Chapter 16
Soifon and Yoruichi had Gated them in a block away and then had gone on ahead of them in order to scout out whether or not there were any Death Eaters watching the area. There was only a single pair of Death Eaters patrolling the area, and these they knocked out and changed the memories of. This allowed the Trio to sneak up to the house unseen and open the door to slip inside. Yoruichi and Soifon joined them a few moments later.
The old-fashioned gas lamps sprang into life down the hallway as they passed thanks to spell charms that sensed movement like muggle motion-sensors. The hallway had an eerie vibe, with spider webs including spiders up in the corners of the ceiling, with the heads of long-deceased house elves decorating the walls... the two Soul Reapers looked at the heads with faint disgust.
"So this is Grimmauld Place," Soifon said, looking around dubiously at the dingy, dusty house.
Harry shrugged. "Yea. Home Sweet Home, I suppose. Honestly you should have seen the place before we started cleaning it up for Sirius."
That led to a slightly dumbfounded silence from the two older women as they looked around the place in shock. Harry was right, the place showed clear signs of cleaning attempts, but that was starting to be lost as the spiders and dust had started reclaiming the place after Sirius' death and then Dumbledore's. The place was no longer being used for Order meetings as Snape was required to give up the location to better cement his place as a high ranked Death Eater.
"Interesting place," Yoruichi mused, finally breaking the silence. "Now I know why Ichigo said it had to be seen."
Harry winced at that. Grimmauld Place was nothing like Ichigo's ancestral home, which was warm and welcoming. He'd learned a lot about Masaki's ancestry while he'd been there... how the family had become part Japanese by marrying a Japanese Ambassador back before the turn of the Eighteenth Century. Said Ambassador had opted to stay in England instead of returning to Japan and that branch of the family had switched their name from Smith to Kurosaki...
"Guys – I think someone's been here," Hermione said breathlessly, pointing at the overturned Troll's leg umbrella stand that Tonks had been constantly tripping over.
"Someone could have knocked it over when the Order left," Ron theorized with a wave of his hand.
"Or it could have been Dung when he burgled the place last," Harry retorted angrily, pulling out his wand. "Come on."
"I'm not sensing anyone, except for something that feels like Kurosaki's house elves," Soifon said, stepping next to him.
"Kreacher," the trio said at the same time.
"Must be. He'd still be here, since he's tied to the house – and now you," Yoruichi nodded.
"Oh, joy," Harry muttered under his breath. There had been no love lost between the two over the time they'd known each other.
"Well, let's be sure –" Hermione said, raising her wand, "Homenum revelio."
They waited, but nothing happened.
"Okay," Ron looked around at her, "What was that supposed to do again?"
"That was a spell to reveal human presence," Hermione said as she lowered her wand. "So there's no one here but us."
"And a foul-tempered house elf," Yoruichi muttered as Harry led the way up the stairs to the drawing room.
Soifon looked out the windows. "Can't see anyone else out there and I don't sense anyone other than the pair we knocked out. They haven't come around as of yet."
Hermione looked around. "I don't think I want to be alone, here," she said, grimacing. "Can we just use the sleeping bags? Camp in the main room tonight?"
"I think that's a good idea," Yoruichi nodded. "It's late, why don't you get ready for bed, Soifon and I will take a quick look around, then we can explore more thoroughly tomorrow morning."
#
Their first full day was spent looking around. Someone had indeed been through the place recently as there were clear signs of someone riffling about and they all figured it was Mundungus Fletcher, looking for things to filch.
It was Harry who noticed the sign on one of the bedroom doors. An arrogant little sign that was neatly lettered by hand in calligraphy, of a sort that Percy Weasley or Draco Malfoy might have stuck on their own bedroom doors.
'Do Not Enter
Without the Express Permission of
Regulus Arcturus Black'
As Harry stared at it, realization slowly dawning on him, then excitement... and he rushed over to the landing, where he leaned over, the landing creaking warningly as he did so, and called out to the others,
"Hey, everyone – come up here! Now!"
"What's wrong?" Hermione called back.
"R.A.B.! I think I found him!"
Soifon and Yoruichi were the first to arrive, of course, followed quickly by Hermione and Ron.
