It was a long, long time before he slowly walked over to Regulus and looked down at his face. That pale, gaunt face overlapped with his childhood memory of the boy who had followed him around, calling him "big brother."
"You fool," he whispered, his voice holding no anger, only endless grief. "You fool... why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me you'd discovered all this?"
He reached out, his fingers brushing gently over Regulus's cold cheek, his touch so soft it was as though he feared waking someone from sleep.
"I thought you..." He choked up. "I thought you really were one of them. I thought you really believed all that pure-blood rubbish. I thought you..."
He said no more, only drew a deep breath.
Harry stepped forward, wanting to say something.
Kreacher was still crying, but his sobs were no longer so shrill. He knelt beside Regulus, muttering something, as though speaking to Regulus, or perhaps to himself.
Dumbledore came over to Sirius and gently patted his shoulder.
"Regulus did the right thing," he said gently. "He gave his life, but he saved Kreacher and gave us a chance to find this Horcrux. He was brave, Sirius."
Sirius nodded. "He was a true champion. He deserved the name 'Regulus.'"
Regulus was Alpha Leonis, its name meaning "prince" in Latin. Located at the center of Leo, it was one of the constellation's brightest stars in astronomy, and was also known as the "Lion's Heart."
After a long time, he finally turned to look at the three of them.
"Thank you," he said, his voice hoarse but sincere. "Thank you for finding him and bringing him out."
With that, his gaze returned to Regulus's face.
"He should be buried," he said. "But not with those—those old fossils. They