After Christmas, the days in the Black mansion were inevitably a bit boring.

Harry, Ron and Ginny were doing their homework at the dining table. Every half an hour, Kreacher would bring a pot of steaming tea.

"Thank you, I really can't drink it anymore." Ron blushed, and soon after he bent down and ran upstairs to the bathroom. Ginny looked disgusted.

She pretended to pick up the teapot, poured herself a cup of tea delicately, handed it to her mouth, took a sip very ladylike, and then gently put the cup on the dining table. She looked up and found Harry frowning and thinking about his potions class paper. She immediately turned the pages of the book loudly and angrily.

Ron came back.

"Snape is still in the study." He said briefly.

Harry knew what he meant. Snape came on the second day of Christmas. At a time when the members of the Order of the Phoenix were still busy, he appeared in the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix for three consecutive days. It was a bit weird no matter how you looked at it.

"Look at it in a good way, maybe he just covets the Black family's collection of books." Ron said.

"I saw him last night." Ginny said sharply, and Harry and Ron turned their heads immediately. "I was going to the kitchen to get some water, but I saw him sliding down the stairs like a ghost, without making any sound..."

Harry and Ron looked at each other, which made it even more suspicious.

"Is he looking for something?"

"Maybe he wants to break the protection spell of the Order of the Phoenix!"

"Don't be silly, this place is under the Fidelius Charm, no one can force Dumbledore to tell the secret!"

"Why not write to Hermione, she knows a lot of unpopular magic." Ginny suggested eagerly.

"Good idea."

In the next few days, Harry and Ron discussed what Snape was going to do while anxiously waiting for Hermione's reply. It took them nearly a week to realize that the Black Mansion was protected by layers of magic, and Hedwig could not be found at all. Harry

took advantage of lunch time to go out for a walk and brought back Hedwig, who had been wandering around Grimmauld Place for several days. Hedwig pecked at Harry's ears and fingers angrily, and Harry kept apologizing. When she had vented enough, she threw a bulging envelope on Harry's forehead.

Hermione's letter was very long:

"My parents and I went to Switzerland. The environment here is very peaceful, without any war atmosphere. I persuaded them to stay here for a year or so, but they firmly disagreed and forced me to write a letter every week!

I taught them how to order the Daily Prophet and the New Magic Runes. Although they couldn't understand the latter, they could find my name on it. They were also interested in The Quibbler, but fortunately I dissuaded them in time. I didn't want them to ask me what goblin pie was in the letter.

For your question, I do know some methods, but I'm not sure if they will work for Professor Snape. I recommend a method used by Muggles. This is inspired by a detective novel that my father is reading recently. The specific method is to put hair in the gap between books. If someone moves, the hair will fall off... Other methods are attached at the end..."

"What do you think?" Putting down the letter, Harry asked Ron and Ginny.

"Use that Muggle method!" Ron and Ginny said in unison. Harry didn't object. Obviously, he didn't have much confidence in whether he could hide this from Snape.

Two evenings before school started, Harry went upstairs to call Sirius down for dinner. At the fifth floor stairs, Harry saw Sirius leaning against the door frame. He was about to say hello, but found that Sirius was not facing him, but was lazily fiddling with his wand and talking to someone in the room.

Harry took a few steps closer and the voice became clearer.

Sirius' tone was very unfriendly, "Tell me, how did you appear in my room?"

Who was he talking to? As soon as this question popped up in Harry's mind, he knew the answer in the next second. A slow voice said, "Of course I have something to ask you. Are you lost?"

It was Snape!

Harry's breathing was rapid and his heartbeat accelerated. He held his breath. Snape's recent whereabouts were too suspicious, and he was eager to know the reason.

"Really?" Sirius looked sideways into the room. "I thought someone had sneaked into my room to find something..."

"Looking for something?" Snape said in a cold voice, with a strong contempt in his tone. Harry could almost imagine his thin lips pouting like a snake ready to spray venom. "Oh...you mean the bikini photo on the wall?"

Sirius, who was about to accuse Snape, froze. He licked his lips. "What did you say?"

"I have to say that you have a unique taste and a lot of courage." Snape said in a sarcastic voice. Sirius blushed. "That's an old photo!" He roared in a low voice.

