For one moment, Harry thought Sirius was joking to ease his nerves.
But then he looked at the expressions on Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's faces as they stared at them.
There was anguish beneath the anger, hesitation mixed with disbelief—such genuine emotion was something even the finest actor could not portray!
"This is a joke, right?"
Ron looked as though the nightmarish reality had hollowed out his soul. His expression and eyes were terrifyingly vacant.
"This has to be an April Fools' Day joke."
As for Hermione, she covered her mouth, her slight figure in her dressing gown trembling faintly. Hermione glared at Remus, the candlelight cast by the fiercely burning candles flickering in the glistening tears trembling in her brown eyes.
Harry turned blankly to look at his two friends beside him.
As the hearing date drew nearer, he had to admit that he was gradually losing his mind, to the point where terrible, despicable thoughts often surfaced uncontrollably in his head.
For instance, why wasn't Hermione or Ron the one being targeted by the Ministry of Magic?
One of them was a much-lauded Triwizard Tournament champion, while the other was a descendant of the ancient Weasley family.
But when his "dream" had truly come true, he found that he was not happy in the slightest.
Ron and Hermione were his best friends at Hogwarts. He hoped that his relationship with them would be like the one his father and mother had had with Sirius and Remus—that they would remain the best of friends even after graduation.
But he absolutely did not want to become cellmates with Ron and Hermione in Azkaban!
"Do you three have any idea what this might be about?"
Just from the expressions on Harry, Ron, and Hermione's faces, Remus already knew the answer, but