Chapter 80: Traitor of the Pureblood Family
This is the first open day of Hogsmeade for Hogwarts students this school year.
It was still early in the morning, and the mist had not yet dissipated. A young man with platinum blond hair emerged from the mist and walked hurriedly on the cobblestone street that was the most prosperous in Hogsmeade village.
He was none other than Draco Malfoy.
He turned out of Honeydukes Candy Store, walked past the groups of Hogwarts students, walked through the bustling Zonko's Joke Shop without looking around, and finally, under the watchful eyes of several Dementors, pushed open the door of the Three Broomsticks Tavern, a tavern frequented by Hogwarts students.
The Three Broomsticks is a warm, cosy place to enjoy a great butterbeer.
Although lemonade, hot mead, red wine, even cherry juice, soda water with ice and a small umbrella, and the simplest sparkling water are also available here, people still love to visit here in the afternoon, order a glass of butter beer, and drink with a few friends.
At this moment, Draco looked around at the patrons in the bar - there weren't many people.
He put his hands in his pockets, tilted his head leisurely, and said a few words to Ms. Rosmerta, who was eager to attract customers at the door, and then walked all the way to an empty booth in the corner of the bar.
Opposite the booth was a handsome man with a gloomy expression.
His skin was pale, like a vampire, and he exuded an aura that kept strangers away. His black hair hung in front of his eyes, and he occasionally sipped his whiskey, seemingly bored with everything around him.
"Another glass of wine!" He raised the empty glass in his hand towards Ms. Rosmerta at the door, and then his eyes became empty and dazed, as motionless as a handsome man statue in a Greek temple.
Madam Rosmerta came waddling over, her tray in her hand.
She was a pretty woman with a curvaceous figure, and Draco was sure she had glanced at the Black heir as she put down her whiskey, but he was unmoved.
So she put the other glass of sparkling water in front of Draco and walked away disappointedly.
Sirius Black's cold demeanor didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the others. Several Hogwarts senior girls were hiding in a nearby booth, watching him, whispering and occasionally letting out a giggle.
He paid no attention to the girls. He simply raised his eyelids and glanced at the boy who had just sat down opposite him, without smiling.
He didn't waste any more expression, treating Draco like a normal boy.
He no longer adopted the gentle and friendly attitude he used towards Harry's other Gryffindor friends.
After experiencing that night and witnessing everything that happened in the headmaster's office, he already understood that his distant nephew, Draco Malfoy, was not as simple as he appeared.
He was actually quite mature and sophisticated, so there was no need to treat the boy opposite as an ignorant child.
The boy was by no means ignorant, and the lively and cheerful air and the innocent questions he had displayed when he visited the old Blake house were probably all a pretense.
Not every student has the ability to stand in the headmaster's office late at night and plot something with Dumbledore. Draco Malfoy is too deeply involved in some things, perhaps even more deeply involved than Harry.
Why did this pure-blood kid, clearly a scheming person, feign innocence to get close to Harry? Was he sincere, or did he have other motives?
Did he know about the golden cup, and what he had done to trick Narcissa?
Sirius studied him lazily, his mind on guard.
Draco felt his gaze. He pursed his lips, maintaining a cold expression. He felt a little annoyed with Sirius Black. Thinking about how he had deceived his mother, Narcissa, he was furious.
Even though he'd heroically destroyed the golden cup, he was still a cocky, annoying bastard, Draco thought grimly.
If Harry hadn't begged him, he would have wanted to just walk away and go back to Honeydukes.
He would rather help the confused little girl pick out candy all day than sit across from this traitor of the pure-blood family and look at the poker face of the rebellious son of the Black family.
"Draco Malfoy, what can I do for you?" Sirius asked calmly.
"Sirius Black." Draco took a sip of his glass and said coldly, "Harry asked me to give you a message."
Sirius was slightly surprised by his intentions. He lowered some of his guard. "Oh, really? I thought he would come to see me on his own, not—"
"He asked me, Malfoy, to pass on a message for him?" Draco replied indifferently, "He was delayed by something and can't come to Hogsmeade today."
"Why can't he come? He doesn't want to see me?" Sirius asked suspiciously.
"Quite the contrary. He's dying to see you. He's been given detention by Professor Snape," Draco said flatly.
"Oh," Sirius said dryly.
"He's very worried about you. He's been worried about your condition since you left the hospital wing last time." Draco sneered, "At least write him a few more letters, Harry's godfather!"
"Yes, that's true. You actually care about him?" Sirius asked inquiringly. "You two are so close? How unexpected! Is it popular at Hogwarts now for Gryffindors and Slytherins to be friends? Are the two houses no longer in chaos, but like a family?"
