Hallowed
Chapter Four: Kreacher's Tale


Harry couldn't believe that Dobby, the Malfoys' former house elf, had appeared here. Stepping forward, he had to hold back a smile; Dobby still wore Ron's old Weasley sweater and the mismatched socks Harry had gotten him in Hogsmeade.

"Dobby and Kreacher have found Mundungus Fletcher, Harry Potter." The house elf squeaked as he and the older elf nudged the balding man forward.

"Kreacher found the thief at Master's request." Kreacher did not bow, but there was a difference in his tone as he spoke to Harry.

"Thank you, Kreacher; and you too, Dobby. It's good to see you."

"Dobby hoped to see Harry Potter again, Sir. He found Kreacher looking for Mundungus Fletcher and wanted to help."

"Brilliant." Having ignored Dung's protests, Harry finally approached the man who was attempting to shake off the house elves on his arms. "I believe you have something I need, Dung."

"That why you sent blooming house rats after me then?"

"I suggest you shove it-" Ron started.

"Don't, Ron." Hermione held him back as he prepared to point his wand at the man. "That won't get us anywhere."

"You stole something that looked like this when you looted the place-" Harry was prepared for Dung's protests. "Don't deny it! You stole a locket like this last year. Where is it?"

"What's it worth?" The wild expression on Mundungus' face when Harry showed him the fake horcrux told the tale.

"So you still have it, then?" Hermione asked coldly.

"No, he thinks he should have gotten more for it." Ron corrected while pointing his wand at Dung finally. "Where is it, Dung?"

"I dunno, do I?" Looking from Ron, to Harry, then Hermione, and back, the man paid no mind to Kreacher; the elf had pulled off a large cast iron pan from the shelf and was ready to whack him with it.

"Kreacher, don't." Harry said sharply as the elf looked prepared to swing. "Let us get the information out of him." Thinking for a moment, he spoke again. "If he tries to bolt, then by all means…"

"Thank you, Master." Kreacher reluctantly lowered the pan but had it ready in the event Dung tried to run.

"Where is it now, Dung?" Harry had crossed the distance and had gripped the neck of the man's coat. "Who has it?"

"Er…" Flustered, Dung's eyes flitted around the room for a moment. "I was off sellin' in Diagon Alley and some ol' ministry hag threatened to shut me away. Said she wanted to see my license." Seeing the three growing impatient, he hurried on. "Saw the locket and had to have it. Said she'd be on her way."

"Who was she!" Ron bellowed.

"Dunno-" Searching the room again, his eyes fell on the old Prophet that Hermione had brought back when she had gotten food and drink. "There! That's her! Ruddy bow and everything!"

"Umbridge."

"Yeah, that's the one." Dung straightened up, looking less fidgety. "Right, now that's cleared up, I can go, eh?"

"Not just yet." Harry turned to the pot-bearing house elf. "Kreacher." The older house elf hauled off and hammered Dung in the back with the pot and the man fell over, howling. "That was for stealing from him. Now, you can go."

Dung shot a murderous look toward Harry before rushing toward the front door. When it closed, they heard him disapparate. Harry turned back to the other four in the room and thought about what the thief had just said. Dolores Umbridge had gotten the locket off him, so that would require a trip to the ministry. Harry sat down at the table nearby and rotated the fake horcrux in his hands slowly, and then a thought occurred to him.

"Kreacher," Ron and Hermione joined him as he spoke to the elf. "Why did Regulus have the other locket that looked like this?"

"Master Regulus was loyal to the Dark Lord."

"Did he tell Regulus to keep it safe?"

"Master Regulus was more loyal to the noble house of Black, Not like Master Sirius." The elf was trying to avoid the question, and Harry realized it.

"Kreacher, I order you: tell me why Regulus had the locket."

