Crying Like a Defeated Dog

William found the pumpkin carriage in Hagrid's pumpkin patch.

The car hadn't been driven for a while, and bird nests had appeared on the pumpkin. There were also quite a few snails that had made their home on it.

So you really need to drive this car often; otherwise, it'll rust and become unusable.

This time, William didn't hire six Acromantula to pull the cart; instead, he hired two to guide him.

He named them... Benboerba and Baboerben respectively.

Two spider demons were pulling a carriage at breakneck speed along the path when William told them to stop halfway there.

He took out a piece of parchment and gently poked it a few times. The name Ronan on the parchment immediately began to shine.

Below Ronan, there is another name, the Fire Kiss, though it is dimmed.

Both the brother and sister were William's customers.

"Will Ronan come then?" Anne asked curiously, pulling at the parchment.

"Of course," William quickly explained, "When the message is released, the name will glow, and Ronan has a parchment with him; he'll see it."

"What kind of magic is this?"

"Transfiguration Charm!" Hermione interjected before William could speak. "It's very difficult, at the level of N. E. W. T. s."

Anne raised her eyebrows high. "You can do that too?"

Hermione seemed to be waiting for these words, and she tried her best to appear humble.

"Oh... um... although I'm not as skilled as William, I can still manage... I'm too clumsy, it took me a long time to learn."

What, you want to learn? I can teach you... it's very simple!

"..."

Anne pursed her lips and puffed out her cheeks, not really wanting to talk to Hermione.

However, he couldn't resist Hermione's tickling and quickly gave in, ending up wrestling with her.

I waited for about ten minutes.

A small patch of dense Knotgrass made a sound.

William raised his wand, then lowered it after a moment.

A red Centaur emerged from the bushes.

"Why are you here so early tonight? It's not the agreed time."

Ronan circled the carriage, seemingly wanting one of those pumpkin carriages too.

Next time he goes hunting, he can sit on the roof of the car, leading a whole bunch of Acromantula. How cool would that be!

Unfortunately, it's just a thought; the Centaur tribe still hasn't figured out how William controlled the dangerous Acromantula.

Bane also listed William as an extremely dangerous wizard and forbade anyone from having contact with him.

What Bane didn't know was that many of his people, without having any contact with William, had secretly Ronan to help them buy a lot of things.

"Something came up, so I came early."

William jumped off the carriage, and the two exchanged positions with practiced ease.

As usual, Ronan provides various herbs and materials in exchange for strange wizarding and Muggle items.

"Why do you smell like tobacco?" William sniffed.

Do you Centaur smoke too?

Goblin love gambling on football, Centaur love smoking?

What kind of habits are these?

"No, we were just at a tribal gathering," Ronan said in a low voice.

"By burning sage and mallow, and observing the smoke and flames, we can make predictions about the future."

What he didn't say was that everyone actually liked the smell of the cigarette. Inhaling it felt very comfortable, allowed them to clear their minds, and made their souls feel light and airy.

He's a heavy smoker!

"What did you predict?" William asked curiously.

After several years of contact, he discovered that the Centaur were indeed quite capable. At least the Tom incident last year seemed to align with their Prophecy.

Ronan did not answer immediately. He stared intently upwards, his eyes unblinking, then spoke in a low, sorrowful voice.

"Dark clouds are slowly gathering, and they will reshape themselves, obscuring the bright moon."

William looked up. Large, dark clouds were indeed gathering, and it looked like a heavy downpour was imminent.

"That's right, I observed that too. Your Divination is really accurate." William shrugged.

I never get a straightforward answer from the Centaur. Can't they just skip the metaphors and give the result?

In their penchant for creating mystery, the Centaur and Professor Trelawney seem to share a tacit understanding.

They probably studied under the same blind fortune teller before, right?

Ronan finished packing his things, stamped his horse's hoof, and asked, "William, my sister hasn't been doing business with you lately, has she?"

The deal at the beginning of the semester was indeed something Fire Kiss did himself, sneaking out while Ronan wasn't home.

She also stole Ronan's ring and made a deal with William on her own initiative.

"I have not done any more business with Fire Kiss."

Seeing Ronan's wary gaze, William quickly shook his head.

This is not a lie; they indeed did not engage in any transactions.

Fire Kiss isn't an adult yet, so he can't go hunting... He's practically penniless!

And he still has the nerve to ask him: Is there a job that can make quick money, is easy and enjoyable?

