Chapter 18: Kreacher's Tale
The locket was not at Grimmauld Place; and Sirius duly asked Bil to talk to Kreacher. As his betrothed by blood oath, the elf counted her as one he was obliged to obey.
Bil was sobbing when she reported.
"That poor, poor little creature!" she said "He's so unhappy, he thinks he failed Regulus! It's a tragic story – and I know you'll feel compassion for him, Padfoot, anyone would who wasn't hardened!"
"I'll listen with an open mind" said Sirius, cautiously.
"It began when your brother was a willing slave of Fishface" said Bil "And was asked by Riddle to borrow a house elf. I guess because house elves are very resilient to damage – and also killing one wouldn't matter to the creep" she added scornfully. "Regulus ordered Kreacher to obey the Dark Lord as he would a Black, then return to the house. Anyway, they went to that cave some of you visited; and Fishface – I guess to test it – had Kreacher drink all the liquid, then put the Horcrux in and left him to his sufferings."
"Bastard!" cried Sirius, angrily "I may not like the little beast, but that's iniquitous!"
"Quite" said Bil. "Anyway, Kreacher was filled with feelings of despair and horror like we guessed anyone would, and also with unbearable thirst and went to drink – the only water being available being that lake. Consequently he was dragged under water by inferii. But he had orders to return home; and somehow he managed. House elf dissapparating is most AWFULLY powerful!" she added. "Then he reported to Regulus, who was well horrified. I guess he was getting some idea of what Riddle was like; I guess he also had some idea of what the horcrux was. Anyway he got a Black family locket; and got Kreacher to take him to the cave. And, Sirius, this proves your brother was a decent type really; he could have made Kreacher drink it again but he didn't. He told him to take the locket out and put the false one in and take it home to destroy. Then HE drank it, and went to drink and was killed by inferii. Kreacher was beside himself with grief but tried to carry out his beloved master's last orders. Only the Horcrux resisted all attempts to destroy it. And Kreacher is partly soured by believing he has failed his master, and keeps punishing himself."
"Poor little thing!" said Krait "When we have it, Sirius, you must let him help destroy it to free him from that guilt!"
"Yeah, I guess I should" sighed Sirius "All right, I'll try to be gentle with him….where is it now?"
"Mundungus Fletcher stole it, and sundry other Black treasures, while meeting with the Order of the Phoenix" said Bil.
"And they let that stinking little thief in whilst excluding us?" Ron yelped "Now that's TOO much!"
"Adults have much to answer for" said Krait gravely and with only a touch of irony.
"Acquit us Marauders" said Sirius "Scales and I wanted you in, and Moonie would have agreed."
"I never was a Marauder actually" said Severus, mildly.
"I keep forgetting that, nowadays…." Said Sirius. "KREACHER!"
The House Elf arrived promptly.
"Listen to me" said Sirius "You loved Regulus, right?"
"Master Regulus was a good master, he didn't consort with mudbloods and blood traitors" said Kreacher, sulkily.
Sirius swallowed hard.
"I forbid you to use those terms, Kreacher" he managed to speak evenly. "And that was largely because there were few muggleborn at Hogwarts at the time. But he died to prevent the plans of he whom we do not name, because he realised the enormity of his plans. Do you understand that?"
Kreacher regarded him thoughtfully.
"Whatever my master did was right. I obeyed him because he was my master" he said.
"What he did was to try to stop a tyranny against all mugglborn by attempting to destroy an artifact important to the dark one – STOP that!" as Kreacher began to bang his head on the floor.
ssssGive him a cuddle, idiot ssss hissed Krait in Parseltongue.
Sirius put an awkward arm around Kreacher who started sobbing wildly at such unaccustomed kindness.
"When we have it you shall help to destroy it" said Sirius "So you fulfil that promise to my brother. You have not failed him; his orders have merely been delayed because you had not the means to carry them out. You do not need to punish yourself because the unfulfilled order is not your fault; nor is it my brother's because he did not know how hard these things are to destroy. He did not mean you to be sad because you could not do his bidding. If he were alive he would order you to be strong to help destroy this and others of its kind."
"Master is KIND to Kreacher?" it was incredulous.
"I've been impatient with you; because you planned to betray me. I guess you never got told all that was going on" said Sirius "How the Dark Lord brainwashed Bella and Narcissa into obeying him as though THEY were house elves, and to believe they had no will but his; how he tried to do the same to Regulus, but Regulus broke away and determined to destroy his former master for his er, contumely."