"Master was loyal." Kreacher repeated, As Harry went to speak again, Hermione held him back by touching his arm. Kreacher continued. "Master Regulus said the Dark Lord had a job for Kreacher, so he took Kreacher to him." The elf's voice shook slightly; whether it was out of fear or not wanting to reveal what happened, Harry didn't know. "The Dark Lord took Kreacher to a cave. He took Kreacher across a lake and told Kreacher to drink…" Harry realized just what the elf was talking about.

"He made you drink the green potion."

"Kreacher drank it. It hurt-" His voice cracked, and the elf sat down on the floor and hugged his knees.

"I know it did…" Flashes of Dumbldore's begging him to make it stop came back to Harry, and he shook his head to clear it. "I saw that cave, Kreacher."

"He made Kreacher drink it all and then he put it in. He left Kreacher on the rocks!" Kreacher croaked. "Kreacher needed water, but there was only the lake… When he drank from it, hands grabbed Kreacher and pulled-"

"Inferi." Harry clarified at Ron and Hermione's startled glances. "He had inferi in the lake to keep anyone from getting the water."

"They dragged Kreacher down to the bottom."

"How did you get back here, Kreacher?" Hermione asked this next question to which Kreacher muttered something about Mudbloods, and Harry cut him off.

"Kreacher, do not insult her. Just answer her questions." The elf gave him a look of restrained indignation but answered.

"Master Regulus told Kreacher to come home."

"Thought you said no one could apparate or disapparate in or out of the cave, Harry." Ron commented, and Dobby responded.

"House elves are different, Sir. Dobby can go places witches and wizards cannot, Sir."

"Of course…" Hermione muttered while looking over Kreacher and Dobby. "It's why house elves can apparate and disapparate within Hogwarts' grounds without special changes to the wards. Of course, they have made changes so that a wizard cannot perform side-along apparition with an elf."

"What happened next, Kreacher?" Harry prompted the elf while nodding in understanding to Hermione's explanation.

"Kreacher came home to Master Regulus. He didn't talk to Kreacher for days." The elf sounded saddened by this. "Then he came to Kreacher and told him to take Master Regulus back to the cave. He took Kreacher back across the lake and gave Kreacher that locket." Kreacher pointed a bony finger to the one Harry held in his hand. "He told Kreacher to put it in when the potion was gone-"

"He didn't make you drink it again, did he?" Hermione questioned; horror and pity in her brown eyes. Kreacher merely shook his head.

"Master Regulus began to drink-" The elf began to sob in anguish. At first, he could continue talking. "He drank and d-drank." The elf hiccupped as he rocked back and forth now. "He made Kreacher stay where he was; told him not to drink, not to get water."

"What happened next, Kreacher?" Harry had knelt down but kept his distance. "This is important. What did Master Regulus do next?"

"He-He told Kreacher to take the one inside and put that one in." Kreacher indicated the locket again. "He told Kreacher to destroy the real one…" Blowing his nose on the rag he wore, Kreacher continued in more of a broken voice with tears still leaking from his large brown eyes and nose still dripping. "Kreacher tried to get him to go home, but Master Regulus tried to drink from the lake. The hands d-d-dragged him down into the water. He told Kreacher to go h-home and destroy the locket." The words were getting hard to understand again as emotion took the elf. He managed his last few lines before dissolving again. "Kreacher tried and tried. Nothing he did worked! He tried breaking it, but …" After a second's pause, the elf made one last statement before throwing himself onto the hearthrug. "Kreacher failed Master Regulus!"

"Think that's all you'll get out of him, Harry." Ron muttered as Kreacher began beating his head against the rug. Hermione went to protest, but Harry spoke first.

"Maybe not…" Opening the locket to make sure the note was still safely within it, Harry spoke to the elf again. "Kreacher… Kreacher, stop!" The elf finally did, but didn't look up. "Kreacher, I need you to look at me now." When the elf turned his large eyes to his new master, Harry continued. "You didn't fail Regulus." Before the elf could speak, Harry went on. "You couldn't have destroyed the locket, and if Master Regulus had really understood, he wouldn't have told you to do it." Holding the fake horcrux out, Harry urged Kreacher to take it. "I want you to have this. It still has the note Regulus wrote in it."

