Chapter 16

"Kreacher stop!" She ordered before the elf managed to get away. He stopped but didn't turn around to face her. Hermione stood up, picked up the object off the table and walked over to the elf. She held it up in front of his face.

"Kreacher have you seen this locket before? And don't lie! I saw you looking at it!" She asked loudly enough to attract the attention of the entire room. The elf looked uncomfortable.

"Kreacher answer her!" Sirius ordered, making the elf wince slightly.

"Kreacher has seen the locket" He answered reluctantly, glancing at the object Hermione was holding up and quickly looking down at his own feet.

"You have! Do you know what it is?" She asked again in much nicer tone than Sirius has used with him.

"Ahh, it's Master Regulus's locket" Kreacher replied unwillingly, making Hermione suddenly feel weak.

"Regulus Arcturus Black. R.A.B." She gasped, feeling dread fill her stomach. Regulus… But how? Quickly recovering from her mild shock, she remembered where she was.

"Of course! I saw those initials on his room upstairs!" She exclaimed to the rest of the room, as if providing an explanation for her deduction.

"Regulus? My brother made this?" Sirius looked perplexed. He took the locket from Hermione and examined it.

"Kreacher, did Regulus destroy the real locket?" Harry asked coming to stand next to Hermione.

"No." The elf hissed.

"Then where is it?" asked Sirius harshly.

"It was here, in this house." Kreacher hid behind the closest chair. The locket was in fact in this house for a short period of time, before Regulus set off to replace the real one with it.

"Where is it now?"

"Master Regulus ordered Kreacher to take the locket to his friend." The elf mumbled quietly.

"Take it to who? What friend? Regulus had no friends! Who did you give it to?" Sirius was getting annoyed with the elf. It seemed that his brother and his loyal elf were still conspiring against him, even in his death. How did his younger brother get involved in this? It didn't surprise him that much really – horcruxes were dark objects and in Sirius' experience, where the dark magic trace began, on its other end you could usually find Rgulus.

"Calm down Sirius, shouting at him won't make him tell you any faster." Lupin pushed him into a chair and passed him a glass of water. "Here, drink." Sirius took it weakly.

"That boy will be the death of me Remus, he's been dead for over twenty years and he's still causing trouble." Sirius said in a broken voice.

"Kreacher, why did Regulus steal the locket?" Harry asked the elf. Thinking, what possible reason would a death eater have, for betraying Voldemort?

Kreacher finally gave in and began to tell them how Regulus had ordered him to do the Dark Lord's bidding, and how he nearly died in the cave when Voldemort used him to check his defences around the horcrux he hid there, and how he survived only because his master Regulus ordered him to return upon completing the task he was assigned.

"Of course, Voldemort would have considered the ways of house-elves far beneath his recognition, just like all the purebloods who treat them like animals…." Said Hermione, sounding icy and bitter. "It would never have occurred to him that they might have magic he didn't." Hermione commented on Kreacher's ability to escape the cave.

"My brother must have been mortified." Sirius sniggered ironically. "Before I ran away, I remember he was oddly soft on Kreacher, always made sure his elf wasn't neglected or mistreated. In fact, I believe Kreacher might have been the only living being Regulus was ever kind to." Sirius sounded resentful, recalling the past.

"What did Regulus say when you told him what had happened?" Hermione asked the elf.

"Master Regulus was worried, very worried," croaked Kreacher. "Master Regulus told Kreacher to stay hidden and not to leave the house. And then…it was a little while later…Master Regulus came to find Kreacher in his cupboard one night, …and he asked Kreacher to take him to the cave, the cave where Kreacher had gone with the Dark Lord…."

Kreacher began to sob…

"M-Master Regulus took from his pocket a locket like the one the Dark Lord had. And he told Kreacher to take it and, when the basin was empty, to switch the lockets . . . And he ordered… Kreacher to leave… without him. And he told Kreacher… to take the locket to his friend… and to go home… and never to tell my Mistress - what he had done. And he drank… all the potion, and Kreacher swapped the lockets… and watched . . . as Master Regulus . . . was dragged beneath the water . . . and . . ."