Kreacher was shocked.
"It isn't right for HUMANS to act like house elves!" he squeaked indignantly.
Krait kicked Hermione hard as the girl opened her mouth to say it wasn't right for anyone. This was NOT the time or place for a discussion on the philosophy of slavery. If Kreacher could respect Sirius and learn to respect and be civil to the rest of them, that was soon enough to start introducing alien concepts like freedom to him.
Hermione shut her mouth and rubbed her ankle in slightly huffy silence.
Sirius nodded.
"Tom Riddle – Fishface – the Dark Lord – Voldemort – call him what you will – wants to see everyone in slavery to him as profound as house elf slavery. We are fighting against that, and blood status is of no importance in that fight" he said. "Now in my opinion, the best thing to do to get this blasted locket and destroy it is to go and find Dung Fletcher and bring him to us to question about what he did with it."
"To the dungeon with the chains and torture equipment preferably" said Krait "Not to use, but the sight of them ought to soften him up a bit."
"Yes, frighten the filthy little thief!" squeaked Kreacher.
"Good, I like that" approved Sirius "So let me know when you've found him so we can go there, and then bring him to the dungeon."
Kreacher dissapparated, a lot more alert and cheerful than he had ever been, for the thought of fulfilling his last orders from Regulus.
-/-
"What now then?" said Harry, after blowing his nose hard. He had been much affected by Kreacher's tale.
"We wait for Dung Fletcher; and then in the holidays you visit Godric's Hollow to get your mother's watch and Fido, Padfoot and a couple of others go geomancing in Albania to see if Hufflepuff's cup is in the hideout there" said Krait. "They can test out David's new hollow tipped silver colloid-filled bullets on any werewolves they find; supposed to be plenty in Albania."
Sirius nodded.
"I thought we'd ask Kingsley Shacklebolt along on that expedition too" he said. "He's no mean geomancer himself. And if we're after werewolves as a side trip, Moonie would like to come too I bet."
-/-/-/-
Meantime the new intake were settling in well and a reasonable number had eagerly joined the MSHG as soon as they realised it was to give greater help fighting dark arts. That is to say, at first, Hayley Betts and Kronprinz Victor was dragged along by the Malfoy twins – as Hawke and Abrax were beginning to be called – and Crispin, the young Parselmouth, was invited too, Severus having arranged his transfer from the muggle school for which he had properly been bound. Crispin had learned Latin and Greek from a tutor before embarking on boarding school life, being a delicate lad with a withered arm and lopsided face; and though he was not the most talented, his determination led to more success than might have been expected. He struck up a friendship with young Jasper Crouch-Jones, and with Ed Dinalt, despite Ed being a Slytherin and the other two being Gryffindors. Ed also attended the MSHG, delighted to find he had real relatives as well as much-loved adoptive parents; and drew in two more Slytherin, a friend of Hayley's – also Slytherin herself – and a girl called Peta Umbridge, the sister of one of the bullying Slytherin now in the fourth year. Naturally, the Gryffindor youngsters drew in several of their fellows, including a cousin of Ron's, a lad called Colin Weasley whose propensity to suffer accidents was equalled only by his soon best friend, young Crouch-Jones!
The MSHG were at first wary of a young girl rejoicing in the name of Precious Lockhart – the niece of Gilderoy – but she hated both the name and the notoriety of her uncle, and was delighted when Victor dubbed her 'Pris'.
"I declare, almost half the first year has joined the MSHG" said Krait happily "A clear sign of houses working together….to look at them you'd scarcely guess who was in what house but for the ties."
"Yes, they're all equally inept brewing potions" sighed Severus "Crouch-Jones and Weasley in a moment's complete inattention, managed to brew a pimple-removing cream that gave young Weasley the appearance of having Dragon Pox; and Emerald Lenoir managed to burn the bottom out of her cauldron AND set light to the bench. Young Ed has talent, Eustace Benton's a pedant who at least does what he's supposed to, and some of the Ravenclaws aren't totally despicable but on the whole…. Horace will be lucky to survive this intake without being blown up or poisoned with fumes" he brightened "But it's not my pigeon; I gloat. Oh how I gloat. Kipling. Which I read in self defence."
Krait laughed.
