The Search Is Over
Chapter 96, Story Teller
"We just bought a building for our shop!"
Blaise gave Kreacher the exciting news as soon as the elf opened the door to 12 Grimmauld Place at nearly ten the next morning.
Kreacher felt his eyes widening in surprise and Blaise gave his usual slow, lazy grin.
"It turns out it's rather quick and painless buying a building."
"At least when you're as rich as we are," Gellert said with a smirk.
Things were certainly happening faster than Kreacher expected, but that was not a bad thing.
"That is fantastic news! Kreacher didn't know Blaise and Gellert were ready to buy the building already."
Blaise smiled as he and Gellert followed the elf inside.
"We weren't planning to, but we were so jazzed up after working with you yesterday that it just felt like the right thing to do. We were sort of taking our time with the whole thing, but we've got a lot of items made up. With those artifacts we picked up on our travels as well as the pillows we're making with you, it seems we have enough inventory."
"Speaking of the pillows, Kereston tried one out last night and said it worked perfectly. She remained asleep for the entire eight hours and said that she woke refreshed! She loved it so much that Kreacher told her to keep it for trying it out for us."
"Of course," Gellert nodded.
Beaming, Kreacher continued.
"Master Regulus was so proud of Kreacher for having the idea and for his work with Blaise and Gellert!"
In truth, Kreacher was as pleased by Regulus's pride in him as he was about the pillow actually working as it should.
"Kreacher only wishes Master Regulus would pursue an interest of his own," he couldn't help lamenting.
"He is the most brilliant wizard Kreacher has ever known and he is doing nothing with it."
He gave a sigh of frustration as he opened the door to the library where they'd worked yesterday.
"Why is he doing nothing with it," Gellert asked curiously.
"Kreacher doesn't know. Kreacher believes perhaps he's too depressed. Though one would think that being with Kreacher again would make him happy," the elf complained bitterly.
To his slight surprise, Kreacher found he enjoyed having friends to vent to. Regulus was the only friend he'd ever wanted for so long. There was never a need for anyone else, yet others, beginning with Dora, had come into his life and yes, added to it with their presence. Regulus was always there for him, and Kreacher could always vent to him...Though doing so about him to him somehow felt less satisfying.
"He seems happy when he's with you," Blaise observed casually.
"Kreacher supposes he is...but he can fall into moods...Somber moods where he basically blames himself for every dreadful thing that has ever happened in the world."
Yes, venting felt quite good!
"What would he have been doing if he never left," Gellert asked.
Kreacher shrugged as the three of them settled down at the reading table.
"Kreacher and Master Regulus were planning to travel, but after that we hadn't decided. Once Voldemort was dead we were free to do as we liked and we did travel. We left around the time the two of you were also away, only we returned sooner. We very much enjoyed our travels. They were amazing in many ways. Kreacher and Master Regulus enjoyed exploring interesting parts of the world together just as much as we expected we would in the past before he...left."
"Did your travels not serve to cheer him, then," Blaise asked and Kreacher nodded, then shrugged, feeling himself growing frustrated.
This bit was tricky, and thus difficult to explain.
"Yes but once we returned, it did not take him long to return to his melancholic state, Kreacher is afraid."
"It sounds as though you could use another trip, then," Gellert said cheerfully.
Kreacher felt himself brighten at that.
"Kreacher thinks Gellert may be right. He shall bring that up to Master Regulus this very night!"
"Speaking of night, you said Kereston tried out the pillow, but you didn't mention your experience," Blaise said, raising his brows questioningly.
"Did it not work for you as well?"
Kreacher dropped his gaze, squirming uncomfortably.
"Kreacher is afraid he lost track of time and did not get to bed until sunrise," he admitted.
"So he will have to try the pillow out tonight."
Hopefully they wouldn't inquire as to why Kreacher hadn't gotten to bed earlier than sunrise, the elf thought, feeling his body flush at the memory of Regulus's lips traveling over his chest while his hand...
"If getting to bed before sunrise is the problem, we could always meet just after lunch when working together," Gellert suggested.
"Around one, perhaps?"
Kreacher smiled, nodding vigorously.
"Yes, Kreacher believes that would work best. He thanks Gellert for the suggestion."
With the social preliminaries sorted, they were able to get to work. In a little over four hours four more pillows were completed. Aside from Kereston's pillow they now had six to sell.
"We'll bring four more tomorrow, and see how they all sell before making more," Blaise suggested and Kreacher nodded.
To Kreacher's horror, Blaise and Gellert tried to take their leave then as the work was done for the day. He couldn't allow them to do so without having lunch first, though. They'd all worked hard, and he would feel quite the poor host sending them away hungry. That and he rather liked having company when he ate. At times Mortis would eat with him, but though the phoenix was a very polite listener, Kreacher enjoyed the back and forth conversation of Blaise and Gellert or Kereston and Millicent. He did so miss dining with Regulus, but he supposed in the end vampirism would be a worthy tradeoff.
After escorting Blaise and Gellert into the dining room, he hurried into the kitchen where he had lunch spread on one of the long stone counters under a preservation spell to keep it perfect. Everything was neatly plated and ready to go, so with a gesture he apparated it all into the center of the dining room table. He then apparated a bowl of nuts and vegetables into the bedroom he shared with Regulus for Mortis. The phoenix hadn't come down for lunch, preferring to guard Regulus, and this morning he'd slept through breakfast, so Kreacher wanted him to have something to eat. Once that was done, he apparated into the dining room to enjoy his own lunch. The work had gotten him quite hungry. Expending vast amounts of magic for long periods of time tended to work up an appetite.
