Chapter 198: Kreacher's Friendship

The next second, unprecedented anger occupied Sirius' mind.

"Kreacher!" snarled Sirius, "You watched Regulus die and did nothing. He, he was still a child..."

Although he already had a premonition, but now, Sirius couldn't believe it, that this was actually the truth behind Regulus' death.

He hadn't even finished his reprimand yet, and the house elf himself was already chastising himself.

Before anyone could react, Kreacher had thrown himself to the ground, slamming his head against the floor with all the force he could muster.

"Stop him, stop him!" Hermione cried. "Can't you see now how cruel he is, the way he's forced to obey Regulus' orders? He wouldn't move, so he could only stand there and watch things happen..."

Hearing Hermione's words, Sirius fell silent and looked at the death-seeking house elf with hatred and anger in his eyes.

Seeing that Sirius didn't move, Harry hurriedly tried to stop Kreacher.

But it didn't work. The old house elf was very powerful and was desperately banging his head against the ground.

If no one stopped him, he would beat himself to inevitable death.

In the end, Ivan had to hex him, forcing him to stop.

The elf lay on the ground, gasping and shaking, green mucus glistening around his nostrils, a bruise already blooming on his pale forehead where he had struck himself, his swollen, bloodshot eyes swimming in tears. Ivan had never seen anything so pitiful.

"Sirius, we must be nice to him..." Hermione whispered, wiping her tears with the back of her hand.

"You're asking me to be nice to him?" Sirius' low voice had cruelty in it, "He killed my brother! He watched Regulus die and did nothing!"

It actually sounded like Sirius wanted to kill Kreacher himself.

"No, he doesn't think like that." Hermione argued hastily, "Kreacher is a slave. He can only obey orders. Regulus ordered him to do so. He had no way to resist. It is unfair to impose all responsibilities on him. Look at him now, Regulus' death is, for him, more cruel than for any of us, and he finds it extremely difficult to accept. "

Sirius opened his mouth and looked like he wanted to argue, but Hermione didn't give him a chance.

"Sirius, I know the truth about Regulus' death is hard for you to accept, but from the information we currently have, Regulus' thoughts changed, and that's the most important thing," Hermione looked at Sirius. "Just below, you told us what you think of him. But he's totally different from what you had in mind. He's not weak at all. To protect Kreacher and the Black family, Regulus went against Voldemort. He's a hero, and even braver than any Gryffindor I know..."

Sirius had no words to retort, what his brother had done made him proud.

He suddenly thought of Regulus when he was a boy. Back then, he often followed him around like a shadow and looked up to him in admiration. Their relationship was very good. They planned to go to Hogwarts and get into Slytherin together.

But everything changed when Sirius got to Hogwarts first, and ended up getting into Gryffindor.

He remembered that day when he came home on his first summer vacation, and Regulus got into a fight with him.

After that, they never spoke.

He always thought Regulus was a fool, became a Death Eater, and then died because of his weakness. But his thoughts couldn't have been further from the truth. He was like him, standing against Voldemort.

Though he did not publicly resist and join the Order of the Phoenix, he did so with more bravery and perseverance than any of the Order's members.

Looking at Kreacher, who was lying on the floor crying, Sirius' gaze contained some emotion for the first time, as the house elf finally accompanied Regulus and took on this grief alone.

He also needed a lot of courage. Sirius looked at Kreacher with a complicated look, and seemed to finally see the house elf as a creature emotionally equal to humans....

In the basement, the atmosphere was terrible.

After Hermione said those words, Sirius remained silent.

Kreacher was sobbing quietly, and next to him, Harry gasped and his face was worse than before.

Ivan sighed and said slowly, "Kreacher, after Regulus was dragged into the lake by the Inferi.... you brought the locket home and tried to destroy it, didn't you?"

"Kreacher tried everything, everything he knew, but nothing, nothing worked.... So many powerful spells I cast on the locket, Kreacher was sure the way to destroy it was to get inside it, but it would not open.... Kreacher chastised himself, tried again, chastised himself, tried again, tried again, tried again. Kreacher did not obey orders, Kreacher could not destroy the locket! And his mistress was mad with grief, because Master Regulus had disappeared and Kreacher could not tell her what had happened, no, because Master Regulus had forbidden him to tell the family what had happened in the cave, in the c-cave...". Kreacher began to sob so hard; he was utterly devastated.

Tears ran down Hermione's cheeks as she looked at Kreacher, but she dared not touch him again.

"I just destroyed the locket and helped you fulfill Regulus' last wish. You won't have yourself to blame anymore." Ivan opened the broken locket and held it out to Kreacher.

The house elf's eyes snapped open and he let out a yelp of surprise and pain, his eyes widened like never before as he stared at Ivan in disbelief and at the locket in his hand.

After nearly half an hour, he gradually calmed down.

Kreacher moved weakly and seemed to have no more strength to cry.

Sirius, who had not spoken up to that point, also calmed down. He whispered to the house elf, "Sit down, Kreacher, I have something else to ask you."

"Now I will relieve you of your curse, and you will stop hurting yourself." Ivan waved his wand and whispered, "Finite Incantatem."

Kreacher sat up and rubbed his eyes with his fists like a child.

Then he staggered to Ivan's front, reached out and touched the locket in his hands, and immediately stepped back.

"You, you helped Kreacher complete Master Regulus' command! You destroyed this locket!" Kreacher couldn't believe it, his face showed an expression of relief for the first time.

He looked into Ivan and Hermione's eyes, it was not the previous look of disgust and disdain. He seemed to have forgotten his Muggle background and bowed to Ivan, Harry and Hermione.

Although the action seemed a bit awkward, it wasn't shallow at all.

Ivan knew that because he destroyed Slytherin's locket and helped Kreacher complete Regulus' order, he had finally earned the friendship of the house elf.

Like Dobby, Kreacher now respected him wholeheartedly.

This was truly a happy thing. It might have been the most positive and optimistic change brought about by the destruction of this Horcrux.

Though Ivan didn't know what good this house elf's friendship would do him, perhaps at a critical moment, it would come in handy.