The Vow and its Consequences

Chapter 36

Lucius pursed his lips as the House-Elf made an appearance, not only was it filthy it had a mouth to match. He was calling Sirius Black all the names under the sun in a wheezing voice, that thing was useless, and it should have been put down a long time ago. It looked as though Black hadn't exactly been exaggerating when it came to the disgusting creature even one iota. Turning to face Severus, he noticed the stoic wizard was actually enjoying this. Of course he was Black was getting his ass handed to him by a House-Elf of all things.

"…disgusting blood traitor to the house of Black, broke his mothers heart he did," wheezed Kreacher.

"Enough," snapped Lucius, glaring at the House-Elf his back straight staring down at the elf with his mercury eyes swirling in disgust. "Such a display would have seen you de-headed and banished from my sight - such a filthy creature! You shame the house of Black with your words and ways." it was an hour to be placed on spikes with the other House-Elves who had served honourably. He personally didn't, in fact his wife had removed them all and made sure they at least received a burial of some kind by the House-Elves, she didn't want Draco seeing such sights and he understood that. They had scared the hell out of him when he was a child, not that he'd been able to confess that. Merlin what his father would have done…he dreaded to think in all honesty.

Kreacher stopped in mid diatribe, staring at Lucius Malfoy in shock, before shame began to creep up on the little creature. He hunched further upon himself, finally keeping quiet. Wringing his fingers together, evidently at a loss of what to do or say.

Sirius gaped at the sight, not sure what to make of Lucius Malfoy actually helping him.

"We do not have time to listen to his racket!" Lucius stated smoothly, still glaring at the creature.

Of course, when would Lucius Malfoy do anything for him? Why had he thought as such! He wanted to slap the back of his own head for his thoughts.

"Indeed, ask then," Severus demanded snidely to Black, his arms crossed as he looked broodingly over at Black.

"Answer any question asked truthfully, Kreacher," demanded Sirius, as Master he knew the House-Elf would have to do as he'd asked. He then waved his hand at them, letting them do the talking; he honestly didn't know what on earth to ask. They were nuts if they thought Kreacher knew or remembered anything. He was insane, and Regulus wouldn't have told him anything important…there was just too much risk that their parents would have asked for answers. Kreacher adored his mother, so it was definite.

Severus rolled his eyes, Black was utterly useless, this just proved it - how hard could it be to ask one little question?

"Did Regulus Black ever receive an item from the Dark Lord?" enquired Lucius seriously.

Severus narrowed his eyes further when he saw the House-Elf stiffen at the question; he gave Lucius a look but the wizard already realized as well by the satisfied look on his face.

"Answer him," snapped Sirius, he didn't like waiting.

"I is just a House-Elf, Master Regulus wouldn't have told me," replied Kreacher wringing his hands again.

"You were asked to help the Dark-Lord, what did you do?" demanded Severus, watching the creature's eyes widen in disbelief, he evidently hadn't expected them to know that piece of information.

"The truth this time," warned Sirius.

"Prove your worth, elf, and I will see you serving the House of Malfoy." Lucius told him, Black obviously didn't want the damn thing anyway.

"What?" hissed Sirius, irritated, it wasn't his decision.

"Like you actually care?" questioned Lucius bluntly.

"That's hardly the point," ground out Sirius, he just didn't want decisions made as if he wasn't in the bloody room or being asked.

"Do you want your godson to have a carefree life? Or would you prefer to be the annoying selfish idiot we all know you are instead?" hissed Severus, back eyes flashing furiously. He couldn't believe Black was being so selfish; he didn't want the damn Elf so why was he arguing and fighting over it?

"Fine, tell them the truth Kreacher, and you can go to the Malfoy's." Sirius immediately said, feeling like a total jerk, he's somehow forgotten the real reason they were here right now - his godson - sort of.

"Master Regulus asked Kreacher to go with the Dark Lord, he demanded that Kreacher come back, so Kreacher did." said the House-Elf, the thought of having a Master to serve…to not be alone in a big house well he would like that even if he would miss his Mistress.

