#833 - Bertha Jorkins

As it turned out, back then, Regulus, not long after joining the Death Eaters, began to waver in his commitment to the Death Eater path, but he was still unwilling to rebel against the other Death Eaters and Voldemort.

One day, Voldemort proposed to Regulus that he wanted to use his house-elf, Kreacher. Regulus considered this an honor, so he gave Kreacher to Voldemort.

Voldemort used Kreacher to test the security of his Horcrux hiding place, and then left alone, leaving Kreacher alone in the cave.

But Kreacher remembered Regulus's instructions to return home, and after drinking the potion and before those Inferi dragged him to the bottom of the lake, he Apparated back to the old Black house.

And told Regulus everything that had happened. Regulus realized at this moment that the locket Voldemort had hidden before was a Horcrux, realizing that this was Voldemort's secret to immortality.

This event became the fuse that led Regulus to decide to betray Voldemort.

What happened next was as Anduin guessed. Regulus made a replica of the locket and ordered Kreacher to take him to the cave where the real locket was hidden.

And what was touching was that inside the cave, Regulus chose to drink the potion himself, because he knew that only Kreacher could escape from there.

So he chose to sacrifice himself, and ordered Kreacher to take the real thing and put the fake one back, and let him leave the cave alone to find a way to destroy the Horcrux.

After listening to the whole story, Sirius collapsed onto the sofa as if deflated, and Kreacher lay on the floor, hugging his head and crying, as if he had lost his soul.

Even Anduin couldn't help but sigh. Regulus was indeed admirable for being able to volunteer at such a critical moment. He could have abandoned Kreacher.

After a while, Anduin looked at Kreacher again, "Where is the real Horcrux now?"

"It's locked by me in Master Regulus's room, in the closet. It's all Kreacher's fault for not being able to completely destroy that Horcrux after so long."

"But Kreacher really tried his best. Kreacher used fire to burn it and stones to smash it, but that strange locket was still motionless." Kreacher said, rushing to the fireplace and using the poker to hurt himself.

However, Sirius, with quick eyes and hands, grabbed Kreacher, and scolded him with disappointment, "Regulus told you to come back, not to abuse yourself like this. Your life was given to you by him, so wake up!"

Obviously, after listening to Kreacher's past, Sirius's attitude towards him has also changed. This is the person whom his younger brother entrusted with trust at the last moment of his life.

And Anduin saw that Sirius had finally regained his senses, so he left the living room with peace of mind, and found the locket in Regulus's bedroom. →

After confirming that the last Horcrux was in his possession, Anduin breathed a sigh of relief.

Two days later, in the cemetery of Godric's Hollow, Sirius and Anduin held a small funeral for Regulus, attended by Kreacher, Harry, and Dobby.

During this period, Kreacher was even more sad than Sirius. In fact, two days ago, when Anduin showed him Regulus's body, Kreacher seemed unusually agitated.

The only good news is that during this period, Sirius's relationship with Kreacher has eased. Now Kreacher is finally no longer sarcastic in his words like before.

However, according to Anduin's speculation, the reason why Kreacher became so extreme before may also be due to the influence of the Horcrux.

It would be strange if his brain could become normal after being with the Horcrux for so long.

"So, what are your plans next?"

In front of Regulus's tombstone, Anduin came to Sirius and asked softly.

"I just want to see Voldemort die before my eyes!" Sirius murmured with red eyes, obviously he had just cried again in front of his brother's grave.

"They must pay the price, whether it's Voldemort or those Death Eaters!"

Sirius repeated again, and at the same time stared at Anduin.

"To be honest, I was a little hesitant about your idea of ​​wiping them all out before, but after experiencing Regulus's matter, I even hope that those scum will be destroyed more than you."

"So, some dirty things shouldn't exist in the world." Anduin nodded slightly, then glanced at Kreacher in the distance again, "What about him? I just heard Dobby say that you have terminated your employment relationship with Kreacher?"

"I asked Kreacher's opinion before. He wants to stay with Regulus and guard his spirit for the rest of his life."

Sirius looked at the house-elf who was once abhorrent in his eyes, his eyes full of melancholy.

"Kreacher's feelings for Regulus may be deeper than mine. He has been living in pain all these years. This is also the first time in Kreacher's life that he has made a request to others, so I decided to fulfill him."

"Of course..." Sirius squeezed out a smile on his face, "I really can't stand living with him anymore. He's even more verbose these two days than before."

Seeing Sirius showing this state, Anduin knew that he had basically come out of Regulus's grief.

Of course, it is also possible that Sirius chose to hide this grief deeper in his heart.

After dealing with Regulus's funeral, Kreacher bid farewell to everyone and settled in the Godric's Hollow cemetery from then on.

However, in order not to scare the Muggles living here, Anduin specially prepared an alchemy item with a Confundus Charm for Kreacher, which could deflect the sight of non-wizarding creatures, making them think that what they were looking at was actually an empty space.

Sirius took Harry back to 12 Grimmauld Place.

Among them, the happiest one was Dobby. He could finally give the old Black house a thorough cleaning.

As for Anduin, he took the Horcruxes he had collected during this period and returned to his base camp. He planned to take advantage of this summer vacation to study them carefully and try to destroy the Horcruxes without damaging the items.

Because these things are the relics of the founders of Hogwarts, proper antiques, not to mention that as items made by the founders, they all have their own functions.

Not to mention the Ravenclaw's Diadem, which is said to increase the wearer's wisdom, the abilities of the other two items are also quite interesting.

