The Admiral of Hogwarts

After quickly drawing runes on a silver platter, Hugo placed the locket he had casually tossed onto the nearby carpet in the center of the runes.

It was an octagonal, gold locket about the size of a chicken egg. The lid was adorned with a magnificent letter 'S,' inlaid with emeralds.

The emeralds were of such high quality that, under the sunlight streaming through the window, they appeared to form a continuous line, like a living serpent.

"Alright, everyone stand back a bit." Hugo glanced at everyone, then drew his wand and began to draw a series of mysterious runic symbols above the locket.

As golden runes appeared in the air one by one, the runes on the platter also lit up. Then, golden flames erupted from the entire platter, enveloping the locket.

"It'll be ready soon—" Hugo said softly, while waving his wand to continuously shrink the flames. But just as the flames shrank to a certain point, a blackish-red mist suddenly burst out of the locket, shattering the golden flames.

"Bang—" The blackish-red mist struck the silver platter, extinguishing all the runes on it. Then, the entire silver platter exploded like a bomb.

Fortunately, Hugo had gained some experience in alchemy and had prepared some defenses in advance. So, the silver platter fragments, like shrapnel, were blocked by a barrier that suddenly rose from the carpet, preventing anyone from getting hurt.

"What's the situation?" Sirius Black rushed forward as the fragments hit the barrier and clattered to the ground, asking anxiously.

"Don't worry, I've seen plenty of these explosions during experiments, it's not a big deal," Hugo said with a smile, waving his hand, then pointed to the locket. "But this locket is a big problem."

"What's wrong?" Sirius Black asked with a tense expression. Although the locket looked dull and gray at the moment, the blackish-gray mist and the unpleasant, evil aura it emitted made everyone present realize that this thing was not as simple as it seemed on the surface.

"This thing should be a relic of Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts. It's extremely precious, you could even say that everything in this glass cabinet isn't as valuable as this locket. According to your family's habits, it's impossible that it would be placed here without any record."

Hugo said. "More importantly, this locket contains an extremely evil power. I don't believe a pure-blood family would just casually leave something like this lying around."

"You're right, this thing could only have been placed here after I was kicked out of the house," Sirius Black's expression immediately turned serious. "And if that's the case, only Kreacher in this house should know what this thing is."

After speaking, he called out into the air, "Kreacher." With a pop, the house-elf appeared in the living room.

"Oh, that nasty master is bossing poor old Kreacher around again. As if everything here really belongs to him," he said, then glanced at the display cabinet behind him. "He even takes out things that carry the family's honor, just like a robber breaking into this house—"

"Shut up!" Sirius Black interrupted Kreacher's rambling, then took out the locket. "Tell me where this thing came from. I demand that you answer truthfully, without any concealment or lies."

Kreacher had been looking at his feet, unwilling to look at Sirius Black's face. Only under Sirius Black's strong command did he raise his head to look at Sirius Black's hand.

But the moment he saw it, Kreacher's expression froze. Then, he gasped heavily, his shriveled chest rising and falling rapidly, and he opened his eyes, letting out a blood-curdling scream.

"—The locket, Master Regulus's locket! Kreacher made a mistake, Kreacher failed to carry out Master's orders!" Saying this, he grabbed a heavy silver platter from his side and prepared to smash it over his head.

Seeing this, Venetto immediately stepped forward, firmly grabbed Kreacher, and turned his head to shout at Sirius Black, "Quick, make him stop!"

"I order you to stop." Sirius Black, whose mind was in a mess after hearing the secret revealed by his house-elf, snapped back to his senses at Venetto's sharp voice, and then commanded Kreacher.

As soon as the command was issued, Kreacher froze in place. After confirming that the other party would no longer hurt himself, Venetto released his hand, and then Kreacher lay stiffly on the cold stone floor, tears streaming from his sunken eye sockets.

Seeing this scene, everyone present fell silent and focused their attention on this old house-elf. Even someone as usually oblivious as Harry could sense that something was wrong.

"You just said that the locket was 'Master Regulus's,'" Sirius Black squatted down and looked into the eyes of the house-elf he had never really paid attention to before.

"Why would my brother have such a thing? What orders did he give you that you didn't complete? Kreacher, now sit up and tell me everything you know about that locket, and my brother's relationship with it!"

Soon, Kreacher sat up, curled into a ball, and buried his tear-streaked face between his knees, swaying back and forth. When he spoke, his voice was low and muffled, but it was very clear in the empty and quiet living room.

"Master Sirius Black ran away, it's good that he left, because he was a bad boy, his unruly behavior broke my mistress's heart."

"But Master Regulus had pride. He knew what the Black name and his pure blood meant. At sixteen, he joined the Dark Lord's organization. He was so proud, so proud, so happy to serve..."

"My brother was always like that, too weak and too influenced by the family," Sirius Black sighed.

"If only I had taken him with me when I left home. I would rather he spent his days flitting between balls and banquets like some of those other pure-blood families, than be like this now—"

Hearing Sirius Black's recollection, Kreacher cried even harder, tears streaming down his long nose and into his parted mouth, revealing a row of gray teeth.

"A year later, one day, Master Regulus came to the kitchen to see Kreacher. Master Regulus always liked Kreacher. Master Regulus said… he said…"

The elderly elf sobbed, shaking even faster.

"…He said the Dark Lord needed an elf. Master Regulus offered Kreacher. It was an honor, Master Regulus said, an honor for him and Kreacher. Kreacher had to do everything the Dark Lord wanted him to do… and then go—go home."

The painful memories caused Kreacher's answer to become fragmented, but the wizards sitting there still listened intently.

"So Kreacher went to the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord didn't tell Kreacher what to do, but took Kreacher to a cave by the sea.

It was a large cavern, with a large black lake inside… There was a boat by the lake… The boat took me to an island in the lake—there was a stone—a stone basin on it, filled with potion. The Dark—the Dark Lord made Kreacher drink…"

Kreacher drank, and saw many terrifying sights as he drank… Kreacher's insides were on fire… Kreacher cried out to Master Regulus to save him, cried out to the mistress, but the Dark Lord only laughed… He forced Kreacher to drink all the potion… He threw a locket into the empty basin… and filled the basin with potion again."

"Then the Dark Lord got on the boat and left, leaving Kreacher on the island… Kreacher needed water, he crawled to the edge of the island to drink water from the black lake… Many hands, dead people's hands, reached out from the water and dragged Kreacher down…"

The hoarse voice made everyone feel a chill rise from their backs. Everyone in the room felt the hairs on their bodies stand on end, because they truly realized how evil Voldemort was.

"Then what, what happened then?" Sirius Black pressed.

"Master Regulus told Kreacher to go home," Kreacher said, revealing a strange smile. "The highest law of a house-elf is the master's command. The master told Kreacher to go home, so Kreacher went home…"