Chapter 83 The Second Encounter With The Black Dog

When they heard Peeves, everyone gasped. Sirius Black burst into the castle and even tried to enter the Gryffindor Common Room.

This was dreadful. Fortunately, it was Halloween, and there was no one in the tower.

Professor Dumbledore asked all students to return immediately to the Great Hall. To ensure safety, the teachers conducted a thorough search of the castle. Evan followed the others and hurried down, all of them whispering about what had happened.

"Do you think Black is still in the castle?" Hermione murmured anxiously.

"From what Dumbledore said, he clearly believes he might be." Ron whispered, "He is very fortunate that he chose tonight, you know?"

"Yes!" Colin nodded uncomfortably. He nervously looked around, as if Sirius Black was hidden in a corner, ready to pounce.

"I suppose he lost track of time, being a fugitive. He didn't realize it was Halloween. Otherwise, he wouldn't have entered."

Ron's words were accepted by everyone. Furthermore, people were wondering the same thing: "How did he get in?"

"Maybe he knows how to Apparate!"

"This is impossible. If you read Hogwarts, A History, you would know that this castle is protected by more than just walls," Hermione quickly interjected, "There are all sorts of enchantments on it to prevent people from sneaking in. You can't just Apparate here. And I'd like to see the disguise that could fool those Dementors. They are watching every entrance to the grounds. Also, Filch knows all the secret passages, they would have them covered!"

"Who knows, after all, it's Sirius Black, the dark wizard second only to You-Know-Who." Ron nervously wrinkled his nose, his eyes fixed on the girls' bathroom at the end of the hallway on the second floor. He remembered his terrifying experience from last semester.

At the mention of Voldemort, everyone fell silent for a few seconds, and no one spoke. They walked silently through the dark second-floor hallway.

Harry followed Ron, pale and colorless. Black must have entered the castle to kill him, and this premonition was truly quite unpleasant.

"Cheer up. No matter what tricks Black used to get into the castle, he will surely be discovered by Dumbledore. What do you think about that, Evan?"

"Perhaps!" Evan gave an evasive response.

He looked out the narrow window on the left side of the hallway, and his eyes landed on the grass outside the castle, where there was a huge black dog covered in thick fur, Sirius Black! Not far from Black was the colorful Crookshanks, and they were prowling on the grass.

As if sensing something, Black suddenly turned in his direction.

The next moment, along with Evan's gaze, Harry saw the two creatures on the grass. He hurried to the window, peering intently.

"Look outside; do you see anything, that large black dog?"

"Harry, aren't you seeing that Grim again?" Ron approached, uneasy, mumbling vaguely. "It looks like that darn cat!"

"You mean Crookshanks!" Hermione followed suit anxiously and said, "What is Crookshanks doing outside the castle? Black may still be at the school."

"Please, Hermione, Black won't kill a cat. He's at the castle to..." Ron abruptly stopped and nervously glanced at Harry.

Harry seemed not to understand what he was trying to say. He said enthusiastically, "That dog, it was right beside Crookshanks. Did none of you see it?"

"It's so dark outside, you might be mistaken, maybe it's just a large tree or a rock or something." Ron swallowed hard and saw the others looking at them.

"By no means, Evan, did you see him too?!"

Evan did not respond; he secretly calculated the distance between here and the lawn outside.

If he were quick enough, perhaps it wouldn't be too late to get down from here. Maybe it was a good opportunity to contact Sirius.

"Please go ahead. I'll go to the bathroom!" Evan hastily said.

Under the astonished gazes of the others, he turned around and walked towards another corridor and hurried to the castle's door.

When he made sure no one was around, he softly read, "An Animagus."

As soon as the words fell, Evan's body quickly transformed into a black cat. He hurried through the deep marble hall as fast as possible and silently exited the castle.

Evan shivered as the cold night wind struck him head-on.

Hogwarts Castle was particularly eerie that night, and against the dim moonlight, the grotesque statues in the field revealed a certain peculiar quality, several bats glided at a low altitude, and occasionally the hooting of owls reached his ears.

Around the wall in the distance, the Dementors loomed, where the ground was barren and all the plants were withered and dying.

Black couldn't walk towards the wall. Evan hurriedly turned to look towards the Forbidden Forest. Through the moonlight, he saw the large dog that Black had turned into and Crookshanks fading into the shadow of the Forbidden Forest. Immediately, he hastened to catch up with them.

Just as he entered the shadow, a figure suddenly leaped out from behind a tree.

It was a surprise attack!

Evan felt the heat coming from the front. He looked up and saw Sirius Black as a large dog, leaping towards him with his inch-long teeth. With a thud, Black pounced on him with a powerful impact.

Evan fell and rolled on the lawn until crashing into a large tree and coming to a halt.

He was dazed and felt as if his ribs were broken.

He tried to stand up, but Black didn't give him a chance. Baring his fangs, Black looked maliciously at Evan, growled softly, and leaped again.

Seeing the huge figure getting closer, Evan quickly hurried out of the Animagus transformation and drew his wand from his waist with his right hand as his body returned to its original form.

The tip of the wand emitted a red light that struck Sirius Black.

Black flew back and landed on the grass, letting out a painful groan.

"That's enough, stop trying to attack me, or next time I won't just throw you back!" Evan wiped the blood from the corner of his lips and struggled to stand with his left hand on his knee.

He panted, and Black, who was in front of him, panted too.

For seconds, neither of them spoke, and the atmosphere was grim and dreadful.

Evan saw Black's eyes flicker wildly in the darkness, staring intently at his wand. His muscles were tense, his teeth clenched aggressively, like a beast eyeing its prey.

"Listen, I have no harmful intentions. I know who you are and why you're here!" Evan carefully aimed his wand at Black. "I just want to talk to you about my friends Harry and Ron..."

Before he could finish speaking, hurried steps were heard approaching.

Evan quickly turned and saw a dazzling glow. He blinked and adjusted for a moment, only to see Professor Lupin.

"Professor Lupin!"

"It's you, Evan! I heard the noise while I was checking the Marauder's Map. What happened here? Why are you outside the castle?" Lupin looked at Evan, surprised, and said with concern, "Sirius Black has just broken into the castle; it's very dangerous, and Dumbledore has asked all students to gather in the Great Hall."

"Yo... yo..."

Evan didn't know what to say. He couldn't confess that he had gone out to have a pleasant encounter with Black.

Although Lupin had been a close friend of Sirius Black when they were students, would he believe that Black had been unjustly accused in the absence of evidence?!

Evan shook his head. Without concrete proof, given Lupin's character, even if he believed Black was innocent, the first thing he would do would be to bind his old friend and take him to Dumbledore.

Perhaps, if all went well, they would catch Peter Pettigrew.

But if Peter managed to escape, Evan feared that Black would be handed over to the Dementors before tomorrow, and a kiss awaited him.

This was dreadful. Evan hesitated and decided to hide the truth.