Kreacher took the locket with a trembling hand and opened it. The note was still neatly folded within it, and when he read it, the elf looked up at Harry with nothing short of admiration. Making a deep bow to Harry, he put the locket around his neck and even managed a bow and a quirky nod to Ron and Hermione respectively. Harry thought about Dumbledore and Moody's advice; maybe being good to the elf would indeed change him. He wasn't sure. Harry then turned his attention to Dobby.

"Are you still working at Hogwarts, Dobby?"

"Yes, Harry Potter, Sir. Dobby still works in the kitchens and cleans Gryffindor Tower, Sir."

"Right, you might want to get back before they notice you're missing." Harry said it with regret. He loved seeing the free elf, but he didn't want him to lose a job he liked because of his showing up here. "It was great to see you again."

"Always a pleasure, Harry Potter, Sir." Dobby bowed and shook hands with Ron, Hermione, and Harry before he turned and disapparated.

"Got to figure out what we're going to do now." Ron said; sitting down on his chair again. "Umbridge has the real horcrux, so that meanswe have to go get it."

"Can't just walk into the Ministry of magic." Hermione sat down beside him and started thinking aloud. "We could use polyjuice potion again and disguise ourselves as Ministry officials, but that will take some time."

"Still have Moody's stash of polyjuice?"

"I've got just enough, I think." Hermione nodded to Ron. "Should be enough to get us into the ministry and out and we should have a bit left over for emergency use."

"Good then." Harry said quietly. "So, where do you reckon Umbridge keeps it?"

"If she knew how valuable the thing was, she'd probably keep it on her." Ron volunteered.

"Well, it has Slytherin's mark on it, so I'd say she knows just how valuable it is." Hermione quipped. "That makes it all the more worse, doesn't it? I mean, that means we'll have to get it off her."

"Gives us a reason to stun her." Harry offered. "Still have the scars from her… teaching method."

Over the next month, Ron and Hermione went to scout out the Ministry of Magic and its workers. They had found their means of entrance a few weeks ago and were simply deciding on who to impersonate. All three of them had to be "important" enough to get close to Umbridge, so this took careful planning. In the meantime, Harry spent his time doing what Molly Weasley and the others had started. The house was still way off from being homey. Most of the rooms had at least been checked for doxies and had been looted of all valuable and dark objects; the latter being done by Mundungus. Harry also spent time checking over copies of the Prophet that Kreacher was getting for him. Since he had been given Regulus' locket, the elf's whole demeanor had changed. His cooking was good enough to rival that of Mrs. Weasley, and he seemed to actually want them around.

Having cleared away a good bit of rubbish from Sirius' room and a few others, Harry sat on his godfather's bed and looked at the few other pictures he had found in that room. There was one of Sirius and James during Christmas holiday at Hogwarts. Both were pitted against each other alongside Pettigrew and Remus respectively. All four were pelting each other with snowballs. It was assumed that Lily had been the one to take the picture due to the neat script on the back that dated the photo "23 December". There was another picture of James and Lily apparently arguing about something. Lily's hands were up in the air as if to push James away, and his were in a surrendering position. Harry remembered the photograph he had kept in the mokeskin purse and pulled it out along with its other contents. The marauders' map fell open and was blank, but Harry had an idea.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He pulled his wand off of the side table and tapped the map lightly. Immediately, lines and dots appeared from where his wand had hit the parchment. Corridors, offices, classrooms, and common rooms were formed throughout, and Harry could see some familiar faces. Ginny was in the Gryffindor common room with Neville and Seamus while Luna was in the charms classroom talking with Filius Flitwick. Harry could also see Severus Snape's small dot pacing in the headmaster's study. Scanning the map, he nearly choked on his pumpkin juice when he saw two names. One was in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom on the third floor, and the other was in the Muggle Studies classroom on the fifth. Amycus and Alecto Carrow were apparently "teachers" now.

