The Return to Hogwarts

Hehe, interesting--

Amosta laughed.

Remus continued,

"Later, Sirius flew into a rage and ordered it not to do so. Kreacher couldn't defy Sirius's orders, but it also refused to submit. Gradually, many interesting things appeared in my food, such as dead rats in mushroom soup, spider legs and frog innards in salads, and vixens inside roast chicken."

"Remus, who are you talking to?"

Just as Amosta was listening with great interest to the unfair treatment Remus had suffered, Sirius's voice suddenly came from upstairs asking a question. Then came a series of hurried footsteps coming downstairs. A moment later, Sirius was also standing at the doorway connecting the hallway and the basement.

Although only less than ten days have passed, Sirius's condition is already much better than before.

Perhaps it was because he had eaten a few hearty meals, or perhaps it was because he had let go of some knots in his heart, in any case, he no longer looked like a skeleton crawling out of hell. His withered cheeks finally had some flesh, and his hair was washed clean. He changed out of the old robe that Amosta had lent him and put on a black and gray robe. At least he looked a bit like he did twelve years ago.

"Oh, it's you, Amosta—"

Sirius muttered something, sounding a little annoyed.

"When I left Hogwarts, I foresaw to some extent that you would expose your identity to Remus,"

Amosta's gaze followed Sirius as he descended the stairs, a smile that could be described as both amused and mocking.

"But I really didn't expect you to be so outstanding, Sirius. You were caught in less than twelve hours?"

Chapter 263

To be honest, Amosta's assessment was a bit harsh, because Sirius's exposure was indeed an accident. Who would have thought that Filch, out of fear of punishment, would ask Remus to convey that he had not found the Marauder's Map, thus allowing Remus to discover the clues?

For a fleeting moment, Sirius did want to defend himself, but after a brief hesitation, he suppressed the impulse and unexpectedly nodded to Amosta.

"Anyway, Amosta, I have to thank you."

For Sirius Black to say such a thing to a Slytherin was unimaginable, but his experiences over the past twelve years, and the pleasant memories of being reunited with Remus these past few days, had indeed changed his thinking somewhat.

"You helped me get into Hogwarts, and your words did give me some inspiration."

Sirius Black, who had previously been so quick to anger and glare after only a few words, was now behaving in a way that left Amosta somewhat at a loss for words. Fortunately, Remus, who had been watching the scene with a smile, stepped in just in time.

"At this joyous occasion, I think we should have a proper banquet. Oh, it's been years since I've truly celebrated Christmas, and this time at Hogwarts, I just happened to be transformed."

Remus was in high spirits. He pointed to the mess on the kitchen counter and said...

"Let's work together to prepare a sumptuous dinner for ourselves!"

"Good idea—"

Sirius Black immediately perked up. He jumped down the last step and excitedly went to the kitchen counter.

“But the problem is, Remus, neither of us seems to be very good at turning ingredients into edible food. Oh, okay, maybe I can get Kreacher down here to help. We can keep an eye on it so it can’t cause any more trouble!”

"There's no need to trouble that old, toothless house-elf—"

The chandelier on the dining table cast a soft light, making the cold-toned kitchen feel warm and inviting. Watching the two middle-aged men chatting and laughing, Amosta shook his head and smiled. At this moment, he really didn't want to worry about anything else.

Amosta draped his coat over the back of the chair, and his wand jumped from his rolled-up sleeve into his hand. With a gentle wave at the counter, the washed potatoes in the plate began to peel automatically. Then, they lined up in neat rows and delivered themselves to the knife. With a flash of cold light, evenly thick potato slices flew one after another into a brand new plate.

The flames on the stove emitted wisps of smoke as they sizzled, and several steaks flew onto the hot plate, creating a sizzling sound as a faint aroma filled the kitchen.

"That's truly astonishing, Amosta?"

Looking at the well-organized kitchen, Remus said with a mixture of surprise and admiration,

"I didn't know you were good at these things?"

“Personal preference—” Amosta said lazily.

“I remember my father has some Scotch whisky in his room that he treasures. I’ll go find it!”

For Sirius Black, such a heartwarming scene was especially precious. He burst out with enthusiasm, hurriedly said a few words, and then ran upstairs.

This was a reunion of old friends twelve years overdue. A cheerful atmosphere filled the kitchen. Throughout the meal, no one mentioned anything related to Peter. Remus and Sirius shared some funny stories from their school days, naturally avoiding anything about Snape.

