When a person is about to die, their words are kind; when a bird is about to die, its cry is mournful.
Sirius Black's murmuring of "Lily… James…" was probably his final confession to his friends.
But if Black felt remorse, why didn't he mention Peter Pettigrew at all? Logically speaking, that friend had also died at his hands.
Black's moment of consciousness was brief. He soon fainted again, but this time he kept mumbling Lily and James's names, occasionally mentioning Remus—yet he still didn't mention Peter Pettigrew even once.
This scene, along with Black's delirious muttering, left Fred and George completely dumbfounded.
What was this supposed to be—some kind of dying confession? Or was he planning to settle things with the Potters again after his death? And why mention Lupin—was he resentful that Lupin hadn't accompanied him to meet Merlin?
Crookshanks continued to stare fixedly at the three of them. At the slightest movement, it would leap without hesitation. Garlon looked at the unconscious Black, extremely anxious, letting out soft whimpering sounds.
If the one lying there had been Eda, Garlon might not have been this worried. Clearly, this pet had been raised in vain—it seemed he had been raised for Black instead.
Eda lowered her wand, intending to step forward to check on Black and see whether he was alive or dead. But Crookshanks blocked her path, refusing to let her approach the unconscious man.
With a wave of her hand, Eda pushed Crookshanks aside. The moment the cat got back on its feet, it lunged at her again. Garlon finally seemed to remember who his real owner was—he intercepted the ginger cat midair, and the two animals tumbled together.
Eda bent down to examine Black. The moment she crouched, she could feel heat radiating from his body, and his breathing was labored.
Using her wand, she moved aside the clothing over Black's shoulder and saw the wound she had inflicted.
The spell that struck his shoulder had caused him to lose a great deal of blood—otherwise his clothes wouldn't have been soaked through layer after layer. With no medicine or treatment in the Forbidden Forest and such a harsh environment, the wound not only showed no signs of healing but had become infected and suppurating, which was also the cause of his fever.
"How is it?" George asked. "Is Black seriously ill?"
"He won't die for now. The good die young, while troublemakers live a thousand years," Eda said, shaking her hand. "He's lost so much blood, and with both infection and inflammation, he's still not dead—his life is really tough!"
In World War I, many soldiers didn't die on the battlefield but died afterward from tetanus or wound infections.
Sirius Black truly lived up to being an escapee from Azkaban—being able to hold on with a body in this condition until now. Eda genuinely admired such tenacious vitality.
Fred stepped closer to take a look. When he saw Black's wound, he instinctively frowned. "Should we take him back?" Fred asked. "Hand him directly over to the Ministry, or…"
There was no need to finish the sentence. Fred and George's meaning was obvious—if Eda wanted to keep Black privately, then the two of them hadn't seen anyone today.
"Let's take him back first," Eda answered after thinking for a moment. "There are some things I want to figure out."
Setting aside whether Black's condition would even allow him to be taken back to Azkaban, the Ministry would probably have the Dementors give him a Kiss the moment they saw him, ending everything for Black.
But that wasn't the outcome Eda wanted. There were still things she hadn't figured out. Once she satisfied her curiosity, she would naturally hand Black over to the Ministry to deal with.
Whether he would be imprisoned again or receive the Dementor's Kiss wouldn't be her concern.
Crookshanks and Garlon also stopped fighting each other, though Garlon had gained another scratch on his face from a cat's claw. The cat and dog led the way in front, while Eda and the twins used a Levitation Charm to float Black in midair, following them out of the increasingly dark Forbidden Forest.
By the time Eda brought Black back to the Twilight Cottage, night had fully fallen. She settled him in an empty room, and as she looked at the unconscious Black, she gradually sank into deep thought.
In the cottage now, there was only Eda deep in thought, the unconscious Black, and the traitorous cat and dog keeping watch by his bedside.
After leaving the Forbidden Forest, the twins had gone straight back to the castle. They returned to prepare the things Eda needed to save Black's life.
Nearly two hours later, Fred and George finally came back to the Twilight Cottage, carrying large bundles. Besides what Eda had asked for, they had also brought some food.
"On the way back, we ran into Hermione and the others," Fred said. "The verdict is out."
"The senile old fools on the committee sentenced Buckbeak to death," George continued. "Hagrid will probably choose to appeal, but…"
The twins both knew very well that an appeal wouldn't change the outcome. Lucius Malfoy had already pulled all the strings—an appeal could only delay Buckbeak's execution.
Eda, who was eating, suddenly paused. "Got it," she said indistinctly, then lowered her head and continued eating.
While Eda ate, the twins took out the items from their bundles one by one—potion ingredients stolen from Snape's private stores, disinfectants and medicines taken from the hospital wing, and so on.
After filling her stomach, Eda began to treat Black's festering wound. She first picked out all the maggots from the affected area, then took the diluted disinfectant and washed the wound over and over again.
The disinfectant could fully replace saline solution and hydrogen peroxide, and it could also serve in place of iodine or alcohol for sterilization. Unfortunately, when used to clean wounds, it still caused intense pain.
Especially for an infected wound like Black's, repeated washing was necessary. During the process, even though Black was unconscious, he could still feel the intense pain—his brows were tightly furrowed.
The entire debridement process took a long time, with removing contaminants and necrotic tissue taking the most time. Only after applying medicine to the wound did Eda finally let out a breath of relief.
"Is this how those Muggle doctors who cut people open handle things?" Fred finally couldn't hold back and asked. He had wanted to ask during Eda's debridement process.
"More or less, but my method isn't professional," Eda said, vanishing the removed tissue and maggots as she spoke. "But we can't just dump Black at the hospital wing or St. Mungo's. If we did that, there'd be nothing left for me to ask."
Although Eda disliked wards and hospitals, she had always respected medical staff from the bottom of her heart, and she also respected the healers at St. Mungo's.
"Not professional?" George said as well. "But you looked pretty skilled to me!" George didn't know how Muggles would see it, but Eda's series of dazzling actions just now looked quite practiced to him.
"I'm learning as I go," Eda said with a sly smile. "If the one lying there were you two, I'd definitely send you to St. Mungo's. But since it's Black, it doesn't matter—he's perfect for practice."
To Eda, Black was a fugitive, a tool to satisfy her curiosity. Whether he lived or died didn't really matter. If he died, she could just hand the body over to the Ministry. If he survived by chance, she could use him to satisfy her curiosity.
Because she didn't care, she dared to take action—cleaning and treating his wound. If Black died, then so be it; it wasn't a big deal.
In this situation, Sirius Black might be getting a huge bargain, but Eda would never lose out!
"What next?" the twins asked in unison. "Do we just leave him lying here?"
"I still need to brew a Blood-Replenishing Potion. After all, he lost so much blood," Eda said, gesturing with her hand to indicate just how much. "After that, it depends on his own luck. That's all I can do."
"So in the end, it still comes down to fate," Fred complained. After watching Eda's whole performance, he thought she was amazing, but it turned out she was still relying on luck.
Eda snapped her fingers. "Exactly!"
The hippogriff Buckbeak had been sentenced to death, and Sirius Black had fallen into the hands of the quack doctor Eda, his fate uncertain. The "Starbucks" fugitive duo hadn't even met yet before it was already declared disbanded.
As for things like debridement and infection treatment, they might not be entirely professional—just take it as it is.
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