The Fat Lady had fled in a panic, hiding herself within a painting of an old cattle ranch. When Dumbledore questioned her, she described her attacker as a devil. After all, he had destroyed the very wall painting that sustained her and others like her—what else could he be but a devil?
Regulus Black hadn't expected this. Sirius Black, who usually behaved himself, had snuck out of the Room of Requirement and, just like in the original story, destroyed the Fat Lady's portrait.
"Get out of Hogwarts! What you did is of no help to our plans. Go stay in the Forbidden Forest," Regulus ordered sternly.
As soon as Regulus returned to the Room of Requirement, he found Sirius lazily licking his paws.
Seeing his younger brother so furious, Sirius tapped his Animagus collar with a paw.
"Hmph!" Regulus waved his hand, lifting the restriction on his Animagus form.
The large black dog transformed back into a man—Sirius, still visibly seething with anger.
"I saw him—that filthy, despicable rat. He's hiding in Gryffindor!" Sirius roared hoarsely.
While wandering around Hogwarts, Sirius had run into Peter Pettigrew. Sparks flew the moment they saw each other, and a chase ensued. Pettigrew, knowing the Gryffindor password, managed to slip back into the common room. Sirius, however, was blocked outside. When threats didn't work, he destroyed the Fat Lady's portrait.
Now, one might ask: why would the Fat Lady open the door for a rat?
Here's something crucial to understand: though the portraits can talk and react like humans, they are governed by a set of "habits" rooted in the personalities of the subjects when they were alive. This is what gives wizarding portraits their lifelike quality.
But the Fat Lady serves another important role as Gryffindor's gatekeeper. Her most critical trait is that she follows rules without exception—regardless of who or what is speaking. After all, students are unpredictable; no one can say what form they might take.
So yes—even if it were a lump of dung, as long as it could clearly say the password, she would still let it in.
Someone might protest: "But it's just a painting! Surely Sirius could've broken through it?"
That's where wizarding enchantments come in. Without a password, yes, the painting is just a piece of paper. But once a password is set, only that word can bypass the enchantment—no physical force can break through. Even if Sirius tore down the canvas, all he'd find behind it was a wall.
Of course, there are exceptions. Regulus was confident he could brute-force the enchantment. Dumbledore could likely do it. So could Voldemort—if they were willing to expend the magic and endure any defensive backlash.
But such powerful wizards are rare. Many of the elder wizards focus more on research than raw magical strength.
"So what you're saying is... you saw Ron's pet rat, Scabbers?" Regulus asked coldly, turning to Sirius, who was now pacing back and forth.
"You knew—you knew everything!" Sirius snapped. As he calmed down, he remembered just how clever his younger brother was. Back in Azkaban, Regulus had already hinted that he knew everything about the Marauders' Animagus forms.
Smack! Regulus slapped the Marauder's Map onto the table.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Footprints and name tags began to appear, showing the locations of everyone in Hogwarts.
"This is… the one we made together, back in the day," Sirius said, his voice soft with nostalgia.
He quickly flipped to the Gryffindor dormitory. Sure enough, the name "Peter Pettigrew" was hovering inside Harry Potter's room.
Sirius's eyes turned bloodshot, glaring at the name like a rabid dog.
"Prongs, Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail—that's the four of you, isn't it, Padfoot?" Regulus pointed to the map.
Truth be told, the four had been incredibly gifted. Creating a magical artifact like the Marauder's Map was a brilliant feat, a product of inspiration and self-teaching. But after graduation, their choices had led them down a reckless, self-destructive path—wasting their talents.
"I was originally the Potters' Secret Keeper," Sirius said hoarsely. "I thought the Death Eaters would target me, so I passed the role to Wormtail… and not long after, James and Lily were killed."
Maybe Sirius assumed Regulus didn't know the full story. But Regulus did.
"I know all about your mess. Stop pushing all the blame onto others and think more about your own faults. Why did you give up your role as the Secret-Keeper? Don't tell me you were scared! Or maybe you believed you couldn't endure the torture of the Death Eaters? In the end, it just shows you lacked confidence in your own resolve. So you abandoned your responsibility, and placed it on someone else instead—someone you look down on, yet are close to. Did you really not realize that the four of you—those famously notorious Marauders—were all on the Death Eaters' blacklist? Did you think Peter Pettigrew would be ignored? That he'd be spared? That they wouldn't capture him and interrogate him to find out what he knew?"
Regulus Black's words left Sirius Black, who had been ready to argue back, utterly speechless.
"I'll tell you this—long before James Potter was running around near Voldemort, Peter Pettigrew had already been captured. To plant a spy close to you, that coward was granted the status of a full-fledged Death Eater, marked with the Dark Mark by Voldemort himself. Did you ever pay attention to the changes in those around you?"
Regulus calmly put away the Marauder's Map and tried to reason with Sirius.
"If you do exactly as I say, you'll truly gain your freedom. The Wizengamot will declare you innocent. The Ministry of Magic will acknowledge that your escape from Azkaban was part of a coordinated operation with the Auror Office. You might even earn a position in the Auror department. The Black family name could continue. Everything would fall back into place."
The angrier Regulus became, the colder his demeanor grew. He dragged the slumped Sirius Black up from the floor.
"Do you have any idea how much effort I've put into all of this? Do you know how much it cost? You know nothing—nothing except acting recklessly. That's why you are the one responsible for the Potters' deaths."
He shoved Sirius back to the ground and reinforced the Animagus Restriction Charm.
"Now, get into the Forbidden Forest and reflect on what you've done."
With a flick of his wand, Regulus levitated the large black dog with a Floating Charm and sent it soaring out of the Room of Requirement. With a loud splash, it landed in the lake outside the castle.
Sirius, now a soaked black dog, luckily had an innate doggy-paddle instinct. After swimming back to shore, he shook off the water and barked furiously in the direction of Hogwarts before turning and running into the Forbidden Forest.
Meanwhile, the Hogwarts students were once again gathered in the Great Hall on the first floor, sleeping. This time, though, they were much quieter—thanks to the absence of Gilderoy Lockhart stirring up trouble, and the more mischievous ones having already been dealt with by Regulus Black last time.
That made it especially easy for the remaining professors to supervise them. And if worst came to worst, well—they could always take a page from Regulus's book and use a Stunning Spell to help the troublesome ones fall asleep.
"Everything normal here?"
Regulus entered the Great Hall and asked Professor Snape, who had stayed behind.
"Why don't you worry about your pet instead?"
Snape responded with a cold smirk. Both he and Dumbledore were already aware of Regulus's plan, and so naturally, they knew that Sirius Black, in the form of a large black dog, had been confined in the Room of Requirement by Regulus.
"Oh, that stray dog? I brought it back out of kindness, but it still behaves wildly and runs amok around Hogwarts. So I've thrown it into the Forbidden Forest now."
Regulus casually described his punishment for the panic Sirius Black had caused.
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