Sirius was not surprised that Kreacher had managed to escape.
Because Kreacher is House-elf.
A short, thin-armed, thin-legged, large-headed, large-eyed, bat-like, pointed ears, and a high-pitched voice —Magical Creatures.
They possess their own set of magic. Although they appear very weak, their Mana is extremely strong.
It allows one to easily cast spells without a wand and to teleport to places where wizards cannot Apparition.
Voldemort looked down on even Muggle, let alone elves, who considered wizards' orders the highest law and were House-elf lowly as dirt. He would never have imagined that House-elf might possess magic that he did not have.
Sirius now only wants this little monster in front of him to pay for his brother's life.
Kreacher's eyes trembled, and his slender hand reached towards his neck.
Sirius grinned smugly as he watched this scene.
House-elf are servants of wizards, typically found in ancient wizarding families living in elegant residences such as manors. They must obey all the demands of their masters, the family members, including death.
Even though he was just Kreacher's former owner.
But in Kreacher's mind, he was still serving the Black Family.
The only difference is that the spendthrift son has been replaced by Cissy.
Therefore, Kreacher had no choice but to obey his orders.
[Petrificus Totalus]
Lupin drew his wand just in time, and a beam of blue light struck Kreacher.
He looked at Sirius. "Are you crazy? This is a life. And if you really think like that, how come Kreacher is still alive? Shouldn't he have been killed by Voldemort?"
Despite Lupin's advice, Sirius's intelligence regained its advantage.
He was breathing heavily, and calmed down slightly. "Kreacher, don't kill yourself, continue."
With a wave of his wand, another flash of blue light appeared, Kreacher regained control of his body.
Kreacher sobbed again. "Young Master Regulus Black is very worried, very worried."
Kreacher hissed, "Regulus Black told Kreacher to hide and not leave the house."
"Then... a while later... one night, Master Regulus Black came to the cupboard and found Kreacher. Master Regulus Black seemed strange, not like usual, Kreacher could tell he was very troubled... The young master asked Kreacher to take him to the cave, the same cave that Kreacher and the Dark Lord had been to..."
So they set off, Sirius's lips trembling and turning pale.
He could clearly imagine the courage that his cowardly brother, who idolized Voldemort, must have had to take a House-elf to that cave.
But no one knew about Regulus Black's sacrifice.
He disappeared without a trace.
Sirius always believed that his foolish brother Regulus was killed at Voldemort's behest. He reasoned that Regulus Black wasn't important enough for Voldemort to kill him personally. It was more likely that Regulus, out of fear of being asked to do something, tried to back out and then died.
Even his foolish parents didn't know. They believed until their deaths that their son was a Death Eater through and through, a son they were proud of.
Even Voldemort was unaware that one of his insignificant followers dared to rebel against him. Because Kreacher was alive, and Voldemort did not target the Black family after Regulus Black's disappearance, Regulus Black did not simply run into Voldemort on his way to the cave and die.
Sirius looked at the weeping Kreacher with a complicated expression. Before this, he had never seen Kreacher as a creature with the same sensitive emotions as humans. He saw Kreacher more as a personification of the old Black, something he hated and ignored, an insignificant servant.
He suddenly realized that he might really be wrong, just like Harry said.
Even the shadowy students of Slytherin have great heroes, and even the glorious Gryffindor has vile traitors.
He was not brave, far less so Regulus Black.
He was just being rebellious, running away from home and ignoring all his responsibilities.
Regulus Black, however, concealed everything, including the shift in his own thinking.
The old idea of keeping the Kreacher and Black family scum Pure-blood —for safety's sake.
Sirius wiped away his tears and asked with his head down, "Did my brother drink that Potions? That Potions that makes you hallucinate and feel like your internal organs are on fire? And then... he died of poisoning?"
Kreacher Dotty and burst into tears.
"Young Master Regulus Black pulled a locket from his pocket, just like the Dark Lord's," Kreacher said, tears streaming down his long nose. "He told Kreacher to hold onto it and, once the stone basin was dry, to switch the locket with it..."
