At the early morning hours, the golden sunlight leisurely steps across the city to reach Greenway Square in London's west. The wild grass on the side of the road shudders in anticipation as the morning sun rises. A few birds perch on utility poles, plucking their feathers with their beaks and chirping melodiously.
Residents living nearby began to step out from their homes in a steady flow, either walking or riding bicycles at a leisurely pace, making their way to the nearby subway station.
When they meet acquaintances along the way, they engage in conversations about the day's weather, as well as the fortunate repairs that have made the road anew.
Inside the old Black family home, Harry with tired face from one night of no sleep wobbled down to the underground kitchen, when he saw Remus alone in the small dining room, he slightly showed a surprised expression.
"Hurry up, Sirius—"
Remus, who was dealing with a plate of roasted bacon by the table, smiled at Sirius on the stairs and said,
"Come and try today's breakfast, it's completely different from before. To be honest, I used to think that Clitch was not good at cooking. Now I realize that I underestimated it a bit——"
Sirius grumbled under his breath, rubbed his swollen and red eyes, and slowly walked over to the dining table.
"What about Amos?"
Sirius lifted a fried egg with his silver fork and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing as he said, "I thought he had already come down?"
"I think he should still be in his room," Remus ran his hand over his forehead, his expression complicated.
"I told Cliché not to disturb him. You know, he's probably exhausted."
The dining room fell into silence. The two men at the table looked at each other without speaking, both knowing what the other was thinking.
"Have you ever seen a fellow like him, Remus?"
After a long time, Sirius broke the silence, his voice was deep and low.
"I don't know more than you do, Sirius--"
Remus shook his head with a wry smile.
After they had agreed on how to arrange Regulus's body, Sirius did not sleep all night, standing watch by his brother's side. Meanwhile, Remus and Amos returned to their guest room to rest, but Remus didn't know if Amos had slept at all. Although he was clearly exhausted, he couldn't sleep on the bed either. Every time he closed his eyes, the scene of Amos destroying the cave came to mind.
"Before this, I had never imagined that wizards could have such power, nor could I imagine that wizards could cause so much destruction."
Remus sighed as he said,
"It seems that for all these years we have fought Voldemort, we thought we knew how terrible he was, but the truth is, Voldemort may not have even shown us his full strength. Because there was no need to."
"Dumbledore must know."
Sirius's voice remained as deep and somber.
"Voldemort is afraid that Dumbledore knows that he is our biggest enemy. During those years, Voldemort always tried to avoid a confrontation with Dumbledore. He must be more powerful than Voldemort."
"That is true, there's no doubt about it."
Remus had great confidence in the old man with wisdom far beyond that of an ordinary wizard.
The two men at the table were having a conversation in low voices, their expressions not particularly cheerful.
On the one hand, Regulus's body was recovered, but the shadow cast on their hearts by his death had not dissipated. They remained steeped in deep sorrow.
On the other hand, the apocalyptic scene of Amos destroying the cave last night gave them an unimaginable shock while also making them feel a little fear.
Magic has been more intertwined with the daily lives of wizards since the development of modern magic, spells become simpler and faster. Nowadays, wizards can hardly imagine the magnificent and heart-stirring battle scenes where terrain alterations were commonplace.
As mentioned earlier, Voldemort had been avoiding a direct confrontation with Dumbledore during the years of his reign of terror.
The last time the magical world saw magic destroy the world, it was half a century ago —— the Battle of Hogwarts, the greatest wizard of all time Albus Dumbledore fought against the first Dark Lord Gellert Grindelwald.
"About Regulus, have you made your decision, have you?"
The topic kept circling back to Regulus, Remus rubbed his aching brows, thinking whether he should go back to the room and try to sleep again.
"You wish to hold a funeral for Regulus, and that is quite natural, but considering your current situation—"
"I know, Remus——"
Thinking about it, Sirius became irritable.
"I didn't say we had to do it immediately. Of course, it has to wait until we get rid of that traitorous scoundrel and clear his name. I will invite some people, but not the relatives of the Black family; they don't deserve it. I want to invite some wizards from the Order of the Phoenix from those days. I want these friends who have always been on the front line against Voldemort to know that Regulus was not a Death Eater; he was a true hero."
Alive, he couldn't give him his name, but after death, Sirius hopes that Regulus will be recognized by those who share the same beliefs.
"And there is one more thing——"
Remus didn't point fingers at Sirius's idea; he simply said with a serious tone,
"Albus told me before he left that he was going to investigate some important matters, in order to prevent you from harming Harry again, he gave me an emergency contact way with him. I don't want to disturb his work as much as possible, but when he returns to school, including Peter and what happened last night, I have to report everything to him!"
Sirius was silent for a moment, and then nodded.
Third floor, guest room of the old mansion.
Amos did not sleep as soundly as Remus expected, he got up at the moment when the morning golden pink sunlight through the carved glass window fell on the floor. Moreover, his appearance looked quite good.
Dressed in a morning gown, Amos sat at the desk by the window, lazily leaning back in the high-backed soft chair behind him. His left hand was on the armrest and his right hand was holding that real Relic which had been brought back by Cliché over ten years ago. He watched the surface of the locket in early morning gentle sunlight, quietly observing those unclear ancient runes.
The desk was covered with a pile of books. Among them, there were some published by the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts's textbooks for NEWT-level courses, as well as some ancient-looking magic books with dark yellow covers and book pages covered with insect bites.
To understand the meaning of the symbols on the box, Amos took out all these books from his pocket, but after flipping through all the materials, he still couldn't figure them out.
"I'll go ask Professor Bibbini, she's an expert in this field –"
Amos sighed and put it aside for the moment.
Since last night when he got the locket, Amos had actually tried to open it several times. He used some less violent methods, but they were all repelled by the strong defensive dark magic inherent in the locket itself. To hide the soul inside, the locket itself would have to be destroyed as well.
Similarly, Amos was unwilling to do so temporarily, because he still planned to blackmail Dumbledore again.
"How should I price this time?"
Amos bit his lip, struggling with a dilemma.
Of course, Amos didn't want to take advantage, but Dumbledore had already spent all his money on the last time he caught the serpentine creature, so it might not be appropriate to set a high price.
Thud, thud, thud!
Just as Amos was contemplating whether to introduce the concepts of 'installment payments' and 'loans' to Dumbledore, the door to the guest room was suddenly knocked on.
(Chapter complete)
