war and peace

Scrimgeour is missing, and in this case, the chances are higher that the person pretending to be him is friend or foe.Even if Mrs. Weasley had always opposed Harry to find Voldemort and destroy him, she had to give in at this time.The Burrow had been exposed, and it was no longer safe for Harry to stay here, with people who were not from the Order coming in and out freely.And just as everyone was in a mess, someone rushed in, wearing a black robe and a mask on his face, and spells were flying all over the place.

Harry and Ron hurriedly drew their wands to fend off the enemy.Luckily Hermione had been prepared for this moment, having packed both of their things in her little beaded bag that had been charmed with the No Trace Stretching Charm.She Apparated them both in a hurry and landed on a Muggle street.

They thought they could hide for a while.But they had only been sitting in a small coffee shop for a few minutes when two Death Eaters spotted them.Fortunately, the three reacted very quickly, subdued the two, erased their memories, and left the scene quickly after restoring the scene to its original state.

Harry then suggested that they go to 12 Grimmauld Place.Hermione had doubts about the safety of this place, but Harry's explanation put her at ease for a while.Although Dumbledore is dead, the people he told the place before have become secret keepers, but the traitorous Snape doesn't seem to have come in.Someone from the Order of the Phoenix cast a spell in the entrance hall, and whenever someone entered, a huge earth-gray human figure would burst out and roar loudly.It didn't do much for them, but Ron guessed that if Snape had actually come, he would probably have been swallowed in one gulp.Harry and Hermione, who didn't know it, were taken aback by the trap when they entered the door, but the real shock was yet to come.

The windows in the living room are bright and clean, without dust or cobwebs.There were fresh white lilies in vases, and the heavy and delicate velvet curtains shimmered in the quiet blue light of old-fashioned gas lamps.

someone?All three stood still, holding their wands on guard.

Just then, a crumpled head appeared at the stairway leading to the basement kitchen.It has big eyes like glass beads, fluffy white hair sticking out of its ears, and a snow-white tea towel wrapped around its body. "Master Harry, you are back. Please wait a moment, Kreacher will be able to prepare dinner in a moment." Then it seemed to want to salute Ron and Hermione, but the steak it was holding was frying. Pans make this a lot more difficult.

"Master Harry?" Seeing that Kreacher went down to cook again, Ron repeated the title of the elf in disbelief. "Is that really Kreacher?"

In contrast, Hermione's reaction was a little flattered. "Did it... try to salute me just now? Oh, my God!" She was almost speechless with excitement, and Harry knew why: Hermione had been working on improving the treatment of house-elves, fighting them. A good relationship is the first step, and before Kreacher gave her only rollicking and insults.

After the surprise comes doubt. "But what's going on here? It's impossible for Kreacher to like me instantly!" Harry questioned.The last time they met was after Sirius died, Kreacher betrayed Sirius, and the atmosphere was as bad as it could be.So the three of them inspected the old Black house from the inside to the outside.In the end, the three of them unanimously concluded that there is no other problem except that the place has become very clean (they cleaned it up to death and had no such effect).

The crux of this problem still lies in Kreacher.Before dinner, Harry couldn't wait to ask the house-elf about it. "Who told you to wait for us here, Kreacher?"

"Kreacher doesn't know, Kreacher doesn't know that person." The house elf looked up at him with a very correct attitude.

"Don't know?" Harry repeated suspiciously, and then he tried to use it differently: "Who found you first? I mean, you can't just listen to someone you don't know?"

"It's Miss Bella." The elf quickly replied, "She summoned Kreacher to help another person do what he ordered."

"Bellatrix Lestrange?" Ron next to him couldn't help interjecting. "Who is the good person she wants to help?"

Seeing the house-elf tremble when she heard this, Hermione gave Ron a hard look, and then asked softly, "Did you see that man, Kreacher?"

Kreacher glanced at her, as if considering whether to answer her, and shook his head. "That room was very dark, Kreacher didn't see anything, only heard a voice ordering Kreacher."

Someone who can make Bellatrix do things?Harry suddenly had a bad feeling. "What did he say? Clean the house?"

"No, it's about taking care of young Master Harry and his friends." Kreacher replied, rolling his big eyes between the three of them.

Harry took two steps in place. "That's all?" he asked suspiciously.His feeling reappeared, a person hiding in the dark...

"Also, let young master Harry live in Master Regulus' room." Kreacher still answered quickly, and it could be seen that he had expected this kind of question.

I don't know if it was Harry's own delusion, but he felt that there was a longing and eager light in Kreacher's eyes when he said this. "Regulus?" he repeated. "Is it on the top floor?"

So the three of them ignored the hot dinner and went straight up the stairs.There are only two rooms on the top floor, one for Sirius and one for Regulus.

They were just too busy checking to see if anyone else was lurking in the house, and didn't notice some details.When he came up again this time, Harry stopped at the door.There is a nameplate hanging on it, with neat handwriting. "Reculus-Arcturus-Black." He read it again, and read it again, feeling a surge of excitement in his body, but he didn't realize it himself. "RAB...I think we've found him."

