Kreacher's Disappearance

It had been a while since they arrived at the Black House, and Harry was discovering for the first time that the Dursley family weren't so bad after all—compared to the Black House.

The Black House was large, and during this time they lived separately in several rooms that had been partially or completely removed from the Black House's renovations.

Sirius was actually quite helpless about this; he had long planned to get rid of those neurotic old things from the Black House.

He had this idea even when he was just released from prison.

But for some reason, after he officially and legally inherited the Black House, he lost these freedoms.

He couldn't even get rid of any piece of furniture he didn't like; at most, he could only add some decorations.

In addition, Kreacher had hidden a batch of things he planned to throw away beforehand.

However, according to him, there are also advantages.

Harry didn't understand at first, until one day when he was playing with an indoor bamboo dragonfly with Ron Draco, Ron accidentally lifted a velvet curtain while flying in mid-air.

Harry thought it was a door, or perhaps a window.

The next second Harry almost bumped into Draco, thinking there was a living person locked inside.

An old woman wearing a black hat was screaming desperately, each scream louder than the last, as if she were being severely tortured.

The old woman was drooling, her eyes were darting around, and her yellow skin was taut from screaming.

Then, screams immediately erupted from the Entrance Hall behind them.

Harry then realized that it was a life-size portrait.

Harry and Draco resisted the urge to land on the ground and covered their ears with their hands.

Ron flew over, trying to draw the Veil to cover the old lady, but he couldn't manage to pull them up.

The old woman's screams grew increasingly shrill, and she waved her claw-like hands as if to scratch their faces.

"Beast! Slut! Filthy and sinful bastard! Mongrel, freak, ugly monster, get out of here right now! How dare you defile my ancestral home—"

Then, a voice rang out, "Shut up!"

It's Sirius!

Surprisingly, all the portraits actually kept their mouths shut.

Even the old woman stared intently in Sirius's direction; if she weren't unable to speak, she would have looked as if she wanted to swallow him whole.

"Harry, this is the greatest benefit of me becoming the head of the family."

"Mom, I'm the head of the household. Close your eyes and go to sleep," Sirius said.

As his last words fell, the two Veil closed again, and the other portraits also closed their eyes.

"She's your mother?" Harry asked in surprise.

Harry spent almost a year at Hogwarts, and the most common Hogwarts was all sorts of portraits.

They all contain parts of the portrait's subject's memories and thought patterns, and could even be considered as another version of themselves.

And Sirius's mother's portrait is naturally not much different from her own.

This means that Sirius's mother was a truly insane woman, and not just something he said in anger.

"Yes, she is my mother."

"She looks down on everything except Pure-blood wizard, is stubborn, domineering, and hates everything that doesn't go her way—including me."

"Harry, look. Draco was just here, and my crazy mother didn't recognize him."

"You know, all the Malfoy have looked pretty much the same: pale skin and light blond hair."

"My brother Regulus's death was also related to her; he was too weak to resist," Sirius said in a low voice.

At that moment, Lupin, who had rushed over upon hearing the commotion, hugged him from behind, saying, "This has nothing to do with you, Sirius."

"So, the reason Kreacher is so strange is because of this portrait."

"It seems like he hasn't shown up for a long time?" Ron suddenly asked.

This wasn't because he cared about Kreacher, but because his thought process was different from most people's, and he always remembered things differently from others.

For example, Sirius's mother's mad behavior, while everyone else was worried about Sirius's feelings, he recalled a sentence: "He has been alone for too long and has received some crazy orders from my mother's portrait."

"Kreacher? To be honest, I no longer expect him to tidy up the room or cook anything."

"He should be hiding in his room, with those old Black House artifacts."

"But it is indeed strange. Normally, he would hide in the shadows from time to time and mutter strange things like, 'I'm a spendthrift, a scoundrel,'" Sirius said in a nonchalant tone.

In his eyes, there was no difference between the things that should have been thrown away in Kreacher's and Black House.

The only difference is that he has a life, and he is also a part of Sirius's childhood memories.

Kreacher even had a good relationship with his brother Regulus.

Therefore, Kreacher just needs to stay alive; it's best if he never appears in front of him again.

The last time I took him to pick up Harry was only because of Molly Weasley's request.

"His room?" Harry asked curiously.

After meeting Dobby, he gained a different understanding of House-elf -elves than he had in books.

He was very curious about what Kreacher's room was like.

"Right under the boiler in the kitchen Boiler Room," Sirius said.

He encouraged Harry's curiosity.

This way, Harry would be closer to Harry's father—his best friend—in his eyes.

"Alright, Remus."

"Let the children go on their adventures."

"You're going to Hogwarts in September, so let's have a good talk about what you should do Hogwarts, especially with Snape." Sirius's voice trailed off at the last sentence, and even Ron, who was closest to Sirius and straining his ears to hear some gossip, couldn't hear anything.

Soon after, they went upstairs, leaving Harry and the others looking at each other in the hallway filled with portraits.

"Let's go see Kreacher's room," Harry said.

For some reason, a voice inside him kept reminding him of this.

This idea appeared out of nowhere the moment I arrived at Sirius's house.

They soon arrived at the Boiler Room, and after their tentative knocking went unanswered, Ron rashly opened the dark door.

Before Harry and Draco could even launch a glare at Ron's recklessness, the scene that greeted them made them forget everything that had just happened.

This place is like a garbage dump. Most of the space is occupied by an old-fashioned boiler, but about a foot below the pipes, there are piles of all kinds of rags and smelly old blankets, with a small depression in the middle.

"Ugh, could this be where he sleeps?" Ron couldn't help but cover his nose.

I think so.

"Look over there next to that pile of stuff," Harry and Draco said separately.

They looked around the 'nest' and saw breadcrumbs and moldy cheese scattered everywhere.

Without a doubt, they came to the right place.