The moon was hidden behind a thick blanket of clouds, plunging the grounds of Hogwarts into almost complete darkness. The cold was biting, not only because of the October weather, but also because of the unnatural presence of the Dementors floating like hungry specters around the main entrances.
But there were gaps. Small cracks in the security that only someone who had devoted their best years to breaking the rules could know.
A four-legged shadow slipped through the grass, close to the ground, invisible to human eyes and confusing to the guardians of Azkaban. Like a dog, his emotions were... simple, less human and less "tasty" for the Dementors. The only thing that guided him was his sense of justice or revenge. At this point, the line was blurred.
Sirius Black in his Animagus form crossed in complete silence. His nose caught the damp scent of some stones, the pine smell of the forest, and very faintly beneath many layers of other smells... the scent of the rat.
The thought was a growl in his doggy mind. The traitor rat. Sleeping warm. Eating well. While James and Lily rotted in the ground.
He slipped through an old drain that connected to the dungeons, a narrow, dirty passageway that Filch had forgotten to seal years ago. Emerging into a deserted hallway of the castle, he shook his damp fur and listened intently. The castle slept.
He made his way up the stairs, his claws making a faint click on the stone that was barely audible. He knew the way by heart. Every shortcut, every staircase, every secret passageway. The Marauders had made this castle their playground, and now Padfoot was reclaiming his territory.
He climbed up to the Gryffindor Tower. The rat's scent grew stronger, mixed with that of hundreds of students, but that scent was unmistakable to him. He was close. So close he could taste the traitor's blood in his mouth.
He reached the seventh-floor corridor. At the end, the portrait of the Fat Lady snored softly in its frame.
Sirius stopped. He looked both ways. There was no one there.
With a fluid and somewhat painful movement, the dog's form twisted and stretched until it became the emaciated, skeletal figure of a man. His prisoner's robe hung from his bones and his tangled hair fell over his face. But his gray eyes burned with madness.
He approached the portrait. The Fat Lady woke up with a start, blinking weakly.
"Who...? What are you doing here at this hour?" she asked, smoothing her silk dress indignantly. "Students out of bed! I'll call the...!"
The Fat Lady turned pale.
"You..." she whispered. "You're him."
"Open up," Sirius croaked. His voice sounded hoarse, as if he hadn't used it in years, broken and rough. "Let me in."
"No!" she screamed, recoiling into her canvas. "The password! You need the password!"
Sirius reached into his pocket, searching for something. "DAMN IT, I LOST THE PAPER!" he roared, losing what little patience he had left. Despair overwhelmed him. He was so close. Peter was right behind that wall.
He lunged forward with a knife that tore through the canvas, a horrible sound of fabric tearing heard everywhere.
The Fat Lady screamed, running toward another nearby frame as Sirius attacked again, possessed by rage. He cut through the painting, destroying the bucolic landscape, searching for the mechanism, looking for a way through. But the magic of the portrait closed, blocking the entrance.
"Damn it!" he shouted, pounding the frame with his bloody fist.
Hurried footsteps and distant voices could be heard. Everyone in the castle was waking up.
Sirius gasped, looking at the destruction. He had failed.
He transformed back into the dog and ran into the shadows, disappearing just before the lights of the wands illuminated the previously empty hallway.
Aurelian was in the Slytherin Common Room, sitting in front of the fireplace with a book on his knees. Hestia was lying with her head in his lap, while Flora was sitting on the floor, leaning her back against his arm.
Suddenly, a kind of alarm sounded through the walls.
Flora jerked her head up.
"What was that?"
Aurelian closed the book. His eyes turned toward the ceiling. "Looks like it was tonight," he murmured.
The door to the Common Room burst open and Professor Snape entered, his cloak fluttering more urgently than usual. His face was more serious than usual, his black eyes scanning the room quickly.
"All students must remain here," he ordered in a sharp voice. "The prefects will take immediate roll call. No one leaves under any circumstances."
"Professor," Aurelian called, rising gently and helping Hestia to her feet. "Has something serious happened?"
Snape paused, looking at his favorite student (though he would never admit it) with a mixture of weariness and frustration.
