Thank you to my darling beta whose finally got her mojo back!!
Book 3
Chapter 1
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The Noble House of Black
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"I must say, Mr Potter, I am most impressed with the evidence you proposed." Albus Dumbledore had finally arrived back from the Ministry, and had taken no time in getting the four of them together. Shortly afterwards, Lockhart, who appeared to be captivated with Harry, had arrived via the Floo Network to congratulate them. He, much to the Headmaster's surprise, stood next to Xander like an almost watchful guardian. Even Snape arched an eyebrow at this peculiar display of protectiveness.
"I didn't do it alone," Xander said. Dumbledore smiled and nodded for him to continue. "I had help, Professor Lockhart helped me."
"Ah, I should point out I'm no longer a teacher here," Lockhart said light-heartedly.
Xander winced as though he'd forgotten. "Sorry sir I forgot; old habits and all."
Lockhart beamed.
"Professor Snape also helped out," Xander continued. Snape looked very much as if he wanted to clean himself. "By discovering Pettigrew's whereabouts and telling the court about Sirius's loyalty to my mother and father. And also by saying that Malfoy had lied about my Godfather's connections to Voldemort."
Snape's lips curled.
Sirius smiled, both at Xander's faith in him and the fact that it was making Snape uncomfortable. "Very good," Dumbledore said. "I do believe the next question is: where do we go from here?"
Sirius looked momentarily stunned; he paused for a moment before saying, "I don't know."
"Professor," Xander piped up, three sets of heads turning to look at him. "I was wondering, Sir, if it would be possible to move in with Sirius. It would be better for me if I could live somewhere I could practice and complete my homework without being in fear of using the word 'magic'."
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "I had not realised that things were that bad at the Dursley's house. I am sorry. However, I would prefer that you went back to their house at least this year for protection and to strengthen the wards."
Xander nodded and sighed, and then clicked his fingers as though something came to mind. "During the hearing, the lawyer said something about a charm that can protect a house?"
"Ah." The Headmaster's eyes twinkled. "A Fidelius Charm."
"Yes; won't that make the house invisible?"
"Yes, yes it would."
Xander smiled. "How do the wards around the Dursley's house work?"
"It is a ward that will protect you wherever you call home." Dumbledore stopped and looked at Xander, cocking his head to the side as though he'd just seen the boy in a new light, before nodding very slowly. Xander looked at Sirius, smiled and said, "Wherever Sirius goes, I could call home. Besides it would give you a chance to keep a better eye on me, allow me to have visitors, practice magic, study homework and give you an opportunity to put in place better and stronger wards."
Dumbledore had let them go, Lockhart had gone off to wherever it was he came from, and Snape back to his potions, while the three, two men and a boy went off into the castle. They were awaiting the Headmaster's answer; this gave Dumbledore some time to think through the proper course of action.
Professor Albus Dumbledore had encountered something of a dilemma: while he was certain that the boy wasn't ready to face Voldemort in the battle that he knew was most certainly coming, he knew that the boy certainly knew more than he was letting on. Whether or not that was the child's intentions, he did not know.
He had sent Harry to the Dursleys' on the belief that he would be better off there away from magic, believing that he would be looked after. He had not believed Fudge's report during the incident on the boy's eleventh year and had put it down to a freak accident; the boy was under a great amount of stress after learning that he was a wizard; naturally this would cause all sorts of excitement.
But, as the saying went, Dumbledore couldn't see the trees for the forest, and he sat down with a deep sigh, the phoenix hooting softly as though recognising his mood. The boy did seem better off with his own kind; he was quite happy with Sirius, and had even strived to form a friendship or, at the very, least a truce with Severus and, as Harry had stated it, would mean that Dumbledore could keep a better eye on him. He smirked, remembering what he had said to Severus on that fateful night; perhaps they did Sort too soon.
He struggled internally to deduce the best place for the child to go. The best place to keep him safe from enemies was the Dursleys', he was away from magic and threats like the Malfoys', and yet the boy's intelligence proved to him that he was certainly strong enough to fight anything they could throw his way; hadn't clearing two wronged persons proven that? The old man struggled to find decent reasons to send him back to the bigot's house. In the end, heart won out over mind and he made his decision. The boy would live with Sirius.
Dumbledore gave them the good news, and watched as Harry whooped with joy; only afterwards did it occur to them: where were they going to live?
"Ah," Dumbledore said after a moment. "That is an interesting question. Sirius?"
"We could use our old house," Sirius said with a hint of disgust. "And it can easily be set up with a Fidelius Charm, plus any extra defences you want to put into place."
"Very well. It will suffice for the moment, until we find better accommodation, Mr Potter," the Headmaster said.
"Works for me," Xander replied, shrugging. "Anything's better than living in a cupboard."
Sirius snorted in amusement, but Albus got the distinct feeling that this time he wasn't joking.
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They stood in the entrance porch to the old house, Sirius had his new wand held out and the light from a Lumos spell was shining down the hallway. "Hasn't changed a bit."
Xander grunted, held up his own wand and said, "Lumos!" It lit up and added more light to the older man's, making things brighter. Sirius arched an eyebrow; the two of them, for the moment, were alone: Dumbledore was at the school making preparations with Lupin and had left the two to get acquainted before everyone else arrived en-mass.
"You shouldn't be doing magic outside of school," Sirius said.
"Says someone who constantly broke rules during school, or did I forget that you were also an unregistered Animagi?"
