Wade paused, then said, "I saw the Black Family library yesterday, too; it's quite impressive. Just don't feel bad when I start borrowing books."
Sirius laughed. "You can take them all! I'd be thrilled!"
He paused, not wanting to joke it away, and instead brought up the previous topic again.
"Leaving Azkaban, finding Regulus, preparing the funeral, and finally getting my mad mother to quiet down..."
Sirius listed these recent events, a wry smile on his face.
"No matter the reason, you've helped me so much. A few books can't even begin to repay what I've received from you, not even a tenth of it... Wade, what can I do for you?"
Wade thought for a moment, then said, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course."
Sirius tilted his head back and took a swig of beer, a very dashing gesture.
"Why did you break with your parents and oppose Voldemort back then? I've looked it up; when Voldemort's power was at its peak, many people thought he couldn't be defeated. Only a very few dared to risk their lives to oppose him."
As Sirius frowned, Wade seemed not to notice and continued,
"If you hadn't done that, you could have inherited the Black Family fortune. With your status and abilities, you surely would have gained Voldemort's favor. Given the situation at the time, that seemed like the 'smart' choice."
"Why? Is that even a question?" Sirius raised an eyebrow. "It was to stand up for what was right, to save innocent lives."
Wade smiled. "And after you save someone, do you demand that they repay you?"
Sirius was startled for a moment, then burst into laughter.
He raised the beer bottle in his hand and said nothing more.
He would remember the kindness, but there was no need to keep bringing it up.
However, the feeling of having one's convictions affirmed was always special.
Before, in his mind, Wade Gray was Harry's friend, Lupin's valued student, someone to whom he owed many favors and needed to repay well.
But after today, he saw the real Wade beyond those labels.
...
With the funeral approaching, a group of people spent five days cleaning the house, disinfecting, replacing or repairing furniture, arranging the garden, and preparing for the ceremony.
The Scouring Charm and Repairing Charm couldn't solve all problems, and their effect on old, magic-induced stains was minimal.
Percy was forced to consult his mother. Madam Weasley, as an experienced homemaker, recommended several cheap and effective magical cleaning agents, as well as some cleaning tips.
Sirius also pulled himself together, writing out invitations one by one.
Regulus's funeral was actually a bit awkward.
He was a known Death Eater, yet he died in the end while resisting Voldemort—though the latter fact was currently unknown to anyone. Even among the Death Eaters, they believed Regulus was a coward who deserted and was executed.
He was hard to accept on either side.
Upon careful consideration, Sirius realized he didn't even know if his brother had friends like him and James. The few people who often walked with Regulus during their school days were either in prison or in the grave.
Sirius didn't intend to invite people who might not even know what Regulus looked like, nor did he want to invite those who might disparage Regulus, even if they had once been his comrades.
This left him with very few people he could invite.
Sirius deliberated for a long time and finally sent an invitation to the Malfoy family.
His favorite cousin was Andromeda, but he had also been close with Narcissa when they were children. Most importantly, Regulus had been very fond of his cousin Narcissa; among his sisters, she was the one he listened to most.
—And Narcissa wasn't a Death Eater; it was her despicable husband, Lucius Malfoy, who had joined them.
Sirius used that last point to convince himself.
He was a person who acted on impulse, and eleven years in prison hadn't changed that. For the first time in his life, Sirius was patiently and meticulously considering something, restraining his own preferences.
The Young Wizards who came to help played a huge role.
Without them, Sirius didn't know what kind of funeral he would have ended up with. Perhaps he would have bothered Lupin from beginning to end, only to leave everyone dissatisfied in the end.
But the children had done so well that Sirius felt if he messed everything up due to his own willfulness, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.
Owls carried invitations, braving the cold wind and falling snow of winter, flying in all directions.
...
In his free time, Wade always stayed in the study.
The Black Family truly lived up to its reputation as an ancient and wealthy Pure-blood family; their collection of books was incredibly rich, some even unavailable in the Hogwarts Library's Restricted Section.
