Chapter 614: Chapter 614: The Story of the Betrayer
"R.A.B!?" Harry exclaimed when he heard Regulus' full name.
"What R.A.B?"
Sirius asked with a face full of question marks; his tone sounded a little serious, "Harry, what's going on? Is it related to Regulus?"
Harry opened his mouth but didn't say anything; he looked at Dumbledore hesitantly, not sure whether he should say it or not.
Dumbledore had reminded him that the matter of the Horcruxes must be kept secret.
"Sirius is, of course, trustworthy."
Dumbledore said, taking a note out of his pocket and handing it to Sirius. "Have a look at this!"
Sirius took the note with curiosity.
"To the Dark Lord:"
"I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know..."
Sirius's face paled as he read the note.
"You think this R.A.B. is Regulus? How is that possible? That stupid git was a staunch purist who joined the Death Eaters way early on."
"And besides…he was killed by the Dark Lord himself!"
Sirius said, "From what I've learned since his death, he was very deeply involved, but he was terrified of what the Dark Lord wanted him to do and decided to quit."
"Hey, you can't just hand in your resignation to the Dark Lord and expect to be done with it. You're either in it for life or you're dead."
That being said, it was not hard to hear a hint of hope in Sirius's tone.
He hoped that his younger brother would become a hero.
Not a fool who joined the Death Eaters on a hot-headed whim and then wanted to quit because of fear.
Lupin walked up to Sirius and patted him on the shoulder. "Sirius, if R.A.B. really is Regulus, then we have more hope of defeating the Dark Lord."
Andy nodded and said, "Maybe he was killed because he discovered the Dark Lord's secret."
Thinking about it, Andy felt that the chances of R.A.B. being Regulus were really high.
"His room is upstairs."
With that, Sirius led the group to Regulus' room.
When the door was opened, a cloud of dust immediately hit them in the face.
"No one uses this room, so it hasn't been cleaned."
Sirius was embarrassed by the situation and suddenly yelled, "Kreacher, come here and clean the room!"
When Kreacher heard Sirius's voice, he slowly walked up from downstairs. But when he saw everyone standing in front of Regulus's room, his expression quickly turned into one of agitation.
"What are you looking for in Master Regulus's room?!" Kreacher cried out.
Dumbledore patted Sirius on the shoulder and said gently, "Sirius, don't worry about it."
"However, I do have a question for Kreacher."
Dumbledore took out a fake locket from his pocket and asked Kreacher, "Kreacher, have you seen this?"
Kreacher swallowed hard, his bony chest rising and falling rapidly, and he stared at the locket in Dumbledore's hand with wide eyes, letting out a chilling scream.
"It's Master Regulus's locket!"
"Kreacher has failed; Kreacher has failed his master!"
After saying this, Kreacher suddenly rushed to the side and frantically banged his head against the wall.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Kreacher, what on earth is going on?"
Sirius was visibly agitated. Seeing that Kreacher seemed to be trying to bash himself to death, he shouted, "Kreacher, I order you not to move!"
"You said this case belonged to Regulus?"
Sirius couldn't contain his impatience and asked, "Kreacher! I want to know everything about this case and everything about Regulus, all of it!"
Kreacher sat up, curled himself into a ball, and said in a slightly muffled voice, "The wayward young master Sirius has left. He was a bad boy, always breaking the rules and breaking the mistress's heart."
Sirius's forehead veins were throbbing. "I told you to talk about Regulus and this case!"
Andy was also a little speechless.
Even at this critical moment, you still want to insult Sirius, and you're still doing it to his face...what kind of grudge is this?
"But Master Regulus was very gentle and educated. Master knew what the Black family name and his noble bloodline represented."
Kreacher continued, "For years, Master Regulus had talked of the Dark Lord—the one who would make wizards stop hiding and rule over Muggles in return."
"At sixteen, Master Regulus swore allegiance to the Dark Lord, serving him with such pride, such joy, and such happiness."
On hearing this, Sirius' face could no longer contain his rage.
If this wasn't a matter of great importance, he really wanted to kick this house elf as far away as possible.
"Then one day, a year after he joined, Master Regulus came downstairs to the kitchen to see Kreacher. Master Regulus had always liked Kreacher. Master Regulus said...he said..."
Kreacher's voice suddenly became fearful as he said, "He said the Dark Lord needed a house elf!"
"Dark Lord needed a house elf?" Lupin repeated, turning to Sirius and looking at him with a grave expression, as if he had already guessed something.
"Yes!"
Kreacher groaned and continued, "Master Regulus recommended Kreacher, which was an honour, an honour for Kreacher and Master Regulus."
"Kreacher had to do whatever the Dark Lord commanded and then come back... home!"
"So Kreacher went to the Dark Lord, who didn't tell Kreacher what to do but just took Kreacher to a cave by the sea."
"Deep in the cave was hollow, with a big black lake in it..."
"That's the place we went to," Harry exclaimed.
"There was a basin full of potion on the island, and the Dark Lord made Kreacher drink it."
Kreacher trembled from head to toe. "Kreacher drank it, and when he did, he saw terrible things, and his body felt like it was on fire..."
"Kreacher screamed for Master Regulus to spare him and cried out for Mistress, but the Dark Lord just laughed. He told Kreacher to drink all the potion, and then he put a case in it and filled it with more potion."
"Then the Dark Lord rowed away, leaving Kreacher alone on the island..."
"Kreacher needed water; he crawled to the island's edge, and he drank from the black lake ... and hands, dead hands, came out of the water and dragged Kreacher under the surface ..."
The group listened quietly as Kreacher's story unfolded, as if they could see the whole thing happening.
"Kreacher, did you escape using Apparition?" Harry asked anxiously.
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