Chapter 588: Safe hiding place, Mundungus snatched the locket
·
Jing Shen Tian Si
"What? The Ministry of Magic will fall today?"
"How did you know?"
"Prophecy? Is it accurate?"
"Okay, I understand, I will keep in touch with you."
When the call ended, Hermione put away the Galleons and her face became particularly solemn.
"What's wrong?" Ron asked cautiously.
"Something big happened." Hermione took a deep breath and said, "Aaron got a prophecy. Death Eaters will capture the Ministry of Magic today, and the entire British wizarding world will soon change."
Harry stood up immediately and asked slightly anxiously: "Are you sure? This isn't a prank, is it?"
"One hundred percent sure." Hermione said seriously, "He told me that the Burrow is no longer safe. After Voldemort takes over the Ministry of Magic, he will not have any scruples and can confidently investigate the homes of Order members.
Pack your bags quickly, we have to get out of here as soon as possible. "
"I have to tell my parents, let them get ready, and notify Kingsley at the same time." Ron was anxious and ran down the stairs in a hurry.
"Ginny." Harry thought of his girlfriend and was at a loss for a moment.
"Go and say goodbye to her! There may still be time." Hermione tried her best to smile. "Clea gave me a bag that had been casted by the Invisible Stretch Charm for Christmas last year. It was enough to put all our things in it. .”
Harry nodded blankly and hurried out of the room.
On the other side, Aaron put away the gold galleons used for communication and sat down with a sigh of relief.
"Okay, I can't care about the rest."
"Will Hermione inform the Order of the Phoenix?" Sirius breathed a sigh of relief, and then seemed to think of something, "Have you told her any clues about the locket?"
"Of course." Aaron shrugged, "I hinted that she could go to No. 12 Grimmauld Place. If nothing else happens, Kreacher will be there. She will contact me after she finds the Horcrux."
"I set up some defensive magic there, but it's not dangerous to them.
Just Kreacher, the house elf from the Black family? "
"It's him." Sirius sighed quietly, "We analyzed that Regulus handed Voldemort's real Horcrux, Slytherin's Locket, to him before his death."
Moody nodded in understanding, "What your brother did is very correct. No one would doubt that a vital Horcrux would be in the hands of an inconspicuous house elf."
"He gave his life for this, and he used his life to protect this secret." Sirius said and looked at Aaron, "Is there anything we can do?"
"It is better to be still than to move. It is best to hibernate now."
"But Harry..."
"I agree with hibernation." Moody interrupted, "Dumbledore believes in him, and you, the godfather, should believe in him.
Besides, it’s better to hit the target first, and it’s not advisable to act rashly until the chaos subsides. Once we expose that critical moment, Harry will be truly alone. "
"This is called professionalism. Learn more."
Sirius was speechless and lowered his head silently, "I understand."
Aaron patted him on the shoulder, walked past him, and returned to his room.
This prophecy came suddenly, and he could only help Hermione retreat as calmly as possible, but this still couldn't change anything. He needed to create some complicated magic circles to divert attention.
......
Grimmauld Square NO.12.
The three Harrys came here in the evening. Out of caution, they did not use apparation or even magic.
Making sure no one was watching, Harry ran up the steps and tapped on the front door with his wand.
A series of metal collision sounds sounded, and a door slowly opened.
The three of them quickly crossed the threshold and closed the door.
The lights in the house immediately turned on, illuminating the foyer. Compared to a year ago, there were a lot more cobwebs and dust here, making it look a bit dark and dilapidated.
"Is it really safe here?" Ron asked doubtfully, "Don't forget that Snape knows about this place."
"At least it will be safe for a short time," Hermione said. "Snape is worried that there are traps waiting for him here, and he will never dare to set foot here.
The most dangerous place is the safest. Death Eaters have occupied the Ministry of Magic, and the homes of members of the Order of the Phoenix are their key targets for investigation. No one will think of it for a while. "
"And we have to come back." Harry said seriously, "This is the only place we can find related to Regulus."
"I don't know how my parents are doing." Ron said worriedly, "Dad said they should be fine, but..."
Before he finished speaking, Ron pointed forward with wide eyes and trembling.
