Mortem . Sirius Black

chapter ninety-six

January 26th - Slytherin Dorms 

As terrifying as the thought of horcruxes was, Regulus Black felt significantly better now that they knew what Voldemort was planning. However, there was still one thought that pestered him day and night, what was Nott's mission, and did it have anything to do with the horcruxes. 

The only thing the youngest Black knew was that Nott was tasked with hiding something at Hogwarts, and telling no one about where he'd be putting it. He had noticed a crate under the other boy's bed a few times he'd been to his dorm, but the runes of top of the chest locked it, and were too advanced to crack. The boy was certain that Nephera or Ailani would've been able to do it somehow, but he couldn't exactly take the chest and give it to them. 

So, his only hope was somehow manipulating Nott into giving him that information. The problem was, that the Dark Lord had stressed the importance of secrecy in this matter, and so Theodore wasn't exactly privy on divulging the information. 

Currently, it was a few hours past curfew, and the two junior Death Eaters were sitting in the empty common room, sharing a drink. Regulus could tell that whatever Nott's mission was, it was weighing him down, and the loss of his three best friends earlier that year wasn't helping the situation either. 

"You look tired," mused the youngest boy 

Nott let out a snort, "How could I not be?" he retorted, "With Lestrange, Avery, and Mulciber gone, it's up to us to kill the bitch," 

"Us and Snape," added the sixth-year, "Don't forget Crouch too," 

"No one cares about Snape, the bloke's still crying over Evans, and Crouch shouldn't be considered mentally stable," retorted Nott, "Trust me, Black, it's you and me that have to come up with a plan," 

Regulus nodded, although he frowned internally. Their shared task of killing Nephera wasn't what he was trying to talk about, "There's something else, Theo," he tried, "Come on, as you said, it's just the two of us here now. And as much as we're doing the right thing, it's not exactly easy serving a man like him," 

Once again, the older boy let out a dark laugh, "You can say that again," he agreed, "And you're right, I've got something else to do, but I can't tell anyone about it, strict orders," 

Regulus nodded, pouring some more drink for the other boy. In his experience, the drunker someone got, the more likely it would be for them to talk, "Understandable," he said, "But still, mate, we got to help each other with shit like this," 

Theodore stopped to think for a second. Regulus was smarter, smarter than he let on, and he could be trusted. Other than that instance of eavesdropping during Christmas, which had been dealt with by the boy making an unbreakable vow, there really was no question about his loyalty, "I need to hide something, and I don't know where," 

"What do you need to hide?" 

"I can't tell you that," answered the boy truthfully, "I just need to hide it somewhere inside the castle, and I have no clue where," 

"The forest, maybe?" suggested the boy, "Under a bush or something," 

"No, it needs to be somewhere secure," said Nott, gulping down another glass of firewhiskey that Regulus had poured for him 

"Alright, uh, this thing, is it something big?" 

Slowly but surely, Regulus was trying to gain more information about the other boy's mission, filling him up with alcohol as he did so, "No, no, it's pretty small," replied Nott, "At first, I thought like, a random drawer or something, but it's not safe enough,"