Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
A/N: Thanks to Eminnis for beta-ing this story.
Chapter Ten
Kreacher's Tale
"Kreacher's Tale," Ron read and then groaned. "Maybe I don't want to read this one."
Hermione rolled her eyes at that.
"Argh! Why would there be a chapter about that thing in here?" Sirius grumbled.
"Sirius …." Hermione started to say, unable to stop herself this time.
Sirius rolled his eyes, "Ron, just read."
Mentions Ron had a fit of gallantry and insisted that Hermione sleep on the cushions:
"Nice move Ronnie boy," Charlie chuckled, "you're such a gentleman."
"Shut up," Ron hissed at his brothers, for they were all sniggering (even Percy was trying to stop himself from smiling), his ears were bright red.
Mentions Harry wondered if they had fallen asleep holding hands:
"Aw!" all the Weasley children (except Ron) said.
"Isn't that precious?" Fred added as Ron's whole face turned red and this time Hermione was blushing almost as much as him.
Mentions that the accusations he heard had infected Harry's memories of Dumbledore who he idolized:
"Harry," Hermione said, looking slightly disappointed; how could Harry believe that tripe?
Harry, however, wasn't paying attention to her, he was looking at Dumbledore. It was awkward hearing himself think like that though even at the moment he was angry at Dumbledore for ignoring him this year he couldn't imagine himself thinking that. "I'm sorry, sir," he said.
Dumbledore nodded at Harry, excepting the apology but looking uncomfortable, his eyes downcast. He was sure that the way things were going, this situation, his past, was only going to get worse.
Mentions could Dumbledore ignore his sister who was being imprisoned and hidden:
Dumbledore was frowning at everything that was said here, he didn't do any of those things, and yet he felt as if he had done worse to her. There really wasn't anything he could have done for his sister when he was younger, but the biggest regret of his life was that he didn't do more for her when he had the chance.
Mentions or was Harry nothing more than a tool to be honed, but not trusted, never confided in:
"He doesn't confide in anyone, Potter," Snape said, though his tone had everyone looking at him oddly. Was he actually being civil towards Harry, and when he could have accused Harry of being arrogant?
"And I assure you Harry, I do care about you," Dumbledore said.
Mentions Harry crept out of the room and started to climb the stairs:
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked Harry harshly, which caused him to stare at her questioningly.
"I'm going …." Harry started to say.
"You can't just wander off by yourself," Hermione said, "don't you know how worried Ron and I are going to be when we wake up and find you're not there … after everything that happened yesterday…!"
"I'm sorry," Harry said, "I must not have been thinking about that."
Mentions somebody had searched the house since the Order had left:
Hermione shivered at that, feeling worse that Harry was wandering the house on his own.
Mentions Harry had never entered his godfather's bedroom before:
Harry furrowed his eyebrows wondering why he had never been in Sirius's room before. He was also wondering if it was decorated just as bad as the rest of the house, for he had a feeling that Sirius wouldn't let that be the case.
Mentions of a spider web:
Ron shivered at that mumbling something about getting out of there now. The twins sniggered at that, and Molly glared at them, she still hated the fact that they had traumatized her youngest son.
Mentions Sirius had several large Gryffindor banners, underline his difference from the res of the Slytherin family:
"You have no idea how many spells I had to put on those to keep Mum from getting rid of them," Sirius stated proudly. "It took a while to make them hex proof so she couldn't blast them off the wall."
Mentions there were many pictures of Muggle motorcycles:
Arthur looked up excitedly at this, but Molly's glare made him sit back giving her wary glances.
Mentions several posters of bikini-clad Muggle girls:
"Nice," several of the boys in the room said as most of the girls made disgusted or disapproving noises.
Mentions photograph of four Hogwarts students standing arm in arm, laughing:
Sirius and Remus exchanged smiles, knowing what the picture was. Those were definitely the best years of their lives.
Mentions Sirius, carelessly handsome, younger and happier than Harry had ever seen him:
Sirius frowned, he wished he could be like that now, carefree and happy, but he lost that with his stay in Azkaban and he wasn't sure if even after this war was over and they won it (for they were going to win and he was going to live), he would be able to regain what he lost.
