Hogwarts in the shadows

Hephis came to the living room on the second floor, which was a spacious and long room.

A dirty tapestry hung on the olive green wall.

When you walk on it, a small cloud of dust will be raised.

There was still a buzzing sound coming from the yellow-green velvet curtains.

He walked over to a large glass-door cabinet.

There are a lot of things in the cabinet, all covered with dust.

Slytherin's locket was inside.

A black hand appeared from Hephes's side, opened the glass door, and took out the heavy locket.

"Ah! You, you...can't...take it!"

Kreacher gasped for breath, his shriveled chest heaving violently, his eyes wide open with fear.

Its entire body was shaking, and it screamed with difficulty to utter words of resistance to the orders.

Then it began to scratch its ears frantically and banged its head against the floor, raising a lot of dust.

Hephis pointed casually and instantly fixed it in place, "It seems you know what's going on."

There was more fear in Kreacher's eyes, but he didn't answer.

Seeing this, Narcissa gave an immediate order.

"Kreacher, tell me everything you know about the locket."

"That locket is thunder..." Kreacher struggled desperately, gritting his teeth and making a gurgling sound from his mouth.

"A loyal house-elf."

Hephaestus did not make things difficult for Kreacher. With a light wave, he made Kreacher fall into a deep sleep.

Another dark hand appeared and cut off Kreacher's shadow.

Hephis was also very curious about what had happened.

So he swallowed Kreacher's shadow and checked its memory.

The year before Voldemort's fall from power.

Kreacher was offered to Voldemort by Regulus and was asked to do as Voldemort asked.

So Kreacher went to Voldemort.

Without telling it what to do, Voldemort took it to a cave by the sea.

Then they took a boat and reached a small island in the center of the lake.

There was a stone basin on the island, filled with potion.

Kreacher drank the potion in accordance with Voldemort's orders.

Then, many horrible illusions and endless pain appeared in its memory.

The soul seemed to be burned by fire and pierced by ice.

Voldemort then dropped the locket into the empty basin and filled it with potion again.

Then he left, abandoning Kreacher on the isolated island to fend for himself.

Kreacher's mouth was dry, so he crawled to the edge of the island to drink water from the lake.

Suddenly, many dead hands emerged from the lake, trying to drag it down.

But at this critical moment between life and death, it remembered Regulus' request - to go home.

So it used the Apparition to return to Regulus.

And told Regulus everything that happened.

When Hephis saw this, he couldn't help but curl up a mocking smile at the corner of his mouth.

This may be the most profound irony of the wizard's arrogance.

Voldemort would never have imagined that his biggest secret could be exposed so easily by a house-elf.

I guess he still thought Kreacher was going to die!

Hephis continued to read.

Regulus first told Kreacher to hide and not leave the house to prevent Voldemort from finding him.

But some time passed.

He went to the cupboard and found Kreacher.

Let Kreacher take him to the island where Voldemort had been.

Kreacher Apparated directly and took Regulus to the island.

Regulus pulled out the fake locket and handed it to Kreacher.

And ordered it to replace the locket after the stone basin was dry.

Regulus drank the potion.

Kreacher obeyed his orders and watched as he was dragged underwater by the Inferi.

After seeing the final ending, Hephis was completely speechless.

Was Regulus' brain eaten by the troll?

Even dumber than Dumbledore.

No matter who drank the potion, Kreacher could Apparate directly back home.

Wouldn't it be better if Regulus simply ordered Kreacher to replace the locket after he finished drinking the potion and then take him home?

Or just let Kreacher catch a Muggle to take the medicine.

Hephis' eyes flickered, and he thought of another possibility.

Perhaps Regulus had not thought of these methods.

Perhaps his faith collapsed and he wanted to die.

Hey!

The bad thing about Slytherin is that he tends to go to extremes.

Hephesus stared at Kreacher who was sleeping on the ground, with a hint of complex emotions in his eyes.

He then placed the fake locket containing Regulus' note next to Kreacher.

Wrote a line of words: Really, I will destroy it for you.

This is probably the biggest reward for this loyal house-elf.

"Narcissa, this matter is all thanks to you." Hephis said softly.

Narcissa bowed slightly. "This happened by sheer coincidence. Narcissa doesn't want to take credit for it."

"My principle is to reward those who have made contributions." Hephis looked at Narcissa, "Is there anything you want?"

Narcissa quickly knelt down, "Master, I wish to join the Shadow."

Hephis was stunned. He didn't expect Narcissa to make such a request.

Lucius had mentioned this to him before, but he had refused.

"Narcissa, you should know why I rejected you." There was a hint of helplessness in Hephis' voice.

"Narcissa understands." She raised her head, her eyes gleaming with determination, "But Narcissa also wants to serve the master and fight for the master's noble ideals."

"War is inevitable in the future, and it will be extremely cruel." Hephis said in a deep voice, "If you join, you will face the storm of the battlefield."

"Narcissa is not afraid of death. I ask the master to grant me the shadow flame." Narcissa's voice was firm and resolute.

Hephis sighed and used his magic to help Narcissa up.

He tapped her arm and a shadow flame formed on her forehead.

Narcissa was about to kneel down again, but Hephis stopped her with his magic.

A black hole space appeared next to Hephis, and two shadow soldiers walked out of it.

“This is my latest Shadow Soldier transformation.

They have the elven version of Apparition, and they carry a portion of my magic, enough to cast a powerful protective spell."

Hephaestus waved his hand, and the two shadow soldiers merged into the shadows of Lucius and Narcissa.

“Now I give them to you.”

"Thank you, Master!" Narcissa's voice was full of joy.

Lucius was not restricted by Hephis's magic, so he quickly knelt on the ground, "Thank you for the gift, Master."

Hephaestus also used his magic to help Lucius up.

"Just keep these two for yourself. Don't worry about Draco. He has my guardian flame and is far more capable than a shadow soldier."

"Thank you, Master." Narcissa was even more delighted upon hearing this, her eyes full of gratitude.