The Curse of Slytehrin

                                    

                                          
     TW:
  Blood, poison, hospitals, seizure, other trauma-like responses.
This one's gonna be hard besties. 


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   "Regulus, I need to use your house-elf, Kreacher, for a very important task." 
  "Yes, my Lord." 
  "He won't be back for some days' time. I trust you won't be in need of him?" 
  "No, my Lord."
   "Good. You will quickly rise the ranks with this task Regulus..." 
   He should've said no. His temples pounded, his neck was stiff from stress. He should've said no... 
   Kreacher had come back three days later. He was barely able to support himself, his body was bruised and bloodied, it was a miracle the elf wasn't dead. 
   Kreacher didn't speak for a week. He sat in his corner and shook and cried and shook some more. Nothing would comfort him. The elf was traumatized. Regulus was furious. It took a week. A week of waiting for answers to questions not yet uttered. 
  "Kreacher, please, tell me what happened." 
   The story spilled on the eighth day. Out from trembling, pale, lips came the tale of a cave, of blood, of poison, of Inferi, of another horcrux. 
  How dare the Dark Lord put the Nobel House of Black's head house-elf through such torture! 
   But house-elves didn't have rights so they could be used for whatever task their masters allowed. Regulus had allowed his friend to be tortured. Regulus hadn't asked what the Dark Lord wanted with him. Regulus had been a coward yet again. 
   Now there was another horcrux. There was a second horcrux, probably more, that needed to be destroyed. The chance of both him and Fawn getting out alive was unlikely but, then again, he'd thought that of the Chamber of Secrets and that had ultimately turned out fine. Well, maybe not fine... Either way, they were alive. For now. 
*****
   The boat creaked under the two young adults and Kreacher, the sea-breeze splashing them with frigid water. The cave loomed closer and closer. It looked like a wonderful place to film one of those Muggle horror films. A wonderful place to die. 
   The small sail-boat stopped shakily against a jagged rock. Regulus climbed out first. Fawn took his hand and the two helped out Kreacher once they were sturdy. 
   They froze. Neither wanted to discover what secrets were held in that dark cavern. Their knuckles were white from squeezing each other's hands. Regulus cracked his neck. He took a deep breath and turned to Fawn. 
   "Shall we?" 
   She swallowed heavily but nodded and released a deep, wavering sigh. "We shall." 
   The first sign that this was the right place was the faded blood stains on a large tomb-stone-like entrance. 
   "One must sacrifice blood to enter," said Kreacher. 
   "I'll do it." Fawn stepped forward, pulling a pocket-knife from her jeans. She made a clean slice down her left thumb and pressed the pad against the stone. It grinded and pulled away, daring the group to venture inside.