Chapter 166: Dialogue in Nursing

When Ivan woke up, he found himself back in the school hospital.

He was lying in bed like yesterday, and his whole body ached. It was as if his bones were broken. And his mana was even more depleted than when he fought Greyback.

His last memory was of what happened in the depths of the Forbidden Forest. Mr. Weasley's car took him away, and Peter Pettigrew was dragged into the spider pack by that Acromantula.

After that, what happened?

He tried to remember. The old car saved him from the Acromantulas. They were going through the forest. After ten noisy, bumpy minutes, they were back on the Hogwarts grounds.

Then, like last year, he was ejected by the car.

Before he passed out, he seemed to see a man approaching him. The figure appeared to be that of Professor Snape....

Ivan shook his head, lifted it and looked around. The room was pitch black.

On the bed next to him, Ron lay there, his body covered in thick bedclothes; only his red hair was exposed.

In the corner of the room, Harry and Hermione were arguing with Madam Pomfrey in hushed voices, and Ivan seemed to hear words such as his name, injury, etc.

They immediately discovered that Ivan woke up and hurried over. Harry and Hermione came over and hugged him. Their faces were full of joy, especially Hermione. Her eyes were red and her voice was trembling, clearly showing the depth of her concerns for him. "Ivan, you were just sent by Professor Snape, and I thought..."

"I'm fine, Hermione!" Ivan comforted her by patting her on the shoulder, but the girl blushed and hugged him tightly, as if she was afraid of losing him.

"Well, children, Ivan has woken up, so now you must believe me when I say he's fine." Madam Pomfrey put her hands on her hips and said sternly, "You two should go back to sleep immediately. You are in a bad state and need to stay in bed."

"How is Ron?" asked Ivan in a low voice.

"He'll live!" said Madam Pomfrey grimly. "It's amazing the effect of the Imperius curse. The impact of that evil magic on his soul should take a long time to undo. I'll advise the headmaster to send him to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Illness and Injury."

"He'll be all right, won't he?" Ivan, Harry and Hermione asked at the same time.

"This poor boy needs bed rest for a while, but he'll recover." Madam Pomfrey wrinkled her nose and said nervously, "I don't understand when Hogwarts became the recreation center for dark wizards! Last year it was He Who Must Not Be Named. Today it's Sirius Black - who knows who it will be next year?"

Ivan wanted to tell her that next year it might be Barty Crouch Junior.

He didn't know how accurate his hunch could be. Hopefully, it wouldn't be as accurate as Professor Trelawney's. She told him to watch out for spiders during his first Divination class, and then he actually found them, at the most critical moment.

"Right, Sirius!" Harry seemed to have remembered something. He asked quickly. "Where is it? why didn't I see it?"

"It's all right. They've got Black. He's locked upstairs," Madam Pomfrey said uneasily, "I just saw his wound, it's bad, but it should heal slowly. I don't think he should need treatment though, those Dementors..."

"Sirius is innocent, we've proven it, everything was...." Harry hadn't finished his word, when he heard Madam Pomfrey continue, "Ah yes, if more than a decade ago, someone told me that Black would become what he is today, I wouldn't believe them at all. He was always standing next to that Potter, wandering around campus. He was the most popular boy, he had a very good character, he was very intelligent and likeable, who could believe that he would go with Who Shall Not Be Named..."

"That wasn't Sirius's doing! He didn't betray my parents, it was all done by that Pettigrew." Harry turned hurriedly to look at Ivan and asked urgently. "Pettigrew is...?"

"Dead!" Ivan whispered back.

Harry fell violently silent as he and Hermione stared incredulously at Ivan.

"You, what are you talking about, how could he die?" Harry closed his eyes and shivered, "If he's dead, what should happen to Sirius?"

Looking at Harry, pale, Ivan slowly shook his head.

"Well, that's for the Headmaster and the Ministry of Magic to consider!" Madam Pomfrey looked at Harry uncomfortably. "You two should go back to bed immediately, especially you, Harry. I heard Professor Snape, who sent you, say that the Dementors were about to kiss you... "Madam Pomfrey said, forcing Harry and Hermione back into the hospital bed. She then gave them each some chocolates and turned to go into her office.

No one spoke in the darkened room. Harry and Hermione were still absorbed by the terrible news of Pettigrew's death. They didn't know what happened in the Forbidden Forest. It should be very serious since Pettigrew died.

After a few moments of silence, Ivan told them what happened in the Forbidden Forest. Harry and Hermione listened quietly to his narration. Hearing how Ivan had to face the siege of elephant-sized Aragog and his thousands of Acromantulas, they became very nervous.

"Remember?" whispered Hermione. "We heard Hagrid talking about Aragog last year. Fifty years ago, people mistakenly thought he was the one who came out of the Chamber of Secrets and killed Myrtle. Hagrid was expelled at the time for that. With all that time going on, I really thought the spider had died!"

"It didn't just stay alive. It's been breeding in the Forbidden Forest. Now, no one knows how many Acromantulas reside there. A large part of the forest is its territory." Ivan continued, "I bet Hagrid must have thought Aragog would never hurt his friends."

"That's Hagrid's problem - he always thinks monsters aren't as bad as people imagine!" Harry clenched his fist and said, "Those Acromantulas killed Pettigrew, that's what he deserved. But now Sirius..."

He couldn't know why, but because of Pettigrew's death, Harry couldn't feel happy at all.

He was very worried about Black, and then he thought about his parents.

Tonight, seeing the death of their traitor, would they be happy?

Ivan and Hermione were still talking. Harry blinked, reaching up to wipe the tears from his eyes. He heard Hermione talking about the moment they encountered the Dementors.

Hermione had already passed out at that point, but she clearly saw the two silver Patronuses.

The two that saved them from the Dementors looked like....

Who would conjure those two Patronuses? would they be... his father and mother?

Then he thought of Sirius Black, and Madam Pomfrey said he was locked upstairs. he had to save him. If he didn't move in time, it would be too late!

Just as Harry was making up his mind, the door to the room opened, and through it came a calm Professor Dumbledore who had just returned from the Ministry of Magic.