Georgiana discovered that the Thestral would not eat anything from this world—or rather, it would not eat unless the food passed through her hands, even if it was meat it liked best.
It seemed to have been hungry for a long time and had stayed by her side the whole while. Fortunately, no one else could see it.
Before meeting the members of the British Ministry of Magic, Georgiana intended to feed it first, lest it show up at the scene again later. But there was still some distance from her lounge to the stables, and besides, she did not think the Thestral would be willing to go to the stables.
There was a fountain by the opera house entrance. Georgiana had intended to make it wait there, but she did not know whether the Thestral had not been fully tamed. In any case, it refused to obey her commands, so she had no choice but to find an opportunity to ride it over to the fountain.
"Wait here for me," Georgiana told the Thestral, turning to head back into the opera house.
"How long?"
She froze for a moment, then turned around and saw a handsome man sitting on the far side of the fountain.
"Have you recognized who I am?" he asked.
She said nothing.
The real Sirius Black was already dead. The one before her had to be a phantom.
The man who looked so much like Sirius walked over to Georgiana.
"You're unhappy."
"I'm not unhappy," she immediately retorted.
"If you're happy, why were you scowling the whole time just now?"
Georgiana did not want to pay any attention to this smooth-talking man. The real Sirius would never act like this.
"Ghosts sometimes linger in the mortal world because they have unfinished business," the man said.