Chapter 115: 4-3

This is my second time seeing this cave. My body trembled. Was it from the cold of the winter sea, or the depth of the hole that looked like a beast's maw? Two large, adult hands stroked my shoulders. The gentle body heat calmed my heart just a little.

"This is the place."

The man's hoarse voice muttered. Me, Sirius, and Professor Lupin. And Kreacher looked up at the hellish pit waiting with its gaping mouth. Fear and determination resided in everyone's hearts.

Once again, I stood before the cave where the Inferi stirred.

"Can I borrow Maria?"

After finishing lunch, just as we were about to head to St Mungo's, Sirius spoke up with a brooding expression. Expecting this, my two best friends who knew the circumstances and I exchanged nods with only our eyes, letting out a soft "Ah..." Sirius was directing his request to Harry. Showing obvious dissatisfaction on his face, Harry went upstairs without answering. Sirius gave a wry smile. Just for a moment, he looked just as exhausted as Professor Lupin standing next to him.

"—Looks like he won't forgive me."

"Would it be no good if Harry came along?"

"A crowded hospital with guards, or a secretly hidden cave—which do you think is safer?"

"...There's no way we can take him, huh."

With such an extremely obvious reply, I couldn't help but give a wry smile back to the two adults. It might sound cold, but the absolute highest priority for the Order of the Phoenix right now is Harry's physical safety and his guard. The restrictions placed on him are incomparable to mine.

"It can't be helped. Our guide will be—"

"Maria, use this."

Harry, who we thought had shown his rejection, returned with the Invisibility Cloak in his hands. The smooth, water-like texture touching my fingers made my mouth fall open in surprise.

"Be careful, and make sure you come back. No doing anything reckless. Absolutely not. Sirius, don't take your eyes off Maria. She is truly reckless, after all."

"...Of course."

"Harry... are you sure?"

"I don't want to—but you promised me."

A sullen face full of dissatisfaction. What I could see there—was anxiety he couldn't completely hide.

"You said you'd stay by my side, didn't you? That means no matter where you are, you'll always come back to me, right? ...Because I believe you."

I hugged him instinctively. My endearing brother. My one and only beloved blood-related family.

"Of course. ...I've grown too used to having you welcome me home, after all."

Good morning, good night, I'm home, welcome back—it's just not enough if it isn't in your voice.

"Yeah—I believe you. And Sirius and Lupin, too."

He rubbed my back a few times and pressed his forehead against mine. Harry was bending down slightly, and the clear difference in our heights made me feel frustrated.

"I am your older brother, after all."

"...I'm the older sister."

Harry's smile was gentle.

Inside the dark cave, even the air was damp, and no matter how much light was cast from the tip of a wand, you couldn't see what lay ahead. A chilling discomfort licked at my skin. "I" have experienced this once before. That's why I could move forward. However, that was because I had the absolute shield known as Dumbledore. In this darkness where monsters looked ready to appear from the depths at any moment, I found myself somewhat detachedly admiring the backs of the adults who stepped forward without hesitation.

This was definitely an act Hermione would call reckless. ...Draco would probably say the same, carrying anger and disgust.

Kreacher stopped. He looked up at the wall and, with dark eyes, announced, "A door is hidden here."

"A door? It's just a wall. Are there conditions to open it?"

"—Blood."

Each voice echoed, ringing out eerily. It distorted and bounced back to our ears.

"It's the toll. We have to offer blood."

Without hesitation, Sirius slashed his own arm with his wand. There was no time to stop him. With calm eyes, he smeared the wound against the wall, opening the door.

"Sirius..."

"Why do you know how to open the door—I won't ask that. I decided not to ask. So, you just have to tell me. What lies ahead? What must we do—to get Regulus's locket back?"

"...Ahead is—"

Before I could answer, the answer spread out before our eyes. A black lake. So vast you couldn't see the opposite shore, with a high ceiling. —Beneath this, Regulus Black sleeps.

"Master Regulus discovered the boat. The boat used by the Dark Lord. He found it himself—"

Kreacher glanced up at Sirius with only his eyes, his mouth twisting with a look of contempt. Sirius wasn't looking at Kreacher. He was staring intently at the center of the lake glowing green.

Kreacher still hadn't forgiven Sirius. He was only cooperating because of an order from the Head of the House. And because it was for Regulus. His face conveyed this vividly. Unlike you, Master Regulus broke through these obstacles all by himself—that was what Kreacher wanted to say.

Rubber-like hands fumbled in the air. Soon, a chain surfaced in Kreacher's hands. At the end of the chain, a boat swam on the lake.

"It's for one person?"

"Because it's meant for Voldemort to use. It's designed so only one wizard can ride it. In other words—since I'm underage, I don't count."

