"Bombarda!"
"Tarantallegra!"
Harry and Hermione, both of whom were hiding in separate doorframes, looked at Ron incredulously, even Ron looked sheepish.
"Avada Kedavra"
As a sickly green light hit Ron's doorframe sending splinters everywhere, Harry and Hermione spun out of the cover perfectly and sink, twin stunners hitting the black cloaked figure at the end of the hallway, before Ron could even blink. Hermione looked at Ron again, with a hint of amusement as Harry went and restrained the Death Eater they had just taken down. "Ron of all things you throw at a Death Eater who was casting a spell that could cause serious damage, you throw a dancing Hex," Hermione said giving Ron a "You're in trouble now" look.
"Hey he caught us by surprise; I thought we had got rid of all them from this dam house."
"Constant Vigilance" Harry quoted.
Ron shook his head ruefully "You won't let me live this down will you?" Hermione just grinned evilly in return. After they checked the rest of the house they went downstairs, carefully floating the 6 captured Death Eaters around the remains of furniture; the fight had been intense but luckily the Death Eaters where only good at casting minor spells with only one successful Avada Kedavra cast.
"All of them where just fresh recruits, hoping the Fidelius would protect them from anyone and everyone." Harry said, sadness casting a shadow over his face, the weight of all the deaths still weighing heavily on his shoulders. 'The Final Battle was a time to rejoice and mourn, we had won but with the price of so many dead.' Harry reflected as he, Ron and Hermione all apparated from the main hall of Number 12 Grimmauld Place to place the Death Eater recruits in the care of the jumbled up mess that was the Ministry Auror office.
A rhythmic thumping interrupted Harry sleep, he started awake, wand jumping in hand trained on the door of Sirius's bedroom, Harry couldn't call it his, not yet. As his ears strained to work out the strange thumping noises coming from Ron and Hermione's room his eyes wondered over the freshly cleaned rooms, the house still had the unmistakable darkness that brooded inside its walls, but with Kreacher back and magic flowing freely the house was at-least clean.
Then it hit him, he knew what Ron and Hermione where doing! Hermione had been obsessed with the challenge of removing Walburga Black from the wall of Grimmauld Place. She was trying various spells and mixtures of spells on a piece of parchment Ron permanently stuck on her wall, hoping to be able to break the parchment's spell, then moving on to Walburga's portrait. So far she wasn't getting anywhere and Ron kept telling her after being woken up every time, "It's a bloody Spell made to be permanent, AKA. You can't break it!"
So far Hermione had just scoffed and replied with variants of "Any spells has a way around it, you just need enough power, the right words and the right time." Most of which quoted some magical theory Harry had never heard of but should've, which sort of irked Harry, before Voldemort he had only ever thought about living and winning against Voldemort but now the whole world had opened up in front of him, a world without a homicidal maniac constantly chasing him and his friends. Harry had decided to learn, and become someone he would be happy with being, not someone the world needed.
As he stepped into the en-suite bathroom and ran the shower hot enough to shame a dragon, well at least almost, he heard a muffled "Jeesh Hermione, come back to bed, it's snugly and warm." Harry chuckled knowing that it was a lost cause for poor Ron.
With the shower off and a towel wrapped around his waist Harry entered Sirius's bedroom to see his clothes laid out on the bed for him, 'Kreacher, you really have grown on me.' The thought came with a grin; he noticed something different, something square and black out of the corner of his eye. Cautiously shuffling nearer he realised it was a book, the book was sitting on Sirius's desk, directly in the centre of the front cover there was a single line engraved with an elegant silver script,
'The Black Manor's Heir Book'
Harry was curious, 'Heck I shouldn't really touch it should I? Well it might not hurt; hmm it's probably best to call Kreacher.'
"Kreacher," Harry called softly, eyes never leaving the book, which Harry felt a strange attraction to.
"Yes Master Harry sir? Did I lay out clothes that were not right sir?" Kreacher said after popping in.
"No Kreacher, the clothes are perfect." Harry beamed at Kreacher to show his thankfulness, "I was just wondering about this book, it seems to have appeared out of nowhere and I thought you might know about it?"
As Kreacher peered at the book his eyes widened, 'WOW I didn't think that possible' Harry mentally chuckled.
"Master Harry!" Kreacher squeaked falling at Harry's knees "I knews you were a kind and good master before but the house has chosen you to be the new heir." He blubbered with big tears rolling down his face.
"Kreacher why are you crying? And what do you mean the house has chosen me?"
"I am happy sir, this house has much magic built into it! It used to be big and grand and easy to clean! But the wards and magic became dormant long ago, just before Mr Orion and Mrs Walburga Black became the owners. I remember when I felt the wards shift and slip towards being dormant, it happened over time but soon the house had darkened and became resistant to cleaning, also many rooms had sealed up and disappeared and no one but Kreacher noticed and if I mentioned it they would look me funny. The magic of the house closed and hid its secrets to those that weren't what it deemed worthy!" by the end of the long explanation Kreacher was taking big gulps of air, he had forgotten to breath in his rush to tell Harry all about the house and its wards.
