The days of hanging out at Hogwarts

The walls on both sides of the steps were lit with simple gas lamps. Their slightly yellowish light dispelled the darkness and illuminated the gray walls.

Hermione was half a step behind, looking over his shoulder to check the structure of the house while paying attention to her steps. Her speed was neither too fast nor too slow: "I still remember that night at the Astronomy Tower. I asked you why you accepted his invitation. What did you say? Dumbledore's face, and later the mysterious man's face, so what is hidden here, is there any information related to Voldemort? Why do you know there are clues here? "

The more the girl asked, the more enthusiastic she became. She unconsciously quickened her pace and walked side by side with him. She was still asking endlessly: "Why are they here, left by Sirius's parents? Oh, they may be his brothers and sisters. Listen, It is said that other children of the Black family have joined the Death Eaters camp, are they left behind?"

Hermione's lips moved faster and faster. Suddenly, she stopped, her smart eyes shining: "Is it a Horcrux?"

"Why did you suddenly think of Horcrux?" Loren's eyes flashed with appreciation.

Hermione looked around cautiously. The foyer on the first floor was quiet, with only a few dim lights. The curtains not far away were closed so tightly that no gaps were leaking out. The portrait of the old witch was covered in the darkness, making no sound.

"Because... the mysterious man has the habit of giving Horcruxes to his subordinates for safekeeping. He gave the diary Horcrux to Lucius Malfoy and Hufflepuff's golden cup to Bellatrix. He also wanted Peter Pettigrew to sneak into Hogwarts Castle and steal Ravenclaw's diadem, so I guessed whether he would give a certain Horcrux to the Death Eaters in the Black family. "Hermione. He spoke in a low voice, but could not hide the excitement in his tone.

Loren pondered and responded: "Well...that's a bold guess."

"So, is it as I thought?"

"Yes...or not?" Loren proclaimed, looking up at the living room on the second floor. When he went downstairs, he vaguely caught a glimpse of the display cabinets inside.

"Say it!"

"I was just about to say it, but you scared me and forgot about it."

"..."

Hermione clenched her fists.

While they were talking, the two of them had already arrived at the entrance of the corridor that continued to go up, and stepped onto the spiraling stairs.

The living room on the second floor is a square room with a spacious space and a high hanging ceiling. A dirty tapestry is hung on the olive green. Countless dust is buried in every strand of wool. The velvet curtains are buzzing. The sitting fox Meizi was whispering.

The dilapidated and dark old house exuded an eerie atmosphere. Hermione moved closer to Loren and whispered: "Should we find someone to lead the way..."

"Don't worry too much. You can apparate in this house and we can leave at any time." Loren replied softly. He just didn't want to hear them arguing, so he came here to try his luck.

Further inside, dusty glass-door cabinets were placed on both sides of the fireplace, filled with all kinds of weird things.

Loren's eyes reflected the crystal blue glimmer as he identified these long-sealed collections:

A batch of rusty daggers, judging from the traces of craftsmanship, are the work of fairies in the 16th century. They are expensive and have great collection value. Animal paws and a coiled snake skin are all well-preserved magical animal organs. It can be used to brew potions or make alchemical items; there are also a lot of dark and dark silver boxes with Hebrew characters engraved on them and unknown functions, and some of them have curses engraved on them.

The most peculiar thing was a decorative crystal bottle with a large opal inlaid on the stopper. The bottle was filled with the blood of an unknown creature and could not be taken out for identification. Loren could not tell what animal's blood it was.

"Are there any Horcruxes among these things?" Hermione got closer and observed carefully with him. "I think that bottle of blood looks very evil. Maybe it is the work of a dark wizard..."

"It's not here, what we are looking for is Slytherin's locket." Loren's crystal blue eyes became more vivid in the dim environment.

