NOVEL NEXT Chapter 87 – Infiltration gone Wrong!
{Filch's office, Hogwarts}
{10th Sep 1991}
{3rd Person POV}
It was a small, simple room with a single oil lamp hanging from the ceiling. The weak light flickered, barely enough to illuminate the whole room. It was dusty, far from something he imagined someone who was titled as a caretaker to live in. A weak waft of fried fish filled the room, and Sirius was quite glad that he hadn't tried to walk into the room as Padfoot.
With hurried footsteps, he walked over to a set of drawers marked as 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous.' He knew where the map was because Filch had stuffed it in there himself after confiscating it. Even though he hadn't done it in front of them, James had gone back to make sure that Filch hadn't torn the map or done anything stupid.
The Mauraders had decided to let him keep the map hidden, and their legacies would be tasked with freeing the map as their first challenge in Hogwarts.
"Alohomora~"
*Click*
The click signifying that the drawer was unlocked was the last restraint Sirius showed before he grabbed onto the drawer's circular handle and pulled it. His senses were a little dulled, and that would be the only reason it took a second for Sirius to realize that his left hand had been burned.
'What the fuck was that?' Sirius thought as he stared at his left hand. His hand was not having a good day, and he could see the word 'THIEF
' burned into the center of his palm. The pain was bearable, so while avoiding touching the drawer handle, Sirius peered into the various trinkets that were sprawled around in the drawer.After quickly going through the various magical artifacts, he realized that the map wasn't there. He looked through the drawer carefully once again before moving on to other drawers and continuing to search. This time, though, he was cautious as he used the Revealing charm to avoid any traps.
"Revelio~" "Revelio~" "Revelio~"
After going through the whole storage compartment, he gave up and stared at the 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous' compartment once again. After another search of the drawer, he was sure that the map wasn't there, and possible reasons emerged in his mind.
'Did someone take it, but how? The map was carefully enchanted, so to anyone else, it would look like an old parchment. Why would someone take that?' Sirius thought. The only people who knew where the map was were the marauders. With him and James out of the picture, only Remus and the rat would have been able to take it.
'Why, though, Remus would never be allowed back into Hogwarts after he finished his schooling for a casual stroll? Plus, he won't care for the map, and if the rat took the map, there would be just one reason for it to do so,' Sirius thought. His expression darkened as his emotions bundled over once again.
Even with the forced calmness that he was enforcing, some amount of insanity leaked through as he clutched his wand hard. His knuckles were pale white, displaying the malnourishment and insanity that he had gone through, and as his mental state deteriorated slowly, the sound of the door opening broke him out of his daze.
"-Are you sure you heard someone, Mrs Norris?" Sirius turned around toward the familiar voice. He saw how Filch's face slacked as he stared into his eyes.
"Stupefy~" Sirius slashed as soon as he realized that it was not good. It was not the time to face Dumbledore and try to clear his name. The old man had not even tried to contact him, so he couldn't be trusted.
"Miiaaaoooooow~" Mrs. Norris howled as she jumped from Filch's hands to avoid being buried under him when he collapsed. Another red beam collided with the cat as it, too, stumbled over. Even after all these years, targeting a squib and cat wasn't too hard for Sirius, but as he took a couple of steps toward the door to quickly secure the two, his point of vision suddenly fell.
"Fuck-" Sirius cursed as he used his hands to stop his fall. Pain erupted from his knees as they banged against the hard floor.
"Fuck!" Sirius cursed again as he took a couple of deep breaths. His vision was a little woozy as he realized that his mana core was almost empty. He had exhausted himself with the last two spells because he had to overpower the wand's resistance, wasting a lot of mana.
His eyes felt a little heavy, and only his conviction not to pass away in this room managed to push him forward. Thoughts about where the map could have been were pushed aside as he focused on pulling more of his magic once again. He transformed into Padfoot and stumbled, his vision going dark for several seconds as the Animagus magic further tightened his already tight reserves.
The magic of the Animagus transformation took its toll on him, as even in his animagus form, he could feel a dull ache traveling through his body. He knew he didn't have much time, so he quickly ran away. Only his familiarity with the castle made it so he was able to retrace his steps, but since he wasn't confident in dodging the barks of an angry Whomping Willow, he had to take a detour.
Sirius had walked on autopilot through the Hogwarts ground, and it was the whistling sound of the ancient tree's arms that woke him up. After careful consideration, he turned away from the tree.
'Dumbledore would surely check the Shrieking Shack anyway, so it would be better if I find somewhere else to stay the night,' Sirius thought. He didn't have to think for long as the perfect place to spend the night emerged in his mind.
...
{Dumbledore's Room, Hogwarts}
{10th Sep 1991}
{3rd Person POV}
Albus woke up as he sensed one of his magical artifacts expelling a large amount of mana. He was quite used to his warning system's blaring in the middle of the night. He turned over and grabbed his glasses from the desk, grabbed his wand, and transformed his nightgown into wizard robes.
He walked out of the room that was attached to his office and looked at the blank magical signature that the artifact was projecting. It was quite faint, but Albus remembered Filch's muted signature because he was the only squib in Hogwarts.
Suppressing a frown, Albus flicked his wand at the door; after waiting for a few moments, Flich rushed through the doors, his face set in panic as he screamed, "Sirius Black! Sirius Black has infiltrated the Castle!"
...
AN - Changing tides! I wanted to do a joke chapter, but it wouldn't be fair to those who waited, so I didn't.
Additionally, I am writing a new novel, which is also 18+, with a Lust system set in a magical academy setting! You can check it out on my profile if you want.
P.S- 42+ Extra chapters on P.atreon!