In a secluded corner of the Forbidden Forest, Hodge Blackthorn and Sirius Black sat across from each other, a crackling campfire burning between them.
"Surrender?" Sirius rasped.
With a swift whoosh, Sirius yanked a wand from his tattered, grimy robes, its tip glinting with a menacing light. Hodge, unfazed, merely pressed his fingers to his temple, then stirred the flames with a casual flick of his hand. Seeing Hodge's indifference, Sirius lowered the wand slightly.
"Black walnut, about twelve inches," Hodge remarked, glancing at the wand. "Where'd you get it?"
"Stole it from a secondhand shop," Sirius replied curtly.
"Why're you pushing me to turn myself in?" he shot back.
What he really wanted to ask was, Do you want me dead? Sirius wasn't completely cut off from the outside world—while scrounging for food in rubbish bins, he'd glimpsed discarded newspapers. They branded him the most notorious prisoner ever to rot in Azkaban. Even after years of torment by Dementors, anger surged within him. He could accept the blame for James and Lily's deaths—he deserved it, after all. The guilty were gone, so let him fester in Azkaban's cesspit. But what he couldn't stomach was the Ministry pinning a slew of other crimes on him.
"Why not go?" Hodge countered. "You betrayed the Potters, committed those crimes—"
"It wasn't me! You don't know anything!" Sirius roared.
"Oh."
Sirius's eyes bored into Hodge, his gaunt face twisted with fury, as if he might leap over the fire and strangle him. But Hodge seemed almost pleased. He tossed the Marauder's Map to Sirius. "Take a look at the Gryffindor common room. See any old friends?"
Sirius caught the map, still panting with rage. "Why should I?" he snapped, but his curiosity got the better of him. He bent over the map, scanning it intently. First, he searched for "Harry Potter," but the name was absent—Harry must not be in the common room. Patiently, he sifted through the dense cluster of tiny ink dots. Then, his whole body froze.
Hodge had expected Sirius to shout in disbelief, maybe even start a fight. He'd braced himself to explain, perhaps even subdue him before laying out his plan—treating Sirius like a foolish dog who needed to be reined in.
But Sirius wasn't a foolish dog. He was a clever one, teetering on the edge of madness.
Sirius shot to his feet.
"He's alive? Peter Pettigrew—it's him? Him! I'll kill him!" His sunken face contorted, his eyes blazing with hatred. True to his word, he charged toward the castle, only to stumble after a few steps. A thin tendril of flame split from the campfire, flickering in midair before transforming into a thick rope that bound Sirius tightly.
"Let me go!" Sirius bellowed.
The ropes loosened the next moment, and Sirius scrambled to the side, wand raised, his expression wary. "You're stopping me? I swear, I didn't betray James and Lily. It's not what you think… You suspect something, don't you? You've heard things from Harry about James's school days, haven't you?" He was calming down, his voice steadying. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have sought me out. You want the truth." He stuffed the Marauder's Map into his pocket.
"Back where it belongs," he said. "Thanks, kid. You're a good one. But I'm leaving—there's a mob out there hunting me. I can't spill everything, but I will kill him!" He gritted his teeth.
"Someone's coming," Hodge said suddenly.
Sirius quickly checked the map. In that split second, his wand flew from his hand, arcing through the air and landing neatly in Hodge's grasp. Sirius stared, stunned.
"You—you tricked me?" he said, his voice icy with betrayal.
"You're just too easy," Hodge replied. "How long have we known each other?" As he spoke, he used his own wand to erase the traces of their spells. A dozen seconds later, he looked up to find Sirius still standing there, looking utterly lost.
"Let's go."
"Hand me over to the Ministry's Aurors?" Sirius sneered. "Impressive. Taking down the most dangerous fugitive in history single-handedly…"
"Don't be daft. We're just moving somewhere else to finish your story."
"You're not turning me in?" Sirius asked, bewildered. "Then why ambush me?"
"To make you trust me," Hodge said, tossing the wand back to him. "And because you're honestly too gullible. Sets the tone for what's next."
Hodge turned and started walking.
"Can't we just talk here?" Sirius asked, hurrying to catch up.
"No, because someone is coming," Hodge said, a hint of curiosity in his tone.
One minute later, several figures descended from the sky, surrounding the campfire—Ministry officials: Moody, Kingsley, Dawlish, and Tonks. Each held their wand aloft, tips glowing, ready to unleash deadly spells.
Three minutes later, a swarm of Dementors appeared nearby, conducting a sweeping search.
Five minutes later, a team of Ministry Hit Wizards arrived, followed shortly by a group led by Cornelius Fudge himself. "He got away?" Fudge barked, scanning the area.
Moody was crouched by the campfire, studying footprints in the snow, his scarred face twitching.
"Find anything, Alastor?" asked a sharp-looking woman with shoulder-length dark brown hair, another high-ranking Ministry official. Unlike the others, she kept her wand raised, maintaining a cautious stance.
Fudge and two others approached.
"Plenty," Moody growled.
"Where?" Fudge demanded. "I don't see a single hair of Black's." Moody ignored him, his magical eye spinning excitedly. Fudge turned, barely containing his frustration. "Amelia…"
Amelia Bones's gaze swept over the campfire, catching two sets of footprints—no, three, one of them non-human. Her expression shifted.
"Alastor, it's not what I'm thinking, is it?"
"A dog, or a wolf," Moody said with a cold chuckle.
"What are you two on about?" Fudge demanded, waving his arms and staring at the snowy ground by the fire. He saw nothing significant.
Dawlish clarified, "We believe Sirius Black is an unregistered Animagus."
"There were two people here," Amelia Bones said, piecing it together. "Assuming one was Sirius Black, an Animagus, the other was likely a Hogwarts student—"
"That's impossible!" Fudge interrupted loudly.
"It's not," Tonks chimed in. "Black's been spotted in the castle. He had a wand—maybe he was controlling a student."
"Not controlling," Amelia, Moody, and Kingsley said in unison.
"Why not?" Fudge asked.
"From the scene," Amelia explained, thinking aloud, "there was a struggle between them. Kingsley, any sign from the Sneakoscopes?"
"Nothing yet," Kingsley replied calmly.
"Alastor, check for spell traces again with your eye," Amelia instructed.
"The most obvious is this," Moody said, gesturing at the campfire. "Ordinary magical flame." He frowned, one eyebrow twitching.
"What's wrong?" Amelia asked.
"Something's off," Moody muttered, pulling out a small orb and inspecting it. "The Sneakoscope's dead quiet, but I can't shake the feeling we're being watched."
Silence fell over the group, broken only by the methodical search of the Hit Wizards and Dementors, still scouring the area for Sirius Black's trail.
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