Emma had started preparing lunch as soon as she discovered they were safe, the relief in the house was palpable and Dad was even able to sit down. She heard the laughter coming from the back garden signalling the troops had returned.
Harry decided to finish their business before entering the house and put on his dragon hide gloves before taking a basilisk fang and stabbing the ring with it.
Hermione had put up a silencing charm to contain the dreadful screams and she once again banished the black goo before handing Harry the locket. He repeated the procedure on the locket and nothing happened.
The teens exchanged glances before Harry repeated the procedure using a different fang but still nothing happened, he cast a scourgify to remove any traces of venom before opening the locket and watching as a note fell out.
Hermione picked up the note, unfolded it and began to read out loud,
To the Dark Lord
I know I will be dead long before you read this
but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret.
I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.
I face death in the hope that when you meet your match,
you will be mortal once more.
R.A.B. (JKR – HBP)
Sirius felt as though he had been struck by a bludger and actually dropped to his knees as he held a shaking hand out to Hermione for the note, one glance was all it took to confirm the very familiar handwriting. He had tears streaming down his face as he spoke, his voice choked with emotion, "My brother didn't die a death eater!"
.....
Sirius had to be led into the house and he kept glancing at the note every few seconds, checking that it was in fact real. They all sat around the kitchen table but it was left to Remus to enlighten the company as Sirius was caught up in memories of the past.
"Regulus was Sirius's younger brother, he was a Slytherin the year below us at Hogwarts. I know Sirius won't mind if I say his parents were not nice people but he always looked out for his brother. The Black parents were big believers in pure blood supremacy and put extreme pressure on Sirius to become a death eater, so much so that he ran away and lived with James at Harry's grandparents. He begged Regulus to accompany him but he replied that he would be fine; he had always been his parent's favourite son especially after Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor."
Sirius was staring at the note and his tears were flowing freely again.
"When we got back to Hogwarts that September Regulus had changed, he was hanging about with known Voldemort supporters and wouldn't speak with us. His parents had made Regulus their heir and the noble and ancient house of Black was a big prize for Voldemort. Regulus became a death eater at sixteen but was dead by eighteen, supposedly his murder was ordered by Voldemort himself and now we know the reason why."
Sirius was still staring at the note as he spoke, "I shouldn't have left him there, I knew what those manipulative bastards were like, he should have came to the Potter's with me. That psychopath has taken two brothers from me now but at least I have the satisfaction of knowing they both went down fighting the evil bastard." He looked straight at Harry, "if I ever lose like that please don't mourn me, I would be joining my brothers and going out the way I wanted to."
Harry was having none of it, "Listen Sirius, at the moment you're released into my care until we can come up with a trial date. I'm bloody sure you're not going anywhere, as this is the only family we've got and our kids are going to need someone to corrupt them when they're older. I mean two dentists, a professor and parents who never got into trouble, what chance have they got if you're not around."
The fact that the straight-laced dentists both carried guns they weren't afraid to use and the respectable professor had just spent the morning fighting zombies, not to mention robbing a grave, told everyone he was joking. Claiming that he and Hermione never got into trouble was taking the joke just too far.
Hermione spoke softly to the hurting Sirius, "we need to find that locket or all our plans turn to dust, once it's destroyed Voldemort only has the snake left and it can be killed the same as any other creature. When it's time to take him and the rat down we promise you can be there to let the bastard know just who's responsible for his downfall but it can't happen without the locket."
"Regulus would have taken it to the ancestral Black family home but since I left mother must have blasted my name off the family tree tapestry because I can't remember where it is, only the current head of the family could tell me."
"Who is that?" Hermione asked.
Sirius was deep in thought for a few moments as the possible candidates played through his mind, "it might actually be me, mother would have to complete the paperwork to totally disinherit me and with Regulus there she might not have bothered. After he was murdered I don't think she would have been capable of carrying it out." He took a deep breath, "I, Sirius Orion Black, being the rightful heir of the ancient and noble house of Black claim my rightful inheritance and head of house."
Everyone watched as the Black family ring appeared on the finger of Sirius Black but only Remus had a comment, "Oh great! Now I have two bloody lords to deal with."
"Do you remember where it is?" Hermione asked.
The grimace on his face told everyone he did but wasn't exactly happy about it, "Twelve Grimmauld Place in central London, I think I would rather go back to the cave and face the inferi again than go there though."
Emma butted in, "I don't want to add to your problems Hermione but your father and I couldn't face sitting here waiting on a phone call again, we want to come with you."
Sirius tried to dissuade them, "I have no idea what we'll find when we reach the house, my brother's murder pushed my mother over the edge and she was quite mad by the time she died. Our house elf's only ambition was to have his head shrunk and mounted on the wall beside his predecessors, Remus was being very kind when he described them as not nice." Sirius was struggling to try and put it into a context that everyone could understand, "had I came home with Lily as my wife we would probably both been murdered in our sleep, my favourite cousin was blasted off the tapestry for marrying a muggle born but she wasn't the Black heir. Her two sisters were held up as paragons of pureblood elitism, Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange!"
Dan put his hand on the new Lord Black's shoulder, "it's you we like Sirius, not your family. This just proves what an upstanding gentleman you are to maintain the beliefs you do with that upbringing, I can only think of one other person that shares those qualities and I don't think it's a coincidence that you're his godfather."
With that Dan and Emma left to put on their top of the range dragon hide armour that Remus had purchased for the eight of them, the morning crew were already wearing theirs under their clothes.
Both teens glanced at Remus who nodded in reply; he would be on protective detail while Harry and Hermione helped Sirius search his ancestral home.
It was a thoughtful Hermione who spoke to Sirius, trying to highlight the positive side of this latest development, "you can now bring your cousin back into the family and being Lord Black will surely not hurt when you go to trial. If we can get this locket today then it allows all our plans to continue, if not then I don't know what we'll do as it's imperative Riddle doesn't discover what we're doing."
Emma's lunch just never received the attention it deserved as the six prepared to travel to Grimmauld Place.