Instinctively, Kael reached out his hand, about to take out that Pendant Box.
"Be careful," Sirius reminded. "This thing might just be some bizarre Dark Arts Item."
"Yeah, you're right."
Though he said that, Kael still took out the Pendant Box and gently wiped off the dust on its surface.
The Pendant Box was about the size of an egg, heavy, with a lavish S on the front inlaid with several small Emeralds, shining with a dim glow under the gloomy light.
"This isn't something from the Black Family. I've never seen it before." Sirius leaned in, speaking thoughtfully, "I bet it's some junk they bought somewhere. Throw it away, in case there's a curse or some Dark Magic on it."
"This is not junk!" A shrill voice rang out from behind.
It was Kreacher, panting heavily, looking furious. He then stared at Sirius and let out a scream that made one's blood run cold.
"...This is Master Regulus's Pendant Box, he asked Kreacher to bring it back!"
"Regulus?" Lupin said, "I remember he was your younger brother, right? You two never got along at school and used to argue all the time."
"Yeah." Sirius lowered his head, speaking softly, "My foolish brother, he was too soft-hearted, easily swayed by my parents' Pure-Blood ideology, thinking that anyone in the Black Family was born noble. We always fought about that, and ended up parting on bad terms."
"Master Regulus was no fool!" Kreacher screamed. "He was Mistress' favorite son, far better than Master Sirius!"
"I don't need you to remind me!" Sirius shouted impatiently, "Everyone says that, but look how that turned out—he died! That stupid idiot... He joined the Death Eaters!"
He panted heavily, his eyes bloodshot as he spoke:
"Throw it out. This thing is probably Dark Magic too, used by the Death Eaters to hurt people."
"No!" Kreacher shrieked, jumping up to grab the Pendant Box from Kael's hand.
This was also the first time he'd ever tried to snatch something right in front of Sirius.
But Kael just slightly raised his hand, easily dodging him.
"I can't give this to you," Kael said.
Kreacher tried to make another grab, but was sharply stopped.
"Stay right there. Don't move!" Sirius commanded.
Kreacher did not dare defy a direct order. However, when he lifted his head, he glared at Sirius with an unforgettable, bone-deep hatred in his eyes.
Just then, Lupin, who had been silent, suddenly asked, "Do you know what this is?"
"I do." This time, Kael didn't hide it, he said directly, "You've probably heard of this too... Slytherin's Pendant Box."
"What?"
The room fell into a brief silence.
When Lupin realized what he'd heard, he gasped, disbelief written all over his face.
"Wait, you don't mean Slytherin from the school...?"
"That's right, Salazar Slytherin." Kael stroked the Emeralds on the Pendant Box. "Just like the legendary Sword of Gryffindor."
"Wait..." Sirius was still stunned. "Let me get this straight. Slytherin's Pendant Box... in Regulus's hands... and then put in the Black Family house."
"Kael, you must be joking, right? Or it's a fake... I left this house when I was sixteen, but I know for sure, the Blacks and the Slytherins have absolutely nothing to do with each other."
Lupin looked just as disbelieving. He figured Regulus must have made it because he idolized Slytherin so much.
"I don't know if the Pendant Box is real, but I do know its other name."
"Other name? What do you mean?"
"Professor Lupin..." Kael asked, "I think you've heard of it—the Chamber of Secret at Hogwarts."
"Of course, I've heard of it, though not in detail. The professors never wanted to talk much about it."
Lupin said, "It's said to be related to You-Know-Who."
"That's right. Because of a Diary, which he left behind while at school, which raised havoc inside the castle—almost got Hogwarts shut down."
Kael raised the Pendant Box. "This thing gives me the exact same feeling as that Diary back then."
...
The room fell silent again, and this time it lasted longer.
Lupin and Sirius were both trying to process the answer, and their first reaction was surprisingly identical: they both thought Kael was mistaken.
But after all this time together, they knew Kael wasn't the kind of person to make wild guesses.
"But why," Sirius's voice was hoarse, "would You-Know-Who's thing end up in Regulus's hands? As far as I know, he wasn't trusted like Malfoy or Lestrange."
"You'll have to ask him," Kael didn't explain but looked over at the trembling Kreacher nearby.
"Tell me, why is this thing here?" Sirius asked gravely. "What did Regulus have to do with it?"
The little elf seemed to recall something dreadful; his body shuddered again, curling up into a ball. When he spoke, his voice was low and muffled.
"Master Sirius ran away, and that was good, because he was a bad child, but Master Regulus had pride. He knew the Black name—and his pure blood—meant something. So, to keep the Wizards from hiding anymore, at sixteen he joined the Dark Lord's organization. He was so proud..."
"A year later, one day Master Regulus came to the kitchen to see Kreacher. He said the Dark Lord needed a little elf… He offered up Kreacher. It was an honor, for him and for Kreacher..."
Kreacher's voice choked, breaking as he described how he was taken by Voldemort into a cave and was forced to drink up all the Magic Potion in the stone basin...
"He threw a Pendant Box into the empty basin, then refilled it with Magic Potion... afterwards, the Dark Lord left by boat and left Kreacher on the island..."
"Kreacher felt awful, wanted to drink from the lake... Many hands reached out from the water, wanting to drag Kreacher under..."
"How did you escape?" Sirius asked.
The little elf lifted his ugly head. "Master Regulus told Kreacher to come home."
"What happened then?" Sirius's voice had softened a lot. "Why did this thing end up here?"
"Kreacher told Master Regulus everything... hoping to be praised... but wasn't."
"Master Regulus was worried. He told Kreacher to hide... after a while, Master Regulus asked Kreacher to take him to the cave—the same cave Kreacher had gone to with the Dark Lord."
"He made you drink the Magic Potion, too?" Sirius asked in disgust.
Kreacher shook his head, and at some point tears were streaming down his long nose.
Sirius's heart clenched, as if he'd guessed what happened.
"Master Regulus took a Pendant Box from his pocket, just like the Dark Lord's... He told Kreacher to hold it... wait for the stone basin to empty... then switch the Pendant Box..."
Kreacher's sobs grew heavier and rougher.
"He ordered Kreacher to go home… not tell anyone… but to find a way to destroy the first Pendant Box… Then he drank… drank all the Magic Potion... Kreacher watched... Master Regulus... dragged under the water... Then..."
"Bang!"
Sirius smashed the glass cabinet next to him in a burst of rage, then grabbed Kreacher's neck like a furious beast and roared hoarsely:
"You just stood there? Why didn't you save him, you could have brought him back!"
Lupin hurried to pull him off. "Calm down, Padfoot, let him finish."
But Sirius's hand was like iron, impossible to pry loose.
"Kreacher couldn't... Master Regulus ordered Kreacher not to move... He ordered Kreacher not to move..."
The little elf was sobbing so hard he could barely breathe. Even as Sirius strangled him, he still beat himself on the head with his fists.
"Kreacher is useless, Kreacher couldn't destroy the box, couldn't fulfill Master's last order!"
...