Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

“Come on, Black! I can’t wait to see the Dementors suck your soul away!”

The tip of Snape’s wand was shining brighter, but before he could release his magic, Harry stepped forward blocking his wand with his own body.

“Get out of the way, Potter, you’re in enough trouble already,” snarled Snape. “If I hadn’t been here to save your skin…”

“No, Sirius is innocent; he didn’t kill anyone, and is not likely to hurt me.” Harry gasped, “I believe him, we all believe him. It’s all the doing of Ron’s rat, Scabbers, he is…”

“Move away, Potter, I don’t have time to listen to your nonsense here.” Snape said sharply, “Black has cast a spell on both of you, I can clearly see that! Judging from your present behaviour, it should be a kind of black magic, making you actually think that Black is innocent.”

“My heart and Hermione’s are not disturbed by any black magic. It’s Ron, he’s the one controlled by Peter Pettigrew with the Imperious Curse. Everything was Pettigrew’s conspiracy; he planned all this.”

“Peter Pettigrew died twelve years ago and was killed by Black. A whole street’s worth of witnesses can confirm that!” Snape said sullenly, “I will say it for the last time, GET OUT OF THE WAY, POTTER!”

“YOU’RE PATHETIC!” Harry yelled. “JUST BECAUSE THEY MADE A FOOL OF YOU AT SCHOOL, YOU WON’T EVEN LISTEN, YOU WON’T EVEN CONSIDER THAT THERE’S TRUTH IN WHAT SIRIUS SAID…”

“SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!” Snape shrieked, looking madder than ever. “Like father, like son, Potter! I have just saved your neck; you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have been well served if he’d killed you! You’d have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black. Now get out of the way, or I will make you!”

Harry did not move, he made up his mind in a split second, and raised his wand.

“Expelliarmus!” he yelled… except that his wasn’t the only voice that shouted. There was a blast in the Gryffindor Common room that made the entire tower shake…

A red light flashed across, but Snape was still standing in his place, safe and intact.

Before Harry showed his magic, someone was faster than him. His wand flew high in the air and fell on the floor in front of Ron, rolling forward and making a creaking sound.

Ron was holding his wand, lifeless and looking at Harry with no expression.

“Ron!” Harry fell to the ground and he looked at Ron with his eyes wide open, his face full of anger.

Hermione hurriedly ran over to help Harry, and she sobbed in whisper, looking at Snape and Ron with fear.

“Disappointing, Potter! You are even worse than Weasley, whose head is empty. I am really worried about your level of magical skill!” Snape glanced at Harry with pity, his wand re-aimed at Black.

“Snivellus…” Black looked at Snape with abhorrence. He clenched his fists tightly and was ready to rush in.

“Say goodbye to the world, Black!”

In the blink of an eye, the tip of Snape’s wand emitted a green light.

Black hurried to dodge to the left, but he did not retreat and rushed to Snape.

But Snape was quicker and another spell followed, and Black had to step back and dodge.

Creak… Creak!

Just as Black dodged the spell, the three sofas that had been in the corner suddenly turned and flew over to him. Black was hit hard and flew away. He was lifted off his feet and slammed into the wall, then slid down it to the floor, panting and lying there, looking at Snape angrily.

“Your reaction rate has dropped a lot. I expected you to hold your own for a few more seconds!” Snape squinted and looked down at Sirius Black.

“Don’t be so proud, I…”

“You won’t have a chance, you will pay for your past deeds,” Snape said indifferently.

His wand’s tip emitted the flickering light of yet another spell.

Just as his magic was about to hit Black, a boy’s slightly tender but firm voice rang in the Common room.

“Protego!”

A red light came first, and there seemed to be an invisible wall in front of Black. Snape’s magic was bounced back to the side. Everyone turned around in surprise and saw Evan panting from the portrait’s entrance. The spell he just used saved Sirius Black.

“Evan!” Harry and Hermione yelled with joy.

Evan nodded to both of them, he finally caught up.

He glanced at the situation in the Common room, Harry and Hermione had fell to the ground, the two had Ron’s wand pointed at them. Sirius Black was down at the side of the wall. Evan’s eyes fell on Snape whose gloomy face was looking back at him in disgust.

“Professor Snape, you shouldn’t hurt Sirius Black. What’s going on tonight is a conspiracy. Sirius is innocent, all…”

“Enough, Mason!” Snape shrieked explosively, “Before you came, Potter and Granger have told me that countless times. Don’t tell me that Peter Pettigrew is still alive. You three have been brainwashed by Black, and you don’t know what you are doing.”

Evan looked at Snape in surprise, and he realized that he was in a bad state. Snape looked different from usual. He never imagined in his life that he would see such a distorted expression of loss of control on Snape’s gloomy face. Hatred had blinded his eyes.

He seemed to be mad, desperate to catch and kill Sirius Black.

“Professor…”

“Shut up, Mason!” Snape shouted. “You and Potter are too arrogant. For a long time, you have done too many unruly things. Dumbledore’s indulgence allowed you to enjoy too many privileges, to see what you have done since you entered school, to create a ridiculous newspaper, to think that you can single-handedly catch the Basilisk, to violate the rules and go to Hogsmeade, to fight a dangerous werewolf, to lead a friend to be in danger, and now to believe in a dangerous murderer! That’s enough! I will advise the Headmaster to give you a temporary suspension…”

“I don’t care about any punishment!” Evan interrupted him. “We don’t have time; Peter Pettigrew can run away at any time.”

“Where is he, where is that vile coward?” Black roared.

“He is in Professor Lupin’s office, but he is about to run away. He wants to go to the Forbidden Forest! We must stop him. If he manages to leave the school borders, he’ll be able to hide and disappear.” Evan said anxiously. “Hurry up, Sirius!”

Hearing Evan, Black turned into a black dog. He rushed out of the Common room and jumped aside avoiding Snape’s Spell.

“You can’t go anywhere, Black!” Snape snapped, and his wand started emitting spells towards Sirius.

“Impedimenta!” Evan shouted, as he stopped Snape.

The two fought in the Common room. After freezing for a moment, Black turned and rushed out of the place.

Crookshanks jumped on Black’s body. Harry and Hermione grabbed their wands and the Marauder’s Map from the ground and hurriedly followed.

Ron hesitated for a while then left.

Now, only Evan and Snape were left in the Common room. They were fighting and sending out their spells.

The atmosphere grew more and more tense. Looking at Snape’s furious eyes, Evan could only clench his hand on his wand.