The Return to Hogwarts

The student safety office is located on the third floor of the castle.

Since Amosta left the office, Lenny had been idly dozing off on the sofa with Crookshanks, silently thinking about Remus who had appeared in front of him earlier and Harry who had nowhere to go for Christmas and had to stay at Hogwarts. In addition, the words Blaine had said to him kept swirling in his head.

To be honest, Sirius Black never considered himself a hero.

Yes, he did feel remorse, remorse for trusting Peter. During his twelve years in Azkaban, he constantly regretted his mistake.

But he never considered himself a coward!

After James and Lily got into trouble, in order to make up for his mistake, he immediately went to Peter for revenge. Of course, that despicable man fooled him by faking his death. Then, because of Dumbledore's accusations, he was thrown directly into Azkaban by the Ministry of Magic.

He stood firm in the face of this with great pride, never even considering making a single word of explanation, because although he hadn't betrayed Lily and James, he still bore an undeniable responsibility.

But in Blaine's view, his choice was a cowardly escape, even less responsible than Snape, that snotty-nosed guy.

Sirius Black dismissed Snape's defection to Dumbledore, believing that Snape was only seeking Dumbledore's protection because he feared being purged by the Ministry of Magic after Voldemort's downfall. The claim of Snape being Snape's lifelong love was laughable; Snape had once called Lily a "Mudblood"!

But he couldn't deny that after seeing Remus up close and hearing about Harry's situation, he did begin to doubt himself.

Sirius knew perfectly well that for Remus, the greatest pain was not the impoverished life, but his betrayal of James and Lily, and the murder of Peter, because it meant that their proud friendship was all false, and all those beautiful memories were false.

Harry Sirius didn't want to admit it, but he couldn't refute it either. He would rather die than take care of James's orphan.

Death is simple, but it takes greater courage to persevere while bearing the pain.

Therefore, Amosta Blaine's assessment of him was not merely a simple sarcasm.

Compared to the previous big dog, Krukla clearly preferred Sirius Black, who had become a cat. It lay down next to Lennie, occasionally pawing at its droopy ears, having a great time.

Do you also think I'm a coward?

Lennie meowed, hoping Crookshanks would give it an answer.

Thinking about these problems, Lenny became increasingly irritable. Moreover, the fire in the fireplace was burning very brightly, making the room extremely hot. Lenny stretched and jumped off the sofa, then nimbly leaped onto the windowsill on the other side, wanting to open the window to let in some fresh air.

But just as its paw touched the handle, a dark light flashed across the transparent glass window. Before Lennie could react, he was pushed away by a gentle but irresistible force, tumbling twice on the ground before finally coming to a stop.

This guy!

Lenny meowed angrily.

To prevent himself from wandering off, he sealed off the entire office with magic.

Just then, the crimson flames turned green for a moment, and the outline of a head tried to appear, but before Leni could see it clearly, it was blocked by a flash of dark light.

Even the Filo network on campus has been blocked. Lennie thought listlessly, "Isn't Blaine being a little too cautious?"

Compared to the other professors, Amosta's desk was relatively simple. A plain pen holder held an extremely unadorned quill pen, and to his right was a blue ink bottle and a photo of him with his grandmother, Ferrena. Apart from these, there was only a stack of parchment documents on the desk. Sirius jumped onto the desk, glanced at them, and then lost interest.

Boring—

This was Lenny's assessment. It was perched on the desk, its head turned as its gaze wandered around the room, naturally landing on the black curtain on the floor.

What is that thing? It looks very mysterious.

With a nimble leap, Lenny landed on the floor and dashed across the room, stopping in front of the massive black curtains.

There seemed to be a secret hidden behind the black curtain—Lenny easily made this guess.

Do you want to open it and take a look?

This is the problem that arises. If he were studying at Hogwarts, this hesitation would never have crossed his mind. But the situation is different now. For the sake of his revenge plan, he has to try his best to avoid provoking Amostrath Blaine.

Time really changes a lot of things.

Lenny thought sadly, suppressing its longing, and prepared to return to the sofa to pass the time by sleeping. Just then, it turned its head and saw Crookshan also looking in this direction with curiosity.

Cough cough--

A sly glint flashed in Lennie's grey eyes, and his long whiskers twitched.

After saying goodbye to Harry and Hermione, Amosta didn't waste any time and quickly walked down the Gryffindor Tower towards his office.

As class time approached, many young wizards hurried to and fro, their footsteps turning the snow on the courtyard ground into solid ice. A sudden gust of cold wind swept by, and a large number of icicles, several feet long, fell from the eaves with a clatter. Amostella reacted quickly, flicking out a red beam of light from her wand and scattering the glittering icicles into a shower of ice powder before calmly leaving.

