Hogwarts' Golden Glory

They reached the middle of the lake!

The island appears larger from a distance, with a stone platform in the center, upon which lies a human figure.

Sirius Black was the first to jump off the boat and strode towards the stone platform.

Kane followed behind, and Dumbledore was the last to reach the shore.

The person on the stone platform is not Regulus.

It wasn't a complete corpse either.

It was a corpse.

The skin was grayish-white, clinging tightly to the bones like a thin sheet of paper.

The eyes were sunken, and the eye sockets were filled with darkness. The lips were pulled back, revealing the teeth and gums.

Sirius stopped walking.

"Regulus..." His voice sounded like it was being squeezed out from deep in his throat.

"You've mistaken the grave; this isn't Regulus. Didn't you see he's not wearing Black family attire?"

The discomfort Sirius had been feeling vanished instantly.

"Kreacher," Sirius's voice was low, "tell me. What happened?"

Kreacher knelt beside the stone platform, his huge eyes filled with tears.

It began to tell its story.

"The Dark Lord brought Kreacher here! He made Kreacher drink a potion! The one in that bowl!"

Everyone's attention was drawn to the basin in the middle.

"Kreacher drank it, and while he was drinking it, he saw terrible things and felt like he was about to die!"

"The Dark Lord made Kreacher drink it all! Then he put a box in an empty bowl, and the potion magically appeared in the bowl again!"

"Then the Dark Lord rowed the ship away, leaving Kreacher alone on the island."

"Kreacher was very thirsty and wanted to drink water, and then the monster in the lake started attacking him!"

Kreacher thought that Master Regulus would surely want to see him, so he went back!

Everyone realized that the Dark Lord had underestimated the magic of the house-elves; they hadn't expected that the creatures could escape by teleporting.

"And what about Regulus?"

Sirius quickly pressed for more information.

"After Kreacher returned, he told the young master about these things!"

"Young Master locked himself in his room for a very long time."

"One day! The young master found Kreacher, holding a box exactly the same as the one the Dark Lord had placed there, and asked Kreacher to take him here."

"So you drank the poison again? Regulus switched the boxes inside?"

Blake gave his guess.

But Kreacher shook his head and cried.

Blake had a bad feeling.

"Young Master Regulus drank it, then took out a box similar to the one used by the Dark Lord,"

As he spoke, tears streamed down Kreacher's face from both sides of his large nose.

"He instructed Kreacher that once the stone basin was empty after he finished the potion, he should switch the box..."

"He told Kreacher to leave, that he needed to find more Horcruxes, and said not to tell anyone. But the young master drank all the poison, and in the end, he watched as Regulus was dragged underwater. Waaah, Kreacher was useless! Kreacher couldn't protect the young master!"

"That medicine tasted awful. The young master cried the whole time he drank it."

"He was still calling Sirius's name at the end, saying that he would never see you again."

Hearing these words, everyone was deeply disturbed.

Sirius Black knelt beside the stone platform, head bowed, shoulders trembling.

He always thought his brother was a coward.

But he was wrong; his brother was a hero!

In his grief, he saw a broken bowl on the ground.

The stone platform was filled with this medicine.

He picked it up and scooped some out.

Then he opened his mouth and took a sip.

"What are you doing!" Kane reached out to grab his arm.

too late.

The medication took effect immediately.

Sirius's face contorted, and his whole body began to tremble violently. His eyes widened, and his pupils contracted sharply.

What he saw, no one knows what he saw, but he began to cry.

I started crying!

Tears welled up in her eyes and quickly slid down her cheeks.

"Regulus..." he murmured, his voice like shattered glass, "Regulus, why didn't you tell me... why didn't you call me..."

You left without saying a word... I didn't even get to see you one last time...

His body began to convulse. It wasn't a hallucination; the drug was eroding his senses.

Immense pain and thirst struck at the same time.

His throat felt like it had been burned, his lips were cracked, and his tongue was swollen.

He bent over, gasping for breath, his hand covering his throat.

Dumbledore stepped forward, pointing his wand at Sirius. "Awakening Charm."

A beam of blue light struck Sirius's forehead.

His body shuddered, the bloodshot in his eyes faded a little, but tears were still flowing.

Kane crouched down, took a bottle of water out of his pocket, unscrewed the cap, and held it to Sirius's mouth.

"drink."

Sirius took the bottle and drank a few mouthfuls.

Water streamed down his chin, mingling with his tears.

Kane looked at him, his gray eyes showing no sympathy, only an impatient disdain.

"I thought you were stupid enough to punish yourself by going to jail," Kane said. "I didn't realize you were even stupider. You knew it was poison and still drank it."

Sirius paused for a second.

He looked at Kane, opened his mouth, but didn't say anything.

Kane stood up and took the water bottle back.

"Only by living can you make amends. You can't do anything if you're dead."

Sirius looked at him for a long time.

Then he nodded. "Okay."

He wiped his face with his sleeve and stood up.

Just then, there was movement on the lake.

The water began to boil.

It wasn't waves, but rather a bubbling, surging mass rising from the depths.

Countless pale hands reached out from the water and grabbed the edge of the stone platform.

Corpse.

Sirius's face was as white as a dead man's.

Kreacher screamed and huddled at Sirius's feet.

"It's them..." Kreacher's voice was shrill and broken, "It's these monsters... Master Regulus was dragged down by them..."

The undead crawled out of the lake.

Their bodies were half-rotten, some with bones exposed, and others with bits of flesh still clinging to them.

They have no eyes; their eye sockets are filled with darkness.

But they were looking at the stone platform.

Looking at the few strangers on land!

Sirius Black drew his wand and stood in front of the group.

"Get out of here!" he roared.

A beam of red light shot out from the tip of the staff, striking the nearest corpse.

The corpse was knocked back a few steps, but did not fall.

It stopped again, tilting its head as if confused.

Dumbledore stepped forward and waved his wand.

A silvery-white arc of light swept across the area around the stone platform, pushing the corpses back into the lake.

Water splashed everywhere.

The corpse struggled and roared in the water, but did not rise again.

At least not for now.

Dumbledore turned to Sirius.

"Mr. Blake, we need to take your brother's body out. But not like this."

Sirius looked at Dumbledore.

His eyes were red, and his voice was hoarse.

"Professor, please. Bring him up."

"He's down there. I know he's down there. Please."