Amos also shared some amusing anecdotes from his time at Hogwarts. In addition, Sirius and Remus were very interested in the Chamber of Secrets, which had caused great panic in the castle earlier in the year, so he shared some of his own experiences with them as well.

"No wonder he's James' son--"

When Amosta recounted the night they discovered the Chamber of Secrets, how Harry and Ron barged into the bathroom to rescue Ginny without any professors present, a slightly dazed Sirius Black immediately praised them excitedly. But then, the smile that had lasted almost the entire night vanished, and he said melancholically,

"If it weren't for..., perhaps I could have invited Harry and his friends to this dinner party."

"There will be a chance, Sirius—"

Remus said gently,

"I remember you were Harry's godfather. By summer vacation... I believe everything will be over by then, and you can invite Harry to stay here for a few days. There's the Quidditch World Cup during the summer—"

"Great idea, Remus!"

Sirius's radiant smile almost transported him back to his handsome and charming youth.

"We can go together then!"

"Gentlemen, before you look forward to a bright future—"

A slightly tired man, Amosta rubbed his temples as he stood up, exhausted from his journey.

"Could someone please help me clean up?"

"It's alright, Amosta—"

Having drunk too much, Sirius Black grew bolder. He put his arm around Amosta's shoulder, hiccuping as he spoke.

"Kreacher can easily handle this task."

As he spoke, Sirius roared at the ceiling, but unfortunately, despite his several roars, Kreacher still did not appear in the kitchen.

"Oh, what's going on!"

Sirius stormed upstairs, but Remus stopped him.

"Clearly, it's pretending not to hear, Sirius—"

"A house-elves dare to defy their master's orders?"

Amosta also marveled at the sight.

"In fact, when we first entered the house, he didn't dare to openly ignore Sirius's orders—"

Remus said helplessly.

"Later, we started messing around with the house cleaning, you know, Amosta, there was just too much to deal with in this house that's probably centuries old. Sirius insisted on throwing away some of the useless stuff, and that really infuriated Kreacher."

He ignored Sirius's orders with all sorts of excuses, never appeared before us, and would always hide the useless things we cleared out and the valuable antiques in the house when we weren't looking, just to prevent Sirius from throwing them away.

I bet—

Sirius Black pointed to the cupboard a few steps away and said with a sneer.

“That’s where Kreacher usually sleeps. There must be a lot of things hidden there that would showcase the glory of the ‘noble Black family’ but are probably worthless in reality.”

"Oh, that won't do—"

Amosta frowned.

"Neither you nor Kreacher are allowed to secretly collect or discard anything from this house without my permission—"

Sirius's expression froze as he realized that the house was currently owned by Amosta.

“That’s all worthless junk, Amosta,” Sirius emphasized unhappily, “It has no value whatsoever!”

"Whether it has value or not is not up to you to decide, Sirius."

Amosta beckoned to the cupboard with his finger, and with a click, the cupboard door opened, and a bunch of smelly, odds and ends flew out, the first of which was a pair of stained trousers.

“Those were my father’s trousers. Kreacher probably wore them to remember him—”

Seemingly believing that these trousers proved his earlier statement, Sirius exclaimed happily, "I told you, Amosta, they're all useless stuff—"

"That's not necessarily true, Sirius—"

Amosta crouched down, examining the pile of odds and ends on the ground by the soft candlelight. He controlled a silver snuffbox to fly in front of him, studying the inscriptions on it with great interest for a long time.

"This is a fairy's masterpiece. In the 18th century, it would probably be worth three hundred Galleons in the underworld. Oh, you dare call this junk? I think your mother's assessment of you was somewhat correct—you spendthrift."

Sirius was speechless, while Remus chuckled and said...

“Amosta is an expert in this field, Sirius.”

As he spoke, Remus, who had also dabbled in the underworld, became interested. He spoke to a silver tweezer with five claws that was trying to break out of its way around.

"This was probably secretly hidden by Kreacher. This kind of thing seems to be the work of a school of wizards, and it's quite valuable—I think it's worth at least five hundred gold coins."

Sirius's face darkened further, because Remus's statement almost confirmed that he was a spendthrift.

Kreacher had hidden quite a few valuable items. Amosta and Remus were like they were having a knowledge contest. The two of them squatted down and took turns appraising the Black family's precious collection. Sirius, who had been exposed to these things since childhood, knew the origins of these items, but he couldn't judge their 'market value'.

"This music box—"

Remus's dazed gaze returned to alertness, and he carefully picked it up.

“We'd better be careful; the music it plays is hypnotic. Okay, I'll offer eight hundred Galleons—”

"It's my turn!"