France, Paris, Flamel Residence.
In the small garden outside the house, a pure black dog wearing a pink doggy outfit was lying bored on the grass, yawning.
On the other side, the house-elf named, Kimmie, was trimming the flower bushes.
Sirius watched this house-elf. He had been at the Flamel Residence for almost a week. The biggest obstacle to sneaking into Nicolas's study many times was this elf.
Flamel Residence had explicit alchemical protections. Rooms including the study had identity verification. If not for the Flamels themselves, Sirius had no chance of entering!
And the one usually responsible for maintaining the alchemical arrays in the attic was the house-elf, Kimmie.
The days of waiting had made Sirius anxious and restless. He had paid such a high price, being a pet for the Flamels, enduring Mrs. Flamel dressing him in those utterly humiliating clothes, just to gain something from the Flamel Residence, to find out where Severus had taken Harry!
Today, he couldn't wait any longer.
No matter what, tonight, he had to risk breaking the alchemical protections on the study and find the correspondence between Nicolas and Severus.
As dusk fell, Kimmie finished the gardening work and returned inside to prepare dinner for the Flamels.
Sirius didn't move. He just looked up at the attic of the house.
That was Kimmie's living quarters and also the core location of the entire house's alchemical arrays.
Every night, after Kimmie finished all the housework, it would return to its little nest in the attic and activate the alchemical arrays.
Sirius knew he had to seize the time before it formally activated the arrays!
At 6:20 p.m., the Flamels returned to the house punctually. The French's attention on the kidnapping case had diminished somewhat lately, allowing the elderly couple to focus on their charitable projects within the Wizarding World.
While the couple ate, Sirius also entered the house. Except for not sitting at the table, the food in his bowl was identical to the Flamels'.
Mrs. Flamel very much wanted to give Sirius a name. In fact, she had come up with many names like Baker, Mars, etc., as early as four or five days ago, but Nicolas had vetoed them all, suggesting simply 'Noir' instead.
Sirius's life these days had been relatively easy. Every evening and morning, Nicolas would take him for a walk around the streets near the house.
The first time the leash was put on him, Sirius had instinctively wanted to struggle. But when Nicolas's aged hand patted his head and softly reassured him, telling him it was necessary if he wanted to go outside, Sirius had endured it.
He had to play the part of a good dog now. Only then could he achieve his goal!
After dinner today, Nicolas similarly took Sirius for a walk outside, no different from usual.
Returning to the house, the Flamel couple prepared to rest. When the bedroom light went out, Sirius, who had been lying in his bed in the hallway, began to act.
Like a ghost in the darkness, he silently ascended the stairs and finally reached the attic.
Kimmie hadn't returned to its quarters yet, as there was some final tidying up to do in the kitchen. But Sirius didn't have to wait long.
In less than twenty minutes, the small figure Apparated back to the attic using the house-elf's unique method.
It seemed very satisfied with this fulfilling life, its mood quite good. Just as it was about to turn on the attic light and adjust the pillowcase it wore, a spell suddenly hit it!
"Imperio!"
The Imperius Curse, one of the three Unforgivable Curses, was cast by Sirius, who had transformed back into human form in the darkness.
Caught by surprise, Kimmie had no chance to react. Its large eyes visibly became vacant and lifeless.
"Open the alchemical lock on the study," Sirius whispered.
Under the Imperius Curse, Kimmie raised its finger the next second.
House-elves don't need wands to perform magic. The slender finger merely pointed at the air a few times.
On the walls of the attic, dense, various magical runes lit up.
The light flashed briefly.
Simply deactivating the protections for one room was clearly not difficult for Kimmie.
After completing Sirius's task, it stood frozen in place, like a robot that had lost its next instruction.
"I'm sorry. I have no choice," Sirius breathed rapidly. He apologized, then hit Kimmie with a Stunning Spell, knocking it unconscious.
Then, without hesitation, Sirius turned back into a black dog, left the attic, and quickly found the study, which was only separated from the Flamels' bedroom by a wall.
At the door, he quietly returned to human form, then gently grasped the doorknob and opened the study door.
The house was clearly very old, and the door hinges were no longer as smooth as when new.
A faint creaking sounded in the dark, quiet corridor.
Sirius had finally successfully entered Nicolas Flamel's study!
He carefully closed the door again, then instead of turning on the study light, he waved his wand and cast Lumos.
Even with Lumos, he deliberately controlled the light not to be too bright.
Then, he quickly went to the desk and began frantically searching through the letters on the desk and in the drawers.
As a famous figure in the Wizarding World, Nicolas obviously received a significant number of letters regularly.
After searching for a while, Sirius found that there was a special chest of drawers next to the desk used for storing these letters.
But even after spending over an hour going through all the letters, Sirius found no correspondence related to Severus.
This made him extremely anxious and impatient. If there were no clues about Severus's whereabouts at the Flamels' either, then Sirius would lose all leads completely. He had never considered this possibility before!
After rummaging through all the letters in the chest, Sirius turned to search the bookshelves. His movements were very rough, and he showed no intention of restoring things later.
Whether he found anything or not tonight, Sirius didn't plan to stay any longer.
But before he could mess up the books on the shelves, an aged voice suddenly sounded at the door.
