find?"
"A saltpeter charter," Severus said.
"Why didn't it take you directly to Pomona?" Lucius asked.
"In