The members of the Order of the Phoenix were panting heavily, the lingering shock of their narrow escape still visible on their faces.
"Regulus..."
Sirius's voice was as hoarse as if it had been rubbed with sandpaper.
He stood stiffly in place, his gaze fixed on the shadows of the kitchen where Kreacher, the House-elf, was still trembling violently from the secret he had just revealed.
The truth about his brother was like a red-hot iron, searing his heart.
After the grief and regret came a wild fury.
"Kreacher!" Sirius suddenly turned toward the elf. "Where is the item? The thing Regulus told you to destroy—where is it?!"
Kreacher shuddered all over. He gave Sirius a malevolent glare with his large, bulbous eyes, but ultimately succumbed to his master's command.
He dawdled over to a loose floorboard in the kitchen and, after fumbling for a long while, brought out a heavy locket.
It was an oval-shaped jewelry box, encrusted with many emeralds that formed a magnificent, serpentine'S'.
A cold, evil aura emanated from the locket, causing the temperature in the entire room to drop several degrees.
"It's this filthy thing!" Kreacher shrieked, throwing it onto the floor. "Kreacher tried for decades! Kreacher couldn't destroy it! Kreacher is a bad elf!"
Harry's breath hitched.
He recognized this thing. He had seen it in Dumbledore's Pensieve!
This was Lord Voldemort's Horcrux!
Lupin leaned down, intending to pick it up, but was stopped by Hermione.
"Don't touch it."
Hermione's voice was cold.
Holding Lia's hand, she walked over to the locket.
Everyone's gaze was focused here.
Destroy it!
Destroying it would bring closure to Regulus's sacrifice and plunge a knife into Lord Voldemort's immortality!
Lia squatted down, tilting her head curiously as she examined the locket on the floor.
She reached out a slender index finger and gently poked the serpentine'S'.
Then, she leaned in closer and sniffed it lightly with the tip of her nose.
A few seconds later, she looked up at Hermione, her sky-blue eyes filled with pure confusion.
"Hermione," Lia's voice was crisp, yet it rang out like a clap of thunder in the silent kitchen, "this... is a fake."
"What?" Ron exclaimed.
"Fake?" Sirius's brow furrowed. "But the aura of the Dark Arts on it..."
"The casing is real, it has a scent," Lia pointed at the locket. "But the inside is empty. It doesn't have that... very, very smelly, rotten soul scent."
She wrinkled her small nose, a look of disgust appearing on her face.
"It's just an empty shell."
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.
Could it be that what Regulus had risked his life for was actually a fake?
Hermione didn't speak.
She trusted Lia's judgment.
Lia could see through souls; her sense of smell could distinguish between the real and the fake.
If she said it was fake, then it must be fake.
"Kreacher," Hermione looked at the House-elf, "Regulus ordered you to 'replace it with a fake'."
Kreacher nodded blankly.
"Did he give you a fake locket?"
"Yes! Master Regulus gave Kreacher one just like it!"
"Are you sure you swapped them correctly?"
"Kreacher is sure!" Kreacher shrieked, feeling insulted by the doubt.
Hermione pondered for a moment, her thoughts suddenly clearing.
"Regulus went into the cave with two lockets. One real, and one imitation he prepared for the swap. He ordered Kreacher to put the imitation back after taking the real one from the basin. But... he couldn't complete that step himself."
Hermione's gaze swept over everyone. "He drank the Potion and was dragged into the lake by the Inferi. The one who ultimately completed the swap was Kreacher."
"Kreacher switched them..." Lupin murmured. "But he brought out the imitation and left the real one in that basin?"
"No. I remember I once ordered Kreacher to bring out everything he had stolen..."
Sirius's expression became extremely grim.
A name was on the tip of his tongue.
"Mundungus Fletcher."
That despicable thief! He had stolen countless treasures from the Black family while the Order of the Phoenix was cleaning the old house, including this locket!
"He stole the real one!" Ron realized. "And then Kreacher couldn't find the real one, so he could only target the imitation Regulus left behind!"
The trail went cold.
Mundungus had no fixed residence; trying to find him in the vast city of London was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Just as everyone fell into despair, Lia suddenly moved again.
She closed her eyes, her long eyelashes fluttering slightly, her nose twitching gently in the air.
"Hermione," she opened her eyes and looked at Hermione, "I smell it."
"Smell what?"
"The smell of that stinky soul. It's not here, but... there's a scent it left behind in this house." Lia's brow furrowed. "It's very faint, like a trail that's been washed over many times by rain."
She raised her hand and pointed in a direction.
"That smell is covered by an even more unpleasant one."
"An even more unpleasant smell?" Hermione pressed.
A look of physical revulsion appeared on Lia's face, even more intense than when she mentioned Voldemort's soul.
"Yes. The stench of that pink toad."
Pink.
Toad.
Hermione's pupils constricted suddenly.
A figure she thought she would never deal with again, someone who disgusted her both physically and mentally, surfaced in her mind.
Dolores Umbridge.
"It's her." Hermione's voice was as cold as ice. "Mundungus sold the locket to Umbridge."
This conclusion made everyone gasp.
That Horcrux had actually fallen into the hands of the senior undersecretary of the Ministry of Magic!
And she was wearing it openly, using it as proof of her lineage while judging those she called 'mudbloods'!
It was the most vicious irony in the world!
"We have to get it back!" Harry slammed his fist on the table.
"How? By storming the Ministry?" Ron said gloomily. "It's Lord Voldemort's territory now, more dangerous than a dragon's lair!"
"Brute force won't work," Lupin immediately countered. "The Ministry's defensive magic, and those controlled Aurors... with just the few of us..."
"Then we infiltrate."
"If all else fails, just kill them all."
Sirius, who had been silent, spoke up, his eyes burning with the fires of revenge. "Just like when we were young, we'll plan a perfect prank."
"And..."
His gaze fell upon Lia once more.
"The Lethal Star we have here is more terrifying than that whole lot put together."
[Exams are coming...]
[Every dormitory has a 'mother' figure!]
[Going to her bed to cuddle tonight, hehehe~]
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