Chapter 199: Going to the Cave (Patreon)
Content
The house elf was so excited about seeing the locket destroyed. He was too weak at the knees to stand properly. There were a few words of thanks to Evan in his mouth, but Sirius didn’t give him enough time.
"Kreacher, take me to that cave." Sirius commanded, with a flicker of determination on his face. He intended on bringing back Regulus’s body.
He grabbed the house-elf and wanted to Apparate.
"Wait a minute, Sirius, we’ll go with you." Harry hurriedly stopped him.
"No, you three stay here and wait for me." Sirius refused.
From Kreacher’s narrative, he knew that the cave was very dangerous. There was evil magic left behind by Voldemort. He was going to find the body of Regulus, and there was no need for the three children to take the risk of coming along.
"I know what you are thinking, but the three of us are no longer children." Harry looked at Sirius. "Over the past two years, we have beaten Voldemort many times. If there is any danger in that cave, we can help too."
"Yes, let us go with you, Sirius." Harry had just finished his words, and Hermione followed, "After listening to Kreacher, no one can remain indifferent. We all want to do something for Regulus, even if it’s just bringing back his body for proper burial."
Listening to Hermione's words, Kreacher made a loud mourning.
Evan saw easily from Sirius’s face that he was really hesitant. He knew that Harry and Hermione would convince him. It was only a matter of time.
When it came to such adventures, Sirius was never a man of reason.
In reality, Evan didn't think about going to the cave.
From the known information, the cave was very dangerous. There were a lot of Inferi and other evil black magic left by Voldemort. Since Slytherin’s locket had been destroyed, it didn’t make any sense to go there.
Especially considering that it was Christmas day. This whole thing looked even more out of place.
But if Harry and Hermione were to go, he had to follow.
Hermione was right. After listening to Kreacher telling the story of Regulus, no one could be indifferent. They had to do something in his honor.
Since they had to go, it would be best to go with Dumbledore, he just had to talk to him...
"Well, I can take you three." Sirius relaxed. He straightened and continued. "We'd better hurry, I think..."
"I think it’d be best to inform Dumbledore about this." Evan suddenly said, "If I’m not wrong, Kreacher just said that Regulus had been dragged into the lake by the Inferi. No one knows how many of those monsters are in that cave.”
“The Inferi” Sirius, Harry and Hermione froze.
“To say it briefly, they’re the dead bodies controlled by the Dark Arts. They have no life, no souls or thoughts. They are practically fearless to all things except for fire and light. If there are a lot of corpses in the cave, we would not be able to face them, let alone finding Regulus’s body." Evan turned his head and said to the elf, "Kreacher, do you remember the number of dead people you saw at that time?"
"The big black lake, Kreacher saw the hands of the dead people coming out of the whole lake.” Just talking about it, Kreacher’s big eyes were full of fear.
"It seems that the number of corpses is really large indeed." Evan looked at Sirius. "We must be careful, don't forget, besides the Inferi, there should be other magic left by Voldemort."
"But Dumbledore is still in the Ministry of Magic. He is very busy. The Wizengamot is now having the hearings of the case of Peter Pettigrew."Judging from his appearance, Sirius didn’t seem to want to tell Dumbledore about this. He didn’t want to waste any time.
He longed to go to the cave immediately and bring Regulus back.
As soon as he thought of his brother's body lying alone in the dark, damp cave, there was an unprecedented sorrow in Sirius’s heart.
"I don't care what the Inferi are; I don't want to waste any more time..."
"No, we have to tell Dumbledore, this is very important." Evan insisted, shaking the locket in his hand. "Dumbledore must also know about this locket."
Perhaps it was out of consideration of the safety of the three, Evan, Harry, and Hermione; perhaps Evan saved him not long ago, perhaps...
No matter what it was, under Evan’s insistence, Sirius reluctantly went to inform Dumbledore.
He Apparated to the Ministry of Magic, Evan and the others stayed there waiting for news. He was thinking of using this time to go down and see the collection of the Black family’s library.
"Come this way, three little Masters!" Kreacher was much more enthusiastic than before, taking the initiative to lead the way and introducing the history of each decoration around.
The house elf knew a lot about the house.
He could tell exactly when and why each piece of ornament was placed, he could even clearly state the origin of each stone.
Just entering the underground library, Evan noticed the huge green tapestry on the middle wall and the family crest on which the gold thread was sewn: a mountain symbol, two five-pointed stars and a short sword shield. On both sides of the shield were two big dogs standing up.
Evan did not know the meaning of this coat of arms; his attention was completely focused on the series of names at the top of the Black family tree.
Many of these names recurred in the history of magic and were of extremely famous wizards.
It could be seen that the Black family’s past was glorious and honorable.
Evan was interested in comparing these names with the history of magic in his own mind. In addition to that, he also found that the Black family was related to almost all pure-blood wizard families, including many extinct wizarding families.
Even the families of the Four Founders of Hogwarts were linked to the Black family.
Looking at the names of these familiar and prominent wizards, and recalling the things they have done that affected the development of the magic world, Evan could feel the depth of this family tree full of history.
But the lower he went, the less pleasant the names that he found were.
For example, Kreacher’s introduction of Phineas Nigellus, Sirius’s great-grandfather, and Evan just saw him in Hogwarts’ portrait a few days ago. A snide, sarcastic fellow, with a pointed beard, wearing the green and silver colours associated with Slytherin House.
Although Kreacher described him as a great man, it was known to all historians that this guy was probably the Hogwarts’ least popular Headmaster in history.