Harry stared down at the tiny locket innocently gleaming upon his palm. It was throbbing; an eerie heartbeat in the silence of the room. He sighed, standing up from his beige couch and carefully linking the chain around his neck. The silver locket was a gift from Fred and George, given to him a long time ago, and said to help protect him from negative influences on his mind. Apparently, it has other uses as well, due to Harry's magic mishaps.
Harry walked to the fireplace, picking up a picture frame of him and his friends. They stood huddled together and waving happily to the camera as both Ron and Hermione glomped Harry. He couldn't help but to smile at the fond memory, perhaps he might use it for his Patronus one day. Harry chuckled at himself, as the scene unfolded on the picture frame. At the exact moment Collin took the picture, Fred and George appeared and leaped at their little brother, smothering him out of view. Harry had, of course, laughed so hard that he barely could breathe and Hermione was rolling her eyes.
The locket chirped, reminding him of the work he had to do today. With a jump, Harry stroked the locket, as if to say sorry, and picked up some cleaner then readied his wand. Grimmund Place, even with months of cleaning and hard work, still has nooks and crannies teeming with darke magick, an ancient form of the current modern dark arts magic. This was the reason why Molly Weasley couldn't easily fix the house up, and the rooms that they cleaned out, got dirty seemingly overnight.
Harry had found out that Sirius's mother, when she had gone truly insane, used a lot of chaos curses in her paranoia. Her mind was mere shreds, her magic core so twisted in insanity that her fury was brought upon herself and her house. Harry couldn't blame Mrs. Black, having lost her husband and youngest to Voldemort, her oldest hating her so much that he ran away, and living alone in a huge, empty house doesn't help either.
A purification spell combined with the Quietus jinx was probably the simplest solution Harry tried and was happy with the results once the curses have been lifted from a certain room. It took him about a month, experimenting with many spells, and even going to Diagon Ally a couple of times to research at the local library. The dusty tombs and scrolls made him sneeze, yet actually made Hermione's admiration for libraries justified, the peacefulness was exhilarating after sneaking past stalkers.
Let me tell you, 30-year-old women, some even married, begging for you to marry them and have children is downright revolting and petty.
Harry grimaced at the thought as he waved his wand, a white glow misting out and attacking the musty shadows that clogged the room. They were keeping the healthy magic from flowing properly and was keeping the room at an inhabitable state of being. After a certain amount of years, darke magick can bring Darknesse, a magical parasite that feeds upon the pure objects and can become very harmful, especially toward children. They look like shadows, but a keen eye can tell that shadows don't normally dart place to place.
Once all the Darknesse was gone, Harry then cast the Quietus jinx and neutralized all negative and positive magical influences in the room. The neon beam spread around, almost like radioactive water, being absorbed into objects that held such influences. Harry was careful though, the spell doesn't rebound to the castor thankfully, and he didn't want to explain to Fred and George that their expensive gift met an unfortunate end. Looking around satisfied, Harry then walked out of the room and closed the door.
Muttering, "Dormus, servo atque conserve ornamentum ergo concido cella"1
Harry flicked his wand at the door. The effect was instantaneous, Grimmund Place happily conceded, removing and storing all objects and "deleting" the room. The door disappeared with a pop, and Harry smiled in relief, only four more rooms and home would finally be free of this magic.*
Wizard buildings actually can have consciences, like Hogwarts for example, and they react with the owner's personality. The warm and comfort of the Weasley burrow and the random, mischievousness of Fred and George's apartment/shop are proof enough. Grimmund Place was an agreeable conscience, removing the irritating itches of the corrupt rooms definitely put Harry in its favor. It was, seemingly and alarmingly laidback, but like most Slytherin houses was irritatingly and smugly manipulative, especially at keeping Harry healthy.
