Notes
Kreacher
Kreacher suspected that he would be in deep trouble in case master Black found out what he was about to. But that didn’t matter. He didn’t know, and nobody would tell him.
He was more than sure he was doing the right thing, aimed to help his young master. Regulus had always been more than that to him: a genuine friend, who cared for him, loved him and respected him, pretty much unlike his parents.
Kreacher had never liked them. He’d always considered himself lucky for having found master Sirius and master Regulus; he’d watched them grow up, becoming the young men they now were. It was true, a lot of time had passed since he’d last seen Sirius, around four years now. Though Kreacher perfectly understood the reason why he’d left, followed by Regulus three years later.
The Blacks’ manor had felt so empty without both of them that Kreacher had been pretty reluctant to head back there to leave his message.
But he knew he had to do it.
He was confident that the quest would go well, though he still couldn’t take that question out of his mind: what if something didn’t go as planned?
He and Regulus had to get the locket, destroy it and then head back home before the Inferi could reach them, though what if something went wrong?
What if… what if Regulus died? Kreacher couldn’t help but worry over his young friend. So, he’d come up with an idea to make sure they wouldn’t fail. Well, he had no idea whether that was actually going to work. The only thing he could do was have trust in Walburga’s good faith.
Kreacher cleared his throat, then knocked on the black door he’d walked through so many times over the years.
As he waited for someone to come open, he clenched his right fist tighter behind his back, the same one in which he held the note he had to deliver. Kreacher was nervous. And he hated feeling so nervous.
Seconds passed, a minute, two… then, someone answered his knocking.
“Oh, Kreacher” Walburga appeared on the door, looking down on him with her usual cold, judgemental expression. She was wearing one of her favourite crimson dresses and a pair of black satin gloves. She’d always liked dressing elegantly even without any particular occasion to do so. And Kreacher had always liked her meticulous attention to detail, so similar to his. Well, that was probably one of the only few things he actually liked about her, to be honest. “What brings you here?” she asked him edgily, as if his visit was bothering her. “Weren’t you at Regulus’ place?”.
Kreacher had asked Orion and Walburga for permission to visit Regulus and stay at his place for a couple of days, permission they had granted without too much complaint.
“Kreacher is here to deliver a message” he said.
“Come on then. I’m all ears”.
“Actually, it isn’t addressed to you, mistress” Kreacher lowered his gaze on the note. “Nor for master Orion”.
“Why did you come here, then?”.
“Master Regulus knows nothing about this visit of mine. This note is from Kreacher…” he swallowed. “To James Fleamont Potter”.
“James Fleamont Potter?” Walburga repeated, raising an eyebrow. “And why would you ever want to send that boy a message, Kreacher? His stupid love story with my son is over, luckily. I don’t get why I should ever want to have anything to do with him or his family anymore”.
“You don’t have to, mistress” Kreacher quickly reassured her. “Kreacher just wanted to ask you if you could send it to Mister Potter’s place, since Kreacher doesn’t know the address. Moreover… Kreacher and Regulus are embarking on a little journey, just the two of them. Nothing important, just a little trip” he really, really hoped she couldn’t sense the lie behind his words. “So, unfortunately, he couldn’t deliver the message himself either way”.
“Fine. I’ll send this letter for you” Walburga consented with a small sigh.
“Really?” Kreacher’s eyes lit up in astonishment: convincing her had been easier than he’d initially thought. Perhaps a little too easy…
“Yes. It’s fine as long as I’m not personally involved in any of this and as long as my son isn’t either”.
“No, you’re not, mistress” Kreacher vehemently shook his head.
Walburga opened her hand, and Kreacher placed the note on it.
A simple white sheet of paper, with just a few lines written at its header:
Find the hint, James Fleamont Potter.
Don’t forget about your past.
You’ll find it there.
That was all.
Walburga read those lines out loud, then looked back at him, perplexed: “Is this really necessary? It barely makes any sense”.
“To him, he will” Kreacher simply said.
In reality, the note was way longer than that. It was simply written through an invisible ink made with lemon juice, a stratagem Regulus and James had come up with during his master’s third year at Hogwarts so as to be able to send each other letters during the summer holidays without Walburga finding out about their relationship, since she’d started browsing through the mail Sirius and Regulus received after reading a particularly… let’s say a suspicious one between Sirius and his boyfriend, Remus Lupin. A cruel violation of privacy, Kreacher had always considered it nothing but that.
“Fine Kreacher. If there’s nothing more you need to ask me, I’d go: I have guests over, my brother came to visit me”.
Kreacher nodded his head. “Of course, mistress. Have a good day”.
He watched as she locked the door behind her and let out a sigh of relief.
He was sure things would go perfectly well now.