"Please don't mess up the bookshelf I finally organized, Mr. Sirius."
"All my letters have already been searched by you. What you're looking for isn't there either."
The moment the voice sounded, Sirius's entire body shook violently!
He spun around, instinctively pointing his still-glowing wand at the hunched old man at the door!
Nicolas, who had appeared at the door unnoticed, merely waved his hand at the wand pointed at him, gently closed the study door again, and turned on the electric light.
"Don't make such a commotion. Perenelle is already asleep. Don't wake her."
Sirius's breathing became even more rapid. He stared fixedly at the old man before him, a huge wave of panic rising in his heart!
'I'm exposed!'
'My biggest asset in escaping Azkaban and evading the Aurors, my illegal Animagus form, was now known to Nicolas Flamel!'
Sirius knew that once Nicolas passed on the information that he was an unregistered Animagus to the Aurors, he would never be able to easily shake off the combined pursuit of British and French Aurors as he did now!
At this moment, Sirius's mind was in chaos.
He looked at Nicolas with a conflicted expression, already making a choice in his heart!
Right now, he could immediately subdue Nicolas, then use a Memory Charm on him to make him forget everything that happened tonight.
Or simply escape immediately, leave France right away!
And Nicolas, staring into his eyes, seemed to see through all his thoughts.
"You can certainly overpower me and then flee, continuing to play cat and mouse with the Aurors. But are you really willing? Sirius Black, willing to leave empty-handed like this?"
His words were like a sharp spear, stabbing directly into Sirius's heart, making him almost stop breathing!
Under the dim light, two pairs of eyes locked onto each other. After a long time, Sirius finally spoke slowly in a hoarse voice.
"What do you plan to do? Persuade me to turn myself in to the Aurors?"
Hearing him speak, Nicolas pulled out a chair from the side, sat down himself, and gestured for Sirius to sit as well.
"You can leave anytime you want now. I won't waste effort persuading you to surrender. Since things have come to this, why not sit down first? Let's talk. Only communication and exchange can resolve misunderstandings between people."
Sirius stared at him for a while longer, finally sitting down in the chair opposite Nicolas.
"What do you want to talk about with a criminal like me?" Sirius said somewhat irritably.
He knew clearly that the Flamels were his last hope of finding where Severus and Harry were, but the current situation made it impossible for him to calm down.
"Why do you want to find Severus Snape?" Nicolas asked calmly and softly.
"Why find him! Haven't you read what the French papers say? I resent him for betraying my master! I want to find him for revenge!"
Sirius said, half-sarcastic, half-angry.
Nicolas just shook his head slowly.
"But I think that might not be the truth."
Hearing this, Sirius looked up in astonishment, staring at Nicolas with an incredulous expression.
Since he was sent to Azkaban without any trial, no one had ever doubted his guilt!
On that tragic street, thirteen innocent Muggles died, and there was Peter Pettigrew's death.
As the only person present at the scene who had fought with Peter, even Dumbledore had never doubted Sirius's guilt.
But now, in France, an old alchemist who had never experienced the turmoil in Britain, but had simply lived for centuries, actually thought the charges against him might not be true!
This struck Sirius as absurd, ironic, and yet inexplicably stirred a thread of expectation deep inside him that shouldn't have appeared.
He took a deep breath and looked at Nicolas.
"What makes you say that!"
Nicolas just smiled and spoke.
"If you were truly the vicious brute described in the news, you wouldn't have been drinking with a drunk Muggle at that metro station where I found you."
"An Animagus may perfectly transform a person into an animal, but no matter what, human emotions and thoughts don't disappear because of it. At that time, the regret and sorrow in your eyes weren't fake."
"There's more to this story, isn't there?"
Sirius stared dumbfounded at Nicolas. He never expected that the starting point of the old man's suspicion was actually the look in his eyes while he was getting drunk that night!
Facing his shock, Nicolas just chuckled.
"Don't underestimate an old man who has lived over six hundred years. Ghosts' experiences are frozen at the moment of their death, so no matter how long they exist, their minds don't change much. But I'm different."
"I've seen many, many people in my life, and encountered many, many things. Even if my brain isn't as sharp as when I was young, it still makes summaries and reflections."
"The moment I saw you, I sensed something different about you. It's just that at the time, I didn't realize you were Sirius Black. Later, I communicated with Dumbledore and learned some things from him, which led to some conjectures."
"Until tonight, when that conjecture was finally confirmed."
After listening to his account, Sirius swallowed hard. He truly couldn't imagine what centuries of experience could bring to a person.
But at this moment, Sirius indeed sensed that Nicolas meant him no harm.
If it were as Nicolas said, that he had noticed something wrong from the very first day he brought him home, he could have quietly called the Aurors then.
However, he had waited until now, until tonight in the study, catching him red-handed!
The study fell into silence again.
Nicolas didn't seem rushed at all. After explaining his discovery, he waited for Sirius to make a choice.
Sirius himself was struggling and hesitating. He clenched his fists tightly, not looking at Nicolas, but bowing his head, not wanting Nicolas to see the complex decision on his face.
The silence lasted a long time, for a full ten minutes or more.
Then, Sirius finally looked up again, met Nicolas's eyes, and began to speak slowly:
"I am not the traitor. But I killed the real traitor."