12 Grimmauld Place

Having obtained what he wanted, Kyle left immediately without lingering.

However, he did not return to Ottery St. Catchpole, but instead went to London at Sirius's invitation.

Late at night, the two appeared in Grimmauld Place, not far from King's Cross.

Kyle was replaying Sirius's words in his mind. Just as he thought of 12 Grimmauld Place, a dilapidated door suddenly appeared out of nowhere between numbers 11 and 13.

The House of Black mansion, where Sirius currently lives, is a place protected by the Fidelius Charm.

Although Fudge promised to remove all the Dementor and the Auror responsible for capturing him, Sirius still felt it would be safer to stay here.

He took out his wand and knocked on the door. Kyle heard a lot of loud metallic clanging sounds, as well as the rattling of chains.

The door creaked open.

"Come in quickly," Sirius said.

Kyle stepped across the threshold into the almost pitch-black Entrance Hall, where the room was damp and had a lingering smell of decay.

"No one has lived here for a long time, so I'm going to give this place a good cleaning before Harry comes."

Sirius's voice came from behind me.

Then Kyle heard a rustling sound, and then a row of old-fashioned gas lamps on the wall lit up, casting a shimmering, unreal light on the peeling wallpaper and the worn, frayed carpet in the Entrance Hall.

Kyle touched a table next to him, and his fingers immediately became covered in a thick layer of dust.

"It's not easy to clean this place, and a lot of things need to be replaced."

"Yes, let's take it slow," Sirius said. "I was planning to bring Harry over in a few days, but Dumbledore told me that the rat needs a month of Mandrake Restorative Draught to recover."

Including the subsequent trial proceedings, there's no time during the holiday; it will have to wait until Christmas, so there's plenty of time."

With a series of hurried footsteps, Lupin emerged from a door at the other end of the Entrance Hall and strode up to them.

"Oh, Kyle, it's so nice to see you," he said with a smile.

"Me too, Professor," Kyle said.

"I'm no longer a professor. Just call me Lupin, or Moony if you like."

Kyle was about to speak when he suddenly noticed a pair of eyes, the size of tennis balls, staring at them from beside a cabinet not far behind Lupin.

It was a House-elf, and he looked quite old. His loose, sagging skin was piled up, his head was bald, and his large, bat-like ears were covered with a clump of white fur. His fleshy nose was so big that it looked like a pig's nose.

Honestly, compared to him, Dobby could be considered a handsome House-elf.

"That's Kreacher, a House-elf," Sirius said. "But he's gone mad now and is no good at all, otherwise the house wouldn't be like this."

"Greetings, young master." Seeing that he had been discovered, Kreacher bowed, then muttered something in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear:

"... It smells like sewers and crime. That spendthrift is back. Besides the Werewolf, he's brought another little brat into the mistress's house. Oh, what a disgrace, poor old Kreacher, what can he possibly do..."

"Get out of here, Kreacher!" Sirius said impatiently.

"Yes, sir." Kreacher bowed again, shuffling out, but his mouth didn't stop, "The young master is a despicable, ungrateful scoundrel who broke his mother's heart, but Kreacher will still listen to him..."

"I'm sorry, Kyle." Sirius was trembling with anger, but he still turned to explain, "He's been alone for too long, and he's been receiving some crazy commands from my mother's portrait. He's started talking to himself... and he's gone crazy."

"Oh, it's nothing." Kyle glanced in the direction Kreacher had left, then waved his hand to indicate that he didn't mind.

"Come with me, I'll take you to a quiet place," Sirius said. "But don't make too much noise, or else..."

"Bang!"

Before Sirius could finish speaking, he kicked over an umbrella stand and almost fell over, but Kyle pulled him up from behind in time.

"Oh no..."

Lupin covered his face, looking somewhat helpless.

The next second, a terrifying, chilling scream filled the entire room.

Two tattered velvet curtains behind him were inexplicably pulled open, revealing a portrait behind them, in which an old woman wearing a hat was screaming desperately.

"You beast, you slut, you spendthrift, you disgrace to the family! Get out of here! How dare you defile my ancestral home..."

The shrill curses seemed to deafen one's ears.

"Shut up!" Sirius reacted the fastest. He covered his ears, ran over in three steps, and grabbed the curtains on both sides.

Upon seeing him, the old lady turned deathly pale.

But before she could speak again, Sirius yanked the curtain shut.

The cursing stopped, followed by a lingering silence.

"It seems you've already met my mother," Sirius said with a wry smile. "She didn't like me because I was sorted into Gryffindor, and after I ran away from home at sixteen, that dislike turned into disgust."

However, as long as you keep a low profile when you pass by, she won't know there are people outside.

"I didn't expect it to be so lively here," Kyle said with a smile.

"I don't think so," Sirius said. "Let's go, hurry, before she wakes up again."

Sirius led them through the corridor to a relatively clean room.

It's a large place, with an impressive round table in the middle, so it looks like a reception room.

"If you want to study that box, do it here," Sirius said. "This house is protected by the Fidelius Charm, so you can use any magic you want here. The Ministry of Magic won't know who it is. They can only go as far as Grimmauld Place, and then they'll find no one there."

"A box? What box?" Lupin asked, puzzled.

"Don't ask me, Moony." Sirius rubbed his forehead. "Seriously, I have more questions than you do."

Can you believe it? Kyle just wandered around the Lestrange family home and found a box that was incredibly well hidden... as if he were in his own house, grabbing a loaf of bread from the kitchen.

Lupin was completely confused.

But then he saw Kyle actually take out a box and put it on the table.

"This belongs to the Lestrange family?"

"It used to be," Kyle said.

He didn't explain much, but looked at the two of them and said, "If you choose to stay, please remember to keep it a secret. No matter what happens here, you must not tell anyone, including Professor Dumbledore."

"Of course." Sirius nodded immediately, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Although he still had a lot of doubts in his mind, it didn't matter... Looking at Kyle in front of him, for some reason, he suddenly had the illusion of returning to his student days.

That's how they created the Marauder's Map back then, keeping it a secret from everyone... I really miss that feeling.

Lupin hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"That's good. Remember, it has to be a secret." Kyle laughed, "Otherwise, I'll beat up Harry. You know he can't beat me."