Chapter 3 - Kreacher's Tale

"What was the locket your house-elf had with him?" asked Narcissa. She was now sitting in the Drawing Room.

"I have no idea."

"Kreacher," called Narcissa.

"Mistress called Kreacher?"

"What is the locket you have with you?"

"Master Regulus gave it to Kreacher to destroy. It belonged to the Dark Lord. Nothing Kreacher did made any mark upon it," moaned the elf. "Kreacher tried everything, everything he knew, but nothing, nothing would work. . .. So many powerful spells upon the casing, Kreacher was sure the way to destroy it was to get inside it, but it would not open . . . Kreacher punished himself, he tried again, he punished himself, he tried again. Kreacher failed to obey orders, Kreacher could not destroy the locket!"

"So, my brother stole something from Voldemort? But, why?"

"Master Regulus forbade Kreacher from telling the family, he didn't want Mistress to know."

Narcissa started to think of a loophole. "Siri, call your godson. He maybe need to learn about it anyways since it involves the Dark Lord," said Narcissa.

"You're right Cissa. Kreacher, tell Harry to come. It's something that has to do with Voldemort."

"I hope it's not what I think it is," said Andromeda.

"What do you mean, Andy?" asked Sirius.

"Something that's very hard to destroy… Are you telling me you think it's a Horcrux?" asked Narcissa.

"I hope I am wrong, but is seems to be the case, from what our parents told us about these foul Satanic things."

Harry entered the room with Ron and Hermione in tow.

"Uncle Siri, you wanted to tell me something?"

"Harry, can you ask Kreacher about the locket he's wearing? Regulus stole it from Voldemort and told him to not tell family."

"Kreacher, told me what's the story of the locket."

"Blood-traitor Master wants to know about Master Regulus' locket?"

"Kreacher, tell him about it. We need to know the full story, please!" said Narcissa.

"You called the locket 'Master Regulus's,"' said Harry. "Why? Where did it come from? What did Regulus have to do with it? Kreacher, sit up and tell me everything you know about that locket, and everything Regulus had to do with it!" The elf sat up, curled into a ball, placed his wet face between his knees, and began to rock backward and forward. When he spoke, his voice was muffled but quite distinct in the silent, echoing kitchen. "Master Sirius ran away, good riddance, for he was a bad boy and broke my Mistress's heart with his lawless ways. But Master Regulus had proper order; he knew what was due to the name of Black and the dignity of his pure blood. For years he talked of the Dark Lord, who was going to bring the wizards out of hiding to rule the Muggles and the Muggle-borns . . . and when he was sixteen years old, Master Regulus joined the Dark Lord. So proud, so proud, so happy to serve . . . And one day, two years after he joined, Master Regulus came down to the kitchen to see Kreacher. Master Regulus always liked Kreacher. And Master Regulus said . . . he said . . ." The old elf rocked faster than ever. ". . . he said that the Dark Lord required an elf." "Voldemort needed an elf?" Harry repeated, looking around at everyone else, who looked just as puzzled as he did. "Oh yes," moaned Kreacher. "And Master Regulus had volunteered Kreacher. It was an honor, said Master Regulus, an honor for him and for Kreacher, who must be sure to do whatever the Dark Lord ordered him to do . . . and then to c-come home." Kreacher rocked still faster, his breath coming in sobs. "So Kreacher went to the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord did not tell Kreacher what they were to do but took Kreacher with him to a cave beside the sea. And beyond the cave was a cavern, and in the cavern was a great black lake . . . There was a boat . . . There was a b-basin full of potion on the island. The D-Dark Lord made Kreacher drink it. . .." The elf quaked from head to foot.

"Kreacher drank, and as he drank, he saw terrible thing . . . Kreacher's insides burned . . . Kreacher cried for Master Regulus to save him, he cried for his Mistress Black, but the Dark Lord only laughed . . . He made Kreacher drink all the potion . . . He dropped a locket into the empty basin . . . He filled it with more potion."

"And then the Dark Lord sailed away, leaving Kreacher on the island . . . "

"Kreacher needed water, he crawled to the island's edge, and he drank from the black lake . . . and hands, dead hands, came out of the water and dragged Kreacher under the surface . . . "

"How did you get away?" Harry asked, and he was not surprised to hear himself whispering.

Kreacher raised his ugly head and looked Harry with his great, bloodshot eyes. "Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back," he said.

"I know—but how did you escape these creatures?"

"They are called Inferi," interjected Narcissa.

Kreacher did not seem to understand.

"Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back," he repeated.

"I know, but— "

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it, Harry?" said Ron. "He Disapparated!"

"But . . . how comes you can Apparate in and out of that cave?" said Harry, "you would think Voldemort would have put something to prevent that."

"Elf magic isn't like wizard's magic, is it?" said Ron, "I mean, they can Apparate and Disapparate in and out of Hogwarts when we can't."

There was a silence as Harry digested this. How could Voldemort have made such a mistake? But even as he thought this, Hermione spoke, and her voice was icy.

"Of course, Voldemort would have considered the ways of house-elves far beneath his notice . . . It would never have occurred to him that they might have magic that he didn't."

"The house-elf's highest law is his Master's bidding," intoned Kreacher.

"Kreacher was told to come home, so Kreacher came home. . .. "

"Well, then, you did what you were told, didn't you?" said Hermione kindly.

"You didn't disobey orders at all!"

Kreacher shook his head, rocking as fast as ever.

"So, what happened when you got back?" Harry asked. "What did Regulus say when you told him what happened?"

"Master Regulus was very 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 Master Regulus was strange, not as he usually was, disturbed in his mind, Kreacher could tell . . . and he asked Kreacher to take him to the cave, the cave where Kreacher had gone with the Dark Lord. . . . "

"And he made you drink the potion?" said Harry, disgusted.

