If not for the room that was used by Professor Brain to fight against the animated corpses and the Hinkypunks, and which was now a gymnasium, Harry would have been amazed by the amount of space inside Sirius Black's tent.
The tent appeared to be only half the size of Hagrid's cabin on the outside, but the inside space was several tens of times larger; it seemed as if the wizard who made this tent had moved an entire seaside villa inside. Harry's aunt and uncle's family had always been extremely eager to buy a vacation villa on the island of Majorca, and they had purchased numerous magazines and brochures about them. Harry had once admired those luxurious large houses in them, which were roughly similar to the white four-story mansion before him.
"Whoa--"
They were all still a bit uncomfortable from what had happened outside, but as they saw the mansion in front of them and the huge swimming pool in front, even the smaller Wesleys, who weren't particularly strong-willed, gasped. Ron broke away from the group and ran over to the pool. He got down on his knees and pointed at the water with his finger before looking puzzled at Sirius.
"This is an actual swimming pool, my God! I thought it was just a trick of the light!"
"Quite an eye-opener, Sirius--"
"Mr. Wesley gazed up at the soft, luminous sky above, remarking in astonishment,"
"It's much bigger than the tent I borrowed from Perkins."
Not focusing on who Perkins was, the luxurious tent was not as impactful to Harry as the revelation that Sirius and the Malfoys were relatives. Tired of craning his neck, Harry reached up and rested his hand against his cheek, frowning at Sirius.
"Remus, can you help Harry's head to straighten out? He had a piece of bubble gum and his head just went like this."
Sirius looked at Remus, speaking calmly.
"I know the kind of bubble gum you're talking about. Not long before you all arrived, I went to get water and saw a little boy, whose head was several times bigger than yours, Harry—"
Remus watched Harry's head with interest, saying.
"But the little boy immediately returned to normal after swallowing the other half of the bubble gum, I guess you must have taken the absurd half as a cure and swallowed it all at once, Harry, right?"
Harry muttered softly, and then, under Remus's Restoration Charm, his head began to deflate.
"What's going on, Sirius, and with Drako's mother?"
Remus walked into the mansion to inform Kreacher to bring food for everyone, and seeing the father-son conversation, Mr. Wesley also gave a guilty look to Ginny and they walked into the mansion for a visit. By the poolside, Ron, Fred, and George were already removing their shirts and jumping into the water to show off.
"Ah, just like what Ron said just now, Harry--"
Sirius chuckled dryly twice.
"There are some inflexible traditionalists in the wizarding world who never want to abandon outdated traditions. They are pure-blood families, who are crazy about the purity of their blood. It's a shame for them to marry with wizards who are not pure-blooded. However, if they don't do that, they will die out. So, in order to ensure that their family doesn't disappear, these pure-blood wizarding families intermarry with each other."
Sirius opened his hands, showing a helpless expression to Harry.
Harry wasn't unaware of what Sirius was talking about. He also knew that these pure-blood families usually all graduated from the same school, just like how Ron's family members all attended Gryffindor, and the ancestors of the Malfoys were basically from Slytherin.
Harry naturally assumed that the Black family, like the Weasley family, belonged to the 'outcast' pure-blood wizarding families.
But from what Mrs. Malfoy said outside just now, it seemed that Sirius was the true 'outcast'.
Harry remained silent for a moment before suddenly furrowing his brow and saying,
"Mrs. Malfoy just mentioned Volubka. Who is she?"
"She is my mother--"
Sirius' gray eyes flashed with a hint of darkness, and after taking a deep breath, he nodded.
"You're right, Harry, she is my mother. Yes, Narcissa Malfoy was correct; she didn't like me very much. In fact, to ensure that I couldn't take the family's wealth, she left a will before dying and divided the centuries of gold the family had accumulated between my two cousins. One of them is Narcissa Malfoy, and the other, oh God, I really don't want to mention that woman-- Bellatrix Lestrange."
aunt on the mother's side
Harry suddenly remembered the night of his fourteenth birthday banquet, about his dream. Sirius and Remus had talked to him about it that night. Sirius had once suspected that the woman in his dream was his aunt, but then mentioned Narcissa Malfoy, which means this Bellatrix Lestrange?
"That's right, it was her."
Sirius spat the words out, "She was with me in Azkaban. Of course, she was there just as much as what she did."
"What did she do?"
Harry asked urgently, "What did she do?" For the first time, he realized how little he knew about Sirius's background.
"What did she do?" Sirius coldly laughed. "She was a lackey for Voldemort, I assure you, Harry, you won't find anyone more loyal to Voldemort than Bellatrix Lestrange. Even in Azkaban, under the torment of the Dementors, I've heard her laughing many times over the years, waiting for Voldemort to return and make everyone pay for what they did!"
"But--"
Harry was still puzzled and about to say something, but Sirius grew impatient. He waved his hand, speaking impatiently,
"You haven't understood yet, Harry, about my mother, and my relatives. Most of them were direct followers of Voldemort, and some of them even aided and abetted his evil cause in secret. As for my mother, although she wasn't a Death Eater herself, I can't help but wonder what she might have done if she were younger twenty years!"
Sirius's words made Harry's heart sink, and he realized that today, he was beginning to understand that Sirius's grievances were not just about being misunderstood and persecuted for his parents. His own family may have caused him more harm.
Mr. Weasley walked out from the villa, presumably to call them for dinner, but just then, the wind chimes outside the tent rang, and a cheerful voice followed the melodious sound to their ears.
"Ah ho, is anyone there? I heard there was a fight here, so I came to check it out. I'm not doing anything, so I thought I'd drop by!"
"Oh!"
Mr. Weasley became excited immediately. He hurriedly walked around the pool to the tent door, taking over to greet Sirius and Harry for himself.
"The most important person right now, Ludo!"
"Hey, Arthur, old buddy!"
Mr. Weasley's voice caught the person outside off guard, but upon recognizing who it was, Ludo burst in and shook hands warmly with Mr. Weasley.
"Is this your tent, Arthur? It's really nice. I bet this tent alone could sell for at least six thousand Galleons!"
"Who is he?"
As Mr. Weasley chatted with the man, Ron, followed by Fred and George, emerged one after another from the pool. Harry quietly asked Ron,
"Ludo Bagman, the Director of the Ministry of Magic's Sports Division, used to be a Quidditch player. His father and ours were friends. Our Quidditch tickets were all thanks to him."
Harry nodded, indeed, Mr. Weasley had said this before.
Without a doubt, Ludo Bagman was the most striking person Harry had ever seen. He was wearing a striking Quidditch jersey with wide yellow and black stripes and a giant yellow bee emblazoned on the chest. It seemed that he had once been physically strong, but now he was beginning to show his age; his robe was tightly pulled around his expanding belly. Just imagine how trim his waistline must have been when he played for England in Quidditch matches.
"Ludo received a complaint about a fight here, and he used his wand. He's come to investigate this matter, but I have already explained the misunderstanding to him."
Mr. Weasley led Ludo to them and hurriedly said. He pointed to Sirius, addressing Ludo, "This is Sirius Black, and this is Harry Potter."
"In fact, this tent belongs to Sirius, and I imagine you must have heard of him, Ludo?"
"Oh, yes, his name is well-known!"
Ludo looked eagerly at Sirius,
"Literally, I heard about your story from the papers when I was in Paris. To be honest, you're a real hero, Sirius!"
(Chapter ends)
