Sirius Black had always thought that Kael was a rare kind of good student.
Top grades, strength far beyond his peers, and flexible—he wasn't confined by rules and regulations.
Most importantly, Snape hated him... Only truly good kids earned that honor—Sirius believed this without a doubt.
In private, he and Lupin had discussed Kael, and both agreed: if Kael ever became Hogwarts' Headmaster, they wouldn't find it strange one bit.
But after just one night, Sirius overturned that notion.
Never mind Kael threatening to thrash Harry—what kind of good student was so adept at using The Blasting Curse?
It had been almost half an hour now—the drawing room sounded like a firework display, the crackling explosion never stopping.
And in between Explosive Spell blasts, there was a charm he found awfully familiar.
Sirius saw, with his own eyes, the grand round table suddenly split in two down the middle, the cut smooth and neat, almost as if it had been made that way.
He'd seen Snape use that charm before, back when he was a Death Eater—the two had crossed wands many times.
But why did Kael know it? Snape couldn't have taught him, could he…
Sirius shook his head, instantly dismissing the idea—both Harry and Lupin had said it: Snape doesn't like Kael. No doubt about it.
Sirius thought hard but couldn't figure it out. In the end, he just shook his head and gave up thinking…
Maybe it was written in some library book—they'd both happened to see it, Snape and Kael.
On the other side, after casting charms for so long, Kael finally put down his wand, catching his breath as he sat down in a chair.
The box was far tougher than he'd imagined. Neither Explosive Spell nor Splitting Spell left any marks; even Sectumsempra could only scratch a shallow white line.
While Kael was resting, Lupin and Sirius tried as well, but still had no luck.
The explosions, meanwhile, had attracted Kreacher.
Kreacher pushed open the door, eyes full of fury and terror as he looked at the drawing room turned to ruins, muttering non-stop, grumbling things like "wastrel…degenerate…brat…"
Sirius felt his head throb, turned and shouted, "Shut up!"
Kreacher obediently closed his mouth—but not a minute later he started muttering again, casting evil glances at Sirius. "Master's trying to destroy this place! If my mistress knew, oh, how heartbroken she'd be… And this wastrel is colluding with outsiders to open Miss Bella's..."
At that point, Kreacher suddenly stopped talking.
But the three heard that last sentence clearly and spun around at once...
"Kreacher!" Sirius said immediately, "You know what this box is, don't you? You've seen it before!"
"Kreacher doesn't know," the Little Elf squeaked, shaking his ears. "Kreacher would never betray Miss Bella!"
"Tell me. That's an order!" Sirius barked.
Kreacher's face twisted with rage, but he finally bowed low and said, "This is a box the old master left for Miss Bella. Only the ancient and noble Black blood can open it!"
Sirius frowned; Kreacher usually called his mother 'mistress,' and the only person he called 'old master' was Sirius's grandfather.
But that didn't matter. He already knew how to open the box...
"Incarcerous!"
As he was thinking, a charm suddenly shot past his ear, landing squarely on Kreacher, who was about to bash his head against the door.
He was probably trying to punish himself for letting slip the secret, but now he couldn't—not with a rope binding him tight, unable to move.
"I order you not to punish yourself with any of your foolish rituals, Kreacher." Sirius said, frowning.
The Little Elf stopped, but kept muttering curses under his breath.
Sirius didn't care at all—he turned around, a bit excited, and said, "Haha, what were we even doing before!"
Then he drew his wand across his palm—several drops of bright red blood fell onto the box.
In the blink of an eye, those drops coursed along the grooves in the box, rapidly forming crimson magic patterns.
"Click!"
With a crisp sound, the box split open, revealing inside a strange-looking golden key.
Sirius recognized it instantly—it was a Gringotts Vault key; he had one of his own that looked almost exactly the same.
"Split it fifty-fifty!"
Kael moved fast, grabbing the key and tossing the box to Sirius as a bonus.
"Since it's your Black family's heirloom, I'll give it back. There's a scratch, but it still works just fine."
"Wait—"
Sirius didn't even get to speak; Kael had already thrown the key into the chest.
"I'm not interested in the Lestrange Family's vault."
Sirius, catching up, frowned slightly. "But I have to remind you—even with the key, those greedy goblins won't let you into the vault."
"It's fine, that's what you're here for!" Kael laughed. "Once you clear your name, you can totally walk into Gringotts with the key, as Bellatrix's cousin, a relative of the Lestrange Family, and claim it openly."
"Still not going to work…" Sirius shook his head. "The Lestrange Family's vault must be a top-tier one, and only the actual owners can make any big withdrawals—Bellatrix Lestrange or Radolphus Lestrange.
Otherwise, you'd have to wait until they're both dead."
"No, I think you're misunderstanding," Kael said. "The gold isn't my main goal. What I want is an item in her vault."
"If it's just one item, that's easy." Sirius said. "What is it—property deeds to their Diagon Alley estate? Just saying, that's the best investment. Any deed is worth tens of thousands of Galleons."
"…No…" Kael mustered all his willpower to shake his head.
"Not?"
Sirius looked puzzled—he couldn't imagine anything more valuable than Diagon Alley real estate.
"It's a very ancient object," Kael said, trying not to picture a pile of Galleons. "I won't say now, but I expect it's in her vault."
Sirius didn't know what Kael wanted, but seeing him so certain, still nodded and didn't ask further.