Kreacher's sobs became heavy and piercing, Sirius others had to concentrate fully to understand him.
"He ordered— Kreacher to leave—ignore him. He told Kreacher —to go home—and not to tell the mistress—what he had done—but to destroy—the first locket. Then he drank—drank the Potions — Kreacher switched the locket—and watched helplessly as... Master Regulus Black ...was dragged underwater...and then..."
Sirius knelt on the ground, pounding his fists on the earth. "I'm such an idiot! I should have been the one chosen to be Death Eater! I should have stood in front of him, shielding him from the storm!"
Tears fell like raindrops onto the green carpet.
Lupin's eyes reddened slightly as he put his arm around Sirius's shoulder.
"Oh, Kreacher!" Dobby cried, weeping, and knelt beside Kreacher, wanting to embrace him.
Kreacher immediately stood up and backed away, his expression clearly showing disgust. "Kreacher doesn't associate with freaks who ask for wages."
"If the freak touches Kreacher, Kreacher doesn't allow it, what will the mistress say?"
Sirius took a deep breath. "Enough, Kreacher! Don't mention that crazy woman! It was her ideology that killed Regulus Black, don't you understand?"
He struggled to his feet from Lupin's embrace, looked at Kreacher's defiant face, and felt a strange tenderness in his heart. "Alright. She's not a madwoman."
"So, you took the locket home," he continued, steeling himself, determined to know the whole story, "And tried to destroy it?"
"Kreacher couldn't leave a single mark on it," the House-elf said sadly. "Kreacher tried everything, everything, but none of them worked..."
"The box is covered in so much powerful magic, Kreacher believes the only way to destroy it is from the inside, but it can't be opened..."
Kreacher punished himself, tried again, punished himself again, tried again. Kreacher failed to carry out the order; Kreacher could not destroy the locket!
"The mistress was driven mad with grief because young master Regulus Black had disappeared, Kreacher couldn't tell her what had happened, couldn't, because young master Regulus Black forbade—forbade him to tell his family—his family about the things in the cave..."
Kreacher broke down in tears.
"I'll do it! I'll destroy it for Regulus Black! Where is it?" Sirius gripped his wand tightly, his fingertips turning white, and he searched anxiously. "It's still at the Black family, isn't it? Dobby thinks you're going to take it away, but you're actually going to destroy it."
Crack!
Kreacher's body, which had fallen to the ground, suddenly appeared opposite the food storage area, in front of a dark door in the corner.
He eagerly stretched out his injured finger, "Here~"
The door suddenly opened, thanks to the House-elf's magic.
That was a cupboard.
Sirius had never been here before.
Most of the cabinet was occupied by an old-fashioned boiler, but in the space about a foot below the pipes, Kreacher made himself a nest. The floor was piled with all sorts of rags and smelly old blankets, and the small recessed area in the middle was where Kreacher curled up to sleep every night.
Breadcrumbs and moldy cheese were scattered everywhere.
In the inner corner, there were some Winky trinkets and coins, and some broken silver photo frames.
"They were here all along?" Sirius exclaimed, both amused and exasperated. He had assumed he had thrown them away long ago.
However, he felt nauseous again.
There was a picture frame that was clearly a favorite of Kreacher, placed in front of the camera, with the glass clumsily held together with Velcro tape.
Inside, a woman was looking at him haughtily—a dark-skinned woman with swollen eyelids, his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange, who was just as eccentric as his mother.
"You idiot, putting Bellatrix's picture with Regulus Black's stuff? It's ironic, for both of them." Sirius sighed.
He felt he was going to use up all the anger he had accumulated in his entire life.
Kreacher had used his House-elf magic to transfer the old blanket, revealing what was hidden underneath.
A locket.
The locket is glittering gold and inlaid with equally sparkling emeralds, forming a serpentine 'S'.
"By the way, Kreacher," Sirius turned his head, "You don't mind if I destroy it and wipe out all of you along with it, do you?"
Kreacher shook his head without hesitation, "Kreacher doesn't mind!"
Even though it contained his favorite photos and the Black family's treasures, he didn't mind.