I saw a gray figure jumping out of the shadows, with a ferocious appearance, long hair and beard, and a withered right hand.
The three of them stared blankly as Dumbledore reached out towards them and pulled out his wand off guard, but could not recite any spells.
Fortunately, this figure did not harm them, and turned into dust mist and dispersed the moment it approached them.
"What's going on?" Ron pursed his lips.
"Probably Mad-Eye's idea, to keep Snape from prying.
I think we'd better check it out before moving on. "Hermione said, pointing her wand straight ahead, "The human form appears! "
After a while, no movement was heard.
"nobody."
"Then let's start looking!" Harry said, "Hopefully there will be some clues."
They reached the top floor, where there were only two doors. Directly opposite them was Sirius Black's room.
Harry looked at the door number with the name 'Sirius' written on it and was stunned. It seemed that he had never entered his godfather's room.
Hermione and Ron looked at each other, understanding each other.
"Start looking for Sirius's room!" Hermione suggested, "Regulus is his biological brother, and no one should know him better than Sirius."
Harry nodded, pushed past Sirius' room and walked in.
Ron took out the deluminator, and a ball of white light flew into the chandelier, illuminating the spacious room.
Like the foyer, this too was covered in a thin layer of dust.
A large bed leaned against the wall, with long velvet curtains covering the high windows. There was half a candle plugged into the socket on the table. The silver-grey satin walls were covered with posters and photos. In addition, there were several A faded Gryffindor flag.
"Good taste." Ron looked at the photos of beauties in bikinis on the wall and blushed a little. "No wonder he said he is different from the rest of the Black family. These are all Muggle girls."
"How did you tell?" Hermione asked in surprise.
"It's obvious that the figures in these photos are immobile and somewhat faded."
"I really admire your eyesight." Hermione said speechlessly, and then looked at the only photo of wizards on the wall. In the photo, four students in school uniforms stood together arm in arm, smiling at the camera.
"Is this when your father was young?" Ron asked, pointing to a wizard who looked like Harry in the photo.
"And Lupine, Sirius...Peter Pettigrew."
"You will inevitably see the wrong person when you are young, right?" Ron stretched out his hand to block Peter Pettigrew in the photo, "It will be much more pleasing to the eye this way."
Harry smiled and picked up a few messy pieces of paper on the ground, "This is...a letter written by my mother to Sirius."
"What did you say?" Ron asked.
"Nothing, it's just related to the birthday present I gave when I was a kid, and it also mentioned...Dumbledore."
"Personal privacy, don't ask casually." Hermione glared at him, then waved her wand to collect the pieces of paper scattered in the room one by one, "They are all here, and there are a few photos of you when you were a child.
Riding a toy broomstick at one year old, it's no wonder you're Gryffindor's Seeker. "
"Thank you!" Harry said sincerely, and then he sat on the bedside and read silently.
Ron and Hermione looked at each other, tacitly agreeing not to disturb.
More than an hour later, the sky outside was completely shrouded in darkness.
With tears in his eyes, Harry reluctantly put down the letters and photos related to his parents.
"He should have shown me these earlier." Harry said with a choked smile.
"Have you found any clues?" Ron asked in astonishment.
"No, these papers don't mention anything related to members of the Black family." Harry said with some regret, "Go to another room and have a look!"
When I came to a door at the top of the stairs, there was an imposing sentence written on the door plate:
No entry without my express permission - Regulus Arcturus Black.
"Rabbi!" Hermione looked at the three initials on the house number with some joy, "This is the right place."
"Araho Cave is open!"
The three of them crossed the threshold and approached Regulus' bedroom.
His room was slightly smaller than Sirius's, but much more refined, with Slytherin's silver and green covering the walls, windows and bed, and the Black family crest depicting the bedside, with many yellowed briefings posted on it. , all related to Voldemort.
"Sirius said that Regulus admired Voldemort very much at the time and defected to him within a few years." Harry murmured, "No one expected that he would abandon the dark side and join the bright side."
"We don't have time to think about this now, let's look for it!" Ron said, and then began to rummage in the room.
However, this room had obviously been searched. The drawers and under the bed were all in a mess, and nothing valuable could be found.
