Chapter 205: The Funeral [Two-in-One]

Chapter 205: The Funeral [Two-in-One]



Ved was taken aback for a moment before replying, "I also had the pleasure of seeing the Black family library yesterday. When I borrow books, just don't hesitate to lend them to me."

Sirius smiled and said, "You can take them all if you want. I'd be delighted!"

He paused, but instead of brushing off the topic with a joke, he brought up their previous conversation.

"Leaving Azkaban, finding Regulus, preparing for the funeral, and finally getting my crazy mother to calm down..."

Sirius listed the recent events, a bitter smile on his face. "No matter what, you've helped me too much. There's no way I can repay you for the books I borrowed from you, not even a tenth of it... Ved, is there anything I can do for you?"

Ved thought for a moment and then asked, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course." Sirius took a swig from his beer bottle, his gesture casual and graceful.

"Why did you break with your parents and stand against Voldemort in the first place? I've looked into it, and when Voldemort was at his most powerful, many people thought he wouldn't be defeated. Only a handful dared to oppose him, risking their lives."

As Sirius furrowed his brow, Ved continued as if he hadn't noticed, "If you hadn't done that, you could have inherited the Black family fortune. With your status and strength, you surely would have gained Voldemort's favor. Given the situation at the time, that seemed like the 'smart' choice."

"Why? Do I even need to say it?" Sirius arched an eyebrow. "It was to stand up for what's right and save innocent lives."

Ved smiled. "So, after saving people, do you also ask them to repay you?"

Sirius was taken aback for a moment before he burst out laughing.

He raised his beer bottle in a toast without saying another word.

He would remember the favor, but there was no need to keep bringing it up.

However, having his convictions acknowledged by someone else felt different.

Previously, in his mind, Ved Grey was Harry's friend, Lupin's prized student, and someone to whom he owed a great deal and needed to repay properly.

But after today, he saw the real Ved beyond those labels.

...

With the funeral approaching, a group of people spent five days cleaning the house, disinfecting, repairing or replacing furniture, and tending to the garden in preparation for the ceremony.

The Cleaning and Mending Charms could not solve all the problems, especially when it came to dealing with years of stains caused by magic; their effects were minimal.

Percy was forced to seek advice from his mother. As an experienced housewife, Mrs. Weasley recommended a few inexpensive but effective magical cleaning products and shared some handy housekeeping tips.

Sirius also buckled down and hand-wrote the invitations.

Regulus' funeral was a bit awkward.

He was known as a Death Eater, but in the end, he died opposing Voldemort, although no one else knew this yet. Even among the Death Eaters, they believed Regulus was a coward who had tried to desert and was executed.

He was difficult to accept by either side.

After careful consideration, Sirius realized he didn't know if his younger brother had friends like James and him. The people who used to walk with Regulus during their school days were either in prison or six feet under.

Sirius had no intention of inviting those who might not even know what Regulus looked like, nor did he want to invite those who might speak ill of Regulus, even if they had once been his comrades-in-arms.

With these criteria, the number of people he could invite was very limited.

After much deliberation, Sirius finally sent an invitation to the Malfoy family.

His favorite cousin was Andromeda, but he also had a good relationship with Narcissa when they were young. Most importantly, Regulus had a soft spot for his cousin Narcissa, and she was the one he listened to the most among his sisters.

—And Narcissa wasn't a Death Eater. The despicable one who joined the Death Eaters was her contemptible husband, Lucius Malfoy.

Sirius used this last reason to convince himself.

He was an impulsive person, and even eleven years in prison hadn't changed that. For the first time in his life, Sirius was so patient and considerate, suppressing his own preferences to think about something carefully.

The young witches and wizards who came to help played a significant role.

Without them, Sirius didn't know what kind of funeral he would have arranged. Perhaps he would have troubled Lupin from start to finish, only to end up disappointing everyone.

But the children were doing so well that Sirius felt he couldn't forgive himself if he ruined everything because of his impulsiveness.

Owls carrying invitations flew in all directions, braving the cold winter winds and snow.

...

