Harry smirked and shook his head. Sirius had never told Harry much about his brother, beyond a similarity in looks, which Harry could see Sirius had massively underplayed. He had mentioned that Regulus adhered to his family's belief in blood purity and traditions, and been a follower of Voldemort. He had never mentioned his brother having an animagus form, nor a sense of humor that was eerily similar.
Harry wondered if that was an effect of Azkaban, or if Sirius just wanted to distance himself from anything related to his family. Harry shook his head of those thoughts and then cleared his throat with a glance at Kreacher.
Regulus took his cue and nodded slightly. "Kreacher, please bring the locket here. My friend here is going to destroy it along with other things like it for me."
Before he popped away, Kreacher gave an inscrutable glance at Harry, then he vanished silently with a snap of his fingers. Seconds later, the Elf returned, with the all too familiar heavy gold locket with a serpentine S done in emeralds.
Harry waved a wand over it, tossing a quick diagnostic spell at the locket, though he could practically feel it's darkness without touching it. When the locket gleamed black for a moment Harry knew it was the right one. He held out his hand, though Kreacher didn't drop it in right away, instead looking to Regulus.
Regulus spoke quietly, "Please give it to him, Kreacher. He'll take care of it."
Kreacher handed the Horcrux to Harry, and Harry felt a shiver go up his spine. He could immediately feel the presence of the vile thing bound to the ancient piece of jewelry. He was far more sensitive to magic now, something that had come as he aged, and it wasn't difficult at all to sense something as putrid as this. Harry nodded to himself and then conjured a small box to drop the locket into, snapping it shut and then sealing it with a spell.
Regulus watched the process with a bit of wariness in his expression. "What are you doing with it?"
Harry glanced down at the box in his hand. "I'm going to hide this in a secure location. The same place I've got another of these foul things hidden."
"Why not destroy it now?" Regulus asked with his eyes narrowed suspiciously.
Harry shook his head, "Part of the Voldemort's soul is in these items. If they are destroyed any one of the destructions could alert the him that his failsafes are being destroyed. I don't want to tip my hand sooner than I have to. The faster he knows, the faster he can react to what I'm doing."
"The other item you have… you know it's secure?" Regulus asked.
Harry nodded, "He won't begin to know where to look. I promise. I just want to keep it hidden while I try and figure out where the others are."
Regulus nodded reluctantly and took a deep breath, somewhat shakily "What noww?" his words dragging out a little bit, as he blinked a bit struggling to stay conscious.
Harry frowned and gave Regulus an appraising once-over. "Now we get you to a safe place."
Harry had intended to apparate the two of them back to the edge of Hogwarts. But it had become increasingly clear that Regulus was extremely weak from his time in captivity. Now that the adrenaline was off, he looked like he was going to pass out at any moment. Harry made a decision quickly.
"Draco, I don't want them able to trace apparition from anywhere in this area directly back to Hogwarts. Can you apparate half a dozen times to different places before you go back?" Harry asked.
Draco frowned and then nodded, "I can do that."
Harry hesitated and then grinned slightly, "If you can apparate near your home but outside your wards so you don't trip them as your first stop that would be even better."
Draco had a confused expression cross his face before an expression of understanding followed. "If they do manage to trace an apparition residue so far ahead, that might cause my father some trouble."
Harry chuckled a little bit, "Even more if they interview the prisoners." Seeing Draco's confused expression Harry waved him off. "I'll explain later. Get to the entrance to the secret passage we used. I'm going to secure this, and then meet you there with Regulus."
Draco nodded and was about to leave when Regulus interrupted.
"Hogwarts? You're going to Hogwarts? Are you crazy? You break me out of Azkaban and expect me to ssurvive anywhere close to Dummledore?" Regulus demanded.
Harry frowned a little bit, Regulus was starting to slur his words more as he spoke, a sure sign of exhaustion. Harry nodded a little bit, "I promise we'll have you hidden in a place that Dumbledore can't get." "Noo, I won't let you take me to him" Regulus was slurring his words more now and his eyes were becoming unfocused, a few seconds later he collapsed to the ground unconscious.
"Master!" Kreacher called shaking Regulus' insensate form frantically.
Harry kneeled down, waving his wand over Regulus casting a quick diagnostic before speaking soothingly, "It's okay Kreacher. He's exhausted and worn down from his time in prison. He needs a long rest. We're going to take him some place he'll be safe."
"Kreacher go with Master?" The elf half asked, half demanded.
Harry tilted his head considering "You can go with Regulus if you swear not to contact anyone but myself and Master Regulus until we have Master Regulus better and I say it's okay." Kreacher nodded quickly in agreement, "Kreacher won't contact anyone! Master Regulus tells him not to years ago and he didn't!" The elf stated proudly before turning back to his master.
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