"Well, I'll be –" Yoruichi murmured, folding her arms over her chest as she looked over the name. "I never would have guessed the younger Black would have also defected. Interesting."
Soifon tried the door. "Locked," She stepped back, preparing to kick it down, but Yoruichi stopped her with a look that had the other woman blushing.
"Not necessary," she smirked knowingly. "If one of you three would do the honors?"
Hermione nodded and pointed her wand at the door handle and said, "Alohamora."
It swung open with a soft click.
The bedroom was slightly smaller than Sirius's, but there was no doubt that Regulus had been a loyal Slytherin. Emerald and silver were everywhere; walls, bed, windows. The family crest and motto, Toujours Pur, had been painted over the bed. A collage of newspaper cuttings was under it, yellowed with age. Soifon immediately went to inspect these.
"They're all about Voldemort," she said a moment later with disgust. "He's worse than a fangirl."
She read through them carefully, Hermione next to her starting from the other end and the two sharing what they found between them. Harry noticed a photo of a Slytherin Quidditch team and a boy who resembled Sirius in the middle of the front row.
"Seeker," Ron said absently as he looked over the photo. Harry nodded as he recalled standing in the same spot for pictures for the Gryffindor team photo each year.
Yoruichi looked up from where she was searching the wardrobe, one eyebrow raised at the male pair.
"Seekers always sit in the same place for photos," Ron explained when he noticed the look. "Well, actually – standard placements for everyone. It's how you know who play what, even years later."
"Makes sense," Yoruichi looked around. "Someone has searched in here, too."
"Dung?" Harry asked angrily.
Yoruichi stood up, wiping her hands on her pants.
"There's still a little bit of his reiatsu lingering, so I'd have to say yes. Most of this stuff," she waved a hand around the room, "wouldn't interest him. I think we caught him with the things he thought were valuable enough to steal – and sell. He confessed to Professor Dumbledore and Yamamoto he'd only been in here the once."
"You think –" Harry started.
"If Regulus was the one who swapped Horcruxes, then I think we already know which one it is. And it's already been destroyed," Yoruichi sighed, "I can verify that, I watched Kisuke do it. It was not a pleasant experience."
"You mean he swapped a locket for a locket," Hermione said.
Yoruichi nodded. "Verification would be nice, though. Admittedly we have strong evidence that our R.A.B. is Regulus, he did die rather mysteriously, but with how wizards are with names there might be another 'R.A.B.' out there."
They all stood and stared at each other, pondering how they could indeed verify such a thing. A few moments later they all started back out of the room, closing the door gently behind them.
"All right, so let's think this through," Soifon said as they went back downstairs. "What do we know about the locket?"
"We know that it was once owned by the Gaunts and was handed down to Voldemort's mother. It was a Slytherin heirloom. She pawned it – sold it – for a criminally low cost to Borgin and Burke," Harry said with a hint of anger in his voice at the situation. He felt bad for Merope and what had been done to her.
"We know that Moldy stole it at the same time he stole the Hufflepuff cup," Ron added.
"Right. And we know it ended up as a Horcrux and in the bag of goods that Dung stole from here. He told us that everything in that bag came from here," Yoruichi nodded, "So we just need someone who remembers seeing it – here."
There was a long, silent period as everyone thought about it, and Hermione wrote everything down. She stared at the parchment, frowning; as she stared, her frown slowly eased, turned into a look of remembrance and satisfaction.
"What?" Ron asked her.
"The cabinet. In the drawing room. When we were cleaning before Fifth Year."
Harry and Ron stared at her, baffled.
"There was a locket. No one could open it..."
Harry moaned and buried his face in his hands. He remembered; he had handled that locket, everyone had. It had finally been tossed in the rubbish bin when Sirius said it wasn't worth keeping.
"Explain," Soifon ordered.
The trio explained about how they had assisted in cleaning the house before their Fifth Year at Hogwarts, when Sirius had still been alive. How they had been trying to help the older man out and he had mostly tossed things into the trash if the objects brought to him had even the slightest hint of dark magic lingering on them. They even took the older pair to the cabinet in the drawing room, where they had found it during cleaning.
The two Soul Reapers examined the drawer closely.
"Feel it?" Yoruichi asked Soifon softly.
"Lingering, but yes, it's still there," Soifon responded darkly. "It's definitely his reiatsu."