"Why did he want you? What did he do?" enquired Lucius, well he was responding to them, slowly but surely that had to count for something. Even if it turned out to be a waste of time, they had at least tried.

"He fed Kreacher a potion, from a bowl in a cave then put his locket inside," explained Kreacher, "He left Kreacher to die, but Master Regulus had demanded I return so I went back."

"Locket? Slytherin's locket? Could it be?" wondered Lucius they had been lucky, too lucky in his opinion when it came to finding them.

"Only one way to find out," said Severus, and he prayed it was the final one. Unfortunately he suspected they would never know the Dark Lord's main spirit was still somewhere out there. As much as they wanted to avoid his return, they knew it was inevitable. At least when he returned he would be human…or as human as they could ever consider him…no perhaps mortal would be the best word to describe it. He would be killed and with a little luck they could ensure that Harry never had to face him.

"Do you remember the cave?" asked Lucius, "You will need to find out what Potion it is, neither of us is touching it until you do." he didn't want to die thank you very much.

"At least we have a location," replied Severus, "I will have no problem identifying the potion." he added flippantly, he wasn't a potions master for nothing.

"I remember the cave, but it's not there," said Kreacher, where they looking for the locket? He couldn't lie to them, his Master (as reluctant as he was to admit him as such) had demanded he tell the truth and so he had no choice when asked a direct question. Yet he found himself explaining further than he needed to, Master Regulus had died, he didn't want anyone else to die…not even Sirius Black.

"Why not?" cried Sirius.

"Regulus made you take him there didn't he?" asked Severus, shrewdly.

"Yes, Sir, he forced Kreacher to feed him the potion and leave him there to die, to destroy the locket but Kreacher failed Master Regulus." said the House-Elf genuine sadness emanating from the creature. You could also tell that they were the first people he had told, he looked as if a weight was being lifted off him every word he spoke.

"He died to stop Him?" croaked Sirius, his stomach felt queasy; he didn't even want to think about what 'the potion' had done to him. His brother had completely turned from the dark…why hadn't he come to him? Closing his eyes, he knew why, he hadn't exactly been close to him for years even more it happened.

"You have the locket?" enquired Lucius, yes, too easy by far but he couldn't complain.

"Yes, Sir." agreed Kreacher, "Master Regulus wanted Kreacher to destroy it, but I failed him." he said yet again.

"Bring it to me," demanded Severus.

"You have not let Regulus down, you shall see it destroyed." stated Lucius, making sure the House-Elf would come back by enticing him with the fact he would be fulfilling Regulus Black's last wishes.

Without another word the House-Elf disappeared.

"Is it just me or is this…to easy?" enquired Lucius, his tone cautious.

"Not really, we wouldn't have known about it if your healer hadn't noticed it or if I hadn't taken Harry to Gringotts. If the Goblins hadn't known what they were…then we would still be in the dark. All of this is a culmination of all information we've gathered. If we hadn't been Death Eaters I doubt we would have gotten this far…I would summarize perhaps one or two would have been destroyed but that would have been all. The inside information has helped us greatly." Severus replied.

"Too bad it doesn't help deduce whether we've gotten them all," Lucius admitted bitterly.

"Considering that the last one caused us pain…I think we're getting there." Severus mused thoughtfully.

"But we will never know, Severus, not until its far too late…if he makes his way back and we kill him and it just makes him a spirit again we could start this loop all over again - it will be a nightmare." Lucius cried out exasperated.

"Well is there anyone Voldemort was close to?" asked Sirius.

"He's a Dark Lord, he isn't close to anyone," said Severus bluntly.

"He wasn't always the Dark Lord…I mean he was young at one point…any teachers?" asked Sirius.

Kreacher popped into the room, displaying the locket to them, the darkness was there they immediately felt it.

"Thank you Kreacher," said Severus snatching the piece of jewellery from the House-Elf.

