The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 332 Sirius Black

A loud noise coming from the direction of the boys' dormitory and the noisy sounds in the common room interrupted Ada and Hermione's conversation. Ada realized that something might have happened there.

Drawing her wand, Ada rushed out of the dormitory in her dressing gown. The embers of the unburned fire in the common room gave off a little light, and the party items were scattered everywhere.

A strange, tall and thin man appeared at the entrance of the lounge, holding a sharp knife in his hand, and the portrait at the entrance was slowly opening.

Without any hesitation, Ada cast a Stunning Spell, and the red light of the spell rushed straight towards the tall and thin man at the entrance. The man seemed to have eyes on the back of his head, and he turned his body to avoid the Stunning Spell.

Ada ran through the lounge quickly, without stopping her movements, and cast several spells at the man. However, the portrait at the entrance had been opened, which made the entrance spacious instantly, and the man had enough space to avoid these spells.

But the authority of the Gryffindor leader could not be violated, and one of the spells still hit the man's shoulder, and his shoulder was instantly stained red with blood.

The bloody wound on the shoulder seemed to anger the man. He turned around and threw the sharp knife in his hand directly at Ada, then left the Gryffindor common room without looking back, covering his shoulder.

"Stop! Blake!" Ida shouted.

When the man turned around, Ada had already seen his face clearly and recognized who he was. The devilish roar and smile on the wanted poster was something Ada remembered the first time she saw it.

The sharp, cold blade rushed straight towards Ada, who waved her wand to change the flight path of the sharp knife, making it fly back in the opposite direction. But it was too late, Blake had already drilled out, the portrait closed again, and the sharp blade hit the wall behind the portrait and was bounced off by the hard wall.

Without caring about anything else, Ada activated the flash and went straight through the portrait without waiting for the portrait to slowly open again.

But Ada was still a step too late. There was no one in the open space in front of the portrait. Only Sir Cadogan asked, "How...how did you suddenly appear?"

"Shut up!" Ada yelled angrily, "I'll settle the score with you when I come back! You are as hopeless as your story!"

Fortunately, Ada had just injured Blake, leaving traces of Blake's blood on the ground.

Following the blood trail, Ada chased out of the castle. The moon illuminated the entire playground, and the bloodstains on the ground were easy to identify. But Ada found that the bloodstains on the ground were getting bigger and bigger, as if Blake had simply treated his injuries while escaping.

Ada followed the increasingly larger bloodstains as she searched. The bloodstains did not lead to the Whomping Willow or the Twilight Cottage as she expected, but led all the way to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

The Forbidden Forest was pitch black at night, as if it had a power that could devour everything. The branches of the trees looked like demons with bared fangs and claws. Ada raised the yew wand to her chest and took precautions carefully, carefully distinguishing the sounds that came into her ears, ready to strike at any time.

In the past, when the twins were with her, Ada had never felt that the Forbidden Forest at night was so scary. Now that she was entering the Forbidden Forest alone, she had to be more cautious.

Ada adjusted her breathing which had become rapid due to running, and groped forward, but she found nothing.

The bloodstains were no longer visible at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Now that they were deep in the Forbidden Forest, they couldn't even tell whether there were any bloodstains on the ground. Ada had to stop and rethink her countermeasures.

Suddenly there was a rustling sound, and he turned around and cast a spell!
A dazzling white light flashed, but no one fell to the ground in response. Then voices were heard in the Forbidden Forest. Ada was very familiar with this voice. It was the voice of Headmaster Dumbledore.

"Every time I see this spell of yours, I am amazed at your talent." Dumbledore walked over slowly with his wand raised, the faint light from the tip of the wand illuminating the path under his feet. "But your behavior tonight was too reckless. That is a fugitive from Azkaban, extremely vicious."

Seeing that it was Dumbledore, Ada breathed a sigh of relief. She complained dissatisfiedly: "He is so scary. He is so scary. Does the headmaster know how scared I was just now?"

"Oh, Ida, who is fearless, can actually feel afraid?" Dumbledore asked curiously, "I thought you were not afraid of anything except the ward!"

The reason why people are afraid of the darkness is because of the unknown, because you don’t know what kind of horror is hidden in the darkness.

Ada was not afraid of the darkness of the Forbidden Forest, but the dangers hidden in the darkness kept her on edge. Her brain had to analyze and process any disturbances immediately, which was very tiring. "Almost, I almost caught Blake, I almost hurt him!" Ada was very dissatisfied with her performance. If she had been more decisive and hit harder, she might have caught him.

"You've done a great job, better than the Aurors." Dumbledore consoled her absentmindedly, but to Ada, the consolation sounded like an insult.

"Go back. Miss Granger is very worried about you. She was frightened by the way you chased her out." Dumbledore continued, "If Black really escaped into the Forbidden Forest, it will be difficult for us to catch him today."

Ada also admitted this. The Forbidden Forest was too big, and neither Dumbledore nor Hagrid could tell what was inside.

It is not realistic to conduct a carpet search of the Forbidden Forest. The creatures in the Forbidden Forest will not care whether Black is a fugitive or not. They will regard the search as an invasion of the Forbidden Forest.

Dumbledore and Ada left the Forbidden Forest, and Black once again broke into Hogwarts and once again successfully escaped capture.

Ada, who had relaxed her mind, finally felt cold. She had only worn a cloak over her dressing gown when she was chatting with Hermione, and the cloak had already been soaked through by the cold night wind.

Ada looked up at Dumbledore. The headmaster saw through her thoughts and said, "You don't want an old man over a hundred years old to give his clothes to you, do you? Besides, aren't you a witch?"

If you don't want to give it, then don't give it. Why are you talking about all this nonsense? You are so stingy!

While complaining about Dumbledore's stinginess in her heart, Ida cast an anti-cold spell on herself. Magic can indeed resist the cold and keep warm, but Ida still prefers to wear thicker clothes, which will make her feel warmer psychologically.

Fortunately, Ada met Hagrid at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and the half-giant put his moleskin coat on Ada.

Wrapped tightly by Hagrid, Ada looked much heavier, but her eyes were still bright. She squinted at Dumbledore, her emerald green eyes seemed to be able to speak, but her silent condemnation was once again ignored by Dumbledore.

The team walking towards the castle expanded from two to three. In the Gryffindor Tower, in front of Sir Cadogan's portrait, the three saw the angry Professor McGonagall, who was annoyed by Sir Cadogan.

"Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man into Gryffindor Tower?"

"Of course, my lady!" cried Lord Cadogan.

There was a stunned silence inside and outside the common room. Dumbledore also fell silent, his drooping eyelids making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

"You... you did that?" said Professor McGonagall. "But... but where's the password?"

"He has a password!" said Lord Cadogan proudly. "A week's password, my lady! He reads it from a little piece of paper!"

Everyone inside and outside the common room looked at Neville Longbottom. There was a password written on the note. Only Neville, who had a bad memory, could do such a thing.

Professor McGonagall was almost mad. First, Cadogan let Black go, allowing Black to almost murder a student. The password to enter the lounge was accidentally "revealed" to Black by a student.

This is simply the worst class of Gryffindor that Professor McGonagall has ever taught.

"Who is it?" Professor McGonagall asked weakly. She felt that she should ask Madam Pomfrey to check it out for her later.

Neville Longbottom slowly raised his hands, shaking from head to toes in his fuzzy slippers.

(End of this chapter)