Chapter 387: Revenge (Edited)

Also coincidentally, when Fish was running around the castle with the Marauder's Map, Snape, who was on patrol tonight, saw it pass in front of him.

But, like everyone else, Snape didn't take it seriously at the time.

He'd done it too many times to draw attention to himself, so Snape merely stood and watched as the cat bounded down the stairs before continuing on his patrol.

"Clang!"

But before Snape could get very far, there was a rustling sound as something seemed to touch one of the suits of armor next to him.

Snape turned his head to look, and saw no one else, only the arm of one of the suits of armor against the wall a little crooked.

"Peeves?" asked Snape in the armor's direction.

Of course, Snape knew about the Potter family's inherited invisibility cloak in Harry's hand, but at the moment he didn't think about Harry, after all, compared to Peeves, who likes to cause trouble everywhere, Harry's sense of presence is still a bit lower.

As for Sirius Black, Snape found him even more unlikely.

If it's so easy to get noticed, why hasn't he been caught yet?

Besides, Black's "assistant" had transformed yesterday and was now weakened, so there was no reason for him to sneak in at that point.

Snape's sharp eyes watched the rattling armor and moved closer to it.

Under the invisibility cloak, Harry held his breath, not daring to utter a sound.

Instead of getting an answer from Peeves, Snape asked no more questions, but reached out and straightened the armor arm that Harry had pulled out of place.

Harry's face turned red as he watched Snape's pale, thin palm run over his head, holding his breath.

Good thing Snape had turned around once he had straightened the armor, otherwise Harry would have had to hold his breath for quite a while.

Only when Snape disappeared around the corner did Harry, already dizzy from holding his breath, open his mouth and suck in the fresh air.

Only when he had fully recovered did Harry continue walking cautiously down the stairs.

On the other side, Snape continued his patrol and soon after ran into the Watcher, Filch, who was also on patrol.

"Good evening, Professor." Filch greeted Snape with a fawning smile.

Filch, who was equally unpopular with the students and strict with the others, had a soft spot for Snape, who, thanks to Fish, didn't get along badly with Filch either, and they used to exchange a few greetings when they met.

"Hmm."

But today Snape seemed to have little desire to talk and was nodding indifferently in response.

Knowing his temper, Filch didn't take the cold response to heart, but instead complained nonchalantly to Snape, "We need to check on Peeves, he keeps going around causing trouble when Black is peeping in the dark, and I just got him out of the cellar."

"What did you say?!"

Snape, who was still distracted, suddenly grabbed Filch's shoulder.

"I, I mean... I just kicked Peeves out of the cellar..."

Filch, startled by Snape's agitated reaction, stammered a reply, his face twitching slightly at the pain coming from his shoulder.

"How long have you been in the cellar?"

Snape ignored Filch's discomfort and instead continued to increase the strength of his hands, asking quickly.

Seeing the other party's urgency, Filch knew that something serious had probably happened, and quickly replied, "At least an hour, and he's replaced a quarter of the mead in the cellar with strong vinegar."

"Damn it!"

Snape cursed under his breath and ran out of the castle.

Because he suddenly remembered something: Peeves wouldn't dare be anywhere near Fish, so that move just now, that had to be from a Gryffindor student who had inherited his father's invisibility cloak and arrogant personality!

Although Snape wasn't sure why Harry was sneaking out of the dormitory at that hour, he subconsciously thought it had something to do with the kitten that had just run off.

After all...

Fish was nearby and, with his sense of hearing and smell, he couldn't miss Harry's presence.

And even if it had nothing to do with Fish, Snape could have had the cat use its keen sense of smell and hearing to find Harry sneaking out.

As for the possibility that the invisible man could be Black or another ghost...

The chances were too low for Snape to consider for now.

Harry, who had sneaked out of the castle using his invisibility cloak, had moved a bit further away, removed the cloak that prevented him from moving and was running faster towards the Boxing Willow.

Compared to going to seek revenge on Sirius earlier, it was not worth mentioning to Harry the possible danger of revealing his whereabouts.

The result of this, however, was that he was caught by Snape, who was curious as to why Harry and Fish had escaped, so at first he did not stop Harry, but followed him with the spell of disillusionment.

It wasn't until they reached the Boxing Willow, that they saw Sirius Black hanging from it.

Although Sirius was fatter than he appeared on the wanted list and his face was covered in blood, Harry and Snape recognized him immediately.

"Black!"

Harry shouted, gritting his teeth and clutching his wand.

"Black!"

The same shrill voice sounded behind Harry, startling him.

Harry looked back to see Snape lift the disillusionment spell and emerge from the air.

"Snape!" exclaimed Harry.

"Ten points off for Gryffindor, and remember to address me as Professor." Snape looked weakly at Harry and then looked back at Sirius, chattering excitedly, "I knew it! I knew it! It had to be Lupin! Hmph! Dumbledore still thinks he's a tame werewolf..."

The thought of sending two of his enemy pupils to Azkaban together made Snape shiver with excitement, and he grinned, showing his white teeth and a grimace of pleasure on his face.

But Snape quickly calmed down, looked around, and then frowned at Harry, "Where's Fish?"

"Fish, I think he went to the Shrieking Shack to look for Lupin."

Harry hesitated for a moment and answered truthfully, but said nothing about secret passages or the Marauder's Map.

Snape grunted and ignored Harry, instead picking up a long, dead branch nearby and walking towards the Boxing Willow.

Using the branch to silence the Boxing Willow, as he had done before, Snape reached the trunk of the willow and, instead of diving into the tunnel, reached out to pull down Black who was dangling....

He was then ejected by the Boxing Willow.

Knots are not the Boxing Willow's weakness, it is more like a switch or a signal, letting the Boxing Willow know that it is "one of us".

However, Fish's orders took higher priority, so when Snape tried to touch Sirius, whom Fish had asked to keep an eye on, Boxing Willow did not comply.

Snape covered his bruised ribs, grimacing, and got up from the ground, not daring to approach the mad tree again.

And Harry, watching all this, smiled silently.

Sirius Black in the net, and watching Snape get beaten up....

It really was a great day!

As for being caught by Snape and getting points deducted and being punished and all that....

Are Gryffindor students still afraid of that?

Just as Snape was debating whether to try again or not, a figure suddenly flew out of the tunnel, none other than Remus Lupin, who had been bruised and beaten by Fish.

And right after that, a certain cat jumped out with a proud expression on his face....

"Severus? what are you doing here?!"

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