Chapter 21: Heartfelt Compassion
The same voice that was coming over the mirror was echoing down the steps. Harry and Hermione looked up and into the face of Sirius Black. When Harry saw his Godfather, he asked "Wouldn't want company for breakfast, would you?"
Sirius froze in mid-stride, looking fairly ridiculous with one hand holding the mirror, one foot in the air, and a look of utter confusion on his face. His eyes moved from the teens to the mirror in his hand and back again. Words like 'How' and 'Where' materialized on his lips, but the sounds never made it out. Finally he gathered himself and asked "What's going on Harry? What are you doing here?"
"Let's go to the kitchen and talk Sirius, but let us know if anyone else shows up," Harry said. "No one else can know we are here."
"I presume this is important then? Not just wanting to know more about that memory of Snape's concerning your father."
Harry had almost forgotten about that. It was too long ago and it was so minor considering what he had seen since, but he remember how important it had been two years ago. "No, it's not that," When they were all seated around the table, Harry asked, "Where's Kreacher?"
"Upstairs somewhere," Sirius muttered.
"Can you call him down?" Harry said. He glanced over at Hermione, "I think that might be the best place to start. We can give provable knowledge first."
"What do you need with the elf?" Sirius asked. "All he does is wander around muttering to himself all day."
"I think you will find it very important, please call him."
"Kreacher," Sirius yelled out and with a pop the elf materialized next to his master.
"You called Kreacher?" The elf asked and then continued in an overly loud whisper. "Useless spawn of my mistress, talking to a mudblood. I thought she was gone, and now she back befouling my mistress' house."
"Sirius, ask Kreacher if he has been visiting any other of your relatives recently," Harry said quietly. "But do not threaten him when he answers."
"Of course he hasn't. He can't leave this house," Sirius exclaimed.
"Please, just ask...no order him to tell you."
Sirius looked at his godson, wondering where this was going, but curiosity got the best of him and he turned to the house-elf, "Kreacher, I am ordering you to tell me if you have visited any other relatives of mine recently."
The elf hesitated, his eyes widen as if trying to fight an answer, but finally, "Yes, Kreacher has."
Sirius looked startled, "Who, Kreacher? Who've you visited, you miserable elf?"
"Sirius, no, don't be mean please trust us," Hermione pleaded.
"Mi..Miss Cissy and M..Miss Bella," The words struggled out of the elf's mouth.
"Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange?" Boomed Sirius.
"Yes, Master," Kreacher answered.
"Disgusting little..." Sirius' hand rose to strike at the little elf.
"Sirius, NO!" Harry yelled stopping his godfather in his tracks. "Don't hurt him."
Sirius turned to the teens as he stood from his chair. "Look, you don't understand what this means. You need to get out of here so I can contact Dumbledore. We HAVE to know exactly where Kreacher has been and what he has told them."
Harry raised a hand to stop his godfather. "Not yet, Sirius. Sit down, please. There is a lot more we need to deal with. Stuff that we need you to promise not to tell Dumbledore about."
"But I have too, Harry. The Order has to know. We have plans," Sirius argued.
"I know all about the plans, but I also know what we have to say is more important," Harry responded. "Look, just hear us out and then we'll talk okay?"
Sirius studied his godson and noticed something had changed in him; the boy in front of him wasn't the moody person that he had seen before. There was a tired look in his eyes that he had seen a lot in the last war. A look usually found in people who had seen too much. Looking at the young lady beside him, he noticed the same look in her eyes, as well. He finally shrugged and sat back down. "A couple of minutes then," He then turned to Kreacher. "And you don't move from that spot."
"Yes, Master," Kreacher replied as he froze. He'd been trying to back out of the kitchen unnoticed.
"So, what's so important?" Sirius asked Harry and Hermione.
"I have one more order for you to give Kreacher," Harry replied. "Order him to tell me when was the last time he saw your brother, and EXACTLY what he was doing at the time. He is under orders not to tell anyone in your family, but since I'm not a Black I hope this will work."
When Sirius ordered the little elf to tell the tale to Harry, the little elf seemed to fight an internal battle before the tale that they had heard a little more than a year in the future emerged. Sirius listened and his understanding of his younger brother was completely undone. Sirius heard how Kreacher had been used by Voldemort to hide something, something Regulus later went to recover in defiance to the Dark Lord; an act that ended up costing him his life.
Harry and Hermione gave Sirius the questions to ask to fill in the story until the whole thing was out. When it was over, Kreacher was on the floor crying. It had taken a direct order from Sirius, at Hermione's insistence, for Kreacher to not hurt himself when he admitted he'd failed Regulus in not destroying the locket.
Tears were in Sirius' eyes as he looked at Harry and Hermione. "Regulus had turned against Voldemort?"
"He loved Kreacher," Hermione explained, causing Sirius to look at the elf. "That Voldemort was willing to throw Kreacher's life away was what caused the defection, it looks like."
"All these years, I've thought he was just a dumb kid who got in over his head and panicked," Sirius said. He sat in silence as he contemplated what he'd heard. Then he looked at Harry and Hermione. "How...how do you know all of this?"
"We are going to tell you, but first let me do something," Hermione said. She rose from her chair and knelt beside the still crying elf. Kreacher cringed from her when she did so. "Kreacher," Hermione started softly. "I know I'm not your master and I know you think you don't like me, but if we could help you destroy the locket, would you want us to?"
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