Mentions to Sirius's right stood Pettigrew:
"Do you really have to think about that rat bastard?" Sirius hissed.
Harry shrugged; it wasn't his fault that Wormtail was in the picture.
Mentions Remus looked a little shabby and had the delighted surprise at finding himself liked and included:
"Hey," Remus said, not liking being compared to Wormtail and knowing that his feelings weren't how Harry was making it sound.
"You know it's true Moony, you were all pleased to be around us cool kids," Sirius said, teasing Remus was helping with his anger.
"I was happy to have real friends that, by the time the picture was taken, had excepted me for everything that I was," Remus said. "I could have cared less about the coolness factor."
"Oh, come on Remus, you know you loved the attention just as much as James and I did," Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Whatever you say Padfoot," Remus rolled his eyes, too.
Mentions Sirius's room had been searched too, but mostly judged worthless:
Draco raised an eyebrow at that thinking that it might actually be Snape that had searched the house then. At least he knew that he wouldn't have dimmed anything in Potter's room valuable and Snape and Sirius seemed to hate each other as much as he hated Potter.
Mentions Harry found a letter and that started Dear Padfoot:
Sirius smiled sadly at this, knowing what letter it was. He looked at Harry, who was very interested to hear what was said in the book and knew that it was something that was good for the boy to hear.
The letter says one year old and already zooming along on a toy broomstick:
"I had a broomstick when I was a baby!" Harry said, surprised.
"Yep, I got it for you," Sirius said proudly. "James was going on about how bloody brilliant he thought you would be on the pitch so I thought I might as well get you started as early as possible."
"Thanks Sirius," Harry smiled at him.
The letter says he looked so pleased with himself:
"Of course, he did, Potter has always been arrogant," Draco said, in a surprisingly teasing voice.
The Letter says I'm enclosing a picture:
"Is the picture there?" Molly questioned, looking at Sirius. She would love to see a picture of Harry as a baby, and it looked like Ginny and Hermione were thinking the same thing.
"It should be," Sirius said, he had kept the letter and the picture together.
The Letter says of course, James:
"This is from my mum?" Harry said, for some reason when it started with Padfoot, he just assumed that it was from his dad. Sirius nodded his head.
The Letter says we were sorry you couldn't come, but the Order comes first, and Harry's not old enough:
"Still, I wish I was there," Sirius said, he had no idea at the time that he wouldn't be able to spend a single birthday with his godson in fifteen years.
"It's okay Sirius, I understand," Harry told his godfather seriously.
The Letter says Dumbledore's still got his Invisibility Cloak:
Remus was about to ask a question but decided to wait until after the letter was finished, he could tell Harry really wanted to hear this letter, and the less interruptions the better.
The Letter says Wormy was here last weekend:
Sirius growled and Remus's face became hard but neither one said anything.
Mentions Harry's extremities seemed to have gone numb:
"We don't care about Harry's extremities … what about Dumbledore?" Fred said.
"Fred," Molly reprimanded.
"Oh, come on Mum, aren't you curious about what the letter was going to say next," Fred said.
Sirius was frowning, looking at Dumbledore curiously. He seemed to be uncomfortable, which definitely didn't seem like Dumbledore like behavior. Could it be that Lily was right when she said that Dumbledore and Grindelwald were friends? Well, Sirius wasn't about to out him, that was for sure, he knew what it was like being friends with someone that turned out to be a bastard.
Remus looked at Harry, who seemed to have a thoughtful and somewhat sad expression and figured that it was a good time to bring up his question; Harry would want a few minutes to digest what he just heard. "Sir, I was just wondering why you kept James's Cloak for so long?"
Dumbledore gave him a piercing look, his expression was thoughtful and after a long time he said, "I believe that the answer will be provided soon, if I were to tell you now, it will detract from the story."
Though Remus wasn't satisfied with this answer he knew better than to question Dumbledore more. However, the answer seemed to only make him more curious and confused about this.
Ron decided to read when no one showed any more signs of interruptions.
