"Do you need help with the cleaning?" Cohen asked. "Like clearing out Doxies or something?"
"Did you bring any Doxycide?" Harry's previously numb eyes instantly brightened. "I don't know why, but the Doxycide Sirius and I ordered has been out of stock for almost half a month..."
"The Doxycide being out of stock might be because of the Quidditch World Cup," Cohen guessed. "People need tents for the match, and most wizards probably haven't gotten their tents out in years – they easily get infested. But I don't use Doxycide for these things."
"You don't use Doxycide, meaning...?"
Harry's confusion didn't last long.
After showing Cohen to a bedroom, they returned to the living room together.
Cohen very quickly helped Harry clear out the Doxies hiding behind the curtains – these black-furred pests, similar to Pixies, have weak souls. Cohen just had to exert a little force, and they fell onto the moldy carpet like sesame seeds shaken from a sieve.
"That's so convenient..." Harry said, sounding envious.
"If you like, I can lend you a little Dementor," Cohen said generously. "They breed well, and mine's been wanting a change of scenery lately..."
"On second thought, maybe not," Harry said stiffly.
Just because he wasn't repulsed by Cohen didn't mean he felt the same about other Dementors.
Harry still couldn't forget the feeling of having his happiness sucked away by Dementors before – but...
When did Cohen get a Dementor to raise?!
"Bang!"
A loud bang suddenly came from the room Sirius had gone into earlier.
"Kreacher!" Sirius gritted his teeth, calling his house-elf's name.
"What happened?" Cohen raised an eyebrow.
"Let's go see –" Harry said nervously.
Almost simultaneously, as Harry and Cohen opened the door, Kreacher apparated into the room with a pop.
This was a storeroom off the kitchen, filled with mold and buzzing wooden crates. Sirius was trying to make it function as it should (a storeroom should preserve food longer, not make it rot faster).
The reason for Sirius's anger was one of the wooden crates, which had the words "Regulus Black's Precious Legacy" written on it in shaky handwriting.
Cohen could clearly sense a rather powerful soul inside.
[Soul Strength: 30]
"Did I or did I not tell you, no Death Eater rubbish is allowed in the house?" Sirius said, his teeth clenched. "I've thrown this stuff out at least five times, and every time you pretend to clean up and then bring these abominations back."
"Kreacher would never take anything from Master's house away from its proper place," Kreacher hugged the crate of Regulus's legacy – he had hidden it in the most concealed spot, but Sirius had still found it.
He muttered under his breath, "...come back from Azkaban, telling Kreacher what to do, and wanting to throw away Master Regulus's things... Oh, my poor mistress, she would be heartbroken..."
"Throw it out," Sirius ordered coldly. "And don't bring it back again."
"Hold on," Cohen directly stopped Kreacher, who was trying to leave with the crate.
"What is it?" Harry was confused by Cohen's sudden action.
"There's something in the box," Cohen said. "Something very important..."
Kreacher hugged the crate even tighter.
"A dark, dirty soul... Kreacher has not seen him, but he wants to take Master Regulus's most precious thing..." Kreacher whispered. "If he keeps reaching, Kreacher will bite him..."
It was hard to tell if Kreacher said that intentionally or if he was genuinely thinking it at that moment.
"Let go of the box, let Cohen examine it," Sirius said coldly.
"Yes, Master," Kreacher very reluctantly loosened his grip on the box and bowed deeply to Sirius, his nose nearly touching the floor.
"What is it?" Harry curiously edged closer to Cohen. He had never thought there would be anything good in a pile of junk.
Cohen opened the box and found the small locket chain among a pile of silver, books, and old clothes and shoes. It looked completely out of place with everything else in the box.
As Cohen lifted it by the delicate chain, it began to tremble violently, as if it knew what a terrifying thing Cohen truly was – or perhaps it was because Cohen had consumed several other Horcruxes that shared the same origin.
"What is this?" Sirius frowned.
"That belongs to Master Regulus!" Kreacher shrieked and lunged at Cohen, trying to climb up Cohen's leg to the arm Cohen was holding the locket with. "Give it back to Kreacher! Give it back to Kreacher!"
"Kreacher, stop!" Sirius said impatiently. "Didn't you not want this thing thrown away? Now I'm not going to throw it away, so calm down!"
Kreacher trembled and fell off Cohen, slumping onto the floor, his eyes still fixed on the locket, his whole body sobbing.
"Master Regulus wanted to destroy it... Kreacher could not..."
"Destroy it?" Sirius asked, narrowing his eyes. "Why would my idiotic brother want to destroy this? Shouldn't he love this thing – it looks very 'pure-blood'..."
"It's a Horcrux," Cohen said. "Voldemort's Horcrux."
"You told Dumbledore about – wait – why is Voldemort's Horcrux in my house?" Sirius said. "Was Regulus that important to Voldemort?"
"Is Regulus your brother?" Harry heard the unfamiliar name repeated and asked Sirius, puzzled.
"My younger brother – but he joined the Death Eaters," Sirius said. "Looks like he was quite important to Voldemort, for him to entrust a Horcrux to – Cohen, what are you doing?"
They all watched Cohen, who had sat down by the table and was using his wand to pry open the locket's outer shell.
"Trying to pry it open," Cohen said laboriously. "I want to taste what the soul inside tastes like – but it's resisting quite fiercely right now, not like those other little flirtatious things."
Kreacher stopped sobbing when he realised Cohen was "destroying the locket". He began to hope Cohen could destroy it – Regulus's last command to him was to destroy it at all costs.
"Creak—"
The soul fragment inside the locket had a strong will to survive. After being pried open slightly for the third time only to snap shut immediately, Cohen sighed in disappointment.
