'But trust is the sound of the grave-dog's bark.
Trust is the sound of betrayal in the dark.
Trust is the sound of a soul's last breath.
Trust is the sound of death'-Robert Jordan-Lord of Chaos
'I'll turn off the light, and murder the dawn'-Blind Guardian-Mordred's song
"And you could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down. I will make you hurt"-Nine Inch Nails-Hurt
As they arrived at Grimmauld Place, Sirius enveloped Harry in a tight bear-hug.
"Good to have you back" he whispered gruffly into his godson's ear.
Dumbledore watched from the side with a smile splitting his face for a few minutes, before he disturbed the tableau.
"Loath as I am to interrupt your reunion, I must do so. Sirius, may I have a word, please?"
As Sirius followed Dumbledore into the kitchen, Harry took the chance to look around a little.
The place certainly looked different.
Apparently, Sirius had gotten into the Christmas mood quite early. Streams of tinsel were hung up all around the otherwise imposing entrance hall, as well as laurel wreaths. Springs of mistletoe dotted the ceiling.
He smirked as he saw the tinsel lining the curtain that blocked Sirius' mother from sight.
' I'm sure she absolutely loved that'
Perhaps most bizarre, were the fake beards and Father Christmas hats that adorned the house-elf heads.
' Maybe I'll give Kreacher one' he thought and started laughing.
"What's so funny?"
He cut his laughter off and turned to face Sirius.
"The elf heads. What the hell is up with that?"
Sirius grinned widely.
"Hilarious, aren't they? It's how they were always done when I was growing up. I think Kreacher really enjoys it, anyways"
"That elf is really crazy," Harry said, chuckling a little.
"You got that right. C'mon, let's get you unpacked"
Sirius grabbed hold of his trunk and lifted it, heading towards his room.
"So, what did Dumbledore want?"
"Not too much. Wanted to let me know about a few people he wants me to meet, and he wanted to apologize that he won't be able to make it to the Christmas party"
"Christmas party?"
"Yeah, for the Order. I'm hosting it. Thinking of opening mum's curtain at some point, let her see what I'm using the house for"
"We're having a party? In the middle of a war?"
Sirius laughed, a little sadly.
"I remember your mum complaining about that, in the first war. She said it was disrespectful. But we've got to do things to keep us happy. Otherwise, everything just becomes a never-ending stream of misery. Got to take the happy moments when you can, you know?"
Not entirely convinced, Harry answered with a noncommittal "Yeah, I guess"
"Dumbledore says, we need to remember what we're fighting for. That we're fighting to keep our joy alive, and not just to defeat Voldemort"
' You're never going to defeat him. Can't you just realize that?! Can't you just surrender and save your own fucking life?'
"Not that we've been fighting that much. Been pretty dull, to be honest"
"Yeah? So what've you guys actually been doing lately?"
"Mostly just educating people. Like, we've all been very involved in the Patronus and the other self-defense classes. The average witch or wizard, they don't need to worry about facing Voldemort or the really high up Death Eaters, but they still need to know basic self-defense. You'd be surprised how many adult witches and wizards can't cast a decent stunner or shield to save their lives"
' As if your efforts are gonna help. We've got the Dark Lord and his chosen training us. Who the fuck do you have? You're all gonna die!'
"Otherwise" Sirius continued, "just been meeting informants"
"Spies?"
"No, no. Only Dumbledore knows who exactly our spy is. But like, people on the scummier side of things. You know, the type who hang around Knockturn Alley. Petty criminals. They all keep their ears to the ground, and they'd know more than us"
"And they just talk to you guys? Don't most of them just want to stay neutral?"
"Well, yeah. But most of them will talk if you pay them. And they're happier to deal with me than with others. Even though I was innocent, I spent time in Azkaban. They feel like they can trust me"
"Ah"
"Yeah. Probably gonna be a bit busy with that, the next few days. And with shopping" Sirius dumped Harry's trunk on the floor next to his bed. "So you'll basically have free reign of the house, for a good amount of most days. What's with Daphne this break?"
