"—promise to be a good boy and not leave the castle?"
Harry said glumly.
"Not exactly."
Mr. Weasley said it so seriously that Harry had never seen him like this before.
"Harry, promise me you will never go looking for Black."
Harry stared at him in shock.
"What?"
Before Mr. Weasley could answer, a loud blast of a horn cut in first.
The Knight Bus appeared—the enormous purple bus Harry had seen before, the one said to be able to take wizards anywhere, so long as it wasn't over water.
The conductor stood by the door, calling out lazily.
"Promise me, Harry," Mr. Weasley said even faster, "no matter what happens—"
"Why would I go looking for someone who I know wants to kill me?" Harry asked, baffled.
"Swear to me, no matter what you hear—"
"Arthur, hurry up!"
Mrs. Weasley had already come over and was calling to him.
There was no more time for goodbyes. Harry could only watch as Mr. Weasley picked up the luggage and headed for the bus, with Sean standing just ahead.
Ron trailed behind at the very end. He wasn't leaving the Leaky Cauldron—he was staying here with Harry.
"I can't wait for them to go, even if they'll be back soon enough," he said. "At least I'll be rid of Percy. He just had another go at me for dripping tea on that picture of Penelope Clearwater. You know," Ron pulled a face, "his girlfriend. She had to hide behind the frame because her nose was covered in stains…"
The bus gave a violent shudder and sped off.
Harry and Ron waved to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley through the window. They had just finished hugging Sean and were setting the younger wizards down by the pub entrance.
Then the bus turned a corner, and they were gone.
Mrs. Weasley had mussed up Sean's hair, but with a light tap of his wand, it smoothed itself back into place.
When he turned around, he saw Harry looking dazed, Ron pouting, and Justin and Hermione chatting together.
In the distance, a wizard in black robes was approaching.
Sean recognized him at once—Professor Snape, who always came to pick him up at exactly the appointed time.
But Harry got to them before Snape did.
"I need to talk to you," Harry said quietly to the others.
"What?" Ron asked, confused.
"Oh, sure, no problem," Justin said with a nod.
"And where's Sean?" Hermione asked, looking around.
Sean walked over silently and followed worried Harry and the curious others back into the pub.
At that, the black dog upstairs couldn't help barking twice.
"I hardly ever see wizards keeping black dogs as pets," Ron muttered.
"That isn't a wizard…" Hermione said, raising an eyebrow, though she sounded uncertain.
She had seen that goblin-like creature before. Sean had once brought it to Hogwarts.
As for why it was here now, and why it was keeping a black dog, she had no idea.
"Its owner is a Pukwudgie, a distant cousin of goblins," Justin explained patiently to Ron.
"That just makes it weirder," Ron said with a long face, turning back to Harry. "Anyway, Harry—what did you want to tell us?"
Harry repeated, word for word, what he had overheard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley arguing about, along with Mr. Weasley's warning just now.
When he finished, Ron was staring open-mouthed in shock, Justin was frowning silently, and Hermione had both hands over her mouth.
At last she lowered them and said, "Sirius Black escaped to come after you?
Oh, Harry… you have to be extra, extra careful.
Don't go looking for trouble, Harry…"
"I'm not looking for trouble," Harry said irritably. "Trouble always finds me."
"Harry's not stupid enough to go after some madman who wants to kill him, is he?" Ron said, shivering.
Harry hadn't expected them to take the news this seriously.
Ron and Hermione both seemed even more frightened of Black than he was, so Harry turned to look at Sean.
Thankfully, Sean still looked as calm as ever, which made Harry feel a little more at ease.
But almost immediately, that gave way to a bit of shame.
He ought to handle his own problems. How could he keep pinning his hopes on Sean every time?
"No one knows how he managed to escape from Azkaban," Ron said uneasily. "Nobody's ever done it before. And he was supposed to be a heavily guarded prisoner."
"But they'll catch him, won't they?" Hermione said earnestly. "I mean, they've even got all the Muggles helping look for him…"
"What's that noise?" Ron asked suddenly.
