Sirius's Intuition

Hagrid turned around as if he had just noticed Avery and the others.

The warmth on his face vanished instantly; the face beneath the beard wasn't exactly fierce, but it certainly wasn't friendly.

He hung the windproof oil lamp he was holding on the door frame and took two steps toward Avery.

Flossy tucked his tail between his legs and huddled behind Hagrid, curling up into a ball with his ears pressed against his scalp.

Potter and the others followed, standing in a row behind Hagrid.

James crossed his arms, stared at the person opposite him, and smirked.

Sirius came out from behind Flossy and stood next to James, lounging around loosely.

Lupin stood further back, looking helpless, Peter huddled at the very back, only half his head showing.

The atmosphere on both sides immediately became tense.

I got into a fight yesterday and the professor caught me red-handed. I'm in solitary confinement now.

It's hard to say whether Slytherin suffered any losses, but Potter, on the other hand, had his nose punched by Avery and Lupin received a curse on the face. On paper, they were at a disadvantage.

The person who is at a disadvantage often has a more aggressive gaze.

Before anyone from the Slytherin side could speak first, James spoke up.

He was having a great conversation with Hagrid when he caught a glimpse of those faces opposite him, and the anger from yesterday resurfaced, igniting his rage.

"Oh," James said, glancing sideways and making a strange noise, "I thought you wouldn't dare come. You've been beaten up and you still dare to show your face?"

Avery smirked. "What's wrong with showing your face?"

He said slowly, "It's still better than some people who get their nose smashed by a punch, and then run to Madam Pomfrey, crying and begging for help."

He tilted his head, slowly examining James's nose for a while. "It's not bad, you can't really tell it was flat before. Madam Pomfrey's craftsmanship is truly excellent."

James's face darkened instantly. "Who are you calling crying?"

"I didn't say who," Avery shrugged, looking completely innocent. "You figured it out yourself."

James choked for a moment.

"That curse from yesterday," Avery said, taking a step forward before he could recover, his eyes narrowing, "I still have a score to settle on my leg. Want me to settle it with you now?"

"Fine, fine!" James leaned forward, sticking his head out and glaring, "Who's afraid of who! Didn't you get enough of a beating yesterday, huh!"

"Enough already," Avery chuckled, glancing casually behind James. "The four of you were completely subdued by the five of us. I'm more than satisfied. It's you who's truly lacking."

He drawled, "Haven't you had enough?"

"Five against four and you still have the nerve to say that!" James raised his voice.

Avery didn't respond immediately. He glanced in his direction, then at James, before suddenly realizing, "You mean, five second-year students?"

He pursed his lips. "It's not easy for you to say something like that."

After thinking for a moment, he added, "How about this, since the third graders can't beat the second graders because there are more of us, we'll each step back one of us, and it'll be a one-on-one fight. You and I, are you in?"

James turned bright red, his lips trembled, but he couldn't find the words.

How do I connect?

Agreeing to a one-on-one fight would be tantamount to admitting that the third graders couldn't beat the second graders; disagreeing, however, would be too much to swallow.

He's fearless in action, but when it comes to words, he's no match for Avery.

He pointed at Avery, and after a long pause, only managed to utter, "You fucking bastard."

Avery picked at his ear and just stood there letting him yell at him.

After James stopped to catch his breath, he slowly replied.

Every sentence strikes at a nerve, precise and slow, without a single vulgar word. It sounds polite, but it hurts the most.

James kept repeating the same few lines, shouting loudly and with great force, but to no avail. Avery, on the other hand, delivered a few light and casual words that turned the tables on him.

Peter shrank back, half his body hidden behind Hagrid's thighs, staring blankly without uttering a sound or taking sides.

Lupin tugged at James's arm, but couldn't budge it. He tugged again. "James, that's enough."

Alex tugged at Avery's sleeve, lowering his voice, "That's enough."

Unlike James, Avery didn't charge forward; he just stood there with a smile on his face, which was even more infuriating than if he had charged ahead.

Hermes stared at Sirius for a long time, his eyes somewhat sinister.

After watching for a while, as if remembering something, he shifted his gaze from Sirius to James and stared at him.

Lina and Samuel stared intently at the opposite side, at James, at Lupin, and at Peter hiding behind Hagrid's legs.

Without prior arrangement, everyone's gaze shifted away from Sirius, and no one stared at him.

The Slytherin members know perfectly well who fought whom in yesterday's fight.

But Sirius is Regulus's older brother, and Regulus is watching from the sidelines. He simply avoids him and goes around him.

So, out of the five people opposite, three or four pairs of eyes all focused on James.

James was under a lot of pressure right now, facing several pairs of unfriendly eyes, and he was even losing the verbal battle, making his nostrils flare with anger.

He glanced to the side at Sirius.

Hey bro, give me a hand, let's talk back to these bastards. Your mouth is sharper than mine.

Sirius didn't even look at him.

His eyes swept back and forth between the people opposite him, then to both sides, across the empty lawn, and towards the base of Hagrid's Hut, as if searching for something.

At first, he thought it was an illusion; the feeling was very faint and fleeting, disappearing as soon as he reached out. But it didn't dissipate; it just lingered there.

He frowned, glanced around again, sniffed, and then his gaze fell directly on thin air.

Regulus stood there, separated by the Improved Disillusionment Charm.

The air there was no different from the surroundings; in the gray-blue twilight, there was nothing.

