The Sinner and the Traitor

The tile above Ron’s head explode. It would have been Ron’s head had I not tackled him to the floor. He made a small ‘oomph’ noise before I rolled off of him, grabbing my wand and rounding on the wizards. I quickly dodged a jet of green light but it singed Hermione’s hair. I raised my wand and fired back without hesitation.

“Stupefy!”

The jet of red light hit the biggest Death Eater straight in the face and he crumpled instantly. His friend wasn’t too happy with me about that one because he shot a few of his own spells at me. “Expulsio!”

The spell came right at me but I dropped to the floor in a crouch and the table behind Harry and I exploded. The spell ricocheted, shattering the security mirror sending shards raining everywhere, including one that laced Hermione’s cheek. It didn’t stop there because it then struck the cappuccino machine, which sprayed hot liquid all over the Death Eater. I couldn’t stop my smirk in satisfaction as he bellowed in pain. Karma’s a bitch ain’t it mate? Hermione and Ron took their chance standing up and hit him with twin stunning spells. As he spasms on the ground, Hermione adds another for good measure.

“Petrificus Totalus!”

The Death Eater went still after that. The Waitress decided to step back into the room at this moment. Her gum bubble pops in surprise as she sees all of us holding wands and the huge mess in the dingy cafe. Hermione yelled at her to go and the waitress didn’t say a word as she quickly fled the scene.

“Lock the door, get the lights.” I ordered taking a step towards the men who were no out cold. I checked for a pulse as Hermione throws the bolt and Ron clicks the Deluminator, pitching the cafe into shadow. Harry was eyeing the unconscious Death Eaters as I finished checking the second one.

“They’re both still alive…sadly.” I paused and looked at me friends as I pointed at each Death Eater. “This one’s name is Rowle. He was on the Astronomy Tower the night Snape killed Dumbledore. That one is Dolohov. I recognize him from the wanted posters. He never really showed up to the meetings though. I think he was more of a lowly hit man than a guy in charge.”

Ron rolled Dolohov over with his foot. The Death Eater’s eyes shift in fear from Harry to Hermione, then back to Ron before they settled on me. They went from fear to disgust but I could only stare back blankly. “So what do we do with you, huh? Kill us if it was turned round, wouldn’t you?” Ron’s face was hard and I didn’t blame him. I felt a darkness cloud my mind as I realized I wanted nothing more than to kill him myself. Who would miss a Death Eater? Hermione was eyeing Ron uneasily. He seemed to notice. “Suppose it’s him that did Mad-Eye. How would you feel then?”

Hermione looked at Dolohov without answering Ron. I could see the wheels spinning in her head as she thought up of what to do.

“It’s better we wipe their memories. We kill them, they’ll know we were here.” I said pulling my wand out. “Hermione?”

“You’re the boss.” Ron said sourly as he turned away from us. I knew how he felt because I felt it as well. Hermione turns to look at him. He reached out and wipes a trickle of blood from her cheek. “You two are the best with spells.”

She just nodded and turned back to me. Shakily, she points her wand at Dolohov as I raise mine to Rowle. Her arm began to tremble but mine held firm as I glared at the unconscious man before me. “Obliviate.”

Put my wand into my coat pocket and turn away. My heart was racing a mile aminute and I could feel the sweat start to form on my forehead from struggle to stay on the right path. I really wanted to end them right then and there. They wouldn’t have done the same for us but I guess that’s what makes us so different. The good from the bad.

“Hey Hermione? Did you remember to pack the necklace that Dumbledore left me?” I asked her. She looked confused for a moment as to why I would want it now but I’m sure my face told her not to ask. She opened up her bag and pulled out the wooden box. As I pulled it out the light caught the ruby and it glistened. I quickly slipped it on. What had Dumbledore said when leave it to me? ‘A small ruby necklace that has been passed down for generations in hopes that when feeling lost she will find her way and remember that she will always find what she is looking for.’

Well right now I was looking for the light in the dark tunnel. The moment I let the ruby drop onto my chest it was like something washed over me. I closed my eyes in what felt like pure happiness. The dark thoughts disappeared and my mind seemed to clear up of all the stress and clutter. I opened my eyes again to see them staring at me.