"Can, can it still be dealt with...?" Harry asked uncertainly. "Maybe we should write to Professor Dumbledore..."
"I didn't want to be so rough," Cohen said. "It's like drinking a drink from a cup, not swallowing the whole cup and then spitting it out..."
But since it wasn't willing to perform its proper function as a "container," Cohen would just have to use a less elegant method.
Cohen brought his mouth close to the locket and suddenly slurped –
The piece of Voldemort's soul inside the locket, emitting black smoke, went mad trying to escape the suction, but it was no use.
After the soul let out a chilling scream, the locket completely became an empty, ordinary vessel – and the ancient magic on it vanished along with the soul.
"Burp–" Cohen burped.
"It's over?" Harry asked, stunned.
He had only seen a soul made of black mist being pulled from the locket, screaming in extreme despair, and then swallowed whole by Cohen.
It was hard to imagine how desperate that soul must have been before it died.
This was also the first time Harry had seen a Dementor feed on a soul – even though Cohen still looked human.
"Finished," Cohen said with satisfaction. "I'll write a letter to Dumbledore later and tell him another Horcrux has been taken care of."
Now his soul strength had reached 47. As long as Voldemort's main body didn't suddenly skyrocket in soul strength, he felt relatively safe dealing with him.
However, Cohen still planned to wait until his soul strength reached 50 before considering breaking ties with Voldemort.
There shouldn't be many of Voldemort's Horcruxes left now. In first year, Cohen had swallowed Ravenclaw's Diadem. During the summer, he ate the diary and Hufflepuff's Cup. Now that the locket was gone, only the Resurrection Stone remained, and...
Cohen's gaze shifted to Harry –
[Soul Strength: 40]
Damn it, he had just eaten a soul, and now Cohen's "spiritual stomach" was in a state of hunger, wanting more.
You really smell delicious, brother...
"Co-Cohen," Harry swallowed, startled by Cohen's strange gaze, and took a small step back. "You're not planning to..."
"Don't guess wildly, I'm just thinking about where Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes might be," Cohen said.
He couldn't eat the soul fragment on Harry – Cohen had tried just now. Lily's sacrificing protection spell seemed to protect that piece of Voldemort's soul as well. Cohen couldn't suck away Harry's soul through that protective charm.
It looked like wizards' spells urgently needed intelligent updates. Locking the burglar inside the house along with the residents wasn't a good thing.
Sirius, meanwhile, wasn't paying attention to Cohen and Harry. He was staring intently at Kreacher, seemingly deep in thought.
"This Horcrux has been emptied," Cohen tossed the locket to Kreacher. "The thing inside is dead – if it's lucky, some of the residue I can't digest will be pulled out and go down the drain."
"You don't need to be that detailed..." Harry said weakly. "Lunch is in half an hour..."
Kreacher held the locket Cohen threw to him, trembling, and hugged it to his chest.
"Master Regulus's command... is done, by... by..."
"Kreacher, what happened to Regulus?" Sirius asked Kreacher, his face grave.
"Answer me!" As Kreacher trembled all over, Sirius suddenly yelled. "Why did my brother have Voldemort's Horcrux, and why did he tell you to destroy it?"
"Master Regulus... the bravest, the noblest Black... Kreacher will always remember that day... the Dark Lord's command..."
Kreacher said hoarsely,
"The Dark Lord needed a house-elf... Master Regulus offered Kreacher... Master Regulus said... it was an honour, his and Kreacher's honour."
"What did Voldemort need a house-elf for?" Harry didn't quite understand.
But Sirius didn't speak, continuing to listen to Kreacher's account.
"The Dark Lord took Kreacher to a cave by the sea... it was a large cavern, with a large black lake inside..."
Kreacher said,
"The Dark Lord made Kreacher drink the poison in the cave... green, throat-burning liquid – the Dark Lord put the locket into the basin holding the poison... Kreacher wanted to tear out his own intestines from the pain, but Master Regulus said he must obey... Kreacher wanted water, but the lake was full of dead people... Kreacher was left there by the Dark Lord, but Master Regulus told Kreacher to go home... Later Master Regulus cried, he hugged the dying Kreacher and said 'I'm sorry'..."
"Stupid," Sirius said, but there was a different emotion in his voice.
"A month later... Master Regulus called Kreacher to the study... his face was paler than snow... he said the Dark Lord had done something dirtier than murder..." Kreacher suddenly grabbed his bat-like ears. "Master told Kreacher to take him to that cave... that cursed lake filled with Inferi..."
"He made you drink the poison there?" Sirius asked calmly.
Kreacher shook his head.
Sirius's face instantly turned deathly pale.
There was no need for Kreacher to say anything further.
He knew how his brother had died.
"Ma-Master Regulus took a locket from his pocket..." Kreacher's tears were now flowing freely. "Exactly the same as the Dark Lord's..."
Cohen knew what had happened – Regulus himself drank the potion, sent Kreacher away from the cave with the Horcrux, and tasked him with destroying it.
This was indeed something Sirius should know.
After all, Regulus was truly a brave man, and his body still lay in Voldemort's cave, without a grave.
"Kreacher could not leave a single scratch on it," Kreacher said sorrowfully. "Kreacher tried everything..."
"At least it's been destroyed by Cohen now," Harry comforted him sympathetically.
"My brother, just like that, left in that godforsaken place for fourteen years?"
Sirius said, word by word,
"Fourteen years! How could he –"
"He's already dead," Cohen said. "But at least the body –"
"Impossible!" Sirius said angrily. "Kreacher, where is that cave? I'm going to bring him back!"