When he said this, Ron suddenly realized, and Hermione was already screaming. "Is that him? Sirius' brother?"

It is indeed possible.According to Sirius, Regulus was a Death Eater in his early years, and when he wanted to quit, he was killed by others.If Regulus was the RAB, then he probably wasn't killed trying to quit, but rather trying to destroy Voldemort's Horcrux.

"Kreacher," Harry said, already shocked by the fact, his voice seemed to float in the clouds, "do you know about a locket?"

However, it turned out that Harry's conjecture was not wrong.Kreacher recounts in detail how it had helped Voldemort hide Slytherin's gold locket, and how Regulus had it retrieved and tried to destroy the locket.Regulus drank the green potions, and was dragged down by the Inferi in the Black Lake when he was looking for water.And it could only follow Regulus' instructions to return to Black's old house, but it has been unable to open the locket and destroy it.

"Is this the one?" Harry summoned the fake locket in his backpack upstairs with the Flying Charm.

Kreacher was teary and choked up when he saw it. "It is indeed Master Regulus's thing!" When it saw the familiar handwriting on the note inside, it was almost about to cry.

"Where's the real one?" Ron asked eagerly.And Hermione's eyes were distracted, and she had already remembered: "There is indeed a... the cupboard where Kreacher lived before, and it was thrown together with a snuff box containing sarcoma powder and a music box that made people sleepy ..."

Harry suddenly remembered. "You got it back, didn't you, Kreacher?" He looked at the elf questioningly, hoping for an affirmative answer, so nervous that he could feel his heart pounding against his ribs.

"It's gone," Kreacher held the rough-carved gold locket, as if he was holding some priceless treasure, and his voice was broken by crying, "Mundungus, that thief took away many of the properties of the Black family. Stolen... the locket, the silver cup, the Order of Merlin [-]st Class..."

Harry immediately wanted to bring back that always wretched guy for interrogation.But he suddenly came back to his senses and thought of another question. "Kreacher, let the person who took care of us know about the locket?" Otherwise, why did you specifically ask Kreacher to let him live in Regulus' room?Isn't that just to let him see the nameplate?

"He didn't say..." the elf was still sobbing, "he just told Kreacher, follow his words honestly, and young master Harry will be able to fulfill Master Regulus' last wish..."

No wonder Kreacher's attitude towards them changed so quickly!Not even Bellatrix's orders could do it.It now looks like it all depends on Kreacher's loyalty to Regulus.The three looked at each other.And isn't Regulus' last wish to destroy the locket Horcrux?Besides the people of the Order of the Phoenix, who else knew they were going to do this?And he asked Bellatrix to call for Kreacher around the corner?Has anyone been able to do this?

"Did the man say anything else? Say it all, Kreacher!" Harry felt a rush of anxiety at the thought that their plans were being watched by someone who was probably an enemy.

"There is one last thing." Kreacher was still holding the locket carefully, flicked with one free finger, and half a letter paper suddenly appeared in the air. "He also ordered Kreacher to find out the letter written by Lily Potter to Master Sirius and pass it to Master Harry. But Kreacher could only find half of it, and the other half was probably taken by that dirty Mundungus The thief who threw it did not know where it went..."

But Harry didn't notice the words behind it at all.In fact, as soon as Kreacher mentioned his mother's name, his eyes were fixed on the half of the letter.Harry grabbed it and began to read it carefully, line by line.It included a photo of him riding a toy broomstick from Sirius on his first birthday, and also mentioned the grim situation, the dead McKinnons, and a restless Wormtail (who was presumably ready to give the Voldemort betrayed the location of the Potters).The last paragraph is about Bathilda Bagshot, whose mother said she was only invited to Harry's first birthday party, and then she said a lot about the Dumbledore family.Lily ends her letter by saying, "I can't believe Dumbledore..."

Can't believe what?

There is no more behind.Harry's heart sank.Judging from the tone of the letter, it was clearly not a good thing about Dumbledore, and what he had heard about the Headmaster from Ron's Aunt Muriel happened to be not a good thing either.Dumbledore obviously kept a lot of facts from him...

There was also that person that Kreacher didn't know. From its description, it seemed that Bellatrix obeyed what that person said and only acted as an intermediary, never really intervening in this matter from the beginning to the end.On the side of the Death Eaters, how many people can do this?And almost everything this man ordered was helpful, from letters to Regulus.He knew what they were going to do, probably better than they themselves...

Harry couldn't think about it anymore.

Is this person an enemy or a friend?They don't seem to have such friends yet, but if they were enemies, their behavior would be too strange.In this way, it is also expected by this person that they are here now... But no matter what, he must act quickly. "Kreacher, can I trouble you to catch Mundungus? I have something to ask him."

Ron and Hermione wanted to say something, but seeing Harry's livid face, they subconsciously fell silent.