2. Grimm Old Place

He was staring in front of him.

The great serpent stared him back.

They were in same position for moments, until-

~OK. You can stay here-for a while-I guess. But I'm going to ask someone first, and then tell you.~

~As you wish,~ with that, the mottled brown serpent retracted itself back, to coil itself on seemingly comfortable bed.

He then reached for his desk in his room, pulled up his notepad, and began writing.

When he was finished, he was not surprised to see an owl sitting on the window-sill. the Eurasian Eagle Owl was called Bird, funny name since it obviously is a bird, he thought. Sirius had assured him that he knew what he was doing, when telling that owl will deliver these letters as efficiently as post, if not more. And because he was receiving return letters, he now had no doubt in it.

He quickly waved his hand as if ushering the bored owl in, and it flapped its wings a couple times and landed on the desk, and then looked at the notepad hatefully. But turning attention back to kid, he made a hoot.

The kid then tore the page from notepad, neatly folded it in shape of envelope, and gave it to the mercy of owl, which as soon as picking the letter, flew outside of window.

Now all that kid could do was to wait.

Sirius Black was sitting on a desk, doing some paperwork, when his black feathered owl came to him, carrying an - envelope? Harry!- was all he though before Bird, unlike others, landed on his desk.

Quickly he accepted the letter from Bird, and read it once. He gave Bird some owl treat from his pocket, tore a parchment and wrote a small note, gave it back to Bird and asked it to go home and rest once he delivered the note. As soon as Bird went flying, Sirius rushed to his boss, Amelia Bones, head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement(DMLE), and knocked on her office door.

"Auror Black! Please come in. I didn't expect you could complete your report on Fletcher's arrest, considering he was caught with quite dangerous items?" she asked while reading another Auror's report, who was sitting on the chair in front of her.

"Sorry, boss. But it's not report. I need to leave, now."

"Why?"

"It's about my godson."

"Is it?" she considered momentarily, "You may. But I want that report first thing tomorrow."

"Yes, boss." And he soon found himself waiting in line of apparition point, in Ministry's atrium.

After merely a minute, he was standing in privet drive, soon crossed the path to number 4, and entered the house.

After some ten minutes, the Eurasian Eagle-owl came back, but with a small chit instead in its talons. It read,

I'm coming. Wait for me. - Padfoot.

It was only few minutes after that, Sirius Black arrived at 4, privet drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. Greeting Petunia and ignoring Vernon, he walked straight to the stairs to go up one floor where his godson's bedroom was.

He knocked on the door and without waiting for answer, opened it and said exactly two words, "show me."

The kid- the godson of his- rose from his chair as soon as door opened, and on hearing his godfather's query, he automatically looked at the subject of their meeting.

~Snake? Please come here,~ said godson.

The coiled Boa Constrictor moved from its comfortable position, and asked the kid,~Is this the person you were talking about?~

~Yes,~ said the kid. Then looking at his godfather, he asked, ~See? This is the Boa I told you about. I asked his name, and he said he didn't have one. And he is asking to stay with me, and I don't mind it at all. You remember we were visiting a zoo few weeks ago, and that glass pane was vanished. The snake there ran (more like slithered) away from the zoo. And -~ he paused, suddenly remembering his cousin's reaction to it, which is to say was unpleasant at best, but carried on, "And, this here is the same Boa."

But said godfather could not hear any of it, all he heard were hisses, and the one after the pause "And, this here is the same Boa". He was shocked would be an understatement. He asked his godson, "Harry? What are you saying? Will you repeat it for me?" Even if he was shocked, he asked as anyone would ask a ten-year old about their day at school.

Harry repeated, this time slowly, reckoning that he was talking too excitedly.

This time, Sirius heard every word of what his godson was telling, and none of them were hisses.

Harry waited nervously for what his godfather would say now.

"Here's what we are doing. We are going my home now. You ask your friend here to get in something, so that we can carry it with us."

Harry asked the Boa Constrictor to get in a bag that Sirius handed him, so that they could go to another place.

Truth to be told, he was excited. Having been visited by his godfather a lots of times, he hadn't get a chance to see Sirius' house. He was excited by the sheer idea that he was going there.

Sirius flinched visibly when his godson hissed again, but hopefully did not see because he was facing the large serpent.

When the Boa finally got inside the bag and hissed ~I'm ready~, they both walked down the stairs.

"Where are you two going, Sirius? And will anyone care to explain why you came here suddenly?" asked Petunia.

"This," showing the bag, Sirius said, " is the reason I'm here, Petunia. You remember the Boa from zoo?"

Petunia's face paled as she remembered the incident. "Is that-"

"Yes."

"How did it got here?" She asked looking at the bag warily.

"He said he followed our scent," it was Harry.

"Did he? Wait! You mean it talks? No! Don't answer." She was kind of numbed to such things by now. Anyone would, seeing hairs grown back same size in a night, sweater getting shrunk, hearing that her nephew was suddenly on terrace of school, and so on.

"If it helps, this is new for me as well," said Sirius.

"You mean you can't talk to snakes? But I thought everyone could."

"No, Harry. This is something rare, even for us. And Petunia, we are going to my place. Would two days be fine with you Harry?"

"Yes!" Harry jumped up in his excitment.

"Yes, so I'll bring him back in two days. And before I forget, give Dudley this. Tell him to be careful with gray ones, he might not like the taste. And no, they will not do anything to him, only will taste every flavour, as it says on cover."

