Three Teens And A Time Turner √

Chapter Ten

Sirius

I head up the stairs to my brother's room. The house looks as old and rickety as always, but just so...empty. It was always loud and bustling with activity.

Regulus' door is propped open, so I touch it with my fingertips and push it open a bit more, a little at a time. When nothing happens, I place my whole palm on the door and open it completely.

It's a mess. I've never seen Regulus' room before (I was never allowed in), but this is worse than I expected. The mattress is half off the bed, with no sheets or blankets in sight. Posters are peeling off the walls, dresser drawers on the floor and random items strewn everywhere.

"Oy, Hermione! Guys!" I call. I hear feet pounding up the stairs and Ron and Hermione come in. Ron stops at the door and looks at the plaque that has my brother's name on it.

"R.A.B.," he mumbles.

"Well, let's look around for the locket!" Hermione says. We look under the bed and mattress, on the floor, in drawers, and even look for hidden panels in the wall. Hermione does one last Summoning charm, and, shaking our heads, we leave the room.

We go down the stairs and meet Harry and Albus at the bottom. Before we can tell them we didn't find anything, a shaking sound comes from the cupboard in the kitchen. Ron and Hermione duck behind the stairs, but since I'm used to the dangers of my house, I walk over and slowly place my hand on the doorknob, creaking the door open...

My house-elf, Kreature, holding a broom, comes out, grumbling about 'filthy Mudbloods'. I give him a kick to the knees and Hermione gasps. "Sirius! Don't do that!" I give her an apologetic glance.

"Kreature," Harry says, holding out the fake locket, "do you know anything about this?"

Kreature doesn't meet his eyes. "Kreature doesn't know anything about such lockets," he mutters.

"Kreature, tell the truth," Hermione pleads.

"Kreature doesn't speak to Mudbloods."

"Hey!" Ron says. "Listen to her!"

"Kreature also doesn't speak to blood traitors."

"Kreature, will you shut up? Listen to me. I'm your master," I snap. He looks me up and down in disbelief.

"Master Sirius? How did you come back?"

"Never mind that. Tell us what you know about Regulus. And that locket."

Kreature sighs. "That was Master Regulus' locket. But one day, he came. He took everything, including the locket." He shudders.

"Who? You don't mean...You-Know-Who?" Hermione asks.

"No." Kreature doesn't say anything more. We all look at him expectantly, and he leans in closer. "Mundungus Fletcher," he whispers.

Hermione gasps, her hand flying up to her mouth. "So that was the traitor," she says.

"Kreature, go find Mundungus," Harry says. Kreature nods, snaps his fingers, and is gone.

Hermione

I turn to my friends. "Can you believe it? All along, it was him. Do you think he was- is -a Death Eater?"

"No, he couldn't b..." Ron trails off, unsure.

In a flash of light, Kreature is back, holding someone's arms behind their back. "Mundungus," I say to myself. Kreature drags him off the table and throws him into a chair. Only then do I see who was behind him.

"Dobby?" I ask. He gives us a small wave.

"Alright, where is it?" Harry demands, holding out the false Horcrux.

"I-I don't know what you mean," Mundungus stutters.

"Oh, don't give me that. We know you're a traitor. Now, if you tell us where it is, we might let you live." Harry looks dead serious. Mundungus gulps.

"Fine. I'll tell you. I s-sold it."

"Sold it? To who?" I ask. How could you get away with selling one of those...things?

Mundungus points a shaking finger at a newspaper sitting on the kitchen table. "Her."

We all look over at the paper. When I see who he's pointing to, on the front page, I gasp in shock and surprise.

It's Umbridge.

Albus

After we get all the information we need out of the man in the chair, the house-elves take him away. Hermione explains that Umbridge is an evil woman -but a different kind of evil than Voldemort- and we need to somehow get the locket from her.

I try to think about how we can get to her, and conveniently. "Do you have any idea where she lives?" I ask. They shake their heads. "Well, where does she work?"

"The Ministry of Magic," Ron pipes up.

"Well, then we need to get there," I concur.

"But...how?" Hermione asks. "There are so many Death Eaters that have scored jobs there recently. We'd be recognized immediately."

"True, but what about Polyjuice Potion?" I ask. Silence as they ponder it.

"I think that could work," Hermione says. I hear murmers of agreement from the other two. Sirius stays silent, his eyes trained on the ground.

"Then it's settled," I say. "Do you have any spare potion?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Hermione says proudly. I smile. "Then we should go there tomorrow to get hairs, and we can go. We'll go over more of the plan later. For now, we should get some rest. We've been doing a lot of running."

And we'll do more tomorrow.

"Goodnight."