Till The End | h.p

kreacher

They spend the next month at Grimmauld Place, hiding from the Death Eaters and coming up with their next move. They all try to keep each other as cheerful as possible, but there are some days where the house remains silent. Fred and George have started their own pirate radio program called 'Potterwatch' where they keep people up to date on what's going on. They hope that wherever the Golden Four are, they're listening in.

Sam continues to listen in, every time they have a program, just to hear the sound of their voices again. She's used to being away from them when she's at school, but now that everyone's safety is at risk, she misses them more and more. Today they're cleaning up spare rooms of the house. Sam and Harry are looking in Sirius' old room. Neither of them have had the courage to enter until now. There are posters of old rock bands hung on the wall, his bed unmade, and several photos of the Marauders, Jordana, Sam and Harry.

"Harry? Hermione? Sam? Where are you?" They hear Ron call out from down the hall, "I think I found something."

They make their way down the hall and stand next to him. He nods towards the door and Hermione reads aloud, "Regulus Arcturus Black."

"R.A.B." Ron confirms.

They head down to the living room and Harry pulls out the fake Horcrux and opens the locket. He rereads the note that was stored inside.

"R.A.B. is Sirius' brother," Ron concludes.

Sam nods, "I've seen his portrait on the family tree in the old drawing room."

"Question is, did he actually destroy the real Horcrux?" Hermione adds.

They all hear a clattering noise from inside the cupboard. Harry is the first to stand and Ron slowly makes his way over to it. He looks to the others before opening it quickly and pulling out Kreacher, the Black house elf.

"You've been spying on us, have you?" Harry accuses.

Sam places her hand on his arm to calm him down, "Kreacher?"

"Kreacher has been watching," he says sheepishly.

"Maybe he knows where the real locket is," Hermione suggests.

Harry grabs the locket from the table and holds it up to Kreacher, "Have you ever seen this before? Kreacher..." he says warningly.

Kreacher stutters for a moment, "It's Master Regulus' locket."

"But there were two, weren't there?" Sam asks calmly, "Where's the other one?"

Kreacher whimpers slightly, "Kreacher doesn't know where the other locket is."

"Yes, but did you ever see it? Was it in this house?" Hermione asks.

"Filthy Mudblood," Kreacher all but shouts, "Death Eaters are coming-"

He gets interrupted as Ron picks up a ladle and charges at him with it. Sam and Hermione grab his arms and hold him back.

"Blood traitor, Weasley," Kreacher accuses.

"Kreacher!" Sam shouts.

He bows his head as a sign of respect and Harry continues, "Answer her."

"Yes. It was here in this house. A most evil object. Before Master Regulus died, he ordered Kreacher to destroy it but no matter how hard Kreacher tried, he could not do it."

"Well, where is it now?" Harry asks, "Did someone take it?"

"He came in the night. He took many things, including the locket."

"Who did?" Sam asks in confusion and frustration.

Kreacher struggles to remember, but spits out, "Mundungus. Mundungus Fletcher."

"Find him," Harry orders.

Kreacher disapparates to go search for him. The others move to different areas of the house, searching for anything that might help explain how to destroy the Horcruxes. Sam leaves a room and finds Hermione in one of the spare rooms.

"Hermione?"

Hermione turns around, "Hey."

Sam sits down in one of the chairs, "I'm sorry about Kreacher. He was trained to be biased, working for this family all his life. I'll talk to him about it."

"It's alright, really. I understand. I'm not ashamed of my blood status."

"You shouldn't be! You're the brightest witch of our age. I've never met anyone, let alone a Pureblood, as smart as you."

Hermione sends her a warm smile, "Thank you," Sam turns to leave but Hermione calls out, "Sam?"

"Mhm?"

Hermione opens her mouth, but then closes it, clearly struggling for her words. Sam looks at her curiously until she finally speaks.

"Ron told me... about the prophecy..."

Sam's eyes widen a fraction, "Oh."

"I'll find a way, I promise."

Sam bites her bottom lip in concentration, "Does Harry know?"

Hermione shakes her head, "He doesn't have to, not if we can rewrite the ending."

Sam nods slowly. As she exits she passes by a room, unbeknownst to her, it's the room Harry has been looking through. He leans against the wall as he takes in all that he has overheard from their conversation.