Eyes still moving over the map, they landed on the first floor. There were several hufflepuffs moving out from the transfiguration classroom. Its last inhabitant was pacing near her desk. It was hard for Harry to really think that this was the one he had been communicating off and on with. While looking at the blank parchment and writing down what was going on, he had a sense of depersonalization. It hit him that he had not checked the parchment for a response from his last statement that Voldemort had Ollivander. Unrolling it, he saw there was.

"How do you know?" Moving to the desk, Harry debated on how to explain. Dumbledore had known about the connection he had shared with Voldemort, but did she? Surely, she did; Dumbledore would have said something… or at least he hoped.

"I saw it; much like the same way I saw Mr. Weasley attacked at the Ministry nearly two years ago." Harry wrote while not wanting to remember the feeling of lunging at Arthur Weasley as the great snake, Nagini. "He was angry that Lucius Malfoy's wand didn't work properly against me when he attacked us before the wedding." Harry still couldn't figure that one out. He had tried explaining to Ron and Hermione that his wand had spun on its own accord and had performed magic without his control. Both had insisted that he had just acted instinctively, but he knew different; there was just no way of convincing them of it. Words formed on the parchment as if written by an invisible hand, and Harry felt a surge of relief.

"Molly did mention the attack on you and Hagrid when we spoke at the wedding. She seemed skeptical that your wand would act without your knowledge or control, but I have seen such things before."

"He was torturing him. Ollivander had said that another's wand would avoid the connection between the twin cores, but something still went wrong. I think he's looking for a more powerful wand." Having only expressed this view with Ron, Harry wasn't sure how his former professor would take this theory, but when she responded, her answer was clear.

"Wands usurp each other for a reason. It is not always clear why. Not being partial to wand law myself, I can only speculate. There are tales of a wand that can best them all, but no such wand has been proven to exist."

"Does the name Gregorovich mean anything to you?" Harry couldn't help but pose this question. He wa still pondering it himself, and had come up with nothing.

"Gregorovich? Mykew Gregorovich is a wandmaker; retired, from what I understand. Why do you ask?" Harry's heart leapt when he read this. He remembered just why that name sounded familiar. It was during the Tri-wizard tournament; Mr. Ollivander had been the one present during the weighing of the wands. He had commented that Krum's wand was a Gregorovich wand; 10 ¼ inches, hornbeam, and dragon heartstring core. Remembering to explain what he had just realized, Harry gripped the quill a bit tighter in concentration as he wrote.

"Ollivander finally gave Voldemort Gregorovich's name after he had tortured him enough. I'm not sure why but he's after Gregorovich now; thinks he may have made the wand that could best mine."

"I am familiar with Priori Incantatem, but it is difficult to understand…" There was a pause, and Harry was almost certain that McGonagall was looking for the best way to phrase her thoughts. After a moment, the words began appearing again. "That does not seem to be what occurred that night you left your relatives'. What happened between your wand and that of Lucius Malfoy was unexplainable and therefore unpredictable with another wand replacing it."

"Unpredictable, that is all I need right now." Harry had written it before he realized what he was doing. It was like letting words slip in a conversation with someone. "Seems everything I am aiming to do falls into that category at the moment." Having just enough time to read what he had written before it vanished, he wished he hadn't. That was just enough to raise questions and concern. Whether it had or not, Harry didn't know, but he understood the response he got.

"Our world is filled with uncertainty as of late. Nothing is as you knew it six years ago." Reading this, Harry realized McGonagall was right. When he had made his appearance into the wizarding world six years ago, everything had been new and exciting; people had nothing to fear. Now, fear seemed to be spreading like wildfire. "Those we thought we could trust are the first to bring about our downfall. I am not certain if you have managed to keep up with the Daily Prophet, but you are considered a person of interest in the murder of Albus Dumbledore. Now that death eaters have overtaken the Ministry, they and any snatchers will stop at nothing to find you."

