บท 308: Chapter 308: Crookshanks and Sirius (Edited)
Crookshanks slinked stealthily through the corridors of Hogwarts. He had a purpose in mind: that malevolent rat. He knew it wasn't something good. However, he didn't understand why he felt an unfounded hatred towards Scabbers, that rat. Crookshanks followed his instincts and caught other rats to eat them, but he had never felt that hatred towards a rat before. It seemed that this unexplained aversion was an instinct passed down in his blood.
What saddened the cat was that the rat had become more cautious, making it difficult to track. He blamed his poop-picker owner and his poop-picker mistress for causing him to miss opportunities and lose the best chance to eliminate it. If only he had acted faster in Diagon Alley, the cat wouldn't be so frustrated now.
Crookshanks shook his head, suppressing his discontent, and began patrolling the school castle. It wasn't the first time he had done it. He often waited for his brown-haired owner to fall asleep and sneaked out of the room to roam around Hogwarts. Now, it felt like he knew the place like the back of his paw.
After two patrol rounds without a trace of Scabbers or any other suitable gift, Crookshanks felt a bit disappointed. However, he soon consoled himself: it seemed that he and that treacherous little rat were quite far apart. If Scabbers wasn't looking for his mistress's boyfriend, he could also pretend not to see him and leave him alone.
As long as he didn't interfere in his mistress's life, he could do whatever he wanted. He crouched on the windowsill, contemplating different strategies to deal with Scabbers, while melancholically gazing at the scenery: little wizards strolling on the lawn, the black lake with reflected white clouds, the dense Forbidden Forest, and the big black dog near the Forbidden Forest...
Huh?
That black dog caught Crookshanks' attention. With the help of his bloodline talent, he focused on that somewhat suspicious dog.
"Should I follow it and see what happens?" This idea crossed his mind.
Once his curiosity was aroused, he acted immediately. That's how cats behave. That's why cats often do many things that irritate their owners, like knocking over glasses from the table in front of their eyes or attacking other owners' pets in their presence, like the mouse.
The same goes for Crookshanks. Once his decision was made, he leaped out of the window in a single bound, gracefully maneuvering between the protruding beams and landing softly on the ground.
He shook his fur and stealthily approached the place where the big black dog usually appeared.
Hatred, anger, and rage persisted in Sirius' mind, making him almost irrational. Indeed, he had been lurking around Hogwarts, as the Ministry had suspected. But he had been careful, cautious, and had not chosen to break into Hogwarts. He knew his notorious reputation wouldn't get him much help in Hogwarts. Most of the teachers would have arrested him as soon as they saw him, and Professor Dumbledore's attitude was ambiguous, so he had to face it all by himself.
Although he had arrived at the outskirts of Hogwarts a while ago, he had been lurking around Hogsmeade, snooping around, assessing the situation, searching for Scabbers, until today.
Today, the dementors had gone crazy and suddenly attacked the village of Hogsmeade. Sirius knew he had no other choice: in the hands of the dementors, he would only receive a Dementor's Kiss as quickly as possible and become a walking corpse. So he sneaked into Hogwarts through the secret passage beneath the Shrieking Shack.
Shortly after leaving the Forbidden Forest following the Whomping Willow, Sirius' peripheral vision caught a black and chubby shadow, and his breath caught as he pounced on the bushes and grabbed a fat and plump mouse, but the next moment his eyes showed disappointment: it wasn't the mouse he wanted, his fingers were unharmed.
"Not bad, at least there's food for lunch today." Sirius consoled himself. After all, he had survived for thirteen years, a day or two wouldn't make a difference.
But then his furry ears twitched twice, he thought he heard a rabbit, he sniffed and discovered exactly what he had heard—there was a rabbit behind a tree not far from here!
If there was a rabbit, there was no need to eat the mouse. Sirius was rebellious enough to endure anything to get what he wanted, but he was a man, and the mouse was his last resort for food.
So he let go of the plump mouse from his paws and crept towards the place where the rabbit scent was coming from.
In no time, a wisp of smoke rose from deep within the Forbidden Forest: Sirius had managed to catch a rabbit that had just woken up; it had probably been sleeping until now and had just woken up for Sirius to kill and eat it.
With a bite to the rabbit's head, Sirius regained his human form and removed the lifeless sleeping rabbit from his mouth. After spitting out the fur, he ventured nearly a hundred meters into the Forbidden Forest, only stopping to gut the rabbit when the shadow of the trees covered him.
Once cleaned, he lit a fire, skewered the rabbit on a stick, and roasted it over the flames. As it cooked, he covered it with some plants he had found along the way to add flavor to the meat. After a while of roasting, he grew impatient and pulled the half-cooked rabbit out of the fire, blew on it twice, and shredded it.
The rabbit meat smelled strongly of grass and was tough and sinewy, something a normal person would have spit out, but Sirius ate it with gusto, despite the blood still dripping. His life as a wanderer had not been easy; he scavenged for food and went hungry most of the time, rummaging through garbage, and the few times he returned to his human form, he was discovered by Muggles and wizards. This left him in a constant state of change, and he was fortunate to have made it to Hogwarts.
Although Sirius was enjoying his meal, he remained vigilant. His ears twitched rapidly, and he turned towards the place where he sensed something unusual. Calmly, he said, "Little one, come out. It seems you've been following me for a long time."
Crookshanks slowly emerged from behind a fallen dead tree, looking at Sirius with a slightly suspicious gaze. He couldn't understand why the large black dog had suddenly transformed into a man with disheveled hair.
Sirius chuckled. "So you're a cat, huh? Don't you know curiosity killed the cat?"
Despite his harsh words, Sirius had no intention of causing harm to the cat. He knew very well that the large, ginger cat before him had the blood of a Kneazle, and with the blood of a magical creature, it definitely wasn't an Animagus - Animagi could only transform into normal animals or insects, not magical creatures.
