Sirius leaned against the back of his chair with his legs crossed on the desk, looking very comfortable.

It was a rare and interesting thing for him to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts for his good friend for one week every month. Not only could he get along closely with his godson, but he also felt very close to the other students in the castle.

Sirius especially liked the Weasley twins. He felt that they had the same style as himself and James Potter in their past.

It's a pity that there is only one week of such happy time every month. Sirius is thinking about whether he should apply to Dumbledore to teach the Defense Against the Dark Arts class after the school year is over.

Sirius had also heard the rumor that this course was cursed, but he didn't take it seriously. According to Dumbledore, as long as he resigned and left before the end of the school year, there would be no problem.

The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. The Defense Against the Dark Arts office was better than his messy home.

"Speaking of home, I forgot to tell Lupin that I should ask him to come with me to clean up..."

While Sirius was talking to himself, Lupin pushed open the door and walked in.

"What do you want me to clean with you?" Lupin asked gently. There was a faint scar on his face, but it did not make him look ferocious. He always had a smile that made people feel relaxed and peaceful.

"Cleaning my house." Sirius didn't look like he was bothering anyone. He jumped off the chair without hesitation and hooked his arm around Lupin's shoulders. "You know the situation at my house. No one has lived in that shabby house for a long time. God knows how dirty it is inside."

"Which one is better than the Shrieking Shack?" Lupin asked with a smile.

"Of course it's the Shrieking Shack!" Sirius said as a matter of course, "It's a famous tourist attraction! How about you going there this time without being discovered by those who came here to see it?"

Lupin's eyes flickered, and then he smiled and said, "You also know how long it has been abandoned. People have long since stopped caring about it. Besides, I won't howl now."

"That's true." Sirius seemed to be sighing, and then said, "Then this weekend, let's go clean up those vixens in the house and clean it up completely, so that Harry can come and live with us during the summer vacation."

“Not a bad idea.”

Sirius patted Lupin on the shoulder:

"Don't forget, the address is 12 Grimmauld Place this weekend. I haven't been back for a long time, so I have to go and make some preparations first."

Then he walked briskly out of the office under Lupin's gentle gaze.

After Sirius left, "Lupin's" expression turned gloomy.

"You're awesome for letting me help you clean, Sirius!" Barty, who was disguised as Lupin, sneered. However, it was really difficult for him to refuse this offer, otherwise Sirius might become suspicious.

Although it is called the weekend, it is actually just three or two days later.

Little Barty received a letter from Sirius on Thursday, and he came to Grimmauld Place as soon as the classes ended on Friday.

"Number 12, Grimmauld Place."

As I thought of the address, a tattered door suddenly appeared between numbers 11 and 13, followed by dirty walls and gloomy windows. It looked like an extra house had suddenly expanded and squeezed out everything on both sides.

"He actually cast the Fidelius Charm?" Barty felt that this was a good gain. One of the enemy's secret houses was destroyed. Once the war broke out, Sirius and his men would have one less place to hide.

As Barty walked up the broken stone steps, he stared at the newly created door with wide eyes. The black paint on the door had peeled off and was covered with scratches. The silver door knocker was in the shape of a large coiled snake. There was no keyhole or mailbox on the door.

Little Batty was still wondering how to get in when he suddenly heard a lot of loud noises of metal colliding and the rattling of chains.

Then the door creaked open.

Sirius's head was covered in dust, and his handsome hair was covered in white spider webs.

"You're finally here!" He breathed a sigh of relief as if he had seen a savior, "I've been busy all day, but I still couldn't clean a small kitchen!" Then he shook his head and walked in first.

"Come in, but don't touch anything. I can't promise—"

Before Sirius could finish his words, Barty Jr. accidentally knocked off a piece of cloth on the wall, revealing a huge portrait.

"Beast! Slut! Dirty and sinful bastard! Bastard, freak, ugly thing, get out of here! How dare you defile my ancestral home--" An old lady wearing a black hat was screaming desperately in the portrait, one cry after another, as if she was being severely tortured.

"That's what I wanted to say." Sirius shrugged helplessly at Lupin, and then responded in a very rough voice.

"Shut up, you horrible old witch, shut up!"

The old lady's face turned pale immediately.

"You—you are a black sheep, a disgrace to the family, and my own bastard! How dare you bring such lowly friends to the glorious Black family?!"

