Chapter 264: Hanged Man

Such a commotion, Sirius Black could not have failed to notice; he tried to turn his wand, but found it was already too late—a bolt of lightning had shot toward him. He watched helplessly as the lightning struck him; he felt a numbness run through his body, a puff of black smoke rose up, and he fell straight down, his hand no longer able to grip the wand, which dropped onto the forest floor.

In the next moment, two vine whips reached out and bound him tightly.

The creature that had instantly restrained Black was that peculiar beast.

The situation reversed instantly; Harry and the other two quickly retrieved their wands.

"What Alan said is true!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly. "The transformed beast knocked down an adult wizard directly; I don't know how he did it. The magic this beast cast, I've never seen before..."

Harry ignored Hermione's astonishment. Without a word, he raised his wand, pointing it at the fallen Sirius Black, aiming straight at his heart.

"Going to kill me, Harry?" he whispered.

"You killed my parents," Harry said, his voice trembling slightly, but his hand holding the wand was steady.

Black stared at Harry with his sunken eyes.

"I do not deny it," he said calmly, "but if you knew the full story—"

"The full story?" Harry repeated, a violent crashing sound ringing in his ears. "You sold them to Voldemort; that is all I need to know!"

"You must listen to me," Black said, his voice now carrying a tone of urgency. "If you do not understand—if you do not understand—you will regret it."

A ginger-colored thing darted past Harry's front; Crookshanks leaped onto Black's chest, crouching there without moving, right over his heart.

Hermione let out a sob watching Crookshanks; she wanted to call Crookshanks back, but she could not open her mouth. With her intelligence, she understood that today's events were not unrelated to Crookshanks; it was in league with Black.

Harry glared at Black and Crookshanks, gripping his wand tighter; he wanted to kill Black, he had to kill Black.

"That rat, that Weasley boy's rat!" Black said urgently.

But Harry did not want to hear him say any more.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry's wand moved aside from Crookshanks and released the spell; he still could not bring himself to deprive a person of their life, even if that person was his greatest enemy.

Black instantly became unable to speak; his eyeballs rolled rapidly in their sunken sockets, a trace of despair appearing within them.

"We will hand him over to the school, to the Ministry of Magic," Harry said with difficulty, but after making this decision, he felt a wave of relief.

At that moment, a sound of footsteps suddenly came from around them.

"We are here!" Hermione suddenly shouted. "We are here—Sirius Black—quick!"

And Hermione's transformed beast seemed to have noticed the commotion around it; it thought for a moment, retracted the vine whips, and then retreated into a shadow.

Running over was Professor Lupin; Harry and the other three instantly relaxed.

Professor Lupin's face was bloodless, his wand raised, ready at any moment. His gaze flickered past Ron, Hermione, and Harry; at that time Harry was still standing there pointing his wand at Black, then his gaze swept over to Black.

"Expelliarmus!" Lupin shouted.

Harry's wand flew from his hand again, and the two held by Hermione did the same. Lupin agilely caught the three wands, then walked into the room, glaring at Black, while Crookshanks still crouched on his chest protecting him.

He strode quickly toward Black, then spoke, his voice strange, carrying a certain suppressed emotion: "Where is he, Sirius?"

Black rolled his eyes and looked at Ron.

Professor Lupin looked intently at Black,

as if reading his mind; suddenly his eyes widened as if he had thought of something.

He directly lifted the petrification on Black, grabbed his hand, and pulled him up; Crookshanks therefore fell to the floor. Lupin embraced Black as if they were two brothers.

Harry and the other three watched the scene before them in disbelief.

Harry felt his stomach turn upside down.

"I don't believe it!" Hermione screamed.

At that moment, Black seemed to think of something; he quickly said, "Be careful!"

But it was already too late; Hermione's transformed beast appeared silently, and before Lupin could react, he was restrained.

And Black, without a wand, was once again bound tightly by the vine whips.

Harry and the other three regained the initiative once more.

"I trusted you," Harry shouted at Lupin, his voice shaking out of control, "and you have always been his friend!"

And Lupin, who was restrained, remained very calm.

He slowly recounted how he had thought to come here tonight: because he had seen someone who should not have appeared appearing on the Marauder's Map.