"It's Black," he said simply. "He's entered the castle."
A murmur of fear rippled through the room. Theodore Nott let out a small gasp, and Tracey Davis covered her mouth with her hands. Hestia and Flora pressed closer to Aurelian, their wands sliding into their hands in an instinctive movement.
"He's still in the castle?" Flora asked, frowning. "How did he get in with all the Dementors outside?"
"It seems our 'guardians' are as useless as I predicted," Snape spat. "Gaunt, make sure no one does anything stupidly heroic. The Headmaster has summoned us teachers."
Snape left, closing the stone entrance behind him.
Aurelian stood, feeling the eyes of all the Slytherins on him. They were looking for leadership. They were looking for reassurance.
"All right," he said calmly, breaking the growing panic. "You heard the professor. No one leaves. If Black is here, it's Dumbledore and the Aurors' problem. We..." He looked at the twins and winked imperceptibly. "We'll wait comfortably for the storm to pass."
"Do you think he'll come here?" asked Draco, trying to sound brave but failing in the process.
"Black is looking for Potter, Draco," Aurelian replied, sitting back down. "His target is... higher up."
Hestia leaned toward his ear as the rest of the room began to whisper nervously.
"Is it about what you told us?" she whispered, remembering Aurelian's observations about the Weasleys' pet.
Aurelian nodded slightly, taking her hand.
Half an hour later, the order changed. Dumbledore decided it was safer to have all the students gathered in one place, and all the houses were escorted to the Great Hall. The place had been transformed. The four tables were gone, replaced by hundreds of soft purple sleeping bags. The enchanted ceiling showed the same stormy sky as outside, and floating candles provided a warm, safe light.
"This is ridiculous," Flora complained as they looked for a secluded corner. "Sleeping on the floor... like commoners."
"Think of it as a sleepover, Flora," Aurelian said with an amused smile. "Try to enjoy the novelty."
They found a spot near one of the walls, away from the main hubbub of the Gryffindors who were taking center stage, recounting the story of the attack on the Fat Lady in great detail.
"He tore her to shreds!" said a second-year student. "Peeves said she was in tatters!"
Aurelian settled into his sleeping bag, and before he could get in, Hestia and Flora joined theirs on either side of his, creating a kind of fortified nest.
"Don't even think about complaining," warned Hestia, crawling into her bag and snuggling up to his left side.
"Never," he replied, settling in.
Flora took the right side, putting an arm over Aurelian's chest to take her sister's hand, trapping him between them.
"If Black shows up around here," Flora murmured against his shoulder, "I'll gut him before he can touch a hair on your head."
Aurelian smiled as he looked up at the starry ceiling. He could feel the tension in the air, the fear of the younger students, the whispers about how Black had managed to get in. In the distance, he saw Harry Potter still awake, staring at the ceiling with the same uneasiness. Percy Weasley patrolled pompously, and the teachers took turns guarding the doors.
"He won't come tonight," Aurelian said quietly, stroking Flora's hair.
"Are you sure?" Hestia asked, yawning.
"Very sure," he replied, kissing her forehead.
He closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth of the twins beside him. Sirius Black was in the castle, Peter Pettigrew was trembling in Ron's pocket, and Remus Lupin was probably beginning to question everything. Everything was going according to plan, and Aurelian sensed that he would soon have to intervene. If Sirius caught Peter ahead of time or if Lupin intervened badly... the ending he knew could fall apart.
And Aurelian Gaunt did not allow his plans to fall apart.
"Good night, girls," he whispered.
"Good night, our Lord," they replied in unison.
The silence in the Great Hall was broken only by the soft snoring of a few students and the distant footsteps of teachers patrolling the entrances. Aurelian couldn't sleep; he kept his eyes open, staring at the ceiling. He knew that Sirius Black was desperate and that his sanity was hanging by a thread. An unstable man was unpredictable, and unpredictability was the greatest enemy of his plans. If Sirius was caught by the Dementors that night, the truth about Pettigrew would die with him, and a key piece of the future he sought would be lost.
