He sobbed twice, then lifted his head again, staring indignantly at Little Sirius with big eyes.
"Young Master Sirius ran away, and good riddance, because he was a bad child. His unruly behavior broke my mistress's heart — but Young Master Regulus had pride. He understood what the Black name and his pure bloodline meant. For many years, he often talked about the Dark Demon King, about how the Dark Demon King would allow wizards no longer to hide but to come out and rule over Muggles and their descendants... When Young Master Regulus was sixteen, he joined the Dark Demon King's organization. He was so proud, so proud, so happy to serve..."
"To serve the Dark Demon King, right?" Little Sirius sneered and said, "You really think that's a glorious thing, Kreacher? That was a killer without mercy..."
"Kreacher only knows this was the mistress's wish," Kreacher muttered back in a low voice, "it should have been Young Master Sirius's responsibility..."
Hearing Kreacher's words, Little Sirius showed a disdainful smile.
"Go on, Kreacher," Harry interrupted.
Kreacher nodded and suddenly shuddered.
"A year later, one day, Young Master Regulus came into the kitchen to see Kreacher... Young Master Regulus always liked Kreacher, but that day, Young Master Regulus said... he said..."
The elderly little elf trembled like a sieve.
"...he said that the Dark Demon King wanted a house-elf."
"Voldemort wanted a house-elf?" Little Sirius asked confusedly, "Didn't he despise house-elves the most? I remember his viewpoint; he thinks house-elves are even lower than livestock. Why would he need a house-elf?"
"Kreacher didn't know either, but Kreacher knew that Young Master Sirius shirked his responsibility." Kreacher said this, closed his eyes, and covered his face painfully while saying, "Young Master Regulus offered Kreacher, it was an honor, Young Master Regulus said it was his and Kreacher's honor, Kreacher must do everything the Dark Demon King wanted... and then go home."
Kreacher began to sob.
"Thus, Kreacher went to the Dark Demon King, the Dark Demon King didn't tell Kreacher what to do, but took Kreacher to a seaside cave. It was a big rock cavern, inside was a black lake..."
"...and there was a boat, on the island was a stone... stone basin, filled with magic potion, the Dark— Dark Demon King made Kreacher drink it..."
The little elf seemed to recall something terrifying, trembling with fear.
"Kreacher drank it, and while drinking saw many horrific visions... Kreacher's insides were on fire... Kreacher cried for Young Master Regulus to save him, cried for the mistress, but the Dark Demon King only laughed... he forced Kreacher to drink all the magic potion... he threw the pendant box into the empty basin... then refilled the basin with magic potion."
"Then the Dark Demon King left by boat, leaving Kreacher on the island..."
Kreacher knelt on the bed, burying his head in the sheets, muffledly continuing: "Kreacher needed water, so he crawled to the edge of the island, to drink from the Black Lake... Many hands, dead hands, reached out from the water and dragged Kreacher down..."
"Was it the Yin Corpses?!" Ron asked in shock.
After a year of learning useful things in the Defense Against the Dark Arts Class, Ron learned quite a bit of useful knowledge — at least he knew it was the Yin Corpses, and knew how to deal with the Yin Corpses.
Even though he was only a third-year student, he had nine magic spells to deal with Yin Corpses, nine!
"So how did you escape?"
With her strong empathy, Hermione grabbed her collar and hoarsely asked.
She had already imagined the terrifying scene at that time. Even though Kreacher had spoken to her like that before, she was still concerned about Kreacher's experience.
Little Sirius worried Kreacher might suddenly curse Hermione, then repeated the question: "Yeah, how did you escape?"
Kreacher raised his ugly head, looking at Little Sirius with bloodshot eyes.
"Young Master Regulus said Kreacher must go home," he said.
Hearing Regulus's name, Little Sirius paused for a moment.
He continued to ask: "I know— but how did you shake off the Yin Corpses?"
Kreacher mechanically shook his head.
"Young Master Regulus said Kreacher must go home," he repeated.
"But how did you escape?" Little Sirius frowned and asked, "You know, that was a cave Voldemort was confident in—it must have been foolproof, ensuring you couldn't escape from it, right?"
"You should know, Sirius." Hermione sighed and said: "Voldemort despises house-elves the most, considers them lowly and inferior beings, just like most wizards know— but I've read in books that house-elves possess many magics that wizards cannot master, like the house-elves at Hogwarts being able to perform Apparition Displacement within Hogwarts, even the Headmaster Dumbledore cannot do that, right? Professor?"
The last sentence was directed at Dumbledore.
"Yes." Dumbledore nodded solemnly, acknowledging Hermione's statement.
"So Kreacher carried out Regulus's command, right?" Hermione asked Kreacher again.
"The highest law for house-elves is their master's command," upon hearing Regulus's command, Kreacher said excitedly in a singing manner, "When the master commanded Kreacher to go home, Kreacher went home."