By this point the elf was hysterically crying and it took an hour before he stopped. Hermione herself found it impossible to keep her emotions at bay when finally hearing of the tragic circumstances around Regulus' death. It was a relief to finally learn of the real circumstances behind his disappearance, but it hurt so bad to hear he was really truly dead and he was not coming back. The tears were silently falling from her eyes. She had to use all her strength and all the self-control she was taught by her aunt to stop herself falling to the floor and crying her eyes out, properly, as she should.

With Dumbledore's permission, Hermione gave Kreacher the fake locket to make him feel a bit better, and it took them nearly another half an hour to calm down Kreacher, who was so overcome to be presented with a Black family heirloom for his very own that he was too weak at the knees to stand properly.

It was touching to see the loyalty and devotion Kreacher felt for his master Regulus, even after all these years. Deciding that they won't be able to get anything more out of him that evening, Sirius had dismissed Kreacher. Soon the weeping elf disappeared behind the door and everyone sat in silence for a few minutes until Ron spoke up.

"But if Regulus had changed his mind, and tried to bring down Voldemort, and Voldemort tried to kill Kreacher, why did Kreacher betray Sirius to Voldemort through Narcissa and Bellatrix last year?" He asked puzzled.

"Ron, Kreacher doesn't think like that," said Hermione, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. She wasn't the only one… Molly Weasley was still sobbing as well. She teared up while listening to the elf.

"He's a slave; house-elves are used to bad, even brutal treatment; what Voldemort did to Kreacher wasn't that far out of the common way. What do wizard wars mean to an elf like Kreacher? He's loyal to people who are kind to him, and Mrs. Black must have been, and Regulus certainly was, so he served them willingly and parroted their beliefs. I know what you're going to say." She went on as both Ron and Harry began to protest.

"That Regulus changed his mind but, he doesn't seem to have explained that to Kreacher, does he? And I think I know why. Kreacher and Regulus's family were all safer that way. Regulus was trying to protect them all." She said looking around the room.

Dumbledore sat at the table in silence, deep in his thoughts. Hermione remembered how he and McGonagall were wary around Regulus back in the past, never mind the rest of the school. He must have been rethinking his moves. If Regulus was willing to go against Voldemort, then he would have been of great use to the order 20 years ago.

Molly and Arthur sad there with a multitude of different feelings running through their faces. Molly was still tearful, but there was confusion and… something else… on her face. Arthur, similarly to the headmaster, sat in silence, leaning into his fists twisted together, elbows resting on the table, thinking. Back then, the order thought of Regulus Black as one of the most dangerous Death Eaters. One of the very few they knew the identities of. Regulus was one of the rare few ones who didn't bother keeping their identities a secret. The likes of Bellatrix Lestrange who tortured the Longbottoms to death, and Antonin Dolohov, who murdered Molly's brothers; Fabian and Gideon. Regulus was often seen with them and few others, out and about, torturing and killing, but then he suddenly disappeared about 2 years before the war ended.

Harry and Ron seemed to be whispering something to each other. Well, it was mostly Ron. It was probably something to do with death eaters or the horcruxes. They made some progress, even if it wasn't a lot, at least they now had a lead. They just needed to find out who Kreacher gave the locket to. Sirius seemed to be adamant about his brother not having any friends. And it would make no sense for him to pass such object onto any other death eaters. Because it meant danger for them. Harry seemed to be observing his godfather. The look on his face indicated he was thinking of ways to make Sirius feel better.

Sirius was pouring himself some fire whisky, wanting to drown his regrets. Kreacher's tale has shaken him hard. Realising his younger brother was not all that bad has shattered all his walls of hostility and resentment he built around the memories he had of Regulus. Walls that kept him from regretting some of his life decisions. Now he couldn't help but feel guilty, about his brother's death, their estrangement, and having no way to reconcile. He still was very aware of his brother's personality and admiration for the dark arts, his devotion to the family traditions and adoration of Voldemort himself, he just wished he hadn't written him off so quickly.

