Harry Potter: Glory Bows to Me

Amanta spent the whole day thinking about what happened last night.

She hadn't slept the whole night and felt even more sleepy in class. Fortunately, today's class was mainly Professor Binns's - Professor Binns's drowsy voice was extremely hypnotic.

So...even if a few students fell asleep in his class, he never raised his head from the pile of books.

For some reason, she didn't tell Harry what happened last night. Maybe this was the little secret that comes with "growth and youth."

But the feeling of uncovering the secret alone still made her uneasy.

Before I knew it, it was already evening.

The light of setting sun shone through the tall windows of the west tower and onto the long table in the hall, outlining Cedric Diggory's slender figure.

He did not sit down at the Hufflepuff table, but walked to the corner where Amanta and Harry were, with a complicated expression.

The golden dusk tinted his face with a hint of fatigue.

"Amanta, Harry," he said in a low voice, "I need your help."

Harry looked up, half a piece of butter candy in his mouth, and asked vaguely, "What's wrong? Are you having any problems?"

Cedric hesitated for a moment, as if trying to decide how to phrase it.

Finally, he pulled a neatly folded piece of parchment from his pocket and unfolded it before them.

There were messy ink marks on the paper, with some scattered notes, as if they were written down in a hurry.

"This is what I wrote down when I was following Professor Lupin. Don't get me wrong, I just happened to see him and Snape going in and out of the Shrieking Shack together..." He paused, "It's rare for them to walk together in such harmony."

His fingers tapped lightly on the paper, lingering on a few words: "I paid a little attention and found that Snape often contacted Lupin privately and gave him some potions every week. Lupin would secretly go to the Shrieking Shack every night of the full moon."

"The Shrieking Shack?" Harry frowned.

Cedric nodded. "Yes, I followed him once. More importantly, I saw a big black dog nearby. The dog was huge and had a scary look."

He took a sip of the honey water at hand and continued, "I suspect... this may be related to Sirius Black, the prisoner who escaped from Azkaban. There were previous reports that his Animagus was a black dog."

"Black?" Harry tensed up instantly and his face turned pale.

He put down the candy in his hand and almost blurted out, "He's around here? Are you sure?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Cedric said calmly, "but the black dog appears too frequently. It seems to be monitoring something. I thought, maybe we can investigate it together."

"After all, this may concern your safety, Harry." Cedric said seriously.

Amanta's messy thoughts were finally temporarily brought back to life by the conversation between Cedric and Harry.

Her eyes swept over the parchment and she knew that Cedric was telling the truth - oh, of course she knew that the strange big black dog was Harry's godfather whom he had never met, and she also knew why Lupin went to the Shrieking Shack on the night of the full moon.

"Cedric," she began softly, her tone calm, "what are you going to do? If that big black dog is really Black, are we going to face him directly?"

"If I can figure out his purpose, maybe I won't have to face him directly," Cedric looked directly into Amanta's eyes and said firmly, "So, I need your help."

Amanta was silent for a moment, then nodded slightly.

"Well, tonight is the night of the full moon. If we really want to investigate, we should act tonight."