After two seconds of reflection, Sirius tore off the half-eaten hind leg of the rabbit and tossed it to Crookshanks.
"Kitty, keep my secret!" he said as he ran his hand through his unruly, messy hair. Even with his bearded face, ragged wizard's robes, and worn-out appearance, there was a glimpse of his former elegance in that gesture. That carefree nature was probably deeply ingrained within him.
Crookshanks startled when the rabbit leg was thrown at him, but he soon dismissed any threat. He approached, sniffed the leg, and then dove in to bite it, tearing off pieces of meat and slowly swallowing them.
He had a feeling that this big guy wasn't a bad sort... not a bad dog.
Seeing Crookshanks' expression, Sirius felt as if the creature could understand his words, but as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he shook his head. How could that be? It was just a mixed-breed cat, after all.
Watching how deliciously Crookshanks was eating, Sirius also felt an insatiable hunger in his stomach and quickly devoured the rabbit from the fire. In no time, a large rabbit weighing over two kilograms had been completely devoured by a man and a cat.
After satisfying their hunger, Sirius leaned against a large tree. Perhaps due to loneliness, he somehow felt like having a chat with this big cat in front of him. The everyday topics in Azkaban were despair and solitude; there was no one he could talk to there. His cellmate was a deranged follower of the Death Eaters, whom he paid no attention to, and simply hearing their voices made him nauseous. How could he converse with them?
Since leaving Azkaban, he had lived a vagabond's life, with no one to talk to. Even in Azkaban, at least he had his "beloved" cousin to argue with. He even suspected that the reason his cousin hadn't gone completely insane was because she could argue with him every day.
He looked at Crookshanks, who was lying on the ground calmly digesting the rabbit leg, and for some reason, he reached out his hand to him.
Crookshanks lifted his head and looked at him. Seeing that his gesture received a positive response, Sirius became interested. He waved his hand towards Crookshanks, who lazily wagged his tail and eventually decided it was alright to approach Sirius. With a thud, he plopped down beside him.
Hehehe. Sirius smiled and reached out his left hand towards Crookshanks...
"Meow!" Crookshanks let out a loud meow, startling Sirius. He smiled and pulled his hand back, realizing that it was covered in rabbit grease from the meal he had just eaten. He felt embarrassed and wiped his hand on the ground before extending it again as a sign of friendship.
Unfortunately, Crookshanks rejected him harshly.
"Keep your dirty hands away from my meticulously groomed fur! How am I supposed to look presentable to my caretaker if you mess me up?" That was the first thought that came to Crookshanks' mind.
"Alright..." Sirius regretted his actions a bit. It was a shame that the cat wouldn't let anyone touch him. Thankfully, he didn't leave but distanced himself from Sirius.
With a handful of dog tails in his mouth, Sirius began to tell his story.
Starting from the Marauders, he spoke about Voldemort's rise and the wizarding war, and finally, he talked about how his dear friend, James Potter, was betrayed and murdered by the traitor Peter Pettigrew...
"I swear I'll find that miserable rat and tear him into a thousand pieces!" he said with fury, pounding the ground and waking up Crookshanks, who had already fallen asleep.
"What? Huh? The Big Black is talking about killing mice? Crookshanks also enjoys killing mice!" He nodded, confused, as if he were supporting Sirius.
Sirius looked at Crookshanks with great delight. Though he doubted the cat understood what he was saying, it was quite pleasant to have an animal agree with him.
"If you ever come across a mouse missing a finger, come find me!" With those words, Sirius transformed back into the large black dog, wagged his tail at Crookshanks, and sneaked off into the forest.
Crookshanks: ?
How can I contact you? I want to catch that rat too!
Crookshanks sighed, realizing it was already late, and decided to head back home, return to the common room, and socialize with his caretaker. But just as he took two steps, he froze.
Crookshanks: I think I forgot something?
Yes. He had forgotten to bring a gift for his caretaker. He remembered going out to find a gift for the caretaker, but he had forgotten everything when he saw the big black dog! He looked around and saw movement in the grass, so instinctively, he ran towards it and caught sight of the source of the movement.
A big, fat mouse!
That was it! Crookshanks regarded his trophy with delight, thinking that such a big mouse would be a good gift for the cat; the caretaker would be very pleased, right? Would the caretaker give the cat an extra meal at night? Crookshanks wondered joyfully what would happen if he gave the mouse to Tom and Hermione.
As the captured mouse, Winter Solstice XVI was in a very bad mood.
This fat trapped mouse was the same Winter Solstice XVI that had had a chance encounter with Peter Pettigrew. He had been unlucky lately, with his wife cheating on him with another mouse, and he had been caught by a dog right after he went out to get food. But thankfully, the big black dog wasn't interested in him, or he would have been bitten to death. He didn't have much time to recover before being caught by a cat.
Winter Solstice XVI couldn't help but feel sad and helpless.
"Perhaps, this is the life of a rat." He gave up the struggle.
However, instead of eating him, the big yellow cat carried him to a distant stone house.
Tom was happily chewing gum while Hermione looked at him angrily.
"Well! Next time, I'll invite you..." Tom moved his seat closer to the fire, getting closer.
"The next one won't be as good as this!" Hermione shook her head like a rattle. Tom was such a bad boy that he didn't return the gum to her after chewing it!
"So, what do you propose?"
Hermione thought, looking around. There weren't many people in the common room, but she couldn't really do anything to make Tom return the gum.
"I don't know, I'll write it down in my notebook." After a while, Hermione couldn't think of any punishment, so she just noted it down.
"Okay..." Suddenly, Tom remembered something. "Where's Crookshanks? Have you seen him?"
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