"I told you - shut up!" Sirius punched the portrait hard, then put the curtain back on to block out the sound. After doing all this, he felt as tired as if he had run several kilometers.

"I probably haven't formally introduced you to my mother yet. She just wishes I were dead."

"I understand." Barty Jr. felt the same way, but he was referring to his father.

Sirius leaned against the wall and rested for a while, as if he had regained his spirit. He clapped his hands and directed, "Okay, let's start again. I'll continue to work on the kitchen. Please clean up an empty room so that Harry will have a place to stay when he comes. If you hear something talking in the room, ignore it. It's a crazy house-elf. Sooner or later, I will hang his head on the wall!"

It's not that Sirius didn't order Kreacher to help with the cleaning, but that guy was hypocritical. He agreed verbally, but actually smeared a pile of mud on the kitchen wall in front of Sirius. If he hadn't messed things up, Sirius would have cleaned up faster.

"Your name is Kreacher, right?" Little Barty responded and walked upstairs in silence.

The wooden staircase seemed to be hollowed out by insects. When he stepped on it, it bent suddenly, making a worrying "creaking" sound. Fortunately, he still went upstairs smoothly, pushed open a room and picked up the wand.

"Whirlwind sweeps away!"

"Clean it up!"

“…”

Several cleaning spells were cast at the same time, but the room was still a mess.

The dirt in many places is not caused by ordinary things, but the footprints left by some magical creatures. This kind of filth is even more difficult to deal with.

Barty worked all night and saw Kreacher three or twice. Every time, the other party kept muttering unpleasant words, but once Barty tried to talk to him, Kreacher would disappear immediately.

After working all night, Barty Jr. and Sirius took a break in the kitchen. The kitchen was much cleaner now, but compared to the whole house, it was just a small project.

"Damn Kreacher, it would be much easier if he was willing to help." Sirius said helplessly.

"What's wrong with him? This is the first time I've seen a house-elf that is unwilling to obey orders." Little Barty asked curiously.

"This matter has to start with my brother Regulus." Sirius seemed to have thought of something, and told little Barty the story that Cyrus had told him in Azkaban.

Little Batty originally just listened to it as a pastime, but the more he listened, the more serious he became. He sat up straight, and when that gentle expression disappeared, the scar on his face seemed to become more obvious, and he looked extremely fierce.

"Is what you said true? Did Regulus really steal something that is vital to the mysterious man?!" Little Barty even breathed heavily.

He didn't expect that he would get such important news just because he was asked by Sirius to do hard labor.

He also turned serious and shouted in the kitchen: "Kreacher!"

"Kreacher!"

A house-elf suddenly appeared in the kitchen, almost naked except for a dirty rag tied around his waist. He looked very old, and seemed to have many times more skin than his body actually needed. Although his head was bald like all house-elves, his two large bat-like ears had a lot of white hair growing out. His eyes were bloodshot, watery and gray, and his fleshy nose was huge, almost like a pig's nose.

"…It smells like a sewer and criminals." Kreacher's bulging eyes glanced at little Barty, and then he muttered like a bullfrog, "Dirty werewolf, if the mistress knew that the prodigal brought such a person into the house, what would she say to Kreacher?"

"Shut up, Kreacher!"

"Ah, Kreacher didn't see the master just now--" Kreacher said terrified, but he couldn't wait even a moment, and immediately turned his head and continued to curse in a voice that everyone could hear clearly, "Shameful prodigal son!"

"Okay, Kreacher! Let me ask you, where is the pendant?!" Sirius ignored Kreacher's rude words and asked the most crucial question.

Kreacher immediately seemed to recover from his madness, staring at Sirius with his two big eyes in disbelief.

"How do you know?"

"I just know it! Take it out!" Sirius roared impatiently.

However, unexpectedly, Kreacher disobeyed his orders.

"No! Don't even think about it, you scum! That was left by Master Regulus!"

"I asked you to hand it over!" Sirius was so anxious that he wanted to pry open Kreacher's mouth with his hands, but Barty stopped him.

"Let me do it." Little Barty pushed Sirius away and walked in front of Kreacher.

"Kreacher has nothing to say about filthy werewolves."

Barty Jr. naturally would not be angry because someone insulted Lupin. He imitated Lupin and smiled gently: "I know that the pendant was given to you by Regulus. He wanted you to destroy it, right?"

Little Barty, who had already heard the story told by Sirius, was very nervous at the moment.