"It's not popular. There are often bickering and provocations between the two houses." Draco said coldly, "I probably get suggested by some Slytherin every few days to keep my distance from the Gryffindors."
"Well, in that case, how do you maintain your friendship?" Sirius said lazily, "Or rather, how did you establish a friendship?"
"I don't seem to need to explain my friendship with Harry to you." Feeling the sharpness in his words, Draco's words also became sharp, "Just like you haven't explained why you coaxed and tricked my mother into taking a historic souvenir - even though it didn't belong to you at all."
Sirius shook his wand casually, as if casting an anti-jamming charm or a silencing charm.
In an instant, the noise around them disappeared and the world became extremely quiet. They could not hear the laughter of the silly female students around them, which was deliberately amplified, just as those girls could not hear what they were talking about.
"I doubt Dumbledore explained the danger of that thing to you," Sirius said calmly. "Didn't you also steal a little trinket from me? The locket?"
"Yeah, and then had your house-elf destroy it," Draco reminded him. "I didn't try to trick you. I'm more honest than you are about this, Sirius Black!"
"Why, are you trying to avenge your mother?" Sirius raised his eyebrows and said threateningly, "My dear cousin Narcissa, does she know what you are doing?"
Draco stared at him, his heart suddenly tightening.
"I suppose she doesn't know, otherwise she wouldn't have given the cup away so easily," Sirius said calmly. "Oh, but I know what's in that cup. Just like the locket, it's no simple matter. They're not just items of Dark Magic, nor are they just keepsakes given by the Dark Lord to his followers for safekeeping. Dumbledore tried to be vague with me, but he couldn't fool a Black."
Draco was struck by a blow.
He tightly gripped the glass of sparkling water and took a sip disguisedly. With the faint stimulation of the tip of his tongue, he looked over the top of the glass at the uncontrollable young man opposite him.
He was waiting for the other party to speak, to expose the secret activities that Draco Malfoy had been carefully carrying out, and to cause trouble to the career that Draco Malfoy had worked hard to build throughout his life.
Draco had anticipated this day long before he knew what Regulus was doing.
The Black family has been passed down for many years. Families with such a rich heritage often have numerous books and extensive knowledge of the Dark Arts.
Regulus was willing to risk his life to retrieve the locket, and even planned to switch sides and destroy it at the risk of becoming a "traitor to the pure-blood family". He probably knew long ago that this thing was a Horcrux.
If he could figure it out, there was no reason why his brother - Sirius Black - couldn't figure it out either.
It was only a matter of time before Sirius Black came into contact with these truths.
"That's a Horcrux, isn't it?" Sirius said, staring at him intently.
Sure enough. Draco's heart was pounding, even though his face remained expressionless.
"Does it matter whether it is yes or no?" Draco's voice was like an iceberg floating on the sea, with a huge sense of uneasiness hidden beneath the plain surface.
"You're investigating Horcruxes in secret, aren't you? You haven't told your parents, have you?" Sirius stared at him for a long moment with his grey eyes. "You're planning to do it all on your own, like foolish Regulus did, aren't you?"
His words were like sharp arrows, hitting the bull's eye.
"What does this have to do with you?" Draco said coldly after a pause, "What right do you have to say that Regulus is stupid?"
"Isn't he stupid?" Sirius took a big gulp of wine, his eyes seemed a little red: "He is a fool! He knows my position! If he wanted to oppose Voldemort, he could have come to me, and we could have -"
"Don't say that name!" Draco said in disgust.
"You coward!" Sirius sneered. "You're just like Regulus! You're doing things against Voldemort, but you're afraid to call him by his name? I don't understand what's going on in the minds of you Slytherins!"
"That's right. You don't understand Regulus's thoughts, nor do you understand Slytherin's thoughts." Draco said coldly, feeling inexplicably sad. "You don't understand what he's carrying. You don't understand what he's afraid of. You don't understand the heart of a Slytherin who protects his family."
"Draco Malfoy, don't act like a mature young man. Just because you're a Slytherin you think you can understand my brother!" Sirius gave him a disdainful look. "How much can you understand Regulus? Have you even - have you met him in person?"
"It's true that I haven't met him. But that doesn't mean I can't empathize with him. You say he's being foolish by not coming to you?" Draco asked him angrily, "If he came to you and openly stood on the same side as you, do you know what that would mean? It would mean that the Black family is directly against the Dark Lord. Is there any hope for the Black family to survive?"
