Let's set aside the matter of the guardian's consent form for now. It was not important.
Unlike Harry Potter, Leonard did not need to curry favor with his guardian just to get a signature.
As night fell, Leonard focused on his surroundings, only occasionally glancing toward the Dursleys' house.
He still was not sure when Sirius Black would show up. In the original story, he seemed to appear when Harry Potter blew that fat woman up like a balloon and ran away.
But Leonard could not remember exactly which night it was. That fat woman seemed to have been staying here for quite a while.
That fat woman was Vernon Dursley's sister. There did not seem to be a single decent person in that family, and she was especially sharp-tongued and mean, ordering Harry Potter around as though it were only natural.
The whole family ate happily and with great relish, while Harry Potter stood off to the side holding a tray and watching them eat...
Not one shred of pity.
If Sirius Black saw a scene like this, he would probably be unable to stop himself from exposing his presence and tearing that fat woman to pieces.
Leonard did not have much pity either. He felt he had it even worse than Harry Potter. At least Harry would get a few leftovers after he finished working. Leonard did not even have a mouthful of hot soup and still had to crouch in a tree waiting for Sirius Black.
Leonard yawned, then suddenly sensed one of his vines being destroyed.
Not by magic, but torn apart by sharp teeth and claws.
Plants destroyed that way would not self-destruct, but the ones Leonard had planted, while not heavily reinforced and meant only to monitor the surrounding area, were still magical plants. Ordinary house cats and stray dogs could not damage them.
"Has he come?"
Leonard narrowed his eyes and immediately linked himself to all the plants near the destroyed vine.
Very quickly, he found a large black dog.
The dog looked somewhat bedraggled. Its fur seemed smeared with grime, making its color look a little dull.
By appearance alone, it was a complete stray, the kind people would dislike on sight if it wandered down the street.
But this big black dog's eyes were clearly different from a stray's. There was intelligence in them, a lively sharpness, and none of the panic a stray dog ought to have. It was far too calm.
A black dog. Intelligent. Calm. And appearing near Harry Potter.
Obviously, the only one who fit all those conditions was Sirius Black.
At that moment, Sirius Black was still in his Animagus form, curiously pawing at the broken vine on the ground.
He had only passed by, and the vine had attacked him. A plant that could attack on its own was definitely a magical plant.
To run into a magical plant in a Muggle residential area, Sirius felt his luck was a little too "good."
Still, Sirius did not suspect that this unknown magical plant had been planted by someone trying to catch him. Going by common sense, a plant that large would have taken quite a while to grow, and back then he had not even escaped from Azkaban yet.
"This is seriously dangerous. If a magical plant showed up in a place like this and I hadn't found it, who knows how many Muggles would've gotten hurt."
Sirius flicked his tail, dug a hole, and buried the vine. Just as he was about to keep moving and go see his godson, the fur along his spine suddenly stood on end. He had the distinct feeling of being watched by a predator.
Danger.
Sirius leaped instinctively. A black shadow shot past beneath him, long and slender, like a deadly venomous snake.
Before Sirius could even relax, he heard the air split behind him, and a vine lashed solidly across his back.
Sirius let out a muffled yelp. Before he could even be thrown forward, vines burst up from the ground and caught him. Countless vines wove together and wrapped around Sirius, binding him tightly like a ball of yarn.
Sirius struggled nonstop, his sharp teeth and claws tearing through the vines restraining him.
But the vines kept surging in like a tide. With only four paws and one mouth, there was no way he could clear them all.
Before long, the "ball of yarn" stopped moving. The vines inside had packed into every corner, leaving Sirius no room to struggle at all.
Despair appeared in Sirius's eyes. By now he understood. This was definitely a trap.
A trap set specifically for him.
He desperately wanted to shout and vent the bitterness in his heart, but as a dog, he could not speak human language at all.
At that moment, footsteps approached. Sirius jerked his head up, trying to see who exactly had captured him, this valuable wanted criminal.
But the other person remained behind him and had no intention of showing himself.
"Sirius Black, right?"
Leonard spoke in a hoarse voice.
Sirius rolled his eyes and barked once.
Leonard: ...
Oh. He had forgotten Sirius was still in Animagus form. A dog could not talk.
He loosened the vines a little and used a spell to turn Sirius back into human form.
"Now we can talk," Leonard said.
"Damn it! Let me go, you bastard!" Sirius Black shouted, his eyes bloodshot.
"You can yell louder if you want. If someone notices, I'll have no choice but to turn you in for the bounty," Leonard said.
Sirius stopped struggling. He twisted around desperately, but all he could see were Leonard's feet.
"You're not planning to hand me over to the Ministry of Magic?"
He understood what Leonard meant.
"That depends on how cooperative you are. If your answers satisfy me, I'll let you go directly and even give you some help."
Then Leonard's tone suddenly turned sinister. "But if I find out you're lying to me, I won't just turn you in for the bounty. I'll kill that child too."
Sirius shuddered. "I don't know what you're talking about... what child?"
"All the better if you don't," Leonard said coldly. "Then you probably won't be too heartbroken when I kill him."
Sirius's heart tightened.
This guy... had investigated him thoroughly. Otherwise he would never sound this confident.
"Fine, you win. What do you want to ask?" Sirius gave in. He did not dare gamble Harry's safety on the morals of the person behind him.
"I want to ask..." Leonard covered his nose and took a step back. "While you were running around, did it never occur to you to wash yourself?"
Before Sirius transformed back, Leonard had not noticed much. But once he returned to human form, Leonard was nearly overwhelmed by the smell.
It was like a pile of kitchen garbage that had been fermenting for thirty years.