After picking up the book, Sirius carefully led the two of them back the way they came.
It wasn't until he left the corridor leading to the library that the caution on Sirius' face disappeared, and he began to talk and laugh about magic with Harry and Hermione.
"Speaking of which, what I was best at back then was also magic, and I was the main force in making the Marauder's Map," Sirius sighed with nostalgia,
"Your father is better at transfiguration, Harley. Your father contributed a lot to the fact that we were able to become Animagus."
"Remus is better at Defense Against the Dark Arts, especially in dealing with dark creatures. He is even more of a first-rate master."
"As for that damn traitor," when he said this, Sirius paused and let out a disdainful snort.
"What he was best at was potions. Although his level was much lower than that of Snotlout, he was still among the best in Hogwarts at the time."
"Forget it, don't mention him, it's off-putting to say it..."
At this time, several people happened to be near the kitchen, and Sirius subconsciously glanced into the kitchen.
He suddenly let out an angry roar: "Kreacher! What are you doing!"
Then, Sirius rushed into the kitchen and forcefully opened the cupboard that had just been closed.
An old house elf was carried out by Sirius with one hand, and at the same time a lot of sundries were poured out of the cupboard.
Apparently these items, including an ancient music box and a first-class medal of the Order of Merlin, were hastily stuffed into the cupboard by the house elf.
This house elf is very old, and the skin all over its body is wrinkled. It has several times more skin than its body actually needs.
Its head was bald, but a lot of white hair grew out of its two big bat-like ears.
This look reminded Harley of a few poor pirates who were cursed by themselves, but those pirates had green onions and coriander growing out of their ears.
This house elf has a big nose, like a pig's nose, and the big eyes above it are somewhat bloodshot and seem to be full of anger.
"Kreacher, you damn old bastard, do you really want to hang your head on the wall?" Sirius roared angrily,
"You actually ruined the results of my hard work for a week again! Why! Pick up those! Trash!"
Sirius roared out almost word for word as he uttered the last words.
But Kreacher seemed not to hear it, muttering in his hoarse, low voice like a bullfrog:
"...Oh, it turns out he is a useless young master, and he also smells of sewers and criminals."
"Old Kreacher's poor mistress, she finally drove the kitten away from the noble snakes, but the kitten came back with a group of mudbloods."
"Oh, old Kreacher forgot, not only the mudbloods, but the useless young master also brought back bastards and werewolves..."
"Oh, werewolves! A werewolf actually entered the noble Black family's old house. How should the mistress treat old Kreacher..."
Before Kreacher could finish his words, he was thrown hard by Sirius and fell to the ground.
Sirius pulled out his wand violently: "Kreacher! Who allowed you to insult my relatives and friends!"
"If you want to chop off your head and hang it on the wall like your ancestors, just say so! I can grant your wish!"
Hermione took a step back in surprise and subconsciously grabbed Harry's robe.
The last time she saw Sirius so angry was when Sirius met Peter Pettigrew.
"How could it be? Kreacher will continue to serve the noble Black family."
Kreacher got up, bowed carefully, and then continued to mutter in a voice that could be heard by everyone in the kitchen,
"...The useless young master can do whatever he likes. Old Kreacher has no right to stop him."
"But Kreacher cannot watch him destroy the nobility of the pure blood of the Black family... Oh, old Kreacher's poor mistress, what should Kreacher do?"
"Hmph!" Sirius snorted coldly, "The nobility of pure blood? There is no such thing as nobility in a pure blood name!"
"I really want my old mother to see with her own eyes how I live happily in this house."
"Harry, Hermione, let's go. This is the Kreacher I told you about, a house elf with a disturbed mind."
With that said, Sirius turned around and left, after all, he was just talking happily.
Sirius really couldn't do it if he really wanted to follow family custom and cut off Kreacher's head and hang it on the wall.
But Harley didn't leave, but stared at the cupboard where Kreacher lived.
The door of the cupboard was open, and there were a lot of rags and a lot of messy things inside.
Among the miscellaneous items, there was a locket, a simple locket.
Harry looked at the locket for a few seconds, then slightly flexed his fingers, and the spider silk instantly pulled the locket out of the cupboard.
After seeing this, Kreacher, who was still very quiet, let out a howl and rushed forward like crazy.
Sirius frowned and stretched out his hand to stop Kreacher.
But the spider silk was one step faster than him, directly tying Kreacher in mid-air.
The locket also stopped in front of Harley and slowly rotated in mid-air.
"What's wrong, Harley?" Seeing Kreacher being stopped, Sirius no longer paid attention to him, but looked at Harley's every move curiously.
Harley didn't speak, just pointed at the locket in front of her.
The locket had been wiped clean, in stark contrast to the dirty cupboard.
The locket is as big as an egg, made entirely of silver, and worn with a silver chain.
There is a large S-shaped mark in the center of the locket, which is made to look like a snake and is completely made of pure green gemstones.
A large number of gorgeous runes are also drawn on other parts of the locket, and the materials used are also extremely precious.
But that's not the point. There are many more gems in the Potter family's treasury.
Harley focuses on the powerful magic on the locket, and the incongruity within it.
"What's wrong with this locket?" Sirius' eyes followed Harley's fingers and he came closer curiously.
He also wanted to touch it with his hands, but Harley reached out to stop him. In the end, he could only observe carefully not far away.
"Sirius, is this a treasure passed down from your family?"
Hermione saw the snake-shaped S and the snake-shaped pattern on the locket, and couldn't help but ask.
