Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 128 127. Harry's Thoughts and Guilt-ridden Sirius

"We're here." Diaz suddenly stopped and turned to Harry and said, "Raoul and I will be waiting for you over there... Be careful with Blake, don't get hurt by him."

"Thank you, I'll pay attention to that," Harry said after nodding.

So the two strikers stepped aside, and only Harry and Lucius were left standing at the door of Sirius' cell.

The cell where Sirius was located did not look much different from the other cells from the outside. One could smell a foul odor without even stepping into the cell. It was like the smell of rotten meat and the strong smell of seaweed, which mixed together was very disgusting.

I can still hear the faint sound of waves hitting the rocks, never ending.

Even if there were no Dementors, a normal person would not be able to survive for long in such an environment and would suffer mental problems sooner or later.

Harry had already seen the man inside. His long hair and beard were a tangle of dirt and grease from not being washed for a long time, making it impossible to see his face clearly. He was wearing a black prison uniform, which was more like a few pieces of coarse cloth that could barely cover his body, and was covered with dirt.

He lay straight on the stone bed as if he were dead, and the movement in the corridor outside the prison did not attract him to turn around and look - it was as if he was waiting to die.

"Black?" Lucius whispered, tapping the iron bars a few times with the end of his snake staff. "Someone is here to see you."

The person on the stone bed did not respond. Lucius looked at Harry awkwardly, then knocked hard on the iron bars with his snake staff - and this time, the person whose face he could not even see clearly finally moved.

He first glanced in the direction of the iron fence, as if doubting whether everything he had just heard was an illusion, and then his eyes fell on the man with conspicuous platinum hair who was looking at him with a sneer.

"… Mal… Malfoy?"

His throat was dry and sounded as if it had been cut several times. The voice sounded very harsh. Perhaps it was because he had not spoken for a long time. Sirius had to straighten his tongue before he could clearly call out the name of the man in front of him.

"If I remember correctly, you should call me brother-in-law," Lucius said with disgust.

Well, in Lucius's eyes, he felt that Harry came to meet Sirius, the traitor who betrayed his parents - this loyal subordinate was even prepared that once Harry killed Sirius to vent his anger, he would quickly prepare to make Sirius' death a natural death.

Anyway, no one cares about the lives of the prisoners in Azkaban, so it's a good idea to spend little money.

"Heh," Sirius sneered disdainfully, his throat seemed to be stuck with something, and it was extremely hoarse, "I don't have any bastard Death Eater relatives."

Harry raised his eyebrows slightly. He found that Sirius' mental state was much better than he thought. At least he still had the energy to curse, and his point was very precise - for Voldemort's followers who paid attention to bloodline, the word "bastard" was very lethal.

"What did you say?! Pure-blood traitor!" Lucius was obviously irritated, but he still remembered who was in charge today, so he suppressed his anger and said, "Just keep talking tough, huh, look who this is?!"

Lucius was ready for Harry to use a magma lightning bolt - anything, just the same power that was displayed in the secret room of Malfoy Manor that day, to blast the disgusting relative opposite to him into pieces.

"Go and hold those two strikers steady, Lucius," Harry said calmly, "Don't let them hear what's happening here, and don't disturb us."

"Yes, sir." Lucius bowed his head respectfully and walked quickly to the other side. He had been thinking for a while about how many Galleons to give to the two strikers.

Considering the friendly attitude shown by the two strikers to Harry along the way, it shouldn't cost too much money. After all, everyone knows about the Potter family, and it is very reasonable for the Potter boy to lose control of his emotions and do what everyone wants to see.

On the other side, Sirius had already sat up from the stone bed, staring at the boy standing outside the iron fence opposite with wide eyes - to be honest, at first he thought it was Voldemort outside. After all, there were not many people who could make that disgusting guy Lucius act so respectfully and call him "sir".

Well, if it was Voldemort, shouldn’t he call him master?

Years of prison life had hollowed out Sirius' body, and the daily patrols by the Dementors had hollowed out his spirit, to the point that at this moment he couldn't even concentrate on thinking about one thing, with all kinds of thoughts floating uncontrollably in his head.

Then he saw the face.

"...James?" Sirius held his breath subconsciously, he couldn't believe what he saw.

Are you hallucinating again?
Bang! !

He raised his hand without hesitation and hit himself on the head, with no intention of holding back at all. So even though his arm no longer had much strength, Sirius still hit him hard and made him see stars.

Harry: "..."

He really believed that his godfather had become mentally ill because of the Dementors.

