Sherlock's words made the room fall silent.
Black gritted his teeth and said,
"Harry is living very well at his aunt's house. He doesn't need to know I exist. James and Lily's deaths had to do with me; I don't deserve to be his godfather!"
"If he were truly living well there, he wouldn't have tried to use a secret passage to get to Hogsmeade, only to be caught by Snape in the end," Sherlock said calmly.
Black stared at him.
"What do you mean?"
"His aunt and uncle didn't sign his permission slip to leave school because, in their eyes, Harry is a freak—someone who can use magic, someone who doesn't fit in with them—and, at the same time, a freak from the most detested Potter family."
At this moment, even Lupin looked at Sherlock.
"Harry is living very badly there?"
"At least he has food and shelter," Sherlock said indifferently. "Although they haven't given him any family warmth, it hasn't reached the point where he's wandering the streets and starving to death."
Sirius and Lupin both understood the meaning behind his words; Harry's standard of living at his aunt's house was merely that of someone who wasn't wandering the streets.
"Bang!"
Black slammed his fist onto the desk and said angrily,
"That is her own sister's son!"
Sherlock looked into his eyes.
"I don't deny that Harry's aunt and her family have gone too far, but you should also ask yourself: what was Harry's father's attitude towards them back then? Why would they treat Harry this way?"
Regarding why Harry's aunt's family had such a near-hostile attitude towards Harry, Sherlock had specifically looked into it during the summer break last year.
The Dursley family didn't hate the Wizarding World. Rather, when they interacted with Harry's father back then, he left them with an extremely bad impression.
From that time onwards, the two families completely cut ties and never saw each other again (also mixed with Petunia's jealousy of Lily becoming a witch).
Later, when Harry came to their home, they transferred those feelings onto the young Harry.
The Dursley family's behaviour was terrible, but James Potter had also been significantly at fault.
Sirius and Lupin fell silent again. They were James's childhood friends and naturally knew what kind of personality he had; it was only slightly better than Sirius's own more extreme temperament.
"So, even if not for yourself, you should think about Harry," Sherlock said, sitting in his chair and looking at them. "He might not need your care, but he needs the affection of a family member."
Sirius stood there blankly. He had the courage to defy death, but Sherlock's words made him hesitate.
If it were truly as Sherlock said, then apart from his aunt's family, Harry only had him as a legal relative. After all, when Harry was born, Sirius had been made his godfather.
Sherlock sat in his chair, sipping tea leisurely while waiting for Sirius to make a decision.
After a long while, Sirius slowly looked up and said,
"Can I see him up close?"
Sherlock shrugged.
"Every weekend evening, he comes here to learn the Patronus Charm. If you want to see him, you can come here, but whether you want to acknowledge him is up to you."
"Before catching Peter, I cannot acknowledge him," Sirius said, shaking his head. "Only when everything is settled can I let him know of my existence. If he finds out about these things, it will definitely cause problems."
"You certainly understand his personality well."
"After escaping from Azkaban, I secretly observed him from a distance for a while."
Sherlock stood up from his chair.
"In that case, you should first turn into your Animagus form and follow me. I'll take you to Professor McGonagall to register you. At the very least, we need to let everyone in the school know about your existence."
The matter was temporarily settled that way.
Sirius turned back into his dog form. After Sherlock used magic to alter his appearance, he took him to see Professor McGonagall.
"You want to keep this dog at Hogwarts?" Professor McGonagall frowned, looking at Sirius in his Animagus form. It was clear that she wasn't very fond of dogs.
Sherlock explained,
"This dog is very intelligent. I think letting it patrol the Castle might be helpful in catching Black."
Sirius knowingly wagged his tail, walked over to Professor McGonagall, and rubbed his head against her.
"Very well. It might be of some use in catching Black, but you must guarantee that it won't harm any students," Professor McGonagall nodded.
Sherlock promised, "Don't worry, it will get along well with the students."
After receiving Professor McGonagall's approval, Sirius effectively had permission to move around the Castle openly.
Afterwards, Sherlock took Sirius and left Professor McGonagall's office. Just as they were going downstairs, Snape, with his greasy, seaweed-like hair, pale face, and robes that resembled a giant black bat, happened to meet them in the Entrance Hall.