"Weasley moments AND Crouch-Jones moments? I shudder to imagine! Watch out for Cleon Tench; I heard Hayley and Emerald discussing him, he has it in for Ed because your cussed young cousin won't join his nasty little gang. He won't touch Em; she's rich, she's one of the disowned branch of the Black family, but watch our other nicer Slytherin. As prefect, I report this unofficially to my favourite House Master. I asked Argus to put Mrs Norris to keep an eye on him too; he's a nasty piece of work, and likes dirty tricks."
Severus nodded.
"I'll do that" he said. "At least none of MINE got hailed for back taxes!"
Krait chuckled. A Hufflepuff first year had been sent a Ministry Howler claiming he owed forty years back taxes, despite piping mournfully – and fruitlessly – at the talking letter that he was only eleven years old and had not been at work for forty years! Pomona Sprout had taken a dim view and had gone personally to give the writer of the Howler a piece of her mind for ineptitude!
On the whole the new academic year was going very well so far.
Krait reflected that once they had the horcruces gathered, the worst of her worries might be the Yule Ball!
-/-
Draco had his own plans too. He had been reflecting, since meeting Dudley Dursley, that the boy had much in common with Draco's own former personality; and accordingly wrote to Harry's cousin, a short but chatty note, asking if he had found time to exercise in the morning or whether he found it too daunting to go it alone. 'For what it's worth, if you feel like it, I shall think of you as I run, so you won't be entirely alone' Draco wrote.
Uncle Vernon was outraged at the arrival of an owl when his irritating nephew was not even in the house; but Dudley was flattered and touched that Draco – who he secretly admired – should take the trouble to write to him; and laboriously penned a reply, thanking Draco for his concern. 'I really will start now, please will you write sometimes?' he wrote 'It would be encouraging. I don't really know what you people do but I guess it's scarier than ordinary schoolwork. Them things that came to the alley was dead scary, I kind of forgot them straight away, but I've had dreams and I remember them, tell Harry he was pretty brave to stand up to them. I don't think they're just dreams, I couldn't dream anything that bad.'
Draco blinked. The boy had resisted the modifications Krait had made to his memories; he had heard the story of the Dementors that Severus and Sirius had destroyed that had attacked Dudley. Maybe such things created too great an impression to be readily confunded away, especially in a hurry.
He showed the letter to Harry.
"It's a bit lukewarm in praise of you" he said critically.
Harry shook his head.
"From Dudley that's warm" he said "You're good to write to him, brother mine. Maybe he can be a nicer person if he has a decent friend in you; goodness knows, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia have done him even less favours than they did me in their excesses of love for poor Diddykins."
"Diddykins? Poor brat!"
"Oh, his cronies call him 'Big D'; I guess he'd like you to, if you felt like it." Said Harry.
Draco nodded.
"I'll remember" he said
Harry chuckled.
"I'd give a cauldron full of galleons to have seen Uncle Vernon's face when the owl turned up with a message for Dudley!" he said "I bet he went purple and spluttered!"
Draco grinned.
"Somehow I hope so" he said "I took a firm and instant dislike to your uncle, Harry; and the concept of his discomfiture fills me with nothing but pleasure."
Harry grinned back.
"Yeah, me too!" he agreed "Maybe I'll write to Dudders too, and then Uncle Vernon will have more owls to drive him up the pole!"
The co-conspirators laughed again; it was good to find something to laugh about, even if it was only the mildly malicious concept of making unhappy someone they disliked. It gave Harry a stab of guilt when he reflected on it later; it was something his father James might have done. But then, Vernon had always gone out of his way to be unpleasant, even before Harry's own powers became apparent, it could not be written off merely as blustering to cover fear for his nephew's magical abilities. Harry consulted Severus.
"Am I being a bully?" he asked.
Severus snorted.
"There are some people who DO ask to be bullied – and those are bullies, Harry my boy" he said. "That fellow Dursley is an out-and-out bully. If he was here he'd have been a prime candidate for the worst side of Slytherin House, and an easy convert for Fishface. Crabbe and Goyle are models of gentle rectitude beside him and it is only that his lack of intellect very nearly approaches his deficiency in imagination that prevents him from being evil instead of merely nasty."
Harry grinned.
"Nice to have his character dissected in true Severine style" he said.
"I DO have my reputation to keep up!" laughed Severus.
Kipling reference; 'Stalky and co'