"Slytherin's locket..." Hermione slowed down her breathing unconsciously, a little surprised, but felt that it was expected, "Yes, we saw it in Hao Qi's memory. Ms. Prziba Smith purchased Slytherin's locket from Borgin Burke at a high price, which attracted the covetous attention of Tom Riddle, and was eventually poisoned... Yes, he had already tainted Ravenclaw and Hutch. Patch's reputation certainly doesn't mind tarnishing Slytherin's reputation. If Dumbledore hadn't been so careful, he would probably have made Gryffindor's sword into a Horcrux..."

Having said this, Hermione sighed and felt a little worried: "I wonder how many Horcruxes he made... Can we just find them one by one? What if he made dozens or hundreds of pieces?" ?”

Loren found it funny and shook his head: "Didn't Dumbledore say that Horcruxes are not something that can be mass-produced? How can a person's soul be divided dozens or hundreds of times? That way, he can do it himself without us having to do anything." Eliminate yourself."

"Who knows, Fu... the mysterious man is not a normal wizard to begin with."

Just as the two of them were concentrating on observing the items in the display cabinet, a sinister and hoarse voice came from under the velvet curtain next to them. Although it was very soft, it could be heard clearly.

"Two mudbloods are wandering around the house carelessly and unscrupulously. If my mistress knew about it, she would cry so sadly..."

There stood an old house elf, wearing a dirty rag around his waist, like the loincloth used by men in tropical countries to cover their bodies. He was almost naked, and his old and loose skin hung loosely on his bones. His head was bald like all house elves, but a bunch of white hair grew out of his two big bat-like ears, and his fleshy nose drooped.

The house elf stared at the two people with vicious and burning eyes, his eyes were bloodshot, and his eyes were filled with turbid fog: "You are the people invited by the red-haired old prodigal son, you are full of the despicable and dirty smell of Muggles, if I The poor mistress is secretly aware..."

House elves, aging, talking nonsense...

Loren narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at him. He had already guessed his identity, but he was not sure whether the elf could communicate normally. After all, he seemed to be brainwashed by pure-blood concepts and seemed to be suffering from Alzheimer's disease...

"Who are you?" Hermione frowned. Up to now, she had met many house elves. No matter what their views were, at least they had not insulted them verbally.

What a terrible family tradition the Black family has!

The house elf didn't even raise his eyelids, as if he hadn't heard her words or was completely ignoring the two of them.

"Didn't you hear, we are asking who you are?"

Kreacher raised his eyelids, and his two light-colored eyes suddenly widened, filled with anger, and then said quickly in a voice that the two of them could hear, "What a rude guy, a rude mudblood, to talk to him like this Kreacher spoke as if they were distinguished guests of the Black family, but there is no such guest. They are obviously in the Black family's house, but they don't know the servants of the master's family. It's really embarrassing, poor old Kreacher. What can he do..."

Hermione couldn't help but grimace: "Kreacher, can't you speak normally?"

"Rude Mudblood—"

"[Lock tongue seals throat]"

"[Tongtong Petrochemical]"

The two quick spells caused a hoarse and low murmur to be silenced in the mouth. A faint iron-green color appeared on the elf's gray and aging skin, spreading along the cursed chest and binding him in place.

Thanks to Loren's strong control over the curse, the petrification was controlled on the body below the neck. Keqeli's mind and facial features were still able to move, but his tongue was swollen and blocked his mouth, making him speechless.

"Loren, this..." Hermione blinked, feeling that although the house elf was very rude, it didn't seem good to do it directly.

Loren did not look at the petrified Kreacher. He summoned two chairs from the corner, summoned the whirlwind and did a simple cleaning before sitting down: "It should be a while before dinner starts. Are you curious that the mysterious man handed over the Horcrux?" Which Death Eater of the Black family? There is a regrettable and amazing story hidden here. Let’s talk about it slowly..."

"Uh! Uh-huh!"

When the petrified Kreacher heard this, his eyes showed incredible horror. He desperately wanted to say something, but was imprisoned in place by an unreasonably powerful spell, and could only make some unexplained grunts.

Hermione looked at Kreacher who was petrified, and then at Loren who was indifferent. She vaguely guessed something and sat down next to him.