It was best to intervene... before everything fell apart.
He turned his head slightly. Hestia and Flora seemed to be fast asleep, but Aurelian knew them well; he knew their senses were always alert.
"Girls," he whispered.
Both their eyes opened at the same time with immediate attention.
"Something wrong?" Flora murmured, her hand already searching for her wand inside her sleeping bag.
"Change of plans," Aurelian replied, sitting up. "I need your help finding someone."
A predatory smile crossed Hestia's face.
"I thought you'd never ask."
"Who are we looking for?" asked Flora, emerging from her sleeping bag like a shadow.
"Sirius Black," he said, standing up and casting a Disillusionment Charm on the three of them with a wave of his hand. Their figures became translucent, blending into the darkness of the hall. "I need to talk to him."
The twins exchanged a quick look of confusion but didn't question him. If Aurelian said he wanted to talk to a fugitive murderer, they would gladly open the door for him to pass through.
They slipped between the rows of students sleeping like ghosts. They passed two meters away from Percy Weasley, who was snoring in a chair guarding the side door, and crossed the hall without making a sound. The outside air hit them hard. It was cold, very cold. Dementors swirled near the main entrances, but Aurelian knew the castle better than they did. He led them through a side exit hidden behind a tapestry in the west wing that connected directly to the grounds, far from the main surveillance. Getting along with Filch had its advantages.
"Towards the forest," Aurelian said, pointing to the dark edge of the trees. "It's the only place you can hide from the Dementors without being detected."
Just as they reached the boundary where the manicured gardens of Hogwarts met the wild undergrowth of the Forbidden Forest, Aurelian raised a hand to signal them to stop.
There it was.
A huge, shaggy black silhouette was limping toward the thicket of trees. The dog paused for a moment, turning its head toward the castle before preparing to disappear into the darkness of the forest.
"Is that him?" whispered Hestia, raising her wand, ready to cast a spell.
"Wait," Aurelian ordered.
The dog took a step toward the forest.
Aurelian extended his right hand, palm open, toward the creature. The dog froze mid-step. Its legs locked, its jaw snapped shut, and its body went rigid.
"Incarcerous!" Aurelian whispered coldly.
Black ropes sprouted from the ground, wrapping around the animal and pinning it to the ground. The dog let out a muffled howl, its gray eyes rolling wildly, filled with panic and rage. Hestia and Flora stepped out of the shadows, flanking Aurelian with their wands raised, pointing directly at the animal's head.
"We've got him," Flora said with satisfaction. "Now what?"
The dog thrashed violently, growling as it tried to bite through the magical ropes, but Aurelian's magic was too strong. Aurelian walked slowly until he was standing in front of the animal's snout. He crouched down so that he was level with its eyes.
The dog stared back at him furiously. In those eyes, Aurelian saw the desperation of Sirius Black.
"I know who you are. I know who you're looking for. Don't worry, the rat is in the castle," said Aurelian, each word hitting the dog like a hammer. "And I also know that if you go in there again like a rabid animal, they'll kill you before you can lay a paw on what you're looking for."
The dog whimpered, looking at him with complete attention.
"I'm not going to hand you over to the Dementors, Black. I'm not interested in the Ministry's reward, nor in magical justice."
He leaned in a little closer.
"I'm here to offer you a deal. I'll hand over the rat... and in exchange, you give me something I want."
Hestia and Flora lowered their wands slightly, exchanging a look of utter disbelief. They didn't understand why Aurelian suddenly wanted to go out and look for Black.
"A deal?" Flora whispered, stunned. "With Black?"
Aurelian did not take his eyes off the dog's gray eyes, which now looked at him with a small spark of hope.
"So, Sirius..." Aurelian spoke, releasing some of the magical pressure on the animal's neck. "Are you interested in hearing what I have to say, or would you rather continue playing cat and mouse?"
-----------------
I have a Patreon account. If you would like to support me, I would greatly appreciate it. You will be able to read up to 15 more chapters, listen to all chapters as audiobooks, and view images of the characters in the story for free. Thank you very much for reading my story :D
patreon.com/Daoistrg