"So if Regulus had the locket in this drawer and we found it and then tossed it in the rubbish – how did Dung end up with it months later?" Ron asked in confusion.
The five stared at each other, then as one they all said at the same time, "Kreacher."
"He must have taken it out of the bin," Hermione said thoughtfully.
"He did nick a lot of stuff back from us," Harry remembered.
"Call him," Yoruichi said softly. "He has to come."
Harry sighed. She was right, there was no other way. They would have to deal directly with the crotchety elf. "Kreacher!"
There was a loud crack and the elderly, contrary house elf in question appeared in front of them with a sour look.
"Master," he croaked, bowing. "Back in my mistress's old house with the blood-traitor and the mudblood…"
"I forbid you to call anyone blood-traitor or mudblood," Harry growled at the house elf.
He glared down at Kreacher, whom he would have found detestable even if he had not betrayed Sirius. His treatment of others was deplorable and he couldn't stand it. Now that he was the house-elves 'Master' he could at least order the elf to not say such foul things even if he still might think it.
Kreacher bowed low in response to the firm order.
"Yes, Master," he said very softly; so softly they barely heard him, although they all saw his lips move.
"Kreacher, two years ago there was a big gold locket in the drawing room upstairs. Do you remember it?" Harry asked.
There was a long, drawn out silence, and then, "Yes, Master."
"Did you steal it back?"
Kreacher stood straight up and stared Harry right in the face. His face twisted for a moment before he answered.
"Yes, Master."
"And what happened to it?"
Kreacher closed his eyes and Harry thought for a moment that he'd lost his marbles. The elf looked sad if that was possible. "Gone."
They all glanced at each other.
"Gone? How is it gone?"
The elf squeezed his eyes shut tightly. "Mundungus Fletcher," he croaked, "Mundungus Fletcher stole it all; Miss Bella's and Miss Cissy's pictures; my Mistress's gloves; the Order of Merlin, First Class; the Goblets with the Family Crest; and – and –" the elf surprised them all when he let out a bloodcurdling scream, "- and the locket, Master Regulus's locket, Kreacher failed, he failed his orders!"
As Kreacher launched for the poker at the fireplace, so did Harry, his instincts from dealing with Dobby's outbursts finely honed to recognize the signs of an elf intent on self harm; he launched himself upon the elf, tackling him to the ground, at the same time yelling loudly – "Kreacher, I order you to stay still! Stay still!"
Harry let go of the elf when he felt Kreacher freeze into place.
"Harry, please, let him up!" Hermione protested worriedly.
"So he can bash himself with the poker? No, I don't think so. All right Kreacher, I want the truth – all of it. How do you know Mundungus Fletcher stole the locket?"
"Kreacher saw him," the weeping house elf said. "Kreacher saw him coming out of Kreacher's cupboard with Kreacher's treasures. Kreacher told the thief to stop, but Mundungus Fletcher just laughed and ran out of the house... Kreacher was bound not to leave!"
The elf's voice ended in a wail.
"You called the locket 'Master Regulus's'," Harry said, holding firm but no longer quite so tight. "Why? Where did it come from? What did Regulus have to do with it? Kreacher, sit up and tell me everything!"
Harry eased up slowly and the elf sat up, but moments later curled himself into a weeping ball of grief.
"Master Regulus, Master Regulus was always good to Kreacher. He always came to the kitchen and talked to him. A year after he joined the Dark Lord's service, he came to Kreacher in the kitchen, and Master Regulus, he said – he said the Dark Lord required an elf."
"Voldemort needed an elf?" the five of them looked at each other, all baffled.
"Oh yes," Kreacher moaned. "And Master had volunteered Kreacher. It was an honor, Master said, for Master and for Kreacher, who must do whatever the Dark Lord ordered him to... and then to c-come home afterwards..."
Kreacher started to rock back and forth, his eyes glazing over as he was overwhelmed by the memory.
"Kreacher went to the Dark Lord and the Dark Lord took Kreacher with him to a cave near the sea. And there was a cavern and a great black lake..."
Harry winced. He could see the cave very clearly, from his own memories that now rushed back to fill his mind.
"...There was a boat..."