' It's important that she's at home for most of it. She needs to be there for Tori. I wonder how she's taking it?'
"Probably something similar to last time," Harry said simply. "She'll come over for a few days. But only like, next week or so"
"Ok, great. Well, get yourself settled in. Shower, unpack. We'll have lunch soon, then I've got to head out for a bit. Probably just an hour or so, but who knows, right?"
He didn't manage to question Kreacher that day. He had called the elf immediately after Sirius left, but it just didn't respond.
' Fucking stupid thing. It needs to learn to obey me!'
It wasn't an unheard of tactic for the lunatic elf to use. It often did the same thing to Sirius, forcing him to call it over and over until it could no longer disobey and simply had to appear.
With regards to Harry, however, it didn't wasn't under the same compulsion as it was with Sirius. Sure, Sirius had ordered it to obey Harry, but he hadn't explicitly ordered it to appear as soon as Harry called. This gave the elf some wiggle-room, and it had made great use of this in the past.
' Fucking thing. Maybe we can just replace them with muggles, one day'
So, after he called it and it didn't come, he walked through the house searching for the locket himself and keeping his eyes peeled for the elf.
By the time he found it, muttering as it stared at the Black family tree, it had already been an hour.
' Ok. Next time, I'm not spending any time looking for the locket myself. That elf is gonna do what I want it to'
His hesitance to question the elf right then was proved correct, when Sirius arrived less than ten minutes later.
' Tomorrow. I'll get the elf tomorrow'
The next day proved far more auspicious. Sirius left the house at eleven, after warning Harry that he would probably only be back that evening.
"Can't say for sure, but it seems really likely I'll be very late.
Don't wait up for me, and definitely, don't wait for me to eat. Just do your thing. Moony's coming over to stay the night, but he won't be in before six or seven"
' Perfect'
He found the elf less than ten minutes later. As he had expected, it was staring at the Black family tree again.
When he drew closer to the elf, walking as silently as he could with his wand drawn, he made out its mutterings.
"Kreacher is sorry, mistress Walburga. Kreacher should have been a better elf, should have helped mistress stop her blood traitor son from betraying her. Kreacher wishes master Regulus was still alive, oh yes he does, and-"
"Imperio" Harry whispered.
Immediately, the elf stopped its ramblings and stood up straighter. Harry sensed the little bundle of awareness that was its mind.
Oddly enough, it didn't feel that different from how a human felt. It was definitely more foreign, more alien, but not as totally dissimilar as Harry had been expecting.
"Kreacher" he ordered. "Drink this"
He handed it the vial of veritaserum that Snape had given him and watched with a slowly spreading smile as the elf quickly downed it.
"Tell me the truth. Did Regulus steal a locket from the Dark Lord?"
The elf trembled so hard that it could barely speak. Harry felt it's awareness in his mind reaching out, trying to fight against the veritaserum and Imperius. He crushed it, applying pressure within his head.
"Yes," it finally whispered.
"Did he destroy it?" Harry asked, heart racing.
The elf shook its head, ears flapping down sadly.
"Did you destroy it?"
"Kreacher-Kreacher tried! But nothing Kreacher did worked, and master Regulus made Kreacher promise, and Kreacher failed!"
The elf began to wail, alternating between punching itself in the face and pulling in its long ears.
Again, Harry applied as much pressure as he could to the elf's mind. He spoke kindly, gently.
"If you give it to me, I will destroy it"
The elf stopped its self-flagellation. It stood stock-still, staring at him with its tennis-ball eyes.
"You-you will?"
"I will, Kreacher. I promise. Where is it?"
"Kreacher has-Kreacher has been keeping it safe since the blood traitor master tried to throw it out. Kreacher-"
"Give it to me, Kreacher"
The elf reached into its dirty apron and pulled it out. For a fraction of a second, it stared at the Dark lord's Horcrux, before handing it over to Harry.
