Chapter 196 The History Of Regulus
"Let go; what did my brother do back then?"
Sirius threw Kreacher to the ground as if he were tossing a dirty rag.
The elf sat, huddled in a fetal position, with his damp face between his knees and began to rock back and forth. When he spoke, his voice was subdued but quite clear in the silent, echoing kitchen.
"Fifteen years ago. Unlike Master Sirius who fled, fortunately, for he was a mischievous boy who broke my Lady's heart with his lawless ways, Master Regulus maintained proper order; he knew what befitted the name of Black and the dignity of his pure blood. For years he spoke of the Dark Lord, who was to bring wizards out of hiding to rule over Muggles and Muggle-borns." Kreacher sobbed, "And when he was sixteen, Master Regulus joined the Dark Lord. Master Regulus knew!" Kreacher argued, "He was so proud, so happy to serve..."
"Get to the point, Kreacher! I don't want to hear about my foolish young brother becoming a Death Eater!" Sirius brutally interrupted him, and it seemed like the blue veins on his forehead were about to burst.
The last time he looked like that, he was facing Peter Pettigrew.
Kreacher was afraid to look at Sirius; his head was rocking faster. He said intermittently, "And one day, a year after joining, Master Regulus came down to the kitchen to see Kreacher. Regulus always liked Kreacher. And Regulus said... he said..."
"What did he say?" All eyes were on the old house-elf.
"He said that the Dark Lord needed an elf."
"Voldemort needed an elf?" Sirius repeated, and Harry and Hermione looked as perplexed as he did. It sounded absurd.
How could the powerful Voldemort need a house-elf? No one understood. Only Evan knew what was happening.
"Oh yes," moaned Kreacher. "And Master Regulus offered Kreacher. It was an honor, said Master Regulus, an honor for him and for Kreacher, who was to ensure to do everything the Dark Lord ordered him to do... and then return home."
Kreacher rocked even faster, his breath coming out in sobs.
"So Kreacher went with the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord didn't tell Kreacher what to do, but he took him to a cave by the sea. And beyond the cave was a cavern, and in the cavern was a large black lake..."
Sirius was silent.
Evan, Harry, and Hermione also listened to Kreacher's tale.
In the gloomy basement, Kreacher's hoarse voice was particularly terrifying. It seemed to come through the dark water, and everyone's hair stood on end.
"There was a boat by the Great Lake. The lake was full of corpses. There was a potion in a basin on the island. The... the Dark Lord made Kreacher drink it..." The elf trembled from head to toe. "Kreacher drank, and as he drank, he saw terrible things... Kreacher's insides were burning... Kreacher begged for Master Regulus to save him, begged for his Lady, but the Dark Lord only laughed... He made Kreacher drink all the potion... He dropped a locket into the empty basin... He filled it with more potion."
"And then?"
"And then the Dark Lord walked away, leaving Kreacher on the island..."
Evan could see it, he could see Voldemort's white, snake-like face fading into the darkness, those ruthless red eyes fixed on the agonizing elf.
He probably thought the elf's death would occur within minutes, as he succumbed to the desperate thirst that the burning poison caused in its victim.
However, Kreacher escaped, and Evan didn't know how he did it.
"Kreacher still remembers how it was at that moment. Kreacher needed water, crawled to the edge of the island, and drank from the black lake... and dead hands, dead hands, emerged from the water and dragged Kreacher beneath the surface..."
"How did you manage to escape?" Sirius asked, finding himself whispering unusually.
Kreacher raised his hideous head and gazed at Harry with his large bloodshot eyes. "The master Regulus ordered Kreacher to return," he said.
"But?!" No one knew how Kreacher had returned. Voldemort could never have left him alive.
"The master Regulus ordered Kreacher to return," he repeated.
"I know, but how did you escape from the Inferi?"
"Well, it's obvious, he apparated! The magic of the elves is not like that of wizards, Voldemort probably overlooked this," Evan explained, "Or, he would have considered the ways of house-elves so beneath his attention... it would never have occurred to him that they might possess magic he did not."
"The master Regulus ordered Kreacher to return," the house-elf repeated again, stating, "The highest law of a house-elf is the command of its master, Kreacher was told to return home, so Kreacher returned home..."
"What happened when you returned?" Sirius continued to inquire. "What did Regulus say when you told him what had happened?"
"The master Regulus was very worried, very worried," Kreacher grumbled. "The master Regulus instructed Kreacher to stay hidden and not to leave the house. And then... some time passed... the master Regulus came to find Kreacher in his cupboard one night, and the master Regulus was different, not as he used to be, his mind was disturbed, Kreacher could tell... and he asked Kreacher to take him to the cave, the cave where he had gone with the Dark Lord..."
And so, under Regulus's orders, they departed. Evan could visualize them quite clearly; the elderly elf frightened and the slender Death Eater resembling Sirius, arriving at the place where Voldemort hid the Horcrux.
Kreacher went there and knew how to enter.
"Regulus?!" Sirius asked coldly with a hint of disgust in his voice, "Did he make you drink the potion again?"
Kreacher shook his head, crying and weeping.
They all looked at him in surprise! If Kreacher hadn't drunk the potions, they imagined what would happen next.
"T-the master Regulus took out of his pocket a locket like the one the Dark Lord had," Kreacher said, tears falling on both sides of his nose resembling a snout. "And told Kreacher to take it and, when the basin was empty, switch the lockets..."
Kreacher's sobs now came in great heaves; Evan had to concentrate hard to understand what he was going to say next.