Crazy Black

"Who is Sirius? Is he famous?"

Sirius has escaped from prison!

"You're out of prison so soon?"

Why is the Daily Prophet so slow?

After Sirius appeared, the young wizards around him whispered among themselves.

"Peter Pettigrew isn't dead?"

"He's Ron's rat?" Harry immediately understood.

"What?" Ron gradually calmed down. He knew from Harry that Sirius was innocent, and even Professor McGonagall didn't consider him an enemy. But Ron still held Scabbers closer to him, looking very scared. "What could my mouse possibly be involved in?"

"This isn't a mouse," Black Family suddenly said in a hoarse voice.

"What do you mean? It's a mouse, of course—"

"No, it's not," Black Family retorted vehemently, making him seem even more like a madman. "It's a wizard."

"He's an Animagus? — Peter?" Professor McGonagall asked, puzzled.

"I'm sorry, James and I lied to you. We—" Sirius spat in disgust, "The three of us are Animagus, unregistered."

"That's impossible! Scabbers has been with us for almost 11 years!"

"Percy gave this to me!" Ron retorted fiercely, while Scabbers squealed like Pigwidgeon, scratching at Ron's face and neck, trying to escape.

"Give him to me! The Weasley family boy!" Black Family roared, shaking his wand until his fingertips were almost white.

The students around them whispered among themselves, and Ron, Draco, and Harry's expressions were a mix of emotions.

"Show some respect to our little brother!"

"He's the bane of Care of Magical Creatures poachers! He defeated one of the You-Know-Who Three Musketeers — Ron Weasley!" Without a doubt, it must be Fred and George.

"Alright, alright! Ron Weasley, can you give him to me?" Sirius looked at Harry, who was just like James, and Professor McGonagall, who had already taken out her wand. He tried his best to control his temper, but his sunken eyes were still fixed on Scabbers, Scabbers tightly against Ron's hands.

"Weasley, can I examine your rat—no, Scabbers?"

"This won't hurt him," Professor McGonagall finally spoke. "And students, step back and get away from this area."

The surrounding students gradually backed away, leaving Draco, Harry, Ron, and Sirius behind.

"Slytherin?" Sirius squinted. "Malfoy family brat, you're not planning something bad, are you?"

"Enough! Sirius Black, if you weren't Harry's godfather, I would definitely—watch your mouth, don't slander my friend!" Ron's ears turned red, and Draco's eyes welled up with tears.

"Godfather?"

"Sirius is Harry Potter's godfather!"

Ron's words caused the surrounding onlookers to start whispering among themselves.

"Mr. Black Family, get down to business! Mr. Malfoy is a friend of Weasley and Potter, and I don't think what you're worried about will happen." Professor McGonagall's tone turned slightly cold, but her gaze toward the Black Family was still full of concern.

"Serious business? He's the bad seed of Slytherin!"

"Jam—no, Harry, when did you become friends with Slytherin, like your mother?" Sirius seemed to mistake Harry for his deceased friend in a daze.

But he quickly returned to reality, which made him a little angry, and he began to speak sarcastically about Lily's actions, which he saw as a betrayal of Gryffindor.

To everyone else, Lily Evans was a good friend and a respectable person.

But to Sirius, who sees James as his life, she's a detestable person.

"What kind of tone is that?" Harry couldn't help but get angry too.

The other students around him looked on in surprise; in their eyes, Sirius must have gone mad.

In the peaceful period following Voldemort's death, Slytherin's reputation was no longer what it was in Sirius's time—more like an enemy than a classmate.

Although Snape's favoritism and the bad atmosphere of Slytherin made them very unsociable, at most they were just annoying classmates in the eyes of most students from other houses.

At this moment, even McGonagall was pulled out of her pity for Sirius. She couldn't help but recall Snape's recent madness and her own conduct in that era.

She suddenly realized that she had been too focused on the world outside of school back then—because of Voldemort.

This led to a negative influence spreading into Slytherin, creating a hostile atmosphere at the time.

Sirius looked around, but there were no flowers or applause as he had expected.

In their time, whenever he joked with Slytherin when he was in a bad mood, he always received admiring glances from others.

He dared not look at Harry, that familiar face that now held a look of resentment.

For the first time, he realized, wow, so much time has passed.

"I'm sorry, Harry, I just—"

"Alright, I've given you so much time, Peter Pettigrew!" Sirius first showed an apologetic expression, but then smoothly switched to a predatory look in the next sentence.

"Okay, don't hurt it. It's a very old mouse and can't take any more trouble." Ron keenly sensed that something was wrong, but still carefully placed Scabbers on the ground.

Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall's Petrificus Totalus kept Scabbers in place on the ground, preventing them from escaping.

Sirius's previously frantic expression returned to calm—no, it was more like a look of joy. He seemed to be asking someone who wasn't even there, "Want to come along?"

No one answered. He smiled again, as if he had heard something. "Count to three. One... two... three!"

Sirius's wand emitted a blue-white light.

The Scabbers was suspended in mid-air, its small black body writhing wildly... Ron yelled... and the mouse fell down to the floor.

Another dazzling flash, and then... nothing happened.

"No! This isn't real!" Sirius roared, dropping his wand and standing frozen in place.

Sirius's spell interrupted Professor McGonagall's, Scabbers on the ground suddenly "came to life" and crawled into Ron's pocket.

"Poor thing, poor thing," Ron said, stroking Scabbers repeatedly.

"Sirius, you have a lot to say to Harry now, why don't you come to my office?" Professor McGonagall, her eyes reddening, deliberately changed the subject and spoke to Sirius.

"No, no, Harry must hate me now," Sirius said dejectedly.

"No, that's not it. You've just been in Azkaban too long," Harry suddenly exclaimed, followed by Ron. "Yeah, Scabbers is fine, isn't he? Draco's reputation wasn't good to begin with."

Draco glanced at his two friends and gave a helpless smile. "Yeah."