Su Er followed Hermione downstairs, while Harry joined Ron on the sofa.
"Phew, thank goodness you didn't touch that curtain." Harry let out a huge sigh of relief. "The first time I came here, I accidentally touched it and got the fright of my life. I couldn't even eat dinner that night."
"What exactly is behind it?" Ron asked curiously. The Weasley brothers, who were also visiting for the first time, pricked up their ears.
"It's..." Before Harry could answer, Sirius cut in. "My mother."
"Though I know it's not very nice to say this." Sirius shook his head. "She really is a bitter, nasty person, just like the wicked witch in a fairy tale..."
"Anyway, you wouldn't want to-"
Before Sirius could finish, a bloodcurdling scream rang out in the corridor, accompanied by the clatter and crash of plates shattering on the floor.
"Oh, damn." Sirius's expression changed, and he immediately turned and jogged toward the corridor.
"Filth! Stench! Disgusting! Mudblood! Ugly freak! Bastard! How dare you! How dare you tread on the carpets of the noble House of Black with those sickeningly foul feet!! Get out of here!! Out!!"
In the corridor, Hermione stood pale-faced, her eyes full of terror, staring blankly at a life-sized portrait before her. Inside it, a sharp-faced old woman in a black hat and black wizard robes was roaring at her.
Just as Hermione and Su Er had passed by, chatting and laughing, the black velvet curtains that had covered the portrait completely had suddenly flown open, revealing an old woman flailing her arms with a savage expression.
The sound scarcely seemed human-shrill and piercing.
If one had to find an exact way to describe it, it was the sound of sharp claws scraping across glass, making goosebumps erupt all over anyone who