Dinner had just finished in the Great Hall of Hogwarts.
At the Gryffindor Table, several third-year students were still sitting, with only some scraps and half a cup of Pumpkin Juice left in their plates.
"My mother wrote." Seamus placed a letter on the table; the handwriting was somewhat messy, clearly written in a hurry. "She said she's coming to Hogwarts to take me home."
"Really?" Dean looked up at him.
"Really." Seamus nodded. "She said Hogwarts is too dangerous this year; an escaped convict is on the run, and Dementor are lurking around the castle. She's worried."
"Are you going back?" Neville asked.
"I'm still thinking about it." Seamus leaned back in his chair, his hands resting on the edge of the table.
"Although my dad added 'It's your decision' at the end of the letter, I think he actually wanted me to go back."
"I've received a letter from home too." At the Hufflepuff table, Hannah Abbott folded a letter and stuffed it into her bag, her expression hesitant.
My parents asked me if I wanted to go home.
"What did you say?" Susan Borns leaned over from the side.
"I said I'd think about it some more," Hannah's voice was muffled. "I don't want to leave, but if something really happens—"
She didn't finish her sentence, but Susan understood what she meant.
In the Ravenclaw common room, several fifth-grade students were sitting around a sofa by the fireplace, with a copy of the Daily Prophet spread out in the middle.
"Look at this section," a boy wearing glasses said, pointing to a line in the newspaper.
"' Sirius Black was Voldemort's most fanatical surviving follower; twelve years of imprisonment did not diminish his madness.'"
"His only goal is to kill Harry Potter," a girl nearby chimed in, her voice lowering, "To avenge the Dark Lord completely."
"It was he who revealed the Potters' hiding place, which led to the tragic deaths of James and Lily."
" Merlin's beard," the bespectacled boy put down his newspaper, "He's right outside Hogwarts."
"And the Dementor can't stop him," another girl said.
"I heard that Headmaster Dumbledore agreed to let Dementor into the school, but it was the Ministry of Magic that pressured them to do so."
"No, it was Headmaster Dumbledore who agreed," someone corrected. " The Ministry of Magic considered Harry's life in danger above all else, Dumbledore couldn't do anything about it."
"He actually compromised." The bespectacled boy's tone was incredulous. " Headmaster Dumbledore never compromised with the Ministry of Magic."
"That was before," the girl next to her said. "This time is different. A madman who escaped from Azkaban —nobody dares to gamble on him."
"How strong do you think Black is?" someone asked.
"What do you think of the people who managed to escape from Azkaban?"
"I heard he took down twenty Auror all by himself."
"Impossible."
"Why not? It's in the newspapers; he's the most dangerous Death Eaters."
You can't believe everything you read in the newspapers.
"Then why do you think he was able to escape?"
"This..."
In a corner of the Slytherin Common Room, Malfoy leaned back in an armchair, flipping through " The Prisoner of Azkaban," while Crabbe and Goyle sat on the sofas on either side of him.
"Is the Chosen One's halo about to shatter?" Malfoy closed the book, paused for a moment, and continued, "What kind of the Chosen One can't even handle fugitives?"
"Maybe Black is here to end the Potter legend," Crabbe chimed in.
" The Dementor favor him?" Goyle asked.
"Don't talk nonsense." Malfoy glared at the two of them.
"Do you think Dumbledore should have let Dementor into the school?" A Slytherin girl sitting by the window turned to ask her friend next to her.
"I don't know." Her friend shook her head. " Harry Potter is indeed dangerous, but Dementor aren't good people either."
" Dementor suck happiness and corrupt students' minds." The girl closed her book. "My mother said she'd rather I drop out than have me around Dementor."
Professor McGonagall walked briskly down the Hogwarts corridor, clutching a stack of documents in her hand.
Her expression was more serious than usual. Behind her, Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout walked side by side, neither of them speaking.
" Minerva," Professor Flitwick finally spoke, "What do you think Harry this year...?"
"Stop talking." Professor McGonagall didn't turn around. "I know what you want to say."
" Black's goals are clear, and his methods are ruthless..." Professor Flitwick's voice lowered.
"I understand." Professor McGonagall stopped and turned to look at Flitwick, "But I won't let that happen."
Flitwick nodded and said nothing more.
Professor Sprout sighed softly beside him, "Three years in a row, truly turbulent times."
"I know." Professor McGonagall turned and continued walking, her footsteps echoing crisply on the stone pavement.
Meanwhile, in Slytherin's cellar, Snape stood by the window of the Potions Classroom, looking out at the area shrouded in twilight.
" Black..." His voice was low, as if he were talking to himself.
At the end of the corridor, Professor Trelawney descended from her tower, holding a teacup in her hand.
Her eyes were more unfocused than usual, as if she were looking at something that others couldn't see.
"I saw it," she suddenly said as she passed Professor Flitwick.
Professor Flitwick was startled. "What did you see?"
"An ominous sign." Professor Trelawney held the cup of tea up to her eyes; the tea leaves at the bottom gleamed darkly under the light. "That black dog... it's appeared again."
"In Harry's cup?"
"In Harry's destiny," Professor Trelawney set down her teacup, her voice seeming to drift from afar, "He is this year..."
Before she could finish speaking, she suddenly snapped back to reality, looked around blankly, and turned to walk back into the tower.
Professor Flitwick stood there, watching her figure disappear around the corner of the stairs, and frowned.
In the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry sat in an armchair by the fireplace, with a copy of " The Prisoner of Azkaban " (Part 1) open in front of him.
Ron sat next to him, Hermione sat opposite him; none of the three looked relaxed.
"A letter from my mother." Ron handed Harry a folded letter. "She said she wants to come visit us at Hogwarts."
"She wants to take you back?" Harry took the letter but didn't open it.
"She said, 'If Hogwarts isn't safe,'" Ron shrugged, "But she didn't say she necessarily had to take us back."
"My parents wrote too." Hermione pulled another letter from her bag and placed it on the coffee table. "They asked if I wanted to come home for a while."
"What did you say?" Ron asked her.
"I said I'm not going back." Hermione pushed the letter aside. "If I leave now, what's the difference between what's written in the book and running away?"
"But Black is right outside," Ron said.
"Are you leaving?" Hermione countered.
"Of course I'm not leaving," Ron said firmly.
Harry placed Ron's letter on the coffee table and looked down at his hands.
"I've been thinking about something," he said slowly.
Harry pulled the photograph torn from the newspaper from his pocket. It showed a distant view of Azkaban, a grey fortress standing on the sea like a forgotten tomb.
"I'm wondering, if Black really wanted to kill me, why didn't he do it when I was a child?"
Ron paused for a moment. "He was in Azkaban back then."
"I know," Harry said, "But the fact that he was able to get out means that place couldn't stop him... If he really wanted to kill me, he could have done it anytime."
"Maybe he didn't want to before?" Hermione said.
"Or," Harry looked up at them, "Maybe he wasn't even here to kill me."
The three fell silent. Ron shrugged. The flames in the fireplace flickered in the quiet, casting their shadows on the wall behind them.