Chapter 257 Searching for Sirius

Professor McGonagall, wearing a plaid dressing gown and a hairnet, opened the door for Anthony: "Henry? What's wrong——"

"I'm really sorry, Minerva," said Anthony. "Sirius Black is missing and Professor Dumbledore asked me to tell you."

He could see how quickly Professor McGonagall understood the message.

"Oh." She raised her eyebrows, and the only trace of sleepiness in her expression disappeared. "No problem, I understand."

Professor McGonagall nodded to Anthony, walked around him, walked quickly to the corner of the corridor, and said to a portrait of a person with his eyes closed and his head propped up on a small wooden table with one hand: "Help me inform the others. , looking for Sirius Black throughout the castle."

The lady with feathers on her head and silk satin opened her eyes and complained: "I never remember these names..."

"Sirius Black," Professor McGonagall repeated clearly. "Dark hair, gray eyes, an adult wizard. Help me." She looked at the portrait sternly.

"Okay, okay." The other party said reluctantly, covered his mouth and yawned, stood up, and disappeared from the edge of the frame.

"She will notify the other portraits." Professor McGonagall said, "I'm going to search around the castle. Are there any other clues?"

"Sirius probably went to Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley," Anthony said, following her footsteps.

Professor McGonagall frowned: "Okay... then, if you are willing to help..."

"Professor Dumbledore will go to these two places to look for Sirius." Anthony said.

Professor McGonagall nodded, her tense face relaxing a little.

"At the same time, he also asked Professor Snape to find out whether Sirius had been kidnapped by Voldemort's followers - sorry, You-Know-Who."

"Severus?" Professor McGonagall paused, and her brows that had just relaxed frowned again. She pondered for a while and shook her head, "Okay, anyway, since Albus thinks... Henry, can you help inform Hagrid and ask him to take Fang to the Forbidden Forest? "

"No problem." Anthony said immediately. The gate of the castle suddenly opened in front of Professor McGonagall. Mrs. Norris, who was patrolling by the door, gave a rough and dissatisfied cry and fled away like flying.

"If you find anything -" Professor McGonagall said, paused, "If you find anything, or are in danger, remember to use your wand to send out red sparks, and I will come right away. You know what to do, right? ?”

Anthony couldn't help but smile: "Yes, I know, Minerva."

"Very good." Professor McGonagall said, "If I find anything, I will send you all a patronus... sneak out of the campus hospital! He should know how much trouble this will cause for others!"

She strode away.

Anthony walked along the path towards Hagrid's cabin. It was pitch black tonight, no stars, no moon, no light coming from the windows of Hagrid's cabin. Fang, who was sleeping outside the house, whined and dreamed in the lee of the house. When Anthony approached, he woke up in a daze and started barking. There were several banging sounds in the house, probably from the Chimera beast.

"Ya Ya, it's okay, it's me." Anthony said, touching the big dog and knocking on the window, "Hagrid? Hagrid! Are you there?"

He was answered by an interrupted snoring.

"Hagrid! Wake up!"

"Huh? Who?" Hagrid said in the house, half asleep.

"It's me, Henry!" Anthony said, "Sirius is missing, and Minerva wants you to go and take a look in the Forbidden Forest!"

Hagrid said: "Well..." and then there was no movement in the room again.

"Hagrid? Did you hear that?"

"Um……"

Anthony walked around the cabin twice, closed his eyes, and pressed his hands on the wall of the cabin.

"Believe me, this is not my intention." He muttered, using the perception of undead magic to find the dried meat jerky and Yaya's snack cabinet on the ceiling, and then pushed hard -

"Ouch!" Hagrid yelled, "What? What's going on?" There was a messy sound coming from the window, and it sounded like Hagrid finally sat up from the bed.

"Hagrid," Anthony shouted as he walked back to the window as the Chimera banged against the crates, "Minerva needs you to go to the Forbidden Forest to make sure Sirius Black is there. He's missing. "

"Henry?" Hagrid said in surprise, "Who is missing?"

Hagrid pushed the window open, revealing his big, disheveled head. Yaya happily moved his head over, drool dripping onto the window sill. Anthony could vaguely see that Hagrid's bed was filled with dried meat. Various bones, molar sticks and small dried meat were scattered on the ground. The stacked crates were shaking dangerously, and several of them had spikes. The tail tentatively stretched out from the gap, slapping it and trying to pick up a piece of dried meat.

"Sirius," Anthony repeated, "Sirius Black. Minerva would like you to search the Forbidden Forest, is that okay?"

"Of course, no problem." Hagrid rumbled, "I'll come right away."

He straightened the crate casually, stuffed all the twisting tails back, moved Yaya's snacks to the other side with his feet, strode to the wall, picked up his coat and bow and arrows, and closed it with a bang. Through the window, he walked out of the front door while buttoning his clothes. He had already put on boots on his feet at some point.

"Don't worry, Henry." Hagrid said, untying the chain that tied Fang from the side of the house, and patted the big hound on the head, "Come on, Fang, we are looking for someone today."

Yaya turned his head and glanced at the cabin that smelled of snacks, then turned his head again and jogged a few steps to catch up with Hagrid.

…

Hagrid's rickety lantern quickly disappeared into the dark Forbidden Forest, and the surroundings fell into darkness again. A few alluring lights leaked from the windows of Hogwarts Castle behind them. Judging from the rustling movements in the wooden house, it seemed that the Chimaira was still persevering in trying to take out a toothy snack from the gap in the wooden board.

"Lumos." Anthony whispered.

A steady, bright white light lit up from his wand, illuminating a small area in front of him.