Instantly grasping the meaning, Sirius stared hard at me. I stared back at him just as fiercely. But Sirius didn't yield.

"No. You stay here. I promised Harry, after all. Don't leave Remus's side. Remus, you understand, right?"

"Should I go instead?"

"My younger brother was harmed. That means—it's a fight against the House of Black itself. I have the right to take it up."

Sirius's eyes glared fiercely at the green light. —They shone beautifully with anger.

"What are the enemies ahead? Maria."

"...There are Inferi in the lake. And—a potion. The locket is submerged in a stone basin filled with potion, and it's designed so it can't be retrieved unless all of it is drunk. ...It's a potion that would make even the most powerful wizard scream to be killed."

I saw Kreacher tremble. Kreacher has experienced the agony of the potion. And now, once again────

"Understood. —Kreacher, no matter what happens to me, keep making me drink the potion."

All eyes gathered on Sirius. Even Kreacher widened his eyes and looked up at Sirius.

"Master—?"

"And as soon as you retrieve the locket, take me and make absolutely sure you return to Maria. If, by chance, I am unable to speak, follow Maria's words. Understood? This is the order up to this point. During this time, no matter what I say, do not take it as an order. This is also an order."

Kreacher was dumbfounded. Professor Lupin, too, and me as well. Everyone had thought this: —That Sirius would make Kreacher drink the potion, just like Voldemort did. Sirius used to look down on creatures like house-elves.

Inside Sirius—something was beginning to change.

The boat carrying Sirius and Kreacher moved further away toward the center of the lake. I couldn't take my eyes off them. With his arm around my shoulders, I felt Professor Lupin staring at their two backs as well.

It felt like an eternity. Sirius knelt. Kreacher was moving something beside him. I heard a voice. At first, it was quiet, soft enough that it would have been drowned out if the lake wasn't so silent—and then the voice gradually grew louder. Groaning. Gasping, begging. ────It was Sirius.

"—rgive, me. I don't, want this."

"I'm—no. I didn't, mean for this to—"

"I made a mistake. It's my fault. Why—"

I wanted to cover my ears. Tears threatened to spill. Even so, I kept watching Sirius. I burned Sirius's small, writhing, pitiful silhouette into my eyes. Just as Dumbledore begged for his punishment to the hallucinations—Sirius was suffering from the sins he had imposed upon himself.

"Don't forgive me. Please—kill me──────James."

Something shone in Kreacher's hands. In the next moment, Kreacher grabbed Sirius and Apparated right to my side. Sirius's eyes were hollow.

"Sirius!"

"Maria, don't step forward! —Incendio!"

"But—Ah, Sirius...!"

Sirius's hands flailed in the air. Water... yes, he repeated in delirium. The lake was overflowing with Inferi. At this rate, we would all be swallowed up.

"Kreacher, it's an order! Take all of us—and Side-Along Apparate to number twelve, Grimmauld Place!"

The last thing reflected in my violently distorting vision was the gleam of the locket and a sea of flames engulfing the Inferi.

The place Kreacher jumped to was Sirius's room. Not the room the current Sirius uses—it was the room the student Sirius seemed to have used until he ran away from home. Unified in an assertive red, cutouts of motorcycles and faded posters of glamorous women were stuck to the walls. Unlike Regulus's room, the dust stood out, meaning Kreacher, for better or worse, seemingly never tended to this room.

Laying Sirius on the bed, I filled a glass Kreacher had brought with water and handed it to Sirius.

"Sirius, Sirius, it's alright now—you're alright—"

"...Ja, mes."

Sirius's fingers stroked the corner of my eye. He was seeing my father in my eyes. A sharp pain pierced my chest. —Even so, I didn't mind.

"...Yeah. What is it, Padfoot?"

"James... I..."

"You should rest a bit. You did something reckless again."

"I... forgive... please, don't forgive me..."

"I forgive you. We're best friends, after all. ...I forgive you, Sirius."

Sirius smiled just a little before closing his eyes. His breathing grew deep and steady.

"Maria..."

"Thank you, Professor Lupin. If you hadn't been there, Sirius and I would surely have been dragged into the lake. ...Thank you too, Kreacher."

Kreacher took the glass back from the sleeping Sirius, then bluntly pressed the chain onto me. —Regulus's locket.

"Kreacher...?"

"I have received no orders from the Master that I may hold onto this. Kreacher has decided that the Young Mistress should have it."

"Ah."

Without even a bow of departure, Kreacher left the room. Professor Lupin and I, left behind, couldn't help but look at each other in disbelief.

"...This means."

"You might have accomplished something even greater than you thought, Maria."

Professor Lupin chuckled softly. Catching his mood, my face crumpled as I let out a laugh like a sigh of relief.