Back From the Dead
It seemed nothing had changed with the Black's house-elf. He still wore the same tatty and dirty pillowcase, his long and wide ears draping over the front and back of his head, nearly long enough to rest against his small shoulders.
"Master Potter," Kreacher spoke slowly and vehemently. "He's back with his mudblood and blood traitor friends-"
"Let's get this out of the way," Harry said stepping in front of Ron and Hermione. "You won't use the words mudblood or blood traitor in this house ever again Kreacher. That's an order."
"Yes Master Potter," Kreacher bowed lowly, his ears flopping onto his face.
"I need to ask you some questions Kreacher and I order you to answer them truthfully, do you understand?" Harry asked. The elation of being so close to the locket was almost making him trip over his words.
Kreacher bowed again as if someone was putting a heavy hand on his back and forcing him to do it. "Yes Master Potter."
"When we were all here two years ago, there was locket in the drawing room upstairs. We threw it away, you were stealing a lot of things back then, was the locket one of those things?" Hermione was so anxious and nervous that she inched closer to Harry to be able to hear better.
Kreacher was silent for a moment, having noticed Hermione coming closer. He looked at her and Ron briefly before addressing Harry. "Yes."
Harry kneeled in front of Kreacher to be at eye level. Hermione could tell he was having trouble containing himself.
"Where is it now Kreacher?"
Kreacher closed his eyes and his ears dropped so low they brushed his dirty clothes. He seemed to be on the verge of crying or screaming, Hermione couldn't tell which.
"Gone," Kreacher croaked.
"Gone?" The three of them repeated.
Harry tried to stabilize himself on his two feet, "What do you mean it's gone Kreacher?"
Kreacher started to shiver as Hermione's hands came up to her mouth. It was starting to dawn on them.
"Kreacher, I order you to tell me what you mean by 'gone'!" Harry was desperate.
"Mundungus Fletcher!" The elf fell to his knees as his big wide eyes filled with tears and his tiny fists balled up. "He 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 – "
Kreacher was beside himself.
" – and the locket! Master Regulus's locket, Kreacher did wrong, Kreacher failed his orders!"
Hermione gasped, Ron swore again, and Harry flung himself between Kreacher and the poker by the grate. Harry and Kreacher struggled for the pointed metal stick but Harry won out.
"Kreacher I order you to remain still!" Harry threw the poker out of reach of Kreacher and sat back.
Kreacher was crying but his arms were snapped down to his sides. He was unable to wipe his tears away, he might as well have been a petrified crying elf.
"Harry let him up!" Hermione yelled coming to sit next to Harry. She was about to reach for the elf when she felt Ron's hand on her shoulder. She looked back at Ron only to find him white faced but determined.
"No, I won't have him hurting himself." Harry responded, "Kreacher, tell us about the locket. You said it was Master Regulus's locket, how did he get it, what did he tell you about it?"
Kreacher shivered and cried. He tried to talk but his tears were pouring into his mouth, they couldn't understand.
"Harry please," Hermione begged.
Harry glanced at her pale features and gave in.
"Kreacher sit up, I – I give you permission to move but you are not allowed to hurt yourself!" Kreacher sniffled and groaned as he sat up against the leg of a chair. He wiped his tears and blew his nose into his pillow case all the while trying to shrink into himself.
"Kreacher can you tell us about the locket?" Hermione whispered trying not to startle him.
The elf retched, "Kreacher doesn't answer to mudbloods!-"
"Kreacher!" Harry shouted. He gave Hermione a glare that read 'I told you so,'. "I won't tell you again not to insult my friends. Do you understand?"
"Yes Master Potter, of course." Kreacher blew his nose again and pulled his knees up into himself.
"Now, tell us about the locket, everything you know." Harry said.
Kreacher's lips trembeled and his eyes closed but he began to talk, "Master Sirius had run away, good riddance, he cause my Mistress much heartache. She only had Master Regulus now and Master Regulus was good to Kreacher. Master Regulus trusted Kreacher." The elf's lower lip trembled and they saw how much he was struggling to hurt himself but the magic binding him to Harry's order was restraining him.
"Master Regulus was gone often but sometimes he would come back here and tell Kreacher about his new friends and Kreacher wasn't allowed to tell anyone. But Master Regulus was scared, he was scared of his new friends and he wanted to leave them. Kreacher told Master Regulus that Mistress would want her only good son to be here, that he was safe here and Master Regulus told Kreacher..." he was crying so hard now that Hermione was actively trying to stop herself from crawling over to hug him. "Master Regulus told Kreacher he was right. He said he needed Kreacher's help with – with a task and Kreacher let him down!"
Harry shifted awkwardly between Hermione and Ron but gave Kreacher a moment to recover. He had forgotten how distressed a house elf could become when they thought they failed the people they served.
"It's okay Kreacher, just tell us what you know. It's important okay? Master Regulus would need you to be strong right now." Harry tried to encourage him. Dumbledore's voice rang in his mind. 'He was forced to do Sirius's bidding, because Sirius was the last of the family to which he was enslaved, but he felt no true loyalty to him. And whatever Kreacher's faults, it must be admitted that Sirius did nothing to make Kreacher's lot easier.'
