A Grave Mistake

Chapter 46

"Harry?"

The sudden voice made Harry jump in surprise, having been lost in his thoughts for a while.

"Ginny," breathed Harry, relieved at the sight of the red-haired girl. He had to admit he had been terrified for a moment that it could be someone else. He was already spooked out by the sudden intrusion into his mind minutes earlier. He wondered where his two best friends had got off to. "What's wrong? Where's Ron and Hermione?"

"All the Prefects have been called up to the staff room," explained Ginny. "We're to go to our dormitories until the Prefects come and talk to us."

"Oh," said Harry distractedly, walking along with Ginny beside him.

"Are you okay?" asked Ginny with a frown.

"I'm fine," said Harry automatically.

Ginny looked like she didn't believe him, but thankfully she didn't press him about it. They walked together in silence for a while and they were met halfway by Dean, Seamus, Demelza, and Jimmy Peakes.

Dean looked at Harry, then at Ginny. "Did you just hear Dumbledore's—?"

"Yes," said Ginny, slipping her hand into his. "We heard."

"What do you think is going to happen to Hogwarts?" said Seamus. "I heard someone saying it would be closed."

"They can't close Hogwarts," said Demelza immediately. "What will Muggleborns like us do?"

"You really think Muggleborns will come next year without Dumbledore?" asked Jimmy.

"I, for one, will be coming no matter who's the Headmaster," said Demelza.

"Demelza's right," said Dean. "Won't it be McGonagall who will be the next Headmistress? Hogwarts isn't totally unsafe."

"You're saying that now," said Seamus glumly. "But it's not that simple. The Board of Governors will appoint the new Headmaster or Headmistress. Until they do, we can't be certain of who it'll be."

"I heard school is closing earlier than usual," said Jimmy. "What about our exams?"

"We have OWLs next week," said Ginny. "They'll most likely postpone them. Flitwick said they might."

They chatted aimlessly and reached the common room, which was packed with students, half-awake and in their pyjamas. A hushed silence fell on them and all pairs of eyes turned to stare at Harry.

"What are you all staring at?" came a voice from behind Harry, breaking the silence. Neville had entered just behind them and he was now pushing his way forward, taking a seat on a couch beside the fire. Dean, Seamus, and Ginny joined Neville on the carpeted floor, starting up a discussion on the events in the past hour that had took all the eyes off of Harry.

Harry was grateful to Neville, even though he probably hadn't intended to do so. He walked up to the stairs that led to his dorm, absentmindedly clutching the locket inside his robes. He was stopped by a hand on his forearm.

"Are you sure you're alright, Harry?" asked Demelza.

Tired of the question but not of the genuine concern, Harry pressed his lips into a reluctant smile. "I'll be fine," said Harry truthfully.

Demelza nodded, her brown hair catching the light from the candelabra on the wall, distracting Harry. She walked away and joined the huddle of students seriously discussing speculations on how Dumbledore had died.

Harry turned his back on them and went up to his dorm. Maybe, he would heed Sirius' words and get a good night's sleep before having to think about everything that had happened that night.

oOo

Sunday, June 15

People began to disperse after the end of the funeral, but Sirius remained in his seat, staring at the white tomb, a blemish in his mind's eye of his memories of Hogwarts.

He spotted Hestia a few feet away in immaculate black robes and a wide-brimmed hat, which sat atop her perfectly coiffed bun. She was talking with Dedalus Diggle, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and her cousin, Gwenog Jones, looking sombre.

Gwenog was speaking with her hands gesticulating wildly, eliciting a laugh from everyone around. A strong gust of wind blew across the grounds and Hestia put up a hand to keep her hat from flying away. Her long sleeve fell back to reveal the raw scars on her left forearm. Sirius watched Hestia hastily cover it up and he tore his eyes away from her, finding it painful to even look at her injury.

The Weasleys were quite a gathering near the middle of the aisle, seeing as they were in the midst of a tearful reunion with Percy Weasley. Sirius was pleased to know Percy had heeded his words and done the right thing. If last night's emergency Order meeting was to be believed, he reckoned they would need as many people on their side as possible.

Noticing the benches around him were already empty, Sirius stood up and searched for his messy-haired godson. He passed by Hermione, who was chatting with Remus and Tonks, and Sirius caught the tail end of their conversation. It seemed Tonks was apologizing to Hermione for not having invited them to the wedding.

"—we really wish we could invite you all, but it's only going to be family," Tonks was saying.

Sirius smiled despite himself at Tonks' words. It had been so long since he had been part of a family again.

He spotted Harry silently walking away from the crowd, about twenty feet away from him. Sirius frowned when he saw Rufus Scrimgeour making his way to him, his entire entourage of Ministry officials waiting a good distance away.