"Here comes the locket," Hermione said as she picked up her wand, but there was no reaction at all.
"It doesn't seem to be here." Ron said a little disappointed.
"Not necessarily." Harry shook his head. "The Horcrux is very special. Voldemort must have applied defensive magic to it. It is normal that ordinary flying spells cannot be found."
"What should I do?"
"Keep looking, the locket could be anywhere in this house."
"This is the only way." Hermione spread her hands and said helplessly.
A few hours later, the three of them still found nothing and could only go back to their respective rooms to rest.
......
"I thought I could just change my wand..."
"You lied to me, Grigovitch."
"I swear I thought a different wand would do the trick."
"There must be another way, maybe another master wandmaker, Ollivander..."
"Shut up, I can't find him."
Harry woke up from his sleep, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Hermione and Ron looking at him with worried faces.
"You're dreaming again, right?" Ron sighed softly, "Your face is pale and your head is sweating profusely. What did you dream about this time?"
"Gregovich, I remember he was the one who made Krum's wand.
Voldemort had him, and his wand didn't kill me the day we left Privet Drive, and he thought Grigovitch could explain it. "
"Maybe this has nothing to do with the wand?" Hermione said, "Why don't you just refuse to believe that this is your own power?"
"I know very well that this is not my ability." Harry said helplessly, but he was very firm on this point.
"But you really need to practice Occlumency well. What if Voldemort uses you again?"
Harry nodded sheepishly, not wanting to argue with Hermione about this, but he certainly wouldn't break the connection.
Dumbledore is dead, the Death Eaters have taken control of the Ministry of Magic, and the Order of the Phoenix has to go into hibernation. In this case, this is the only way to obtain information, although it is a bit more dangerous.
"Think about the Horcrux first!" Ron tried to smooth things over, "We searched all night but couldn't find it. Has Regulus destroyed it?"
"Don't jump to conclusions." Hermione said patiently, "Whether Regulus destroyed the locket or not, he certainly didn't want Voldemort to discover it.
Besides, this is the ancestral home of the Black family, and many places are guarded by agencies. Maybe there are places we have overlooked. "
"Ignored the place?" Harry was stunned for a moment, "Kreacher, have you looked for his hole?"
Hermione and Ron looked at each other, and they could see the surprise in each other's eyes.
"Go there and have a look." Harry quickly walked out of the room, followed closely by Hermione and Ron.
After a while, the three came to the basement.
Harry walked quietly to the cupboard, then yanked open the cupboard door, and roughly grabbed a house elf out.
"Master." Kreacher's voice was hoarse, with deep contempt in his eyes.
"I have something to ask you, and you must answer it truthfully, you know?"
"Yes!" Kreacher said reluctantly.
Harry picked up the locket and showed it to him, "Have you seen this before?"
"That's Master Regulus's locket." Kreacher whispered.
"There are two, right? Where's the other one?"
Kreacher was silent for a while, then slowly shook his head, "Kreacher doesn't know either."
"So you did see the other one?" Hermione asked. "Did someone take it?"
Kreacher glared at her fiercely, "Dirty Mudblood, wait until the Death Eaters come..."
"Kreacher," Harry snapped. "Answer her questions. That's my order."
"Yes, I've seen it, right here in this room, the most evil thing in the world."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Master Regulus ordered Kreacher to destroy that thing before he died, but no matter how hard Kreacher tried and what methods he used, he couldn't destroy it."
"Who took it?"
"Mundungus." Kreacher scolded angrily, "Mundungus Fletcher, he took away many things without explanation that day, including my mistress's gloves, photos of Miss Bella and Miss Sissy, The Order of Merlin, First Class, the goblet with the family crest... and also the locket belonging to Regulus' master."
Kreacher roared out the last words, tears welled up in Kreacher's eyes, and he burst into tears, "That damn robber, he made Kreacher make a mistake and failed to carry out the master's order."
Harry was stunned for a moment, feeling an inexplicable sympathy for Kreacher.
"Kreacher, find Mundungus Fletcher.
Bring him to me at Grimmauld Place, and we will finish what Regulus has left unfinished. "
Kreacher looked at Harry blankly for a while, bowed slightly, and then disapparated and left the place.