“What?” I smiled at them.

“Why are you smiling like that?” Ron asked me with a look of concern.

“I just suddenly feel like he’s here with us. I just needed a reminder of which path I needed to stick to.” They didn’t ask any more questions after that.

We needed to move quickly and we were constantly glancing about obviously paranoid.

“How is it they knew we were there?” I asked starting to think about that now that I could actually focus on that.

“Maybe Harry still has the Trace on him.” Hermione answered looking to me around Ron who was between us. Harry was on the other side of me silently following along.

“Can’t be. The Trace breaks at seventeen. It’s Wizarding law.” I said baffled as Hermione stopped. Harry and Ron turn to look back.

“What?” Ron asked.

“We didn’t celebrate your birthday, Harry.” Hermione looked truly upset about this. “Ginny and I -- we’d prepared a cake. We were going to bring it out at the end of the wedding.”

“Hermione. I appreciate the thought -- honestly. But given that we were almost killed by a couple of Death Eaters a few minutes ago-.”

“Right. Perspective.” She muttered beginning to walk with us again.

“We’ve got to get off the streets, get somewhere safe.” I said looking around us once more. I eyed a guy who was watching us but when he rounded a corner and didn’t pursue us I turned back around.

“I have an idea.” Harry said looking at me.

A few moments later we standing in front of a door marked by the number 12. I felt a moment of sadness as I realized where we were. Harry tapped his wand on the weathered surface and a series of metallic clicks could be heard inside. The door swung open with a loud creak. The gas lamps spring to life, illuminating a narrow cobwebbed hallway. I stood back from the group as they entered the hallway. I just didn’t want to be here. “Severus Snape?”

I jumped as a voice rang out and I looked around because I would know that voice anywhere. That voice yelled at me most of my fourth year at Hogwarts! “Mad-Eye...?”

Just then a great rush of cold air sweeps through the hallway and my tongue suddenly curled back into my mouth. By the looks of everyone else’s faces, the same thing had happened to them. Something shifts in the shadows at the end of the hall, rising from the carpet, a tall dust-colored and terrible- looking thing that then rushed toward us. I felt the color drain from me as I saw who stood before us. It was Dumbledore, but a ghostly, worm-eaten Dumbledore. A corpse come to life, with empty eye sockets and a sunken face. It raised its wand and then explodes in a great cloud of dust, swirling like mist in the corridor, drifting back to the carpet.

“What was that about?” Ron asked as soon as the tongue binding spell lifted off of us. I grabbed at the necklace around my neck and the memory of Dumbledore falling off the tower filled my thoughts. Snape having murdered him with the Killing Curse that Draco was meant to do but didn’t have the heart to do. No, he didn’t have the heart to kill Dumbledore himself. Instead he let Bellatrix and the other Death Eaters into the school to do all his dirty work. Just like his sad father.

Hermione’s voice startled me from my thoughts. “Mad-eye’s doing, I’d guess. In case Snape decided to come snooping.” Just then a floorboard creaks causing us all to grab out wands an whirl around to face the noise.

“Homenum revelio.” I whispered and my wand let off a bright light but no one came forward. Harry and Ron stared at me. I rolled me eyes. Maybe they should have ACTUALLY payed attention in school. I lowered my wand when nothing happened afterwards. “It’s a spell to reveal human presence.”

Hermione extends her hand and watches the settling dust stream through her fingers. “So we’re all alone then?”

“Yes Hermione. I think we are.” I whispered knowing that one statement meaning more than what was said.

That night I had a hard time falling asleep. Harry had passed out and the other two were next to each other really close but not yet touching. I smiled sadly. If only they had admitted to themselves sooner how they felt they would have had a real date or something before all the world went to shit. I made my way to Sirius’s room across the landing. I noticed the house seemed to have been ransacked because everything was on the floor, torn up, or flipped upside down. Sirius’s room, like the others, had been ransacked. I lingered by a photograph that had four young Hogwarts students in it. I smiled as I recognized the faces in them. I may not have known all personally but throughout the years you begin to feel an almost kinship to them. I was best friends with James’s only son, Lupin had been a professor and mentor to me in school, and Sirius knew just exactly what to say to me when times got tough. He became an older brother and friend. Now Peter Pettigrew I had only met momentarily but it was a long enough time that by the end of the night I was trying to stomp on him as he was in his rat form. Sadly I failed but at least I tried.

