"Regulus?"
Sirius was taken aback for a mont, then scoffed coldly.
"That fool who joined the Death Eaters? I don't think I need to know anything about him."
"He was Voldemort's lapdog, the pride of my parents, their little hero—but to , he was just a disgusting bastard!"
"Heh, later on in Azkaban, I heard that he tried to back out of the Death Eaters because he was scared and cowardly. Naturally, that wasn't possible, so he died."
Sirius rambled on, clearly expressing his deep dissatisfaction—and even hatred—towards his younger brother. But beneath his sharp words, there was a lingering emotion that hinted he still cared. After all, they had grown up together, and their relationship in childhood had once been quite close.
Edward spoke up calmly, "But what if Regulus wasn't the kind of person you thought he was?"
Sirius furrowed his brows.
"Don't forget, Sirius—in the past ten years or so, everyone believed you betrayed Harry's father and joined Voldemort's ranks. But only you knew what really happened."
Hearing this, Harry imdiately turned his head to look at Edward.
"…"
Sirius fell silent for a mont before muttering, "So…you're saying Regulus was misunderstood too?"
Edward thought for a mont and replied, "Actually, Kreacher knows the truth better than anyone else. Unfortunately, he will never tell you."
"That damned mutt?"
Sirius imdiately stood up. "I'm going to ask him right now!"
Edward and Audrey exchanged helpless looks. They had probably chosen the wrong mont—this really should've waited until after dinner. Judging from the atmosphere now, it looked like tonight's al might not happen after all.
Soon, Sirius's angry shouting echoed through the hallway, mixed with Kreacher's screeching curses. The trio quickly rushed over, just in ti to see Sirius kick Kreacher, sending the elf flying two or three ters. He pointed at the elf furiously and shouted, "I want you to tell everything you know about Regulus. All of it!"
"No! Kreacher will not betray Master Regulus, not to you—a filthy little blood-traitor hated by Mistress herself!"
"I am your master now, and I command you—speak!"
Kreacher instantly fell into a painful inner conflict. He suddenly turned and slamd his head against the wall.
"Useless Kreacher, worthless Kreacher! Lost what the young master entrusted to , and now I'm being forced to betray him by the Black family traitor! Kreacher is scum! Kreacher deserves to die!"
"Kreacher! No banging your head, no smashing the floor, no hurting yourself in any way. Stop everything you're doing and tell what happened with Regulus!"
The elf imdiately froze. He slowly turned his head and lay stiff on the cold stone floor, tears streaming from his sunken eye sockets.
"...Master Regulus ca to about a year after joining the Dark Lord's ranks. He said the Dark Lord needed an elf..."
Kreacher began sobbing as he recounted how Voldemort had taken him to hide a locket, and how Regulus had later brought him back there to steal it. He told of the mont Regulus was dragged into the lake by the Inferi after ordering Kreacher to switch the real locket with a fake one.
"M-Master Regulus took a locket from his pocket—looked just like the Dark Lord's…" Kreacher wept, tears pouring down both sides of his long nose. "He told Kreacher to take it and—when the potion was gone—to switch them..."
"He ordered Kreacher to leave…not to worry about him. He told Kreacher to go ho…to destroy the locket…to find a way, any way, to destroy it. Then he drank…he drank the whole potion. Kreacher switched the lockets, and then…then Kreacher watched as…Master Regulus was dragged under the water…"
As he spoke, Kreacher slamd his head against the ground again.
"Useless Kreacher! Worthless Kreacher!"
Audrey couldn't help but admire Regulus's courage and resolve. According to Edward, that potion didn't just cause pain—it also made the drinker reject the rest instinctively.
Even Dumbledore had struggled and only managed to finish it with Harry's help. But Regulus…he'd done it alone.
Sirius's expression grew darker and darker.
"Enough, you idiot! Continue! What happened after that? What about the locket?"
"I went ho and tried everything I could…but I couldn't even leave a scratch on it." Kreacher lifted his head again, blood now staining his wrinkled forehead. "So I hid it away…But then… last month…it suddenly disappeared."
"Disappeared?!"
Sirius's face darkened, veins bulging from his temples.
Edward quickly intervened. "Don't panic, Sirius—Professor Dumbledore ca and took it."
Kreacher's bulbous eyes turned on Edward instantly.
"Dumbledore?! Dumbledore was the one who stole the young master's locket?!"
He scread wildly.
"Give it back to Kreacher! Give it back to Kreacher!"
Edward spoke calmly. "Professor Dumbledore already destroyed it, Kreacher. The task Regulus gave you…you've completed it."
Kreacher went silent, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly. After a few mumbles, he fell into a daze.
Sirius also remained quiet for a long while.
He had never expected that the brother he'd despised, hated, and always considered a coward…had, without anyone knowing, accomplished such a heroic act.