"That's complete nonsense," Sirius said disapprovingly. "We should have spoken out against it—"
Draco interrupted him.
"Why do you think Great-Aunt Walburga died of old age in her bed at the Black mansion, rather than in Azkaban or at the hands of the Dark Lord?" Draco put himself in Regulus's shoes, imagining what he might do. "Under the circumstances at the time, if the Black family, as loyal supporters of the Dark Lord, had changed sides, they would have been purged by the Dark Lord. Continuing to openly support the old pure-blood ideals would have been safer. It was the best option after weighing all the pros and cons. He chose to sacrifice himself silently and secretly carry out what he believed in. At the same time, he didn't want to drag down his family, so he tried his best to protect it."
Sirius was somewhat annoyed. "Protecting the family? That sounds good! If it were you, it might not be possible..."
Draco's mouth was dry from what he had just said. He took a sip of water and finally calmly concluded, "I would do the same thing."
"You!" Sirius looked at him in surprise, as if he had just met him. "You're just a teenage boy, and yet you have the audacity to say such things! Do you understand the meaning behind these words?"
"Is it difficult to understand? He would rather experience all the dangers and take all the responsibilities himself to protect his family's safety, no matter whether his family members disagree with his ideas or whether they are stubborn and conservative. He would rather drink the poison himself than let the house-elf drink it. He regards Kreacher as a member of the family." Draco said sarcastically, with a mocking smile, "Sirius Black, can you do it? What were you doing while he was taking on everything? You were busy chasing freedom and upholding justice with your Gryffindor friends; you didn't consider at all whether he could bear it all, the family's expectations, the shattered faith, the fear of knowing the Dark Lord's secret..."
As he spoke, Draco felt a surge of sadness. He felt for Regulus, the frail 18-year-old who had shouldered so much.
In a way, he felt the same way about Regulus.
The feeling of loneliness that comes from having a huge secret, being horrified, but having no one to turn to.
No one could understand him. No one.
"No, that's not the case!" Sirius frowned, his face showing a rare look of panic. "I once tried to persuade him to give up his identity as a Death Eater, but he was too stubborn. I also tried to persuade him to leave the Black mansion with me and leave those poisonous thoughts, but he was too cowardly..."
"Sirius Black, you don't understand one thing! What I've discussed with you has never been a personal choice, but the safety of the family!" Draco took a deep breath. "Under that particular circumstance, the Black family was already firmly tied to the Dark Lord's ship. The Black family needed a descendant to stand up and shoulder all of this, regardless of honor or disgrace, success or failure."
Sirius fell silent. He looked at the boy across from him. He was continuing in a cruel and calm tone, "Sirius Black, that descendant, it was either him or you. You ran away, and he chose to stay. You called him a coward, but what is courage?"
"I cannot understand this kind of bravery. I still think it's foolish." Sirius took a big gulp of his wine and said, "The so-called 'bravery' of the Slytherins is nothing more than a form of cowardice. They are just struggling to survive, surviving in the cracks, and contributing to the spread of toxic ideas."
Draco stared at him, feeling that what he had just said with such painstaking effort was completely irrelevant.
"Yes, you deserved to be imprisoned in Azkaban for eleven years for your reckless and impulsive behavior! No one collected your mother's body, and no one took care of the family business! After finally being released from prison, you still shirked your responsibilities as your godfather, allowing the enemy who betrayed your friend to flee the world while you hid in your room and drank your sorrows. Is this what you call bravery?" He said tartly, "If that's the case, then the bravery of the Gryffindors is nothing more than that. It's just self-paralysis! How noble are you?"
Sirius's face fell.
Draco thought he would be angry and furious, but unexpectedly, the man opposite showed an indifferent expression.
"Indeed," he sneered, a look of near-death weariness appearing on his proud face. "I never claimed to be noble. Nor was I brave. In fact, the Sirius Black of the past is dead—along with James Potter—at the age of twenty-two. The one who lives now is the walking corpse, not the brave Gryffindor he once was."
"It seems that what happened to Harry's father has hit you hard. I'm very sorry about that." Draco said after a pause, looking at the head of the Black family in front of him.
A child of destiny that faded midway. Sirius Black was once such a dazzling, brilliant young man, the most high-spirited figure in Hogwarts, possessing a fiery passion that the cold Slytherins could not understand.
However, his brilliant life came to an abrupt end when he was sent to Azkaban at the age of 22, and his best years were spent among the terrifying Dementors.
In his previous life, his father Lucius had only been in Azkaban for a year and had already become haggard. What kind of tragic past had Sirius Black experienced over the years?
