Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 209, Section 208: The Escape Room Tour Project and Remus Lupin
According to Harry's assessment, Angry Horn's mental level is currently roughly equivalent to that of a six- or seven-year-old human child, and this level of intelligence is not yet her limit. As she grows older and experiences more, Angry Horn may very well become the first dragon to possess intelligence nearly indistinguishable from that of a human.

But now... Harry solemnly rejected Angry Horn's request to be fitted with armor as well—putting aside everything else, the idea of ​​dragonhide armor with studs gave Harry a bit of a psychological trauma, and Deathwing and such... Angry Horn is a beautiful young lady, she can't be portrayed as that kind of evil dragon.

It took Harry a while to tell Angry Horn the story of Neltharion, in which the former Earth Warden was described as disgusting, terrifying, and evil, which ultimately dissuaded Angry Horn—though Harry did promise to perform a ritual later to make her even stronger.

Changing forms is like Harry himself changing forms... Harry finds it very interesting whenever he thinks about his still uncertain Animagus form.

Although Harry specifically instructed them not to show off their new armor in the castle (mainly to Ron), since they had to wear the armor all day for safety, it was bound to be discovered sooner or later—it didn't take long for the news that Hermione and the others were wearing chainmail made from basilisks to spread among the students.

Especially Snape, I don't know what he was thinking, this man who has worn the same black robe for the past ten years suddenly changed his style of dress. He no longer wears the wizard robe, which is inconvenient to move in, but instead wears a short coat that is easy to move in, and the outermost layer is the basilisk armor.

Naturally, no student dared to approach Snape with any questions, and Sirius lived outside the castle. So in the end, the other students could only pester Ron and his friends, all enviously wanting to touch the scales of the legendary basilisk.

But that was all irrelevant to Harry. With the help of the Aurors sent by the Ministry of Magic, these people conducted another search of Hogwarts in an attempt to find those dangerous secret rooms—of course, they found nothing.

If the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts were so easy to find, it wouldn't be Hogwarts.

Therefore, in the end, the Ministry of Magic had no choice but to send people to renovate the entrance to Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. From then on, it was no longer necessary to go through that dirty pipe to get to the Chamber; instead, there was a direct staircase leading to it—and many lights were also installed for illumination.

Although Slytherin himself was prejudiced against wizards of Muggle blood, although Slytherin left a dangerous basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, and although Slytherin's basilisk harmed young wizards—it was still Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, and Slytherin House was always an integral part of Hogwarts.

Therefore, after careful consideration, Dumbledore decided to preserve the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin and, after some renovation and decoration, opened it to the public for exhibition.

In other words, from now on, any Hogwarts student or any adult with access to Hogwarts will be allowed to visit the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin at any time—although Harry doesn't know what's so interesting about that ugly old man statue.

The statue has been restored to its original state. The place behind the statue, where Slytherin once lived and conducted magical experiments, is also open to the public, since there is really nothing there; Voldemort had already emptied it out.

So... take a look at them all, it's always a good thing to look at more.

During this period, Hogwarts would occasionally see wizards and witches, some young and some old, all heading towards Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets—no student graduating from Hogwarts would be uninterested in the traces left by the founders.

However, for Harry, all of these things have been put aside. What's more important right now is his Animagus form.

Harry had been holding a single mandrake leaf in his mouth for almost a month. He hadn't accidentally swallowed the leaf, nor had he taken it out of his mouth. However, it was precisely when the first phase of the ritual was going very smoothly and the second phase was about to begin that he and Sirius finally realized what a foolish thing they had done.

The second stage of the Animagus ritual needs to be completed within a full month. On the day between the first and second full moons, the leaves of the mandrake are taken out of the mouth, and then the leaves are soaked in a small crystal vial filled with saliva, allowing it to receive pure moonlight—it must be a full moon night, and not a cloudy day.

Not only that, but a strand of the shapeshifter's own hair and a silver teaspoon of dew must be added to the crystal vial that is being illuminated by the moonlight. This dew must be collected from a place that has not been exposed to sunlight or human contact for seven whole days. Finally, a pupa of a hawk moth is added. This mixture is then placed in a quiet, dark place and should not be looked at or disturbed until the next thunderstorm.

It was incredibly troublesome. If there was even the slightest mistake in the entire process, we had to start all over again from the very first step. And even at this point, it wasn't over yet; the ceremony still had other requirements—but that wasn't the point. The point was that when they got to this step, Harry and Sirius finally realized one thing: it was already winter.

Halloween is over, and the next big holiday is Christmas, which obviously involves snow.

So the question is, where do the thunderstorms and lightning come from in the British winter?
"...So, the reason you went to such lengths to find me and summon me here...is it simply because of Animagus?"

Inside the Great Totem, on the first floor of the shaman's office.

As the man sitting on the sofa by the fireplace spoke, he could hardly control his expression... He took a deep breath and then rubbed his cheeks hard with his palms.

"This is something I really didn't expect, Sirius... You always surprise people like this."

"Thank you," Sirius, sitting opposite me, shrugged and said, "I'm glad I could bring you such a surprise."

“It is indeed a surprise, so surprising that I can hardly believe it—um, hello Harry, may I call you that?” the man said nervously to Harry.

