Chapter 864: Marauders Group (4k)

The world behind the veil, or the boundary between life and death, was always filled with mist that never dissipated all year round.

Sirius watched the black cat use its tail to roll up the silver memory threads—they had just been taken from his head.

Sirius didn't know what his god was going to do, and could only stand in place obediently, so nervous he didn't know where to put his hands.

While watching, he saw the black cat's tail stand up, its whiskers trembling, as if holding back some impulse.

Sirius thought it was probably holding back from swallowing his memories; otherwise, could it be holding back the cat's nature of playing with yarn balls?

Thinking about it, Sirius couldn't control himself and laughed out loud.

The black cat looked at him immediately.

"This place is really... full of mist everywhere..."

He immediately stiffened, pretending to be very busy looking left and right.

What he said was also very stiff; after all, talking about the mist in the Boundary was like talking about good air in the countryside, perfunctory and unoriginal.

The black cat ignored him; it was struggling hard to restrain its cat nature:

"Please come with me, Mr. Black."

Sirius stiffened like he had been electrocuted, then quickly moved close to the black cat, sinking into the memory with his god.

Falling, falling, still falling...

After experiencing a not-too-long weightlessness, the man and the cat fell to a familiar place.

—Hogwarts Great Hall.

The black cat was stepping on Sirius, standing in the center of the Great Hall, but this place was not exactly the same as the Hogwarts it was familiar with.

The four house tables were gone. In their place were over a hundred small tables facing the same direction, each table with a student sitting at it, heads lowered, writing hurriedly on a roll of parchment.

The environment was very quiet. Only the scratching of quills could be heard, and occasionally the rustling sound of someone adjusting their parchment.

This was clearly an exam.

Sunlight shone through the tall windows onto those lowered heads; in the bright light, those heads reflected gray-brown, reddish-brown, and golden luster.

The black cat looked around carefully.

The young Sirius and James and the others must be somewhere here... this was his memory...

"Five more minutes!"

A voice appeared suddenly.

The black cat turned around and saw the early Professor Professor Professor Fuliwei's head moving between the tables not far away.

Professor Professor Professor Fuliwei walked past a boy with messy black hair... very messy black hair...

The Sirius under the black cat's feet paused, and then began to move.

He moved very fast; if he had a physical body, he would surely have knocked over several tables.

However, he seemed to be gliding, just like in a dream, crossing two aisles, and sliding forward along the third aisle.

The back of that black-haired boy's head was getting closer and closer, and... he was straightening his body now, putting down his quill, and pulling that roll of parchment toward himself to re-read the answers he had written...

Sirius stopped at this table, looking down at James.

Immediately he lowered his eyes, turned his head away, and trembled slightly.

The black cat looked at that person, just like looking at a Harry who had gone a bit off.

James's eyes were light brown, his nose slightly longer than Harry's, no scar on his forehead, but both had the same thin face, the same mouth, the same eyebrows;

James's hair was exactly the same as Harry's, also sticking up at the back of his head, and his hands were simply Harry's hands.

James yawned widely, rubbed his hair, making it even messier than before.

Then, he glanced at Professor Professor Professor Fuliwei, and then turned around in his seat, grinning at the boy in the fourth seat behind him.

Immediately, the boy in the fourth seat, young Sirius, gave James a thumbs up.

Young Sirius leaned lazily in his chair, looking very comfortable, his body leaning back, only two legs of the chair touching the ground.

He was very handsome, black hair hanging in front of his eyes, inadvertently bringing out a bit of elegance.

A girl sitting behind Sirius was watching him with expectation, but he didn't seem to notice.

In the row where this girl was, two seats away—the black cat recognized—there was young Remus Lupin.

He looked quite pale and haggard.

The black cat thought it was probably close to the full moon.

He was currently concentrating on the exam:

He re-read his answers, scratching his chin with the tip of his quill, frowning slightly.

Finally, there was a small boy with mouse-gray hair and a pointed nose.

That was Wormtail; he looked a bit anxious, biting his fingernails, staring down at his test paper, his toes rubbing on the ground.

He also occasionally glanced hopefully at the test paper of the student at the neighboring table.

The black cat placed its paw beside Sirius's ear and pushed backward; Sirius, whose eyes were already red, finally gave up the intention of pouncing on Wormtail in the memory.

Sirius had struggled in prison for so long; he wanted to kill this person too much.

Finally, under the god's gaze, Sirius just stared at Wormtail for a while longer, and then turned his gaze to James, who was now doodling on a small piece of parchment.

He had already drawn a Golden Snitch and was now tracing the letters "L. E."

What did they mean?

This was simple enough.

Lily Evans.

"Quills down, please!"

Professor Professor Professor Fuliwei said in a shrill voice,

"You too, Stebbins! Please remain in your seats while I collect the parchment! Accio!"

Over a hundred rolls of parchment flew into the air, flying into Professor Professor Professor Fuliwei's outstretched arms, knocking him to the ground.

Some people laughed. Several students sitting at the front tables stood up to support Professor Professor Professor Fuliwei's arms and helped him up.

"Thank you... thank you,"

Professor Professor Professor Fuliwei said breathlessly,

"Very well, everyone, you may go!"

The black cat looked down at James, who hurriedly erased the two letters "L. E." he had been decorating, jumped up, stuffed his quill and test paper into his schoolbag, slung the bag over his shoulder, and stood there waiting for young Sirius to come and meet him.

"Did you like question ten, Moony?"

Young Sirius asked after they entered the hall.

"Loved it,"

Lupin said lightly,

"List five signs to identify a werewolf. Great question."

"Do you think you can list all the signs?"

James said, pretending to be worried,

"I think so,"

Lupin said seriously, as people were crowded at the front door, anxious to get to the sunlit grounds outside, and they also walked into the crowd,

"First: he is sitting in my seat. Second: he is wearing my clothes. Third: his name is Remus Lupin."

Only Wormtail didn't laugh at this joke.

"I wrote down the shape of the snout, the pupils of the eyes, and the furry tail,"

Wormtail said anxiously,

"But I can't remember the others—"

"How can you be so stupid, Wormtail?"

James said impatiently,

"You run around with a werewolf every month—"

"Keep your voice down."

Lupin pleaded.

The conversation between the few was interesting, but the black cat didn't continue listening.

Enough, enough.

It had seen James, found him, and when he left an impression in the black cat's head, the Boundary had to obey the black cat's rules.

The real Sirius was still standing in the corner, watching his former memories, the laughter of the few of them.

This picture was beautiful and unreal; his face was cold, and he thought it must be raining in the Boundary.

Before leaving, the black cat suddenly paused; it saw a wizard who made it stop.

In the memory, in the shadow of the beech tree by the Hogwarts lake.