While Harry was assessing Sirius' mental state, Sirius stumbled over and grabbed the iron bars tightly with both hands - a disgusting stench rushed towards Harry through the gaps in the bars, but it was still within his tolerance.

Harry had smelled worse.

"Harry! You are Harry, right?!"

Unprecedented ecstasy occupied Sirius's brain, making him completely unable to think about anything else. At this moment, he just wanted to touch the boy opposite and hug him tightly - but unfortunately, because of the existence of the iron fence, no matter how hard Sirius flapped his hind legs on the ground, the arms he could stretch out of the fence were only so long, and he could not touch Harry.

"Hahaha, hahaha, ahhahahahaha! Harry! Harry!! You've grown up Harry!!!"

Sirius let out bursts of strange laughter from his throat, and his entire body was like a puppet, with his limbs swinging wildly.

"Come here! Come here quickly!! Let me hug you tightly!!!"

The noise in front of the cell made the two strikers who were walking to the other side couldn't help but look back. After all, everyone knew that Sirius was the most evil Death Eater. In order to kill Peter, he even blew up an entire street. He was extremely cruel.

The most important thing is that as Voldemort's most loyal servant, Sirius Black absolutely hated Harry, who caused Voldemort's downfall, and wanted to eat the boy alive... and now this crazy laughter and words that lured Harry to get closer proved this point.

Dias and Baldwin dared not let anything happen to the Boy-Who-Lived in Azkaban. If anything unexpected happened, no matter what the reason, they would not have a good ending.

——Then they were stopped by Lucius.

After receiving clear orders, Lucius didn't dare let Harry think that he couldn't even do such a small thing, so... uh, he started to pay.

Gold Galleons are the reason why the Malfoy family is so powerful.

"Never thought it, never thought it! Harry - ah! Harry! Ha -"

Bang! !

Stopped abruptly.

The manic laughter stopped, the chaotic speech stopped, and the crazy movements stopped. Sirius lay on his back on the cold stone slab, still not realizing what had just happened.

One punch.

Harry's agility was unbelievable. His right fist went through Sirius' arm that was trying to grab him, and then accurately hit his left cheek that was sticking out of the iron bars. Sirius, feeling the pain, instinctively tried to retract his head but was pinched by the iron bars. His head was buzzing.

"Are you awake now?" Harry put down his raised fist, half-crouched outside the iron fence and asked Sirius who was lying on the ground.

"...Yeah, I'm awake," Sirius answered subconsciously.

But to be honest, looking at the confusion in Sirius' eyes, Harry felt that his godfather was not awake at all - he just instinctively didn't want to be hit again.

"Now that I'm awake," Harry sighed, and he simply sat cross-legged in the corridor.

"...So, you are really Harry?" Sirius sat cross-legged in the cell like Harry did, still touching his face in disbelief.

It really hurts, so much that everything in front of me doesn't seem fake.

Harry's punch did have some effect, at least it helped Sirius get out of the state of over-ecstasy and mental disorder.

"Similar, too much like him." Sirius kept looking at Harry and shaking his head. He was sighing, "Except for the eyes that look like Lily, your whole face looks like it was poured from the same mold as James."

No wonder Sirius mistook Harry for James Potter, who had not yet graduated from Hogwarts. For a moment, he thought he was finally going to die, and James was here to pick him up.

"But what are those two horns?" Although he tried hard to ignore it, Sirius couldn't help but ask, "A new art of wizards?"

The reason why it was not new Muggle art was because Sirius had already confirmed that the pair of horns were a product of Transfiguration.

"Calm down and listen to me!" Refusing to let Sirius continue, Harry said seriously: "I already know everything that happened back then, and I also know that you and Peter finally exchanged the identity of the secret keeper - everything."

Harry's straightforward words were like a vise clamping down on Sirius' neck, causing the little bit of his face that was faintly visible through his messy hair and beard to turn red. He suddenly held his breath and curled up instinctively.

The ecstasy of suddenly seeing the grown-up Harry in this unexpected place almost devoured Sirius's heart, and even made him forget the cold memories that filled his mind for the past twelve years, his arrogance, his stupidity, and the crimes he had committed...

The death of his best friend's family, the betrayal of his best friend, everything was because of him - Sirius curled up on the ground in pain, banging his head against the ground over and over, like a house-elf who was constantly punishing himself for making mistakes.

Pain, even every second of being alive was a punishment, and this was the punishment Sirius himself longed for.

