This day happened to be another Saturday, and it had been a full week since Sirius Black had been admitted to the "Twilight Magical Infirmary."
After the careful treatment of "healer" Eda and the attentive care of "nurses" Fred and George, Black had already woken up, but his body was still very weak. Forget interrogating him—right now, even swallowing his saliva took effort.
During this week, Sirius Black had spent most of the time in a half-dead state. It was only in the past two days that his condition had begun to improve. Eda only received this encouraging news from the twins after her detention on Friday night.
Outside, the sun was bright and a gentle breeze was blowing. The Whomping Willow had sprouted new branches again, swaying in the wind.
Inside the Twilight Cottage, Black sat propped up against the head of the bed. After several days of recovery, some color had returned to his face, and there was light once more in his deeply sunken eyes.
In front of him was a small low table, holding a cup of milk and a bowl of steaming porridge. Facing the person who had injured him and nearly taken his life, Black showed no signs of madness, nor did he attempt to attack anyone in the room despite being captured.
Fred sat on a chair by the door, while George sat at the foot of the bed. Both brothers observed Black curiously.
Aside from his skin being stretched tightly over his cheekbones, making him look like a skeleton, the twins couldn't see him as a murderer, nor as a reckless madman.
Eda stood by the window without speaking, quietly observing Black's behavior.
The sunlight fell gently on her, making her seem almost as if she were glowing. She wore a white shirt and a pair of olive-green riding breeches, paired with calfskin boots.
The buttons at her collar were undone, revealing her fair neck. When she tilted or turned her head, a slender collarbone could be faintly seen, adding a touch of maturity that didn't match her age.
This different outfit made Eda look very capable and composed—nothing like a student still in school.
Unknowingly, Eda had also reached such a beautiful age. Unfortunately, no one here seemed to appreciate it. Fred and George had eyes only for the fugitive, and the fugitive had eyes only for the steaming bowl of porridge.
Sirius Black hadn't eaten such a comfortable meal in a long time, nor had he slept on such a soft and comfortable bed. He picked up the bowl and gulped down the hot porridge in a few loud slurps, scalding himself so badly that he couldn't close his mouth for a while, constantly blowing out air.
Setting down the empty bowl, Black casually wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and asked, "So, how do you plan to deal with me? Hand me over to the gentlemen of the Ministry, or to Dumbledore?"
Black's voice was hoarse, as if he hadn't used it in a long time. His teeth were yellowish—it seemed Azkaban didn't provide prisoners with toothbrushes or toothpaste.
Even though he had just asked the question with a smile, his high cheekbones and sunken eyes made it look more like a grim sneer.
"Before we decide what to do with you, let me introduce myself. My name is Esmeralda Twist," Eda said expressionlessly. "Remember it—the name of the person who injured you. Though you'll probably forget it soon enough, since the Dementors will give you a warm kiss, and then you won't remember anything at all."
At the mention of Dementors, Black's face turned a shade paler. Even though he had escaped that dreadful place, the memory of them still haunted him.
"I know your name. When that fool Fudge visited Azkaban, he mentioned you," Black said. "After I got to the school, I often heard students talk about you. They say you're the most outstanding witch in the entire school."
Black's eyes dimmed, as if the phrase "most outstanding witch in the entire school" had stirred something within him.
"Your flattery won't save your cracked lips, fugitive," Fred said. "Eda isn't the type to be swayed by sugar-coated words."
"She'll eat the sugar coating and throw the cannonball back twice as hard—boom!" George added jokingly.
Eda twitched at the corner of her mouth. She didn't find the joke funny at all, yet not only were the twins laughing, even Black was laughing nonstop.
"I like you two!" Black pointed at the twins. "You're just as interesting as James!"
The twins immediately fell silent, leaving only Black still laughing, even coughing from it.
Black's betrayal of James Potter was something even Fred and George, as open-minded as they were, couldn't let go of. If the twins were ever asked to betray Eda in exchange for their own lives, they would rather die.
"Hearing you mention James Potter's name is truly ironic," Eda said bluntly. "Go on—how did you escape from Azkaban, and why did you do it?"
Black's laughter stopped. After taking a deep breath, he said, "That fool Fudge came to Azkaban for an inspection. He talked with me for a long time. Probably to show off how well he had governed the wizarding world, he showed me a copy of that day's Daily Prophet. That newspaper caught my attention."
"A newspaper?" Eda frowned slightly. "You mean a newspaper made you decide to escape?"
"Yes, it all started with that newspaper." Black's hand trembled slightly as he held the cup. "The front page that day was about a Ministry official—the Weasley family—winning a big prize from the paper, along with a family photo."
The Weasleys had won a large prize the previous summer, and Mr. Weasley had taken the whole family to Egypt for a holiday. The Daily Prophet had printed their family photo on the front page.
"What does that have to do with our family?" the twins demanded in unison. The idea that Black would decide to escape just because he saw their family photo was simply absurd.
"Of course it's not because of your family!" Black said excitedly. "I saw a familiar person in that photo. To confirm my suspicion, I asked Fudge for that newspaper, saying I wanted to do the puzzle on it to pass the time…"
When Black was captured, the oldest child in the Weasley family, Bill, had only just started school. The only ones who could possibly have had any connection with Black were Mr. and Mrs. Weasley—but what kind of connection could that be?
A somewhat crazy idea appeared in Eda's mind. She said in disbelief, "Scabbers! The rat in Ron's hands!"
That photo didn't just show the Weasley family—it also included the two pets, Scabbers and Garlon!
The reason no one suspected Garlon was because he had been raised by Eda herself, taken from the pet shop when he was only two or three months old. But Scabbers was different.
"Scabbers?" Fred felt like Eda had lost her mind. "Scabbers is just a stupid, useless rat. Only Ron treats it like a treasure."
George also thought Eda was talking nonsense. "Scabbers has been living in our house for…" He suddenly stopped mid-sentence. He realized why Eda had made that guess.
"That's right, it's that rat! What kind of rat lives for twelve years?" Black became even more agitated. As he waved his arms, he pulled at the wound on his shoulder, grimacing in pain.
Black continued to provide evidence. "And that rat is missing a toe!"
Eda looked at the twins. She didn't know whether Scabbers was really as Black described. She had never paid attention to that rat—she never wasted time observing things she didn't care about.
"That's true… I think Scabbers has been missing a toe since the beginning," Fred said after thinking for a moment. But he wasn't entirely sure, so he looked at his twin brother.
George nodded. "Yeah, that's right. Mum even told us not to bully that rat back then."
Aside from betraying the Potters, another of Black's crimes was the brutal murder of Peter Pettigrew. All that was left of Pettigrew's body was a single finger. For this, the Ministry posthumously honored him as a hero and awarded him the Order of Merlin, First Class.
Only Pettigrew's finger was left at the scene, and Scabbers the rat just happened to be missing a toe.
So after seeing that family photo, Black chose to escape from Azkaban. That was also why he had "attacked" Ron a few nights ago—because in the photo, it was Ron holding Scabbers!
"Animagus!" Eda's guess had been confirmed—but too late. "You and he are both Animagi. James Potter was an Animagus too!"
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