Sirius saw nothing, yet his gaze was fixed there, his brow furrowed, unable to articulate what he was looking for. His intuition told him there was something there, but he couldn't reach it.

He was never a perceptive person, but his intuition was always accurate, inexplicably so.

I don't know where he got this skill from, but it's always been with him. The Black family blood has a lot of strange aspects.

His intuition awakened, but it offered him nothing.

He just stared at that empty space for a while, and then a vague sense of unease slowly crept onto his face.

There's something right in front of you, yet you can't touch it, see it, or grasp it. It's like reaching out to grab something, but your fingertips are just a hair's breadth away, and no matter how hard you try, you can't reach it.

"Sirius," James nudged him on the shoulder, "What are you standing there for? Give me a hand!"

Sirius paused for a moment, then looked away from that empty space, suppressing his awkwardness.

Regulus stood there, not moving an inch.

Sirius can't see him, that's for sure—visually, olfactorily, Magic Power, in every way.

But Sirius's eyes still ended up on him.

Regulus knew in his heart that it was intuition, something Sirius had since he was a child, something that didn't follow reason or the level of Magic Power.

The Disillusionment Charm can fool the eyes and the nose, but it can't fool your intuition.

Even though they were siblings from the same mother, separated by a spell that swallowed even their body temperature and scent, he still vaguely sensed them. The two were very close, with a Magic barrier between them.

He watched Sirius frown, then noticed the awkward disappointment on his face. James nudged him, and Sirius turned away to talk to the others. Regulus remained there, watching quietly.

Hagrid didn't stop them at first; he thought the young wizards exchanging a few words was no big deal.

These kids are young and hot-tempered; it's perfectly normal for them to bicker a bit.

It's also possible that he's just a slow-reacting person, and by the time he came to his senses, the anger was practically burning up.

Avery replied slowly, while James raised his voice and even raised his arm, seemingly about to go from talking to fighting, before Hagrid finally realized what was happening.

"Shut up, all of you!"

That shout was rough and muffled, like a bear roaring in its throat, making both sides tremble.

Flossy's ears perked up in fright, and she tucked her tail between her legs and hid behind Hagrid's legs.

"Hadn't you caused enough trouble yesterday?!" Hagrid glared, first addressing Gryffindor, his tone harsh but his temper mild. "James, it's you again! How many times have I told you to stop causing trouble! It's only been a day, your injuries haven't even fully healed, and you're at it again."

Then he turned his big face to the Slytherin group, and his words became harsh.

"If you lot dare to cause trouble again, I'll send you all back to Professor Slughorn right now, and I'll tell him everything you did!" Avery pursed his lips but didn't say anything more. Alex then pulled him back.

Hagrid looked up at the sky; the sun had completely set, and the canopy of the Forbidden Forest cast a dark silhouette on the horizon, while the clouds overhead changed from gray-white to deep gray.

He turned back to Avery and the others, his tone curt and businesslike. "You lot, follow Flossy and find Moonlight Moss." He gestured westward with his thumb. "That dry ditch to the west, at the end there's a scree slope, the crevices at the bottom of the slope are full of it, don't go too deep, watch the dogs, when the dogs stop, you stop."

"Once you cross that collapsed old stone wall, you're in deep trouble. Nobody's allowed to cross. If anything happens, send out Spark Spell into the sky. A red one is a distress signal, and I can see it." Avery grunted, barely moving his chin.

On his way here, he was still talking about the hunting ground guard. Such a big guy, living all by himself on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, raising dogs and chickens, the whole Forbidden Forest is his territory. Just thinking about it is exciting.

Upon seeing Hagrid's face, that bit of curiosity vanished completely.

Avery wasn't stupid; he could certainly see through Hagrid's attitude—the difference was too obvious.

The Slytherin members' expressions turned cold.

Hagrid turned around, and his tone towards James and the others immediately warmed up again.

"You guys follow me to the east; the Glowcap Mushroom are growing really well there."

Hagrid slapped James on the shoulder, making him stagger.

James steadied himself, raised an eyebrow at Avery, and grinned smugly.

Avery and the others just watched coldly, and no one responded.

James frowned and quieted down.

Hagrid was still instructing, "Pee-chan, don't you dare wander off, you hear me? If you get separated from the group, I can't keep up with searching for you all in the woods." "Let's go."

Hagrid waved to James and the others, then turned and headed east toward the woods, his heavy footsteps making the ground feel dull.

James caught up, Peter jogged after him, and Lupin glanced back at Slytherin.

Flossy, being led by Alex, reluctantly moved in the opposite direction, looking back every few steps.

Sirius walked at the very back of the group. After a few steps, he looked back at the empty space, but there was still nothing there. He stopped looking, raised an eyebrow, as if annoyed that his earlier awkwardness was inexplicable.

He shook his head, turned back, caught up with James in a few steps, put his arm around James's shoulder, and banished those unfounded thoughts from his mind.

Beyond the dry riverbed to the west, the canopy of the Forbidden Forest closed even more tightly overhead.

Dusk seeped through the gaps, casting the last few gray-blue patches of light on the ground; the air was more humid than outside.

Alex crouched down, wrapped the leash around his wrist, and patted Flossy's head, causing Flossy's tail to wag. Avery followed, Hermes behind, and Lina and Samuel walked side by side at the back.

Regulus followed at the very end of the group, heading west into the Forbidden Forest.