Chapter 323: Hounding Truths
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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.
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12th September 1995, London (Earth 2)
"Hello, Sirius… It's a long story, but why don't we start by summoning Kreacher… I'll explain after I destroyed the damn thing." The dog Animagus numbly nodded and lowered his wand, still trying to figure out what the fuck was going on.
Harry knew that he could have been a bit gentler with the reveal, especially considering just how unstable Sirius Black's psyche was. To be completely fair, he did spend over a decade being in one of the worst cells in Azkaban, constantly hounded by Dementors, sucking whatever positive emotions he had left after the death of his best friend.
The decision to trust Sirius was surprisingly an easy one. He was distrustful of the Order because of how they were treating his godson. He also hated Voldemort and his Death Eaters with a passion, and he cared far more about his godson than he did about Dumbledore's and Voldemort's plans. If there was a chance to get his godson to be safe, to not fight a war against a far more powerful student, then he would take it without a second of thought.
Sirius Black was in the perfect place at the perfect time and had the ideal motivation to not babble about Harry's plans.
Harry gave Sirius a look, "Call Kreacher, please…"
The dog Animagus grumbled, "Fine. Kreacher!"
With a pop, a house-elf appeared in front of them. Kreacher appeared with a pop, his small, hunched figure draped in a dirty rag that looked more like an old dishcloth than clothing. His large, droopy ears twitched as he eyed Sirius with a mix of irritation and reluctant obedience. His beady eyes flicked briefly to Harry before settling back on Sirius, his lips curling into a faint sneer.
"Master calls," Kreacher grumbled, his voice raspy and laced with bitterness. "Oh, naughty Master, thinking he can just go wandering about. Kreacher knew this would happen, yes, he did. And what would those other blood traitors say? Oh, they'll call him reckless, yes, they will. Foolish, thinking he can do as he pleases, just like the rest of them. The Order, always meddling, always thinking they know best…" Kreacher's muttering faded into a stream of low complaints, but his disapproving glare remained fixed on Sirius.
Harry couldn't help but be impressed by the elf's muttering. Kreacher definitely knew how to push Sirius' buttons. He was never the sanest elf out there when Arcturus introduced them, but he was respectful and tried to be pretty helpful.
Before Sirius could blow up at the elf, Harry knelt down and gave the elf a kindly look, "Hello, Kreacher."
"The blood-traitor greets Kreacher… Mistress would have had his hide if he answered back, yes, she would… He looks like the Potter boy, yet he is not…"
"That's a very good guess, Kreacher. You always were a smart elf. But I asked Sirius here to call you about something very important. You see, it's about the locket that Regulus gave you."
Kreacher froze, his beady eyes narrowing as he stared at Harry with suspicion. For a moment, it looked like he was caught off guard, but then he quickly shook his head, his voice rising in a sharp denial.
"No, no, Kreacher doesn't know about any locket. Kreacher has nothing that belonged to young Master Regulus. Lies, filthy lies, trying to trick poor Kreacher, oh yes…"
Harry didn't back down. He leaned in a little closer, his voice calm but with a deliberate edge, "You see, Kreacher, I know the truth. I know that Regulus—your beloved Master—ordered you to take him to a very dark place. A cave, hidden away, where the Dark Lord kept something very precious. He made you drink that horrible potion, didn't he? To get the locket. It was the only way."
Kreacher's eyes widened slightly, and he took a small step back as if the memory itself had a physical presence. His hands trembled, clutching at the ragged cloth he wore. Harry pressed on, his tone softening but still firm.
"And Regulus… he was so brave, wasn't he? He drank that potion, knowing what it would do, just so he could take the locket and stop the Dark Lord. But then… the lake. Those terrible creatures… they dragged him under, didn't they? He sacrificed himself, Kreacher. And his last command to you, the one you followed so faithfully, was to take that locket and destroy it. But you couldn't, could you?"
Kreacher's lip quivered, his eyes glistening with the beginnings of tears. He shook his head again, but it was weaker this time, more like he was trying to convince himself than Harry. The elf's knees wobbled, and he let out a low, pitiful wail, the sound of years of guilt and grief bubbling up to the surface.
Harry placed a gentle hand on Kreacher's shoulder, feeling the frail bones beneath his thin skin. "You don't have to carry this burden alone, Kreacher. I can destroy it. Right now, just like Regulus wanted. You'd be fulfilling his last wish, finally bringing him peace."
Kreacher's wail subsided into a series of quiet, shuddering sobs. He looked up at Harry, his eyes filled with a desperate hope that had been buried for far too long. After a moment of hesitation, he gave a small, reluctant nod, before popping away.
When he turned, Harry noticed that Sirius was giving him a complicated look, "You were telling the truth. I didn't think you'd be this manipulative…"
"I'm not the Harry you know, Sirius. I thought you'd have understood that by now."
Sirius' eyes widened, "Oh, are you from the future and travelled back in time to save the world and make the love of your life, fall in love with you once more?"
Harry stiffened, "What the fuck are you on about? Are you nuts?"
"Hey, those were Andromeda's favourite books, you know. She always liked them for some reason…"
The younger wizard rolled his eyes, "Travelling to the past, especially one that changes events, is impossible. I'm from another universe you idiot, an alternate plane of existence… I came here by accident, not for some weird plan to save the world…"
Sirius deflated a bit before grinning, "How are you sure that you're in a different universe…"
"Well, for one thing, Neville Longbottom is the boy who lived, not me," Harry parted his messy hair to show his forehead, "See, no scar…"
That seemed to stun the older wizard more than anything, "So, are James and Lily…"
The man didn't look like he wanted to finish his question and Harry decided not to make him do it, "Yeah, Dad's dead. He died in Godric's Hollows a few days after his did in this universe. My mother is kinda complicated… Nevertheless, I still stayed in Surrey with my aunt's family, even if they weren't as horrible as they were to your Harry. They were a bit neglectful, with a few comments then and there, but not anywhere near your godson…"
Honestly, Harry thought that the Horcrux in his counterpart's scar must have been responsible for his relative's behaviour. The way they aggressively treated him, even if they hated him, was a bit on the nose. It was too much, too unnatural, for normal people to react this way. It was possible that the Horcrux essentially enhanced what was already there, making them more aggressive with their hatred.