In his free time, Ved always stayed in the study.

The Black family was indeed an ancient and wealthy pure-blood family, and their collection of books was extremely extensive, with some even rarer than those in the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts Library.

The numerous books were something Mrs. Black cherished immensely before she went insane, so Kreacher had been meticulously maintaining them, and they only gathered a bit of dust with no signs of wormholes.

These books were originally imbued with powerful protective magic, which would cause severe harm to anyone who wasn't a member of the Black family. Some would corrode the palms of unauthorized readers, while others would inflict serious eye damage or carry deadly curses.

However, as the current head of the family, Sirius had removed most of the harmful magic. For the few books he couldn't handle, he locked them away in a box in the basement, along with their dangerous enchantments.

Kreacher watched this with a heavy heart, feeling great sorrow for the loss of these precious tomes.

Recently, Kreacher had started to view Sirius as his master and had been diligently carrying out his tasks and orders. But after this incident, Kreacher wiped away his tears, retrieved the books from the basement, and meticulously cleaned them before sprinkling them with insect-repelling powder. He couldn't help but mutter, "Profligate," a few times, his tone filled with reproach.

However, Kreacher's resentment was directed solely at Sirius and not at Ved, who was reading the books.

Kreacher had heard from Lupin about Ved's actions, and he treated Ved with great respect. Whenever Ved was in the study, Kreacher would frequently bring him hot tea or pastries.

It was unclear if Mrs. Black was aware of this, but she had been unusually quiet lately, and the curtain blocking her portrait had remained closed.

As the group was tidying up the fifth floor, they occasionally heard faint sobbing coming from Regulus's room.

On the third day, the Italian wizard painter that Sirius had hired arrived. Based on a few old photographs, he meticulously painted a portrait of Regulus.

It wasn't the pale and eerie image of Regulus as a corpse, but rather, it captured the proud and spirited youth before he turned sixteen.

From that day on, Mrs. Black fell into a deep silence.

Occasionally, the wind would gently blow the curtain aside, and they would see her sitting quietly with her eyes closed, as if she had fallen into an eternal, peaceful slumber.

Among the group, Lupin was the only one who frequently interfered with Ved's book-reading endeavors.

Most of the Black family's collection focused on Dark Magic, and Ved even stumbled upon a description of Horcruxes in one of the books.

Sirius believed that learning about the nature of Dark Magic wouldn't cause any harm as long as one didn't delve into researching or becoming obsessed with it. Their primary focus was still on learning defensive and resistant magic against Dark Arts.

Sirius himself had grown up surrounded by these influences and had managed to remain unaffected, so he believed Ved could do the same.

While Lupin held a different opinion, he didn't directly stop Ved from reading or lecture him on right and wrong. Instead, he would occasionally pop into the study to check on him.

Whenever Ved read books related to Dark Magic, Lupin would later share a story or two during dinner or while they were cleaning—

A wizard who made a mistake while experimenting with Dark Magic and ended up twisting himself into a monster, forever wandering in the dark forests, neither dead nor alive.

A Dark creature, bred through Dark Magic, suddenly rebelled against its master due to unbearable abuse and escaped after killing him.

A wizard who became addicted to Dark Magic and underwent a drastic change in personality, suddenly murdering all his family members one night, before causing a series of tragic incidents and eventually being eradicated by a white magic wizard who happened to pass by.

And so on.

The young witches and wizards found these tales fascinating, and Michael would always look at Ved with a mixture of amusement and suspicion after each story.

"What book did you read today?" he would ask softly.

"Just a manual," Ved replied nonchalantly. "I'm merely learning about the approaches ancient wizards took to studying magic. In their time, such behavior wasn't considered out of the ordinary."

"Indeed," Michael jested. "Eating people was probably quite normal back then, right?"

Ved hesitated for a moment. "Even today, cannibalism isn't illegal in some Muggle countries."

"Really?!" Michael exclaimed, his eyes widening in surprise, before quickly adjusting his expression. "Hah, the Weasley twins are much better actors than you when they're pulling a prank."