Mentions Lily had made her 'g's the same way he did:
"Can I see the book," Harry asked in barely more than a whisper but Ron immediately handed the book to Harry. He wasn't sure if this was really his mum's handwriting, though it was clearly not the normal print of the book. He sighed, it was unlikely to be hers, but the "g"s did look familiar.
He handed the book back to Ron a few minutes later, distinctively aware of everyone trying not to look at him as he brushed the tears out of his eyes. When he felt Ginny's small hand against his own, he grabbed it and felt oddly comforted by the simple action.
Mentions the letter was proof that Lily Potter had lived, really lived:
Sirius opened his mouth to exclaim that off course Lily had lived, but Remus put a hand on his shoulder, his eyes saying that these were thoughts that Harry didn't need commenting on.
Mentions Lily wrote these words, words about him, Harry, her son:
Ron again glanced at his best friend before reading again, he had never fully understood how hard it was on Harry not to know his parents at all. Not to have a real memory of them, where a note like this would be such a precious treasure. He felt a little guilty for always being jealous of Harry (for mostly things that Harry had no control over really).
Molly, on the other hand, was starting to tear up as Arthur held her, she wanted to hug Harry, seeing that these were the words the Harry in the room must be thinking, too. She stopped herself though, because Harry also seemed to be uncomfortable hearing this with everyone else in the room.
Mentions they had a cat, perhaps it had perished like his parents:
"No, I took care of Rusty for a while, but I finally gave him to Arabella Figg," Remus said.
"Really?" Harry said shocked.
"Yeah," Remus said, "when I learned that she was keeping an eye on you I thought it would be best if he was nearby … he really loved you despite the fact that you always pulled his tail."
Mentions Dumbledore's still got the Invisibility Cloak, there was something funny there:
"Which apparently we're not going to get an answer to, even though we have Dumbledore himself in this room to ask about it," George said in a huff and then grinned at his headmaster.
Mentions Dumbledore what:
"See, Harry wants to know about it, too," Fred said.
"Hush, Fred," Molly said.
"I suppose we're not going to get an answer to that either are we, sir?" George questioned and Dumbledore just shook his head.
Describes the photo ending with James was chasing after him:
Several people were chuckling at this, and there were a bunch of 'aw's mostly from the girls in the room (Harry thought he even heard McGonagall say aw, but he couldn't be sure) though Fred and George had as well, sniggering at Harry.
"I wish I could actually see that," Hermione was the one to voice what most of the room was thinking.
"I'll show it to you when we get back to Grimmauld Place," Sirius chuckled, but the mere mention of going back to that house made his features darken slightly.
Mentions was the rest of the letter taken by whoever had searched the room:
At this Snape raised an eyebrow, he had been wondering if he was the one that searched the place, thinking it was unlikely. Why would he want to come to this place looking for something of Black's? However, this was something he would want. He knew how Lily signed her letters, and he knew what it would do to him to see those words.
Mentions Harry held out his mother's letter to Hermione:
Hermione smiled sadly at this, pleased that he would let her read this, knowing how important and private it was to him (not that it was private to him anymore, but she was sure that he wouldn't have shared this with most of the people in the room if it wasn't in this book).
Harry says information on the Order, if it was Snape:
Snape rolled his eyes, "there would be no need for me to go back there for information. I would know that the Order would make sure there was nothing valuable there."
"Hah! So, you're admitting that you're a Death Eater scum that's trying to get information on us," Sirius said, though his voice wasn't accusative, it was almost teasing.
Snape just rolled his eyes.
Harry says this Bathilda my mum mentions, you know who she is, and Hermione says who:
"You don't know who Bathilda is!" Fred exclaimed.
"Merlin, Harry even knew who she was!" George said.
"He didn't say the last name, how am I …." Hermione started to say.
"And now you're making excuses," George said, shaking his head. "I'm very disappointed in you."
Mentions there was little too much understanding in the smile Hermione gave him:
"I'm sorry I'm too understanding, Harry," Hermione said.
"It's okay, but you really should work on that in the future," Harry told her chuckling.
Hermione says that wouldn't help us in our search for Horcruxes, would it:
"Don't be so reasonable Hermione, the boy just had an emotional upheaval reading his mommy's letter for the first time," Fred said and then ignored his mum's reprimand like he always did.