"The protagonist of the story is Sirius's younger brother, named Regulus Black. Unlike the rebellious Sirius, he is completely the ideal successor in the minds of the old Black couple. He fully possesses the power of Black blood, is wise and knowledgeable, Highly magical, tenacious and persistent..."

Kreacher's struggling movements slowed down, his head hanging down as if resigned to his fate.

"Similarly, he is a staunch purist, a worshiper of the Dark Lord, and one of the first to join the Death Eaters, but surprisingly, he is not keen on torturing Muggles and Muggles As a wizard, he even has compassion for the weak and only advocates blood and strength. It can be said that he is a pure Slytherin.”

Kreacher's eyes began to turn cloudy.

"One day, the Dark Lord asked him for a house elf for experimentation. This is an honor in the eyes of any Death Eater, so he recommended his favorite and most familiar elf - Kreacher. ”

A muffled whimper interrupted the narrative, and Hermione turned her head to look that way.

Loren didn't pause, only glanced at him lightly, and continued: "Regulus didn't know that the so-called experiment was to set a vicious curse to protect the Horcrux, but he found clues from the frightened elf who returned home. , had doubts about the Dark Lord... He took the elf back to that place, found out the Dark Lord's secret, drank the poison resolutely, took the Horcrux to him, and ordered him to destroy it. Horcrux, don’t tell any family members about this and then die..."

Kreacher couldn't hold it back any longer, tears welled up in his eyes, and big drops of tears flowed down his pig's nose and into his mouth full of gray teeth. He looked as embarrassed as an old dog.

After hearing the story, Hermione froze on the spot, and it took a long time to come back to her senses: "This is really an admirable wizard."

Loren nodded in agreement, paused, turned to look at the crying elf over there, shook his finger to lift the spell, and the sound was like a sharp dagger piercing the heart, cutting the flesh: "He can obviously imitate the Dark Lord and let the elf He drank the poison but chose to sacrifice himself.”

Kreacher groaned and collapsed to the ground as if he had been defeated. The surging emotions overwhelmed his dull head. The pain and guilt made him breathless. He almost drowned in tears and snot. He opened his mouth wide, but Can't cry.

He panted for a while, as if suffocated, and then started to sob.

"Kreacher..." Loren lowered his voice, "You can't destroy Voldemort's Horcrux, hand it over, and we will fulfill Regulus's last wish for you."

Kreacher raised his ugly head and looked at Loren with his bloodshot eyes, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.

Hermione couldn't bear to see it.

Seeing the hidden fear and uneasiness in his eyes, mixed with some scrutiny, Loren smiled relaxedly: "Don't worry, before officially destroying the Horcrux, you still need to explain the situation to Dumbledore. I just want to You leave the Horcrux to me for safekeeping."

"Can't you leave it here with Kreacher?" Kreacher's voice was hoarse, and weak breath slowly came out of his throat, "I will hand it over to Mr. Dumbledore personally..."

"Not secure enough."

"Kreacher has been keeping it for more than ten years!"

"But you are old, your energy is low, your head is always confused, and there are too many wizards coming and going in this house. Maybe they will take advantage of your negligence and steal the Horcrux at some point."

Loren tapped his fingers on the armrest of the chair, "In addition, you hate Sirius, and you are just forced to serve the last heir of the Black family. This also means that you may seek refuge with two daughters who are married outside the Black family. , become Voldemort’s minion, become the accomplice of Regulus’ murderer, and maybe hand over the Horcrux to them.”

Kreacher's body trembled again. The house elf's loyalty was unquestionable. He wanted to deny it, but couldn't.

At some point, he did have some secret thoughts...

An unfounded fear strangled Kreacher's throat, making his already difficult breathing even heavier. He squeezed out a hoarse voice from his weak throat: "Kreacher has never thought of doing anything for the Dark Lord, never! "

Hermione heard the connotation of this sentence, and the intolerance and sympathy in her eyes were shocked. She couldn't help but refuted: "But the married daughters of the Black family are Voldemort's servants, and you cannot disobey their orders."

Kreacher lowered his head.

"Okay, go find the Horcrux and give it to me."

"yes."