“Of course,” Harry nodded slightly and said, “I know you, my father’s friend, Remus Lupin.”

To be honest, Remus Lupin, who has always lived a free life in the outside world, doesn't look much better than Sirius Black, who has just been released from prison... He's too thin.

His face was wrinkled, his hair was gray, and his clothes were tattered. He looked like he had just come from somewhere wandering, and in fact, he had been living a wandering life for many years. He looked extremely haggard, pale, and exhausted.

“That would be wonderful,” Lupin seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

It wasn't just Harry who was observing Lupin; Lupin was actually observing Harry as well—he did see a resemblance to his friend James in Harry's face, but that was all there was to it.

Harry's demeanor was more mature than James's at the same age. If age were not a factor, Lupin would even suspect that the person sitting across from him was an adult... and Harry certainly couldn't be regarded as an ordinary child.

Formal Hogwarts professors, unprecedented new magic, shamans, basilisk slayers… Lupin’s head was spinning just thinking about the information he had roughly gathered. He had never imagined that his reunion with his friend’s child years later would be like this.

“I can tell you haven’t had a good time these past few years,” Sirius Black said, his voice unusually somber. “Have you just stayed in those remote mountains and forests all this time? No wonder I haven’t seen you for so many days since I got out of prison. I thought you were blaming me…”

“Yes, deep in the mountains and forests… maybe only places like that are suitable for me in this world,” Lupin said with a self-deprecating laugh. “Just like you can see, for the reason we all know, I can’t find a job, and I don’t even have the money to buy a decent piece of clothing… Ha, who could have imagined that life would turn out like this before graduation?”

“You may have already found out, or you may not. After all, you are a professor at Hogwarts, a genius in the wizarding world, Harry,” Lupin suddenly smiled at Harry. “Yes, I am a werewolf. Your father and Sirius have known about this for a long time. We are very good friends… Thank you, Dumbledore, for taking a great risk to allow a young werewolf to attend Hogwarts. He was truly great.”

“I don’t deny that,” Sirius finally perked up when talking about it. He laughed and said, “You can’t imagine how arrogant we were back then. Don’t let Lupin’s honest appearance fool you. He was much more mischievous than you can imagine when he was young. The main reason we went to learn Animagus was that Jaime wanted to keep Lupin company after he became a werewolf.”

“That is truly one of the best memories of my life,” Lupin said with a smile. “Even after all these years, I can’t forget it… Harry, your father and your godfather were truly the best people in the world.”

"As for what happened back then... ha, what right do I have to blame you?" Lupin shook his head with a wry smile. "I was indeed very angry, Sirius, especially after learning that you betrayed Jaime and brought Voldemort into this mess. I wanted nothing more than to rush to Azkaban and kill you."

"But now, more than a decade later, after I left the werewolf tribe in the forest, the wizarding society has given me another answer—the world has changed so much."

"Peter was the traitor, Sirius was innocent, Harry became a full professor, and there's that new magic... Good heavens!"

“Unbelievable, isn’t it?” Sirius looked at Lupin’s shocked expression with satisfaction, and patted Harry’s shoulder hard as he said, “Harry is amazing. I’ve never seen a kid more amazing than him.”

“Yeah, he looks just like your godfather,” Lupin remarked.

As he finished speaking, he and Sirius burst into laughter—the awkwardness and coldness between the two close friends who hadn't seen each other for many years vanished without a trace at that moment.

“I think I have to apologize to you, Lupin,” Sirius Black said suddenly after a few seconds of silence following the laughter. “For my past distrust—twelve years ago, in the choice of the secret agent, James and I ultimately chose Peter over you… because of your identity, Voldemort was recruiting werewolves in large numbers, offering very generous terms… I’m sorry…”

Because of his werewolf identity, he couldn't fully trust Lupin, but in the end, it was his trust in Peter that cost both of their lives.

This is the deepest, most profound guilt buried in Sirius's heart, and the fundamental reason why he hesitated to see his old friend after his release from prison.

He couldn't face it.

For a moment, the only sound in the room was the crackling of burning firewood.

“…It’s all in the past, Sirius,” Lupin said softly. “Back then, even I didn’t know what the future held…I mean, I accept your apology.”

In Harry's view, unlike Sirius Black, who lived for twelve years in the unchanging environment of Azkaban, Lupin, who had spent nearly twelve years wandering in the wizarding world, was noticeably more composed and had long since had his rough edges smoothed out.

The important thing is now; being good now is enough.

"Anyway, it's all in the past now. We all know who the real traitor is, and Harry is looking for him too," Sirius forced a change of topic to cheer everyone up. "Believe me, Lupin, your life will get better—I mean, I don't plan to live off the Black family's wealth forever. I want to build something of my own. Maybe you'd be willing to help me?"

“…Of course,” Lupin couldn’t help but laugh, “if you don’t mind.”

“Oh, we told you so, you only have a little furry problem… Well, let’s get back to the Animagus thing,” Sirius rubbed his hands excitedly. “Don’t you want to know what Harry’s Animagus form will look like? Will he be a stag like James? But I think it’s unlikely, Harry’s personality is too different from James’s.”

The Animagus form of a wizard is determined by a series of factors, including but not limited to personality, appearance, lineage, subjective inclinations and preferences, etc.

(End of this chapter)