Hermione says makes me feel more that we should avoid the place your parents are buried, they be expecting you to visit it:
"I think Miss Granger has an excellent point there," McGonagall said, "it would be dangerous for you to go to places that are connected to you, Potter."
"Er … isn't there a connection to Grimmauld Place to Harry?" Bill said.
"Yes, but Grimmauld Place has plenty of protections on it, ones that have nothing to do with the Ministry," McGonagall said, "I doubt that the Death Eaters could get into there short of being invited."
Harry says I'm not upset:
Hermione shook her head; how could he believe that she would buy that?
Harry says I thought I did:
"I don't understand," Harry frowned. "Why am I thinking like this?"
"Well Harry, if you don't have an answer to that, I doubt any of us would," Sirius chuckled.
"It might be because you're grieving," Hermione said softly. "The way people deal with their pain is different for everyone."
Mentions a pompous little sign, the sort of thing that Percy Weasley might have stuck on his bedroom door:
The Weasley siblings sniggered at this and were surprised to find their sniggering wasn't done in malice. Percy, however, was looking at Harry coldly for that thought.
Harry says R.A.B. I think I've found him:
Everyone was starting to look more interested, sitting at the edge of their seats.
Sirius bit his lip … this was it; they were going to find out if it was his brother that took the locket or not.
Hermione clutched Harry's arm so tightly that he winced:
"I hate it when you do that," Harry grumbled.
"Sorry," Hermione smiled at him sheepishly and neither of them noticed Ron's grimace.
Harry says Sirius told me he joined when he was young and then got cold feet and they killed him:
Sirius sighed, hoping that his brother really had taken the locket, but also feeling guilty for the resentment he felt toward his brother for the latter half of his life.
Mentions that Ron appeared, panting, his wand ready in his hand:
"Er … sorry I scared you," Hermione said to Ron, who just shrugged before he started reading again.
Ron says if it's a massive spider again I want breakfast before I:
"Before you what?" Fred questioned, looking astounded.
Ron shook his head, but he too thought that it sounded like he actually did something to the spider, which at the moment was the last thing he would think of doing.
Mentions that Sirius tried to advertise his difference, Regulus strived to emphasize the opposite:
Sirius grimaced at this, why did his brother have to love Slytherin so much? He thought Regulus was brave enough to be a Gryffindor … they could have been in the house together.
"It's not like he had much of a choice," Snape said, "he had seen what would happen to him if he disregarded his family tradition."
"How would you know what he would do?" Sirius snapped at him, glaring.
"Because I, unlike you, actually talked to Regulus after he went to Hogwarts," Snape said. "It was rather cold of you to stop speaking to your brother just for not being in your house."
"I didn't stop talking to him," Sirius hissed, pained by that accusation. What Snape said wasn't entirely untrue, but it wasn't because he was a Slytherin that they had stopped talking. It was because they didn't have anything in common after they started going to Hogwarts. Regulus just seemed to do whatever he could to please their parents more and more and Sirius couldn't stand that.
Hermione says it could be somewhere else in the house, though:
"Oh," Ginny said as Hermione gasped and the twins looked at each other, all thinking the same thing.
"What?" Ron questioned.
"I'm sure you'll see," Hermione said, waving him on to read.
Hermione talks about the things they got rid of last time ending with even though we didn't realize it at … at …:
"Oh, dear sweet Merlin, that locket!" Sirius said as Harry and Ron's eyes widen. "I can't believe it …."
"You know where this locket is now," Dumbledore said, highly interested in this development.
"Er …." Sirius said looking terrified, "we sort of threw it out …."
There was a silence as everyone that didn't know this already looked astounded.
"Wait, this chapter is called Kreacher's tale," Remus reminded them, "and you know that elf likes to hoard things of your family …."
"Right," Sirius said, feeling odd putting his hopes on Kreacher doing something. "Ron, continue reading."
Mentions Hermione's eyes had even drifted out of focus:
"Argh, I hate that look," Ron grumbled, though that wasn't true in the least. The look itself was adorable, it was just the fact that it meant that Hermione had just figured something out and was then going be evasive about answering their questions about what it was until she confirmed her theory.