"Outside?" suggested Lucius once again.

"Of course," replied Severus, he wasn't damaging Prince Hall for the sake of even a Horcrux. Fiendfyre was extremely unstable even with the most experienced of wizards, so it truly was better safe than sorry - playing with fire inside was just asking for trouble. He would never risk Harry's life by doing something so utterly stupid. With that he left the office, leaving the wards on knowing they'd probably discuss it while they could seen as Harry was busy at his lessons.

"Follow," Lucius ordered Kreacher, as he quickly caught up with Severus as they entered the living room and continued on past the kitchen and out the backdoor. The black patch that had been there when they destroyed the cup was gone, the House-Elves must have repaired it, and it was a good job, since Harry liked playing outside in the tree house - only if Severus was outside of course. The second Severus went inside Harry would follow, he didn't like being alone that much he'd summarised.

"You should add a few paddocks," suggested Lucius, running a critical eye around the area.

"What? And add peacocks?" Severus snorted in amusement.

"They are pure bred Congo peacocks and extremely rare," argued Lucius. They had come all the way from the African rainforest, or rather their ancestors had seen as this generation of Peafowl were roughly the five hundredth generation of Congo Peacock to breed on the Malfoy Estate.

"So I've been told," Severus told him smirking in amusement. "I can't stand the damn things,"

"Well get something that can be used as a potion ingredient?" suggested Lucius.

"No, when Harry finally spreads his wings I'd rather know he's safe thank you," he admitted dryly.

"I doubt that will happen any time soon," said Sirius, sounding slightly bitter. He hated how Harry clung to Snape, but he had so many emotions associated with it. He was glad Harry was getting better after seeing what he'd lived through, he so wished Harry wanted him enough to come closer than ten feet…hated that Snape was the one he wanted…and was just glad Harry knew the feeling of having a family. Lily would be happy for him; her and James had loved Harry more than their own lives.

"He has come a long way," Severus pointed out, having no sympathy for Black. Yes he'd been in Azkaban, but he was out now and that was the main thing. If it weren't for him finding Harry then Black would still be rotting away in Azkaban, he wondered if the idiot ever realized that. He would have loved to point it out but he had far more pressing things to do - especially since Harry would soon finish his lessons for the day.

Dropping the locket on the grass he stepped back, idly noticing that Lucius had followed suit. Flicking his wand he took a deep breath, centred his emotions and magic before he muttered "Fiendfyre!" a blast of fire left his wand, and Severus struggled to maintain it as the Horcrux began to scream shrilly only once the mangled mess was melted did he stop the spell.

"Nothing," mused Lucius, rolling up his sleeve to see the mark - there was no change.

"It was definitely a Horcrux that cannot be refuted." stated Severus, staring at it thoughtfully, before banishing the mess.

"No, it cannot." said Lucius, "Right, it's time to go and get Draco, his tutor will have wrapped up his lessons by now." he hoped Harry got along with his son. He would keep a good eye on them the first few times just to make sure his son didn't do anything…silly like demand things from Harry.

"Perhaps we should have lunch out here?" suggested Severus, "It's a beautiful day and Harry hasn't been outside in the past few days."

"Is Narcissa coming?" asked Sirius, at least with her there he would have someone he could talk to…well a little bit at least.

"Why not?" agreed Lucius, "If she doesn't have anything to do."

"Good," said Sirius, slightly relieved.

"I shall let the House-Elves know," said Severus, "While you deal with this." he reminded both men of the promise they had made to the House-Elf, making it clear that they should live up to their word.

Will Sirius bring up his earlier suggestion about Riddle being close to anyone? will they get their answer from Slughorn? will Voldemort return much earlier this time? will Pettigrew see Severus with Harry in Diagon alley when he's there with Percy Weasley and his parents? or will there be nothing to Voldemort until Harry attends Hogwarts for his first year? will Harry tell his dad and have them do what needs done? or is Harry truly destined to kill or be killed? R&R please!