harry potter book of crimes

"Can anyone tell me why that house elf treats Maka with such respect?"

Harry looked at the others blankly, but found that everyone had "I want to know too" expressions on their faces, and couldn't help scratching his scalp in confusion.

At this time, a burst of footsteps came from the corner of the corridor on the first floor, followed by a familiar voice.

"...I think there is always a reason for that."

"Sirius?" Harry quickly turned his head and looked over there.

"Ignore Kreacher, he has been alone for too long," Sirius said absentmindedly as he walked quickly, "...I received a lot of crazy orders from my mother's portrait, and just take care of myself.

He said to himself, but he used to be a hateful little——"

"What if you could set him free?" Hermione still held out hope, "Maybe-"

"We can't let him go free, he knows too much about the Order of the Phoenix." Sirius said rudely, passing by the children, "Besides, aren't you angry that he called you a Mudblood?

"

"It's okay," Hermione whispered, "He's not in his right mind and doesn't know what he's saying -"

"Don't lie to yourself, Hermione, he obviously knows exactly what he is talking about." Fred said angrily.

At this time, Sirius had already reached the corner of the stairs. He suddenly turned back and dropped the last sentence.

"Anyway, that shock will definitely kill him - if you don't believe it, you can try asking him to leave the house and see how he reacts."

Hermione, who is familiar with the history of magic, certainly knows what will happen if she does this. For house elves, it is tantamount to depriving them of the meaning of existence.

Compared with the elves in ancient times, there may not be any difference in appearance between them, but in their hearts, they are already two completely different creatures.

From the moment the battle between sensibility and reason began, Hermione was no longer the naive little girl who only had "black" and "white" in her eyes.

"I'm so stupid!" Hermione took a deep breath and stamped her feet vigorously.

Harry and the others looked at her in surprise, but she just shook her head and went to the kitchen first.

"What happened to her?" Harry asked strangely.

Ron shrugged blankly, and after thinking for a while, he guessed: "Does Hermione really intend to find a way to free Kreacher?"

"Oh -" Harry nodded immediately, "With her character, it's really possible."

…

When Harry and the others went to the kitchen to have breakfast, Sirius had already knocked on the study door.

"Please come in."

The door was opened, and Sirius strode in, looking directly at Maka, as if trying to read something from his face.

"What's wrong?" Maka looked up from behind the pile of books on the desk and asked doubtfully.

Sirius was silent for a while, then frowned and said, "Is there something you are hiding from me?"

The atmosphere became a little serious. Leni, who was lying on the sofa on the other side, copying a book, glanced over curiously, and then quickly lowered her head.

"There are a lot of things I have been hiding from you," Maka thought for a moment, then stood up and said, "Let's go! Change to a suitable place and let's have a good chat... Kreacher!"

Before he finished speaking, the space in the middle of the study was slightly distorted, and the old house elf appeared with his back hunched over.

"Dear Mr. Maclean, may I ask what's wrong with calling old Kreacher?"

This loyal house elf of the Black family had his back to Sirius, but he was extremely respectful to Maka.

"Kreacher! What happened? Why did you-"

"I'm sorry, Master..." Kreacher heard the voice and immediately turned his head and bowed deeply, "Old Kreacher didn't see the Master here just now..."

Although he said this, his expression was one of disgust, as if he had seen something dirty.

"The young master is a nasty, ungrateful bastard who broke his mother's heart -" Kreacher lowered his voice and muttered again, as if he really thought that no one else could hear him.

"My mother has no heart, Kreacher," Sirius said coldly, "She relies entirely on resentment to maintain her life."

Kreacher bowed again at this time, adhering to the Black family's unique rule that house elves must bow when talking to their master.

"No matter what the master says," Kreacher muttered angrily, "the master is not even worthy of sucking his mother's heel. Oh, my poor mistress, what if-"

"Okay, Kreacher." Maka interrupted him and gestured toward the door, "Sirius, let's go to the living room on the second floor to talk..."

In this old house, only the living room and one other room have not been touched.

Although Maka felt that it was not necessary to let Sirius know certain facts, there was no point in hiding such things. Speaking out could make Sirius feel less jealous of herself...