Hermione says there was a locket:
Okay, so that time she didn't make them wait a hundred years before she gave them an answer … that's nice at least, Ron thought to himself.
Harry says it's not over yet and calls Kreacher:
"What good will that do?" Charlie questioned. "It's not like you're his master, right?"
"Actually, he is," Sirius said. "Seeing as my will worked out the way I wanted it to, Kreacher belongs to him now."
"You own a House Elf!" Hermione snapped at Harry. "You can't keep him …!"
"Hermione, we've been through this, it's too dangerous to let Kreacher be free now," Remus reminded her, but that didn't stop her from narrowing her eyes at Harry.
"If I hear you mistreating …." she started.
"Come on Mione, you know Harry wouldn't do that," Ron said, "even though the wretch deserves it."
Hermione was almost looking relaxed until Ron added the last part and now, she was glaring at him. Ron shrugged, quite use to the glare, (and knowing this one wasn't too serious) started reading again.
Kreacher says back in my Mistress's old house with the blood-traitor and Mudblood:
Several people hissed at this, though there was one person in the room that was having trouble not laughing. The blonde Slytherin was smart enough to know that he would likely get curse if he laughed out loud. However, he found it odd that it wasn't the blood-traitor or Mudblood comment that amused him, it was the fact that the elf actually said that out loud in front of the trio like that.
Mentions even if the elf had not betrayed Sirius to Voldemort:
"What?" Sirius said angrily, but the color in his face paled.
"How could he do that?" Harry questioned, feeling his anger towards the elf increase just thinking about this.
"I don't know, it's not like he can just go tell Voldemort anything," Remus said thoughtfully, "Sirius had forbidden him from doing that."
"Er … actually," Draco said shifting uncomfortably, he just remembered something … something he had seen just recently, but he didn't know if he should say this. Wouldn't this be like declaring himself to be on Potter's side. Did he really want to do that? Then again, did he really want to end up torturing people just for the Dark Lord's amusement.
"What is it?" Tonks questioned.
Draco looked at her for a second, she was his cousin, and this was the first time he had met her. It was odd, why did he feel like he would like to get to know this girl when clearly, she wasn't worth his time. Tonks smiled encouragingly at him, and he found himself speaking before he fully made up his mind, "an elf showed up at our house a few days ago … I only saw a glimpse of him, but he looked like how this elf was described."
"That's impossible," Sirius paled farther. "Kreacher can't leave … he couldn't …."
"That's not true," Harry said. "I know Dobby met me and he definitely didn't have permission to leave his family. Besides, Sirius, when was the last time you've seen Kreacher?"
"Er …." Sirius said thoughtfully and then bowed, "I haven't seen him sense I told him to leave the kitchen."
"When you shouted to him to 'get out'," Ginny corrected and everyone groaned.
"That stupid, bloody elf," Sirius grumbled and Ron decided to start reading, though his voice showed that he was angry, too.
Harry asks Kreacher if he stole the locket back and he answers yes:
"Well at least you did something right, you bloody sorry excuse of an elf," Sirius grumbled.
Hermione opened her mouth to defend the elf, but she couldn't in light of what they just heard, not right now at least. Not knowing that Kreacher had a hand in Sirius's death.
Dumbledore on the other hand was smiling, they had found one Horcrux and they didn't even have to expend much energy to get it.
Harry asks where it is now and Kreacher says gone:
"Bloody hell elf! Can't you do anything right?" Sirius shouted.
"Sirius calm down," Remus put a hand on his shoulder and Sirius took several deep breaths trying to control his temper.
Kreacher says Mundungus Fletcher:
"Argh," several people groaned but, though no one could make out her words, it was Tonks that seemed ready to kill the thief. After what he did to Moody, he continued to be a bane in their fight against Voldemort by stealing this critical object. No, the next time she saw the thief, he was going to feel her displeasure for him.
Dumbledore, however, seemed to be relieved by this again, it was likely that the elf still had the locket in their time frame and if he didn't, he would likely be able to get it from Mundungus easily enough.