Harry didn't want to listen anymore. He backed away. At this time, Snape suddenly appeared at the door and pushed Sirius away. He was surprised to see Harry tiptoe backing away.

This moment was extremely awkward.

A few seconds seemed as long as centuries. Harry was stunned, and Snape sneered, "It looks like someone has discovered your little secret, Sirius. Will you cast a forgetfulness spell on him?" He strode away.

Harry slowly turned around and wanted to go downstairs, "Stop." Sirius said expressionlessly, and Harry stammered, "I didn't hear anything." Sirius couldn't help but curse in a low voice, not knowing who he was cursing, "Come with me."

Harry walked into the room with great courage.

He had never officially come in before, at most he knocked on the door and called Sirius to come out for dinner, and vaguely caught a glimpse of the large bed with carved patterns and velvet curtains at the head of the bed. After Harry came in, he found that the room was spacious and beautiful.

Sirius sat on the bed angrily and pointed at the wall behind Harry.

"See for yourself."

Harry slowly turned his head, thinking that he would see some strange photos, and he did see them. Harry first noticed the Gryffindor flags on both sides of the silver satin wall. They were like the tone of the entire photo wall, and people could tell which college the owner of the room was from at a glance.

Harry secretly applauded.

Then he couldn't help but notice the stickers and photos that filled the wall. Harry blinked. It wasn't what he thought. There were many photos of Muggle motorcycles, and only a few of the "bikini photos" that Snape mentioned. The faded smiles of the girls were frozen on the yellowed photos - they were motionless, as if they were cut from Muggle movie posters.

These were the stickers that Sirius had pasted on the wall when he was in school. Harry realized it, and at the same time he had to admit that Snape was right. Sirius was indeed very courageous...

In addition to these, there were also many wizard photos on the wall. Harry was surprised and uneasy to find that he finally knew where the set of photos that Sirius had obtained from the Creevey brothers was hidden. There were dozens of Harry Potters in front of him, blinking at him.

Harry didn't know which emotion he felt more, embarrassment or touching. His eyes were a little sore. After a long time, he found a few unusual photos:

one was a picture of four Hogwarts students standing together with their arms linked. Harry stared at his father, Sirius, Lupin, and of course Peter Pettigrew in the photo. Each of them smiled happily at the camera;

there was also a photo of Sirius and a young man with their shoulders on each other. Harry knew that it was Regulus. They were not very old when they took the photo, and Sirius had not run away from home yet;

the last photo - Harry's breath was stagnant - a black-haired baby flew in and out on a small broom, giggling, and there were two legs belonging to adult men chasing him from behind. That must be his father James Potter.

"Lily sent it to me. I found it when I was cleaning the house." Sirius pointed to the baby photo and said, "It was hidden in my motorcycle repair manual. I almost lost it."

Harry was silent, not knowing what to say.

"I have a few more letters here, written by James and Lily..." Sirius stammered, "I have been hesitating whether to give it to you."

"Of course!" Harry said immediately, looking at Sirius expectantly.

Sirius smiled.

"It may not be what you think... Most of the topics we talked about at that time were related to the war, except for your mother, Lily. She has always had a great enthusiasm for life..." He muttered, and then he paused for a while, stood up from the bed, opened the drawer of the bedside table, and took out a stack of letters from it.

Harry stared greedily at the faded ink marks, wondering why he hadn't thought of this before. But then he remembered that he seemed to have never kept the letters from Ron and Hermione... He decided to change it immediately, from now on.

"Do you still have James's Invisibility Cloak?" Sirius asked suddenly.

"What? Oh, yes, Headmaster Dumbledore returned it to me in the first year." Harry answered. He didn't know why Sirius asked this question. All his attention was on the letters. He saw a line of beautiful handwriting, which might be written by his mother.

He couldn't wait to take it, hoping to feel the body temperature of the writer.

Sirius stopped talking and seemed to be bored. He waved his hand and Harry walked outside. He suddenly turned back at the door, "Well... Sirius, I want to tell you that you actually have very good taste." Without waiting for Sirius to answer, he slipped away.