At this moment, he heard Dumbledore's steady voice: "Henry." He turned his head and saw Dumbledore walking from the other end of the path, with silver-white hair and patterns embroidered with silver thread on his cloak. Sparkling in the fluorescent light.

"Minerva has asked the portrait to search for Sirius in the castle, sir." Anthony went up to meet her. "She plans to search near the castle; Hagrid took Fang to the Forbidden Forest..."

"Very well, thank you, Henry." Dumbledore said, "I believe you already have a plan in mind, Severus..."

Anthony walked closer and realized that Snape was also following Dumbledore. His black robe blended into the pitch-black night, with only his sallow face and the cold reflection in his eyes indicating his presence.

"Is Sirius really that important, sir?" Anthony couldn't help but ask, "Is Sirius so important that Voldemort's followers would not hesitate to expose themselves?"

"No, Henry, I said, this is just my paranoia and doubts." Dumbledore said, "What I am curious about is whether our old friends have secretly accumulated power that I have not noticed. So much so that they no longer even worry about being detected by me... Anyway, our former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor has been missing for a while."

Snape snorted. Anthony knew he was still unhappy that Dumbledore had appointed Quirrell and Lockhart as Defense Against the Dark Arts professors instead of him.

"Still no news about Professor Quirrell... Quirrell?" Anthony asked.

"Ah, I already have some ideas," Dumbledore said. "I have some sources... which is why I feel strange..." His voice gradually became softer.

They walked in silence for a while, around the frozen black lake - Anthony wasn't sure why he followed, but Dumbledore's look and tone suggested that he didn't mind - and past the Hogwarts train in the darkness. stand. The clock dial hangs on the empty platform, and the hour hand points to the position between one and two.

A little further away, sleeps the village of Hogsmeade. All the lights were out, and the Honeydukes familiar to Anthony were but one of countless black silhouettes of houses. Apart from the white light reflected by the snow, the only light was the faint glow of fireplace fires, which reflected through the white crocheted curtains and blind blades in the living rooms of several wizard houses.

"I will start my search from Hogsmeade." Dumbledore said, "Henry, if I remember correctly, you seem to have a few acquaintances in Diagon Alley?"

"Yes, and I believe Tom is still up," said Anthony. "Should I ask him if anything of note happened this afternoon?"

"That would be perfect," said Dumbledore. "Severus -"

"What's the matter, Dumbledore?" Snape said coldly.

"Be careful." Dumbledore smiled.

Anthony frowned: "Are you going to inquire about information now, Professor Snape? In any case, this is not a suitable time to visit others."

He did not question who Snape was going to ask for information about Voldemort's followers. The answer is almost self-evident: this man is the Head of Slytherin, and he fits every fairy tale stereotype of a dark wizard from head to toe - he even has a cauldron for brewing potions - if Anthony would have been surprised when Snape declared that he didn't know anyone close to or supportive of Voldemort.

Snape glanced at him: "I believe I know the time very well, Professor Anthony."

Anthony was about to say something, but Dumbledore let out a slight sigh.

"Ah," Snape said, stopping.

"Severus?" Dumbledore said, and at the same time Anthony felt his head being knocked twice, and a cold feeling slowly flowed down from the top of his head. He lowered his head and found that his body was covered with the Disillusionment Curse. Next to him, Dumbledore had blended into the darkness equally perfectly.

"No need, Dumbledore," said Snape. He found a hood somewhere, put it on his head, and strode forward. Anthony felt Dumbledore tug on him and followed them forward quietly.

At the end of the road, another hooded wizard was standing there. He was also wearing a black duel robe. From a distance, there was no difference between him and the silent black tree shadows behind him.

"Severus," the wizard said. Just from the tone of voice, Anthony could tell that the other person must have graduated from Slytherin. He felt that the voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember who it was.

"I thought you received my message," Snape said calmly.

"Yes, I saw it." The other party replied in the same smooth tone, "So I decided to stay and see what happened to make you change your mind. This was not the case when you talked to me before... The potions you took into my house, Severus, and the words you used to convince me and Narcissa... you knew that Azkaban was a very sensitive subject for me, for us... "

As he spoke, a strand of platinum-blonde hair peeked out from his hood. Anthony finally remembered whose voice it belonged to. Lucius Malfoy.

"I know, I know, Lucius." Snape said in a lazy, soothing tone, "But things can change. You may have heard that Dumbledore proposed to the Ministry of Magic to destroy the Dark Lord. The wand..."

"Destroy the wand? Well... I did hear rumors of such a thing..." Malfoy's voice dropped, "But are you sure, Severus?"

Snape remained enigmatically silent, but his silence seemed to be enough for Malfoy. Malfoy took a few steps back and forth and said decisively: "No, Severus. This is absolutely not possible. You must..."

"I must?"

"If you knew the details, Severus..."

"You seem to have some news." Snape said slowly. "You are asking me for news, but you are giving me nothing."

Malfoy hesitated.

"It doesn't matter, Lucius, keep your secret." Snape said impatiently, "I don't have time now anyway. This morning, Sirius Black..." He sneered, "Your Narcissa's brother, I had to cancel my long-planned plans with Dumbledore behind closed doors, right?"

"Sirius Black?" Malfoy said in surprise.

"You heard me, Lucius," said Snape. "Don't tell me that your secret involves this man."

"No, it has nothing to do with this," Malfoy said. "Don't you know? Black went crazy in Diagon Alley this afternoon. He rushed out of the fast food restaurant, yelled, and threw the chips and lettuce Sprinkled everywhere."