A faint, almost ghostly whistling sound was coming from somewhere.
They all looked around the compartment.
"It's coming from your pocket, Harry," Ron said, looking at him.
A moment later, Ron pulled the tiny Sneakoscope out of Harry's robes.
It spun furiously in Ron's palm, flashing brightly.
"Is that a Sneakoscope?" Hermione asked with interest, standing up to get a closer look.
"Yeah… to be honest, it's a cheap one," Ron said. "When I tied it to Errol's leg to send it to Harry, it suddenly started acting up."
"You weren't doing anything ridiculous at the time, were you?" Hermione asked sharply.
"No! Ugh… I shouldn't have used Errol. You know he's really not up to long-distance flying… but what else was I supposed to do to get Harry his present?"
"That is strange," Hermione said.
She glanced at Justin, who nodded, and at Sean, who was still looking off into the distance.
Of course, Sean knew why.
Ron's Sneakoscope had never been broken—it had detected Scabbers before, and now it was probably detecting Professor Snape.
Professor Snape always carried a few Dark artifacts on him. After all, he was a master of the Dark Arts.
Oh, right—and he had also been teaching Sean how to identify such objects.
"Turn it off already," Harry said, wincing at the shrill whistle.
Ron stuffed the Sneakoscope into a pair of especially ugly old socks in his bag. The noise stopped at once, and he snapped the trunk shut.
"We can get it fixed in Hogsmeade," Ron said, sitting down again. "Dervish and Banges sells them too—Fred and George told me."
"Do you know a lot about Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked eagerly. "I've read about it so many times in books—it's the only all-wizard village in Britain—"
"Yeah, I suppose," Ron said in a deliberately casual tone. "But that's not why I want to go there. I just want to see Honeydukes!"
"That sweet shop?" Hermione asked.
"That sweet shop," Ron said, and his face took on a dreamy look. "It's got everything… Pepper Imps—they make smoke come out of your mouth—and great big chocolate balls stuffed with strawberry mousse and clotted cream, and the most amazing sugar quills, so you can suck them in class and everyone thinks you're still trying to work out what to write next—"
"Hogsmeade is a very interesting place," Hermione sniffed. "According to Sites of Historical Sorcery, that little inn there was headquarters during the Goblin Rebellion of 1612, and there's the Shrieking Shack, which is supposed to be the most badly haunted building in Britain—"
"—and huge cream-filled toffees that lift you a few inches off the ground while you're sucking them," Ron went on, clearly not having heard a word Hermione had said.
Hermione turned to Justin and Sean.
"It must be fun, getting out of school now and then and going to Hogsmeade, don't you think?
You'll go, won't you? Justin? Harry?"
"Mhm," Justin said with a smile and a nod.
"Of course," Harry said.
His mood had improved considerably. Whenever Hogsmeade came up, he thought of the permission slip Aunt Petunia had secretly tucked away for him.
Even though he had blown Aunt Marge up and completely failed to keep their agreement, Aunt Petunia had still signed it.
Back then, Harry still didn't know that love was never conditional.
"And… what about you, Sean?" Hermione asked.
It was as if she had carefully laid all the groundwork just so she could finally stare straight at him and ask.
"I don't know," Sean said hesitantly.
Hogsmeade was certainly wonderful, and Professor McGonagall had long wanted to sign his form—but in the end, certain special circumstances had stopped him.
This was what her letter had said:
[Dear Mr. Green,
Please note that the new term begins on September 1st.
The Hogwarts Express will depart from Platform Nine at King's Cross Station at eleven o'clock.
If you plan to spend the final week of the summer holiday at the farm, please contact me in person.
I am pleased to inform you, dear Mr. Green, that third-year students are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade on certain weekends.
Please have the enclosed permission form signed and returned to me.
By the way, your Potions professor has expressed obvious dissatisfaction regarding this matter. Please bypass him entirely and come directly to me.
Enclosed is next term's book list.
