For the sake of his own safety, Sirius had no choice but to temporarily abandon the idea of Apparition.
He stared at Maurise, who was clearly still a student, with eyes full of wariness and confusion.
"Who are you?" he asked, his voice still hoarse. "A Hogwarts student?"
Hmm?
It seemed the man still wanted to put up a desperate struggle. Maurise noticed that although the fugitive was asking questions, his eyes were constantly darting around the room, likely searching for an opportunity to escape.
However...
Maurise felt incredibly confident. He silently dared the man to run. If Sirius managed to escape, Maurise would gladly admit defeat.
He took a step forward, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly. "Sir, you stole my cat's wand. That is not exactly very polite."
Sirius instinctively glanced down at the wand in his hand.
"I will return it," he said, his tone sounding surprisingly sincere. "But I need to borrow it for a while. As you can see, in my current situation, I cannot take a single step without a wand."
"In that case," Maurise spread his hands in a casual gesture, "you will have to try and defeat me, or kill me. That is the only way you are leaving."
Sirius had not expected to hear such words. He froze in place, wondering if his ears were deceiving him.
"What did you say?"
"I said," Maurise repeated clearly, "as long as you defeat me, you can leave."
Sirius stared at him for a long time. Was this kid out of his mind? He was an escaped convict from Azkaban. A notorious murderer! Was this student's reaction not just a little bit abnormal?
Forget it. The most pressing matter was to get away. This place was no longer safe. Fortunately, he still knew several secret passages leading into Hogwarts.
Without further hesitation, Sirius raised his arm and fired a Disarming Charm.
"Expelliarmus!"
A jet of red light shot from the tip of the wand, hurtling straight toward Maurise.
Maurise did not even bother to dodge. If he could be hit by such a casually thrown spell, he might as well find a block of tofu and smash his own head against it.
With a mere thought, a grayish white bone shield materialized out of thin air right in front of him, perfectly blocking the path of the red light.
Bang!
Red sparks flew in all directions as the Disarming Charm struck the bone shield, producing a dull thud.
Maurise was completely unscathed. The bone shields he conjured now possessed a magical resistance that could not even be compared to his past efforts.
"Is that it?"
Maurise was genuinely surprised. The power of that Disarming Charm was noticeably lacking. It was not even as strong as one of Fred's spells.
But thinking about it carefully, it made sense. The man had been locked in Azkaban for over a decade. Being able to cast a spell at all was already quite impressive. He decided to be a little more forgiving.
Seeing Maurise's disdainful look, Sirius felt a long forgotten surge of anger. Yet, it was nothing more than impotent rage. He did not attempt another attack.
Maurise had been expecting a decent fight, but it seemed his hopes were dashed. How strong could he really expect a prisoner tortured for over ten years to be?
He clapped his hands together. "Alright, time to end this."
In the next second, over a dozen skeletons materialized out of thin air, completely surrounding Sirius. The skeletons varied in shape and wielded an assortment of crude weapons, but each one was tall, terrifying, and radiated a dangerous aura.
Sirius was dumbfounded. He had seen plenty of dark magic in his time, but summoning so many skeletons at once completely exceeded his understanding.
Before he could even react, the undead creatures swarmed forward.
"Confringo!"
Sirius swung his wand in a panic. A blast of red light struck the foremost skeleton, shattering its frame and sending bones clattering across the floor.
It was useless. Before he could cast a second spell, more skeletons lunged at him.
A bony hand reached out from the side and viciously clamped down on his wrist with astonishing force. The wand slipped from his grasp and clattered to the floor.
Immediately after, more skeletal hands grabbed his arms, shoulders, and legs. He struggled frantically, but the sheer strength of the skeletons was overwhelming, rendering him completely immobile.
Within seconds, Sirius was entirely subdued. Forced to his knees and pinned down by two skeletons, he could only raise his head and glare at Maurise with bloodshot eyes.
Maurise let out a sharp whistle and casually strolled forward, bending down to retrieve the fallen wand.
And with that, the battle was over. The five thousand Galleons were practically in his pocket. It was almost boring how easy it had been.
"Who exactly are you?" Sirius asked, his voice rough and rasping.
"Just a bounty hunter," Maurise replied lightly.
"A bounty hunter?" Sirius narrowed his eyes, studying the young man in front of him. "How much is the Ministry paying you?"
"The newspaper said five thousand Galleons." Maurise was perfectly honest.
Sirius fell silent for a moment. Then, he spoke slowly. "Let me go, and I can give you double."
The room went dead silent for a second.
Maurise put on an expression of absolute righteousness. "As a champion of justice, do you honestly think I would let a heinous criminal walk free just for an extra five thousand Galleons?"
So it was no use. Sirius seemed to have expected this outcome, a look of utter despair crossing his face. "Is there really no room for negotiation?"
"No, no, no," Maurise waved a hand, a meaningful smile blooming on his face. "You misunderstood me."
"What I mean is... you have to offer more."
Sirius froze. What happened to the champion of justice?
"Then it is settled," Sirius breathed a sigh of relief. "Once I finish my business, I will make sure you get the money."
Maurise looked at him, his smile unchanging, but a glint of amusement flashed in his eyes. "Payment upfront. Otherwise, I cannot let you go."
He was not stupid. How could he be fooled by empty promises? Until he saw shiny golden Galleons, he was absolutely not letting anyone go. The credit rating of a convicted criminal was infinitely close to zero in his book.
"Now?" Sirius looked down at his own ragged clothing. "Do I look like I have any money on me right now?"
"Then there is nothing more to discuss."
Maurise raised his wand.
"Stupefy!"
A jet of red light shot straight for Sirius's forehead.
"Wait a..."
Before Sirius could finish his sentence, the Stunning Spell struck him squarely in the head. He collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious.
Done.
Maurise let out a long sigh of relief. If the man had no money, talking was just a waste of time.
He waved his hand, and all the skeletons instantly dissolved into motes of light, vanishing into the air.
Only after everything was neatly sorted did he slowly walk over to the trapdoor and call out. "Fred, George, you can come out now."
The two boys clambered out of the secret passage. They looked at the unconscious Sirius on the floor, then at Maurise, their expressions absolutely priceless.
Fred punched him excitedly in the shoulder. "What you just said was incredibly cool, Maurise!"
"Was it?" Maurise shrugged. "I thought it was just okay."
"More importantly," George leaned in, asking with a goofy grin, "is the bounty on Sirius really five thousand Galleons?"
"Absolutely true."
The twins exchanged a look, their faces showing undisguised envy.