It's been a long time since Sirius last saw him, and he looks at least neat and tidy compared to the dejected look he had then.

He was wearing a tough striped suit, and his hair had not been cut, but it could be seen that it had indeed been trimmed.

It's just that he still looks so thin.

"Chicken!" As soon as he threw the worn-out Daily Prophet on the floor of the cave, he said in a hoarse voice.

Harry froze for a moment, then suddenly thought of something. He ripped open his bag and handed over the bag of chicken thighs and bread.

"Thank you!"

Sirius said this, eagerly opened the package, grabbed a chicken leg, sat on the ground, and violently tore off a large piece of chicken.

The three Harry looked at him strangely, because there was an inexplicable sense of confusion in him.

"What's wrong?" Sirius looked up at them, then at his clothes, and then suddenly said, "Hmm...... This was the last Christmas present McLean gave me. ”

He chewed on the chicken thighs in his mouth and continued vaguely, "He had prepared some gold gallons for me, but I didn't ask for them...... But obviously, maintaining self-esteem comes at a cost – as you may know, rat meat is really not very chewy, and they are always running around! ”

He looked up at Harry and smiled heartily, but Harry only reluctantly laughed along.

"Don't learn from me, Harry...... I also know that my stinky temper is not very good, but I am afraid that I will not be able to change it in this life. ”

It seems that even when he laughed at himself, he did not forget to fulfill his godfather duties.

"What have you been up to lately, Sirius?" Harry couldn't help but ask.

"I'll talk about this later, and McLean will be over today." Sirius said that, and went back to nibble on his drumsticks and bread.

As soon as Blake finished speaking, Harry and Hermione's faces darkened, and they looked at each other for a moment, and then subconsciously looked away.

In normal times, they would have called Maka. But now, whenever they see Maca, they feel very uncomfortable.

What happened in the labyrinth that day, they invariably didn't tell Ron. One is that they don't know what to say, after all, there are many things they can't figure out themselves; The second is that they don't want to talk about it, because they have been avoiding that topic as much as possible!

However, Maca didn't bother them for long.

After a while, Buckbeak suddenly looked up at the entrance of the cave and screamed excitedly.

"Oh, have you arrived?"

Everyone quickly turned around and saw Maca standing there with a relaxed face, and smiled at them.

Hermione subconsciously looked behind Maca—luckily, Miss Lovegood didn't seem to be with her, which at least made her feel less upset.

Hermione was scared now, and she was worried that when she couldn't help it, she would go up and drag Maca and ask him "why" without saying anything.

As for what "why"? She didn't know it herself.

"What are you staring at me for?" Maca walked to the deepest part of the cavern, reached out and touched Buckbeak's neck, and pulled a fresh ferret from her waist.

While feeding Buckbeak snacks, he said casually, "Sirius, I said I hired you to take care of Buckbeak for me, can't you just take the Golden Galleon?" As for having trouble with your own stomach...... I'm not sending you money for no reason. ”

Sirius said vaguely, "No, it's right to help you take care of it, you can be regarded as saving my life!" If I take your money again, then I might as well give you back this life first...... First of all, don't look at myself and can't get enough to eat, I've never let you starve this hippony! ”

"In that case, I'll show you the way today......" Maca turned around and said with a smile, "Ferrets for feed are much better than mice, and the farm generally doesn't let them exercise too much in order to make them grow fat and big." From now on, I'll leave food money for Buckbeak, and how about you eat ferrets with him? ”

When Blake heard this, he somehow was really moved.

"How can Sirius and Buckbeak eat the same thing—" Ron said in surprise.

"Shut up, Ron!" Hermione immediately interrupted, "You know what! Ferrets are a lot more expensive than chicken thigh bread......"

"Just kidding," Maca said, waving her hand, "it's time to get down to business...... Sirius, I consulted with Dumbledore and decided to terminate the project for the time being. ”

"Why did it suddenly stop again?" Sirius swallowed the chicken thigh in his mouth and asked, "Didn't the plan go well?" ”

Maca put away her smile and shook her head slowly, "The specific situation is very different from my expectations, and if it continues, there may be very big changes." The details haven't been settled yet, so I won't talk about them yet, but at least one thing is certain—"

He paused, then said solemnly, "Voldemort is most likely not our worst enemy anymore."