After years of misuse with the Dursley's, Harry would often get caught up at what he was doing. Even not realizing hunger or fatigue in his work. Grimmund Place knew exactly how to irk Harry, just by simply Mother Henning him. Doors he would walk into would pop him back into his bedroom, forcing him to have a strict bedtime at 10:30 pm. Meals would appear suddenly next to him, and if he ignored them, they would mimic what Dumbledore did to the Dursley's with the wine glasses. Following him around and poking him, staying fresh and hot for longer times because of, well…magic. (Anyone should know this by now)
Popping a few joints, Harry stretched as he walked down a much wider and more pleasant hallway towards the room he deemed as a temporary storage place for all the items he had yet to clean and organize. Most of the hard work he had done was basically fixing items to either sell, keep in one of the bank vaults, or to use it in some way in Grimmund Place. He sold a lot of stuff that had no use to him, or no value: seeing how he didn't want to sell an artifact that actually meant something to the house of Blacks, he usually got a second opinion from Phineas Nigellus. Just to make sure.
Harry wearily flopped upon a velvet armchair, daydreaming contently as lunch neared. A few moments later, a sudden pop roused Harry.
Kreacher excitedly bowed and explained, "Young Master, today's lunch shall be honeyed mutton with greens, potatoes, and tea: lavender and peppermint tea."
Grinning, Harry replied happily, "That sounds wonderful Kreacher."
Kreacher blushed and popped away with a joyous squeak, still not used to the kindness and gentleness Harry naturally and unawarely emits. Kreacher had cleaned up nicely, it seemed that all he needed was a properly bonded master to make the unhealthy tone and twistedness disappear. Kreacher now looked shockingly young, and when Harry asked, Kreacher said that they were cousins to the immortal wood elves, so it was understandable to realize that house-elves lived for a long, long time.
Rising from the armchair, Harry strolled into his newly furnished dining room. The long oak table was replaced with a long, silken cherry with a smooth finish. It was completed by a suite of matching dining chairs instead of the creaking benches and wobbling bar stools. The once old-fashioned and horrid room was completely different and changed into a mild room with pleasing to the eye décor. He even made the whole room wider, since he had hated having to squeeze past the rumbustious Order members and Weasley family in the once narrow walkways.
Kreacher was waiting for him with the table set up already, the lunch steaming deliciously, making Harry's stomach growl loudly to his surprise.
"Thank you Kreacher!" he said, sitting down and digging in ravenously as Kreacher popped away to clean some dishes.
Harry noticed a shopping magazine next to his plate and remembered that he had bought it the last time he went shopping at a muggle grocery store. He absent-mindedly flipped through the pages, wondering if he could get Hermione's help with the decorating. Harry chuckled, wondering if she was still in her nesting phase.
About a week ago, Hermione had a baby shower and poor Ron had the brunt of her hormonal rage when he moved "her stuff". He had tripped over a wicker basket in the hallway, and to make sure no one got hurt, which was perfectly logical in Harry's opinion, he pushed it under a table out of the way.
Turns out, it was for the nursery and Luna had to distract Hermione from literally ripping out Ron's intestines for briefly scaring her. It was adorable to see Luna and Hermione cuddling on their couch, cooing and admiring over their new baby clothes. Meanwhile, Ron retreated into the kitchen in shame, utterly terrified of upsetting his childhood friend.
Later, both Harry and Ron agreed that Hermione indeed was more murderous and scary than Voldemort could ever have dreamed of.
It surprised Harry and Ron both when Hermione and Luna started dating and never would've thought they would eventually marry or even have kids. Their debates can reach astronomical hours with no relent, the last one was still going on about the existence of plumoraphants. Yet, somehow Hermione and Luna fit great together and… they are happy. Ron and Harry were happy to see their friend so content, despite what the classmates thought.
It was slightly amusing to see many of their fellow classmates react to the news, most thought that Hermione and Ron would get together, but Ron explained, "Harry and Hermione" he smiled softly, "are practically my brother and sister to me."
1 "Home, save and keep furniture then destroy room" Translation- Latin
The Quietus jinx is a spell that forces the temporary release of magical properties within objects.
*Note: The Darknesse stops healthy magic from flowing, so simply trying to delete the room wouldn't work and would make it worse, since Harry also has to cleanse the objects as well, or they'll corrupt others….you get the picture.
Any Ron/Hermione scenes are now strictly platonic brother/sister worrying. Sorry, just want to try a new ship!