“Lumos.” I whispered and I began to trace the thin cone of light of my wand across their faces before I examined the rest of the room. Last time I had been in here it wasn’t necessary OCD clean but Sirius would have never let it get this bad. I also didn’t want to clean it because what if he had in fact made the mess. It would have been the last thing he did in the house before he died. Books and papers carpet the floor. On one of the books a woman’s face, striking and wise, peered out from a dust jacket. I crouched down and turned the book over to read its title. I knew what it was within moments. A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot. I turned it back over, studying the woman's face again.

“I thought I might find you in here.” I looked up with a sad smile at Harry. “You two always did seem more a like than the rest of us.”

“That’s generally what happens when your entire family is evil and you somehow end up being the black sheep. I just miss talking to him and him knowing exactly what to say to make me feel better.” I looked back at the picture of all of them and smiled again as they moved around inside joking and laughing. “It’s hard Harry. With our families our whole lives were planned out for us and if you didn’t meet expectations, you were punished. In our case’s we were labelled traitors to the cause. Black’s and Beyer’s have been the Dark Lord’s followers since the beginning when he first joined Hogwarts. Before that they were causing their own mischief and killings still. People at Hogwarts expect me to turn out like my parents and brother but yet the Death Eaters did nothing but torment me and harass me that I was nothing more than a useless traitor. They didn’t kill me merely because of who my parents were and because I still wasn’t old enough to decide who’s side I was really on. Not till now anyways. Now I’m free game and it scares me. I was surprised Silas spared me after everything but then again he’s my brother and he still loves me.”

“What do you mean Silas spared you?” Harry asked confused.

“That Death Eater that appeared before us at the wedding that turned around like he didn’t even see us was my brother. We locked eyes for a split second before he turned away. It was like looking in a mirror.” I said darkly remembering what had happened.

Harry went to go say something before he looked at the floor suddenly and noticed a crumpled sheet of paper. I noticed the name scrawled across it as he bent down to pick it up.

Lily Potter.

As Harry began to read we both heard the sound of a floor board creaking again. We looked around and when nothing else happened we looked back at the letter.

“Dear Sirius. Thank you for Harry’s birthday present. You’d think he’d been born on a broom. James says he’s got the look of a Seeker, but then James would. We had a very quiet birthday tea, just us and old Bathilda, who dotes on Harry. Wormy dropped by late in the day, but seemed down and didn’t stay long. James is frustrated being shut up here, but Dumbledore’s still got his Invisibility Cloak, so he doesn’t have much choice. By the way, Bathilda tells the most amazing stories about our old Headmaster. I don’t know how much to believe. Can it really be true that Dumbledore-.” Harry turned the letter over, but there was no more since a page seemed to be missing. Well that was frustrating.

“Harry! Harry!” Hermione’s frantic voice filled the house and we both bolted out of the room to the second floor landing. As Harry stepped out he found Hermione dashing up the stairs. Seeing him, she exhaled in relief. She noticed me with him and she put her hand to her heart like she was relieved but not about finding us. Did she think I had taken him hostage or something? I felt stung for a moment but didn’t say a word. “Ron! I’ve found them!”

“Good! Tell them from me they’re bloody gits!”

“Harry, you can’t just disappear. We thought-.” Her eyes quickly looked my way before going back to Harry’s face. He looked at me and I gave him an ‘I told you so’ glance. She had stopped talking so Harry just handed her the letter. She read it to herself.

“It’s from your Mum. To Sirius. Bathilda Bagshot...?”

“Yeah. They knew her. She wrote A History of Magic, you know.” Harry said and I chuckled.

Hermione looked up and her comment was just dripping in irony. “Did she now?”

“I’m thinking maybe we should go talk to her. She still lives in Godric’s Hollow. I’m thinking maybe she could help us.” Harry said getting excited but I started shaking my head. I felt like this was a very bad idea. Hermione looked up and regarded Harry closely.

