Chapter 105

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I was already on the verge of sleep when I was pulled back to reality by the signal from the security charms on the room, which immediately filled the air with a constrained, agonizing wheezing. I grabbed a wand from under the pillow and jumped out of bed, as if on the command, "Wake up!" Even without being oriented in space, I strengthened myself with the help of passive hemomancy and, like a machine gun, "threw" a bunch of Expelliarmus, Reducto, Stupefy, and Incarcerous towards the sound source. The room became noisy. Lumos flew from my wand to the ceiling.

In the corner of the room, a real bum was lying tied up in a heap of rags. Dirty tangles of black hair hung down to the shoulders, far from healthy skin, stubble, and a completely frenzied gaze of blue eyes rested on me in disbelief. I put Black to sleep, applying stasis and turning him into a statuette. Porcelain, beautiful, but it's better not to look closely at the details. Quickly grabbing a bag with things and Peter inside, I threw Black in the same place. Dressed, put on my robe and, under a complex of concealing spells, ran to one of the few unseen places on the Marauder's Map and theoretically existing Hogwarts security system - the Chamber of Secrets.

Without obstacles or adventures, I reached the place, but every now and then, there were sounds of commotion in the castle - This idiot let himself be spotted.

"Open-s-s-s-s-s-s..."

Diving into the passage, I hissed along the way to close it. Having rolled through the pipes, I again found myself in the dungeons, on the floor of bones. After all, in winter here, the cold is simply deadly! It's good that I put on a winter cloak, and in general, I got dressed. The warming charm is painfully unstable crap because you can either freeze from them anyway or overheat. For long-term work, in which you cannot be distracted, they are categorically unsuitable.

Dropping the bag on the floor and taking out Black's figurine, I threw it a little further away from me, immediately pointing my wand.

"Finite Incantatem."

Versatile and powerful canceling spell, no matter who said what. The figurine floated like plasticine, morphing almost instantly into a reclining Black. He was still in his rags, just as dirty but not tied up and fully conscious. He was obviously in shock, but I threw Incarcero at him. Black was immediately tied with ropes, but he was silent, only looking at me with crazy eyes. Waiting.

"Mr. Black. I can't say I'm pleased to meet you, but I have a proposition for you that should interest you."

Black was silent, waiting. I kept my guard up, listened to the magic, and watched carefully for the so-far absent movements.

"I'll tell you directly. I caught Peter Pettigrew. At least it's the same man as in the old magical photo, no finger, and he's an animagus rat."

Taking the figurine of Peter out of my bag, I showed it to Black, staying at a safe distance. There was enough light here to ignore the Lumos. Still, I will need to figure out where it comes from here, without windows and lighting fixtures.

Sirius recognized his enemy even in the statuette, and he now breathed more frequently, his eyes became crazier, and I think he even growled a couple of times. But he remained silent. Putting the statuette of Peter away in my bag, to get my attention back, I spoke again:

"I'll give you Peter Pettigrew, but I need something in return. Do you understand me at all?"

"Yes..." just one word in a hoarse voice was his answer. "What do you want for that traitorous face?"

I didn't particularly like the look in Black's eyes, but still.

"The Ring of the Head of the House."

After a few seconds of silence, Black began to laugh very quietly, but louder and louder every second. In the end, his mad, barking laughter echoed loudly through the dungeons of the castle for a couple of minutes until the prisoner of Azkaban went into a cough that vaguely resembled that of patients with pneumonia.

"You've done such a job... Ha-ha-ha... To get what's under your nose..."

Black started laughing again, but this time the coughing stopped him almost immediately.

"Nevertheless, I'll give the rat for the ring."

"Give me him now!" Black shouted sharply, twitching in the bounds and looking at me with a mad look. "Now! I will kill this traitor right here!"

"Ring," I replied calmly, and seconds later, Black calmed down. "Ring on a rat, not otherwise. From the very beginning, this whole story with you seemed to me nonsense, and when I saw Peter Pettigrew on the Marauders map, everything became too suspicious. You are not to blame, are you?"

"It's my fault..." said Black quietly, staring at the floor of bones. "It's all my fault..."

"You give me the ring of the Head of the Black House. I give you the rat. Everything is very simple."

Sirius Black was silent. Maybe thinking, maybe not.

"It's closer than you think. I have a stash not far from Hogwarts. Give me Wormtail!" shouted Black suddenly. "Give him to me! And I'll bring the ring as soon as I deal with him."

"No, that will not do. You've made a fuss with your action. Harry Potter has the map. He saw Pettigrew, too, and he must have told Professor Lupin. And Lupine, in turn, told Dumbledore. Or maybe not. But either way, they have the map. You'll get caught before you get out of the castle. ...along with Pettigrew. But listen to me..."

I squatted five meters away from Black.

"There's no way Minister Fudge will allow your case to be reconsidered. If you are innocent, it would be a blow to the past and present authorities, to the Wizengamot. It would be a precedent that cannot be allowed to stand. Black is innocent, how many others like him are in Azkaban - will be the main question. In addition to undermining the authorities, this will provoke a wave of retrials, and who knows how many Death Eaters will be released for a penny? Even if the two of you are handed over to the Aurorat, Pettigrew will tragically die in isolator, and the corpse, along with the witnesses and the documents of his detention, will be lost. Or an even simpler option, execution on the spot. Pettigrew is accidentally not recognized and killed by something powerful, and you'll be handed over to the Dementors right here on Hogwarts grounds."

"And then what?! What?!" yelled Black. "This bastard must be killed! I must have my revenge! Kha-ha..."

"I'll get you out of here. Tell me where your hiding place is. I'll bring you there. You and Peter. You give me a ring, I'll give you Pettigrew, and then do what you want."

"You'll bring me? In your arms?"

As an answer, I pulled out the Pettigrew figurine again and tossed it in the air, playing around. Black followed the flight of the figurine with frantic eyes, as well as the disappearance of the figurine in the bag.

"It's not hard."

"I agree. The Shrieking Shack, you can get in there..."

"Fine."