Hogwarts: A Chinese-Style Professor

Chapter 216 The Forbidden Truth

12 Grimoire Place.

Li Wei's figure appeared alongside the incessantly chattering Sirius.

"I'm saying, don't you really feel any enjoyment?"

He was still fixated on Li Wei's previous indifference to the secret passage.

"Are you a child, Sirius? Has your mind stopped growing while you were in prison?"

Li Wei took the lead and stepped into the old Blake mansion.

"Dong dong."

He knocked twice on the door, neither too hard nor too soft—the door opened quickly, and Kreacher's aged figure appeared behind it.

He looked much more dejected than last time.

With a hunched back, his cloudy eyes scanned back and forth between Li Wei and Sirius, and he began to mutter under his breath, like an insect that wouldn't stop crawling behind an old wallpaper.

"The noisy, whispering guests, the rule-breaking guests who disregard ancestral teachings and etiquette, are incredibly disruptive."

Sirius's temper flared up instantly, and he was about to retort when Li Wei raised his hand, signaling him to shut up.

He took a step forward and nodded slightly:

"Good afternoon, Kreacher. We've come to verify something. Could you please show us inside?"

Kreacher snorted, his lips twitching, but he still turned to the side, making room for him to pass through.

His coldness towards Sirius was almost written all over his face, but when he looked at Levi, he lowered his voice slightly:
“Mr. Li Wei, someone who can say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Well, at least he remembers some manners.”

Upon entering, the tapestries in the corridor hung down as if in a long night.

Kreacher trudged ahead, muttering incessantly, but every time Levi spoke, he would pause to listen carefully before continuing.

“Kreacher,” Levi called out to him from the corner of the stairs as he was about to leave, speaking in a steady tone, “Sirius took a locket from you, didn’t he? It was oval-shaped with a snake pattern on the surface.”

Kreacher's body stiffened.

He slowly turned his head, his expression gradually contorting, and it seemed he would soon resemble a demon.

His voice was like the howl of an owl in the dead of night, strangely hoarse and carrying an unyielding malice:
"Young Master Black stole Kreacher's treasure and shamelessly claimed that everything in the old house was his. Ha!—Young Master Black, who only hurts his family, takes everything in the old house for granted."

He was like a ruthless robber, never imagining that even someone as lowly as Kreacher would have a master who cherished and loved him, and who would receive gifts from him.

Sirius stood behind Levi, his gaze fixed fiercely on Kreacher, as if warning him to behave and not embarrass him in front of others—but upon hearing the latter part of Kreacher's words, his expression began to waver.

"Is the master you speak of Regulus?"

Li Wei asked directly.

He saw those cloudy eyes suddenly light up, then dim again.

Kreacher's throat felt like it had been tightened by a rope, and his voice came to an abrupt halt.

He pursed his dry lips, his voice almost inaudible, and murmured:

“Master. Master Regulus Krich’s good master.”

Sirius tensed, about to interject, but Levi stopped him with a glance, continuing to ask Kreacher instead:
"I have something related to Regulus that I need to confirm, and I hope you can give me a definite answer."

With the sound of chains scraping, Levi lifted up the Slytherin locket and showed it to Kreacher—the locket, which was originally intended to be a Horcrux, had been destroyed immediately in the presence of Dumbledore and him; this was merely a shapeshifting object with an empty shell.

According to Dumbledore, Horcruxes constantly emit an evil aura, and anyone who possesses or comes near them will be affected to varying degrees, so it is best to destroy them as soon as possible.

Kreacher's gaze was drawn to the appearance of the locket—its movements were like those of a stiff, undead regaining its soul.

Li Wei continued to ask:

"Did he personally retrieve or give you this pendant? Do you remember where it came from and where it went?"

Kreacher's fingers twitched twice on his front, as if he were grabbing a non-existent button.

His voice started out broken, like the wind in an old house, but gradually became clear with a stubborn edge:
"Yes, it was Master Regulus. He ordered—Kreacher to leave—ignore him."

He called Kreacher—home—and forbade the mistress to tell him what he had done—but the locket had to be destroyed.