If such a job existed, William would have done it himself; why leave it to Fire Kiss?

Conducting physical research on Centaur is quite lucrative; even William wouldn't dare study Fire Kiss.

However, he also sent him several books by Lockhart.

It is said to be very popular among Centaur.

This is cultural invasion.

It's a pity Lockhart died young, otherwise he could probably have shouldered the responsibility of communicating with the Centaur.

After parting ways with Ronan, the carriage continued south.

After crossing a lake, William abandoned the Acromantula and the carriage.

Under the cover of dark clouds,

He transformed into a sea eagle, carrying Hermione and Anne, and soared into the sky, heading towards a steep mountain peak.

According to the search by the Acromantula, Black was hiding in a cave somewhere in the mountains.

Black lay on the haystack, his eyes staring blankly at the tattered spiderweb on the cave ceiling.

He regretted it a little; he shouldn't have eaten the spider, otherwise it probably could have caught quite a few flying insects.

In William's words, "This is a renewable resource."

After hanging out with that kid for a while, he gradually picked up a lot of strange words and phrases from what he saw and heard.

What a Naruto of rubbish.

I swear in Tom's name.

Tom deserves a terrible death.

Who exactly is this Tom, and why does he harbor such deep hatred for me?

Black rubbed his empty stomach and inexplicably missed his days in France.

Not to mention Anne's delicious snacks... he desperately wanted to eat the baguette that had broken his teeth, the porridge Hermione had cooked to a pulp, and the imported dog food William had bought.

The happiest days of the past ten years or so were actually the few months I spent as a dog!

Most importantly, he even thought that kind of life was good and he could live it for the rest of his life. This feeling inexplicably irritated him.

Black reached out and ruffled his long, messy hair, letting out a sigh for no apparent reason.

It's not that I haven't thought about going back, finding the three of them, or even... telling them the truth.

But Black was afraid,

Who would believe him?!

He knew how terrifying William was; killing Werewolf was as easy as killing chickens.

Move closer

Is he still alive?

Snap!

The sound of a trap being triggered.

Black rolled to his feet and, using both hands, crawled deeper into the cave.

A moment later, a thin mouse appeared in his hand.

He didn't have time to start a fire, nor did he dare to.

He picked up a stone and smashed it hard on the rat's head, not even bothering to clean its internal organs, before eagerly stuffing it into his mouth.

His cheeks twitched as he chewed on the dead rat meat.

"... These are Anne's snacks... This is Hermione's burnt porridge... This is William's poisoned dog food..."

He repeatedly hypnotized himself, forcing himself to chew and swallow, a satisfied expression appearing on his face.

Black lay back down on the haystack and tried to close his eyes and sleep. He wouldn't be hungry if he fell asleep.

A sudden downpour outside kept me awake.

He plucked a dry blade of grass and put it in his mouth, crossed his legs, and swayed back and forth, humming intermittently the tune that Anne had casually made up when they first met.

"Dahei, Dahei, be a good boy and come home with me..."

Anyway, it all boils down to just one line of lyrics.

What are the three of them doing now?

Anne was probably slacking off by reading comics;

William and Hermione certainly didn't return to their lounge; instead, they hid in the Safety Watch.

He had long suspected that their relationship was abnormal. It was exactly the same as James and Lily's after their marriage.

Black's lips curled up, and he murmured softly, "That's nice."

After an unknown amount of time, he finally fell into a deep sleep.

A tremendous sound suddenly came from outside the cave.

"Finally found you, Dahei!"

Blac suddenly opened his eyes, his face instantly turning deathly pale, and his lips trembling.

Now that we've found this place, there must be a large number of Auror and Dementor gathered outside.

We mustn't get caught!

He instantly transformed into a thin, black dog and charged forward. Ten steps were covered in an instant.

However, there were no Auror or Dementor outside the cave as he had imagined.

Not far away, there was only a tall, slender boy, simply holding up a Dahei umbrella, with two girls nestled beside him.

The girl on the right, in a slightly confused tone, softly called out, "Dahei."

For some reason, Black's tears mingled with the rain and flowed uncontrollably.

In the pouring rain, the defeated dog said to himself, "I'm not running anymore."

Anne bit her lip, looked up, and asked softly, "Brother, what's wrong with it?"

William shook his head.

Hen and duck...

(Please vote for this post, everyone!)