The numerous books were highly valued by Madam Black before she went mad, so Kreacher had diligently maintained them. The books only had a little dust on them, not even a single wormhole.
These books originally had powerful protective magic on them. If someone not of the Black Family tried to read them, some would corrode their hands, some would cause severe eye damage, and others carried deadly curses.
But Sirius, as the current head of the family, had directly removed most of the harmful magic. The few he couldn't deal with immediately, he simply threw into boxes in the basement along with the books.
Kreacher watched, heartbroken.
He had recently come to regard Sirius as his master and would work diligently and obey commands.
But after this incident, Kreacher wiped away tears as he collected the books thrown into the basement, sprinkled them with anti-bug powder, and secretly muttered "spendthrift" several times.
But Kreacher only blamed Sirius and didn't take out his resentment on Wade, who was reading.
Kreacher had heard about Wade's actions from Lupin and was very respectful of him. While Wade was reading, he would often bring hot tea or pastries to the study.
It was unknown if Madam Black was aware of this, but she had been very quiet lately, and the curtain covering her portrait was never drawn back.
As everyone tidied up the fifth floor, they occasionally heard faint sobbing from Regulus's room.
On the third day, the Italian wizard painter hired by Sirius arrived. He meticulously painted a portrait of Regulus based on a few old photographs.
It wasn't Regulus's pale and eerie appearance as an Inferius, but rather the proud and spirited young man he was before the age of sixteen.
From that day on, Madam Black became completely silent.
Occasionally, when the wind gently stirred the curtain, everyone would see her quietly with her eyes closed, as if she had fallen into a beautiful dream from which she would never awaken.
Only Lupin frequently interfered with Wade's reading habits.
Most of the Black Family's collection of books were related to Dark Magic, and Wade even found a description of Horcruxes in one of them.
Sirius believed there was no harm in understanding Dark Magic, as long as one didn't study it excessively or become obsessed. Their primary focus was on learning how to defend against and resist Dark Magic.
He had grown up in an environment surrounded by Dark Magic and had not been significantly affected, so Sirius believed Wade could manage it too.
While Lupin held a different view, he didn't directly stop Wade from reading or lecture him about right and wrong. Instead, he would occasionally drop by the study to check in.
Whenever Wade read certain books related to Dark Magic, it wasn't long before Lupin would tell one or two similar stories after dinner or while cleaning—
A certain Wizard made a mistake while studying Dark Magic, becoming twisted into a monster by the magic itself, doomed to wander a dark forest endlessly, living a life worse than death.
A Dark Magic creature studied by a certain Wizard, unable to endure abuse, suddenly lashed out, killing its master and escaping.
A certain Wizard, obsessed with Dark Magic, underwent a drastic change in personality, and one night suddenly killed all of their family members, leading to a series of subsequent tragedies, before finally being eradicated by a passing White Magic Wizard.
And so on.
The Young Wizards listened with great interest, but Michael would always look at Wade with a half-smile after each story.
"What book did you read this time?" he whispered to Wade after the story ended.
"Just a handbook," Wade replied. "I was just trying to understand how Wizards used to study magic. In their time, it wasn't really considered out of line."
"Yeah," Michael chuckled mockingly. "For ancient people, eating people seemed pretty normal, right?"
Wade hesitated. "Even now, it's not illegal to eat people in some countries."
"Really?!" Michael's eyes widened, then he quickly adjusted his expression, huffing, "Haha, the Weasley Twins are much better actors when they're lying than you are."
Wade looked at his naive classmate with sympathy. "It's true."
Michael was silent for a moment.
"...Really?"
"Mhm."
"Muggle law?"
"To be precise, some Muggle countries don't have laws against cannibalism. And of course, our Ministry of Magic doesn't have such a regulation either, does it?"
"Even so..." Michael tried hard to salvage his worldview, "but the reason there's no law is because cannibalism wouldn't happen in the first place... unless there's a famine... unless it's an extreme survival situation..."
He carefully added caveats to his words, but then he saw a mysterious smile play on Wade's lips.
