94 Diagon Alley

The elf rolling in pain. The elf would be dead in a few minutes, when it couldn't resist the extreme thirst caused by the potion's heartburn... But here, Harry's imagination couldn't go on because he couldn't figure out how Kreacher had escaped.

"Kreacher needed water, and he climbed to the edge of the island to drink from the Black Lake...Many hands, hands of the dead, stretched out from the water and dragged Kreacher down..."

"How did you escape?" Harry asked, not surprised to hear his voice whisper.

Kreacher raised his ugly head and looked at Harry with big bloodshot eyes.

"Master Regulus said he wanted Kreacher to go home," it said.

"I know—but how did you get rid of the Inferi?"

Kreacher doesn't seem to understand. "Master Regulus said he wanted Kreacher to come home," it repeated.

"I know, but—"

"Oops, obviously, Harry?" said Ron. "It's Apparating!"

"But...you can't Apparate in and out of that cave," Harry said, "or Dumbledore—"

"Pixie magic isn't the same as wizard magic, isn't it?" said Ron. "I mean, they can Apparate or Displace at Hogwarts, and we can't."

There was a moment of silence as Harry reflected on the words. How could Voldemort make such a mistake? Just as he thought about it, Hermione spoke, her voice cold.

"Of course, Voldemort was dismissive of the behavior of house-elves, like all purebred wizards who treat them like beasts...he would never have thought that an elf might have what he No magic."

"The supreme law of house-elves is the master's order," Kreacher said singing, "the master told Kreacher to go home, and Kreacher went home..."

"Then you did what you were ordered to do, didn't you?" Hermione asked softly, "No disobedience at all?"

Kreacher nodded, shaking faster.

"What happened after you got back?" Harry asked, "What did Regulus say after you told the Master?"

"Master Regulus is very worried, very worried." Kreacher hissed, "Regules told Kreacher to hide, don't leave the house." And...after a while ... One night, Master Regulus came to the cupboard and found Kreacher. Master Regulus looked weird, not like normal, Kreacher could see that he was very upset... The master asked Kreacher to take him to the cave, the same cave where Kreacher and the Dark Lord went...

And they set off, and Harry could clearly imagine a terrified old elf, and that lean, dark, Sirius-like Seeker... Kreacher knew How to open the secret entrance to the underground cave, know how to float the boat, this time with his beloved Regulus to the island full of potions...

"He made you drink potions?" Harry asked in disgust.

Kreacher shook his head and burst into tears. Hermione covered her mouth: she seemed to have guessed something.

"Master Ray-Regulus pulled out a locket from his pocket, just like the Dark Lord's," Kreacher said, tears streaming down the sides of his long nose , "He told Kreacher to take it, and when the stone basin was dry, change the locket..."

Kreacher's sobbing became so harsh that Harry had to concentrate to understand it.

"He ordered - Kreacher leave - leave him alone. He called Kreacher - go home - not to say to the mistress - what he did - but must destroy - the first locket. And then he drank - drank the potion - Kreacher swapped the locket - and watched... Master Regulus... being dragged underwater... and..."

"Oh, Kreacher!" Hermione cried, and she knelt beside the elf, wanting to hug it. The elf stood up immediately and ducked back with obvious disgust.

The crying elf lay on the ground, panting, trembling all over, her nose was full of green mucus, her pale forehead was swollen with a large bag, her eyes were red, swollen and congested with tears. Wang Wang. Harry had never seen such a pitiful sight.

"Then you brought the locket home," he continued ruthlessly, determined to know what had happened, "have you tried to destroy it?"

"Kreacher can't leave a trace on it." The elf said sadly, "Kreacher tried all the methods, all the methods, but none, none succeeded... Box There's so much powerful magic on it that Kreacher believes it can only be destroyed from the inside, but it won't open... Kreacher punishes himself, try again, punish himself, try again. Kreacher failed to follow orders, Kreacher Can't destroy the locket! The mistress is mad with grief, because Master Regulus is missing, Kreacher can't tell her what happened, can't, because Master Regulus forbids—forbids him to tell the family—the family says The rock—things in the cave…”

Kreacher was sobbing, Hermione looked at Kreacher and burst into tears, but dared not touch it again. Even Ron, who had no affection for Kreacher, seemed a little uneasy. Harry sat up on his knees and shook his head, trying to clear his mind.