"Thank you, Kreacher," he said gently, holding it, feeling it.
It was definitely the correct locket, there could be no argument. It felt… malignant. But in a way that felt oddly comfortable.
"Thank you, Kreacher," he told the elf sincerely.
He aimed his wand towards it. It still just stared at him, with slightly unfocused eyes.
"The Dark Lord will be most pleased with your service"
It only had the chance for a look of deep agony to cross its face as he said "Avada Kedavra"
He set about the task of getting rid of the body, the Dark Lord's advice on the subject echoing in his mind.
' For some reason, living creatures that were not conjured do not Vanish easily. Oftentimes, this extends to their corpses as well. When getting rid of a body, the easiest option is to transfigure it and then to vanish the transfigured result'
"Mutatium," He said, keeping the image of a block of wood clearly in his mind. When that was done, a quick Evanesco took care of the rest.
Immediately, he ran up to his room and got his mirror out of the trunk. The instant he summoned him, Voldemort's face appeared on the other side.
" $Report$"
" $My lord, I have the locket$"
Voldemort's eyes widened slightly. "$Show me$" He hissed.
Harry held the Locket up, moving it closer to the mirror.
" $Well done, Harry. Well done. Where is Black?$"
" $He is our for the day, my lord. He even told me he may be back very late tonight. It is possible that he would finish early and return earlier, but highly unlikely. Lupin is coming this evening, but no earlier than six$"
" $Bella will be there in ten minutes$"
" $I will be ready, my lord$"
" $Excellent. Over and over again, Harry, you have proven yourself to be my most reliable, most trustworthy. I am honored to have such as you sworn to me$"
" $I-The honor is mine, my lord$"
" $Ten minutes$" the Dark Lord said, and the mirror went blank.
As he waited, Harry sat on his bed, stroked the locket, and began to think about what he would say about Kreacher's apparent disappearance.
' I don't have to say anything. I'll just act surprised when the elf doesn't come after Sirius calls it. It's not as if there's a body for them to find'
A crack split the air downstairs. He ran out of his room, leaving the locket on his bed in his haste, just in time to hear Bellatrix happily calling out.
"Hello? Anybody home? Little Harrykins, are you there?"
He ran down the corridor, to the top of the stairs.
"Up here, Bella!"
"Harry!" She screeched, sounding positively delighted. "I must thank you for the invitation. It's been ever so long since I've been in this house, and with such pleasant company!"
The floorboards creaked as she made her way up the stairs. She caught sight of him and broke into an even bigger smile than she had been wearing before.
"And how has the home of Black been treating you, ickle Harry?"
' Mad as a hatter, this one. Probably was before Azkaban, too'
"Good enough," he said with a shrug. "Come on, I don't want to just hang around for hours"
"Afraid of cousin Sirius? You said he won't be home for ages yet" she said back with a pout.
"He probably won't, but I can't say for sure"
"It's been so long" she drawled, trailing her fingers along the wall. "I just want to enjoy my time here"
"Bella, come on. He wants this done as quickly as possible"
At the reference to their lord, her face changed. In a flash, she went from whiny to dead-serious.
"Of course. Give me what he desires"
"It's in my room, let me just-"
"Ooh! Let me come!"
' Totally fucking crazy'
"Sure, why not? Come on, it's Regulus' old room"
"You sleep in a traitor's bed?" She hissed, her emotions shifting to anger instantly.
"I couldn't exactly tell Sirius that I don't want to because he was a traitor, could I?"
"No," she said, relenting after a short pause. "I guess you couldn't"
"Yeah. Ok, come on"
She followed him down the corridor, stopping every few meters to inform him of some absolutely vital piece of history that had occurred at that location in the House.
"And that was our room. I remember, when Andromeda-"
"Sorry, Bella. But is this all really that important?"
She looked absurdly hurt by his comment.