Remus seemed to have his doubts about Regulus' real intentions, but he recognised they had been wrong about him to some extent. He was now tending to a very upset Sirius.

"It seems that I have misunderstood my brother." Sirius said in a weak voice. He had been weeping, hearing how his younger brother had died was too much for him in the end. He believed that Regulus was killed when trying to abandon Voldemort out of fear, but it seemed that Regulus was braver than Sirius had ever been. Seeing the state Sirius has been turning into, Remus took him upstairs. He came back down few minutes later, announcing that Sirius has been put to bed.

"I think it's best if we all retire for the night." Dumbledore said getting up from his seat. Deciding to hold another meeting in a few days and discuss the course of action, Remus showed him out. Molly and Arthur returned to the Burrow. Ron, Harry and Hermione went upstairs to the rooms they were staying in.

"Hermione! Hermione wake up!" She felt something togging on her arm, someone was trying to wake her up.

She opened her eyes to see Harry standing over her, looking panicked.

"Harry? What happened?" Suddenly awake and ready to fight, she asked seeing him all shaken up.

"Ginny is here, I mean Mr and Mrs Weasley came back, just now, and everyone else. The Burrow was attacked. Death Eaters burned it down." He said in a shaky voice.

"Burned down the burrow? Who?"

"Bellatrix, Greyback and two others."

Hermione got up and ran down the stairs with Harry following right behind her.

Everyone was in the kitchen.

Ron, who was already there, was hugging Ginny whose eyes were so red she looked like she had no more teas to cry. Fred was making tea for the distressed adults. Arthur Weasley sat at the kitchen table with Remus and Sirius, discussing their stay at the 12 Grimmauld Place. And George was helping Molly look through the bits and pieces they managed to save from the wild fire, when escaping in a hurry.

They were lucky they all managed to get out alive. Fiendfyre was no joke.

"Hermione, Harry, we didn't mean to wake you dears." Molly said when she saw the two run into the kitchen.

"Mrs Weasley, I'm so sorry about your house."

"Thank you dear. All those memories, gone in the flames."

"There there, the Burrow can be repaired. We must be glad nobody got hurt." Arthur half hugged his despairing wife and patted her reassuringly. He smiled at both Harry and Hermione, but she could see the pain and trouble in his eyes.

It was true that the Burrow could have been rebuilt, however the damage was quite extensive and it would take a long time to make it good for living in it again. And with a family the size of Weasleys, it was quite a problem.

Where would they all go?

Sirius invited them to stay at the 12 Grimmauld Place for as long as they needed to, but they could only impose for so long. Nevertheless, he was grateful they had a place to stay temporarily until their situation improved.

After some minor tweaks to the sleeping arrangements, Harry and Ron had to share their room with Fred and George, and Ginny moved in with Hermione into Regulus' room.

"Thank you for letting me stay with you" Ginny said as she was lying next to Hermione on Regulus' bed.

"You have nothing to thank me for Ginny, you always let me stay in your room whenever I visited the Burrow, besides this room hardly belongs to me. I'm just glad you're all okay. It must have been scary."

Ginny nodded. She wasn't someone who got scared easily but after that night, she was glad Hermione was here to slept next to her.

"I was the first one to wake up. I saw the flames outside the window and ran to wake Ron up but he wasn't there and I got scared I was alone, but then I remembered he was staying here and left to wake up our parents only to be found by Fred but by then the flames got inside. We barely made it out of there and met my parents who were woken up by George.

The flames were getting so big, we tried to put them out but it got too out of hand and nothing was working and we were about to leave but then George disappeared and we sat he was inside held at a wand point by Greyback and Fred ran inside, and my father ran in after him.

Then, a masked death eater attacked us and stunned my mother and…" She cut off suddenly. Hermione heard her gulp and turned to look at her. Ginny looked conflicted, like she couldn't decide whether to tell her or not.

"Ginny? What happened after he stunned your mum?" Hermione asked slowly.