"That was a really cool move!"

Cedric Diggory, who had thus narrowly escaped death, said with a look of admiration to his companion,

"I really hope Mr. Blaine can continue to teach us Defense Against the Dark Arts!"

"Oh, come on!"

The Hufflepuff wizard standing nearby said sullenly, "I don't want to spend half the school year lying in the hospital!"

"What kind of trick are you playing?!"

Entering the Great Hall through the back door, in the opulent foyer, Amostella unexpectedly encountered Professor Snape, who was striding up from the basement. She smiled, but before she could even greet him, Snape, a red mark under his nose, gritted his teeth and said...

"I was just about to deliver the wolf's medicine to you via the Floo Network when I discovered you'd sealed the fireplace?"

Looking at Snape, whose nose was crooked from the impact, Amosta couldn't help but chuckle and purse his lips.

"I just went to the Gryffindor common room to deliver Mr. Longbottom's wand—"

"Pomona said you got up very early just to find a wand for Longbottom, whose head is completely blank?"

Snape glared at Amostella and said,

“If you really have nothing to do, Amosta, I think you might as well take on the job of brewing potions for that werewolf.”

“Unless Dumbledore is willing to pay me overtime, I’m not taking this chore,” Amostella said with a laugh. “Last night I accidentally learned that there’s a secret passage under the Willow Tree, so I went to check it out.”

Snape paused for a moment, his thin lips pressed tightly together, and his face instantly turned very ugly.

"The secret passage beneath the willow tree that was used to beat people—"

Snape's breathing was heavy; he stared at Amostella with a suspicious look.

"You are... what else did that werewolf tell you?"

“So—” Amosta raised an eyebrow, “you also know there’s a secret passage there?”

Snape's eyes were sinister and he refused to speak.

Seeing his expression, Amosta didn't want to make a fool of himself and just wanted to find an opportunity to ask Blake about the story of the secret passage.

There's something...

As they passed Remus's office, Amosta suddenly asked,

“When I was negotiating with Cornelius Fudge about the Dementors last week, I heard some things about Peter Pettigrew from Professor McGonagall. What are your thoughts on him?”

Peter Pettigrew?

Upon hearing this question, Snape immediately pictured a timid, short figure who always followed behind the three men, echoing their opinions but never expressing his own. In short, he was practically invisible.

During his time at Hogwarts, at the height of his animosity with Potter and his gang, Snape paid little attention to Peter Pettigrew. In his eyes, the short fellow was merely Potter and Black's sidekick, not worth a second glance. But he never expected that this seemingly insignificant fellow would do something so surprising.

"It's decent enough--"

Snape stopped in front of Amostella's office door and said expressionlessly,

"At least among his group of cronies, he's one of the few guys with some backbone."

Chapter 245 The Marauder’s Map

Given Amosta's understanding of the feud between Snape and Harry's father and his gang in their youth, for Snape to personally say that Peter was "not bad" was already a very high compliment. This made Amosta feel a chill in his heart; such a person who was good at deceiving people was truly difficult to deal with.

With a click, Amosta pushed open the office door, and a gust of warm air rushed in, making him feel suffocated.

The black curtain was drawn back—a fact that didn't surprise Amosta at all.

The cat, who had been staring intently at the screen, suddenly raised its tail, arched its back, and bristled its black fur at Severus Snape as he walked in.

Snape stopped in his tracks. He stood in the doorway, his indifferent gaze sweeping down from his crooked nose to the black cat that seemed eager to scratch him.

When Amosta finally tidied up the overly strong flames in the fireplace and turned around, she found the man and cat still locked in a staring contest, both smiling nonchalantly.

"Do you like my new pet, Professor?"

"Where did you get this beast?" Snape asked in a dismissive tone.

“A homeless stray cat,”

Amosta walked a few steps to the sofa, and as his body sank into the soft fabric, he let out a comfortable groan. He casually placed Crookshan on his crossed legs, rubbed Crookshan's fluffy head, and said with a smile,

“I found it by chance in the wild. I was afraid it would freeze to death in the snow and ice, so I brought it back.”

No wonder—

Suppress suppressed his discomfort, looked away, and said bluntly,

"This beast looks so ill-mannered. Honestly, Amosta, sometimes I think your sympathy is excessive. Like with Longbottom, you didn't have to lend him your wand and then help him find it. Some people never learn unless they learn a lesson."

I completely agree with your point of view—

Amosta gave Lenny a warning look, who had already extended his sharp claws and looked ready to pounce on Snape at any moment, and then changed the subject.

"By the way, how's Draco doing? I haven't seen him much lately, either in the castle or on the security cameras?"

"as always,"