Hearing Leonard's words, Sirius's face darkened.
"Don't think that just because you caught me, you get to insult me!"
Had he had it easy? He had turned into a dog, swum all the way from Azkaban back to shore, and rushed nonstop toward Harry's home. Along the way, he had to avoid wizards eyeing the bounty on his head and carefully rummage through garbage for food so he would not starve to death.
He had suffered this much already. So what if he smelled a little? Why did someone have to point it out just to humiliate him?
If he had not been tied up this tightly, he would have bitten the bastard behind him to death even if it cost him his life.
"Tsk. I'm just curious. Don't get mad. It's not like you can bite me anyway, and it wouldn't be good if you got yourself worked up sick."
Leonard watched the agitated Sirius. As he thrashed around, the smell spread even more. To keep from being overwhelmed by the stench, Leonard silently took a few more steps back.
"You..." Sirius wanted to curse him out properly, but the moment he remembered that he was trussed up tight and the person behind him was threatening Harry's life, he did not dare say another word.
"All right, be quiet. I ask, you answer. Don't even think about lying. I'll verify it afterward if I have to. If you lie, I'll bring that child in front of you and kill him where you can watch."
Leonard threw out that threat, making Sirius's heart pound wildly, then asked, "How did you escape from Azkaban?"
"I swam out. No one knows I'm an Animagus, and those Dementors can't see non-human souls, so I took advantage of the Auror guards changing shifts and swam out alongside the only boat that goes in and out of Azkaban."
Sirius answered honestly.
"Swam out..." Leonard was briefly at a loss for words.
Azkaban was out in the sea and protected by an Anti-Apparition Charm. It really did seem like swimming was the only way out.
He had to admit, Sirius's willpower and stamina were impressive. Not just anyone could have managed that.
Leonard sighed inwardly, then continued, "Then why did you escape?"
Sirius: ???
What kind of question was that? What did he mean, why did he escape? Did this guy think Azkaban was some kind of holiday resort? Any normal person would want to get out of there.
Well... at first, Sirius really had not wanted to leave, but that had been a special case. He had wanted to atone. If not for that, he would have used his Animagus ability to escape long ago.
Leonard also realized that what he had said sounded off, so he rephrased it.
"You're an Animagus. Azkaban couldn't hold you. But you stayed there for a full ten years. So why did you run now?"
"What is this, some kind of prison review?" Sirius stayed cautious, putting on a mocking expression as if he were joking, though inside he was fully on guard.
The question was too strange. Sirius had no idea what the other person was really after.
"If thinking that makes you feel better, go ahead." Leonard narrowed his eyes. "I want to know what made you decide to break out."
"Because Peter Pettigrew is still alive. Since you know so much about me, you should know who Peter Pettigrew is too, right?" Sirius said.
From the sound of it, this person's target was not Sirius himself, but whoever had told him Peter Pettigrew was still alive.
If that was the case, then there was no point in weighing his words. Telling the truth was enough.
Compared to some person with unclear motives, his life and Harry's life mattered far more.
"Mhm. I've heard of him," Leonard replied.
That lukewarm tone made it hard for Sirius to read what he meant, but Sirius went on anyway.
"The reason I escaped is because someone told me he was still alive."
"And who was the one who told you that?" Leonard pressed.
Leonard was anxious, but he hid it well so Sirius would not notice anything.
"I don't know. I never saw a person, only a raven. A red-eyed raven that could talk. I don't think it was an Animagus. It told me Peter Pettigrew was still alive, and it said it could help me get out."
Leonard let out a cold laugh.
"A windfall from the sky, huh?"
A raven. Another raven. Was this Raven again?
Leonard could not be sure. Raven was not the only wizard who used ravens. They were intelligent creatures, and with a little training they could be just as useful as owls.
Still, Leonard felt that aside from Raven, other wizards were not usually this bizarre.
"That's what I thought too. I don't believe anyone would rescue someone from Azkaban without wanting something in return, so I turned down its help and chose to escape on my own."
At that, Sirius felt a little aggrieved.
He had refused the raven's help and escaped by himself precisely so he would not end up under someone else's thumb.
In the end, he had suffered all the way here, only to get caught anyway.
Then what had he gone through all that misery for? If he had known, he might as well have gone with the flow and accepted the raven's help.
"Did it reveal who they were?" Leonard asked.
"No." Sirius shook his head.
"Did it say what they wanted?"
"No." Sirius shook his head again.
Leonard frowned.
He got nothing from this line of questioning. So was Sirius lying, or had the people behind that raven simply been so cautious that they had revealed nothing at all?
Leonard ruled out Sirius lying first. He had threatened Sirius with his godson, the only child of his good friend James Potter. Sirius could not possibly lie under those circumstances.
So the other side had just been too cautious?
At that thought, Leonard's face darkened.
Damn it. Did he think it had been easy camping out here in the middle of summer for this long?
He had spent every day out here with flies and mosquitoes for company, all to squeeze out one little clue from Sirius, and now the trail just ended like this?
Then had all his suffering been for nothing?
Leonard fell silent.
And on the other side, Sirius, hanging there, started to panic.
Why had the person behind him suddenly gone quiet? What was he trying to do? Why was he not saying anything?
Sirius could not see his face. No matter how hard he craned around, all he could see was a pair of shoes behind him.
Standing there without moving, not saying a word. What the hell was he trying to do? Was he thinking up something evil?
Being stared at like this made Sirius feel intensely unsafe about what was behind him.
Sirius was starting to break down.