To be honest, Bryan's evaluation was a bit harsh, because Sirius's exposure was an accident. Who would have thought that Filch, the grumpy caretaker who hated students, would be so afraid of punishment that he would ask Remus, to convey that he had not found the Marauder's Map. This careless act led Remus to discover the clues that pointed to Sirius.
For a moment, Sirius felt a surge of resentment and wanted to defend himself, but after a brief hesitation, he suppressed the impulse and nodded unexpectedly at Bryan, the Slytherin boy who had helped him sneak into the castle.
"Anyway, Bryan, I have to thank you." He said sincerely.
To say such a thing to a Slytherin, for Sirius, it was unimaginable. He had always despised the house of snakes, especially after what Snape had done to them. But the past twelve years of experience, living as a fugitive and a prisoner, and the happy memories of living with Remus again these days, did change his mind a bit,
"You helped me get into Hogwarts. And your words, they did give me some inspiration."
Sirius, who had been fuming at Bryan before, looked so different that Bryan didn't know how to react. Fortunately, Remus, who was smiling at the scene, stepped in,
"At this moment of celebration, I think we should have a banquet. Oh, I haven't had a proper Christmas for many years, and this time at Hogwarts, I happened to transform." He said cheerfully.
Remus was in high spirits, despite the scars on his face and the pain in his bones from his monthly transformation into a werewolf. He pointed at the mess on the kitchen counter and said,
"We can work together to prepare a feast for ourselves!"
"Good idea–" Sirius immediately cheered up, he jumped down the last step and came to the kitchen counter excitedly,
"But the problem is, Remus, we don't seem to be good at turning ingredients into edible food. Oh, well, maybe I can ask Kreacher to help, we'll just watch him, so he can't mess around!" He suggested, referring to the old and bitter house-elf who served the Black family.
"No need to bother that old house-elf–" Bryan interrupted, not wanting to deal with Kreacher's complaints.
The candelabra on the table emitted a soft light that made the cold-toned kitchen cozy. The wooden cabinets were filled with dusty dishes and silverware. The floor was tiled with black and white squares. Looking at the two middle-aged men laughing, Bryan also shook his head and smiled. At this moment, he didn't want to be too picky.
Bryan put his coat on the back of the chair, his wand jumped from his rolled-up sleeve to his hand, and with a light wave at the counter, the potatoes in the plate washed themselves and started peeling. Then, they lined up neatly and sent themselves to the knife. A flash of cold light, and evenly sliced potato chips flew into a new plate.
The stove lit up with flames that were roasted and smoked every once in a while. A few steaks flew into the iron plate, making a sizzling sound. A faint aroma filled the kitchen.
"This is really surprising, Bryan?" Remus asked, looking at the orderly kitchen with admiration.
"I didn't expect you to be good at this?" He continued, wondering how a Young Slytherin boy learned to cook so well.
"Personal preference–" Bryan said lazily, not wanting to explain his reasons.
"I remember my father's room had some of his cherished Scotch whisky, I'll go look for it!" Sirius exclaimed, suddenly remembering the hidden stash of liquor that his father had kept.
For Sirius, this was a rare warm scene. He burst out with great enthusiasm, said a quick word, and ran upstairs. He wanted to share the whisky with his friend, and toast to their reunion.
This was a reunion of old friends that was twelve years late. The cheerful atmosphere filled the kitchen. Throughout the dinner, no one mentioned anything about Peter, the traitor. Remus and Sirius shared some of their fun stories from school, of course, they always avoided anything related to Snape.
And Bryan also told them some of his interesting stories from Hogwarts. In addition, Sirius and Remus were very interested in the Chamber of Secrets that caused a great panic in the castle in the last year, so he also shared some of them with them.
"As expected of James's son–" Sirius said proudly, when Bryan talked about the night he discovered the location of the Chamber of Secrets, Harry and Ron had broken into the bathroom without any professor's accompaniment to save Ginny.
Sirius, who was a bit tipsy, immediately praised them enthusiastically. He saw a lot of his best friend James in Harry, and he wished he could meet him. But then, his smile that had lasted all night faded, and he said sadly,
"If it weren't for. ... maybe I could invite Harry and his friends to join this party." He sighed.
"There will be a chance, Sirius–" Remus said gently, trying to comfort him.
"I remember you're Harry's godfather. When summer comes. I believe everything will be over by then, and then you can invite Harry to stay here for a few days. Oh, there's the Quidditch World Cup in the summer–"
"Good idea, Remus!"
Sirius smiled brightly, his eyes sparkling with excitement, which almost restored him to the handsome and charming young man he was in his youth,
"Then we can go together!"