"How did you know?"
"Prophecy? Is it accurate?"
"Okay, I understand, I will keep in touch with you."
When the call ended, Hermione put away the Galleons and her face became particularly solemn.
"What's wrong?" Ron asked cautiously.
"Something big happened." Hermione took a deep breath and said, "Aaron got a prophecy. Death Eaters will capture the Ministry of Magic today, and the entire British wizarding world will soon change."
Harry stood up immediately and asked slightly anxiously: "Are you sure? This isn't a prank, is it?"
"One hundred percent sure." Hermione said seriously, "He told me that the Burrow is no longer safe. After Voldemort takes over the Ministry of Magic, he will not have any scruples and can confidently investigate the homes of Order members.
Pack your bags quickly, we have to get out of here as soon as possible. "
"I have to tell my parents, let them get ready, and notify Kingsley at the same time." Ron was anxious and ran down the stairs in a hurry.
"Ginny." Harry thought of his girlfriend and was at a loss for a moment.
"Go and say goodbye to her! There may still be time." Hermione tried her best to smile. "Clea gave me a bag that had been casted by the Invisible Stretch Charm for Christmas last year. It was enough to put all our things in it. .”
Harry nodded blankly and hurried out of the room.
On the other side, Aaron put away the gold galleons used for communication and sat down with a sigh of relief.
"Okay, I can't care about the rest."
"Will Hermione inform the Order of the Phoenix?" Sirius breathed a sigh of relief, and then seemed to think of something, "Have you told her any clues about the locket?"
"Of course." Aaron shrugged, "I hinted that she could go to No. 12 Grimmauld Place. If nothing else happens, Kreacher will be there. She will contact me after she finds the Horcrux."
"I set up some defensive magic there, but it's not dangerous to them.
Just Kreacher, the house elf from the Black family? "
"It's him." Sirius sighed quietly, "We analyzed that Regulus handed Voldemort's real Horcrux, Slytherin's Locket, to him before his death."
Moody nodded in understanding, "What your brother did is very correct. No one would doubt that a vital Horcrux would be in the hands of an inconspicuous house elf."
"He gave his life for this, and he used his life to protect this secret." Sirius said and looked at Aaron, "Is there anything we can do?"
"It is better to be still than to move. It is best to hibernate now."
"But Harry..."
"I agree with hibernation." Moody interrupted, "Dumbledore believes in him, and you, the godfather, should believe in him.
Besides, it’s better to hit the target first, and it’s not advisable to act rashly until the chaos subsides. Once we expose that critical moment, Harry will be truly alone. "
"This is called professionalism. Learn more."
Sirius was speechless and lowered his head silently, "I understand."
Aaron patted him on the shoulder, walked past him, and returned to his room.
This prophecy came suddenly, and he could only help Hermione retreat as calmly as possible, but this still couldn't change anything. He needed to create some complicated magic circles to divert attention.
......
Grimmauld Square NO.12.
The three Harrys came here in the evening. Out of caution, they did not use apparation or even magic.
Making sure no one was watching, Harry ran up the steps and tapped on the front door with his wand.
A series of metal collision sounds sounded, and a door slowly opened.
The three of them quickly crossed the threshold and closed the door.
The lights in the house immediately turned on, illuminating the foyer. Compared to a year ago, there were a lot more cobwebs and dust here, making it look a bit dark and dilapidated.
"Is it really safe here?" Ron asked doubtfully, "Don't forget that Snape knows about this place."
"At least it will be safe for a short time," Hermione said. "Snape is worried that there are traps waiting for him here, and he will never dare to set foot here.
The most dangerous place is the safest. Death Eaters have occupied the Ministry of Magic, and the homes of members of the Order of the Phoenix are their key targets for investigation. No one will think of it for a while. "
"And we have to come back." Harry said seriously, "This is the only place we can find related to Regulus."
"I don't know how my parents are doing." Ron said worriedly, "Dad said they should be fine, but..."
Before he finished speaking, Ron pointed forward with wide eyes and trembling.
I saw a gray figure jumping out of the shadows, with a ferocious appearance, long hair and beard, and a withered right hand.