Today, instead of soup, there was a crisp salad along with a chicken sandwich on the bread Blaise and Gellert had enjoyed so much the day before. To drink there was black tea with lemon and honey. As the three ate, they chatted idly about future shop decor before conversation turned to travel.
Kreacher told them of some of the more interesting places he and Regulus had gone on their travels just after Voldemort's final death, and Blaise and Gellert shared anecdotes about some of their favorite places to go together. By the end of lunch, they had Kreacher extremely interested in spending several months in Switzerland with Regulus if such could be arranged. It seemed like a beautiful and cozy place to be with one's partner and the taverns for dark wizards that Blaise and Gellert enjoyed frequenting when there seemed very intriguing. Kreacher was certain Regulus would feel the same. At last lunch, along with the stimulating conversation, came to an end.
"That was wonderful, Kreacher," Blaise said warmly.
"It really was," Gellert agreed after swallowing his last mouthful.
The elf beamed.
"Kreacher is glad that Blaise and Gellert enjoyed it."
He saw the two out, mind already on what he'd do for the rest of the afternoon.
With the day's enchanting work finished several hours before sunset, Kreacher spent the next half hour making an elaborate quiche for dinner for himself, Mortis and Kereston. Next, he went up into the attic to see if there were any old items they could use for enchanting in the shop. Unfortunately there was nothing suitable, for the only things that may do were furniture and far too large. He did quite literally stumble across a box of childhood toys that had belonged to Sirius Black, though. The dratted thing nearly caused him to fall. It was vexingly ironic that Sirius Black could be a royal prat sized pain in his ass even when dead. Muttering darkly to himself, Kreacher packaged the box of toys up and sent it to Harry Potter.
Thoughts of Sirius continued to annoy Kreacher even after this was done, effectively erasing his good mood. Sirius Black had been dreadful, and even if the foul shit was dead now, Kreacher discovered that he was still very angry. Seeing those toys had caused many memories of Sirius even as an unnecessarily vicious and angry child to come to the surface.
Wandering into the library, the elf sat down at the desk and began to jot down his thoughts in story form as they came to him. The story was of a dark twisted villain that everyone somehow believed to be a hero in spite of his dreadful actions and cruel personality. In the story, the villain was set up for crimes that he did not commit and put into a dark prison even more twisted than he was. Though he was innocent of those particular crimes, it clearly worked as justified karma. As Kreacher wrote, vividly describing dark Gothic images of the prison as well as the mind of the prisoner, he found he felt far better. In fact, his good mood had returned ten fold! By the time Regulus woke, he'd written thirty pages and used up nearly all the parchment on the desk.
"What are you writing," Regulus asked, causing Kreacher to start.
"Oh, Kreacher quite lost track of time. He is nearly finished now," he said, blinking up at Regulus in surprise at how much time had passed as he rested the feather quill on the edge of the desk.
Regulus nodded, settling into a nearby chair.
"Go ahead and finish up, then," he encouraged, and Kreacher nodded.
Normally he would've set the project aside to spend time with Regulus, knowing that he could resume whatever it was when the sun forced Regulus to sleep, but this felt different. He had a flow of inspiration, and he didn't want to lose it or forget anything. Setting the quill back to parchment, he wrote the final few lines, concluding with the prisoner screaming mindlessly in his cell for help that never came. He noticed then that he had yet to title the story, so decided upon Poetic Justice. After a slight hesitation, under the title, Poetic Justice, he wrote, By Kreacher Black.
Turning to Regulus he gave a shy smile.
"Does Master Regulus want to read what Kreacher wrote? He is considering having it published...If Master Regulus and Kereston think it's good enough."
"You wrote something for publication," Regulus asked.
"How exciting! Of course I'd love to read it. It looks like quite a bit of parchment. Do you mind trading places with me so I can use the desk?"
Kreacher nodded, rising hastily.
"Of course...Kreacher should attend to dinner anyway. Perhaps Master Regulus can read while we eat? Kreacher enjoys his presence at dinner, but as Master Regulus is unable to enjoy the food himself, perhaps he will enjoy the story more."
Regulus chuckled and nodded.
"That sounds grand."
Regulus was already reading when Kreacher left the library.
Mortis and Kereston adored the quiche Kreacher made which elevated his mood even more. He listened in interest as Kereston chatted about her work day, then shared the fact that he'd gotten annoyed over past wrongs and decided to write a short horror story about it.
"Really? That's such a good therapeutic idea," Kereston said.
"May I read it?"
Kreacher smiled happily.
"Kreacher was hoping Kereston would want to, for he would like her thoughts. He is considering getting it published and doesn't wish to if it is poorly written or uninteresting. Kreacher asks that Kereston be honest."
Kereston nodded.
"Oh of course," she assured.
"I try to be polite about such things, but I think lying and telling someone they have talent just to please them is rather unkind. It sets them up to be hurt whenever the honest world rejects them."
Kreacher nodded fervently.
"Just so."
Regulus was finishing the story when Kreacher, Kereston and Mortis joined him in the library after dinner.
"Well," Kreacher asked, trying not to hold his breath as Regulus neatly stacked the sheets of parchment on the desk.
"Kreacher, that was horrifying!"
Regulus reached to draw him into his arms.
"I'm so proud of you."
"Horrifying in a good way," Kreacher asked hopefully and Regulus laughed.
"But of course."
"Now I must see it," Kereston said, reaching eagerly for the stack of pages.