Kreacher

Read up to 25 chapters ahead on Patreon - patreon.com/Dark_sym

-----

The sudden light made Ethan narrow his eyes uncomfortably. Fortunately, it didn't take long for him to fully adapt to the room's brightness.

The house was in severe disrepair; much of the wallpaper had peeled off, revealing rotten wooden walls beneath. Dust coated the floor thickly, and Ethan noticed the footprints of small rodents, likely mice. Crooked, darkened portraits hung on the walls, adding to the sense of neglect.

"This house has been unoccupied since my mother died, so it's been left unattended," Sirius explained hurriedly.

"Now you can find what you want," he added.

Ethan nodded and began searching for Slytherin's locket, which he believed Regulus Black had hidden there. A loud voice suddenly boomed through the room as he was about to venture deeper into the house.

"Who are you? Get out of this house quickly, you criminal!"

The sound startled Ethan and Sirius. They quickly turned toward the source of the voice to see a strange, old house-elf standing before them. This elf was the oldest Ethan had ever seen, almost naked except for a rag around his waist.

Like other house elves, the elf's skin was loose and wrinkled, and his head was bald with large bat-like ears. Neglect had left his ears and eyes filled with white hair. His eyes were gray, bloodshot, and wild. A pig-like nose stood out prominently on his face.

At this moment, the house-elf glared at Ethan with his bloodshot eyes, attempting to straighten his shriveled frame as if to intimidate him.

"Kreacher?" Sirius suddenly stepped forward, staring at the elf in astonishment.

The elf's curses stopped abruptly. "Master? Is that you? You are home?" Kreacher asked in a trembling voice.

"It's me!" cried Sirius.

"I didn't expect you to be alive!"

"Yes! Kreacher is still alive!" Kreacher answered loudly.

"Kreacher has been guarding the old and noble Black house, unlike the young master! The young master is a nasty, ungrateful bastard! He broke his mother's heart and abandoned the family, leaving the house! The mistress was heartbroken!"

Kreacher yelled in his toad-like voice, bowing to Sirius.

"Kreacher?" Sirius said, exasperated.

"Are you seriously going to pick a fight with me now, the first time I've been home in decades?"

Despite his outward indifference, Sirius felt a pang of shame. He had always scorned his family's reputation, yet returning to this house made him painfully aware of his past actions.

"This is because the young master has brought those mud-blood friends home!" Kreacher retorted loudly.

"Who did you bring back this time?" With his poor eyesight, Kreacher approached Ethan to take a closer look.

After scrutinizing Ethan from head to toe, Kreacher's eyes settled on Ethan's cat-like amber eyes.

"My God! You brought back a mutant!" Kreacher screamed.

"Master! Have you fallen so low? Befriending mutants?"

"The smell of mutants will pollute this great house! The mistress would be heartbroken if she saw one alive! Young master, you must drive him out!" Kreacher jumped and shouted.

"Shut up, Kreacher!" Sirius roared, his face turning red with embarrassment.

"My mother has no heart! She lives on resentment and madness!" Sirius snapped.

"No matter what the young master says, he is not even worthy to polish the soles of his mother's shoes!" Kreacher muttered.

"Poor mistress, what would she think if she saw a mutant entering the house?"

"Enough!" Sirius stomped his feet furiously.

"Disappear from my sight now! Immediately!"

Kreacher finally fell silent. "Kreacher will listen to the ungrateful master even though he is an ungrateful bastard!"

Hunching over, Kreacher slowly walked toward the other end of the corridor, eventually leaving Ethan and Sirius's sight.

Sirius stood still, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself.

"Even after all these years, he's still so difficult to get along with," Sirius said to Ethan.

The two continued to stroll through the Black house. Sirius looked around with a strange, nostalgic expression.

Ethan soon noticed a purple velvet drapery, now riddled with holes and looking unusually worn, though it still showed signs of its former luxury.

Ethan stepped forward, tugged lightly at the curtain, and it fell away. Behind it was a portrait of a yellow-skinned older woman in a pointed hat.

Before Ethan could take a closer look, the old woman suddenly screamed deafeningly as if someone were being tortured. Her scream activated the other portraits, and all the portraits in the hall were screaming in unison.

The harsh noise made Ethan's temples throb, and the whole house seemed to shake.

"Oops!" Sirius yelled, rushing over to Ethan.

"I forgot to warn you!"

Sirius picked up the tattered velvet drapery from the floor, trying to cover the portrait again, but he tried several times and failed.

"You bastard! Prodigal son! How dare you come back! And you brought a mutant to defile your ancestral home!" the old woman screamed and cursed.

"Enough!" cried Sirius.

"Accio nails!" Sirius shouted, and several nails flew out from the corner, hanging in midair before Sirius.