It was a long, high-ceilinged room on the second floor, with olive-green walls hung with dirty tapestries.

When they put their feet on the carpet, a small plume of dust was raised, and the long, yellow-green velvet curtains buzzed as if there were many invisible bees flying inside.

"The curtains are full of vixens. You can collect them later and use them as potion ingredients." Maka smiled as she passed by the curtains.

But Sirius didn't have time to pay attention to this little joke.

Maka didn't care. He walked straight to the other end of the room and carefully looked at the giant tapestry that covered the entire wall.

The tapestry looked very old, the color was dull, and it seemed that foxes had bitten it in several places.

However, the gold thread embroidered on it still shines brightly, and there is a family tree embroidered on it with lush branches and leaves in great detail.

There are several large words embroidered on the top of the tapestry: The noble and oldest Black family is always pure.

Maka didn't say any more nonsense. He directly stretched out his hand and pointed to the name at the bottom: Regulus Black.

After his birth date, there is a clear death date, which was about fifteen years ago.

"This is your brother." Maka stated this fact in a calm tone.

"Yes, so what?" Sirius said, "What do you want to say?"

"He joined the Death Eaters." Maka added.

"Yes...yes! 'They' think Voldemort's ideas are correct. 'They' all agree to maintain the purity of wizard blood, eliminate Muggle-born people, and allow true pure-bloods to take control of power."

"Hmph - I think 'they' must think that Regulus can be regarded as a brave little hero since he joined them from the beginning, right?"

Sirius said irritably, and the "them" in his mouth not only refers to other members of the Black family, but also to his parents in particular.

"…So?" He looked at the family tree and asked, "What happened to Regulus?"

"Do you remember what state he was in at the end?" Maka asked, "I mean, after Voldemort showed that he would do anything to gain power."

Under Maka's question, Sirius gradually showed an expression of reminiscence.

"... He was already in quite deep at that time. After that... he was afraid of what others asked him to do and wanted to quit... Huh, my stupid brother, his magic talent is indeed good, but it is far inferior to yours.

so……"

He paused, then shook his head and said: "It's impossible for him to submit a resignation report to Voldemort and be done with it. If he doesn't have the strength to break free, he will either have to risk his life or die!"

"Yes! The only way out for him is death," Maka nodded, but her voice changed mid-sentence, "...but he did not choose to wait for death."

"What do you mean?" Sirius turned his head sharply and stared at Maka's profile.

"Your brother Regulus—"

"can not say!"

The house elf Kreacher, who had always only spoken in a low voice, shouted for the first time. He shouted so hoarsely, but it was just to prevent Maka from telling a certain truth that should be buried.

"Obide Master Regulus's order. Do not tell anyone in the distinguished Black family that this is Master Regulus's last order!"

Kreacher's sharp and rough voice seemed to be rubbing against Sirius' nerves.

"Kreacher, I order—" "Sirius."

Maka waved her hand towards Sirius, and then continued: "Kreacher, it is your business to keep the master's secret. You don't need to say it - but it is obviously no problem for me to say it."

Kreacher swallowed a breath of air with difficulty, his bony chest rising and falling rapidly, and then he suddenly closed his eyes and stopped making any sound.

"Sirius, this is a secret about Voldemort," Maka said calmly, "So far, only Dumbledore and I know about it, and it is not appropriate to reveal it for the time being... so I can only share the part about your brother.

Tell you to listen."

Sirius took a deep breath, regained his composure, and then nodded.

In fact, since Maka has already mentioned this, he actually has some premonitions. I am afraid that his brother has done something that no one expected.

But whether it is a good thing or a bad thing makes people hesitate.

"Say it!" said Sirius.

Maka reached out and touched the name on the tapestry. The uneven embroidery marks seemed to tell everything about that year.

"At that time... about a year after your brother joined the Death Eaters, Voldemort told his Death Eaters that he needed a house elf. So, your brother took the initiative to recommend Kreacher to Voldemort..."

"At that time, it should have been a period when Voldemort had not revealed his ambitions."

"Really?" Sirius narrowed his eyes and said, "You are really enthusiastic...my stupid brother..."