A Confrontation with Sirius Black

While Ryan was writing, a bottle of butterbeer was placed on the table in front of him. He looked up and saw Fred smiling at him, while George was tossing frog-shaped peppermints into the crowd.

"You two are strange. Why are you still studying here while everyone else is celebrating?" Fred asked.

"It's because of you two and Harry. I not only have to take care of my own stuff, but also prepare lessons for you three. You need a lot of time to train for the competition, and since we promised to help you, we need to spend even more time preparing and helping you grasp more knowledge in a short period. Don't forget, there's another competition after this one. Don't you need to prepare for that too?" Ryan replied.

"We really appreciate your help, thank you!" Fred scratched his head and said. "But you should try the butterbeer, it tastes really good and there's no alcohol."

After finishing up what needed to be prepared, Ryan and the others joined the celebration. It continued until one in the morning when Professor McGonagall, wearing a plaid nightgown and a hairnet, arrived at the scene and insisted that everyone go to bed. That's when the Gryffindor celebration came to an end.

After everyone went to bed, Ryan secretly sneaked out of the dormitory and went to the common room. He chose a corner behind the sofa and started meditating.

Because he knew that Sirius Black might attack tonight, he planned to wait for him here. After meditating for over an hour, he heard a slight friction sound coming from the entrance. Then a figure sneaked in through the entrance.

Moonlight shone on the person's face through the window of the common room. Ryan saw a thin and frail body resembling a skeleton. The person had a messy clump of hair on their head and looked very dirty. Most importantly, they were holding a knife.

It seemed that Sirius Black had been having a rough time lately. After confirming that Black didn't have a wand, Ryan activated his martial arts skills and jumped out from behind the sofa.

"Who...?" Before he could finish his sentence, Black suddenly rushed towards him, raising his right hand and trying to strike Ryan with the handle of the knife.

It seemed that at least Black wasn't a bad person, as he remembered not to harm the innocent. Thinking quickly, Ryan evaded Sirius Black's attack and struck him on a pressure point behind his neck. Perhaps due to the long journey and hunger, Black couldn't avoid this strike.

He fell to the ground, but luckily the thick carpet absorbed the sound of his fall. After a muffled thud, the common room remained silent.

Ryan took out an enchanted rope and tied Black up, then pointed his wand at him and said, "Revive quickly." The spell clearly woke Black up, but he pretended to be unconscious and attempted to counterattack.

"Mr. Black, there's no need to pretend to be unconscious. As Harry's friend, I have to ask you something. Can you tell me why you wanted to kill Harry?" Ryan asked.

"No, I didn't." Sirius Black widened his eyes suddenly, and the veins on his hand popped up. "I came here to kill that bastard, the bastard is still alive! I want to kill him! Kill him!"

Sirius Black was agitated and his words were incoherent, but he didn't want to wake up others, so he tried to keep his voice low even when he was shouting.

After a while, Sirius Black calmed down and looked at Ryan. "You must be Ryan Liang, right? You can tell me why you think I might not be the murderer."

"Wait, how do you know who I am?" Ryan remembered that he hadn't introduced himself.

"I found a lot of old newspapers at Hogsmeade, and there was a picture of you receiving the Second-Class Order of Merlin. Honestly, your Asian face is quite recognizable. You're the only Asian student in Gryffindor," Sirius Black explained.

"And why do you think I believe you're not the murderer?" Ryan asked.

"Because earlier you didn't call for help," Black replied.

Indeed, Ryan still lacked experience. So he decided to go with a half-truth: "Since you saw me in the newspaper, you should know that I'm a half-blood wizard. Sometimes I read a lot of information about the magical world to understand this world from my Muggle perspective. Your case was mentioned in the old newspapers I read. From my Muggle point of view, there are too many doubts surrounding a case where someone is sentenced without a trial."

"Furthermore, I learned from Hagrid that you were the one who gave Harry to him after his parents died. If you really wanted to kill Harry, you could have done it back then. So when I saw you coming in, my first instinct was to ask you what you were here for." Ryan told Sirius Black the reasons he had thought of earlier.

"You're a clever young man. I even wonder if you should be sorted into Ravenclaw. Peter, is he with you right now? Take him out so I can kill him," Sirius Black said excitedly.