Maca's words were like a biting cold wind, quietly blowing through the cave, silenting everyone.

Voldemort is not the worst enemy, so how terrible would the real enemy be?

All along, Maca's calm attitude and omnipotent performance have already won a lot of trust from the few people present.

If others said that, everyone would probably not think so, even the experienced Sirius Black would scoff at it.

But now, when these words came out of Maka's mouth, everyone had to think more about it in their hearts.

"Maka, you mean...... The one who couldn't even mention his name...... Already back? Ron asked, knowing it.

"The Dark Mark has appeared twice, you say!" Hermione glared at him, speechless.

Seeing that everyone was gloomy, Maca reappeared with the relaxed expression she had before, and said with a smile: "Although it is right to be careful, don't worry too much, but don't forget, there is Dumbledore here!"

It's not so much that you can figure it out yourself, but it's easier to put Dumbledore out to make these people feel at ease. Although for now, Dumbledore had already left all the problems to him to ponder.

“…… Maybe Dumbledore is planning to train me to be his successor! Maca thought depressedly.

"That'...... Did you come here this time to inform me of the termination of the plan? Sirius nibbled on the drumsticks again, and as he ate it, he continued to ask, "Or do you have something else you want me to do?" ”

Maca shook her head and said, "There are indeed some things, but this time it's not that complicated." I'm going to see two more people in a moment, and before that, you put in—"

With that, he subconsciously looked at Harry and the three of them, and then changed his words.

"Harry, Hermione, Ron, there's something I can't talk to you about yet...... If you can trust me, can you avoid it for a while? "I don't want to deceive you with any other reason...... Maybe I wouldn't have hesitated to do that before, but now I just want to tell the truth and trust you to understand me. ”

"Uh- of course, since you say so." Harry nodded immediately, and then walked out first.

Hermione hesitated, then silently pulled a reluctant Ron out as well.

"What is so mysterious that even Harry can't know about it?" Sirius said curiously, "But if you want me to say, you might as well lie to them!" At least your level of deception is much higher than that of ordinary people......"

"Hey—it's not really, it's just not quite suitable for them to see." Maca drew her wand and waved it, and a stretcher with a person appeared beside him.

"It's ...... Barty Crouch Jr.? Sirius looked at the man on the stretcher and said in surprise, "Didn't he die in Azkaban?" ”

"Death is death, but that's the most recent thing." With a wave of her wand again, Maca carried Barty Crouch Jr. to the side of the cave on a stretcher, and cast a new illusion charm to cover him up.

"This was part of the original plan, and I wanted to use his death to test Voldemort. Now that the plan has been terminated, he will be useless for the time being...... Help me get him back to his father!" Maca's face was complicated, "Although little Barty is innocent, but after all, ......"

He shook his head and continued, "It's very likely that his father is trapped in the house by him, so you can go and rescue his father by the way!" You tell him that it's not over yet, and that it can't be revealed too soon—just say Dumbledore said it, and he should do it. ”

“…… Is it your hand? Sirius couldn't help but ask.

"Even if it's not the same, isn't it just me who is working on the whole plan?" Maca sighed and said, "Don't ask this kind of question again, it doesn't make much sense." ”

"It's like you've killed a lot of people...... Sirius said helplessly, "and it's easy to ignore your age when you're around...... Seriously, it's your first time...... Right? ”

He carefully compared the movement of wiping his neck, and it could be seen that he was still a little worried about Maka's psychological condition. After all, no one really cares about doing this kind of thing.

Maca, however, just waved her hand, as if she didn't want to continue the conversation.

There was a moment of silence in the cave, and finally it was Maca who took the initiative to break the slightly dull atmosphere.

"Anyway, you can help me get to Crouch's house, I'm not in ...... right to go myself," he hesitated, "you know." ”

"Hmph......" Sirius said disapprovingly, "poor Crouch...... If you want me to see it, I can only blame him...... Can you tell me how little Barty died? ”