"Gentlemen, before you look forward to the bright future–"
Bryan, who was a bit tired from the journey, rubbed his brow and stood up, his voice interrupting their happy plans,
"Can someone help me clean up the kitchen?"
"It's okay, Bryan–"
Sirius, who had drunk a lot, boldly put his arm around Bryan's shoulder and burped, his breath smelling of alcohol,
"Kreacher can handle this–"
As he said, Sirius shouted at the ceiling, his voice loud and impatient, but unfortunately, after roaring several times, there was still no sign of Kreacher in the kitchen.
"Oh, what's going on!"
Sirius was furious and wanted to go upstairs, but was stopped by Remus, who grabbed his arm and said calmly, "Obviously, he's pretending not to hear, Sirius–"
"A house-elf dares to defy his master's orders?"
Bryan also clicked his tongue and praised in a strange manner, his eyes showing a hint of amusement.
"Actually, when we first entered the house, he didn't dare to blatantly ignore Sirius's orders–"
Remus said helplessly, his expression resigned,
"But then, we started to manage and clean the house. You know, Bryan, for this old house that may have existed for centuries, there's too much to deal with. Sirius wanted to throw away some useless things in the house, and that completely annoyed Kreacher,
He used all kinds of excuses to ignore Sirius's orders, not appearing in front of us, and always taking advantage of our inattention, hiding the useless things we cleaned out and the valuable antiques in the house, just to prevent Sirius from throwing them away."
"I bet–"
Sirius pointed at the cupboard a few steps away and sneered, his voice dripping with sarcasm,
"That's where Kreacher usually sleeps. There must be a lot of things in there that can show the 'Glory of the Noble Black family' but are actually Worthless."
"Oh, that won't do–"
Bryan frowned, his face serious,
"Neither you nor Kreacher can secretly collect or throw away the things in this house without my permission–"
Sirius's face stiffened, and he remembered that the ownership of the house was currently in Bryan's hands.
"Those are worthless junk, Bryan," Sirius emphasized unhappily, his voice defensive, "They have no value!"
"Whether they have value or not, you don't have the final say, Sirius."
Bryan hooked his finger at the cupboard, and with a snap, the cupboard door opened, and a pile of weird scraps with a musty smell flew out of it. The first one was a pair of stained pants.
"That's my father's pants, Kreacher must have taken them to commemorate my father–"
Sirius seemed to think that the pants could prove his point, and he said happily, his voice triumphant, "I told you, Bryan, they're all useless things–"
"That's not necessarily true, Sirius–"
Bryan squatted down, looking at the pile of debris on the ground with the soft candlelight, he controlled a silver snuffbox to fly in front of him, and examined the inscription on it for a long time, his eyes showing his expertise,
"This is a Goblin masterpiece, from the eighteenth century, it would worth about three hundred galleons in the underground world. Oh, you dare to say this thing is garbage, I think your mother's evaluation of you is right to some extent, prodigal son"
Sirius was speechless, his mouth open in disbelief, but Remus smiled cheerfully and said, his voice teasing,
"Bryan is an expert in this field, Sirius."
As he said, Remus, who had also been in the underground world, also became interested, he pointed at a silver tweezer with five claws that was trying to break through everywhere, his eyes showing his curiosity,
"This is probably what Kreacher hid, this kind of thing looks like a masterpiece of a Wild School of wizards, and it's also very valuable. Hmm–I think it's worth at least five hundred galleons."
Sirius's face turned blacker, as Remus's words almost confirmed that he was a prodigal son, his voice low and bitter.
Kreacher hid a lot of valuable things, Bryan and Remus were like competing for knowledge, the two of them squatted down on the floor, and they commented on the precious collections of the Black family with enthusiasm. Sirius, who had grown up with these things, knew their origins and stories, but he couldn't judge their 'market price' in the wizarding world.
"This music box–"
Remus's dazed eyes regained their alertness, and he carefully picked it up with his fingers, holding it close to his ear, "We'd better be careful, the music it plays should be able to hypnotize people. Well, I'll give it eight hundred galleons–"
He said, his voice full of admiration for the craftsmanship of the music box.
"My turn!"
Bryan picked up a gold chain with interest, on which was a gold pendant box, shining with a faint light, "I can give this one---"
He said, his voice curious and playful.
On the candelabra on the table, a candle finally reached the end of its life, and the kitchen suddenly dimmed a lot, casting shadows on the walls.
Bryan stared at the pendant box, gradually, the confusion in his eyes disappeared, and the flush on his face caused by drinking also faded quickly, his light purple eyes became unfathomably deep, as if he saw something beyond the ordinary.
"I can give this one…"
Mysteriously, Bryan's mouth curled up, revealing a smile with a touch of wickedness, his voice low and seductive, "Eight thousand."
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