"Squeak?"
Feeling this surge of power, Kabuda curiously lifted its head, its eyes quickly scanning the surroundings, until it finally saw the hand reaching out to assist it.
"Squeak squeak!"
Meeting those gemstone-like blue eyes, Kabuda immediately recognized its identity. It wriggled its backside to sit more properly in the hand, then happily waved its paw at the person.
"Oh, it has indeed been a long time."
The man's voice was deep and melancholic. His platinum blonde hair draped over his shoulders, his chiseled face showing a slight hint of joy, but this expression quickly faded back to the usual calm, at least Kabuda didn't notice it.
This was a Centaur.
From the man's waist down was the pale golden body of a silver-maned horse, with quivers and bows slung on each side. He wore no clothing, except for an eye-catching blue gemstone pendant hanging on his chest—
It was a gift Kabuda had given him before.
"Squeak squeak."
"Alright, I'll take you there."
"Meow~"
A somewhat raspy, unpleasant cat meow came from the side, as Crookshanks rubbed its tail against Firenze's horse leg and nimbly jumped onto his back.
"Hello to you too, little one."
Looking at the little creature acting affectionately, a smile unwittingly appeared on Firenze's face. He turned his upper body and placed Kabuda on his back too, helping the Niffler grip his pale silver mane, then moved his hooves gently. "Hold on tight."
The Centaur's speed far surpassed that of Crookshanks. Feeling the wind rushing past its ears, Kabuda was about to start singing... then it remembered, it was just a Niffler.
But this hesitation didn't last long, as Firenze swiftly brought them to their destination, a spacious meadow.
The meadow was located on a low slope, with a pitch-black cave at the top of the slope.
Picking off the grass stuck to its backside, Kabuda rubbed its rear and bid farewell to Firenze. They indeed met by chance, and the Centaur was part of its network in the Forbidden Forest... one of its "horsemen" connections.
Kabuda came here today to meet with its subordinate—Crookshanks, a new recruit from a few days ago.
Yes, my subordinate's subordinate is also my subordinate.
Watching the Centaur's silhouette disappear into the Forbidden Forest, Kabuda turned to look at the ginger tabby cat sitting beside it, its paws behind its back, "Squeak squeak."
"Meow!"
Crookshanks nodded in response and then quickly ran to the cave entrance, calling out loudly inside.
Soon, under the watchful eyes of the cat and the Niffler, a scrawny black dog emerged from the shadows. Its fur was filthy and matted, making the whole dog look like skin and bones, with limbs even thinner than Kabuda's belly.
"Squeak?"
Staring at the large dog towering over it, Kabuda remained silent for a moment, then slowly stepped forward, hands in the pockets on its belly, assuming a boss-like demeanor, its voice carrying seriousness.
"Meow!"
Crookshanks quickly patted the large dog's leg with its paw, its cat-face like a dried persimmon urging it.
Don't mess up, this is my boss, now say hello!
...
"..."
Sirius was quite bewildered at that moment.
What... is going on?
He recognized the ugly yellow cat, but what about this big black rat?
Is this cat bringing him food?
Yes, the black dog that walked out from the cave was none other than the notorious Ministry of Magic fugitive, Sirius Black.
Since escaping from Azkaban, after a brief glimpse of Harry Potter in Diagon Alley, he had gone straight to the surroundings of Hogwarts Castle. For his goal, he lay in wait. Halloween was the day he'd chosen when the whole school would be in the Great Hall, allowing him to sneak into the Gryffindor Common Room unseen, where he could hide in the boy's dormitory until nightfall—
But the plan, although beautiful, hit a snag in its second step.
After multiple trials and errors, he finally found an intact secret passage from his muddled memory and successfully infiltrated the castle. Transforming into human form, he used a spell to open the statue at the exit, but couldn't go any further—because no matter what, the Fat Lady's portrait wouldn't let him in.
Password, password, damn password again!!
How come he hadn't noticed before how diligent this portrait was?
Driven to exasperation, Blake couldn't resist scratching it. His Azkaban-neglected fingernails were sharp enough to tear the canvas into strips, and the frightened Fat Lady fled somewhere unknown—now he was totally blocked.
Better retreat for now.
Sirius quickly decided and turned to leave—because misjudging the timing due to the secret passage and no watch, Sirius couldn't be sure how much time he'd spent and had to rely on impression. Hence, he transformed back into dog form and started running back to the secret passage via the stairs.
This drew less attention since he wasn't sure when the feast would end.
But before finding the one-eyed witch statue and returning, a ginger tabby cat blocked his path. The cat, clearly having some Kneazle blood, simply gobbled up a large spider in its mouth and circled him twice—
"Meow?"
"?"
Sirius blinked his dog eyes, puzzled—he couldn't understand it.
Transforming into an Animagus only changed his body, not his mind; he couldn't communicate fluently with other species, oh, dogs included.
"...Woof?"
So, Sirius tentatively barked once.
"Meow meow!"
The big cat seemed to understand something then, strutting ahead, leading Sirius all the way downstairs. Glancing at the one-eyed witch statue at the corridor corner not far away, Sirius unknowingly chose to follow the cat towards the main door.
Afterward, this cat actually led him through the Forbidden Forest to this cave, and amid meowing, caught two rats for him.
"Meow meow."
Looking at the two dead rats pushed to him by the cat's paw, Sirius was bemused—was he actually being fed by a cat?
"..."
Oh well, given the situation, better eat first.
Starving as he was, Sirius wasn't about to turn down the rats; he'd eat anything that could fill his belly. Didn't he chew on quite a few leaves from the castle to the Forbidden Forest? He was starving, even poop would taste delicious... well, maybe not poop. He just couldn't bring himself to do that.
Subsequently, he "settled" here. To lay low, he had barely reverted to human form since escaping Azkaban. Now that he was likely completely exposed around Hogwarts, he had to hide until people let down their guard.
Being fed by a cat? So be it... After all, this cat seemed to have quite the intelligence; he could probably explain things in human form later and see if it could help him get the common room password.
With a sigh, after a week of lying around, Blake came to accept reality. He opened his mouth wide, ready to satiate his hunger with the Niffler. Honestly, without visiting Hogsmeade, this Niffler was probably the largest meal he'd have—
"Squeak?"
Watching the dog head seemingly about to bite down, Kabuda paused for a moment.
Then, it placed its paws in its pockets, crushed a blue-glowing stone slab, and in an instant, magical light flashed as its body, originally knee-high to the dog, began enlarging rapidly, stopping only when it reached near adult human height. Looking down at the black dog staring up in shocked disbelief, Kabuda let out a cold snort—
Then grabbed the dog's leg and executed an over-the-shoulder throw!