Became good friends with the Boy Who Lived

Chapter 114R. A. B

Professor Dumbledore carefully examined the locket in his hand. After a long while, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"This locket is not a Horcrux," said Professor Dumbledore. "It is just an ordinary locket."

Professor Dumbledore tried to open the locket again. Inside was a parchment note with a few lines of text written on it:

To: Dark Lord

By the time you see this, I have been dead for who knows how many years. I took your Horcrux and tried to destroy it. I am willing to sacrifice my life for this so that someone can defeat you once and for all in the future.

RAB

Professor Dumbledore handed the parchment to Sirius and said in a slightly heavy voice, "Regulus Arcturus Black, if I remember correctly, is your biological brother, Sirius."

Sirius first stood there in a daze as if struck by lightning, then he snatched the parchment note from Professor Dumbledore's hand like a madman. He put the note close to his eyes and read it word by word.

"Impossible, impossible, absolutely impossible," Sirius muttered to himself like a madman, "Regulus disappeared when he was eighteen. Didn't he die because he followed Voldemort..."

"That doesn't seem to be the case," said Professor Dumbledore. "You have a house-elf in your home who is loyal to you? Why not call him over and ask him, Sirius?"

"Kreche...Kreche..." Sirius yelled in despair, "Come here... Come here... Come here..."

With a crisp "crackling" sound, a very old house-elf appeared on the island in the middle of the lake. It first looked around, with pain and reminiscence flashing in its eyes.

Finally, the house elf looked at Sirius and said in a bullfrog-like voice, "So it was the young master who made my mistress heartbroken. I wonder why you called old Klecher here?"

"Don't be so sarcastic with me," Sirius growled, "I'm asking you, what happened to my brother, Regulus?"

Kreche was silent for a while. Just when Sirius became impatient, Kreche said painfully: "Master Regulus asked me to keep it a secret, not to anyone..."

"Don't talk nonsense to me," Sirius yelled, "I am now the last direct descendant of the Holy Black family. Although I hate to get rid of this identity, this is the fact. I am your only master. Do you want to deny this fact? Kreche!"

"It's a long story..." Kreche said, his bullfrog-like voice full of pain.

"Then you'd better keep it short," said Sirius impatiently.

Kreche said slowly:

"It was in this place that the Dark Lord borrowed Kreche from Master Regulus. You can't imagine how honored this was for Kreche..."

"I really can't imagine it," said Sirius contemptuously, "Don't whine, I want to know about my brother's affairs."

Kreche continued:

"The Dark Lord prepared a potion and asked Kreche to drink it. He then observed Kreche's reaction. Kreche was tortured to the point of wanting to die, but the Dark Lord was very satisfied. He placed an exquisite locket in the stone basin over there, filled the basin with the potion that Kreche had drunk, and then got on the boat and left."

"Krieche was very thirsty and wanted to drink some water from the lake, but when Krieche touched the water, the Inferi in the lake came ashore and tried to drag Krieche into the lake."

"Master Regulus, before Kleche was borrowed by the Dark Lord, he gave me an order. Master Regulus asked Kleche to return alive. Kleche cannot disobey this order. Kleche cannot be killed by those lowly Inferi."

"The Dark Lord has cast a spell here that prohibits Apparition, but this does not pose a problem for Kreche, who has returned to the Black Mansion."

"Seeing Kleche's miserable state, Master Regulus felt very guilty. He hid Kleche and took care of him."

"When Kreche recovered, Master Regulus came to see Kreche. I still remember that day, Master Regulus had a resolute expression on his face."

"Master Regulus asked Kreche to bring him here. Yes, this is the place. And then... and then... and then Master Regulus drank the potion in the stone basin..."

"My poor Master Regulus, why is he so stupid? Old Kreche can obviously drink those potions... My poor Master Regulus, why is he so stupid..."

"Master Regulus ordered Kreche not to tell anyone about this, not even Kreche's mistress. He also asked Kreche to pour the potions into his mouth. Kreche tried, but spilling the potions on the ground did not reduce the amount of potions in the stone basin."

"While punishing himself, Kreche poured the potion into Master Regulus' mouth. Seeing Master Regulus in agony, Kreche wished that he was the one suffering."