"This was my childhood home, Potter. Pardon me for feeling a bit of nostalgia"
"Sorry. It's just taken us ten minutes to walk this corridor"
"Fine," she said pouting and flounced forward. "Let's go get this locket"
"It's in my room. Had to kill the elf for it, but-"
"You killed Kreacher?" She interrupted.
"Uh, yeah?"
"I wanted to kill him! He was mine!"
"Bella. The Dark Lord told me to kill it"
She immediately took on an apologetic expression.
"Well, in that case. Good on you for listening to our Lord!"
"Thanks" he muttered, walking into his room with Bellatrix right behind him.
' Absolute fucking nutter. Total fruitcake'
"Here," He said, gingerly passing it to her.
"Wonderful". She placed it in her pocket. "I hear you had some fun with your muggle relatives?"
"Yeah," He said, quite unsure where she was heading with it.
"And how was it?"
She stared at him expectantly.
"It was-good, I guess"
"You guess? Our Lord gave you a gift, and-"
"No, no, not like that" he held his hands up beseechingly. "It was just over too quickly. I had to get back to Hogwarts, so we couldn't really stay and just have fun. I had to kill them too quickly"
She stared at him for a few seconds, her head cocked to one side before she threw her neck back and laughed raucously.
"Oh, ickle Harry"
She sat down on the bed, patting the spot next to her.
Quite uncomfortable, he sat down next to her.
"Bella, shouldn't you be-"
"Shh!" She pressed a finger to his lips.
"Maybe, if you're good" she whispered, in what Harry realized with dawning horror was an attempt at a sultry tone, "I'll take you one day, and we can play with muggles for hours and hours"
' Totally crazy'
"That-that could be nice"
"I'm sure I have lots to teach you," she said, waggling her eyebrows.
' Why the fuck is this happening?'
"Um, yeah, I'm sure, but shouldn't you be going, I mean-"
"Or maybe" she whispered, ignoring his input totally, "you have something to teach me. What did you do to them?"
' Just play along with her' he thought urgently, ' otherwise, she's never gonna leave. And it's not like Sirius will walk in any minute'
"I uh, broke my uncle's legs and crucio'd their kid"
"Is that all?" She said, sounding disappointed.
He bristled at the insult against his imagination.
"No," he said, not hearing the downstairs floorboards creaking.
"They were screaming at me to stop hurting him, so I told my aunt that I would"
She raised an eyebrow, waiting.
"I said" and he smiled, reveling in the memory, "that I'd stop as soon as she begged me to kill him"
She began to cackle, her laughter verging in hysteria. He joined in after a few seconds.
"And did she?" Bellatrix asked breathlessly.
"No," he said, a bit regretfully. "I left it too long, and it broke his mind"
"Hate it when that happens," she said, staring into his eyes.
"Yeah"
And she kissed him.
It wasn't like anything he'd experienced, with Daphne or with Pansy. There was a sense of hunger to it, almost like she was trying to swallow him whole.
After a second or two, he gathered enough self-control to pull back.
"Bella-I-Daphne, and I, we're-"
"Hush. Do you know how long it's been? And now Rodolphus is dead, and I-"
Glass shattered, tearing them both out of their reverie and making their heads spin around.
Sirius stood at the entrance to the room, staring straight ahead, his mouth working soundlessly. He seemed to be mouthing Harry's name, over and over again. His eyes bulged out of his pale face, betrayal, and horror written across his expression.
By his feet, a broken bottle spread a pool of butterbeer.
There was a perfect crystallized moment where time stopped.
Harry broke it.
A small, nearly forgotten part of his mind curled into a ball and screamed, as he flashed his wand through a familiar motion.
"Avada Kedavra," He said, the words bitter on his lips.
And as the green light collided with his godfather's chest, it illuminated the depths of pain within his eyes.
Sirius Black fell forward, the pain etched into his face not changing even as his corpse hit the floor.