Then he drank it—drank the potion—Kreacher replaced the locket—and watched helplessly as young Master Regulus was dragged underwater. Then…

"Kreacher—what are you saying?" Sirius's body shook violently.

He stared in disbelief at the house-elf he loathed.

"What are you saying—explain yourself!"

He strode forward, about to place his hands on Kreacher's body—one hand was placed in front of him, and Levi shook his head at Sirius.

"Li Wei, don't stop me!"

"Sirius—I remember you said you were going to give me the old house as part of the deal, right?"

"Why did you have to bring this up with me now? What are you trying to do—couldn't you have waited a bit?!"

No—I want it now.

Li Wei turned his head and glanced at Kreacher again.

"Give me Kreacher—from today onward, he is my house-elf, and you are not allowed to touch him."

"Li Wei—what are you talking about? What exactly do you want to do?"

"Leave things here to me. Don't let things get worse, Sirius."

"Make things worse? You think I can't handle this?"

"You just need to be a witness before I let you make the decision."

"Witness? Regulus is my brother! Not yours!"

"Yes—a foolish and weak younger brother, isn't he?"

Sirius Black froze.

Kreacher stared blankly at the two arguing—he saw Sirius wave his wand, declaring his ownership to Levi, his expression like a volcano about to erupt, but he forcibly restrained himself, looking extremely unwilling.

“Kreacher, now, as your master, I command you to tell me everything you know—about the locket, and about Regulus’s relationship with it.”

Kreacher froze.

He then began to tremble uncontrollably, tears streaming down his long nose and into his gaping mouth, revealing a set of grayish teeth.

“Young Master Regulus is different from Young Master Black. He has self-respect and knows what the Black surname and his pure bloodline mean.”

For many years he often spoke of the Dark Lord, who wanted wizards to no longer have to hide, but could come out and rule over Muggles and their descendants. Young Master Regulus joined the Dark Lord's organization at sixteen, and he was so proud, so very proud, so happy to be able to serve…

"One day, young Master Regulus came to the kitchen to visit Kreacher—he had always liked Kreacher, and he said, he said..."

The elderly elf swayed even faster.

"He said the Dark Lord wanted a little elf—Young Master Regulus offered Kreacher."

"It is an honor," said Lord Regulus, "an honor for himself and for Kreacher."

Kreacher must do everything the Dark Lord wants him to do. Then go back—home.”

The elderly elf sobbed as he recounted everything—his words were broken and fragmented, as if his memories of the time were somewhat hazy.

The Dark Lord led him to a cave with a boat on it. On the island was a stone basin filled with a potion. The Dark Lord made him drink it, and after arranging everything, he abandoned Kreacher and left laughing.

Kreacher, whose internal organs and soul were tormented, finally used Apparition to escape back to the old house—where he was met by his master, Regulus, who ordered him to return home and was overcome with complex emotions upon seeing his miserable state.

According to Kreacher, the young man who joined the Death Eaters at the age of sixteen because of the pure-blood ideology finally realized what it felt like to have someone important to him hurt mercilessly, and how cruel the Dark Lord was—so he betrayed them.

He returned to the island with his servant and closest friend—he drank the potion himself and replaced the locket inside—he ordered Kreacher to go home, but he himself was left forever in the lake by the Inferi.

Kreacher suddenly collapsed to the ground, banging his head against the floor frantically.

"Kreacher switched the locket—and watched helplessly as young Master Regulus was dragged underwater. Then Kreacher failed to carry out his orders; he couldn't destroy the locket!"

The mistress was driven mad with grief because young Master Regulus had disappeared, and Kreacher couldn't tell her what had happened, couldn't, because young Master Regulus forbade—forbade him to tell his family—his family about the things in the cave.

Sirius, who had been furious earlier, was now deeply shaken—he didn't know what the potion in the cave represented, but he clearly realized that his brother was probably completely different from what he had imagined!
Inside the ruins of Black's old house, Kreacher's sobbing could be heard incessantly.

Amid his sobs, Sirius's voice rang out again, like a whetstone burning hot in the dead of winter, rough and hoarse with a frenzied urge to burn everything.

"Livi—tell me everything about this place."

(End of this chapter)