Sirius approached Harry from the other side and Harry looked up from his conversation straight at him. Scrimgeour followed Harry's gaze, turning to stare at Sirius, who stood a few feet away from them. He put both his hands into his pockets and stared back.

After a significant moment, Scrimgeour limped away without even acknowledging Sirius.

"What did he want?" asked Sirius as soon as he was out of earshot.

"To know where I went with Dumbledore."

"And I thought he was finally seeing sense. Some people never change," said Sirius, shaking his head.

Harry nodded slowly and turned to stare at Dumbledore's tomb before speaking, "Sirius, I—"

He cleared his throat and looked down – thinking or at a loss, Sirius couldn't tell which. He waited for Harry to make up his mind when Harry slid one hand into his pocket and produced a gold locket.

"Is that it?" asked Sirius in a hushed voice, slightly amazed at what he was seeing. He had no idea how Slytherin's locket looked like, but it was the only explanation of why Harry suddenly possessed a locket at the moment. This was what Dumbledore had taken Harry with him for on that night.

But Harry clenched his jaw and shook his head.

Sirius looked at him, confused. "Then, what—?"

Harry pushed the locket into Sirius' hands and he stared at it curiously. It seemed familiar, like something out of a distant memory though he would have sworn he had never seen it before.

He opened it to find a small parchment. Sirius looked up at Harry, who jerked his head forward as if to say, 'Read it.'

Sirius did so, finding the handwriting uncomfortably familiar. When he reached the signature, his eyes widened in shock.

"It was all a waste," Harry was saying. "Dumbledore nearly gave his life and—"

"Regulus?" Sirius' voice was barely a whisper, but his brain was functioning so loudly, he could hardly hear what Harry was saying.

"What?"

Sirius looked up at Harry with eyes as wide as saucers. "R.A.B! That's my brother, Regulus Arcturus Black!"

oOo

The rest of the day was all a bit of a blur to Harry. Sirius had just proclaimed that the man who had signed the parchment inside the locket was none other than his long deceased brother, Regulus Black.

Harry agreed with Sirius that the first place they had to look immediately was Number Twelve, but school was closing only the next day. Harry asked Sirius to wait for him until then so that he could also come along to investigate, but Sirius was impatient. Fearing that Sirius would ignore Harry and go off to Number Twelve on his own, Harry sought out permission from McGonagall to leave school that afternoon and she readily agreed, thinking that Harry was too overwhelmed by the funeral.

Harry had hurriedly explained to Ron and Hermione about their findings before leaving, promising to meet them during the holidays.

At four o'clock in the evening, Harry and Sirius Apparated to Sirius' house, which was completely devoid of Order members.

Sirius rushed up the stairs, Harry close at his heels, before coming to the landing of the second floor outside the door opposite to his room with a plaque bearing the neatly-lettered words:

Do Not Enter

Without the Express Permission of

Regulus Arcturus Black

Sirius hesitated with his hand on the doorknob, and so Harry placed his hand on his and tried to push open the door. It was locked, however.

Harry looked at him inquisitively and Sirius cleared his throat, pulling out his wand. "I didn't want others snooping around," explained Sirius.

With a tap of his wand, the door clicked and swung open.

It was in every way the opposite of Sirius' room, with emerald and silver hangings emphasizing his house and his family. A thick layer of dust had settled on top of everything.

Harry walked into the room, looking around him, and he noticed Sirius still standing on the threshold.

"What's wrong?"

"It's been years since I came in here," said Sirius in a hollow voice.

He entered the room and walked towards a few photographs on the bedside table, inspecting them. Harry was looking around the room for any sign of a golden locket. He had to find it and destroy it; he had to make sure Dumbledore hadn't died for nothing.

After looking under the bed and inside the cupboards, Harry noticed Sirius was sitting on the dusty bed, staring at a photograph.

"A little help here," said Harry with slight irritation, rousing Sirius from his musings.

Sirius took one look at Harry, crouched on the floor, searching under a rug, before yelling, "Kreacher!"

A loud crack revealed the stooping house-elf, who croaked, "Master called for Kreacher?"

Harry sat up immediately. "Have you seen any locket around the house, Kreacher?"

Even though Kreacher's eyes widened in terror, confirming Harry's suspicions, he spoke in his annoying bullfrog voice, "Kreacher will not answer Master's brat. Blood-traitor—"

"Shut up and answer him," snapped Sirius before adding, "truthfully."

Kreacher's jaws clicked shut at Sirius' order and he looked disdainfully at the pair of them.

"Yes," said Kreacher unwillingly.

"Yes what?" said Sirius.

