Having made up his mind, Sirius agilely moved to a corner, crouching in the shadows, his eyes rapidly scanning his surroundings.
After a long while, a Wizard in ragged robes stumbled over, clutching a wand in his hand, completely oblivious to the Big black dog in the corner.
It's him!
The scent of Dark Arts on this person was detectable even from a distance.
A cold glint flashed in Sirius's eyes; such a person was precisely his target.
He quietly emerged from the corner, his four limbs moving swiftly as he crept towards the man, as agile as a leopard.
When he was only a few steps away from the Wizard, Sirius suddenly pounced from the darkness, leaping nimbly beside the man, and transforming back into his human form in mid-air.
He violently swung his fist, striking the back of the man's neck with a heavy blow.
The Wizard, caught off guard, was knocked unconscious to the ground, his wand slipping from his hand and rolling to the side.
Sirius immediately stepped forward and quickly grabbed the wand from the ground.
After confirming that no one had noticed the disturbance, he lowered his head to examine the wand in his hand, a cold sneer appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"Though it doesn't feel quite right, it's better than no wand at all."
He swiftly turned and walked back into the shadows, transforming back into his Big black dog and quietly disappearing into the darkness of Knockturn Alley.
To be safe, Sirius did not revert from his Animagus form until he reached an abandoned Muggle construction site, where he sat on the ground to rest for a moment.
He tightly gripped the wand he had just snatched from Knockturn Alley, his gaze scanning his surroundings vigilantly through the night.
Good!
There was no one around, so he didn't have to worry about using Apparition and attracting unnecessary attention.
He took out the Hogsmeade flyer he had picked up in Knockturn Alley from his pocket, which clearly stated:
"Aurors patrol day and night, ensuring your safety."
"Can't risk it!" Sirius muttered softly, the expression on his face gradually turning grim.
He frowned deeply, constantly pondering his next steps.
"Although I have a wand, I can't Apparate directly to Hogsmeade."
"After all, Apparition requires a human form, and if the Aurors found out, it would be bad to alert the enemy."
After much thought, he decided to adopt a more cautious strategy.
Under the cover of night, he performed Apparition, quietly appearing in the nearest Muggle town to Hogsmeade.
He hid in a secluded alley, his Big black dog making him indistinguishable from an ordinary stray dog, drawing no attention from any Muggles.
The town was quiet at night, with only the occasional low rumble of a car engine in the distance.
Sirius found a hidden corner, curled up beside a pile of broken cardboard boxes, closed his eyes, and prepared to spend the night there.
As October approached, the weather had turned cold, and the chilly air burrowed beneath his fur, but this slight chill was incomparable to the bone-piercing cold he had experienced in the past.
The midnight moonlight filtered through the clouds and fell upon the town, but Sirius's thoughts had long drifted to Hogwarts, to the rat he had been yearning to catch day and night.
Before falling asleep, Sirius silently murmured to himself.
Be more patient.
Be more patient...
As soon as a hint of dawn appeared on the horizon, Sirius immediately got up and ran towards Hogsmeade.
He ran along the country road, treading on the dew-kissed grass, speeding along, not caring even if his fur got wet with dew.
When it was almost noon, he finally reached the outskirts of Hogsmeade, and what he saw utterly stunned Sirius.
This is Hogsmeade?!
If it weren't for the ancient village still preserved west of the modern city, he would never have believed that the city before him was Hogsmeade.
The sight before him completely panicked his heart.
Damn it!
He didn't know if the Shrieking Shack was still there.
He had originally planned to lie low in the Shrieking Shack for the next while, and then seize the opportunity to use the secret passage under the Shrieking Shack to sneak into Hogwarts and catch that rat.
He pushed off with his four limbs and quickly ran towards the location of the Shrieking Shack as he remembered it.
"Merlin preserve, the Shrieking Shack must be alright."
Reality is often cruel; the original Shrieking Shack had long since disappeared, replaced by brand new tall buildings.
Sirius panted heavily, collapsing to the ground, cursing wildly in his heart.
"Where's our Shrieking Shack?!"
"Where did such a big Shrieking Shack go?"
"These damned bastards, they don't even spare haunted houses!"
After venting for a while, Sirius gradually calmed down, his breathing slowly steadying, and the surging anger and anxiety in his chest gradually subsided.
Don't panic! Don't panic!
There's more than just the Shrieking Shack secret passage to Hogwarts.
When James and he made the marauder's map, they marked all the secret passages around Hogwarts, a total of seven.
Those memories of past adventures resurfaced, and the locations of the other passages were all clear in his mind.
If this path doesn't work, just try another one.
Thinking this, Sirius didn't bother to rest and, relying on his familiarity with the terrain around Hogwarts, raced towards the location of another secret passage.
He ran to the entrance of the secret passage behind the mirror on the fifth floor, secretly breathing a sigh of relief.
However, as he entered the secret passage, the sight before him made his heart sink.
This secret passage had completely collapsed, completely blocked, with no possibility of passing through.
Damn it!
Sirius violently gripped the ground, his claws digging a few times, but it was useless.
He really wanted to transform back into his Wizard form and use magic to clear this secret passage again, but he knew it wasn't realistic.
Neither the magical fluctuations nor the vibrations from digging the secret passage could be hidden from the Professors at the school.
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down: "It's okay, there's still the Honeydukes secret passage."
He muttered to himself, quickly turned, and ran towards the other end of Hogsmeade.
Unfortunately, although Honeydukes had moved into the new city, the old building had been converted into an ordinary residence and storage warehouse by the shop owners.
To prevent theft, they had covered the house with protective measures.
Sirius helplessly realized that it was impossible to enter this house without alerting anyone.
Two secret passages were no longer viable, but he had no time to stop and complain.
He anxiously continued to run towards the other secret passages, one after another, but each time, hope was mercilessly shattered by the reality before him.
The remaining four secret passages had all been sealed, and there were even signs of magical traps.
Despair slowly crept into Sirius's heart.
He stopped in front of the last secret passage, looking down at the ground, his ears filled with his rapid breathing.
His eyes were filled with frustration and unwillingness, as if the world was slowly slipping away from beneath his feet.
The Professors had already expected it...
After only a brief period of dejection, he looked up in the direction of Hogwarts, and the flames of revenge filled him with fighting spirit once more.
It's okay!
So what if there are no secret passages?
There's still one way.
That is to slowly go around through the depths of the Forbidden Forest.
...