Kreacher nodded and sobbed for a long second before he resumed his story, "Master Regulus told Kreacher a friend of his needed help. He said he had asked for Kreacher personally and that it would mean a great deal to Master Regulus if Kreacher agreed to help his friend. He told Kreacher to do what was asked of him and then to come home. So Kreacher went with Master Regulus's friend."
Kreacher's voice grew quiet and he seemed lost in his words now. Hermione wasn't sure she wanted to hear the rest.
"Master's friend was not – not nice. He was different and strange but Kreacher had promised so Kreacher went with him. They apparated to a large boulder in the middle of somewhere Kreacher knew not. They swam into a dark cave and even though Kreacher was scared he did everything Master Regulus's friend told him to do. He told Kreacher to ofter the wall of the cave his blood and he did. Then the rock opened and they came to a lake of darkness."
Hermione turned to Harry to see a stoic, almost dead expression painted on his face. He wasn't looking at Kreacher but rather at his knees bended underneath him. This sounded an awful lot like what he had told them about the locket when he had gone with Dumbledore.
"Kreacher followed the dark wizard onto a boat and the boat pulled and pulled. They came to a small island in the middle of the lake and Kreacher saw a basin but he couldn't see what was inside. The dark wizard put his long grey hand inside and pulled out a shell filled with what Kreacher thought was water. He told Kreacher to drink and Kreacher had too. It was horrible and Kreacher saw things Kreacher still dreams about. He didn't want to keep drinking but he was so thirsty and the dark wizard laughed at Kreacher but Kreacher had promised Master Regulus! He promised."
Hermione covered her mouth and cried. Ron put an arm around her and pulled her into him. She calmed a bit at that, she needed to hold herself together.
Kreacher was also beside himself but Harry had the foresight to put anything sharp or heavy at a good distance from him and it seemed his order was still working on Kreacher.
When he had calmed enough to continue it seemed Hermione had also calmed enough to listen.
"Kreacher, what happened next?" Harry asked.
"Kreacher drank everything. He – he sat down and saw the dark wizard pull out a locket with a snake wrapped around it from his robes then – then he put in the basin and the basin filled up with the evil potion and Kreacher thought it was over. Then the dark wizard got into the boat and left Kreacher there, so so thirsty. Kreacher reached into the edge and something grabbed Kreacher but Kreacher knew he had to get back to Master Regulus."
"The inferi," Harry whispered, "but how did you get out Kreacher? If Voldemort left you on the island how did you get back?"
"Kreacher went back home," Kreacher said blowing his nose again as a new batch of silent tears poured out of his eyes.
"Yes but how-"
"Kreacher went back home like Master Regulus asked him too," Kreacher said again and almost like Harry was questioning him, his story, his loyalty to Regulus.
"I know Kreacher but how-"
"Oh Harry honestly," Hermione stood and rubbed the tears out of her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "Regulus ordered Kreacher to come back so he did. House elves have magic that wizards have underestimated and abused for ages!" She paced back and forth between Ron and Harry as they tried to grasp what she was saying. "It makes sense that Voldemort would do the same as wizards have always done. He made Kreacher offer his blood, he made him drink the potion, he left him. Merlin he's thicker than I thought."
"What are you getting at?" Ron asked also standing up. "Are you saying Kreacher just apparated out of there? How can he do that and then how can you-know-who not realize it?"
Hermione fumed, "Because Ron! It's like I've been saying. House elves are extraordinary beings capable of amazing magic but just because they're slaves to wizards they are seen as inferior. Voldemort never expected anyone to find much less know about his horcruxes because one of his biggest faults is his ego. He made Kreacher do all of those things because he thinks house elves to be inferior. But Kreacher's magic allowed him to follow through on his orders and he came back. Kreacher you came back, you did what Master Regulus asked you to do-"
"No! NO! Kreacher failed Master Regulus he failed him when he didn't destroy the locket and then again when he let Mundungus Fletcher take it. Kreacher failed!" Kreacher launched himself again towards the poker but Harry got to it before he did. Kreacher curled up into a ball and cried. Just when it seemed he couldn't shed anymore tears.
"Kreacher calm down okay, what do you mean you failed to destroy the locket? How did you get the locket after you left the cave?" Harry asked trying to regain control of the situation.
"Master Regulus," Kreacher shivered and curled into himself tighter. "When Kreacher came back Master Regulus took care of him. He asked Kreacher what had happened and Kreacher told him everything. Master Regulus said that once Kreacher felt better he wanted him to take him to the black island so he could see for himself. He promised Kreacher wouldn't have to drink the evil potion again. Master Regulus read a lot in preparation, he studied old books and he kept asking Kreacher things about what he had seen. Then...then one day Master Regulus said it was time..."
Kreacher's sobs became something else then. It wasn't like he was mourning his master, he was mourning a friend and something inside Hermione broke.
