A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

Chapter 259 Gradually Becoming Clear

“I have a question,” Felix interrupted, “Why didn’t I receive an alarm from the peephole?”

The three, who had been excited, suddenly fell silent, and an unspeakable silence filled the air. After a few seconds, Harry said shamefully, "I forgot to bring it, Professor. I changed into new clothes."

"It seems that the short period of peace has made you lower your guard."

Felix said calmly, and he didn't seem angry, but Harry felt even more guilty, his face burning.

Dumbledore looked at Harry, the other two, and said, "So, you forgot your spyglasses and that's why you didn't spot Sirius Black earlier. What happened next, and why did you identify him as an Animagus?"

Harry looked up. "We came back from Hagrid because of Buckbeak's case..." He paused. "When we passed the Willow of the Hitman, a big black dog suddenly jumped out and attacked Ron, trying to take him away."

Felix noticed a flicker of doubt in Dumbledore's eyes, something that puzzled Felix himself. Wasn't Black hunting Harry? Why would he abandon such an easy opportunity to attack Harry's companion instead?

Let Harry experience the pain of losing his master too? That doesn't make sense.

"My mind went blank, and I instinctively used the Disarming Charm. The spell hit the big black dog and sent him flying. That's when—" Harry said, his eyes wide, "I saw the big black dog's head flicker and turn into Black's face. I've seen his wanted posters many times, and I would never mistake him for someone else."

"The big black dog rolled twice on the ground, and Hagrid suddenly ran out of the house, barking loudly in our direction. Blake turned and ran away."

Harry didn't say something. The big black dog looked at him strangely, seemingly with some resentment and some relief... Was he seeing things? Why would he think that?

He continued, "Hagrid carried Ron to the school hospital, and then he left, saying he was going to search the entire Forbidden Forest."

It sounds a bit like an angry outburst... The Forbidden Forest isn't just this small area next to Hogwarts. It can accommodate giant spiders, centaurs, unicorns, trolls, and werewolves all at once, so it's definitely not small.

In fact, Hagrid's emotions were far more exaggerated than Harry described; judging from his furious appearance, he seemed ready to tear Black apart.

Dumbledore said softly, "I see." He closed his eyes and sat quietly to the side. Flitwick couldn't help but ask, "Felix, can your viewing mirror detect Animagus forms?"

Felix nodded. "Theoretically, it's feasible, because I considered name, bloodline, and magic from the very beginning of the design." He glanced at Professor McGonagall with some hesitation. "Of course, I myself am not an Animagus..."

"If that's the case..." Professor McGonagall pondered, "It's true that Animagus transformation is not the same as ordinary animal transformation; wizards retain both magical abilities and human thought processes."

"And it's still unclear what form Black took when he tried to infiltrate the castle last time. If he was an Animagus, that would be very telling, Albus—"

Dumbledore agreed, saying, "I agree with you, Minerva. The question I was just pondering was, why is Black staring at Mr. Weasley?" He looked at Ron, "Is there some particular reason?"

Ron said uneasily, "I...I don't know, sir. I have nothing on me..." He looked down at himself and suddenly realized, "Spots are gone!"

"Is it your pet mouse?"

"That's right, it was just here a moment ago. It was probably quite frightened and hid on its own."

Felix glanced at Ron, drew his wand, and quickly called out, "Scabbers, come here!" But there was no response. "Not nearby—"

Black's inexplicable obsession with Ron, the sudden discovery of the Animagus, and if Ron is alright, then what is the problem...

He looked at Dumbledore and said in a deep voice, "Headmaster, things may not be as we think."

Dumbledore didn't jump to conclusions: "There's someone who can tell us the answer... Minerva, is Remus still in his office?"

"He's been here all along, and he won't have an easy time these next few days," Professor McGonagall said vaguely.

Hermione shrieked, "Headmaster Dumbledore? You know Professor Lupin is, is a—"

"Yes, I know," Dumbledore said, his tone suggesting that this was the end of it. "Remus has been in his office these past few days dealing with some old ailments; he hasn't had the energy to focus on anything else. But I need to speak with him more deeply; he might have some information we don't know."

Dumbledore stood up, his gaze falling from his high nose onto Harry. "For the next while, I expect you to stay in the castle and not go out. Also, keep the spyglass with you at all times."

The professors left, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged glances, about to speak, when Madam Pomfrey came in. She reapplied a layer of white ointment to Ron's wound, which made Ron wince in pain, but soon he felt less pain and the wound became itchy.

"The child needs time to recover; don't stay too long," Mrs. Pomfrey cautioned, pursing her lips and saying sternly, "Why do you always make yourselves so disheveled?"

Harry said somberly, "I'd like to know the answer to that question too."

When only the three of them remained in the ward, the room was quiet except for Ron's intermittent gasps for breath. His wound was both painful and itchy, and it seemed that the entire healing process had accelerated tenfold.

Hermione suddenly spoke up: "Harry, have you ever considered that Black's target was never you?"

Harry wanted to retort, but he couldn't utter a word. He also thought it was possible, which made him somewhat embarrassed and annoyed, as if all his long preparations had been a joke.

But what does this have to do with Ron?

Hermione pulled out her beaded pouch and took out a chestnut wood memory disk. "We can try to piece together the memories and combine what we've seen."

A moment later—

"Look here, isn't it obvious enough? Blake's target is very clear, it's Ron, but Ron... that shouldn't be the case~ Blake was just a baby when he was locked up."

Hermione asked, quite conflicted, "Does someone in your family have a grudge against Black?"

"Maybe the Dementors messed up his brain," Ron said sullenly.

"Remember what we overheard at the Three Brooms? Minister Fudge said that Black was very articulate and even asked him for a newspaper, which doesn't seem like something a madman would do."

"What does that prove? Aren't there rumors that the mysterious man secretly contacted the Dementors? Maybe those cloaked monsters let him off the hook because of his master."

"Ron, use your brain, it's rusting to death," Hermione said angrily.

Harry immediately grasped the key point. "The newspaper, you mean, he saw the newspaper...and escaped a few days later. The key is the newspaper, Ron, remember the letter you wrote to me during the holidays? It had a clipping about your family winning the Daily Prophet's annual award."

Ron looked surprised. "So Blake saw the news about our family winning the award, suddenly got insanely jealous, and came all this way to kill me? Good heavens, it was only seven hundred gallons! And we've almost spent it all..."

He then said with a look of disgust, "Why does Fudge carry a newspaper with him all the time? Did Buckbeak flatten his brain?"

Hermione said, "That can't be the reason, Harry. I still don't understand it, but we need to find the newspapers from that time and see if there's any information that's been missed."

Harry added, "And Professor Lupin, I bet he knows something, just look at Dumbledore's attitude."

Hermione looked hesitant. "Oh, Harry—I think it would be better if we waited a couple of days, until the professors confirmed there were no problems, before we went to visit them..."

Meanwhile, Felix separated from Dumbledore midway through their conversation, as Dumbledore didn't want anyone to interrupt him and Lupin.

But for Felix, some clues were already laid out before him; he simply needed to re-examine the information at hand and identify the most likely guesses.

(End of this chapter)