Chapter One: The Letter and The Locket
A/N So This is going to be an AU Wolfstar fic, starting from when Sirius finds out about his brother Regulus's death the year before Harry is born.
Standard Disclaimer applies, seeing as I am male, and J.K. Rowling is female.
In the year 1979, two men sat on a couch reading a newspaper. The headline read, "Giant Attack in Croydon Leaves Thirty Muggles Dead."
While the newspaper article itself was quite grim one of the men kept trying to make light of it with various jokes and puns.
"I guess You-Know-Who made a giant mistake, eh Moony?"
"Shut up Padfoot."
"What? I think that this is quite a tall order to cover up."
"Sirius this is sad."
"I know Remus. It makes me sad to see you so sad."
Remus sighed and looked up at his boyfriend.
"Siri, you know that these kinds of jokes are in poor taste, we've gone over this."
"Fine, read every single depressing article," Sirius relented and stood up.
"Where are you going?"
"Well, if you're going to read about death and ruin, you're going to need some hot chocolate to cheer you up afterwards."
Sirius walked into the kitchen of Remus's flat and began making the warm drink. Remus shook his head and continued reading about Crouch's statement on the subject.
Sirius came back with the steaming cup of the brew and handed it to Remus.
Remus snagged the cup and drank from it, without even looking away from the print.
Sirius fidgeted a little bit. He walked around behind Remus and began rubbing the other man's neck. Remus growled softly in pleasure, before realizing what was happening and spun so fast his hot chocolate nearly spilled on himself.
"Why are you doing this?"
Sirius pouted. "For a moment you were enjoying it."
Remus shook his head.
"If there's something you want, just say it."
"I want you to stop reading that article. It's upsetting you, and I'm not qualified to deal with you upset."
"Can't you go bother James?"
"He's probably busy shagging Lily."
Remus blushed.
"Oh come on Moony, you know it's true!"
Remus sighed and nodded. It was in fact, true.
"What about Peter?"
"Peter said he had to work tonight."
"What could he possibly be working on? He's a store clerk."
"Dunno. Maybe he got himself a girlfriend. He was very close to that Hufflepuff girl."
"Peter wouldn't be able to keep that secret."
"Okay Remus, you're so smart, you tell me what Peter is doing?"
"How should I know?"
"Exactly my point."
The conversation was interrupted at that point by an owl arriving with an official looking envelope clasped in its beak.
It was addressed to Sirius from Bartemius Crouch Sr.
Sirius took the owl and slit open the envelope and read it quickly, his face growing increasingly ashen before nearly fainting.
Remus took the letter and read:
Dear Mr. Black,
The Auror office is sorry to inform you that your brother Regulus has been reported missing, assumed dead, under mysterious circumstances. Your family has scheduled a funeral at nine P.M. next Tuesday. We also regret that what we have been told indicates that your brother was a Death Eater and likely died in service to Lord Voldemort.
Bartemius Crouch Sr., Head of the Auror Office, Chief Warlock of the Wizenagamot, Order of Merlin Second Class.
Remus looked up in shock as Sirius muttered, "I told that fool it was a bad idea."
That Tuesday, Sirius was under James's Invisibility Cloak, waiting for his parents to leave for the funeral. He wanted to go, but he knew his parents would never allow it, so he wanted to go in and search for clues as to what happened.
Suddenly, the door opened, and the Blacks exited the house, Apparating to the funeral. Sirius knew he'd have several hours, so he strode across the lawn decisively, marching up to the front door and letting himself in.
The house was as gloomy as he remembered. He crept up the stairs to the third floor, and walked up to the door of his brother's room labeled with a sign stating, "Do Not Enter Without the Express Permission of Regulus Arcturus Black."
Sirius opened the door anyway. He had ignored the sign while his brother was alive, and he'd be damned if he was going to be stopped by it now.
The room was hung with the green and silver of Slytherin. Sirius had always disliked his brother's taste in decorating, but then again, he had put nearly nude women all over his room, and he didn't even like girls, so he couldn't really complain.
Sirius was about to look through Regulus's desk when he heard a voice behind him. It was elderly and croaky, but then again, the owner of the voice was very old.
"Master Sirius?"
Sirius turned to look at Kreacher, who was currently clasping a locket to his chest that Sirius didn't recognize.
"Kreacher! How good it is to see you."
As a young boy, Sirius had played many a game of pretend with Kreacher and Regulus.
"What is Master doing in Master Regulus's bedroom?"
"I want to know how he died."
Kreacher looked to be on the verge of bursting into tears.
"Kreacher? Do you know?"
Kreacher seemed to be considering something.
"Could you tell me?"
"Master Regulus said Kreacher could tell you."
"Then do tell."
Having been ordered, Kreacher instinctively sat up and began to tell his story.
"Master Regulus came to Kreacher the other day and told him that the Dark Lord required a house elf."
"What for?"
"He did not know, but it would be an honor. Master Regulus told Kreacher to do what the Dark Lord required and then come back home."
Kreacher had begun to cry.
"So Kreacher went to the Dark Lord, and he took Kreacher to a cave by a sea. In the cave there was a lake with a ghostly green boat floating on the water. The Dark Lord and Kreacher got in the boat and we sailed to the island in the center."
Kreacher broke off to blow his nose on the edge of his rags.
"There was a basin full of a horrible potion, and the Dark Lord made Kreacher drink it. Kreacher drank, and as he drank he saw terrible things. Kreacher cried for Master Regulus and for Mistress Black, but they could not hear. The Dark Lord laughed and made Kreacher empty the basin."
Kreacher sobbed at the fresh memory.
"The Dark Lord dropped a locket into the basin and filled it with more potion. And then the Dark Lord sailed away, leaving Kreacher on the island."
Kreacher cried some more and then steadied his voice for the next part of the tale. Sirius looked horrified already at the implications of what he had already heard.
"Kreacher was terribly thirsty, so he went to the lake to drink, and several dead bodies dragged Kreacher under. Kreacher panicked, and came back to Master Regulus. Kreacher told Master Regulus and he was very worried and very quiet. A few days ago, Master Regulus comes to visit Kreacher in his cupboard and tells Kreacher he would like to go to the dark place."
Kreacher blew his nose again.
"Master Regulus drinks the potion and switches the locket for one he had in his pocket, and tells Kreacher not to tell his mother or his father what had happened, but he does say that Kreacher may tell Master Sirius. And as he is dragged under the water he tells Kreacher to go back alone, and to destroy the locket, or if Master Sirius comes to give it to him."
Sirius looked at the locket that Kreacher was holding and hoped it wasn't the one he spoke of.
"And was the locket destroyed?"
Kreacher held it out and regarded it with loathing.
"No. No matter what Kreacher does the locket has no marks."
Kreacher held out the locket and Sirius took it.
"Thank you for telling me Kreacher," Sirius said, hugging the old house elf.
Kreacher cried as Sirius left the house and Disapparated.
Well, that's the first chapter, and before any of you readers try and ream into me about the fact that Sirius seems a whole lot kinder towards Kreacher, that's because right now his good memories of Kreacher and his times as a child have not been sucked out of him by twelve years of waiting in Azkaban.
So what I'm planning for this is to make in an AU where James and Lily live, and Wolfstar is more than just a thing, but I'm going to diverge right here and now. The idea is that Sirius is a little less hotheaded and impulsive.
In any case, I better not say anymore so that I don't completely spoil the story.
Please read and review folks, so that I can get your opinions and suggestions and make this story genuinely better.
See you soon!
-LordofNothing1