"Bellatrix grabbed me and... Hermione, she gave me something." She got out of the bed and went over to fetch something from the pocket of her cardigan, the only other thing apart from the nightgown she had on.

Hermione saw her take a ring out.

"I didn't tell anyone about this. She gave this to me and said; 'Give this to the mudblood for me, since she enjoys touching what doesn't belong to her.' And she laughed, like mad. And then she pointed her wand at me but before she had a chance to do anything Fred, George and dad came out, grabbed mum and we apparated out of there."

Ginny passed the ring to her and Hermione despite the poor light from the two candles, she recognised it right away.

The Black signet ring.

A one very similar to the one that helped her return to her time. Except this one didn't belong to Malfoys. This one had the Black Family crest on it. The first time she saw it Orion wore it on his finger.

The last time she saw it, it was worn by his younger son whom he had given it to for his 16th birthday.

But why was Regulus' ring with Bellatrix?

And more importantly, why did she give it to her? Surely, he wouldn't have told her about… No, he wouldn't have. He probably knew he wasn't coming back from that cave and left the thing to his cousin.

Regulus never did anything without a reason.

From what Ginny told her, it sounded like Bellatrix might have done something to it. Did she curse it? If she recognised Regulus' spell that Hermione so recklessly used at the Department of Mysteries, then maybe this was Bellatrix's sick way of punishing her for 'finding and using' her lost cousin's spell on her?

It would make sense.

Saved by Regulus' spell, doomed by his ring.

She had to admit, Bellatrix's sense of humour was terrible. It must have run in the family.

The ring beamed with dark energy but that was to be expected from a Black family signet, that has been passed down through generations of dark wizards.

"What did Bellatrix mean by you enjoying touching what doesn't belong to you?" asked Ginny, watching her play with the ring, but Hermione wouldn't tell her about the spell…

"She probably meant my wand." Hermione lied on the spot. "When I fought her at the Department of Mysteries, she said some nasty things about my blood and made it clear I'm not worthy of using it." She explained. Seeing how easily Ginny believed her, made her feel slightly guilty about lying to the girl who has been loyal enough to not say anything to the adults about what has happened. But, it wasn't like what she said wasn't true, Bellatrix did say those things to her. Hermione just held back the one key fact to herself.

"What will you do with it?" She asked.

"Well I'm certainly not going to wear it. Bellatrix would have never given me something so valuable if it wasn't spiked with enough curses to make sure I learned my place." She replied, getting up to look for a box where she could hide the object. She took one of the candles and went over to the cupboard next to the desk. She was glad to find exactly what she was looking for. Behind the back of the draw, there was a hidden compartment. You couldn't find it if you didn't know it was there. She looked back to see Ginny was lying with her back turned the other way.

Hermione found a small silver chest. She opened it to find it was empty, Regulus used to keep dangerous stuff in it because it didn't allow the dark magic to get out. She slipped the ring inside it and put the chest back where it was hidden, and returned to the bed.

"I didn't want to tell anyone before telling you about it but, don't you think the order should know? What if it's like the diary? What if what happened to me, happens to you?"

"It won't." If this was a horcrux, she would have never given it to me. Besides it was too deeply tainted with dark magic, the object used to hold a piece of one's soul needed to be pure. "You are right, we should tell them. But not yet."

"What do you mean?"

"They have quite a bit on their mind right now, we shouldn't worry them with this. I will hide it in my Gringotts vault, as soon as I can, it will be safe there and we will be safe from it. Can you trust me with this?"

She would hand it to her Grandfather as soon as she saw him.

Claudius would know much better what Bellatrix has done to it. If she gave it to the order, they would most likely destroy it, because Sirius clearly held no sentimental value over anything to do with his family, and that ring meant a lot to Regulus, who cared a lot about their family.

"Fine. I trust you Hermione."

Sirius couldn't sleep.

Everything he learned about his younger brother was keeping him awake before, but now with the addition of the attack on the Burrow into the mix, he couldn't see himself falling asleep that night at all.

So, he went down to the kitchen, where he found Remus already sitting and drinking his tea.