"After Master Regulus finished drinking the potion in the stone basin, poor Master Regulus was lying on the ground unable to get up. Master Regulus ordered Kreche to take the real locket out of the stone basin and put the fake locket in."

"The potion in the stone basin can be automatically generated. Kleche can't be negligent. Take the real locket away and put the fake locket in the stone basin."

"Master Regulus's last order is: Leave me alone, Kreche, go home, and destroy the locket, at any cost."

"At that time, Kreche was still under the influence of the potion and could not bring Master Regulus back with him. Kreche had to go home by himself. But after returning home, Kreche tried everything but could not destroy the locket. Later... later... the locket was lost... wuwuwu..."

Kleche burst into tears like a helpless child.

Aeris looked at Krecher who was crying helplessly and felt a little embarrassed. After all, it was he who took away Slytherin's locket through the Sorting Hat.

Kleche sobbed and said, "Kleche once came back here. Kleche wanted to collect the body of Master Regulus, but Kleche couldn't even find the body of Master Regulus..."

Kreche cried even harder.

Sirius stood there in a daze, as if he had lost all thoughts.

Professor Dumbledore put the fake locket into Sirius's hand. He patted Sirius on the shoulder and said, "Regulus died voluntarily. That should have been when Voldemort was at his strongest. He didn't want to implicate his family."

Sirius came back to his senses. He walked to Kreche, squatted down, hung the fake locket around Kreche's neck, and then hugged Kreche.

Aeris felt that Sirius was not hugging Kreche, but hugging his younger brother who had always been misunderstood by him.

"Don't cry!" Sirius said loudly after letting Kreche go, "From now on, you have to protect this locket with your life. Do you understand?"

Kleche stopped crying and stared blankly at the locket around her neck. She held it up with both hands, seeming to be excited or sad. Who knows? Anyway, Kleche was shaking all over.

"Dumbledore," said Sirius, "I can't let my brother stay in this kind of place. Do you have any ideas?"

"I am afraid I can do nothing to help you," said Professor Dumbledore. "Voldemort studies magic that I do not wish to touch."

"Well, I might have a way..." said Aeris.

The others looked at Aeris, who said awkwardly, "I'm not sure if it will work, but this involves the realm of black magic. I just happened to read about it in a book. After all, my magic seems to have a certain affinity with black magic, but I swear, I haven't studied black magic in depth, at least within my mental tolerance..."

"Well, Aris," said Professor Dumbledore gently, "no one will blame you for helping others."

Aes nodded, came to the lake, pointed his wand at the lake, took a deep breath, and chanted the spell loudly and clearly, "Out, Inferi~"

The lake surface, which had been calm all along, suddenly began to tumble violently, and one rotten corpse after another walked out of the lake with stiff steps.

Soon, the densely packed Inferi filled the entire island in the middle of the lake. Aeris said, "Stop~"

The Inferi in the lake stopped coming ashore, and the air was filled with a foul smell of decay. Aeris felt his stomach twitch a little.

"With this number," Aris said in disbelief, "Is Voldemort massacring the city?"

"Do you still expect Voldemort to have mercy..." Sirius said with disgust.

"Master Regulus, my poor Master Regulus!" Kreche's ugly bullfrog-like cry was heard, and Sirius walked over quickly.

Kreche hugged the thigh of an Inferi and cried in pain. Sirius looked at the Inferi carefully, then hugged the Inferi tightly regardless of its dilapidated and decayed appearance.

After leaving the island in the middle of the lake with Regulus' body, Professor Dumbledore burned all the Inferi. "This is the best destination for them," Professor Dumbledore said in a heavy tone, "It is better than being enslaved by the Dark Arts after death."

After leaving the salt cave, Sirius held his brother's body and said to Professor Dumbledore: "I'm sorry, Dumbledore, I can't go back with you. I still have to deal with my brother's funeral."

"Of course," said Professor Dumbledore. "Harry is still on vacation. If you want him to attend the memorial service, I can take him there then."

"I'm going," said Harry. "There's still some time before school starts, and I want to live with you for a while, Sirius!"

"Well," said Sirius, "I'll pick up Harry from Hogwarts when I'm ready. Let's go, Krecher, back to the Black house."

Sirius and Krecher Apparated away, and Professor Dumbledore took out the newspaper again, made it into a portkey, and took Aeris and Harry back to Hogwarts.