The three of them stared blankly as Dumbledore reached out towards them and pulled out his wand off guard, but could not recite any spells.
Fortunately, this figure did not harm them, and turned into dust mist and dispersed the moment it approached them.
"What's going on?" Ron pursed his lips.
"Probably Mad-Eye's idea, to keep Snape from prying.
I think we'd better check it out before moving on. "Hermione said, pointing her wand straight ahead, "The human form appears! "
After a while, no movement was heard.
"nobody."
"Then let's start looking!" Harry said, "Hopefully there will be some clues."
They reached the top floor, where there were only two doors. Directly opposite them was Sirius Black's room.
Harry looked at the door number with the name 'Sirius' written on it and was stunned. It seemed that he had never entered his godfather's room.
Hermione and Ron looked at each other, understanding each other.
"Start looking for Sirius's room!" Hermione suggested, "Regulus is his biological brother, and no one should know him better than Sirius."
Harry nodded, pushed past Sirius' room and walked in.
Ron took out the deluminator, and a ball of white light flew into the chandelier, illuminating the spacious room.
Like the foyer, this too was covered in a thin layer of dust.
A large bed leaned against the wall, with long velvet curtains covering the high windows. There was half a candle plugged into the socket on the table. The silver-grey satin walls were covered with posters and photos. In addition, there were several A faded Gryffindor flag.
"Good taste." Ron looked at the photos of beauties in bikinis on the wall and blushed a little. "No wonder he said he is different from the rest of the Black family. These are all Muggle girls."
"How did you tell?" Hermione asked in surprise.
"It's obvious that the figures in these photos are immobile and somewhat faded."
"I really admire your eyesight." Hermione said speechlessly, and then looked at the only photo of wizards on the wall. In the photo, four students in school uniforms stood together arm in arm, smiling at the camera.
"Is this when your father was young?" Ron asked, pointing to a wizard who looked like Harry in the photo.
"And Lupine, Sirius...Peter Pettigrew."
"You will inevitably see the wrong person when you are young, right?" Ron stretched out his hand to block Peter Pettigrew in the photo, "It will be much more pleasing to the eye this way."
Harry smiled and picked up a few messy pieces of paper on the ground, "This is...a letter written by my mother to Sirius."
"What did you say?" Ron asked.
"Nothing, it's just related to the birthday present I gave when I was a kid, and it also mentioned...Dumbledore."
"Personal privacy, don't ask casually." Hermione glared at him, then waved her wand to collect the pieces of paper scattered in the room one by one, "They are all here, and there are a few photos of you when you were a child.
Riding a toy broomstick at one year old, it's no wonder you're Gryffindor's Seeker. "
"Thank you!" Harry said sincerely, and then he sat on the bedside and read silently.
Ron and Hermione looked at each other, tacitly agreeing not to disturb.
More than an hour later, the sky outside was completely shrouded in darkness.
With tears in his eyes, Harry reluctantly put down the letters and photos related to his parents.
"He should have shown me these earlier." Harry said with a choked smile.
"Have you found any clues?" Ron asked in astonishment.
"No, these papers don't mention anything related to members of the Black family." Harry said with some regret, "Go to another room and have a look!"
When I came to a door at the top of the stairs, there was an imposing sentence written on the door plate:
No entry without my express permission - Regulus Arcturus Black.
"Rabbi!" Hermione looked at the three initials on the house number with some joy, "This is the right place."
"Araho Cave is open!"
The three of them crossed the threshold and approached Regulus' bedroom.
His room was slightly smaller than Sirius's, but much more refined, with Slytherin's silver and green covering the walls, windows and bed, and the Black family crest depicting the bedside, with many yellowed briefings posted on it. , all related to Voldemort.
"Sirius said that Regulus admired Voldemort very much at the time and defected to him within a few years." Harry murmured, "No one expected that he would abandon the dark side and join the bright side."
"We don't have time to think about this now, let's look for it!" Ron said, and then began to rummage in the room.
However, this room had obviously been searched. The drawers and under the bed were all in a mess, and nothing valuable could be found.
"Here comes the locket," Hermione said as she picked up her wand, but there was no reaction at all.