"Alright! Lupin, I'll teach you a great spell to deal with Dark Magic items— Fiendfyre! Few Sickle withstand it." Sirius licked his lips. "It has no drawbacks except that it's hard to control. But that's not really a drawback. A speeding Harley is just as hard to control."
"You'd better stop," Lupin stopped Sirius. "We need to figure out what it is."
"Only in this way will Regulus Black's sacrifice be worthwhile."
Sirius frowned. "Looking for Dumbledore? He supposedly went to France with that handsome boy named Basil Granger. To see Nick Flume."
Lupin: "Isn't this better? Would there be anything that Nick Flume, who has lived for over 600 years, wouldn't recognize? Besides, this is obviously an old thing, maybe even from the same era as him."
Sirius: "Okay."
Kreacher: "Kreacher knew it! This spendthrift is unreliable. Mistress! Kreacher is really getting old, his thinking has become so dull that he would believe in a scoundrel who betrayed the family!"
Sirius paid no heed to Kreacher's slander. Just as he saw Harry as a continuation of James, he now saw Kreacher as a continuation of Regulus Black.
He stroked his chin. "Shall we go to France?"
"No need." A familiar yet unfamiliar voice rang in their ears.
With a whoosh, a moon-white snowy owl appeared in the air.
Accompanied by Dodge, echoing sound of water gushing out, a gray ripple appeared in the air.
It gradually spread, forming a gate of light.
Three figures emerged from it.
"Basil?" Sirius recognized the leader immediately.
His golden hair seemed to illuminate the dim boiler room as if the sun were shining through it, and the snowy owl flew affectionately to his shoulder.
"Is this Fanta? How come its fur has changed color after just a few days?" Sirius rubbed his eyes and looked at the two people beside Basil.
Both of them were tall and thin.
A man with silver hair and gray eyes, wearing a simple white robe.
A man with reddish-brown hair, blue eyes, and familiar Half-moon Spectacles, his nose contorted as if he'd been interrupted at least three times. His robe was brightly colored and embroidered with eye-catching sunflowers.
"Dumbledore?" Sirius asked tentatively.
This outfit is something only Albus Dumbledore could pull off.
"I'm glad you recognize me," Dumbledore said gently.
"And who are you?" Lupin looked at the silver-haired, gray-eyed young man with a smile, but whose eyes were devoid of emotion.
The young man shrugged. "I am Nick Flume. The all-knowing man in your eyes."
It all started 30 minutes ago.
Basil deliberately sent all the prisoners to Nymphadora Tonks's cell.
Nymphadora Tonks is the Mystique of the Wizarding World; with her, you have all the beauties in the world.
Basil was very interested in her.
As he stroked his chin, pondering how to bump into Nymphadora Tonks, he thought of Lupin.
Then I discovered this interesting scene at Black Family Home.
So he approached Dumbledore and Flume.
"I found a very interesting dream, would you like to see it?"
The way to watch it is by taking them into an Eternity dream platform.
He did not become the Fanta cardmaker for Dream Owl.
In Basil's hands, the Dream Walking Technique had long surpassed its original form.
Relying on the wizard's ever-present magic and vast emotional energy, Michael, acting as an energy well, and the Murder House, the Fairy Tale Magic 'wish' is created.
The process that takes thousands of years to complete has been overlooked.
One by one, Dream Fragment piled up, with Dotty stars in the dark 'seawater,' and then a sun that shines eternally appeared.
And in that very sun, Basil reflected everything that had happened at the Black Family Home.
Just now, when Sirius said he was going to France, Basil summoned Fanta and led Dumbledore and Flume to appear before Sirius and his companions in a more ceremonial manner.
——
"What is this?" Sirius asked nervously. He was worried that it wasn't valuable, which would make his brother seem like a joke.
Flume examined the locket's exterior. "This is Slytherin heirloom. Sphinx Gaunt once showed it off to me. Well, when I was 156."
Dumbledore was looking at the essence of the locket; the sacred magnetic field replaced his hands, feet, and eyes in touching its surface.
He quickly smiled.