Chapter 196: The Regulus Story

"Speak up; what was my brother doing back then?" Sirius tossed Kreacher to the floor as if he were throwing a dirty rag.

The elf sat up, curled into a ball, placed his wet face between his knees and began rocking back and forth. When he spoke, his voice was muffled but very distinct in the quiet, echoing kitchen.

"It was fifteen years ago. Unlike Master Sirius, who ran away from home, because he was a bad boy and broke my Lady's heart with his lawless ways, Master Regulus had the proper path; he knew what was due to the Black name and the dignity of his pureblood. For years he spoke of the Dark Lord, that he was going to bring wizards out of hiding to rule over Muggles and dirty bloods." Kreacher sobbed, "And when he was sixteen, Master Regulus joined the Dark Lord."

"Master Regulus knew!" Kreacher argued, "He was so proud, so proud, so happy to serve..."

"Get to the point, Kreacher! I don't want to hear that my idiot young brother has become a Death Eater!" Sirius interrupted him brutally, and it was as if the blue veins in his forehead were about to burst.

The last time he had looked like this, he was in front of Peter Pettigrew.

Kreacher was afraid to look at Sirius, his head bobbing faster. He said intermittently, "One day, a year after he joined, Master Regulus came down to the kitchen to see Kreacher. Master Regulus always liked Kreacher. And Master Regulus said... he said..."

"What did he say?" everyone was looking around the old house.

"He said the Dark Lord needed an elf," Kreacher groaned.

"Voldemort needed an elf?" Sirius repeated, and Harry and Hermione looked as puzzled as he did. It sounded absurd.

How could the mighty Voldemort need a house elf? Everyone didn't understand. Only Ivan knew what was going on.

"Oh, yes," Kreacher groaned. "And Master Regulus had offered Kreacher. It was an honor, Master Regulus said, an honor for him and for Kreacher, who must be sure to do what the Dark Lord ordered him to do...and then go home."

Kreacher stirred faster, even as his breathing turned to sobs. "So Kreacher went to the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord did not tell Kreacher what to do, but he took Kreacher with him to a cave by the sea. And beyond the cave was a cavern, and in the cavern was a great black lake...".

Sirius did not speak. Ivan, Harry and Hermione also listened to Kreacher's narrative.

In the gloomy cellar, Kreacher's voice was particularly frightening. It seemed to come from across the dark water, and the hairs on the back of everyone's necks stood up.

"There was a boat by the Great Lake. The lake was full of corpses. There was a basin full of potion on the island. The Dark Lord made Kreacher drink it..." The elf trembled from head to foot. "Kreacher drank, and as he drank he saw terrible things... Kreacher's insides burned.... Kreacher screamed for Master Regulus to save him, he cried for his master, but the Dark Lord only laughed.... He made Kreacher drink all of the potion.... He dropped a locket into the empty basin.... And filled it with more potion."

"And then?" they all asked.

"And then the Dark Lord sailed away, leaving Kreacher on the island...", said Kreacher.

Ivan could see it happen, could see Voldemort's white, snaky face fade into the darkness, those red eyes fixed mercilessly on the dying elf.

He probably thought the elf's death would occur in a matter of minutes, every time he succumbed to the desperate thirst the burning poison caused his victim.

However, Kreacher escaped and Ivan didn't know how he did it.

"Kreacher still remembers what it was like at the time. Kreacher needed water, he crawled to the edge of the island and drank from the black lake... and hands, dead hands, came out of the water and dragged Kreacher under the surface..." sobbed Kreacher.

"How did you escape?" Sirius asked, and found himself whispering uncharacteristically.

Kreacher raised his ugly head and looked at Harry with his large bloodshot eyes. "Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back," he said.

"But?!" No one knew how Kreacher came back. Voldemort could never have left him alive.

"Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back," Kreacher repeated.

"I know, but how did you escape the Inferi?" asked Sirius.

"Well, it's obvious, he disappeared! Elven magic isn't like wizard magic, Voldemort probably forgot about this." Ivan explained, "Or he wouldn't have considered the creatures that were housed away from his attention...it would never have occurred to him that they might have magic that he didn't have."

"Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back," the house elf repeated it again and intoned, "The highest law of the house is the command of his Master, Kreacher was told to come home, so Kreacher came home..."

"What happened when you came back?" Sirius continued to ask. "What did Regulus say when you told him what happened?"

"Master Regulus was very worried, very worried," Kreacher croaked. "Master Regulus told Kreacher to stay hidden and not to leave the house... and then it was a little later.... Master Regulus came to find Kreacher in his closet one night, and Master Regulus was strange, not like he used to be, his mind was disturbed, Kreacher could tell... and he asked Kreacher to take him to the cave, the cave where Kreacher had gone with the Dark Lord..."

And so, under Regulus' orders, they had set off. Ivan could visualize them clearly; the frightened old elf and the thin Death Eater who had looked like Sirius, arriving at the place where Voldemort hid the Horcrux.

Kreacher went there and knew how to get in.

"Regulus?" Sirius asked him coldly with a hint of disgust in his voice, "Had he made you drink the potion again?"

Kreacher shook his head, crying and whimpering.

Everyone looked at him in surprise! If Kreacher didn't drink the potion, they guessed what happened next.

"Master Regulus pulled out of his pocket a locket like the one the Dark Lord had," Kreacher said, tears streaming down both sides of his snout. "And he told Kreacher to take it and, when the bowl was empty, he would exchange the lockets..."

Kreacher's sobs came in great stings now; Ivan had to concentrate hard to understand what he was going to say next.