At Tver's words, Sirius spun around to stare at Kreacher, who stood frozen in place.
"What does that mean? What exactly is your connection to this locket?!"
"Kreacher, tell me. Why would you want to protect something this evil?!" His expression was so grave that Harry didn't dare make a sound.
"Kreacher isn't protecting it!" The house-elf clenched his small fists, his eyes filling with aggrieved tears. "Kreacher wants to destroy it!"
"Destroy it?" Sirius froze. "Why?"
"Because… because it was Master Regulus's order…" Kreacher said hesitantly.
It was obvious that someone had once forbidden him from speaking about this.
"What does this have to do with Regulus?" Sirius frowned in confusion.
At first, he had thought Kreacher had simply gone senile, leaving such a dangerous Dark artifact in the house.
Now it seemed the truth was far more complicated.
"Kreacher cannot… Master Regulus did not allow Kreacher to speak of what happened back then…"
The house-elf trembled from head to toe, caught between two masters, his loyalty tearing him apart.
"Regulus is dead! I am your master now, and I allow you to speak!" Sirius said sternly.
Kreacher's reaction only made him more curious about what had happened in the past.
"Kreacher… Kreacher…" Kreacher opened his mouth, stammering for a long while before finally making up his mind.
"It was when Master Regulus was seventeen. He had already been with the Dark Lord's organization for more than a year."
"Hmph. I remember someone saying he was quite happy back then," Sirius snorted coldly.
"Much better than you, always angering the mistress and forcing her to focus all her attention on Master Regulus…" Kreacher immediately switched expressions, muttering sarcastically at Sirius.
"Kreacher! Stick to the point!"
"Yes, Master!" Kreacher shuddered.
"That day, Master Regulus came to the kitchen to see Kreacher. He always liked Kreacher. That kind of concern was something no other master ever showed."
"But he said… he said the Dark Lord needed a house-elf…"
"So he handed you over?" Sirius asked, frowning.
"To be of use to Master Regulus was Kreacher's honor!" Kreacher shrieked, offering no denial.
"Master told Kreacher to obey the Dark Lord's orders and return… return home once the task was done."
"But the Dark Lord never told Kreacher what the task was. Instead, he took Kreacher to a cave by the sea."
"That huge cave was pitch-black, with a terrifying dark lake that almost filled the entire space!"
"And on the other side of the lake there was a… stone… stone basin, filled with dreadful potion…" Kreacher seemed to be reliving the memory, his body beginning to twitch uncontrollably.
"The Dark Lord… ordered Kreacher to drink… Kreacher is a loyal house-elf and had no choice but to drink…"
"It was too horrible. Kreacher saw so many terrifying visions. It felt like his insides were on fire, but the Dark Lord just stood there laughing cruelly."
Tver cast a subtle glance at Marvolio.
Marvolio immediately mouthed back, Not my problem!
"After he finished drinking the potion, the Dark Lord placed the locket inside and refilled the basin with potion again."
"But the Dark Lord sailed away on his own, leaving Kreacher behind. Leaving Kreacher there… Kreacher needed water…"
"Kreacher had no choice but to crawl to the edge of the Black Lake, but there were so many, so many terrifying hands inside. They dragged Kreacher down…"
"Then how did you get back?" Sirius asked again. "I mean, even Voldemort had to use a boat."
"Apparition," Tver finally answered when he saw the question come up. "House-elf magic isn't constrained by the wizarding magical system. They can Apparate freely."
"Clearly, Voldemort's arrogance made him overlook house-elves as a group."
Sirius flushed slightly. To be honest, he'd overlooked that as well.
"Y-yes…" Kreacher stole a glance at the neatly dressed Tver. Since the old house had been left with only him inside, he hadn't seen anyone so refined.
"Master Regulus cared deeply for Kreacher. After asking about Kreacher's encounter with the Dark Lord, he told Kreacher to hide."
"After some time passed, the master came to Kreacher in a panic and ordered Kreacher to take him to that cave."
Tears instantly welled up in the house-elf's large eyes and spilled down freely.
"The master took out an identical locket and ordered Kreacher to switch them after he finished drinking the potion."
"Then Kreacher was to return home. Kreacher was forbidden from telling anyone about this place and had to destroy the locket!"
"But… but Master Regulus was in such terrible pain. Kreacher could only watch as he drank all the potion… watch as the master was dragged beneath the water…"
As he recalled the death of the master he respected most, Kreacher collapsed to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably. He covered his eyes tightly with both hands, yet tears still streamed through his fingers.
"Kreacher wanted to destroy that locket, but no matter how many times Kreacher tried, magic, swords, fireplaces… nothing could even leave a mark…" he cried in anguish.
Sirius slowly turned his head, eyes bloodshot, staring at the locket in Tver's hand.
"But he was a Death Eater…"
"Coming from Slytherin doesn't mean someone lacks the courage to stand against what's wrong," Tver said quietly. "As a Death Eater, Regulus could still choose to do the right thing."
He had known only that Regulus retrieved the locket, never realizing there was such a story behind it.
This time, neither Sirius nor Harry argued. Only Marvolio curled his lip faintly.
"What exactly is this thing?" Sirius asked. "To Voldemort… was it important?"
He looked to Tver almost pleadingly, afraid his brother's sacrifice might have been for something meaningless.
"Very important," Tver said firmly, nodding. "Destroy it, and we can truly eliminate Voldemort."
Only then did Sirius let out a long breath.
"If magic doesn't work, then how do we destroy it?"
"Maybe… the Sword of Gryffindor?" Harry suddenly thought of a certain diary and asked hesitantly.
"No, no need. We have plenty of ways to deal with it," Marvolio said quickly. "Right, Tver?"
Seeing Marvolio winking at him, Tver couldn't help but smile and nod again.
"It's precisely because we know how to deal with them that we started collecting information."
"Them?" Sirius caught the word at once.
"There aren't many. We've already dealt with quite a few. These are just the last ones."
Sirius nodded in understanding.
In his mind, Tver was someone Dumbledore trusted. If that was the case, then what Tver was doing was likely under Dumbledore's direction as well.
He took a deep breath and looked at Kreacher, who was still kneeling on the floor, crying.
"Take me to that cave."
"Sirius, you can't—" Tver started at once.
"I can!" Sirius snapped, spinning around and fixing Tver with a lionlike stare. "That was my brother. No matter what dangers are there, I'm bringing him home!"
Tver chuckled softly.
"I meant you can't go by yourself. We can help you."
...
If you'd like to support my work and unlock advanced chapters, you can follow me on P@treon.
Also, join as a free member to read free advanced chapters.
[Upto 50 chapters ahead for now]
[email protected]/BlurryDream