"Bye aunt Petunia."

"Bye Harry. And please bring him back here in two days. You know how Dumbledore gets funny when Harry is out of home."

They walked some distance until road, and stopped on the street.

Sirius placed his hand on Harry's shoulder, "Ready Harry?"

Harry knew what was coming and didn't like it a bit.

"Ready."

CRACK!

~What was that?~

Seeing Boa's head out of the bag, Sirius said, "Harry, will you ask the snake to stay there. Just two minutes more? After we are inside?"

And Harry did. On receiving confirmation from Harry, Sirius handed him a paper,"read what is written on the paper. Memorise it well. When you're done, give that paper back to me."

And Harry did.

Sirius Black welcomes you to his house at 12, Grimm Old Place.

As soon as he read it, he tried to look for the place mentioned in the paper.

Seeing that his godson has read the note, and confirming it with him, he took back that paper and stuffed it inside of his pocket.

"But where is number twelve, Padfoot? I can only see number eleven and -"

Amazed, he looked at the building spawning itself between number 11 and 13.

"Welcome to my home, Harry!" exclaimed Sirius Black.

"This is your home? Wow! But Padfoot, how did we got here? And what happened here? It wasn't there before, and now it just, it's just like magic!" asked Harry with awe on his face.

"Yes. This is my home. But I'll tell you more when we get inside. Come on" Sirius answered while checking on any muggles.

When they were inside, Harry

"Who are you?" Mrs B

"Sirius?"HP

"Harry, I want you to meet my mother." SB

"He is Harry Potter, mother. Son of James" SB

"Hello. How do you do, Mrs Black?" HP

"You? Yes, you do look like him, except your eyes. They are like your mothers'" Mrs B

"I know. But Sirius-" HP

"Come on Harry," SB

"Better let your friend come out of bag now." SB

~What is this place, human?~ B

~This is Sirius'- my godfather's house~ HP

~What is a godfather?~

"You two wait here, I'm calling Moony," SB

~This place looks nice~ B

~I like it too. But will you stop calling me human? I have a name, Harry~ HP

~Harry?~ B

~Yes. What is yours?~ HP

~I am Boa Constrictor~ B

~I know that, but that is not your name~ HP

~I don't have a name.~ B

~You don't. Then what your friends called you back there?~

~Friend? At that place? They're not my friends. No one talked to us. And I heard those humans call us- serpants -by our common names.~ B

~But I can't call you Boa Constrictor always, can I?~ HP ~I know. Maybe Padfoot will help us, or Moony~ HP

~Moony?~ B

~He is friend of Padfoot, and he is nice. He always visits me once a month. You know, he also brings me chocolate frogs. And now I have collected ~

But he couldn't tell how many wizards he collected, because, "hem hem", interrupted Sirius.

"How?" Besides Sirius, was Remus Lupin, friend of Harry's parents and Sirius, one of four original Marauders, a werewolf, a master in defense against dark arts, standing baffled from what he was seeing, or rather hearing, in front of him.

"Moony!" Harry jumped onto his feet and ran to Remus and wrapped him in a hug. Remus absently returned the hug. Noticing something amiss, Harry asked,"Whats wrong, Moony?"

"Sit Harry. He is surprised." answered Sirius.

"How?" Remus re-iterated.

"Moony?" Harry.

"I told you, you will be surprised, didn't I?" Sirius

"How?" Remus re- re-iterated.

"Padfoot?" Harry.

"You are a parselmouth, Harry." SB

"I'm a what?" HP

"You speak snakes' language." SB

"How?" RL

"Do I?" HP

"You were speaking it when I was calling Moony" SB

"It is not a prank, is it?" HP

"Nope" SB

"But I was speaking English." HP

"You were not" SB

"I was" HP ~I am speaking English~

CRASH!

"See?" HP

~What is English?~ B

~What? You don't know? We are speaking it. All people speak English language.~ HP

CRASH!

~Do we?~ B

"what he said Harry?" RL

"Don't you listen? He says he doesn't think it is English" HP

"Stop. We should start with beginning. Let us sit and talk." SB

"Ok. Now what is this all about? How is it weird that I can talk to snake but talking portraits and hidden houses is not?" HP

"Mr. Moony and Mr. Padfoot are pleased to welcome Mr. Harry Potter in the Wizarding World." SB and RL

"You are a Wizard, Harry." SB

"I'm a what? Is it real? Is magic real? Of course it is! That explains all this crazy stuff I've seen today. That Bus was also magical, wasn't it Padfoot? And the house, the portrait. Wait, I remember the glass. That was magic, wasn't it? And that one time, when I was suddenly on the roof. And the Boa. It is also magic, isn't it?" HP

"Calm down Harry. Yes, you are a wizard. Yes, Magic is real. But you need to calm down. Kreature! Bring some water for Harry." SB

"Here, Harry Potter sir. Kreature brings water for you." Kr

"Wow! Thanks, creature is it?" HP

"Kreature, not creature." SB

"What's the difference?" HP

"It's his name. It starts with K, not C" SB

"Kreature! He is Harry Potter. You are to obey him as much as you'll obey to me. Harry, this is Kreature. He is a House-elf. If you need anything, you just call him and tell him. But many times you need to be specific. You can go and do your work, Kreature." SB

"Now, we are wizard. We can do Magic. Magic is real. And it is not those trickeries you see on streets..." SB