"It doesn't seem to be here." Ron said a little disappointed.
"Not necessarily." Harry shook his head. "The Horcrux is very special. Voldemort must have applied defensive magic to it. It is normal that ordinary flying spells cannot be found."
"What should I do?"
"Keep looking, the locket could be anywhere in this house."
"This is the only way." Hermione spread her hands and said helplessly.
A few hours later, the three of them still found nothing and could only go back to their respective rooms to rest.
......
"I thought I could just change my wand..."
"You lied to me, Grigovitch."
"I swear I thought a different wand would do the trick."
"There must be another way, maybe another master wandmaker, Ollivander..."
"Shut up, I can't find him."
Harry woke up from his sleep, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Hermione and Ron looking at him with worried faces.
"You're dreaming again, right?" Ron sighed softly, "Your face is pale and your head is sweating profusely. What did you dream about this time?"
"Gregovich, I remember he was the one who made Krum's wand.
Voldemort had him, and his wand didn't kill me the day we left Privet Drive, and he thought Grigovitch could explain it. "
"Maybe this has nothing to do with the wand?" Hermione said, "Why don't you just refuse to believe that this is your own power?"
"I know very well that this is not my ability." Harry said helplessly, but he was very firm on this point.
"But you really need to practice Occlumency well. What if Voldemort uses you again?"
Harry nodded sheepishly, not wanting to argue with Hermione about this, but he certainly wouldn't break the connection.
Dumbledore is dead, the Death Eaters have taken control of the Ministry of Magic, and the Order of the Phoenix has to go into hibernation. In this case, this is the only way to obtain information, although it is a bit more dangerous.
"Think about the Horcrux first!" Ron tried to smooth things over, "We searched all night but couldn't find it. Has Regulus destroyed it?"
"Don't jump to conclusions." Hermione said patiently, "Whether Regulus destroyed the locket or not, he certainly didn't want Voldemort to discover it.
Besides, this is the ancestral home of the Black family, and many places are guarded by agencies. Maybe there are places we have overlooked. "
"Ignored the place?" Harry was stunned for a moment, "Kreacher, have you looked for his hole?"
Hermione and Ron looked at each other, and they could see the surprise in each other's eyes.
"Go there and have a look." Harry quickly walked out of the room, followed closely by Hermione and Ron.
After a while, the three came to the basement.
Harry walked quietly to the cupboard, then yanked open the cupboard door, and roughly grabbed a house elf out.
"Master." Kreacher's voice was hoarse, with deep contempt in his eyes.
"I have something to ask you, and you must answer it truthfully, you know?"
"Yes!" Kreacher said reluctantly.
Harry picked up the locket and showed it to him, "Have you seen this before?"
"That's Master Regulus's locket." Kreacher whispered.
"There are two, right? Where's the other one?"
Kreacher was silent for a while, then slowly shook his head, "Kreacher doesn't know either."
"So you did see the other one?" Hermione asked. "Did someone take it?"
Kreacher glared at her fiercely, "Dirty Mudblood, wait until the Death Eaters come..."
"Kreacher," Harry snapped. "Answer her questions. That's my order."
"Yes, I've seen it, right here in this room, the most evil thing in the world."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Master Regulus ordered Kreacher to destroy that thing before he died, but no matter how hard Kreacher tried and what methods he used, he couldn't destroy it."
"Who took it?"
"Mundungus." Kreacher scolded angrily, "Mundungus Fletcher, he took away many things without explanation that day, including my mistress's gloves, photos of Miss Bella and Miss Sissy, The Order of Merlin, First Class, the goblet with the family crest... and also the locket belonging to Regulus' master."
Kreacher roared out the last words, tears welled up in Kreacher's eyes, and he burst into tears, "That damn robber, he made Kreacher make a mistake and failed to carry out the master's order."
Harry was stunned for a moment, feeling an inexplicable sympathy for Kreacher.
"Kreacher, find Mundungus Fletcher.
Bring him to me at Grimmauld Place, and we will finish what Regulus has left unfinished. "
Kreacher looked at Harry blankly for a while, bowed slightly, and then disapparated and left the place.