"Master offered his blood at the entrance and he ordered Kreacher to take the locket and destroy it once they were out but...but.."
Tears were silently streaming down his face now. His voice had gone quiet and he didn't have to say anything else but the order Harry had given him made him continue.
"Master drank the potion and Kreacher took the locket. But Master reached for the lake water too fast and Kreacher couldn't stop the dead from taking his Master..."
"Oh Kreacher," Hermione whispered. She saw Ron lean against the wall, pale and sickly looking. Harry who was still kneeling beside Kreacher seemed even further away from them than he had the past few days.
"He didn't tell you how to destroy it?" Harry asked after a few moments of silence. Perhaps for Regulus who had unknowingly helped them and set them back at the same time.
"No," Kreacher said wiping his tears away with his hand. He sat Indian style and played with his fingers. He wasn't looking at them. "Kreacher knew he had to get the locket open but not even Kreacher's magic could do it. So he tried to keep it safe."
"When was it robbed? Was it after Sirius's death?" Kreacher nodded. Harry groaned and then stood. He placed the poker back near the grate. Hermione watched him trying to think, come up with a solution but she couldn't think with everything Kreacher had told them swirling around her.
"Well that's it isn't it?" Ron asked. "We're screwed."
Nobody answered.
"Kreacher," Harry said with a sigh turning to look at the house elf still sitting at the foot of the kitchen table. "This isn't an order but if you want you can help finish the task Master Regulus gave you."
All eyes went to Harry including Kreacher's.
"We have to find Mundungus Fletcher to know what he did with the locket. Do you want to help us find him?"
Kreacher was up on his feet faster than lightning.
"All I ask is that you bring him back here. Once we know where he has it or who he sold it to we can find it and help you destroy it, do you accept Kreacher?"
"Master Potter is giving Kreacher a choice?" Kreacher asked. There was no venom in his voice as he asked Harry. There was hope.
"This is your task Kreacher-"
"YES!" Kreacher didn't know what to do with himself. "Kreacher will find the thief for Master Regulus and Master Potter! He will!"
"Good," Harry said smiling. "Bring him back here and we can finish this together okay Kreacher?"
It seemed like Kreacher was going to give Harry's leg a hug but then thought better of it and instead smiled crookedly. He gave a little hop and then with a snap of his fingers he was gone.
"Do you think that was a good idea?" Ron asked looking warily between the spot Kreacher had just been and Harry. "Will he come back?"
"Yes," Harry said, "Regulus and Mrs. Black were the only people who treated him decently and we're his only hope of destroying the locket."
"You are trying to treat him decently," Hermione said holding back a smile.
Harry grimaced and then nodded, "Yes well maybe your spew thing is catching on."
"It's S.P.E.W, Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare-"
"That's all fine and dandy," a voice from behind them said. They all spun around, wands at the ready.
They weren't expecting to find Malfoy sitting on the steps of the stairs looking like he was bored out of his mind.
"How long have you been there?" Harry asked pushing his way through Hermione and Ron, lowering his wand.
"Long enough to know that even if he comes back with the thief you still won't have a locket. I don't know why you want that locket so desperately but if the Dark Lord wanted to keep something safe it must have been of great value."
"What are you getting at Malfoy?" Ron spat.
"What I'm saying is that something so clearly magical and valuable had to sell for a high price and anyone with enough money or power to buy it is going to be hard to get to. Unless your thief is a master negotiator." The Golden Trio glanced at one another. Mundungus was not the sharpest tool in the shed, far from it.
"We'll get to that when Kreacher get's back with him. How did you get out of your room?" Harry asked eying Malfoy's wand like it had been a bad idea to give it back to him.
"This thing called magic," Malfoy sneered. "Now, should I ask why this locket is so important or should I ask after breakfast?"
"It's none of your bloody business!" Ron shouted and Hermione placed a hand on his arm to try to calm him but Ron shook her off.
Hermione turned to Harry, they still hadn't discussed how much to tell Malfoy.
"It's important. That's all you have to know right now." Hermione could see Malfoy working out the clues. Between what he had heard and what he presumed about their mission it wasn't hard to see that he had already acknowledged the importance of the locket.
"Fine, where are we on the breakfast though?" Hermione's stomach turned painfully and it wasn't because she was hungry. Malfoy never gave up that easily.
Ron's words blared widely in her ears. He'll screw us all over sooner or later.
Authors Note.
I haven't left many author notes on this story mostly because I started writing this way before I started posting and it feels like I'm writing for myself rather than for others which is a first. Anything I want to say, I want to say to myself. But in doing that I have made this story more about what's in my head rather than what you guys want and that's not necessarily good or bad. I think it's important for us to communicate and I'm lucky that the Harry Potter fans on fanfiction are so nice. I'd like to hear more about what you want to see because I would really love to put things in that you guys want to read. I miss having a connection to readers :)
If you have nothing to add but would like to leave a review saying you liked the chapter or hated it, please do. Any type of feed back helps.
-Maria