Mentions Kreacher lunged for the poker standing and Harry launched himself upon the elf:
"Harry, don't?" Hermione said automatically.
"He's going to hurt himself Hermione," Harry said, "What am I supposed to do?"
"Let him," Sirius said darkly as Hermione grimaced unsure of what to say to Harry's question.
Harry says tell me everything you know about the locket and what Regulus had to do with it:
Sirius stopped glaring at the book now, knowing he was going to hear about what his brother had done. His anger at the elf momentarily vanished as he waited to hear the story.
Kreacher says and when he was sixteen years old, Master Regulus joined the Dark Lord:
"Sixteen," Sirius groaned. He knew his brother had been young, but he didn't think it was that young.
Draco was looking thoughtful at this, if it was true that he was torturing people and at meetings filled with Death Eaters, that meant that he too would become a Death Eater at that age. That meant that he would likely become a Death Eater in a few months. That thought made him feel unnerved, though he knew it was what he always wanted, he didn't think it would come this soon.
Kreacher says he said the Dark Lord required an elf:
"Why would he need an elf?" Ron questioned.
Dumbledore sighed but didn't answer the question. He could imagine some things that Voldemort would use an elf for, and none of them would be healthy for the poor elf.
Mentions Harry saw what had happened as clearly as though he had been there:
Harry grimaced, great, here's another memory of a traumatizing time that he will have to add to all the other ones he already has. Then again, seeing as the locket wasn't really there, he could avoid this particular mess.
Mentions this was how Voldemort tested the defenses, by borrowing a disposable creature, a house-elf:
"That's despicable," Hermione huffed, indignantly and Sirius looked taken aback that he agreed with her. He wouldn't even want Kreacher to be taken somewhere as a disposable creature.
Mentions then the Dark Lord sailed away, Leaving Kreacher on the island:
"Poor Kreacher," Hermione sighed, the only one that was willing to show the elf sympathy openly, but everyone was starting to feel it.
Harry asks how Kreacher got away and Kreacher did not seem to understand:
"He Disapparated, Harry," Remus explained, "I'm guessing from your book-self question that the cave is a place that a wizard could not Apparate in or out of, but the magic that elves have is quite different than our own and they can do plenty of things we can't."
Harry just nodded his head, though he was starting to wonder how Voldemort could be so stupid as to use a creature that could actually escape by simply Disapparating.
Hermione says it would never occur to Voldemort that elves might have magic that he didn't:
Dumbledore nodded his head in agreement with that, "I couldn't have said that better myself."
Hermione says you did what you were told, you didn't disobey orders at all:
"You're wasting your breath Hermione," Ron said to her.
"Ronald, how can you be so insensitive after everything we just heard?" Hermione said. "Kreacher …."
"Will not accept anything you say because you're a Muggle-born," Ron interrupted her. "I didn't say he didn't deserve your sympathy; I was just saying that he wouldn't accept it."
"Oh," Hermione said, not sure what else to say.
Kreacher says and Regulus asked Kreacher to take him the cave, the one where he had gone to with the Dark Lord:
Sirius started to shiver at that his eyes went wide. He knew what his brother had to have done … if he was honest with himself, he knew this was coming as soon as the inferi where mentioned. His brother had to have sacrifice himself … but why, why would Regulus do such a stupid thing?
Describing Regulus sailing with Kreacher to the island:
At this point Tonks went to wrap her arms around Sirius, she had remembered Regulus, though she had only met him once, she thought he was nice. She didn't like the thought of him going down to that cave to die like this, but she knew that Sirius was taking this harder than anyone. She then felt as Remus put a hand on Sirius shoulder, pulling him closer and causing her to be squished between them.
Harry asks and he made you drink the poison:
"No Harry, Regulus would never have done that," Sirius said in a hollow voice, "he loved that elf …."
Harry shuddered as realization hit him and the rest of the room became stiff and silent. The only sound now in the room was Ron's voice as he read.
