Chapter 195: Kreacher and Regulus

"What happened?" Sirius pulled Ivan up and asked hurriedly. "We just heard the scream, the scream of a dying man."

"Yes, that awful sound was terrible; it seemed to reach deep into the soul, giving a chilling sensation." Hermione nodded her head, her eyes fixed on Ivan, then said with concern, "What happened to you, Ivan?"

"My scar hurts, I feel like..." said Harry.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. That sound was made when I broke this thing." Ivan held up the Slytherin locket.

Even though this Horcrux was no longer useful, he didn't throw it away.

Not to mention its possible relation to Slytherin's treasure, this locket itself had great collectible value.

The strange lines of text above also made Ivan very worried.

Salazar Slytherin could not have left these things in the locket box for no reason. They couldn't be mere decoration; he should be conveying some sort of message.

Ivan speculated that if those lines were not words, they should be a very rare magical set that even Voldemort himself had not found.

Although this possibility was very low, it could not be denied.

Ivan was going to go back to study to see if he could make any new discoveries related to them.

"This is it?" Sirius stared at the locket in his hand, his eyes focused on the capital letter S, and he seemed to have seen a similar pattern somewhere.

"This is the locket handed down from Salazar Slytherin himself. The capital letter S is a special emblem of the Slytherin family," Ivan said.

Sirius was very stunned, unsurprisingly he felt he had seen this pattern before.

In the book "Born to be Noble: A Genealogy of Wizards", the third line of pureblood wizards introduced is the Slytherin family. Most memorable is the family crest in the shape of a snake.

"This Slytherin medallion, I found it in the dining room window. Out of curiosity, I pulled it out, and then I found something wrong. This pendant was talking to me. It's an object of dark magic." Ivan explained, "Harry, Hermione, do you remember Tom Riddle's Diary that we met last year? If I'm not mistaken, this locket and the diary are the same kind of thing."

Hearing this, Harry and Hermione turned pale in an instant, and understood what Ivan meant.

This locket was a magical object left by Voldemort.

Looking into Harry and Hermione's eyes, Ivan nodded.

In fact, he had just thought the matter through and finally decided to say it, instead of continuing to hide it.

Now that this Horcrux had been destroyed, it was only natural that he would tell Dumbledore, and there was no longer any need to hide the matter. Although it was a coincidence, it was good fortune to discover and destroy this Horcrux.

Sirius, Harry and Hermione were also there. Dumbledore would have no doubts and would not think too much.

Moreover, with the capture of Peter Pettigrew, Ivan realized that Dumbledore was not as he imagined him to be. Because he was so tolerant, Ivan could get more freedom with his actions.

The atmosphere on the stairs was heavy, and Harry and Hermione were pale and bloodless. They were still immersed in the horrible news brought by Ivan.

"Tom Riddle's diary, what are you three talking about?" only Sirius didn't know what was going on. They hurriedly explained and told him what had happened last year.

"I don't understand. If this locket is an object of dark magic made by Voldemort, why is it in this house?" Sirius's face grew more serious.

"This question should be asked of Kreacher, he should know." Ivan whispered.

They returned to the dining room and Sirius immediately called Kreacher.

Kreacher was still holding the old, dusty, worm-holed green tapestry. He stood in front of the cold, empty fireplace and glared disdainfully at the four of them.

"Young Master, why do you call old Kreacher?" Kreacher said hoarsely in his bullfrog voice, leaned in deeply and whispered at their knees. "After destroying the Black family collection, the young master and the three nasty brats he brought back have even more plans..."

"Don't ever say those words in front of me again." Sirius said, "I have a question to ask you, you must answer truthfully, do you understand?"

"Yes, master!" Kreacher bowed deeply.

Ivan saw his lips twisting silently, no doubt meditating on the insulting words he had just been forbidden to say.

"This locket!" Sirius threw down the Slytherin locket, "It's not something from the Black family, where did you get it?"

"This, this is young Master Regulus' locket!" Holding up the locket, Kreacher shivered and shook.

"My brother's?" Sirius stared at him. He had just listened to the explanations of the three of them, knowing that it was a magical object made by Voldemort.

It seemed to be similar to what he imagined; it should be Voldemort who would have Regulus save this thing.

Though he didn't know what they were planning to do, it was definitely not a good thing.

"Young Master Regulus' locket!" Kreacher gasped, and his dry chest was heaving. "Kreacher made a mistake and failed to carry out the young Master's orders!"

Then, he let out a blood-chilling scream.

In the next second, Kreacher ran toward the fire stick in the fireplace with extraordinary speed. Harry, standing beside him, reacted instinctively and ran to catch him.

Kreacher was still resisting, and Ivan ran to help Harry.

Hermione's screams mingled with Kreacher's, but Sirius' snores were louder than all of them. "Enough, Kreacher, I command you not to move!"

Kreacher immediately stopped struggling, tears flowing down his long nose into his open mouth, in which gray teeth could be seen.

Ivan and Harry were panting on top of him, and Sirius reached over to separate them. He had Kreacher in his hand and shook him violently, as if the house itself were a tattered dress.

"Tell me everything you know, where did this locket come from? And what did my brother Regulus have to do with it?" Sirius shouted loudly. "I command you, tell me all about the locket!"

Kreacher's unusual reaction told Sirius that the locket had a lot to do with his brother's death and that they must have gone to do something back then.