Harry nodded; it was a boat that was now nothing but splinters, courtesy of Ichigo. It was a boat that had been bewitched to carry one wizard and his victim to that tiny, small island in the middle of all that water that had Inferi waiting below the smooth surface to strike.
This was how Voldemort had tested the island's defenses, by using Kreacher as a guinea pig.
"There was a b-basin full of potion on the island. Kreacher was made to d-drink it."
The elf was shaking almost violently now and Harry felt his heart clinch in pain for the elf.
"Kreacher drank and drank and there were horrible things and Kreacher's insides burned...! Kreacher cried for Master to save him, he cried for his Mistress, but the Dark Lord only laughed. Kreacher had to drink all of the potion. Every drop now beast!" Kreacher shouted the last part and made the Trio jump. Even Soifon and Yoruichi twitched at the shout. "The Dark Lord put a locket in the basin... he filled it with more potion... and then he sailed away, leaving Kreacher on the island."
Harry could see it happening. Voldemort was that evil, that cruel, that pitiless to leave Kreacher, a house elf that was beneath his notice, alone on the island.
"Kreacher needed water, he crawled to the water's edge and he drank from the black lake... and hands, dead hands... pulled Kreacher under the water... "
"How did you get away?" Harry asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
Kreacher raised his head finally to look at Harry with blood-shot eyes.
"Master Regulus had told Kreacher to come back home," he said.
"Of course," Ron nodded as he realized what the elf had done. "He Disapparated."
Harry was about to argue that one could not Apparate or Disapparate into the cave, until he remembered that Winky had and that the house-elves could pop into any point around Hogwarts itself. So while they could not Apparate or Disapparate from one place or another, elf magic could enable an elf to do what a wizard could not.
"Elf Magic isn't like wizard's magic, is it? They Apparate and Disapparate in and out of Hogwarts all of the time," Yoruichi mused thoughtfully, giving voice to Harry's thoughts.
"Of course Voldemort would never have thought about house elves and their magic," Soifon nodded her agreement. "They'd be beneath his notice and yet their powers can bypass some of the strongest wizarding spells. Fool."
"The house elf's highest law is his Master's bidding," Kreacher said, a bit of strength coming back to his voice. "Kreacher was told to come home. So Kreacher came home."
"So you did what you were told to, then," Hermione said kindly, "you didn't disobey –"
Kreacher shook his head, large tears dripping down his face.
"Somehow I have a feeling that your Master Regulus gave you another order, didn't he?" Yoruichi asked softly.
Kreacher didn't respond.
"What happened when you got back?" Harry asked him. "What did Regulus say?"
"Master Regulus was very worried, very worried, and very upset," Kreacher croaked. "Master Regulus told Kreacher to stay hidden, to not leave the house. Then... one night Master Regulus came to find Kreacher in his cupboard, Master was acting strange, disturbed and asked Kreacher to take him to the cave, that cave."
The five remained silent, but they all looked at each other, half expecting his next words.
"Did he make you drink the potion?" Harry asked, fighting down his disgust.
Kreacher shook his head, still weeping. Soifon and Yoruichi looked at each other, communicating silently and Hermione's hands flew to cover the gasp she inadvertently let loose as she too realized what had happened to the younger Black.
"M-master Regulus took from his pocket another locket like the Dark Lord's. He told Kreacher to take it and when the basin was empty, to switch them..."
Kreacher was sobbing now, nearly hyperventilating due to the state he was in.
"And he ordered – Kreacher to leave – without him. And he told Kreacher – to go home – and never 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 –"
Hermione tried to hug him, but the house elf pulled away. Ron stopped her from following with a silent shake of his head and a gentle touch to her arm. Harry drew in a deep breath and looked over at Yoruichi and Soifon briefly before turning back to the elf and kneeling down next to him but not reaching to touch him, respecting the space the house elf desperately needed at the moment.
"So," he continued. "You brought the locket home, and tried to destroy it?"
"Nothing Kreacher did made any mark upon it," the elf moaned and tugged at his ears. Harry was tempted to tell the elf to stop hurting himself but did not want him to lock down and stop talking. "Kreacher tried everything, everything, but nothing worked. So many spells upon it... Kreacher was sure the way to destroy it was to open it, but Kreacher could not get inside of it. 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 happened to him because Master Regulus had f-f-forbidden Kreacher to tell any of the f-family what happened in the cave..."