"So what? The house has recognised me as the true heir, but why has this happened now? And what makes me worthy to be heir when others of the actual family weren't?" Harry was getting more and more confused, he didn't know much about wards and his lack of knowledge was showing.
"Master Harry, the magic of the house and its protection only runs at a very low power now. It took it time to determine what was happening in its house, the wards are slightly sentient and can determine people's abilities but it takes much power to scan someone and it needed to gather the magic to do so! As no one has told the wards who the actual heir of Black is it needed to find the person, it probably scanned Mister Weasley while you were staying here because he has pure blood that is untainted unlike yours is sir."
Frowning at the slight Kreacher made about his blood, Harry processed the information. Ever since getting rid of Voldermort's soul everything seemed easier to think through, his head felt less full. "So let me get this straight the house has chosen me to be its rightful heir, and if I claim it the house will become less dingy and show us previously unknown rooms." Harry's excitement at the prospect of finding and exploring something new bubbling to the surface.
"Yes sir, I don't know why It choose you though. Maybe the book will explain!"
With a firm nod Harry went to the desk and sat down, carefully opening the book's cover Harry started reading the introduction.
To those that are reading this book I welcome you,
To start of I shall explain the very house and wards you are inside of at this moment. Long ago it became apparent that the Black family needed a grand townhouse, so I took it upon myself (and a multitude of muggle workers) to build the most dangerous and revered house in the land. The muggles may disgust you but do not fear the disgusting creatures were only used to create the base frame as they were the quickest tool I had on hand and their life was used for a better cause afterwards. During the construction I designed and added as many runes as possible to the houses frame, at the time I wasn't sure of the exact nature of the house so I built it to be grand, powerful and above all dangerous.
The muggles actually became a key factor in the construction of the wards and house, with their life and souls I was able to use the power the given of in death to create a permanent anchor into the river of magic (or magic lines) that ran underneath the supports. This was a tiring and messy job but in the end it was perfect as it gave me almost unlimited amounts of power to keep the wards running. Soon with much magic and many favours called in the house was complete and fully furnished. I activated the wards completely that night with the whole family in attendance, to say that the raw energy the wards possessed was an understatement and even now I feel the siren's song of power ghost its way through my link with the wards.
The wards shall be yours to use soon and if you are reading this book it means that some of my line was deemed unworthy and you have the ability to awaken the power of the Black Family!
Harry finished reading the introduction, looking up at Kreacher he saw him waiting patiently a couple of steps behind the chair. "You can look too Kreacher!" He exclaimed realising why Kreacher hadn't commented on the book yet.
"Thankyou Master Harry, I would like that very much so." As he quickly scanned the page Harry reflected on the words, with a pang of sadness he realised that many innocent and normal muggles had been destroyed by another dark wizard. "Sir I know you is being sad but please do not let it trouble you too much, what's done is done."
"Thanks Kreacher, I will try but no promises. What is the meaning of magic lines? I feel like I've heard of them but can't remember what they are exactly." He was again being frustrated with what he suspected was holes in his education.
"Magic is everywhere sir! But in some spot's and whole lines of the earth the magic is stronger and easier to access than normally, many important Wizarding areas are built on top of sites like these. Hogwarts is, Diagon Alley is and so is other Wizarding towns, but this house is tied into the magic lines even more directly than Hogwarts is because of the death magic that was harnessed when the house was created."
"Wow" Harry replied, his thoughts running a mile a minute to process this information and try to imagine the immensity of magic that must be able to be accessed by the house. "Thankyou Kreacher for all the info, I might read a bit more after I get dressed." smirking as he realised that the towel was still his only form of protection "I will be down for breakfast later on, and I will discuss this with Ron and Hermione."
"Brilliant sir, I will eagerly await your decision for the house." With a pop the smartly dressed elf (Harry had gotten Kreacher to take a nicer looking uniform when they moved back in) disapparated to somewhere to continue his duties.
With a great stretch Harry stood up and perused what Kreacher had laid out, normal straight black jeans with a gold flecked deep red V-neck shirt. Harry was still amazed at what Kreacher had bought him, with it being a strange clash between normal muggle clothes and with some strangely colored Wizarding attire thrown in randomly but Harry liked whatever Kreacher got him, it was nice to have good clothes that fit him and in most cases accentuated Quidditch developed muscles that were originally hidden by his baggy clothes.
The room still had posters that Sirius had stuck to the walls, but instead of making Harry depressed it made him happy that he could enjoy at least some of the posters that Sirius had. Harry had grown up in his time searching for Horcruxes and his experience of being hit by a Killing curse again had taught him a lot, things might not be perfect but he now knew how to deal with life's imperfections. With a smile harry finished dressing and moved back to the desk, the book might be written be someone evil and horrid but it was the key to make the Black Manor something good.