Yours faithfully,
Your Vice-Headmistress and guardian,
Minerva McGonagall]
"What… does that mean?" Ron said, looking horrified. "They're not letting you go? But—that's impossible—as long as there's someone to sign it—how could they not approve it?"
"Hey!" Hermione shot Ron a glare. She seemed to have remembered something.
At Sean's birthday not long ago, she hadn't seen a single adult.
That is, aside from a bunch of professors—no other wizard or Muggle at all.
Ron, having been glared at for reasons he didn't understand, looked bewildered, but still lowered his voice and suggested, "Maybe… Professor Flitwick or someone else could sign for you—
Or we could ask Fred and George. They know every secret passage leading out of the castle—"
"Ron!" Hermione snapped. "That would break school rules—"
"Blimey—Hermione, you still remember school rules?" Ron said, looking as though he'd seen a ghost.
Hermione flushed crimson with anger. She ignored Ron and said quietly instead, "But Ron does have a point. A professor might be able to decide."
As she spoke, she fiddled with the straps on Crookshanks' wicker basket.
"Don't let that thing out!" Ron said—but it was too late.
Crookshanks sprang deftly out of the basket, stretched, yawned, and leapt straight into Ron's lap.
The bulge in Ron's pocket started trembling violently. Ron shoved Crookshanks off in annoyance.
"Get off!"
"Ron, don't do that!" Hermione said angrily. "How many times is this now?"
Crookshanks had always been extremely hostile toward Scabbers.
But everyone thought that was perfectly natural. After all, Crookshanks was a cat, and Scabbers was a rat.
"What do you think?" Hermione asked, holding Crookshanks and turning to Sean.
Crookshanks had settled himself in an empty seat now. His squashed, persimmon-colored face was pointed toward Sean, but those yellow eyes kept twisting back to stare at Ron's breast pocket.
"I don't think so—"
A cold voice cut in.
Ron and Harry both jolted instinctively.
Hermione and Justin, meanwhile, stared in surprise at the suddenly appeared Professor Snape.
"Professor," Sean said.
"Green…"
Snape's sharp eyes swept across the young wizards one by one before settling on Sean.
"You have five minutes to say goodbye. Then you're coming with me."
Sean rose silently. It was time for him to leave the Leaky Cauldron as well.
And everyone knew he would be staying on at Hogwarts.
There were still many unfinished plans waiting for him there—a locket tainted with evil, for one, and his Dark Arts studies, which were only one spell away from reaching master level.
Sean did not have much luggage, and within a few minutes it was all packed.
"May I ask why, Professor?" Justin suddenly asked Snape politely before they left.
"Who knows," Ron muttered under his breath to Harry. "If Hogwarts needs someone to supervise him, I'd say it ought to be Professor Flitwick, Head of Ravenclaw, not—"
Harry nodded cautiously, and very much in agreement.
"There is no why—"
Snape gave a cold snort and strode off with Sean.
The pub fell silent for a moment.
Out on Diagon Alley's cobbled street, Snape did not Apparate right away. It seemed he had something to say.
"About the escaped convict Black… do you know…" he asked, awkwardly.
"Yes, Professor," Sean said, glancing toward the black dog by the window.
"Hmph—Green, you should know that he is dangerous…"
Snape bent down and looked directly into Sean's eyes, then turned his head away again.
"Extremely dangerous," he added.
His tone grew even more unnatural, and his gaze flickered.
He did not know the full story of everything those people had done, but he had sensed some of it—for example, that secret passage, and where it really led.
"I understand, Professor," Sean said, a little surprised.
Professor Snape seemed to be… discussing it with him?
"Looks like you're not completely hopeless after all—"
Snape was in a rather good mood.
He swept a cold glance over the shops lining Diagon Alley, completely unaware that his attitude had shifted again and again.
As for Sean, he fell into thought.
Professor McGonagall had agreed, but Professor Snape had not approved it.
It seemed he had stumbled into a difficult problem.
~~~
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