"I'll keep my head down." Hermione had mentioned something about snatchers the last time she had been out with Ron looking over Ministry entrances. From what she gathered, they were looking for anyone on the run or any muggle-born witches or wizards that had been placed on a watch list. Looking for a response, he didn't get one, and as Harry pulledthe marauders' map to him, he saw why; several small dots were entering the first floor classroom. Harry picked up his wand to seal the roll of parchment before putting it back in the mokeskin purse when his wand prodded the map. Instantly, the classroom expanded, and Harry could see a speech bubble appear near Minerva McGonagall's dot. Words filled it, and as he read them, he could remember her giving that exact speech in his fifth year. The class was tasked with turning porcupines into pincushions, and Harry remembered it took him a few times to get it right. He had managed to transfigure his porcupine into a brown pincushion just after Hermione had. Ron's still moved a bit with its four corners wiggling like little stubby legs. Leaving the map as it was, he placed the roll of parchment back into the mokeskin as well as his quill and took the map downstairs to wait on Ron and Hermione. They were due back any moment.

As if on cue, Harry heard the door open, Moody's voice, and Ron's declaration that he hadn't killed Dumbledore just as Harry had sat down in the kitchen. He had managed to watch as McGonagall lectured a student on not trying to transfigure a human into a pincushion when Hermione came into the room. Seeing him, she sat down in the chair nearest and looked down at the marauders' map.

"Harry, is that…"

"It is." Harry grinned. "I've been watching the lesson since I got done clearing out Sirius' room. I left Regulus' room alone for Kreacher, though." Motioning to the bag that Ron had dropped onto the table, Harry raised his eyebrows. "What's that you've got, Ron?"

"Dinner supplies." Sitting down in the chair opposite Harry, Ron looked over the map as well. "Hermione's idea; said we could get it so Kreacher didn't have to. Hold on…" Reading a speech bubble that had just appeared, he poured over the map to read it. "Oy, that one's got nerve."

"Probably a Slytherin from the way they're talking." Hermione muttered. "Harry, it's a good thing you weren't out with us today. We stayed under the cloak, but there are snatchers everywhere now-"

"I know. I've also heard I'm a person of interest in Dumbledore's death." Harry decided it best to reveal his source of information now rather than later. It would not do to have Ron and/or Hermione furious with him for it while they were meant to be hunting horcruxes. "Just got done talking with her about it."

"What?" Both Ron and Hermione looked as if someone had slapped them across the face; the former's jaw was working as if he wanted to say something, while the latter was simply staring at him. Hermione was first to speak; breaking the awkward silence.

"How did you do that? She wouldn't have been using the floo network. It's being watched."

"No. The floo's been monitored since Umbridge was at Hogwarts." Harry nodded in regard to Hermione's guess as he continued. "You'll remember I was talking with Professor McGonagall before Kingsley's patronus showed up? Well, before we parted ways, she handed me this." He pulled out the sealed roll of parchment. "She has its twin. Not sure who made it, but it works sort of like Riddle's diary did. I write something down on my end, it disappears, and she sees it on hers. Same way in reverse."

"Bet I know who made it." Ron said in a bitter tone. "Fred and George were experimenting with those during their seventh year. That's how they didn't get caught talking to one another in class." Looking directly at Harry, he frowned. "Didn't tell us you were in contact with the order, did you?"

"I'm really not." Harry had known this would happen. It was one of the reasons he hadn't said anything. "I'm talking to one person, not the Order."

"Didn't think to see if my family was alright?" Ron asked while Hermione looked between the two.

