The letter he received back by owl, the Weasleys' elderly owl Errol, informed him that Arthur had 'tanned the boy's bum' so much he now had to sit on a very soft cushion just to sit for short periods; otherwise, he had to lie on his stomach as he couldn't lie on his back. When he visited the twins in their new store in Diagon Alley a day later, they told him that their father had just about drawn blood from Ron's bum-cheeks from hitting him with a switch on his arse so much. They'd also informed him that their father had come very close to disowning the boy and that it was only the begging and pleading of their mother that stopped him from doing so. His mother claimed Ron had done that because he 'must be' still suffering from the effects of the 'brain things'.
Another act Sirius was very happy to accomplish was to eventually kill the remaining Black house elf, Kreacher, for actions that led to harm to both the Lord and Heir of the House. Dobby had immediately taken the role of house elf for Black and, though he swore he was still 'Harry Potter Sirs' house elf, soon had Grimmauld Place cleaned and once more presentable. That Dobby was still a Potter house elf and loyal to Harry was yet further proof Harry was still alive.
Further, once clean, Sirius realised it didn't do much for the shabbiness of the place. So he immediately began making plans to have the whole interior almost gutted before then rebuilding and refurnishing. They'd get started on that as soon as they could.
With Tonks once again remembering her blocked memories, she headed for home, leaving Sirius and Remus to talk.
Another event that occurred over the past week was Sirius receiving a floo call from the young Ravenclaw girl who had accompanied Harry to the Department of Mysteries, Luna Lovegood of House Lovegood.
As her head floated in the flames, Sirius walked in and asked, "Miss Lovegood? What can I do for you?"
"I need to speak with you in private and most urgently, Lord Black," she replied. "May I step through?"
Knowing her to be a Fourth year and no real threat, and that she was willing to accompany Harry to 'rescue' him from Death Eaters simply because he was a friend, Sirius frowned and then waved his wand at the fireplace. "The password is 'Harry lives', Miss Lovegood. You may step through."
The ghostly head of the young girl gave a short nod back and said, "Thank you."
She withdrew for a moment and Sirius heard her call from her side of the connection, "Harry Lives!"
A few moments later she was stepping out of the fireplace.
Having already met her and spoken with her to thank her for being in the Ministry with Harry, he was not surprised by her dress. She was wearing a floral summer dress over blue denim jeans, had a handmade necklace of butterbeer corks around her neck and tiny radishes dangling as earrings from her ears. Her platinum blonde hair was also tied back in a ponytail with what looked like mistletoe.
"What can I do for you, Miss Lovegood?" he asked, choosing once again to make no comment about her style of dress.
"You need to set aside your plans to go through the Astra Porta... what you call the Veil of Death... to chase after Harry," she firmly stated. "It will not work. You will die."
Shocked, he demanded, "How did you know what I was planning?"
"Like I have told no one else of your plans, I pray that you will tell no one else why I know," she replied. "I am an undeclared and unregistered Seer."
Again shocked, he was a moment before he asked, "And you See that I will be unsuccessful?" "Yes," she replied. "Harry needs to be where he is for some time yet. Have no fear, he will be found and he will be brought back; but it will be by others who mean him no harm. You merely need to remain patient."
"Where is he?" he demanded.
"To find out, you merely need to walk outside on a cloudless night and look to the heavens," she replied. "Look for the brightest star - the one whose name shares your own - and you will know where he is."
"I..." he tried. "That makes no sense!"
"It will," she returned. "When the time is right you will know I did not lie to you.
"Harry needs to remain where he is. Where he is, though he is currently feeling alone, he is learning the secrets of magic at its most basic level. When he returns he will be able to accomplish his destiny. If he returns too soon he will fail in his destiny and will die." That shocked the old dog to his core.
"He will die?" he hesitantly asked.
"Yes," she immediately and firmly replied. "Unless he remains where he is for the time being."
"For how long?" he demanded.
"Long enough," she replied.
Sirius racked his mind trying to think of a way to help his godson and knew he didn't have the answers. Finally, he turned to Luna and asked, "What can I do to help him?"
Luna had stood there watching her friend's godfather coming to the conclusion she needed him to. Then saw when he came to that determination and asked his question.
"You have already discovered that the Dark One... and he very soon truly must not be named by his false name of Voldemort as he will soon have a taboo on it set up again... has created abominations of magic known as Horcruxes."
That had Sirius give a quick start of shock.
"... Four have already been destroyed; the diary, the Cup, the signet ring and one other. A fifth phylactery resides in Hogwarts in a room the Marauders never found, the Room of Requirements. It is the Diadem of Ravenclaw. Dobby can get that for you and you can give it to the goblins to be cleansed, just as they have cleansed the Cup and the ring. Be aware, though, that it has a strong compulsion charm for anyone who touches it to don it. You must not."
"How many..." he tried, not truly wanting to ask.
"Besides the Diadem there are two others. One is the Locket of Slytherin." And she pointed to the glass cabinet sitting in the corner of the room. "It is there." Sirius immediately whirled to look at the cabinet in horror.
"Your brother stole it from where the Dark One had hidden it. He died while retrieving it," she explained. "He gave the task of destroying it to the then Black house elf, Kreacher. However, Kreacher was unable to destroy it and had still not been able to accomplish that task before you killed him for his betrayal. It is now up to you to take it, along with the diadem, to the goblins and have them strip the soul fragment away."
"Regulus?" he hesitantly, painfully, asked. "Regulus tried to destroy one?"
"Yes," she replied. "However, as I explained, he died in the act of collecting it from where it was hidden and tasked the house elf with destroying it."