Ved gave his naive classmate a sympathetic look. "It's true."

Michael fell silent for a while, processing this information.

"Really?" he asked again.

"Yes," Ved confirmed.

"In Muggle law?"

"To be precise, some Muggle countries don't have laws prohibiting cannibalism. Of course, our Ministry of Magic doesn't have similar regulations either, do they?"

"Well..." Michael tried to salvage his worldview. "The reason there are no laws is that cannibalism simply doesn't happen... unless there's a famine or an extreme survival situation..."

He carefully patched up his argument, but he saw a mysterious smile playing at the corners of Ved's mouth.

Michael was left speechless, but that smile said it all.

Michael: "..."

That smile plagued the boy, causing him to toss and turn in bed for half the night. The next morning, he got up with dark circles under his eyes, rushed out of the old Black mansion, and spent half the day at a nearby Muggle library.

Upon his return, Michael remained silent for a long while.

"Crazy Muggles," he finally remarked to Ved before falling asleep.

But Ved shook his head. "You see the bloody act of cannibalism in books and deem it cruel and insane. However, in a society where only the strong survive, 'cannibalism' is happening all the time; you just haven't paid attention to it."

"Look, wasn't Regulus 'eaten' in a similar way?"

Michael was horrified, his scalp tingling as goosebumps spread across his body.

...

The day before Christmas was Regulus's funeral.

Snow had been falling since morning, the fine flakes settling on the ground and buildings, first forming patches of ice, then gradually accumulating and covering the mottled old walls and the garden the young witches and wizards had carefully decorated.

However, the white landscape was quite fitting for a funeral.

Sirius wore a black wizard's robe, the only colors on him being black and white. It was the first time everyone saw him dressed so solemnly. Lupin stood by his side, greeting the guests who had come to attend the funeral.

Ved spotted the Malfoy family—Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco. The family of three looked very similar, with their pale blond hair and skin, and haughty expressions.

However, when speaking with Sirius, both parties maintained their composure, and at least no conflicts arose on the surface.

He also saw a witch with light brown hair who had entered with a Muggle-dressed man. The witch quickly hugged Sirius, softening his expression a little.

Thus, Ved learned that the witch was Andromeda, the disowned member of the Black family. Sirius had once pointed to the family tree and introduced his family to the curious young witches and wizards.

Andromeda's name had been burned on that large family tree.

In fact, the Black family, who boasted their pure-blood status, had members who were disowned in almost every generation, sometimes more than one.

Behind the two of them was a beautiful young witch with striking blue-gray hair.

Even though adult wizards proficient in transformation spells could easily change their hair color, her shade was particularly unique and memorable.

Andromeda introduced her to Sirius as her daughter, Nymphadora Tonks.

Sirius had seen the young Tonks when she was a child, but of course, he didn't recognize her now.

They shook hands politely.

As the four of them talked, Draco Malfoy stared at Tonks without blinking. Upon hearing her name, he immediately made a face as if he had seen something dirty.

Although he didn't say a word, that expression said it all.

Tonks blinked, and when everyone turned to greet new guests, she suddenly turned her head toward Draco, her head transforming into that of a Hungarian Treepeak.

"Ah!"

Draco jumped back, startled, as he now faced a huge dragon head with eyes the size of jujubes, staring fiercely at him. He cried out in surprise.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"She... she... she just..."

He pointed at Tonks, trying to explain, but Tonks had already transformed back, now looking at him with an elegant and surprised expression, along with the rest of the guests.

"Mind your manners, Draco," Narcissa said coldly, glancing disdainfully at the half-blood Tonks before turning away.

Andromeda glared at her daughter, signaling her to stop causing trouble.

The Weasley couple returned from their trip abroad.

Madame Longbottom arrived as well, and Neville quickly went to stand by her side.

Dumbledore also came early in the morning.

Guests continued to arrive, and by noon, there were twenty to thirty people sitting on the benches. Among them were people from prominent families, some ordinary witches and wizards with unknown backgrounds, and even Muggles.

They sat together to attend Regulus's funeral.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end