"Cavendish, when do you intend to pay me the remaining balance for the potion ingredients?" Snape demanded with a sinister expression the moment he saw Sherlock.
Sherlock then remembered that when he had bought materials from Snape last time, he had forgotten to pay the remaining balance.
"I'll send it to you at noon."
Snape snorted coldly, then noticed Sirius walking beside Sherlock.
The man and the dog looked at each other. Snape always felt that this dog gave him a very irritating feeling, as though he were looking at an old enemy.
Sirius also bared his teeth at him.
"What's the deal with this dog?" Snape asked, frowning.
"It's for catching Black," Sherlock raised an eyebrow. "I've just registered it with Professor McGonagall."
Snape did not hide his disgust for it in the slightest.
"I hope it won't be killed by a single spell from Black."
After saying that, he turned and continued walking towards the Great Hall. Apart from a sense of dislike, he noticed nothing unusual about Sirius.
Sirius looked at Snape's retreating back and rolled his eyes. Sherlock patted his head, signalling for him to follow.
They returned to Sherlock's office. Today happened to be Saturday, and in the evening Harry would come to continue practising the Patronus Charm.
So Sherlock told Sirius not to leave the office while he went to the kitchens to tell the House-elves that, from today onwards, they could simply send meals for two directly to his office using magic.
Just as Sherlock and Lupin had found Sirius and learned the truth from him, Ron had finally made up with Hermione.
On the day Harry's Marauder's Map was confiscated by Lupin, Hagrid also lost his Ministry of Magic hearing regarding Buckbeak. The committee members almost all sided with Lucius, sentencing Buckbeak to death and setting a date for the execution.
Hermione was devastated. After meeting Ron and Harry, she cried and apologised to Ron. By then, Ron's awkwardness had completely disappeared, and he said it wasn't her fault. The two reconciled as before.
During their reconciliation, they happened to run into Draco making sarcastic remarks nearby. Hermione, already furious because Draco's father had bribed the committee to execute Buckbeak, slapped him across the face on the spot, completely stunning him.(TN: In books, she slapped him and in the movies she punched him.)
Afterwards, Hermione seemed to have completely let go.
Because she had too many classes, she dropped Divination, which she considered superstitious and useless, and focused her energy on her other subjects.
Recently, besides continuing to learn the Patronus Charm, Harry also had to prepare for the final Quidditch match of the term against Slytherin.
Today, at the weekend, he arrived at Sherlock's office as arranged. After today's lesson, he planned to ask for a week's leave and return to continue lessons after the Quidditch final.
As soon as he entered Sherlock's office, Harry saw the large dog lying beside the desk. He immediately widened his eyes and walked over, looking at the dog that had also risen to its feet.
"Professor, is this your new pet?"
Sirius wagged his tail, his small eyes fixed intently on Harry, and eagerly moved closer to him.
Harry cautiously reached out to stroke his head. After discovering that Sirius not only didn't resist but actually looked delighted, he became much bolder.
Sherlock watched Sirius's tail wagging rapidly and knew he must be enjoying this moment immensely. After all, Harry was not only his only family, but Sirius also regarded Harry as his only remaining family.
"You could say that. I specifically got this dog to prevent Black from breaking into the school again. I'm looking after it for the time being."
Harry petted Sirius's head for a while before saying,
"Professor, I need to ask for leave next week. The Quidditch final is coming up soon, and if Gryffindor is going to win the championship, I need to focus on training."
Sherlock waved a hand.
"No need to ask for leave. There's nothing left for you to learn about the Patronus Charm. To truly produce your Patronus, all you need now is the right opportunity. You've already done very well with the theory."
"Then are we still having this lesson?" Harry asked.
Sherlock pointed at Sirius.
"For this lesson, just help me take this dog for a walk around the Castle. Consider it the last task I'm assigning you."
Harry happily accepted. He led Sirius out of Sherlock's office, wandered through the corridors and various parts of the Castle, and eventually even brought him into the Gryffindor Common Room.
This surprised all the Gryffindors.
Ron, who was helping Hermione look through documents about Hippogriffs, looked at Sirius, blinked, and asked,
"Where did you get that dog from?"