"So, I went to Azkaban there too…"
Harry snorted, "No, you weren't. Actually, Azkaban was destroyed by a Vampire attack under Grindelwald's orders a couple of years back. No, you, my dear godfather, turned insane and became a serial killer, then tried to hunt me down because you had an obsession with my mother. Not that I blame you, Lily Evans is a fucking bitch…"
"Harry, I'm sure you're overblowing things… Lily was one of the kindest people I have ever met…"
"In my world, she killed her husband in the back to power a ritual that misfired and wiped Godric's Hollows from the ground. Sure, she killed the Lestranges and Crouch Junior in the meantime, but she killed thousands of people for that. She's also the one who got me in this mess…"
That seemed to stun the dog Animagus to no end and Harry sighed, "Look, I understand that it's difficult to process, but people across dimensions are not the same. For one, I was sorted in Slytherin, and my counterpart is in Gryffindor. In my world, Grindelwald led the underworld in Europe while pretending to be a prisoner in Nurmengard. Albus Dumbledore was thrown out of Hogwarts for trying to kill students whom he found to be nuisances… Hermione Granger, your godson's friend, became a spy for the Unspeakables since they held her soul hostage in a phylactery. My world is entirely different from yours…"
The dog Animagus relaxed, "No offence, but your world is fucking insane…"
Harry grinned, "Yeah, it is."
"So, why are you helping Harry then? Why are you going after Voldemort?"
With a sigh, he replied, "I'm trying to replicate the events that got me here. I'm making headway in that regard, but one of the most important aspects was the fact that a prophecy was broken in the middle of it. Your godson has a prophecy on him, one that I know is a true one. So, what if I broke it? What if I killed Voldemort, someone who has never been marked by the prophecy? If Voldemort dies at someone other than your godson's hands, then the prophecy will be broken and the ritual to get me home could work…"
Sirius snarled, "It's always about that fucking prophecy…"
"Look, I'm probably the only one that wants your godson to be safe and can actually achieve this. Most of your people are terrified of Voldemort, and Dumbledore is playing the long game, with my counterpart working as either a weapon or a sacrificial lamb. I can end it all in practically no time."
"You think you can beat Voldemort? You're fifteen, for Merlin's sake."
Harry snorted at that, "I'm actually fourteen, but like I said, we grew up in different dimensions and I'm built different."
Sirius didn't really have the chance to reply because Kreacher popped back with a familiar locket in hand. The old elf's fingers were curled tightly around it, like he didn't want to let go, but knew he had to. His eyes were still wet, but there was a new look in them—something like determination, maybe even a bit of pride. He held the locket out towards Harry, his hand shaking slightly as he did.
"Kreacher has brought it… the locket of Master Regulus," he said quietly, his voice shaky but clear. It was obvious that this was a big deal for him like he was finally letting go of something that had weighed him down for years.
Harry took the locket carefully and placed it on the ground. Using the only words, he learned in Parseltongue from copying Longbottom's magic when he uttered them, he hissed at it to open.
As the locket opened, Harry didn't give it the chance to do anything and just slammed his Basilisk fang into it, releasing a loud scream and a cloud of black smoke. He thanked the privacy charms that he put in place discreetly when he started his conversation with Sirius.
He gave the broken locket to Kreacher's trembling hand, "Regulus' last command has now been fulfilled…"
"Thank you, stranger. Kreacher will forever be in your debt."
"You can settle the debt right now if you want. All I ask is that you never speak about me or what happened tonight. I want you to respect your master a bit more. After all, I would have never fulfilled Regulus' wish without his consent first. And finally, I want you to clean up your residence. From what I have heard, it's currently in a pitiful state, and it wouldn't do to dishonour House Black by keeping it like that…"
"It will be done, stranger," the elf muttered before popping.
Sirius looked at Harry with a strange look on his face before shaking his head, "Well, we just killed a piece of Voldemort's soul. That, alone, makes you good in my books. Say, I'm curious, if your father died, and my counterpart is a serial killer, what happened the Wormtail and Moony?"
"Nothing that interesting. Wormtail lived as a rat for a while before being blackmailed by Dumbledore for his freedom. I tricked him into forever serving my best friend by manipulating a blood oath. Moony is also a creep who is also obsessed with my mother. Apparently, she was able to alter the werewolf curse after some research, making the transformation voluntary and the disease not being able to be transmitted…"
Sirius snorted, "Ignoring the Lycanthropy cure thing, we're a sad bunch in every universe, huh? Now, the important part would be that none of them taught you about your legacy as a Marauder, huh? Even if you're not from this universe, it's my responsibility to teach you about that."
Harry raised an eyebrow, "What are you getting at?"
"Tell me, Harry, what do you feel about becoming an Animagus?"
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AN: This was a fun chapter to write, even if I don't know if it came out like I wanted it to. I thought it was a good way to destroy Locket without too much fanfare while having Kreacher essentially confirm Harry's story. It was surprisingly fun to just surprise Sirius again and again with how insane Harry's world became. Anyway, as usual, let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions
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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.