Suddenly, he recalled what Kreacher had said: that while Sirius had left the Black household in protest of its pure-blood mania, seeing it as rejecting darkness for light—wasn't that also a form of escapism?
Regulus, upon learning Voldemort's true nature, had chosen to stand up and fight even if it ant dying.
It proved he was never the coward Sirius thought him to be.
If…if Sirius had never left the Black family—if he'd stayed and been there to guide Regulus—maybe things wouldn't have turned out the way they did.
The three young ones stood quietly to the side, feeling a deep sense of regret for the man they had never t. He had clearly resisted Voldemort in silence, yet even after death, he was still misunderstood by everyone—including his own brother.
Harry hesitated, then asked, "Kreacher, where is that cave?"
Kreacher imdiately snapped, "Kreacher will not allow anyone to disturb Master Regulus!"
"But…don't you want to bring his remains ho and bury them in the Black family's graveyard?"
Kreacher froze at that, his expression wavering with uncertainty.
Sirius said in a low voice, "Take to that cave, Kreacher."
Kreacher said nothing more, but his silence seed to signify agreent.
Edward then spoke up, "If you want to retrieve the locket Regulus left behind in the stone basin, you'll need to think carefully…"
"I'll drink it," Sirius said without hesitation.
"Er, that's not really necessary, is it?" Audrey interjected.
Sirius didn't answer. Instead, he turned to Edward, a suspicious look on his face. "Why do you know all of this so well? According to Kreacher, only Regulus, Voldemort, and Kreacher himself were ever involved."
The three young ones chid in unison, "Because Edward can see prophecies!"
Prophecies?
As one of the least respected subjects at Hogwarts, Divination had long been dismissed by Sirius and most of the saner students as complete rubbish. But now…it didn't seem so useless after all.
Well, perhaps it was useless for most people. When soone like Edward took up Divination, it worked. That crazy fraud Sybill Trelawney, on the other hand, was clearly a joke.
At least the kids' response saved Edward from having to invent another cover story. Hmm, seems his previous performance as an astrologer had left quite the impression.
"Harry, Ron, Hermione—you three stay here. We'll be back soon."
"Alright~"
Though the three little lions were brimming with curiosity, they behaved themselves obediently.
"Let's go, Kreacher."
Edward and Audrey clasped hands, and Edward placed his other hand on Sirius' shoulder while Sirius gripped Kreacher's wrist.
"Lilith, Susie—you two stay out of trouble, alright?"
"ow~"
"Woof!"
Crack!
The next mont, they arrived on a small island in a dim cave.
Or rather than an island, it was more like a large slab of black stone in the middle of a pitch-dark underground lake. There was nothing on it except a stone basin a few ters away, glowing with an eerie green light like a Pensieve.
"Ah!" Audrey gave a startled cry.
She had seen the endless black water surrounding the island—filled with countless floating corpses—and her scalp prickled with dread.
"This is the place," Kreacher said, staring dumbly into the black lake. Tears stread down his sunken cheeks. "Oh, Master Regulus, where are you…Kreacher is so useless…wuwuwu…"
"Shut up!" Sirius snapped.
"They're Inferi! Do you want them to drag us down with them?"
He scolded Kreacher but also found himself staring into the water, probably wondering whether Regulus was among the corpses. Then, taking two long strides forward, he approached the stone basin.
Inside was a basinful of bright green liquid, gleaming with phosphorescent light.
"This is the potion, huh?" he muttered, reaching out a hand to touch it—only to find an invisible barrier blocking him. No matter how hard he pushed, he couldn't get through to the liquid.
Kreacher stepped forward and leaned in, preparing to drink. "Master Regulus…Kreacher has co…to retrieve what you left behind…"
"Back off, you idiot!"
Sirius shoved him aside roughly. "This has nothing to do with you!"
"No! Kreacher must take back Master Regulus' locket!"
"I already said, I'll drink it myself!"
Sirius pulled out a crystal goblet he had prepared and scooped a full cup of the erald potion. Taking a deep breath, he prepared to down it in one gulp—
"Wait, Sirius." Edward suddenly reached out and stopped him.
"What, you want a taste too?"
"Of course not."
Edward shook his head. "I was just thinking…this enchantnt that prevents you from touching the potion and only allows drinking—doesn't it count as a kind of magic?"
Sirius frowned. "Of course it does. But I've never seen this kind before, and I don't know how to break it. So I have no choice but to obey the rules."
That was true. Even in the original story, Dumbledore had no solution other than to drink the potion after several failed attempts to bypass it.
"Hmm…you don't happen to have a counter-curse for it, do you?"
"Nope," Edward replied cheerfully. "But I do know how to flip the table."
Sirius: "???"
"Magic Is Forbidden In This Place."
———
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