Lupin and Black

For the next few days, the only topic of conversation throughout the school was Sirius Black, and the stories about how he broke into the castle became increasingly bizarre.

Seamus Finnigan of Gryffindor insisted that Black had transformed into Dementor... and sneaked into the castle with the guards.

Luna, however, believed he was a painting demon, able to freely enter and exit the paintings in the castle.

The torn portrait of the Fat Lady was taken down from the wall and replaced with that of Sir Cadogan.

However, the Gryffindor students did not seem to be satisfied with him.

In the corridors, Kyle could always hear the Gryffindor students complaining.

"That Sir Cadogan, he spends half his time every day provoking people to duel him..."

"Every time I go into the common room, I have to waste five minutes responding to his duel... because if you don't speak, he'll keep provoking you."

"He always manages to come up with passwords that are so complicated they're almost absurd, and he changes them at least twice a day."

"I think he's probably been cooped up on the Seventh Floor for too long."

Some say, "The corridor where Sir Cadogan used to be was usually deserted, and the owners of the other portraits didn't really welcome him as a guest."

"That's obvious, because he always likes to talk nonsense, so of course nobody welcomes him."

In just a few days, Sir Cadogan replaced Black as the new hot topic among the Gryffindor students.

"At least he was brave."

During lunch, Fred said with a smile, "No other portrait artist would take this job, only Sir Cadogan is willing."

"And I heard he volunteered," George added from the side.

They didn't particularly dislike Sir Cadogan; in fact, they would sometimes provoke him, making him jump around in his portraits in anger.

To be honest, Kyle was also quite curious about Sir Cadogan, but the latter was only in charge of the Gryffindor common room and could not be transferred to Hufflepuff to work.

At that moment, Harry also entered the Great Hall, but he looked rather unhappy.

Percy followed behind him, glancing around as if a Dragon might leap out from a corner at any moment and swallow Harry whole.

This strange behavior inevitably attracted the attention of others.

"Here we go again... that big head."

Fred glanced at him, then quickly turned his head away.

"What's going on?" Cedric asked curiously. "Percy seems really nervous."

"It's because of Harry."

George explained, "A few days ago, Mum wrote to us saying she'd help look after Harry, and then he ended up like this."

"You all probably know about what happened between Black and Harry," Fred leaned closer. "Mother... or rather, most people think that Black came to the castle last time to kill Harry to avenge his master."

The others nodded in agreement.

"No wonder I've been seeing professors with Harry a lot lately..." Cho said suddenly.

"Not only that," Cedric said. "Even during Quidditch team practice, Madam Hooch is there to supervise."

"Percy probably thinks he's a professor now," Fred scoffed. "Besides, this is the Great Hall; Black can't exactly hide under a table."

As he spoke, he bent down and, with an air of importance, stuck his head under the table and asked, "Mr. Black, are you here? Would you like some steak?"

His comical appearance made many people burst into laughter.

Harry probably thinks similarly to him.

Kyle saw him turn his head and say something, Percy stopped following so closely, but still maintained a distance that was neither too close nor too far.

The first lesson is Defence Against the Dark Arts.

After finishing their meal, Kyle and Kanna went to the classroom together.

Professor Lupin seemed a bit off today, as if he had something on his mind. He was absent-minded during class and called students by the wrong names several times.

In the end, he simply stopped lecturing and instead had the students pair up to practice the Banishing Charm used to deal with the Imp.

Until the end of get out of class...

"Kyle, can you stay for a moment?" he said. "I have something I want to ask you."

After everyone had left the classroom, Kyle looked around... To be honest, he was still a little reluctant to be kept behind by Professor Lupin.

Fortunately, there were no wardrobes or boxes around this time, and there shouldn't be any Boggart or anything else.

However, Professor Lupin didn't notice Kyle's unusual behavior. He closed the door, hesitated for a long time, and then asked, "Did you see him that day?"

"Who?"

"It's Sirius Black."

"Yes, I saw it." Kyle nodded.

"What does he... look like...?" Professor Lupin asked in a low voice. "I mean... does he look like the picture in the newspaper?"

In just a few words, his eyes shifted several times: nervousness... disappointment... hatred... and there seemed to be a hint of concern, but it vanished in an instant.

"You can tell it's the same person, but there are still differences."

Kyle thought for a moment and said, "He's very thin, just skin and bones, slovenly, filthy, and with sunken eyes... It looks like he's suffered a lot to escape the Dementor."

"He deserved it!" Professor Lupin suddenly slammed his fist on the table, exclaiming excitedly, "He should have..."

Seemingly realizing he had let something slip, Professor Lupin abruptly shut his mouth and took a few deep breaths.

"Sorry, Kyle, just take what I said earlier as nonsense." He forced a smile. "One last question, where did you lose track of Black when you were chasing him?"

"This is the place where Professor Dumbledore found us," Kyle said.

"Later we discovered a secret passage behind the tapestry that led to the fourth floor. I think that's how he escaped."

Kyle shrugged. "But we figured Filch must know about the secret passage too, so we didn't specifically tell the professors."

"Yes, Filch does know about the secret passage... but we searched the fourth floor for hours and found nothing."

Professor Lupin's eyes flickered for a moment, then he raised his head and said:

"Alright, Kyle, thank you. You've taken up enough time. Go to your next class."

Oh, by the way, don't worry about being late, I'll explain to the professor later... What's your next class?

"Potions Class..." Kyle said, "Are you sure you can get Professor Snape to not deduct points from my score?"

"Uh..." Professor Lupin fell silent.

"I can help you get the points back in the next class."