He was afraid that Kreacher had destroyed the pendant.

"We already know Regulus' deeds, we know he was a brave man Kreacher. So you ruined it?"

Kreacher looked somewhat moved, he was breathing heavily, his shriveled chest rising and falling dramatically, and when Barty Jr. asked if the pendant had been destroyed, Kreacher finally couldn't hold on any longer, he opened his eyes and let out a blood-curdling scream!

"——Lockette, Master Regulus' locket. Kreacher made a mistake. Kreacher failed to carry out the master's orders!"

"You failed to destroy it?!"

Barty's joy was beyond words, and he felt his blood boiling! But he quickly calmed down, clenched his fists tightly, and let his nails dig into the flesh to prevent Sirius from seeing the flaws.

Kreacher lay straight on the cold stone floor, tears pouring from his sunken eye sockets. He confessed everything that happened that year.

"Master Sirius ran away, and it was good that he ran away, because he was a bad boy, and his unruly behavior broke my mistress's heart. But Master Regulus had self-respect, and he knew what the Black surname and his pure blood meant. For many years he often talked about the Dark Lord, who wanted wizards to no longer have to hide, but to come out and rule over Muggles and their descendants... When Master Regulus was sixteen, he joined the Dark Lord's organization. He was so proud, so proud, so happy to be able to serve...

"A year later, one day, Master Regulus came to visit Kreacher in the kitchen. Master Regulus had always liked Kreacher. Master Regulus said... he said...

"…He said the Dark Lord wants an elf."

“…”

The story Kreacher told was almost the same as what Cyrus told. Sirius still felt uneasy after hearing the story again.

Barty reached out and patted Sirius on the shoulder. No one knew how Barty felt when he heard the story of a traitor, but at least he didn't look angry at all. Instead, he comforted Sirius.

"At least now we know that Regulus Black is a 'hero'!" he said sarcastically.

"yes."

Sirius replied blankly, like a numb body.

"Kreacher tried everything, everything, but nothing, nothing worked... There was so much powerful magic on the box, Kreacher believed it could only be destroyed from the inside, but it wouldn't open... Kreacher punished himself, tried again, punished himself, tried again. Kreacher failed to carry out the order, Kreacher couldn't destroy the locket! The mistress was mad with grief because Master Regulus was missing, and Kreacher couldn't tell her what had happened, couldn't, because Master Regulus forbade him to tell his f-family about what happened in the cave..."

"Bring the pendant here, Kreacher." Little Barty took a deep breath and looked straight into Kreacher's eyes, his tone was almost as tough as an order!

But he immediately realized that this was inappropriate, so his tone softened again and he said softly: "Give it to us, and we will help you destroy it. In this way, you will have fulfilled Regulus's order!"

The only thing in Kreacher's mind at this moment was "completing Regulus's order". He disappeared from the spot woodenly. The next moment, he appeared in front of little Barty with the exquisite Slytherin pendant in his hand.

Is this the Dark Lord's weakness? Barty was stunned for only a second before Sirius grabbed the pendant and threw it to the ground, then pulled out his wand mercilessly: "Shatter into pieces!"

“Bang!”

The speeding blade made Barty tremble uncontrollably, and then the sound of the exploding spell almost pierced his eardrums. He saw the pendant fly out like a bullet and smash the kitchen cupboard.

“It’s intact!”

Little Barty was horrified.

"This magic can't destroy the pendant!" Kreacher said sadly.

Sirius cast several offensive spells out of despair, but just as Kreacher had said, none of them worked.

"Maybe Dumbledore will have a solution?" Sirius could only say helplessly.

Give it to Dumbledore? Barty's eyes flickered darkly.

“I think this might not be a good idea.”

"What?" Sirius looked over in confusion. He didn't expect Lupin to say such a thing. From what he knew about Lupin, he knew that he trusted Dumbledore very much.

Little Barty could only bite the bullet and make a far-fetched assumption: "I think we can study it before handing it over to Dumbledore. I'm worried that if we destroy it directly, it will have some impact on Cyrus."

"What you said makes sense."

Sirius nodded, agreeing with this statement.

So little Barty panted and put the Slytherin pendant into his pocket.

I've been having a hard time following the novel lately, and I think it's because I haven't been updating regularly. So I'll fix it to 10pm every night, which will give me plenty of time to write. Hehe

(End of this chapter)