"Kreacher has the l-locket that belonged to Master R-Regulus."

"Where is it now?" asked Harry urgently, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Kreacher must not answer. Master Regulus forbid me—"

"I'm your Master now, so you better speak up Kreacher or help me—"

"Master Regulus forbid me to never ever let the family know even though it includes my blood-traitor Master—"

"It's been eighteen years! What's the harm in—"

"Kreacher will not—"

"Wait," said Harry, interjecting himself in between them. Sirius looked ready to kill someone, possibly the equally determined elf standing opposite him. "Wait, Sirius! I have an idea," said Harry, puzzling Sirius. Harry gave him a look as if to say, 'Go along with me,' and then turned to Kreacher.

"Kreacher? Regulus forbade you to tell the family, right? Well, I'm not Regulus' family. You can tell me."

"Kreacher has no obligation towards the brat—"

"I order you to tell Harry everything truthfully, Kreacher," shouted Sirius, his temper already on thin ice.

Kreacher looked around pathetically, clearly searching for a way to evade Sirius' orders. Harry turned to Sirius, "Maybe you should go out of the room."

Sirius was hesitant, but he turned around and reached for the door. He looked back at Kreacher with a strict order. "You won't try to escape from here or use magic unless you've told Harry everything."

He left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Tell me everything you know about this locket," said Harry to Kreacher, who seemed somehow afraid now that Harry was alone with him.

Kreacher reluctantly spoke, telling him of the story of the fate of Regulus Black.

oOo

"—and Kreacher could not tell her what had happened because Master Regulus had f-f-forbidden him to tell any of the f-f-family what happened in the c-cave …"

Harry stared in disbelief at Kreacher, who was wailing in despair. He could already imagine Regulus, looking somewhat similar to Sirius in his mind, being dragged into the lake by cold, dead hands. The thought made him shiver and he couldn't fathom how a boy of his own age had had the courage to give up his life willingly.

The sound of Kreacher's wails were broken by a dull thud just outside the door. Harry immediately rushed to the door and threw it open to find Sirius, looking so pale he might have been a ghost.

"Sirius?" said Harry and tentatively reached out his hand towards him when Kreacher's wails of "Forgive me, Master, forgive me—" seemed to break Sirius out of his haze.

Sirius looked simultaneously horrified and about to break down when he bolted down the stairs, despite Harry trying to stop him and repeatedly calling for him to wait for just one minute. The door to Number Twelve slammed shut and the curtains of the portrait of Mrs. Black shot open, screaming abuse.

Harry left the mad woman's portrait and ran back up the stairs to find Kreacher rolled up into a ball, sobbing his lungs out. Harry found himself feeling sorry for the pitiful elf.

"Kreacher! Kreacher! Listen to me," yelled Harry, trying to be heard above the loud sobs.

When it seemed fruitless, he pulled out his wand and pointed it at Kreacher, who fell immediately silent. His eyes bulged and he clasped his shrivelled hand around his throat when Harry hastened to explain, "I'm sorry I had to. I'll take it off if you promise me to remain quiet. I have some important information about Reg- uh Master Regulus."

When the elf nodded mutely, Harry waved his wand again, taking off the Silencing charm. He showed the locket that Dumbledore had retrieved from the cave to Kreacher.

"This is Master Regulus'," said Harry and Kreacher's eyes widened in awe and horror.

"The brat is telling the truth," said Kreacher in a wretched voice, before breaking down again. "Kreacher recognizes his Master's locket. How my Master's locket came to his hands, Kreacher wonders—"

"I've been there," said Harry. "To the lake. Where your Master Regulus…"

Kreacher was truly silenced by the revelation and after a moment, he said, pointing at the locket in Harry's hand with disdain. "That isn't the brat's. It belongs to my Master—"

"It does," said Harry. "And I will let you have it if you just give me the locket that Regulus gave to you on that night so that I can destroy it for good."

"Give you Master Regulus' locket?"

"And I will destroy it," repeated Harry firmly. "Master Regulus will not have died in vain then."

Kreacher gave him a long analytical look that made Harry wonder what he would do if Kreacher refused.

There was a crack and Kreacher vanished into thin air. Harry sighed exasperatedly, certain now that the elf would have no qualms disobeying Sirius on this matter. What was he going to do now?

To his surprise, another crack sounded and Kreacher reappeared, holding a bigger locket that was also golden in colour. Harry was certain it was the one once he laid eyes on it in Kreacher's hand.

Harry stretched out the fake Horcrux to Kreacher, hoping Kreacher wouldn't trick him. Thankfully, Kreacher also gave him Slytherin's locket, which had an S-shaped serpent engraved on its face with two glinting emeralds for its eyes.

