Chapter 67: The Prisoner of Azkaban [Side Story]
The Tale of Harry and the Black Dog
"—You're Maria's friend, aren't you?"
Confronted by the spitting image of his best friend asking such a direct question, the man was shaken. The red-haired boy—whom he had been forced to injure in order to catch his target, the rat—had certainly shouted it out. Pointing at the man who had just reverted from his Animagus form, calling him Sirius Black.
The boy must have heard the terrible rumors about him. He must have been fed the false truth. And yet—
"I saw you—well, not you, but the dog version of you—with Crookshanks. I once gave Crookshanks some food to carry off. That was to give to you, wasn't it? It was Maria who asked me to do it. —Maria said that the friend Crookshanks was bringing food to was her friend, too."
Even though the man held all three of the children's wands—even though the children were completely unarmed—he couldn't even move. The boy who looked exactly like his former best friend, Harry, continued.
"At the time, I just wondered why the dog I met in the Muggle streets was here. —But if that dog was actually Sirius Black, that changes everything."
His tone changed. Calm. Cold. Though his physical appearance belonged to his late best friend, James, the man felt as though he caught a glimpse of his mother, Lily, in him. —Was it his eyes that made it seem so?
"If you had intended to kill me, you could have just ripped my throat out right then and there. But you didn't do anything. Even though you were so close. The only thing you did was attack Ron—"
"No! I wasn't trying to attack the boy!"
"—Right."
Ron looked up at Harry in sheer disbelief. Harry accepted even that gaze, keeping his eyes locked onto Sirius.
"You called out. To me. —I heard it."
Hermione was looking back and forth between Harry, Ron, and Sirius with an expression of utter confusion. She was probably the one least involved in this whole affair. After all, her hands had been full with her studies. Yet, the fact that she didn't fall into a panic was a testament to the brilliance of the witch named Hermione.
"I decided to look into you again. It was for Maria's sake, but—if Maria was friends with Sirius Black, that alone is enough reason for me to reconsider what I thought I knew. It's not because I trust you. I trust Maria. Maria wouldn't just become friends with a criminal for no reason."
Harry paused, taking a quiet breath as if to calm himself—and a sharp light pierced his green eyes.
"But let me say this one thing. If—if you've been deceiving Maria... then—I will kill you myself."
Even Harry's friends, Ron and Hermione, were left speechless. That was how utterly merciless Harry's eyes had become.
"—You truly do take after your mother."
It was a third person's voice. Catching sight of the figure, Hermione called out, almost like a scream: "—Professor Lupin."
"If you were James, you might very well have murdered Sirius in a fit of pure rage. That attitude of yours, trying to judge things impartially... that is entirely Lily's."
Lupin smiled gently, completely at odds with the situation, as if he were praising a student's attitude in class. Ron, Hermione, and Sirius were completely overwhelmed.
Just what on earth was going on?
"Sirius. —Where is he?"
Lupin posed the question with the same murderous intent as Harry. Sirius, dazed by the continuous string of surprises, couldn't answer properly, but something else answered in his stead. —Meow.
Crookshanks was pinning the rat under his paws with a triumphant look.
"Ah—that form, it truly is... But then, why—no, is that what happened? You two—switched places as Secret-Keepers?"
Sirius nodded slowly, like a rusted tin doll.
"I see—you were—"
Lupin embraced Sirius fiercely. Hermione screamed, "I don't believe it!" Ron looked at Harry in agony. Harry—
"—Have you been working with Sirius Black?"
Holding back his explosive temper with his fraying rationality, he glared at the two men, his green eyes blazing.
"That's not true, Harry. I only just learned of it myself. I only just realized. At long last—I've gotten my best friend back."
"And you've been deceiving me and Maria."
"I haven't been deceiving anyone! Truly—I always thought Sirius was—"
"You can save those explanations for Azkaban."
Expelliarmus.
From Sirius's hand, three wands flew. And from Lupin's, one wand flew into the grasp of a man seething with hatred.
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