Kreacher says and watched as Master Regulus was dragged beneath the water:
Sirius was starting to get angry at Kreacher again, but he knew this time his anger really was irrational. The elf couldn't go against his master's orders. It was just so much easier hating the elf … for when he was thinking about the image of his brother being dragged to the bottom of a lake by corpses … becoming a corpse himself … it made his inside ache.
Hermione says stop him, don't you see now how sick it is, the way they've got to obey:
Everyone in the room seemed to see what she meant, as several people were crying over this whole situation.
Kreacher says nothing Kreacher did made any mark, Kreacher punished himself and tried again:
Sirius sighed; he knew his brother wouldn't have wanted the elf to punish himself for not being able to destroy the locket. He was going to have to do something about this … for his brother he was going to have to be nice to that stupid elf.
Mentions even Ron, who was no fan of Kreacher's, looked troubled:
"I'm not heartless mate," Ron said in an attempt to lighten the mood, it was a weak attempt, and it didn't work.
Harry says I don't understand, Kreacher ending with and pass information to Voldemort through them:
"And he's already doing that now," Sirius frowned, "and I suppose I'm not allowed to kill the elf for this."
"Sirius, how can you …." Hermione started to say.
"It's hard for me to look at that elf and not be reminded of everything I hate about my childhood," Sirius answered honestly, his eyes growing cold. "I will try to be nicer … but we're going to have to do something about this situation … it's dangerous to us all."
"Agreed," Dumbledore said, "but now that we know about it, we might be able to use it to our advantage."
Hermione says Kreacher and Regulus's family were all safest if they kept to the pure-blood line:
Sirius glared at the book, why did Regulus have to be so damn noble to sacrifice himself for their stupid parents.
"Hm, it seemed that you were right about your brother all along Sirius," Remus said, in an attempt to cheer his friend up. "He would have made a good Gryffindor."
"Yeah," Sirius grumbled. "But unfortunately, his noble tendency had to be wasted on standing by his family."
Hermione says I've said that wizards would pay for how they treat house-elves, Voldemort did, and so did Sirius:
"I'm so sorry," Hermione said to Sirius about her last comment … actually for the whole paragraph.
"It's okay," Sirius said, "you are right. I never treated him as anything but as a pest that I have to constantly deal with."
Remembering Dumbledore says Sirius ever saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a human's:
Sirius frowned at that. He knew that house elves had feelings, that they get happy and sad just like humans do. However, Dumbledore was right, he never really translated that to Kreacher feeling that way.
Harry starts to talk to Kreacher but looks at Hermione for assistance on how to give a friendly order to the elf:
Fred, George and Ginny all chuckled weakly at Harry and Hermione interaction. They were all feeling bad for how they have been treating Kreacher, and for all the flack they have given Hermione about S.P.E.W. (though that didn't mean they were about to help her out with it), knowing that she had a good reason to be fighting as hard as she was for that.
Harry says we want to finish the work Master Regulus started, ensure he didn't die in vain:
Sirius nodded his head; he was going to have to find a way to destroy that locket when they got back to Grimmauld Place … for Regulus.
Mentions Harry gives Kreacher the fake locket:
"Er … I don't think you should have done that," Sirius said, sure of how the elf was going to react.
"Why … it's not an article of clothing is it?" Harry questioned.
"No, you wouldn't be freeing him," Sirius said, "it's just … house elves don't normally get things like that.
Harry just shrugged at that.
Mentions Kreacher made two bows to Harry and Ron and a funny little spasm in Hermione's direction that might have been a respectful salute before Disapparating:
Ginny snorted at this, the image of the old elf doing this, just struck her as funny. Everyone else looked at her curiously (and Hermione glared at her).
"Sorry," she continued to laughed.
"That's the end of the chapter," Ron said frowning. "Er … Hermione."
"Yes," Hermione said.
Ron shifted uncomfortable in his seat and his ears turned red before he said, "I'm sorry … about the elf thing … I didn't realize that it was like that."
"It's okay Ron," Hermione smiled, perhaps a tad bit smugly, at him. "At least you understand now … Now all I have to do is make the other thousands of wizards and witches see my point as well."
"I'm sure you'll managed that somehow," Ron chuckled and then held out the book, "who wants to read next."
"I will," Fred said taking the book.