After that, Arthur and Sirius both tacitly avoided discussing other matters.
Arthur was now drawing a clear line with him, not getting involved in what he would do later.
So in the afternoon, Arthur, using the excuse that the Black dog was inhuman and wouldn't let him touch it, had Kreacher dispose of the Black dog in front of the hidden Aurors.
This Black dog was naturally not Sirius, but the corpse of a stray dog Kreacher had found outside.
Sirius, on the other hand, was sent away by Kreacher.
As he sent Sirius off, Kreacher disgustedly wiped his hand, which had just been holding Sirius, on his clothes, but then he remembered that these clothes were bought specifically for him by his master, so he glared angrily at Sirius and hit himself a few times.
"Hmph, it's all because you, who betrayed the House of Black, came back and made Young Master spend so much money. If I wasn't afraid of the Ministry of Magicdiscovering a Wizard using Apparition, I wouldn't have sent you out."
Sirius, too, looked indifferent towards Kreacher; this House-elf, brainwashed by his mother, had always disgusted him.
Now, it seemed he had been re-brainwashed by his nephew, whom he had just met. However, seeing Kreacher wearing clothes better than his own, he didn't think it was a bad thing.
It seemed his nephew was a good person, possessing both rationality and kindness, just like James after he settled down for Lily.
Thinking of James, he thought of Harry. So he ignored Kreacher's incessant scolding and left.
After sending Sirius away, Arthur also prepared for the start of the new Hogwarts term. This school year, if nothing unexpected happened, Hogwarts would be surrounded by Dementors.
He was very interested in these Dementors.
After he made a request to the Ministry of Magic last time, he obtained all the information about the veil in the Department of Mysteries.
One point that greatly interested him was that when the Ministry of Magic was still the Wizengamot, an Unspeakable named Extis, who was also the famous builder of Azkaban, had studied this veil.
Originally, all his related information in the Ministry of Magic's records had been destroyed, but Arthur, while reviewing some previously summarized Unspeakabledata, found a letter where the writer mentioned his colleague, Extis, and said that Extis had made a significant discovery.
The date recorded on that letter was precisely the time Azkaban appeared, the fifteenth century.
With this discovery, Arthur decided to capture a few Dementors for research. Even if he didn't have time, he would keep a few as future experimental subjects.
Anyway, he was already raising quite a few Fudibats, and Dementors, which are somewhat related to Fudibats, don't need to eat to survive and are easier to keep; just lock them up.
Soon, the time for the start of school arrived.
Arthur sat in the compartment, thinking about the Dementors and Sirius who would soon arrive at Hogwarts.
He believed Sirius was cold-blooded, but in reality, he was not much different.
Or one could say he was indifferent, just like Lupinwhen he was studying at Hogwarts—not actively participating, but not preventing either.
Lupin's reason was his Werewolf identity. But Arthursimply chose to act this way; perhaps this also fit his identity of transmigrating into the House of Black and becoming a member of the Black family.
Seeing Arthur staring out the window in a daze, Draconudged him and said discontentedly, "Arthur, we haven't seen each other for so long, don't you have anything to say to me?"
Seeing Draco's unhappy, 'you better apologize quickly' expression, Arthur smiled and wisely said, "Of course not, Draco. Let me tell you what happened when I went to France this time."
"Good, good, good! Hurry up and tell me!"
Even without asking his father, Draco had seen news of Arthur in the newspapers. He wanted to know from Arthur, the person involved, exactly what had happened.
During this time, the most discussed topics, besides the escaped Sirius, were Arthur Black.
If we were to rank them by current popularity:
Sirius first.
Arthur second.
The Savior Harry Potter and the greatest Wizard of his time, Dumbledore, could only rank third and fourth.
Because The Daily Prophet had just published the news of Arthur killing dozens of Vampires in Franceand receiving an honorary medal from the French Ministry of Magic. Immediately following that was the escape of Arthur's uncle, Sirius, and Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge even demonstrated a 'Big Bad Wolf forced to reveal her identity' maneuver for Arthur.
If Arthur wasn't Lockhart, with just these few incidents, Lockhart could have published three more best-selling books.
Looking at Draco's eager eyes, Arthur's mouth curved upwards, and he said, "This time in France, Fleur and I made our relationship official. It's just that I'm still young, otherwise..."
"Otherwise what?" Draco subconsciously finished his sentence. But then he realized something was wrong; Arthur wasn't talking about what he wanted to hear.
Instead, it was something he found hard to accept. He shouted, "W~T~F! You... I... you, you just started third year! And you abandoned me so unhesitatingly."
Arthur comforted him, "It's okay, don't you have Pansy? It's all the same."
"What do you mean 'the same'! Pansy isn't pretty, she's sharp-tongued and unreasonable. If it weren't for her decent grades, I'd suspect she and Goyle share a Troll's brain."
It was clear Draco was very agitated; he had even stood up.
Arthur was about to continue comforting him, but the surroundings suddenly became dim, and the temperature dropped sharply, making the Wizards in the Hogwarts Express feel a coolness that didn't belong to this summer day.
The standing Draco shivered, hugged his arms, and sat down, frowning as he said, "What's going on? It's suddenly so cold, like winter is almost here."
Arthur took out his wand and held it in his hand. "Draco, you get your wand out too. A group of special fellows has arrived."
"Special fellows? What are they?" Asking as he spoke, Draco pulled his wand from his pocket.
"Dementors."
"Ah!" Draco nearly dropped his wand. "They... shouldn't they be in Azkaban? How did they get here?"
Arthur stroked his wand, sensing the approaching Dementors. "Probably the Wizards from the Ministry of Magic aren't at ease and sent them over to search for Sirius."
At this moment, screams also came from some of the other compartments.
Listening to the commotion outside, Draco said angrily, "Hmph! A bunch of useless Aurors, giving them money is such a waste. I'm definitely going to tell my father when I get back."
But he quickly fell silent, because a Dementor had already opened the door to their compartment and poked its head inside.
Arthur nudged the stiff Draco and whispered, "Go! Draco. Use the Charms I taught you last time against it; that Charms is its bane."
Draco naturally knew what Arthur was talking about, but the object Arthur had trained him with last time was a Fudibat that was already restrained.
Facing physical attacks that wouldn't harm his life, he could barely manage to summon his peacock Patronus.
Now, facing this Dementor, which would truly attack his soul, his mind seemed to suddenly stop thinking, becoming a blank. He heard what Arthur had just said to him, but immediately forgot it. Now, facing this Dementor, Draco just stiffly held up his wand, pointing it at it.