"Which is why he can tell you, Harry," Yoruichi said softly, "your orders are not conflicting with Regulus's. You are not in the direct familial line."
Kreacher began sobbing again, but no one dared touch him. Harry looked over at Hermione and the group pulled away from the elf to talk softly for a few minutes and leave him in peace.
"I know what you're thinking, Harry," Hermione said quietly, "but Kreacher said it himself – Regulus was always kind to him, and I'm sure Mrs. Black was too. You saw how Sirius treated him and Professor Dumbledore said 'I do not think Sirius ever saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a human's.'" she sighed. "Of course he would be loyal to those who are kind to him. It's how Yuzu and Ichigo won over and cured Winky. Kindness. I wouldn't want to be the person who hurt anyone in that family; they'd get it from all sides."
Harry sighed and nodded. He walked back over to Kreacher and knelt back by the house elf's side to touch his shoulder lightly. "Kreacher, when you feel up to it, please sit up."
It was quite a few minutes before Kreacher hiccupped and was able to sit up, although he wobbled in place a little bit.
"Kreacher, I want you to listen to me very carefully," Harry said as kindly as he could, "I know Mundungus Fletcher came here and stole many of the Black treasures after – well, after. But – none of them were sold off. Tatsuki – she stayed here at Christmas with us – discovered he had them and caught him. In fact – Professor Dumbledore had Fletcher locked up for theft. He's paying for what he did. He's paying for stealing things belonging to the Black family."
At the mention of Mundungus Fletcher being locked up, Yoruichi had stiffened and she looked over at Soifon. The other Soul Reaper met her gaze and her lips thinned and she nodded, ever so briefly. This was something they were going to have to look into.
Kreacher's eyes blinked at Harry several times.
"They're in my vault at Gringott's," Harry said softly.
"M-my mistress's gloves?" came the hopeful question.
Harry nodded.
"And the – the – evil –" Kreacher fell silent and tugged on one ear. Harry reached out to pull the hand away.
"Ichigo noticed it, realized what it was," Hermione said quietly, "They had a way of destroying it."
"Destroyed?" Kreacher squeaked, his eyes wide and not daring to believe them.
"Yes. I watched it being destroyed," Yoruichi confirmed. "It's – not easy, to destroy one of those, but it is possible. We had a way to get it done."
Kreacher blinked at her, sitting up a little straighter. His mistress's treasures were safe and his beloved Master Regulus's last request had been fulfilled – if not by him then by those who knew what to do.
On a whim, Harry took out the fake locket that he had in his back pocket, the one Regulus had swapped for the real Horcrux. Kreacher's eyes fixed on it in startled fright for a moment before the elf relaxed as he realized that the locket Harry held was the fake.
"Kreacher, I'd, er, like you to have this," he said, pressing the locket into the elf's hand. "This belonged to Regulus and I'm sure he'd want you to have it as a token of gratitude –"
"Overkill mate," Ron warned too late as the elf took one look at the locket and burst into a new round of wailing and weeping, overcome by both joy and misery at having actually been presented with his very own Black family heirloom.
It took them nearly an hour to calm him down to where he was able to stand properly and hide the locket in his cupboard. They promised him that they would watch over it when he was not around, then to their surprise he vanished into the kitchen to prepare them something to eat and some tea.
"It's liable to be a bit soggy," Ron commented and then grunted as Hermione elbowed him for his comment.
"You'll eat it – and like it," Soifon said, giving the ginger a glare.
Ron gulped and nodded not wanting to face either females continued ire as you did not say no when Soifon glared at you like that, unless you were Yoruichi. Or Yamamoto. Or Ichigo.
"So what now?" Hermione asked a few moments later.
"I suggest we do a thorough search of both Regulus's room and the house itself at this time," Soifon said. "Just in case he left anything else behind – any clues that he might have left as he might have had an idea where the others were stored."
The three nodded, thinking Soifon's plan was a good one and they all agreed that they could probably get Kreacher to assist at this point. He would want to know if his beloved Master Regulus had left any hidden messages behind to continue the fight.
Author's Notes:
Homenum revelio- reveals humans in the area / room / building of caster
Alohamora - the incantation of the spell used to unlock doors. Counter of Colloportus