Forget it, why bother with him? Draco was too lazy to continue to attack him.
"Yesterday cannot be brought back. You are not alone, you still have Harry to take care of. How long are you going to be depressed?" He restrained his temper and couldn't help but say one more word.
He really couldn't stand the half-dead look of the man opposite him.
In his previous life, Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban alone and lived his life in hiding as a wanted criminal, living like a stray dog; in this life, he has been cleared of all charges and is now innocent. He could have done more instead of dwelling on the past and living in such a destitute and decadent state.
"I know. I just can't get over it for the moment." Sirius murmured.
"I won't say any more nonsense about 'time heals all wounds'. You have to cheer up! While you're spending time reminiscing about the past, your dear godson - James Potter's child - may be in danger. Is this what you want to see? Do you want to regret it when it's too late?" Draco asked aggressively.
Sirius raised his eyes to look at him, a look of exhaustion on his face.
"Also, your 'old friend' - Peter Pettigrew - is getting closer and closer to Hogwarts. Whatever he is planning to do, I believe this matter is particularly important, so that he can overcome his fear and face the challenge. Don't you want to catch him and avenge Harry's parents?" Draco continued to provoke him.
These words obviously worked.
The fire in Sirius's dull eyes was rekindled—a fire of resentment and revenge.
This was Sirius Black's expression.
"I know Peter Pettigrew. He doesn't have the guts to go to Hogwarts and kill someone," he said contemptuously.
"What if he has ulterior motives? He's been in Azkaban for a while. Who knows if he might have been bewitched by some crazy Death Eater during that time?" Draco asked tentatively.
"It's not impossible." Sirius finally started to think. "If that's the case, then it's not Peter Pettigrew's personal behavior, but it could be a planned attack by the Death Eaters. Ultimately, it's all because of that damned Voldemort."
"Don't say that name!" Draco said angrily.
"Coward! Coward! Incompetent bastard!" Sirius said defiantly, glancing at him. "You want to destroy the Horcruxes? You don't even dare to tell your parents what you're doing."
"Why, are you going to tell someone? Tell my parents that their son is a traitor to a pure-blood family? Tell my father, who was once a Death Eater, that his son betrayed his former master? Would you be happy if my mother suffered the same misfortune as my great-aunt Walburga?" Draco glared at him, thinking that he was the most ungrateful Gryffindor in the world.
"On the contrary, I will never tell them. I will help you." Hearing his words, Sirius showed a childish smile on his face, and a strange light flashed in his eyes. "You fool, cowardly Slytherin! Cowardly Slytherin! I will help you."
Now it was Draco's turn to be turned into a sculpture.
The reversal was so great that Draco almost couldn't control his expression.
"What should I do? What can I do? Tell me." Sirius looked him straight in the eye.
"Is this some kind of trap? The kind that's meant to trick me? Like you did to my mother?" Draco asked grimly.
"Absolutely not. Look, I'm sorry about that incident with your mother," Sirius said seriously. "At the time, I had no idea what you were doing in private. If you were me, knowing that the golden cup was suspicious and there was only one solution before you, what would you do?"
Draco remained silent.
If he were in Sirius's position, he would certainly do everything he could to take the Horcrux from Narcissa.
After reviewing the situation in his mind, Draco realized that there was really no better way.
However, for a moment, he could not accept that his family had been deceived, nor could he accept that his family might be in danger of being liquidated one day in the future.
After a long pause, Draco finally said to Sirius, "I have decided to let bygones be bygones. However, please do not try to attract my family's attention again in the future, otherwise, we will not be able to cooperate."
"Got it," Sirius said lazily, extending his hand to the boy in front of him. "Cooperation?"
"Cooperation." Draco hesitantly reached out and shook his hand.
"Now, tell me. What are you and Dumbledore planning to do next?" Sirius licked his lips. "Horcruxes—besides the cup and the locket—perhaps there are more?"
Draco looked at him in surprise. How did he know everything?
"Don't be so surprised. You seem so skilled at destroying Horcruxes." Sirius's eyes were sharp and his expression was calm. "Back then, you were so sure that the fang could destroy the locket. Just like—it had destroyed other Horcruxes before. Since it has destroyed other Horcruxes before, it means there are more than just two Horcruxes. There must be more that have not been discovered and destroyed."
"Yes. We suspect there may be other Horcruxes." Draco said quickly, horrified at Sirius's acumen. "We're looking for a ring—Slytherin's ring. And Hepzibah Smith. She might be a clue to understanding Tom Riddle—the Dark Lord."
Hearing this, Sirius Black smiled dangerously, like a killer who had found his target.