"Thank you, Kreacher," said Harry with a grateful smile. "I will let you know as soon as I've destroyed it."

Kreacher, who had been looking at the locket in his hands in awe and reverence, looked up at Harry and gave an awkward sort of bow before Disapparating.

oOo

Dark clouds were congregating together high above him, the air smelling of damp earth, the sunset not visible to the naked eye. The cemetery around the corner of Grimmauld Place was empty of visitors, save the lonely man in black robes kneeling beside a headstone.

Sirius couldn't believe nor had he ever imagined his brother had spent his last moments of his life trying to bring down Voldemort.

News of Regulus' disappearance came to him during the middle of the war. Sirius had mourned him for a day, perhaps a week – not for the boy that he knew, but for the brother that he could have been.

It was easy to move on when he had had family like James and Remus in his life and the entirety of the Order, actively working against the very cause that his brother had stood for.

He had heard from some of the inmates in Azkaban about the details surrounding Regulus' disappearance – that he had got cold feet and disappeared one fine day. Sirius had assumed Regulus had been found and killed by Voldemort himself. Surely, the price of Death Eater trying to abandon the cause was nothing but death itself?

But now that he thought about it, nobody in Azkaban had ever mentioned that he had been found or killed by Voldemort. The Death Eaters, especially his cousin Bellatrix, had distastefully told that his brother was a coward for not being able to stomach being a Death Eater.

He was just sixteen when he had joined for Merlin's sake! He wasn't even of age! Of course, he couldn't stomach watching those masked men killing and torturing other people. His brother had been too soft for his own good, so much so that sometimes Harry reminded him slightly of Reg when he had been little.

And Sirius hadn't cared. He hadn't bothered to contact his brother once he had left his home. He hadn't thought Reg would need him anyway. His parents always sung praises of him and he was very much loved and cherished in a way that Sirius never was. He was taking on the path that his parents had approved and he had dreamt of since he was nine.

Why hadn't his parents noticed the signs? Surely if a house-elf was capable of seeing the changes in him, they too must have noticed his conflicting ideals of being a Death Eater?

Why hadn't he kept in touch with Regulus?

Sirius could have offered him something, a place to hide, a person to confide in when he had had his doubts about being a Death Eater. Just why hadn't his brother reached out to him?

There were so many questions that Sirius would never get answered. He pulled at the grass below him in frustration, throwing it forcefully at the headstone. Mud splattered on the words:

Regulus Arcturus Black

1961-1979

Among the noblest stars.

Sirius wiped away the dirt from the epitaph. His little brother! After everything that had happened to him, Sirius could only remember only a handful of memories of him and Regulus as kids before Hogwarts.

Him and Reg pestering their father in Diagon Alley for the new Cleansweep when he was eight; Reg having a stuffed rabbit as a friend till he was nine – Sirius couldn't even remember its name. When Sirius was in his third year, he had bought Regulus a big box of sweets from Honeydukes for Christmas, even though they hadn't been speaking for months. Reg had been grateful of his gesture anyway and had given him his toy broomstick because his parents hadn't taken him out to buy a present for Sirius.

Once Regulus had started Hogwarts, they had never spoken much, instead keeping to themselves and their own circle of friends. Sirius had tried to stop Regulus from mixing with the wrong people during his first year, but it was easier said than done when Reg was surrounded by Slytherins and Sirius was unwelcome among them, being a blood-traitor.

Sirius knew now he had made a grave mistake by not trying harder to keep in touch with him. His brother had undergone a change of heart after all, despite how his parents had raised him up to be.

They had still been very civil when at home despite their parents' hardest efforts to keep Sirius away from Reg. But his mother's behaviour during the summer after his OWLs was the last straw for Sirius. He couldn't take the abuse any longer. He had left them all for good and never turned back.

Until now.

The first drop of rain fell on his hand, followed soon by a steady drizzle.

Sirius remembered Kreacher's words spoken through sobs.

"And he drank – all the potion – and Kreacher swapped the lockets – and watched … as Master Regulus … was dragged beneath the water …"

Sirius could imagine the scene as clearly as if he had been there. It had been the subject of his nightmares for so long – the ghostly green boat and the eerily silent lake, pale bodies rising up out of the water and surrounding him.

Had one of them been Regulus' too?

A sob wracked him at the idea of his brother's body being used as an Inferius. He touched the headstone again – this was an empty grave, a mere memory of his little brother, who had been so much braver than Sirius had given him credit for.

"I'm sorry, Reg, so sorry."

Rain was pouring now, beating against his body mercilessly. Sirius didn't care, for they masked the steady stream of tears in his eyes.