Chapter 262 Sirius Returns to Hogwarts

They walked out of the iron gate of Azkaban Fortress again.

Peter Pettigrew's body was suspended in mid-air, his drooping legs and arms wrapped in wrinkled wizard robes, swaying slightly in the howling wind. The sea water raised huge waves and slapped on the rocks. A dozen Dementors floated seven or eight feet away.

"Where should we go, sir?" Anthony asked, looking up at Sirius, "Hogwarts or St. Mungo's?"

"I would say Hogwarts," Dumbledore said, "Rufus, what about you?"

Scrimgeour was staring at the white light on the tip of his wand, and the crevices on his face were illuminated more clearly. "Me?" He sounded a little tired, "I have to go back to the Ministry, Dumbledore... What happened tonight means many, many documents to be written..."

"My sincere apologies, Rufus," Dumbledore said.

The boat they came in was still shaking in the dark water beside the dock. Dumbledore stepped on first, and Scrimgeour hesitated and gave way to Anthony before following Dumbledore and stepping into the boat. After Anthony and Sirius stepped on the boat, Snape and the bodies of Peter Pettigrew could no longer squeeze in.

Anthony, Dumbledore and Scrimgeour looked at each other, stood up on their own initiative, and let Sirius lie on a chair in an awkward position, holding on to the wooden pillars of the dock to leave the boat. The bear lying on the dock moved his head and followed Anthony's route.

Snape floated Peter and stared at Anthony with a heavy look.

"Mr. Scrimgeour can drive a boat, and he is going to London." Anthony explained, "I guess Professor Dumbledore is more skilled in Apparition. You don't mind taking another boat, Professor Snape?"

Scrimgeour had already rowed his wand and summoned another boat. He was tying the two boats together. He looked up and looked at Anthony sharply: "By the way, you can sail, too, right, Professor Anthony?"

"Well, I'm not very good at it," Anthony said, jumping into the newly appeared boat, "but I have other ways."

Snape followed silently, and Anthony assumed that he had acquiesced to this arrangement and turned to the Dementors that were still staying not far away.

...

The Dementors were flying around the boat. They had already sailed into the fog and lost contact with Dumbledore and Scrimgeour's boat. Anthony's fluorescent flashes could only illuminate a very small area nearby, and occasionally the corners of the Dementors' robes could be seen flying.

Snape held the side of the boat tightly, staring at the thick fog expressionlessly, his eyes deep and empty. Peter's body lay at his and Anthony's feet, swaying with the turbulence of the boat, losing the magic that made Anthony want to control it.

"Are you okay, Professor Snape?" Anthony asked.

"It couldn't be better, just like anyone who is close to the Dementors." Snape replied calmly, "Thanks for your concern."

"Um... sorry." Anthony said.

He couldn't help but feel sorry for Snape. He didn't suggest that Sirius take the same boat with him - he didn't dare to summon the Patronus on such a small boat - but he guessed that for Snape, neither himself, the dead Peter, nor the seven or eight Dementors beside him were ideal travel companions.

...

After the Dementors sent them out of the fog, they returned to Azkaban as they did last time.

Anthony realized that they didn't know exactly where Hogwarts was, so he just asked them to point the boat to Scotland. He didn't know whether they understood his request, but the boat had already rushed straight forward from the layers of waves, and Anthony could only secretly hope that the Dementors' geographical knowledge was not too bad.

After leaving the Dementors, Snape seemed to relax a little. Peter's body was still lying limp on the ground. Snape lifted his expensive wizard robe a little to prevent Peter's sparse hair from rubbing against the edge of the robe.

They waited in silence. In the night, Anthony couldn't even tell how far he was from the mainland. His fluorescent light was faintly embedded on the nearby wave crests, but there was still a silent darkness in the distance. All they could feel was the wind blowing violently over them and the bumpy boat.

After an unknown amount of time, the boat finally stopped. This was a remote bay that Anthony didn't recognize. There were several weathered fishing boats anchored beside it. The wooden boards creaked in the wind, and it was even impossible to tell whether they were abandoned.

He and Snape walked out of the boat together.

As soon as they floated Peter to the land, the boat that was commanded by magic to bring them here disappeared silently, as if it had never appeared.

"I wonder where we are now." Anthony muttered.

Snape made an ambiguous sound, like a combination of a snort and approval. He was squinting, trying to read the sign next to Peter Pettigrew's body in midair.

…

They arrived at Hogsmeade village just in time with Dumbledore. Dumbledore conjured a stretcher for Sirius, letting him float and lie flat on it.

They passed quickly through the empty streets. Under the dim street lights, the floating Sirius and Peter cast long, terrifying shadows.

Anthony didn't know if it was just him or everyone who felt this way, but as they rounded the Black Lake and set out on the path to Hogwarts, he felt a sudden sense of relief. A lot did happen tonight.

…

Professor McGonagall arrived immediately after seeing the red sparks he fired.

"What happened, Henry?" Professor McGonagall asked, and then saw Dumbledore and Snape standing aside, "Oh, my God, Severus! Albus! Have you found him?"

"Found it," Anthony said, "We brought him back." Sirius let out a few weak moans on the stretcher.

"And brought back some other things," Snape said gloomily, motioning for Professor McGonagall to look at Peter's body.

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Professor McGonagall, "Peter Pettigrew!"

"He's dead," Snape said grimly. "Black was there to kill him."

Professor McGonagall looked down at Peter's body, clutched her chest with her hands, and gasped.