He said nothing, but it was as if he had said everything.
Michael: "..."
Because of that smile, the boy spent half the night agonizing, scratching his head. The next morning, he crawled out of bed with dark circles under his eyes, rushed out of the Black Family Home, and spent half the day at a nearby Muggle library.
When he returned, Michael was silent for a long time.
"Crazy Muggles." He couldn't help but sigh to Wade before going to sleep.
However, Wade shook his head.
"You see the gruesome cannibalism in books, so you think it's cruel and crazy. But in a society where the strong prey on the weak, 'cannibalism' is actually happening all the time; you just haven't noticed it."
"Look, wasn't Regulus 'eaten'?"
Michael was startled, his scalp tingled, and goosebumps rose all over his body.
...
The day before Christmas was Regulus's funeral.
It had been snowing since morning, tiny snowflakes falling on the ground and on the buildings, at first freezing into ice shards, then gradually accumulating to cover the mottled old marks on the walls and the garden the Young Wizards had carefully decorated.
But the blanket of white was very fitting for a funeral.
Sirius wore black Wizard Robes, his entire being only in black and white. It was the first time anyone had seen him dressed so solemnly. Lupin accompanied him, greeting the guests who came to attend the funeral.
Wade saw the Malfoys and Draco Malfoy. The three of them looked very similar, all with pale blonde hair, fair skin, and arrogant expressions.
However, during their conversation with Sirius, both sides maintained restraint; at least, no direct conflict occurred.
He also saw a witch with light brown hair enter with a man dressed like a Muggle. The witch quickly went up and hugged Sirius, and Sirius's expression softened somewhat.
Wade then knew that the witch was Andromeda, the disowned member of the Black Family. Sirius had once pointed to the family tree and introduced his family to the curious Young Wizards.
On that enormous family tree, Andromeda's name had long since been burned away.
In fact, the Black Family, which prided itself on being Pure-blood, had disowned members in almost every generation, sometimes more than one.
Behind them was a beautiful young witch with striking bluish-gray hair.
Even though adult Wizards skilled in Transfiguration could easily change their hair color, her hair color was truly unique, making it unforgettable.
Andromeda introduced her to Sirius—saying this was her daughter, Nymphadora Tonks.
Sirius had actually met Nymphadora when she was a child, but the young woman now was certainly a stranger to him.
They shook hands politely.
While the others were talking, Draco Malfoy stared intently at Tonks. Upon hearing her name, he immediately made a face as if he'd seen something disgusting.
Though he didn't say a word, he somehow conveyed everything.
Tonks blinked. As everyone else went to greet new guests, she suddenly turned her head to look at Draco Malfoy, and her head abruptly transformed into that of a Hungarian Horntail.
"Ah!"
Draco Malfoy turned around to see a massive dragon head, with two large, yellowish-brown eyes the size of longans glaring at him. He was startled and cried out.
Everyone looked at him.
"She… she… she just…"
He pointed at Tonks, trying to explain incoherently, only to see Tonks had changed back, displaying an elegant and surprised expression, looking at him along with everyone else.
"Mind your manners, Draco."
Narcissa said flatly, giving the Half-blood Tonks an arrogant glance before looking away.
Andromeda gave her daughter a fierce glare, telling her not to cause trouble.
The Weasley couple had returned from abroad.
Madam Longbottom also arrived, and Neville quickly stood beside her.
Dumbledore had also arrived early that morning.
Guests arrived one after another, and by noon, there were twenty or thirty people sitting on the benches, including many prominent surnames, as well as some lesser-known ordinary Wizards, and even Muggles.
They sat together to attend Regulus's funeral.
Thank you all for your concern, the author is still alive.
It was just a leave of absence, how did it turn into me being a eunuch? [The leave of absence was posted in "Author's Notes," so some readers might not have seen it.]
I've been traveling recently, often by train, and the signal is bad, making it hard to find time to write.
Currently, the average subscription is over ten thousand, and I'm very satisfied with the results. I can't bear to drop it, especially since I just signed a long-term contract.
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