But Kreacher shook his head and wept. Hermione's hands leapt to her mouth: She seemed to have understood something.

"M—Master Regulus took from his pocket a locket like the one the Dark Lord had," said Kreacher, tears pouring down either side of his snout like nose.

"And he told Kreacher to take it and, when the basin was empty, to switch the lockets . . . "

Kreacher's sobs came in great rasps now; Harry had to concentrate hard to understand him.

"And he orders—Kreacher to leave—without him. And he told Kreacher—to

go home—and never to tell my Mistress—what he had done—but to destroy—the first locket. And he drank—all the potion—and Kreacher swapped the lockets—and watched . . . as Master Regulus . . . was dragged beneath the water

. . . and . . . "

"Oh, Kreacher!" wailed Hermione, who was crying. She dropped to her knees beside the elf and tried to hug him. At once he was on his feet, cringing away from her, quite obviously repulsed.

"The Mudblood touched Kreacher, he will not allow it, what would his Mistress say?"

"I told you not never use that term'!" snarled Sirius, but Kreacher was punishing himself. He fell to the ground and banged his forehead on the floor

"Stop him—stop him!" Hermione cried. "Oh, don't you see now how sick it is, the way they've got to obey?"

"Kreacher—stop, stop!" shouted Narcissa. "I forbid you from ever punishing yourself."

The elf lay on the floor, panting and shivering, green mucus glistening around his snot, a bruise already blooming on his pallid forehead where he had struck himself, his eyes swollen and bloodshot and swimming in tears.

Harry had never seen anything so pitiful.

"So, you brought the locket home," he said relentlessly, for he was determined to know the full story. "And you tried to destroy it?"

"Nothing Kreacher did made any mark upon it," moaned the elf. "Kreacher tried everything, everything he knew, but nothing, nothing would work. . . . So many powerful spells upon the casing, Kreacher was sure the way to destroy it was to get inside it, but it would not open . . . Kreacher punished himself, he tried again, he punished himself, he tried again. Kreacher failed to obey orders,

Kreacher could not destroy the locket! And his mistress was mad with grief, because Master Regulus had disappeared and Kreacher could not tell her what had happened, no, because Master Regulus had f-f-forbidden him to tell any of the f-f-family what happened in the c-cave . . ."

Kreacher began to sob so hard that there were no more coherent words.

Tears flowed down Hermione's cheeks as she watched Kreacher, but she did not dare touch him again. Even Ron and Sirius, who were no fan of Kreacher's, looked troubled. Harry sat back on his heels and shook his head, trying to clear it.

"When did Reggie die?" asked Sirius.

"Kreacher remembers that it was a cold night. It was the first day of winter."

"It's a Horcrux, right Kreacher?" asked Andromeda.

"Blood-traitor Mistress is asking Kreacher a question?"

"Don't call her that!" spat Sirius.

"Kreacher does not know what it was, Kreacher only knows it gave the Dark Lord immortality."

Everyone was taken aback by this revelation.

"So, my little brother died a hero, and I kept ignoring him…"

"What do you mean you don't know how your little brother died?" asked an angry Narcissa.

"I thought he got cold feet and tried to run away, so Voldemort killed him."

"You wonder why I was angry at me? You abandoned your little brother. He used to complain to me that you just ran away after an argument with your mother and didn't even consider taking him with you. He also talked about how you and your friends with bully him at school and laugh at him."

"If only I knew…"

"I am not blaming you for his death, but have you ever realized that Reggie was looking up to you?"

"No."

"You used to bully your own brother? What are you, Bella?" asked an incensed Andromeda.

Upon hearing the conversation, Lupin entered the room.

"Didn't I use to tell you Sirius that you should be nicer to your own brother?" asked the werewolf.

"Uncle Rem, how much did you hear?" asked Harry.

"I was just passing by. I imagine that Siri will fill me in the rest. But back to Regulus, you know how much I used to disapprove of you bullying it. I wish I had done something about it, the same say I wish I had done something about you bullying Snape."

"Yes, like the time you tried to murder him," spat an angry Narcissa. "People call me cruel, yet I never tried to get a schoolmate mauled by a werewolf."

"It was meant as a prank, I didn't expect that idiot to actually go there," said Sirius.

"A prank? A prank that could gave gotten the both of us killed!" shouted Remus.

"And let's not forget how you would always pull cruel pranks towards Severus," added Narcissa.

"But pranking him was fun."

"Being cruel isn't fun," said Remus. "The only one reason I did nothing to stop your cruelty towards Snape was because I didn't want to upset the only friends who accepted my despite my condition."

"But Snivellus isn't innocent, he was a Death Eater and he and his friends used to hex Muggle-borns."

"We were supposed to be the Light."

"Mudbloods don't belong in our world. Their blood is dirty, and they don't know how to act like proper wizards. But what was Dumbledore in letting in a werewolf? What if Lupin attacked someone while transformed? There was no Wolfsbane in the 70s."

"That's why Dumbledore put the Shrieking Shack, Cissy. Remus would go there when there was a full moon."

"So, the noise from the Shack were from your friend? People used to think it was haunted."

"Yes, Mrs. Malfoy it was me. The rumours about the Shack being haunted were started by Dumbledore so no one enters the Shack. And Dumbledore also planted the Whomping Willow too, so no one gets near me while transformed. And you don't need to remind me that I am a monster who deserves death, Mrs. Malfoy, I already know it. I am just a filthy half-blood half-breed for you."

"You didn't attack anyone in 7 years, Rem," said Sirius. "And while you were teaching, you took your potion without fail."

"I nearly forgot to take my potion when Pettigrew showed on the map."

"Well, it's a good thing Dumbledore set up magical reminders."