"However, it is very important that Sirius is not the murderer." Dumbledore said gently. "Nonetheless, I'm afraid we will still get into a lot of trouble. I hope you are all prepared for this. ”

Professor McGonagall looked up at him, looking very confused: "Albus, what is going on?"

"It's a long story, Minerva. However, I will see to it that Peter Pettigrew is buried properly." Dumbledore said, nodding towards the two house elves who appeared silently. "Thank you, Thank you."

"This is not luggage." said an elf, bowing deeply towards Dumbledore, "but Dudu is willing to serve Professor Dumbledore, and Dudu is willing to carry anything."

They put their heads together, deliberated for a while, and then raised their heads. Dudu looked at Peter's body critically, snapped his fingers, and Peter disappeared.

"Where has he gone?" Anthony asked.

Dudu bowed to him: "Dudu put him in a place where he will not scare others. As long as Professor Dumbledore finds a suitable place, he can be buried."

"That won't be long. Thank you, Dudu." Dumbledore said, turning to Professor McGonagall. "Before I tell you what happened, let's take Sirius to the school hospital. I'm afraid We have to disturb dear Madam Poppy Pomfrey late at night again."

…

Under Madam Pomfrey's treatment, Sirius quickly woke up. He still looked very weak, but the first thing he did when he opened his eyes was try to sit up.

"Traitor..." he said, and then his eyes swept around the white, brightly lit campus hospital, and finally realized where he was. Under the gaze of Madam Pomfrey with raised eyebrows, Sirius lowered his raised arms and lay down slumped back on the hospital bed.

"I screwed up, didn't I, Albus?" asked Sirius hoarsely, "but I can't believe it. That traitor - that rat - had not been condemned by the Wizengamot to be a Dementor. Did you kiss? How could it suddenly become a life sentence?”

Dumbledore looked at him seriously and did not answer his question.

"Sirius," said Dumbledore, "do you know what you have done?"

Sirius sighed, struggled to sit up, and leaned against the bed.

"Yes, yes, I know." He said, "I sneaked away from the campus hospital this afternoon -" Madam Pomfrey snorted unhappily, "went to Gringotts to withdraw some money, in the opposite corner. I bought something in the street and wanted to bring it to Harry and the others. I was a little hungry and saw a fast food restaurant on the corner..." He smiled, "I haven't eaten fast food in a long time..."

Madam Pomfrey said, "For your sake, Mr. Black!"

"Well, I'm sorry," Sirius said, "Then I bought a side of chips and four sandwiches to share with Harry and the others when I get back. I figured they'd be willing to have dinner with me."

Professor McGonagall said, "Jesus, Sirius! Sandwiches!"

"That sandwich smelled good," Sirius said. "I ate the chips and then I saw the newspaper. The newspaper said that Peter's final outcome was life in Azkaban, but I clearly remembered what the Wizengamot Tribunal announced. It's a dementor's kiss.

"I can't believe it. Minerva, I don't know if you know this, but Azkaban isn't that scary to Animagus... you know, when we turn into animals, our Emotions have also become much simpler. Sometimes, when things get really tough, I turn into a big dog in prison... and to the dementors, they may just wonder why my emotions suddenly become simpler. Well, but there are too many people in Azkaban who have been tortured crazy... In short, they don't realize what's going on.

"But, you know, Peter—Peter Pettigrew—is also an outlaw Animagus, and I have no doubt that he will discover the secret of the Dementors sooner than I will." He sneered. He's always been very smart when it comes to saving his own life."

Professor McGonagall said in disbelief: "So you decided to go to Azkaban? Sirius, your sense of responsibility——"

"My sense of responsibility prevented me from doing it immediately!" Sirius roared, like a dog barking.

After he finished shouting, he froze for a moment, shook his head, and lowered his voice again: "I didn't do it immediately. I thought of Harry, and I promised him that I would go back. So I packed my things and decided to go back first. No matter what, it will be very difficult for the rat to escape from that sea..."

Dumbledore nodded: "That's right."

"I returned to Hogsmeade, but found that Honeydukes was full of people." Sirius said. Anthony felt a little strange, but he knew that he was about to reach the most critical place, so he kept quiet.

"Then I decided to take a well-trodden route back, because of course I couldn't get back to Hogwarts through the main entrance, where Filch and Mrs. Norris were watching. Anyway... I walked into the Shrieking Shack."

Professor McGonagall's expression suggested that she had immediately imagined what was in the Shrieking Shack.

"I saw Peter there." Sirius said, his voice rising again. He leaned on the head of the hospital bed, eyes flashing with anger. "He said he had escaped from Azkaban."

"Then I saw James' body..." He swallowed hard, "I rushed over. James' body looked too young. I stopped and suddenly realized that it was Harry's body. .

"I couldn't believe Harry was going to die, but then Wormtail showed up again. Wormtail was Peter Pettigrew, that was... that was the nickname we gave him. Me, James and Remus, we always called him He Wormtail.

"He said he had no choice, that he could see no way to save Harry's life but to sacrifice him. He sobbed that he had no choice. He offered Harry to his master, as he had done with great joy. Give James and Lily away. I can't bear it."

It was extremely quiet in the school hospital.

Sirius took a deep breath and repeated in a low voice: "I couldn't stand it anymore. I turned into a dog and bit him to death. Then I suddenly realized that it was a Boggart. I remembered that he should still be in Azkaban. I still have time to stop everything. This time I won’t be too late.”