Hufflepuff's cup can turn the water poured into it into various wines, drinks, and even soy sauce and other seasonings according to the user's wishes, which can be said to be quite practical.

This also reveals Hufflepuff's love for life and cooking, and even the magical items she makes are related to cooking.

The ability of Slytherin's locket is related to healing. Wizards wearing it can slowly repair wounds on their bodies, and even have a certain effect of slowing down aging and beautifying.

In fact, Anduin discovered when he came back from Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that Slytherin has always been shown as a sinister and treacherous image.

But he himself was a highly skilled physician, and even the Hogwarts hospital was founded by him. This can actually be seen from the healing effect of the snake wood incarnation into a tree.

Although the effects of these items are not very useful to Anduin, they still have some research value more or less. It would be a pity to destroy them like this.

But just as Anduin returned to the base research institute, he found a strange woman lying in the laboratory hall, and Hogg and Shatia were whispering something around the woman.

"Cough!"

Anduin coughed twice, waking up the two people who were lying on the ground studying the strange woman.

"Who is this and why did she appear here for no reason?"

The two who were startled by him immediately turned around, and Hogg took the lead in answering, "Reporting, sir, we picked up this woman from Albania."

Picked up? Anduin hadn't figured out what Hogg was talking nonsense about, and Shatia next to him continued to add.

"Sir, do you remember that you told us to monitor Voldemort before? Hogg and I have been tracking that old guy during this period."

"He has recently transferred his soul out of the Horcrux and parasitized it on a rat. He escaped directly from England, hid in the forests of Albania, and found Peter Pettigrew there!"

"Hmm?" Anduin was overjoyed when he heard this, "Is there any clue about Peter Pettigrew?"

"That's right!" Hogg nodded and continued, "We followed Voldemort and quickly locked on that guy. Voldemort seems to have his own way of locking on those Death Eaters, maybe it has something to do with the Dark Mark on them."

Anduin nodded when he heard this, "This is similar to my previous guess, but I didn't expect Voldemort to find Peter first. I thought it would take more effort."

"But..." Anduin looked at the figure on the ground with some hesitation, "What does this have to do with her? Is she also a Death Eater?"

"No, this guy is just unlucky!" Shatia chuckled, "After we locked on Peter Pettigrew, we split into two groups to monitor them separately."

"And this witch, in Albania, seemed to have recognized Peter Pettigrew's identity, and then she actually planned to follow him, perhaps because of curiosity!"

"But her tracking skills were so bad that Peter Pettigrew almost discovered her several times. In order not to startle the snake, I knocked her unconscious and brought her back. Now Hogg and I are thinking about whether to wake her up and question her."

"I see..." Anduin nodded clearly. It turned out that he had encountered someone who almost got in the way, but after looking at the woman a few times, he suddenly realized that he seemed to have seen her somewhere.

"Huh? This person seems to be from the Ministry of Magic? I seem to have met her a few times in the Ministry of Magic before." Anduin couldn't help but murmur.

"From the Ministry of Magic?" Shatia and Hogg couldn't help but look at each other in embarrassment when they heard this. They shouldn't have caused trouble, right? How could they have kidnapped someone from the Ministry of Magic? If it's an official, it might cause trouble.

"Yes." Anduin nodded, "But her position shouldn't be particularly high. I know everyone above the director level in the Ministry of Magic. If I remember correctly, she... seems to be working in the Department of Magical Games and Sports. Forget it, let's wake her up and ask."

"Yes!" The two breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that she was not a senior official, and then shook the witch awake.

I don't know if it was because Shatia was too heavy-handed, but the witch still looked dazed after waking up. She rubbed her eyes for a long time before she could see Anduin in front of her clearly.

"You... are you? I remember you... who are you?" After seeing Anduin, the witch first showed a confused expression, then suddenly looked enlightened, and then became confused again.

Seeing the other party's confused state, even Anduin wondered if Shatia had broken her brain.

"I am Anduin Wilson, the owner of Silver Flash Trading Company, an old friend of your Ministry of Magic. Do you remember? Do you remember who you are?"

"Ah! Yes, yes, yes!" The witch's eyes widened as if she suddenly understood, "It's Mr. Wilson. I often hear Director Bagman and Director Crouch mention you. I am Bertha Jorkins, an employee of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

Anduin was speechless when he heard this. He was sure that he had met her several times in the Ministry of Magic. Why did she act like she had just met him?

You must know that in the entire British wizarding world, there may be people Anduin doesn't know, but there are very few people who don't know him. Just the magical influence of him killing Voldemort last year is enough for everyone to recognize his appearance.

"It's good that you remember your name. My two subordinates happened to run into you passing out in Albania, so they brought you back. Do you remember what you were planning to do before?"

Anduin could see that this Bertha Jorkins's brain seemed to be a little out of order, so he made up a reason to see if he could get away with it.

"Ah? Is that so? I'm really sorry..." Bertha got up from the ground, and her brain seemed to be a little brighter than just now.

"I originally thought I was just forgetful, but I didn't expect to have the problem of passing out for no reason. Thank you very much for your help." Bertha smiled and nodded slightly to Shatia, making Shatia a little embarrassed.

"As for why I went to Albania..."

Bertha paused hesitantly, as if she was also trying to recall, and continued after a moment.

"I remember, I went to Albania for vacation. I always messed up when I was preparing for the Quidditch World Cup, so Director Bagman specially gave me a long vacation to relax."

"But..." Bertha seemed to recall something again, and hesitated in her words, "Before that, I remember seeing a long-lost wanted criminal and was planning to follow him to see who that guy was... I can't remember clearly for a moment."