"Can't sleep?" His friend asked knowingly. Sirius nodded.

Sirius sat and Remus passed him a glass of milk he already had prepared, reminding him of the good old days.

"I had a feeling you would be joining me." He said with a smirk, making Sirius chuckle.

"Is that so?" Sirius raised his eyebrow making Remus snigger.

Sitting together like this, in solitude but solidarity.

Back in their youth, everything seemed so much easier, the world was much friendlier then.

They had their brotherhood of the Marauders.

How the time has passed. How things have changed…

"I can't stop thinking about what Kreacher said about my brother." Sirius said. "I never thought he was evil to the bone, despite everything he pulled and got away with in our youth, but never in my life I would have thought him capable of going against You Know Who." He took a sip of his milk. "I wish I could talk to him one last time."

"What would you say to him?"

"That he is a complete dolt for getting himself killed over one locket." Sirius said with his arms folded.

"One very deadly locket." Remus added with mirth in his eyes. "And a house elf."

"He really was obsessed with Kreacher wasn't he…" Sirius sighted "I shouldn't have left him alone back then. I should have taken him with me."

"He wouldn't have come." Remus told him, fully convinced.

"I should have forced him." Sirius and his fully sober dramatics, were giving Remus a migraine. "I could have saved him."

"It's not your fault Sirius. He wanted nothing to do with you, remember? The countless times James and I had to accompany you to the hospital wing? He was hostile and confrontational every time you tried to convince him to give up his beliefs and change sides. All he ever wanted was to be one of his people. He walked around Hogwarts looking down on everyone. Other students were scared of him and he enjoyed it. There was nothing you could have done."

"He was my younger brother, I should have been able to, Remus, I should have. After I ran away, he was left all alone in this house, with my crazy parents… He had no friends, no one to turn to…" Sirius was starting to blame himself for his brother's early death. It was true that if he didn't leave, if he stayed, Regulus would probably not get a mark until quite later on, but all it would do is seal Sirius' fate as a death eater, at least until he snapped and tried to leave and he would probably be killed for it. Regulus did his best to save his family, but in the end his actions were his own and none of it was Sirius' fault.

"Didn't Kreacher say Regulus made him give the locket to his friend?" Remus recalled.

"You're right. But he never had any friends. Not even one." Sirius told him convinced his brother was a lone wolf whose only companion was a good book.

After a short debate, Sirius called Kreacher over, and questioned him but this time he was a bit nicer about it so the elf cooperated with his master a bit more willingly.

"Kreacher, can you tell us who did you give the locket to?" He asked the elf without raising his voice for the first time.

"Claudius Greenfell." Kreacher said slowly, looking at Sirius with his wide eyes, startled by the sudden change.

Sirius looked at Remus questioningly but Remus shook his head. Claudius Greenfell did not sound like a wizarding name to him and if Remus never heard of the man then…

"Can you find him?" He asked and the elf was all too eager to prove himself to his Master Regulus' brother.

"Kreacher will go find Regulus' friend and bring him to Master Black. Kreacher won't come back until it finds Claudius Greenfell" Kreacher snarled and disappeared before their eyes with a snap of his tiny elf fingers.

"Do you think he'll come back? For all we know, this entire Claudius might be long dead, heck he might not even be a real person." Remus asked his friend, staring at the spot where the elf was standing just a second ago.

"I wouldn't put it past Kreacher to turn up with a dead corpse." Sirius said getting up from his spot. "I'm going back to bed. Regulus steals my already limited sleep even after his death, that douchbag! If I ever see him on the other side, I will kick his ass!" Sirius exclaimed as he left the kitchen, making Remus chuckle.

Kreacher returned the next day in the middle of the afternoon, appearing in the drawing room with a well-dressed old man, who kept trying to get the house elf off of him.

Sirius and Remus who were sitting and playing wizarding chess with each other, bored out of their minds. Dumbledore assigned them with a job of not leaving the quarters and making sure that Harry, Hermione and Ron don't get lost. Arthur and the twins went to the Burrow to assess the damage, whilst Molly went shopping with Ginny.