Then he revealed a secret to Harry and the other three—Scabbers was an Animagus, namely Peter Pettigrew.

Harry and the other three initially did not believe it, but as Lupin spoke, they gradually began to waver; everyone turned their gaze toward the struggling lump constantly moving on Ron's chest...

And at that time, another unexpected person suddenly appeared.

Professor Snape suddenly dropped the Invisibility Cloak and appeared.

"I picked up this Invisibility Cloak by the roadside, but it seems you did well, capturing Black and his accomplice; tonight two people will go to Azkaban." Professor Snape pointed his wand at the restrained Lupin and Black; a triumphant smile appeared on his face, and his gaze constantly flickered toward the transformed beast nearby.

The stance of Harry and the other three had now shifted; they tried their best to explain to Professor Snape, but Professor Snape was only willing to believe what he saw, and he had clearly not heard the entire conversation.

"Silence, you fools!" Snape shouted loudly, suddenly going mad. "Do not presume to comment on things you do not understand!"

"What I am doing now is calling the Dementors; they will be especially pleased to see you; they will be happy to grant you a little kiss..."

The little bit of color remaining on Black's face was now gone. "You—you must listen to me finish," he said hoarsely. "That rat—look at that rat..."

But there was a mad light in Snape's eyes, one Harry had never seen before; Snape seemed to have lost his reason.

Hermione quietly commanded the transformed beast to release Sirius and Lupin, but in the next moment Professor Snape waved his wand and summoned some ribbons to bind them.

Harry was still trying his best to argue, but Professor Snape would not listen at all.

Finally, Harry lost his patience. "You are pitiful!" Harry shouted. "Just because they played jokes on you when you were students, you won't even listen to them speak..."

"Silence! Do not speak to me like that!" Snape screamed, looking even more mad. "Now, move aside, or I will force you to move aside! Move aside! Potter!"

Harry made up his mind; he raised his wand, and Hermione and Ron beside him, in tacit understanding, also raised their wands.

Snape looked at them with some surprise.

In the next moment, the battle began.

All four began to chant spells simultaneously, but Snape's wand directly fired a beam of red light, knocking Hermione down first; because he had just figured out from the conversation that the powerful transformed beast was conjured by Hermione, he decided to stun Hermione first to leave the transformed beast without command.

And at this moment, Harry and the other two had only recited half of their spells.

Snape easily dodged Harry and Ron's disarming charms, then quickly returned two of his own; then Harry and Ron could only watch helplessly as their wands flew into the sky for who-knew-how-many times tonight...

The combat power of an adult wizard is simply this strong.

Professor Snape was just reaching out to catch the wands in the air when, the next instant, he heard a sound of something tearing through the air and immediately Apparated away from his spot.

It turned out to be vine whips unleashed by Hermione's Guai De Mo Fa...

Snape looked at that strange Guai De Mo Fa creature in astonishment; he sensed a familiar feeling within it. He hadn't expected this thing to be capable of fighting independently, which was also a miscalculation on his part. Looking into the eyes of the Guai De Mo Fa, he gradually raised his guard against it.

He quickly cast a Shield Charm. "Sectumsempra!" he launched his attack swiftly.

The Guai De Mo Fa dodged this spell with "Flash of Lightning."

"Incendio!" Professor Snape summoned a torrent of flame to burn away the incoming vine whips.

At this moment, the Guai De Mo Fa suddenly opened its mouth and sprayed a jet of water. The water jet struck the barrier of the Shield Charm, emitting a sound that made one's teeth ache, but it failed to break the Shield Charm's barrier.

Professor Snape continued his assault, but that Guai De Mo Fa dodged too quickly; for the moment, neither could gain the upper hand over the other.

The Guai De Mo Fa released another bolt of lightning. Snape paid it no mind; he had already gauged the power of this Guai De Mo Fa's magic. The Shield Charm he had just cast could block this lightning.

However, he suddenly felt a numbness run through his body. It turned out that the water jet just now had already soaked the ground nearby...

In that split second of stagnation, a vine whip coiled around Snape's ankle, then yanked upward violently. Snape instantly lost his balance and was left hanging upside down...

His hanging robes covered his eyes and also stirred up the memories deep within his heart that he least wanted to recall...