Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Chapter 217: A Humble Funeral

Witnessing this touching scene, Harry couldn’t help but cry.

In front of him, Sirius held Regulus’s body in tears. He cried so sadly and kept muttering. “Home, Regulus, let us go home…”

In Sirius’s arms, Regulus was oblivious to all of that.

His open eyes were misty, and there seemed to be a cobweb inside them. He stretched out his pale, dry hands and hugged Sirius tightly. Not a normal hug, but one full of malice, to drag Sirius into the lake and drown him.

“Be careful, Sirius…”

Harry hurriedly shouted, but his voice stopped abruptly.

He felt arms enclose him from behind, thin, fleshless arms, cold as death, and his feet left the ground as they lifted him and began to carry him, slowly and surely, back to the water.

Harry struggled to get away, but unsuccessfully. The Inferi were much stronger than he was, and he was dragged and slowly moved toward the lake.

The magic wand in his hand sent out a few spells in vain and relapsed into silence.

Harry was desperate. He knew there would be no escape, that he would be drowned, and become, like Regulus, one more dead guardian of a fragment of Voldemort’s shattered soul…

But then, through the darkness, fire erupted, which was much stronger than the red flames of Evan and Hermione.

Crimson and gold, a ring of fire surrounded the rock so that the Inferi holding Harry so tightly stumbled and faltered.

They did not dare pass through the flames to get to the water. They dropped Harry.

He hit the ground, slipped on the rock, and fell, grazing his arms, then scrambled back up. He saw Dumbledore, Evan, and Hermione coming out of the flame. Evan and Hermione were pale, but they looked fine. In front of them, Dumbledore looked grave and the golden fire was dancing in his pale blue eyes.

His wand was raised like a torch and from its tip emanated the flames, like a vast lasso, encircling them all with warmth.

The power of these flames was astonishing. The Inferi that encountered it were instantly turned into ashes. The remaining Inferi bumped into each other, attempting, blindly, to escape the fire in which they were enclosed…

“Professor,” Evan, Hermione and Harry shouted with delight.

He ran forward two steps and stopped immediately.

He heard the cries of Sirius, and he hurried back to see that Sirius and Regulus were fighting at the edge of the flames, and Kreacher stood aside without a move.

Because of the fire, Regulus struggled fiercely and wanted to escape to the lake, but Sirius clung to him and did not let go. He flushed because of too much effort.

Harry hurried to help, and Evan and Hermione hurriedly followed.

The three of them worked together to help Sirius hold Regulus down, and Evan even conjured a few ropes to tie him.

But Regulus’s strength was amazing, completely beyond the reach of humans, and they were no opponents to him.

Just as everyone was about to give up, Dumbledore came over.

Without gorgeous magic, he just tapped Regulus on the head with his wand in his hand, and Regulus immediately calmed down and turned back into a normal corpse.

In the dark cave, Evan gasped, watching the horrible, eerie sights around him, and the quiet Regulus. He knew that everything was over, and they finally freed Regulus from his endless torture.

They fulfilled Regulus’s wishes, destroyed the Locket, and found his body, relieving him of the evil Dark magic.

At this moment, his soul could finally rest in peace.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

By sunset, in an out-of-the-way graveyard near Grimmauld Square.

It was the Black family’s cemetery, with a tall, imposing dark marble monument carved with the Black family’s emblem and a remarkable sentence made of jadeite beside it: “The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black: Toujours Pur.”

Around the monument, there were many tombstones of different ages, they had different shapes, but they had one thing in common that is the materials were extremely exquisite.

On the right side of the cemetery were the three tall yews and the black outline of a chapel; on the left side of the cemetery, you could see the exquisite old house at 12 Grimmauld Place.

Like 12 Grimmauld Square, everything here, due to negligence, could only vaguely show the glory of the past.

There were weeds in the cemetery, and from time to time crows fell on the tombstones, watching the intruders in front of them.

Under the ruthless destruction brought by the years, most of the tall and exquisite tombstones had been damaged. They stood there quietly, silently telling the story and the loneliness of the Blacks.

In the innermost corner of the cemetery, Dumbledore, Sirius, Lupin, Evan, Harry, Hermione, and Kreacher stood solemnly in front of a very narrow and ordinary tombstone, which was not very consistent with the surrounding style. They gathered there for the final farewell of Regulus.

Lupin arrived after receiving the news. He was waiting for everyone at the Leaky Cauldron pub, preparing to spend a perfect Christmas along with them. He did not expect to recieve such news.

There was no one other than Lupin.

In fact, they had planned to invite some more people to Regulus’s funeral, but Sirius thought and didn’t know who to invite.

Regulus had madly worshiped Voldemort before his death. He wanted to be a Death Eater, and most of his former relatives and friends were such people. Almost all of them were students of Slytherin House, and eventually became Death Eaters, now either dead or locked up in Azkaban, and could not be invited at all.

So, in the end, there were only a few of them.

Kreacher’s stern, dry cries sounded intermittently, like someone playing a violin that’s out of tune.

Evan had never attended a funeral before, and he didn’t know how the normal funeral should be, but the funeral of Regulus was undoubtedly humble, and everything had been prepared in a hurry.

On the tombstone, was shortly written: Regulus Arcturus Black, a kind-hearted Death Eater. He defended his dignity and justice with his own life. He sacrificed his life against Voldemort, he was a worthy hero, and the eternal source of pride for the Black family.

Before that, Evan never thought that the words kind and Death Eater could be linked together.

That might be greatly ironic for other Death Eaters, but it was indeed the most faithful evaluation for Regulus.

As mentioned later, Regulus defended justice with his own life and resisted Voldemort. He was a true hero.

Next to the tombstone, Sirius looks haggard, with no tears, just silently looking at his younger brother’s coffin.

For a long time, Lupin patted Sirius shoulder, and then they slowly filled the grave and buried Regulus.