Chapter 23: Pivot

Regulus shoves books along his shelf, search fervently for something on them. Cressida stands near his desk with rounded eyes, carefully watching both him and the door.

"Here." He pulls out a rather tattered book with a hard leather casing. "Tales of Beetle and the Bard."

Cressida peers down at it. "I've heard of it but never read it. I think James had a copy in his room."

Regulus flips through the pages, passing by a few short stories with familiar names. He stops on the last one in the book. "The Deathly Hallows," he reads. He doesn't bother reading from the start, flipping through more pages. "Here. The Resurrection Stone."

"I've heard of that before," she realises. "The man in Knockturn Alley said he'd give me anything in the shop for it. Acted like it was a myth."

"That's because it is," Regulus drawls. "Or that's what most people believe. The tale of the Deathly Hallows is about three brothers who tried to cheat Death. One asked for the most powerful wand, the second eldest asked for a stone that could resurrect his dead lover."

"And the third?"

"Asked for a Cloak that made him invisible." Regulus closes the book, tossing it to his mattress. Cressida raises her brows, remembering James' invisibility cloak. They are rare, but still exist.

"And you think this is the Resurrection Stone? How could you tell?"

"The symbol engraved on it. It's the Deathly Hallow's symbol." He traces each line. "The cloak, the stone, the wand. People who believe in the legend say that owning all three would make you not only extremely powerful but the master of Death itself."

"Dumbledore had me looking for this almost non-stop. It was only once I burnt my entire arms that he gave me a break. You think he knows what this is? Is that why he wants it?"

Regulus shrugs. "Probably. He's not exactly an ignorant goat, now is he? We should be asking why. And why did Voldemort have it?"

"It was under some pretty strong protection." She spins around, a finger to her lips as she paces in a circle. "The most logical explanation is that they both searching for all three. Voldemort wanting to be the master of Death makes perfect sense and Dumbledore… he's got more secrets up his sleeve than Peeves. I don't trust him anymore."

It is bitter; to officially declare her distrust in a man that she often viewed as a saviour. The Headmaster of the school that changed the course of her life. But is it also bittersweet to place that trust in someone that she has chosen consciously as deserving. Regulus didn't gain that trust from her through manipulation or because he was someone for her to look up to. If he had it his way, they would never have spoken. And Cressida knows that because of that, he is worthy of it. He never asked her for anything of his own gain. He's probably saved her ass more times than she's ever done anything for him.

"Good." Regulus nods to her in confidence. "I never trusted him." It doesn't surprise her. "Voldemort, he…. Asked to borrow Kreacher. My House-elf." He slumps onto the bed with pressed brows. Cressida slows her pacing, sitting down next to him. "I know you probably won't believe me, but I do love him and I like to think I treat him fairly."

"I believe you," she whispers. "That way you spoke to Weirder proves that. It was kind." She has met Kreacher a few times now. He has very long ears that droop down near his shoulders and a permanent sneer on his nose. She had heard him muttering about Mud-Bloods every now and then as he swept the floor. "Why did he need Kreacher?"

"To test something." Regulus bites his inner lip, hesitating to answer any further. But like she trusts him, he trusts her as well. And she may be his only source of help. "He took Kreacher to a cave and had him try to retrieve something from it. He barely survived." He sniffs hard. It is clear that he has a close relationship to the House-Elf, and as much as she would enjoy cursing off it's nose at every degrading comment, Cressida comforts Regulus with a squeeze to his forearm. "It was a locket. He was forced to drink this potion from it, and it caused agonising pain, but before he could finish, he was attacked by an army of Inferi that were hiding in a lake."

"That's…awful."

"It's enough," Regulus shakes his head. He stares at her, his head shaking vigorously in small movements. "I'm done. I'm done with being a Death Eater."

Cressida turns on the bed to face him, grasping each shoulder firmly. "Good," she commends strongly. "I will get you out. I promise. But we need to figure out what this locket is first. We aren't fighting just for survival, we're fighting to end a war. I'm here to gather as much information as I can before I have to go back and I need to do that."

Regulus nods again, looser this time. "I think I've found something." He leaves back to the bookshelf, pulling one out without even needing to read the title. He sits back down next to her. A few pages have been tabbed, ink notes in the margins. He points to one underlined word. "Horcruxes."

"You've known about them for a while," Cressida notes. "The book you showed me had the same thing underlined. I haven't found anything about them since."

Regulus closes the book on his lap. "Horcruxes are a way to store a person's soul. You split it through a horrible means, which I've guessed is murder, and then place it in something. I would make a person invincible unless all parts of him are destroyed."