"No, I have no impression of this locket at all. And if it's from the Black family, the symbol on it should be B."
Sirius frowned and said, "This is a common practice and common sense among all pure-blood families."
"Pure-blood families all have their own favorite animals. For example, the Malfoy family likes white peacocks and uses them as their family emblem."
"The Black family likes greyhounds. Ka Fai is a shield decorated with mountain symbols, two five-pointed stars and a short sword. On both sides of the shield are two leaping greyhounds. He also likes snakes because of Slytherin. "
"But when using decorations, we will definitely use the initial B of the surname Black instead of the initial S of the snake."
"If this style is the treasure of a pure-blood family, then it probably has a surname starting with S."
"Let me think about it...last names starting with S...Selwyn, I can only think of one Selwyn."
"So Harley, what happened to the locket?" Sirius turned to look at Harley,
"If you like the gems on this locket, there are many more in the Black family. You can choose whatever you want."
"This pendant has been touched by Kreacher's dirty hands and is no longer worth collecting."
"No, I don't like the gems on it." Harley shook her head and confirmed the identity of the locket.
Although I don't know which pure-blood family's treasure it is, it is probably Voldemort's Horcrux.
Professor Dumbledore mentioned that Voldemort created many Horcruxes.
And Harley got a Horcrux crown in the Room of Requirement. After studying the crown, she also confirmed that it was Voldemort's Horcrux.
Although the memory in that soul fragment is completely different from the appearance of Voldemort that Harry knows, memory can deceive people, and appearance can deceive people, but the soul cannot.
Harley compared it with the crazy soul fragment she had in her possession, and recalled Voldemort's diary Horcrux in the second grade.
The core aura of the three is the same. Although they have different situations and are placed in different environments, they all essentially come from the same source.
"Godfather, please ask Kreacher where he got this locket." Harley said softly.
After hesitating for a moment, Harry added: "This should be a dark magic item left by Voldemort, at least it is related to Voldemort."
Upon hearing that this was a dark magic item left by Voldemort, Sirius, who originally wanted to reach out and touch it, was startled and took a few steps back.
Hermione also instantly gave up the idea of putting this exquisite locket in her hands to play with, and felt that the locket was no longer exquisite, but had become extremely ugly.
Sirius turned to look at Kreacher and asked loudly and eagerly: "Kreacher, where did this locket come from?"
But Kreacher just stared at Sirius with hateful eyes, unwilling to say a word.
"Kreacher, I order you! Now! Immediately! Immediately! Tell me the origin of this locket!"
Sirius stepped up his tone and pressed for more information.
Under the restraint of magic, Kreacher opened his mouth with difficulty and said:
"This is... this is... this locket is... a relic left by Master Regulus!"
Sirius was stunned for a moment and dropped the wand in his hand.
…
Sirius took Kreacher back to the living room and began to ask about Regulus in detail.
After all, Regulus was the person Sirius was closest to and cared about most in this family.
Under the constant pressure from Sirius, Kreacher finally told the truth.
It begins with Regulus obeying the old lady Black and joining the Death Eaters.
This time, Sirius was rare and did not let him get to the point directly. He did not reprimand Kreacher, but listened carefully.
Kreacher quickly talked about Regulus telling him that Voldemort needed a house elf, and finally told him that he witnessed Regulus being dragged into the water, and he Apparated and left the cave with the real locket. .
Kreacher became more and more sad as he talked, and by the second half of the story, he would stop and cry or bang his head on the floor from time to time.
The portrait of Sirius' mother, which hung behind a velvet curtain, was awakened once and uttered a stream of abuse.
But Sirius was not polite. Once the spell was cast, he sealed his old mother's mouth and closed the velvet curtain.
"Master Regulus ordered Kreacher to destroy this locket!" Kreacher said at the end of the story,
"Kreacher tried various methods, including burning it with fire, smashing it with a hammer, or using various spells, but nothing worked!"
"Oh, damn Kreacher, it goes against Master Regulus's words, Kreacher is really a bad house elf!"
As he spoke, Kreacher began to bang his head against the corner of the table again, but was pulled away by Professor Lupin.
Sirius didn't notice this scene at all, he slumped on the chair slumped.
Sirius's face, which was not young, was full of pain, his eyes were dull, tears fell from the corners of his eyes, and the wand he picked up again fell to the ground.
"Regulus...my brother...how did you..." Sirius muttered to himself, turning a blind eye to the sounds from the outside world.
Professor Luping's face was solemn. With his level of Defense Against the Dark Arts and life experience, he could naturally see the seriousness of this matter.
And Hermione's eyes were a little sparkling. It was clear that a young man who became a Death Eater at the request of his parents woke up and turned against the Death Eaters, even at the expense of his own life. The realization was moving.
Harley's eyes also had a strange light, but her focus was on the pot of potion.
"Drinking it will cause people to feel extreme pain, make life worse than death, and may remind people of the most painful time in their lives."
Harley thought over and over in her mind, "But there will be no scars on the body itself, and there will be no signs of poisoning..."
"Is it a potion that targets the mental or spiritual body? It makes people feel painful...a pain that is worse than death..."
Harry's hand unconsciously reached into his pocket, which contained a large amount of potion materials. He could prepare a unique potion on the spot that could restore his strength.
Isn't this kind of stimulus what she lacks now?
Harley felt that she should find a chance to take a look at the mysterious cave.
…
…
(Thanks to "book friend with tail number 0882" and "Nine-tailed Yanhu" for the reward!)
(End of chapter)
