The Eagle and The Snake: A Tragic Love Story

28. The Suprise Present

When Carly went home, Andromeda informed her that they would indeed be spending most of the holidays at Grimmauld Place, with Sirius. Which worked for Carly, as she still needed to spend as much time with Harry as possible.
Since it was so cold that winter, Carly managed to get away with wearing fingerless gloves indoors, which she used to hide the scars on the back of her hand. Harry noticed her doing this, and adopted the tactic for himself, to stop the adults from discovering their secret.

Carly spent the holidays going between her house and 12 Grimmauld Place, but on Christmas Eve, she spent the night in a room with Ginny and Hermione, so that she could wake up on Christmas Day, with everyone else.
She received loads of nice gifts that year, including a beautiful necklace from Luna, which she immediately put on under her jumper.
Sirius wanted to give her his present in private, so he asked her to meet him in Regulus's room, as no one else was likely to look for them in there. Since the others in the house didn't know that Regulus was her dad.

"I called you in here, to give you this" informed Sirius, as he handed Carly a brown paper package.
"This isn't very festive" joked Carly.
"That's because it's not actually from me" revealed Sirius.
"Then who's it from?"
"Your dad".
Carly frowned, "I don't understand".
"I found it in here, while I was cleaning up, and putting things away. Since the house is mine, and Regulus is dead, I thought I would get rid of some of his things" explained Sirius.

"You had no right. His stuff should all belong to me! I will be the Black heir when you die" snapped Carly.
"I know. But I was in a bad place when everyone left and went back to Hogwarts in September. Don't worry though, I didn't really get rid of anything, as I couldn't bring myself to throw away my brother's things... I found that package in a trunk, with a note beside it. It said that if anything happened to him, that package should be given to you" replied Sirius.
"Did you open it?" Asked Carly.
"No, I didn't feel like I had the right to do so. Although, I have to admit that I am curious about what is inside".

Carly sat down on the bed, removed one of her gloves, and carefully opened up the package that her dad had left her.
The first thing she found was a piece of parchment.
So, she opened it up, finding a letter addressed to her, that had been signed by Regulus.

'My daughter, if this letter finds you, then I must be dead. And I am sorry that you never got to know me. I hope that your father James has told you many amazing stories about me, and told you how much I loved you. As I write this, you're only a tiny baby, and I want you to know that I did what I did, to protect you.
As I expect you know, I was a death eater. But I want you to know that I did not believe in all of Voldemort's ideas. I joined him, because he promised to make mine and James's love legal. But I soon realised just how much of a monster the dark lord is. However, it was too late for me to leave his service. Once you are in it, you're in it for life.
The dark lord never doubted my loyalty, which is why he entrusted my house-elf with a very special mission. And when I found out what this mission was, it changed everything.

Inside this bag, hopefully is a locket.
I instructed Kreacher to destroy it, but if he couldn't, I told him to place it here, beside this letter, and tell no one about it.
This locket is more important than I can explain on a piece of paper.
Just know that I stole this from Voldemort, without him knowing, and I swapped it with a similar looking locket that I already owned. And Voldemort must never get the real one back.
This locket is crucial to ending the wizarding war, which is why it must never fall into the wrong hands.
Which is why I am leaving it to you, my daughter.

I trust that you will keep this safe for me, and if you can, find a way to destroy it.
I gave my life to get this, so please do not let my sacrifice go to waste.
I know that if I die tonight, the world will think of me forever, as a cowardly death eater.
But you have to know, that in the end, I did everything I could to put an end to Voldemort's reign of terror.
In the end, I did the right thing. And I wish that Sirius and James could know the truth about me.

This locket once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, so it is an extremely powerful and dangerous magical artifact.
Which is why you must protect it, and keep it locked somewhere safe.
Do not wear it, as I believe it has been embellished with dark magic, by Voldemort.
I wish I could tell you what the locket really is, and why it is so important, but I can't risk it, in case this letter ends up in the wrong hands.
Just know that the fate of the wizarding world, is now in your hands.

I want you to know that I love you, and that even if I am not with you, you will always carry a piece of me in your heart.
You mean everything to me, my daughter, and I wish that we had been given more time together, in a world that didn't forbid my love for your father.

With all my love, RAB'.

When Carly came to the end of the letter, she realised that there were years in her eyes.
"Are you alright? What did the note say?" Asked Sirius.
Carly didn't answer him, instead she tipped the package upside down, and allowed the contents to fall out onto her open palm.
Out fell a green and silver locket, with an S in the centre.
As soon as it touched her skin, she could feel the power inside it, so she quickly transferred it onto her other hand, so that it was resting on her gloved hand, instead of her skin.

"Ah, he left you his locket" continued Sirius.
Carly took her eyes off the locket and looked at him.
"You recognise this?" She questioned.
"Yes. Mother and father gave that to him for his birthday one year. It's meant to be a copy of the one Salazar Slytherin used to have" answered Sirius.
As Carly looked back down at the locket, she knew it was no fake. This was the real thing.

"Can you leave me alone for a minute, so I can process this?" Asked Carly.
"Of course. I'll leave you alone with your dad's words. Come down when you're ready, but don't be too long. You don't want to miss Molly's spectacular Christmas dinner" replied Sirius.
"I won't be long" promised Carly.
"Alright then. I'll see you in a bit" said Sirius, before walking out of the room, leaving Carly feeling very confused and conflicted.

Regulus had turned his back on Voldemort, and given his life to bring him down.
Carly now held the key that would supposedly bring down Voldemort, for good.
But she was a death eater.
She had already picked her side of the war.
And knowing that she was in league with the man that both of her parents had stood up against, filled her with doubt and shame.
What would her dad Regulus say, if he knew that she had willing joined Voldemort's side?