“Harry. I can imagine why you’d want to go there, but... I don’t think Bathilda Bagshot is going to know where Voldemort hid his Horcruxes.” Harry started to respond but stopped and just frowned. Hermione reached out and touched his face lightly.

“Hey! I think you guys better come down here.” Ron called up to us.

Moments later I was at Ron’s side peering out a curtain as Hermione and Harry join him. In the courtyard outside, two dark figures stand near a tree. Another was sitting on a bench.

“The two clinging to the tree are Death Eaters for sure. Dunno ‘bout the bloke on the bench.” I said to them taking a step back from the window and dropping the curtain. “Can’t see us, of course. But we’ll have to be careful coming and going.”

“C’mon. There’s something else you need to see.” Ron said motioning us to follow him.
Harry and Hermione trailed Ron to a narrow doorway. I stood just behind them looking at what appeared to be a bedroom. It was a cramped bedroom with walls covered with eerie scrawling’s and symbols of Dark Magic. “Lovely.”

Ron pulled the door shut and affixed to the outside was a small sign, hand-lettered in a spidery crawl: ‘Do Not Enter Without the Express Permission of Regulus Arcturus Black’.

“Regulus Arcturus Black...?” Hermione gasped and Ron nods, extending his hand and tapping the first letter of each name on the sign.

“R... A... B.” No…it couldn’t be him!

Harry began to grab for the Horcrux and opened it up to grab the note out and read it. We’ve all read that note thousands of time. “To the Dark Lord. I know I will be dead long before you read this...I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it.”

“R.A.B. was Sirius’ brother?” I ask rubbing at my temples. That would mean that Regulus turned out good in the end if he was trying to destroy Voldemort’s work. There were sloppy stacks of old Daily Prophets surrounding us at the kitchen table as we all sat down to think about this.

“Yes. Question is, did he actually destroy the real Horcrux?” Hermione answered me. Harry nodded in agreement before he then quickly scrambled up and out of sight.

“Stop! I order you!” Seconds later, Harry reappeared with…Kreacher?? The house-elf was being dragged by one ear and he was mumbling under his breath. I realized they were foul oaths. “Been spying on us, have you?”

“Kreacher has been watching. Kreacher always watches.”

“Maybe he knows.” I whispered to Harry who glanced at me realizing what I meant. He took out the locket and dangles it before Kreacher’s massive eyes like a hypnotist. Kreacher watched it sway back and forth.

“Ever seen this before?”

Kreacher grumbled incoherently.

“Kreacher, I own this place. Sirius left it to me. Which means I own you too.” Kreacher grimaced mightily and then gives in.

“That was Master Regulus’ locket.”

“That’s right. But there were two, weren’t there?” Kreacher’s eyes widen in surprise. He nods again so Harry continued. “Where’s the other one?”

“Kreacher doesn’t know where the other locket is.”

“But was it here? Did you ever see it?” Hermione asked getting excited.

Kreacher spun on his heels, his face ugly and vicious. “Filthy Mudblood! The Death Eaters will soon be coming for you!” Ron snatched Kreacher by the neck and shook him violently. “Blood-traitor Weasley!”

“Ron! Put him down!” I yelled out though he was doing what I was holding myself back from doing. Kreacher looked at me but didn’t say any insults. He knew who my family was.

Reluctantly, Ron released the elf. Harry ordered him seconds later. “Answer her.”

“Yes. It was here, in this house. A most evil object.”

“How do you mean?” I asked crossing my arms across my chest. It suddenly felt oddly cold in here.

“Before he died, Master Regulus ordered Kreacher to destroy it. It was the last thing he asked of Kreacher. But no matter how Kreacher tried, he could not.” The elf looked miserable at failing his master.

“Where is it now? Did someone take it, Kreacher?”

Nodding Kreacher answered. “He came in the night. He took many things, including the locket.”

“Who, Kreacher? Who was it?” Harry asked. It was like pulling hair trying to get answers out of this elf.

“Mundungus. Mundungus Fletcher.”

“That bloody fucking weasel!” I yelled out in anger. That man left a sour taste in my mouth. Not to mention he left Mad-Eye and let him die.

We all glanced at one another before Harry turns back to Kreacher looking him in the eye. “Find him.”

Crack!

Kreacher vanished and all we could do now was wait.