A Sirius Conversation

Harry waited for what felt like hours until finally, just as Harry had nodded off with his face resting on the kitchen table, Sirius arrived home.

"Harry!" He called out. "I've got a surprise for you! Stopped over at a zoo nearby to pick it up - big heavy thing, it is. Figured it would make for a good birthday present!"

Harry was still fast asleep, and it wasn't until Sirius shook him awake that he sat bolt upright and then hugged Sirius fiercely.

"What's gotten into you, boy?" chuckled Sirius.

"I- I found something. In Uncle Regulus's room. I think you should take a look at it."

Sirius could feel how serious Harry was being. Concern gripped him, and he was stunned into silence as he noticed the bruises around Harry's neck.

"Tell me what happened. Where's Kreacher? Where did you get these bruises, Harry?"

Harry started tearing up and before he could get a word out, Kreacher poked his head out from his cabinet, and sniffed at Sirius. "Kreacher is here, Master."

"Kreacher, what happened to Harry?" demanded Sirius.

"Kreacher found Young Master in Master Regulus's bedroom. Kreacher had to save him from the locket."

A frown appeared on Sirius's face. "Locket? What locket?"

"Kreacher cannot say. Kreacher was ordered to say nothing to Master Regulus's family. Kreacher could only tell Young Master."

Kreacher was thoroughly cowed under Sirius thunderous expression.

"He's telling the truth, dad. He told me everything - Uncle Regulus forbade him from telling any member of the family about it. When I found the locket, it tried to kill me. Kreacher saved me, and I ordered him to tell me about it because I'm the heir. But I'm not your blood relation, so Kreacher was able to tell me everything. He can't tell you - your Uncle Regulus's blood brother."

"Tell me everything, Harry. From beginning to end. Leave nothing out."

So Harry did. Sirius was shocked to learn that his brother had betrayed Voldemort and sacrificed himself for the greater good. He had believed his family to be almost entirely evil - in a way, it was a relief to find out he was wrong.

When the story was over - Sirius looked as though he had aged a few years.

"You said your scar hurt when you went by Regulus room - why didn't you tell me about this before?"

"I don't know." said Harry, "I just wanted to have an adventure, I guess."

"There are more pieces to this puzzle, Harry. Kreacher - Make dinner for Harry, then take me to the cave. I need to investigate it. Harry, I brought you a gift, an early birthday present. I've already cleared it with Dumbledore, you can bring it with you when you go to Hogwarts." With that, Sirius produced a small envelope addressed to Mr. H. Potter, 12 Grimmauld Place, London.

"What did you get me?" asked Harry, with some excitement.

"Why don't you run up to your room and find out?" Said Sirius with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Harry darted up to his room and soon the smile on Sirius's face disappeared.

Kreacher quickly prepared a meal for Harry and then snapped his fingers, making it disappear and then reappear in Harry's room.

"Thanks, Kreacher!" called Harry from upstairs.

A small smile formed on Kreacher's face at that.

"Harry, I'll be back in a few hours. Don't wait up for me - If I don't come back tonight, someone will be here in the morning to take you to Diagon Alley. You still have to pick up your school supplies."

"Okay!"

Sirius quickly wrote a note and sent it off with an owl, before facing Kreacher.

"Take me to the cave."

With that, Kreacher grabbed onto Sirius's arm and they disappeared from the room entirely.

---

Harry's room was a large space decorated with moving posters for the Weird Sisters and different Quidditch teams and pictures of Harry and Sirius as well as individual photos of James and Lily Potter.

On Harry's bed was a large box, with holes poked all over the surface. Harry was so excited he could barely bring himself to actually look inside the box. However, a hiss came from the box which immediately dispelled his doubts about the contents and instantly stunned him - because he had understood what that hiss meant.

"Hhhhelllo." said the hissing serpent in the box.

"Uh... hello?" Said Harry back to the box.

A moment later a large triangular head lifted straight out of the box and stared at Harry curiously.

"Whatssss your name, little wizssssard?" Asked the snake politely.

"I'm Harry, Harry Potter. Whatsss your name?" said Harry, stupefied.

"My name isss Basssil." Said the snake, smartly.

Harry grinned, "Basil? Like, short for Basilisk?"

"Yesss. It is not often that I get to talk to a wizssard. I musssst thank your guardian for freeing me from that plassse."

"What kind of sssnake are you, Basssil?" asked Harry.

"I'm a Brazsssilian Boa Conssstrictor. But my great grandfather wasss a Bassilissk." the snake slithered out of the box and rolled up into a coil with his head raised in the air as he talked to Harry.

Curious, the snake looked around the room. It looked at photos of Harry and Sirius and then saw pictures of James and Lily.

"Thessse are your parentsss then?" asked Basil.

"Yesss." Said Harry. "But I never knew them. Sirius isss more like my dad. That'sss what I call him, anywayssss."

"I only knew my mother." Said Basil, with a sigh. "She left me when I wasss young in the zoo, went away with a wizssard and never came back. In a way, we are ssssimilar."

Harry felt sad for the snake. "You're welcome to ssstay with me, Basssil, if you want. But I won't ssstop you if you want to leave."

Basil stared at Harry curiously. "You ssseeem nissssseee, I think I would like to sssstay. Your guardian sssaid sssomething about me becoming your familiar. I would not be againssst that."

"Exsssellent!" shouted Harry. After a moment a curious thing occurred to him. "By the way, Bassil, how isss it that you can ssspeak my language?"

Basil tilted its head at him confused. "But I'm not. You are sssspeaking my language. You're a parssseltongue."

Harry, of course, knew what a parseltongue was - but had no idea that he was one of them. This in itself was kind of shocking - he thought somehow the snake was bewitched or magical - but rather it was him who was speaking in a different language he didn't even know he knew.

They chatted with each other late into the night, and soon fell asleep curled up around each other.

Long after they had fallen asleep, an exhausted Kreacher apparated into the house - carrying a wounded and exhausted Sirius black. From his fingers dangled a locket.

"Water! Kreacher! Get me water!" Kreacher disappeared and reappeared with water and Sirius drank greedily.

"Thank you, Kreacher."

Kreacher froze, unsure how to respond to the unexpected gratitude from Sirius.

With a sigh, Sirius opened the locket. In it was a note, handwritten by Regulus.

"To the Dark Lord - I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more. - R.A.B."

For a while, Sirius sat there reading the note over and over again, in shock. Tears formed in his eyes at the memory of his brother. Eventually, Sirius handed the locket to Kreacher.

"Kreacher, I want you to have this locket. It belonged to Regulus, whom I know you cared for greatly. I need you to take this other locket - and put it in the Potter family vault at Gringotts. You have access to it already. But this locket, this Horcrux, it must be kept away from Harry and everyone else until we have a way to destroy it. Then, I need you to search the vaults of the other members of the Black family. Look for another Horcrux like this - Bellatrix's vault especially. She served Voldemort faithfully - probably still would be had he not been defeated. It is possible that he hid something in her vault - if there is one in there, that needs to be moved to the Potter family vault as well."

"Yes, master, right away master. Does master want Kreacher to help him to bed?"

"No, I can handle the rest from here. Contact Dumbledore - tell him everything. Let Hagrid know he doesn't need to come by in the morning to pick up Harry - I'll take him to Diagon Alley tomorrow myself."

"As you command, master."

Before Kreacher apparated out of the house, Sirius called out to him one more time. "Kreacher - good job today. Saving me. And good job, for saving Harry too."

"Kreacher does not deserve praise master. Kreacher is just doing as Master commands."

Kreacher then apparates, leaving Sirius to climb his way into bed, exhausted.