The Boys Are Back in Town

39- Kreacher's Quest

1980
Regulus was sitting silently at the table, keeping his head down as Voldemort spoke. "Now, I will need a house elf," he said. "Regulus my boy, what is the name of your servant?" He asked. Regulus gulped. "Kreacher, my lord," he said. "Kreacher, I require Kreacher, please fetch him," he insisted. Regulus stood from the table and walked into the kitchen. "Master Regulus Sir?" Kreacher asked. "Hello Kreacher, the dark lord requires your assistance," he said as the two of them walked back into the now empty room. Only Voldemort remained. "Thank you Regulus, that will be all," he said, dismissing the boy. He nodded before quickly fleeing the house.

At the Potters' James and Sirius sobbed on the couch as Jesse silently wheeled over the kettle. Effie and Monty were gone. "The nurses came in to take them away, we couldn't even say goodbye," James managed to choke out through sobs. They were parents to all of them at one point or another. They took in all three of the Black children and looked after them when they had no one else. They were saints, and they were gone. Jesse had her arms around James as she cried into his shoulder. "James- I don't know what to say," Blue said. Carter sat down silently with tears in her eyes. James placed a hand on Jesse's stomach as he truly reached the realisation that his parents would never meet their baby. They were the biggest supporters of their relationship, they'd been betting on them since the beginning and now they were gone.

"Kreacher?" Regulus asked as the elf appeared in his bedroom. "Master- Kreacher tried his best- it hurts, sir," he choked before Regulus led the elf out to the kitchen to fetch him some water. "Kreacher what happened?" Regulus asked. "The Dark Lord, he needed Kreacher to drink a potion. He said he was testing something. Kreacher had to drink this- this dreadful potion master, he said it could kill Kreacher, Dark Lord wanted to test the defence on his locket, sir," he said. Regulus raised his eyebrows. "A locket? What locket?" He asked. "Master Salazar Slytherin's Locket sir," Kreacher said. Regulus thought Back to what Blue had taught him in school.

"A Horcrux was an object in which a Dark wizard or witch had hidden a fragment of his or her soul in order to become immortal. As long as the object remained intact, so to did the soul fragment inside it, keeping the maker anchored to the world of the living, even if their body suffered fatal damage."