That was the fundamental reason why he just laughed after killing the traitor Peter twelve years ago, and then surrendered when the Aurors from the Ministry of Magic arrived without even a word of defense - he wanted to atone for his sins, wanted to be tortured, even if it was in his own way.

Harry did not stop him at this moment. He just watched Sirius curled up on the ground and banged his head. To be honest, considering Sirius's current physical strength and condition, even if he wanted to punish himself like this, he lacked the strength and it would be difficult to get hurt.

Sirius was indeed no longer normal, at least in Harry's opinion. Not only was Sirius's mood extremely unstable and he could easily go from one extreme to another, but his thinking had become extremely confused and he could only think about one thing at a time... Perhaps his past memories had also become fragmented, occupying Sirius's entire brain from time to time and making him lose control.

He needed rest and time to heal and recover.

Harry sighed.

If he guessed correctly, for the past twelve years, the Dementors and their unique abilities probably made his godfather wander in his most painful memories every day, unable to get out of it.

"I actually knew you were innocent a long time ago." Without looking at Sirius, Harry stared at the farthest stone wall and said softly, "It was about this time last year... You just need to know that I have a unique magic that allows me to call back the souls of my blood relatives."

Sirius' body suddenly twitched.

"I summoned the souls of my father and mother. It was from them that I learned some things about the past... and resolved some misunderstandings." Harry chuckled. "And then it's you, my... godfather?"

The word sounded somewhat heavy, and Sirius' body curled up even tighter. He seemed to be whimpering something, not daring to raise his head to look at Harry.

The cell became silent for a moment. The only sounds were the splash of water hitting the stone slabs and the sound of waves hitting the rocks outside.

"I could have rescued you a long time ago," Harry said suddenly. "Whether I came here to break you out of prison or summon your parents' souls to clear your name, it's not a difficult task for me - I just hesitated whether to do it or not."

"Or rather, I want you to be punished more."

Sirius was indeed crying, and no one knew where the moisture came from his dry body. He just curled up on the ground, sobbing, and banging his head against the ground... especially after Harry finished speaking.

"But I don't want to punish you because of my parents' death." As if he didn't see Sirius's actions, Harry just continued, "That thing was not your fault. The one who really should pay the price is the betrayer who betrayed my parents' trust, Peter Pettigrew - you are innocent."

Sirius suddenly raised his head, and stared at Harry in astonishment between strands of dirty hair. He simply couldn't believe what he heard.

"No, child, it's not like that," Sirius said hoarsely, "It's my fault. If I hadn't asked James to change--"

"Shut up!" Harry interrupted Sirius with a low shout. He said angrily, "The betrayer should pay the price with blood, but you didn't betray, so what does it have to do with you?!"

"What I really want to punish is your stupidity!" Harry glared at Sirius and said, "Yes, my parents did die because of traitors, but I'm still alive!"

"What kind of brain can make you think that you can go to Azkaban to atone for your sins as long as you kill Peter?!" Harry said angrily, "Are you worthy of being called godfather?! You have no idea what it means to both of them for a young child to live under someone else's roof!"

"Um, I know a little bit?" Sirius spoke haltingly. He raised his hand tentatively and said, "After I lost contact with my family, I stayed at James's house every time I had a holiday. I felt that everyone was very friendly? Uncle Flemont and Aunt Euphemia are like my biological parents. I also regard them as my relatives -"

"Shut up!" Harry gritted his teeth. He even wondered if there was something wrong with Sirius's brain, the kind that had existed before he was sent to Azkaban. "Young! Do you understand the word young?! Were you friends with my father when you were a baby? Or did you lose contact with your family when you were a baby?!"

"Oh, Harry, I wish I had cut off contact with them when I was a baby," Sirius muttered, and then he saw Harry's clenched right fist. He suddenly felt a dull pain on his left cheek again, and quickly explained, "Wait a minute, I mean, uh, I thought Dumbledore would take good care of you, that, uh..."

"Are you my godfather or is Dumbledore my godfather?!" Harry took a deep breath.

He had already made his judgment that his godfather was probably not very smart, or not mature enough, before he was imprisoned in Azkaban. He could not think of many things and did not realize the key to the problem.

"No!" Sirius tried to defend himself hastily. He waved his hands and said, "But Dun—"

"Shut up!!"

"Yes, I'm sorry." Sirius immediately shrank back. He kept grabbing his hair and face with his hands, mumbling incoherent and broken words, "...I'm sorry, I'm sorry...I didn't expect...I really didn't expect..."

(End of this chapter)