"And this locket is one?"

"What else would it be? Cressida, the amount of protection on it was insane. Nobody is meant to get out of that cave alive. You could retrieve the locket if you were smart enough, but then you would be killed be the Inferi."

Cressida burrows her brows, looking down at the ring. "That sounds a lot like the protection on this." She holds it up to the stream of dusted sunlight. "It was hard enough getting to, and once I did, I was cursed. I was burning from the inside out. It was meant to kill anybody who even touched the box."

They both come to the realisation.

"How many Horcruxes can a person make?" she questions.

Regulus shakes his head slowly. "I don't know."

Xx

Cressida stayed at Grimmauld place for a while longer, keeping Regulus company, and herself occupied while her mind sprinted through different plans and paths. It is like she is trying to foresee all the possible futures with each choice of action. They had to find out whether Voldemort has any other Horcruxes and where they might be. Then they need to find a way to destroy them. But they can't, under any circumstances, let hint off that they even know about Horcruxes existence. If they did, they wouldn't become a target of the Death Eaters. They'd become targets of the Dark Lord himself.

Cressida wanders around his room, putting stories to each item inside. Her fingers run over his desk, running into a large metal locket on a silver chain. She can feel the magic coming from it. Opening it, she finds a compass. "Why do you have an enchanted compass? Does it not point north?"

Regulus stares at her for a moment then at the compass. She begins to wonder if she had found something imaginary by the way he looks at it. Regulus strides over to her, taking the locket. "It points to the star Sirius. My brother gave it to me when I was eleven. I think he was hoping that I would go into Gryffindor like him. How did you know it is enchanted?"

Cressida smiles crookedly. What a silly question. "I felt it. Most magical objects have that."

"No, Cressida, they don't." Her eyes sharpen and narrow, looking back down at the locket. What did she feel then? Intuition? "What else do you feel?"

She scoffs loudly. "My socks. Heat. I feel the cold as well-"

"You know that's not what I mean."

"Well, how am I supposed to know what isn't normal to feel?! It all feels normal to me."

"Okay," he sighs exasperatedly, "then what do you feel when it comes to magic? Are you like a detector for it or something?"

"No." Cressida rolls her eyes, crossing her arms loosely. "Some things that have a lot of magic in them and just radiate it. Like wards and stuff. Please tell me you feel the wards." She smiles with a small laugh, but it drops like a stone at Regulus firm expression. "It's like walking through a ghost," she continues. "How else would I know where to find things as a Curse-Breaker. I had to find this stone, under floorboards in the shack near the mansion that I was originally sent to. You think I'm crazy, don't you?"

"I think this is amazing." The mourning of his life disappears from his face, replaced by a new light. "Cressida if you can sense magic, then we could find these Horcruxes."

"I sort of have to be within range of them."

"Yes, but it'll make it easier. If we just discover their locations, then we could narrow it down."

"Then we have to figure out how to destroy them."

"I'm working on it. Horcruxes can only be destroyed when their encasing is destroyed. But I doubt smashing a locket with a hammer will destroy some of the most powerful dark magic."

"I doubt any normal sort of magic will either," Cressida adds. "Good thing we both know enough Dark Arts to at least try some things."

Regulus raises his brows, tipping his head back. "You know Dark Arts?"

"I know of spells. I haven't ever actually used them," she corrects. "It's good to understand what I would be up against."

Cressida stays at Regulus' deep into the night, even braving dinner with Walburga Black. Regulus was very intrigued by the situation at dinner, taking in her reactions carefully, directing the conversation where need be. It felt a bit like betrayal, knowing that she was being pleasant to one of the worst figures in Sirius' life. But she kept going, knowing that it was only an act. Just like she wasn't a Death Eater, Cressida truly despised Grimmauld place.

After they ate, the pair went back to Regulus' room, scouring through the books and taking every note they could on everything they thought could be useful. From hints about Horcruxes to powerful destructive spells. Cressida even pulled out a map and marked locations that Elias had been when he was tracking Voldemort's previous movements. But she doubts he would have hidden anything out of Great Britain. They might already know their whereabouts if there is only two, but she knows there is at least another. They would have to be locations he can put protections over.

"I need to go back to Hogwarts," Regulus declares out of the blue. Cressida pauses her reading staring at his bizarre expression. Regulus looks at her. "Slughorn had a photograph of Tom Riddle. He taught him. I snuck into his office one day and I saw a letter. It was addressed to Dumbledore and I saw the word Horcrux but I don't think he ever sent it. I think he knows something."

Cressida swallows thickly, straightening her neck. "Okay."