For the next few days, there was only one topic in the whole school: Sirius Black. The rumors about how he broke into the castle grew wilder and wilder.
Seamus Finnigan from Gryffindor insisted that Black had turned into a Dementor and snuck into the castle along with the guards.
Luna, on the other hand, believed he was a Painting Goblin, able to come and go freely through the castle's portraits.
The torn Fat Lady's portrait was taken down from the wall and replaced by Sir Cadogan.
However, Gryffindor students didn't seem too happy with him.
In the corridors, Kael could always hear Gryffindor students complaining.
"That Sir Cadogan, he spends half his time every day provoking people into duels…"
"Before I can get into the common room every time, I have to waste five minutes responding to his duel challenge… because if you ignore him, he'll just keep taunting you."
"He somehow comes up with passwords so complicated they're ridiculous, and he changes them at least twice a day."
"I think he must've been cooped up on the eighth floor for too long."
Someone said, "That corridor where Sir Cadogan's portrait used to be is usually deserted, and the people in the other portraits didn't welcome him over, either."
"Obviously, since he's always rambling nonsense, no wonder no one wants him around."
...
In just a few days, Sir Cadogan had replaced Black as the hot topic among Gryffindor students.
"At least he's brave."
One lunchtime, Fred said with a grin, "No other portrait wanted the job—only Sir Cadogan was willing to do it."
"And I heard he even volunteered," George chimed in from the side.
They actually didn't dislike Sir Cadogan that much; sometimes they would even go out of their way to provoke him, making him bounce around furiously inside his portrait.
To be honest, Kael was pretty curious about Sir Cadogan too, but since he was only in charge of the Gryffindor common room, there was no way he could switch jobs to Hufflepuff.
At that moment, Harry entered the Auditorium. But his expression looked far from happy.
Percy followed behind him, constantly scanning their surroundings, as if a Fire Dragon might jump out from a corner and swallow Harry whole at any moment.
This weird behavior naturally attracted attention from others.
"Here he goes again… that big-headed guy."
Fred glanced at Percy, then quickly looked away.
"What's up with that?" Cedric asked curiously, "Why does Percy look all tense?"
"It's because of Harry."
George explained, "A few days ago, Mum wrote us and told us to keep an eye on Harry, and Percy's been acting like this ever since."
"You all know, right, about the thing with Black and Harry?" Fred leaned in. "Mum, or almost everyone, thinks the last time Black broke in, it was to kill Harry—to get revenge for his master."
Everyone nodded.
"No wonder I keep seeing professors tagging along with Harry lately…" Cho realized suddenly.
"That's not all," Cedric said, "Even at Quidditch team practice, Ms. Hooch is always there supervising."
"Percy probably thinks he's a professor now." Fred curled his lip, "And come on, this is the Auditorium. Black isn't hiding under the table or anything."
As he said it, he bent down, stuck his head under the table, and asked solemnly, "Mr. Black, are you here? Would you like some steak?"
His silly act made half the people around burst into laughter.
Harry probably thought the same thing.
Kael saw Harry turn and say something, and only then did Percy stop clinging so closely—though he still kept a not-too-far, not-too-close distance.
The first class was Defense Against the Dark Arts.
After lunch, Kael went to the classroom with Conna.
Professor Lupin seemed off today, as if something was weighing on his mind. He kept getting distracted and even called several students by the wrong name.
In the end, he simply stopped lecturing altogether and had everyone pair up to practice the Repelling Spell for Little Demons.
All the way until the end of class…
"Kael, can you stay a moment?" he said. "I have something to ask you."
Once everyone else had left the classroom, Kael looked around… To be honest, he felt a bit uneasy being kept back by Professor Lupin.
Luckily, there weren't any wardrobes or trunks nearby this time, so there shouldn't be Boggarts or anything else popping out.
But Professor Lupin didn't notice Kael's awkwardness. He closed the door, hesitated for a long time, and finally asked, "Did you see him that day?"
"Who?"
"Sirius Black."
"Yes, I saw him." Kael nodded.
"What did he… look like…" Professor Lupin asked quietly, "I mean… does he look like the pictures in the newspaper?"
In just that short question, his expression shifted several times—nervous… disappointed… hateful… and maybe even a hint of concern, though it flashed by almost too quickly to notice.
"You could tell he was human, but there were differences."
Kael thought for a moment and said, "He was really thin, just skin and bones, filthy, covered in dirt, and his eyes were sunken… Looks like he suffered a lot to keep away from the Dementors."
"Serves him right!" Professor Lupin suddenly slammed a fist on the desk and said excitedly, "He should've… thirteen years ago…"
Suddenly realizing he'd said too much, Professor Lupin shut his mouth abruptly and took a deep breath.
"Sorry, Kael. Just pretend I was talking nonsense." He forced a smile. "One last question—when you were chasing Black, where did you lose him?"
"Right where Professor Dumbledore found us," Kael said.
"Later, we found a secret passage behind a tapestry, leading to the fourth floor. I think that's probably how he escaped."
Kael spread his hands. "But we figured Filch must know about that secret passage too, so we didn't bother telling the professors."
"That's right. Filch does know about that passage… But we searched the fourth floor for hours and found nothing."
Professor Lupin's eyes flickered, but then he looked up and said,
"Alright, Kael, thank you. I've taken up enough of your time—better hurry to your next class."
Oh, and don't worry about being late. I'll explain things to your professor for you… What's your next class?"
"Potion Class…" Kael said, "Are you sure you can stop Professor Snape from taking points off?"
"Um…" Professor Lupin went silent.
"I'll help you earn the points back next class."