The Search Is Over

Chapter 104

"I had no idea that Harry would choose not to keep the stone," Albus said.

His tone was calm and reasonable, but it served to soothe no one present.

"Now may we have dinner," Rabastan asked.

"We may as well eat while we sort this shitstorm, assuming it can be sorted."

Regulus nodded.

"Of course."

He rose and led everyone into the dining room where Kreacher already had dinner laid out on the table, kept at a perfect temperature with a warming charm. Everyone complimented Kreacher on the meal as they seated themselves.

Regulus tried not to feel too out of place being the only one without a plate of food in front of him at the table as he could not eat. It wasn't as if he could toss a deserving victim on Kreacher's clean table and sip from their wrist, dragging out his meal while everyone else ate. The mental image of the horror that would surely be on the faces of most of his guests were he to do such a thing was enough to turn his stomach. Not to mention leaving a live person on the table to sip on to emulate the enjoying of mortal food would be as horrifying for him as anyone else.

He fit into this group just fine without needing to dine with them. His longing for Kreacher's food had nothing to do with physical hunger, and he knew it. It had to do with bonding with Kreacher, and he knew that he still had that as well. Soon enough Kreacher would be a vampire, and would no longer be eating his own cooking either.

"So you continue to give worthless idiots the benefit of the doubt until this happens," Severus said, cold accusing gaze on Albus.

"Have you finally learned yet?"

"No Severus, I will not insist on seeing the worst in everyone as you do," Albus retorted, frowning in exasperated annoyance.

"I have tried to tell you more than once what that does to a person. It kills the soul a little each day one chooses hate."

Severus's look was doubtful to say the least, but he made no comment, turning his attention to the meal instead. Looking relieved, Albus did the same.

With a sudden and uncomfortable sharpness, Regulus remembered Mortis's warning that he was killing his soul just before he returned to Kreacher. Did he hate himself for his own mistakes? Where Severus lashed out at others, not hating himself at all, did Regulus lash...inward?

He glanced over at the phoenix, who sat on his perch of oak near the table. The perch had a crystal food dish attached to it, wide and flat in the shape of a miniature tray. It was currently full of smaller portions of the same meal everyone else was having. Kreacher was always a healthy cook, except perhaps on the holidays, so the elf deemed his food suitable for the phoenix to ingest. As if sensing Regulus's glance, the black bird raised his elegant head and nodded once.

Self reflection done and confirmed by his phoenix, Regulus gladly returned his focus to the current problem at hand.

"I was hoping that together, we could sort a way to retrieve the stone," Regulus said.

"I don't want it and I don't recommend anyone else use it, but we need to keep it safe. I had a few ideas, but wanted to run them by everyone else for improvements or additions...or perhaps they won't work at all. We tried looking in the forest for it last night, Reynaldo, Kereston's acromantula, kindly offered to try and help as eight eyes are better than two. It seemed worth a try but we had no luck."

"He told me," Kereston said, glancing up.

"It's nice the two of you got to know each other. I wasn't sure you'd be interested in him so...I let him keep to himself as he is at times wont to do."