when the time comes

the hearing

Following the day that Remus took Harry to Diagon, Mrs Weasley keeps them all working very drawing the next few days. The drawing room took three days to decontaminate. Finally, the only undesirable things left in it are the tapestry of the Black family tree, which resisted all their attempts to remove it from the wall, and hearing rattling writing desk. Moody has not dropped by headquarters yet,  they can not be sure what is inside it.

Harry shrugs and quickly sidles in with the twins at the back of the drawing room. They asked him about his trip to Diagon when they saw him again, Harry also detailing the meeting with the Espoirs, how the twins were eager to see George again, that conversation ended with George being overly flustered and Harry and Fred sharing a high five.

Furthermore, Harry has had a lot of time to go through the ancient tome of Slytherin he found in the library, although he only looks through it in the vicinity of the twins. There are so many spells he never knew existed. And the knowledge alone sends a shiver of utter thrill down his spine. He's also told the twins about the locket of Slytherin he's been looking for and so far Harry sees only one other alternative and this one involves Kreacher.

As such, Harry finds himself inside Regulus' room again. He takes a deep breath and exhales. "Kreacher!" And with a pop the house elf stands in front of him with a frown.

"What does the filthy half-blood want?"

Harry grins down at the old elf, my how amusing this will be. "I know, Regulus told you to keep the locket of Slytherin until you found a way to destroy it. Well, I need it."

The elf looks at him with a sneer, "Half breed asking Kreacher for master Regulus' belongings... No! Your not getting anything belonging to the house of Black."

Harry sighs and straitens his posture, letting his magic run free and binding the elf's magic to his own. Harry's still effectively the first heir to the house of Black, with Sirius being lord Black. "You will listen to what I say! I have bound you to my magic and as the heir to the house of Black you belong to me. So, Kreacher, will you please bring me Slytherin's locket?" Harry sweetly asks as the house elf's eyes widen and he has no choice but to obey the direct order of the heir to his house. Harry waits for the old elf to return patiently. He sits down on the chair in front of the mahogany study. He likes this room a lot.

After Sirius' death and the war Harry moved in with Ginny, he had chosen this room to be his study and he shares fond memories in this room. Memories long gone and now bitter reminders of his mistake... He misses Cedric. This past month has felt like eternity, the days are stretching so long and Harry can't help but grow impatient. He wants to make sure that Cedric is fine, that his father hasn't done anything to him and that Cedric can continue building up his confidence. All the suspense is killing him, what if Cedric won't talk to him anymore? That would be horrible and the thought is frightening. Just then another pop alerts him to the house elf.

Harry looks down at him through emerald green eyes. Kreacher glares at him but shows the locket in his hand. "Thank you, Kreacher. I promise to make this up to you, I believe I know just a way. You may leave now." His voice is cold and indifferent, the way Theo and Draco taught him to be. Harry had taken to study pureblood etiquette and politics, as the heir to many pureblood houses he had to and now this is part of who he is. A half-blood pretending to be a pureblood, much like Tom before him.

Kreacher bows his head reluctantly and places the locket down before disappearing. Harry sighs and goes ahead to pick the item up to sling it over his head. The locket stops just in front of his heart and the soul fragment connects with his scar. Harry hisses softly before that light stinging turns into warmth. He smirks, he's being accepted by the Horcruxes...