When they saw Kreacher and his pray, jumped to their feet and tackled the man.

"Get off me! Who are you people? Do you have any idea who I am?" The man kept shouting but only when they finally managed to tie him to a chair in the middle of the room, which wasn't very hard since he was quite aged, they noticed that he was dressed in muggle clothes.

"A muggle? Kreacher you brought a muggle!" Sirius pointed at the stranger with his finger, annoyed.

"Claudius Greenfell as requested." Replied the elf, looking proud of his findings.

"Who are you people?" The man repeated the question, looking enraged. They pointed their wands at him. He looked at them and groaned.

"Kindly get these sticks out of my face! If you have abducted me for a ransom, state your price. I will pay you twice the amount, but make it quick! I have a very busy schedule." He said glaring at them.

"A ransom?" Sirius and Remus looked at each other confused. It seemed that the old man really had no idea what was going on. He looked like a wealthy muggle through.

"We don't want money, we just want to talk." Said Remus putting his wand away, and gesturing for Sirius to do the same.

"We are looking for a locket, the elf over there says he had given you about 20 years ago, on behalf of Regulus Black." Remus explained slowly.

The muggle looked bemused. "The two of you are looking for a locket that I supposedly was given 20 years ago?" He was looking at them like they were mad. "Gentlemen, are you sure I'm the person you're looking for?"

"Kreacher, are you sure you gave the locket to this man?" Sirius turned to the elf impatiently.

"Master Regulus told Kreacher to give the locket to Claudius Greenfell, Kreacher found Regulus' friend Claudius Greenfell and gave him the locket." The elf confirmed with confidence. Sirius and Remus were at loss. Between the muggle and the elf, they were stuck, unsure what to do next. The muggle insisted he knew nothing yet Kreacher was adamant about giving him the locket.

"We heard noise, is everything alright?" Harry's distant voice came from the stairs. Few seconds later he, Ron and Hermione came in through the door.

"Blimey, who's that?" Ron exclaimed. The trio stood there staring at the scene in front of them which consisted of Remus and Sirius standing over a muggle tied to a chair in the middle of the room and Kreacher looking way too pleased with himself.

"We asked Kreacher to find us the person he gave the real Horcrux to, but he brought us a muggle!" Sirius replied looking dumbfounded.

"We're wasting time, Regulus Black would never consort with a muggle, not to mention hand one an object of such importance." Remus paced around the room, thinking about what to do next.

Hermione locked the eyes with the prisoner. Her grandfather looked at her way too calmly. One would think he was only relieved to see her but she knew him better than that.

Something was up.

If Claudius Greenfell ever went to Hogwarts, he would be a Slytherin through and through. She was sure of that.

"Do you have the locket?" Hermione asked him directly, moving a bit closer to him.

"I do." He smiled making Sirius and Remus whirl around faster than the speed of sound.

"You said you didn't!" The wizard of the house pointed a finger at him in accusation. He nearly scolded batty old Kreacher for making a mistake.

"I never said I didn't have it, Mr. Black. I only asked if you were sure that I'm the person you're looking for." He explained looking amused. "Now, ask Kreacher to untie me, and we can talk in a more civilised setting."

"And how do we know that you won't run away, or attack us?" Harry asked folding his arms.

"Come now Mr. Potter, what can one muggle do against five skilled wizards?" Claudius smiled making everyone in the room feel a little uneasy. Kreacher went to untie him. Claudius thanked the elf and pushed the rope off of him standing up and making his way over to the sofa.

"How are we mean to know that you're not a wizard? You seem to know us well enough to be one." Ron deducted but before Claudius had a chance to defend himself, Hermione replied for him.

"He's not a wizard." Hermione sighted. "He's my grandfather."

The revelation was followed but a short silence and then a collective surprise from four wizards present in the room.

A slightly longer chapter this time :)

I hope you enjoyed it,

since I don't seem to be getting any reviews, I will take it the story is not that great but it's not horrible either hahah.

Thank you for reading!

Love yalls.