"I didn't ask because she wouldn't know." Harry managed to cut Ron off before he said anything else. "Hogwarts is isolated. Not only is Snape headmaster, but look at this." He tapped the map with his wand again and the viewpoint expanded. Looking for the Muggle Studies and Defense classrooms, Harry stopped on the latter. "See him? That's Amycus Carrow." He tapped the map again and narrowed the view the map gave. Carrow was pacing around the Defense classroom saying something about mudbloods. "He's one of the death eaters that got in through the vanishing cabinet last year. He and his sister are teaching at the school now. Death eaters are inside the walls, so I doubt anyone on our side really has a good way of getting information in or out of the castle."

"He's probably right, Ron." This was a logical conclusion, and Hermione knew it. Turning to the still slightly annoyed redhead, she spoke in a would-be soothing tone. "They know how to contact us if they really need to. I'm sure they're fine." This eased Ron's fears for his family's situation, and Harry understood Ron's anger. He was hoping the Weasleys, who had acted as a family when his own hadn't, were safe.

"After the wedding, all she knew was that everyone managed to get away; probably didn't find out about them all being safe until we did." Switching thee conversation back to his original topic, Harry tapped the map again to expand the view. "Anyway, I told her about Gregorovich, Ron."

"And?" Now, Ron looked hopeful. "Did she know anything about him?"

"Gregorovich was a wandmaker. He's apparently retired now." Harry was thankful he had already told Hermione about what he had witnessed with Ollivander a few weeks ago. Had he waited until now… Well, things wouldn't have been pleasant.

"Yes!" Her excited tone had both boys looking up. "Gregorovich was the one who made Viktor's wand. I remember him telling me at the wedding that he had one of Mykew Gregorovich's last wands. Why didn't I think of that before…"

"Don't feel bad." Harry muttered. "I should have remembered his name from the weighing of the wands before the first task of the Tri-wizard. Ollivander said Gregorovich was a very well-known wandmaker."

"So why d'you think he wanted Gregorovich, Harry?" Ron asked; prodding the map with his wand to get a good look at the Gryffindor common room. "Surely he doesn't want another wand."

"I think that's exactly what he wants." Harry said. "McGonagall said something that really got my attention. We were talking about how my wand did what it did on the way to the burrow," He ignored Ron and Hermione's looks. "And she said wands usurp each other for odd reasons. Sometimes it wasn't clear why. Then she said there were tales about a wand that was more powerful than any other."

"I've heard about that." Hermione volunteered, but Harry could see the skepticism in her face. "There have been loads of reports of something like that, but nothing concrete." Looking about the room for a moment, Hermione suddenly remembered something. "Oh! Harry, we've found a way into the ministry. We've also found people to impersonate with the polyjuice. Our best options are three Ministry workers: I'll be going as Mafalda Hopkirk, Ron as Reginald Cattermole, and you'll be disguised as Albert Runcorn. We can leave tomorrow."

"Mafalda Hopkirk…" Harry knew that name. "She's the one that sent those letters about underage magic. I got one once before second year because of the hover charm Dobby used to drop a pudding onto my uncle's dinner guests and another for the dementor attack before fifth year."

"Apparently she's a secretary that will be working with Umbridge off and on now." Hermione said. "Reginald Cattermole is a wizard who works for maintenance. He can get us where we need to go." She paused before continuing, "Not really sure what Runcorn does. He seems to be in good standing with Umbridge and the minister, Thicknesse."

"Right. So, when do we leave, then?" Harry asked. In truth, he was itching to get out of Grimmauld Place for a bit. They would no doubt return here after they got the locket, if they got it, but it would be good to get fresh air.

"We'll have to leave early in the morning to intercept the targets. Then we go in and hopefully get the locket and get out." Hermione said carefully. "I've got the polyjuice separated in three flasks, so we'll get them and go around 7:30 so that we can get to the entrance and wait for them."

"Just what we need as a morning pick-me-up." Ron feigned cheerfulness. "A lovely phial of polyjuice to start the day off right." Harry and Hermione had to laugh at this, but Harry's last comment before they started putting the food away was what would make it all the more worthwhile.

"Just think, we might get to stun Umbridge."