"I don't understand you, Kreacher," he began, "Voldemort wanted to kill you, and Regulus died to defeat Voldemort, but you were willing to sell Sirius to Voldemort? Willing to go to Narcissa and Bellatrix to tip off Voldemort..."

"Harry, Kreacher doesn't think so," said Hermione, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "It's a slave, and house-elves are used to rude, even cruel treatment. What Kreacher does is not that rare. What does a war between wizards mean to an elf like Kreacher? It's just loyal to those who are good to it, which Mrs Black must be, and Regulus of course, so it's Willingly serve them and fully embrace their beliefs. I know what you're going to say," Harry was arguing, and she had already said, "Regulus changed his mind...but he didn't seem to explain to Kreacher, Isn't it? I think I know why. Keeping the old idea of ​​pure blood, Kreacher and Regulus' families would be safer, and Regulus wanted to protect them."

"Sirius—"

"Sirius used to be mean to Kreacher, Harry. It's no use looking at me like that, you know it's true. Kreacher was living alone when Sirius came here. For a long time it may have been craving a little tenderness, and I believe 'Miss Sissy' and 'Miss Bella' were quite affectionate to Kreacher, so it offered to help and said everything they wanted to know. I kept saying that wizards wanted Pay the price for the way they treat the house-elves, look, Voldemort paid the price... and Sirius."

"But he's changed now—"

"He's definitely changed," Hermione exclaimed, "because he's a pure kid now, Harry, I'm not saying what a big mistake Sirius did."

"But it's enough to show how innocent and lovely he was before being poisoned by the Black family's education. I want to say that Sirius is kind enough to Kreacher now." Ron said.

Harry was speechless, watching Kreacher lying on the ground crying, he remembered what Dumbledore said a few hours after Sirius' accident: I don't think Sirius ever saw Kreacher as a It is a creature with the same sensitive emotions as humans...

"Kreacher," said Harry after a while, "when you feel like it, um...please sit up."

It took a few minutes before Kreacher hiccupped into silence. It sat up propped up, rubbing its eyes with its fists like a child.

"Kreacher, I want to ask you to do one thing," said Harry, looking at Hermione for support. He wanted to make the order softer, but he couldn't pretend it wasn't an order. The change in his tone seemed to win her over, though, and she smiled encouragingly.

"Kreacher, let me tell you first, that locket has been destroyed. Calm down—"

The old house-elf let out a shriek and fell back to the floor.

"Now, I want you to help us open Regulus's bedroom door, we need to find out where the other Horcruxes—that is, the other locket-like things are. It's really Important. We wanted to finish what Master Regulus left unfinished. We wanted to—um—to make sure he didn’t die in vain.”

Kreacher lowered his fist and looked up at Harry.

"Into my little master's room?" it said hoarsely.

"We're going to see his stuff," Harry said. "Do you think you can do this for us?"

Kreacher nodded and got up. With an idea, Harry took out the leather bag Hagrid had given him, the fake Horcrux, the fake locket with Regulus's note to Voldemort in it.

"Kreacher, I, uh, hope you take this," he shoved the locket into the elf's hand, "this is Regulus's, and I'm sure he'd be willing to take it It's for you to thank you for—"

"Too much, man," said Ron, and when the elf saw the locket, he let out a scream of surprise and pain, and collapsed again.

It took them nearly half an hour to calm Kreacher, and they were able to get a relic of the Black family. The elf was so excited that his knees went weak and he couldn't stand. When he was finally able to stumble a few steps, they accompany him to the kitchen cupboard and watch him carefully hide the locket under the dirty blanket