Sirius remained quiet for a moment before grunting, "Point taken. You really are a cunning sod, aren't you?"
"Yeah," Xander said with a grin.
"James would be proud you know…"
"And my mum?"
"Would be pissed off that I allowed myself to get thrown into Azkaban in the first place." The two chuckled as they made their way deeper into the building. "I haven't been here since I was 16."
He said it to no one in particular, thus, it didn't require an answer from Xander. The front door opened into a long hallway lit with gas lamps and a large overhead chandelier. At one time, this must have been a grand entryway, complete with ornate portraits on the walls, but time had taken its toll. There were cobwebs hanging off the walls and a thick layer of dust coated everything, and when Xander shone the light at certain angles, he was convinced that he could see little footsteps in them, just like snow. Of all the portraits, the most prominent (though it was often covered with curtains) was an enormous portrait of Walburga Black, stuck to the wall with a Permanent Sticking Charm. At the moment, it had a curtain over it to stop her from seeing anyone; the last thing Xander really wanted with heightened senses was to hear her hollering at the top of her lungs.
Much of the decor in the entry hall consisted of serpents, though there was also an umbrella stand made from the severed leg of a troll. Xander remembered from the books and Harry's memories that Tonks had a habit of tripping over it. He moved to it, picked it up and put it somewhere he thought she might miss it.
On one side of the entry hall was a dining room, where a dresser held the Black family china, complete with the family crest. At some point, while the house was abandoned, a family of spiders the size of saucers moved into the dresser.
At the far end of the entry hall, a set of narrow stone stairs led down to the kitchen. Though less ornate than the floors above, the kitchen was still a large, cavernous room with an enormous fireplace at the far end. Iron pots and pans hung from the ceiling above, and a long wooden table sat in the centre of the room, large enough to seat at least twenty.
Just off the kitchen was a dark pantry, and another cupboard housed the boiler; a wrinkle of Xander's nose confirmed that was where Kreacher was currently located.
At the end of the entrance hall, facing the door, a grand staircase led to the upper floors of Grimmauld Place. The walls of the stairwell were decorated with a row of shrunken house elf heads, mounted on the wall on plaques. Xander grunted in disgust, "That's got to go."
"With you on that one," Sirius agreed with a duplicate look.
On the first landing, there were three rooms: a bedroom, a bathroom and the drawing room. The drawing room was at one time, exquisite, large windows overlooked the street in front of the house, a large fireplace flanked was by two ornate glass-fronted cabinets, and an entire wall was covered with a tapestry of the Black family tree. Xander looked it over in silence, the two men tracing the family lines, and after a moment they continued the grim tour.
The second floor housed a selection of reasonably sized bedrooms, not as large as the master bedroom but fairly decent nevertheless; one room had two twin beds and a wardrobe, and like the rest of the house, was gloomy with lofty ceilings, and a doorknob in the shape of a serpent. On the wall was a portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black and in the corner of the room was a wastepaper basket that coughed when owl droppings were placed in it. The third floor was pretty much the same as the second, although it had a mouldy cupboard in it, while the fourth housed only two rooms. One was Sirius's, who entered it with a wistful smile, and the other was Regulus's, otherwise known as the mysterious R.A.B who had taken Voldemort's locket.
The two top rooms were massive, bigger than the entire third floor of the new Dursley's house. 'Big enough to fit a whole car inside, and probably a camel to boot,' Xander thought with a grin. He opened the door and was surprised to find the house elf in there; Kreacher stood up and looked at him with angry eyes.
"Filthy blood traitor…"
"Ah," Sirius said with an annoyed look. "Hello, Kreacher."
The house elf bowed its head, its nose touching the floor in a similar manner to Dobby.
"Kreacher, I'd like permission to enter the room of Master Regulus," said Xander politely. The house elf studied him for a full minute before taking a step back and bowing; Xander lowered his head in respect. "Thank you, Kreacher."
The house elf seemed momentarily stunned, so much so that it didn't really know how to respond. Xander looked around the room. "Tell me, Kreacher; how long have you been here alone?"
"Since master Sirius was first imprisoned."
"That's a long time," Xander said. The elf didn't say anything. "Kreacher, we're going to be keeping you company. I'll make a deal with you: you treat us with respect and we'll treat you with respect, which goes for our friends as well."
The elf didn't say anything.
"I'll throw in a bonus," Xander said with a smirk. "I'll get rid of the trophies on the wall."
Kreacher studied him again as though looking at an insect with great interest; the elf bowed its head without any mutterings or curses. "Kreacher, would it be possible for you to fix us some food?"
"Yes, Master Potter," the elf replied, raising itself up and, with a flick of a finger, vanishing with a 'pop!'.
"What was that all about?" Sirius enquired as the two began to descend the stairs.
"I got the impression you two don't get on very well."
Sirius didn't answer.
"We need to put aside petty differences if we're going to live together," Xander said quietly. "Besides, Kreacher's been here a long time, been here alone with dead house elves and a painting that shouts at everyone; imagine how you'd be?"
"Probably a screw loose," Sirius said in concession.
"Good," Xander said with a grin. "Now let's all act like the adults we're supposed to be; besides, the others have arrived."
Before Sirius could say anything, or ask what the hell he was going on about, the front door burst open and a very large group of red heads crowded in, along with many other coloured heads, one of which was pink. Sirius laughed loudly when Tonks knocked over the umbrella stand and fell into the painting which started screaming abuse at everyone.
"So that's why you moved it," he chuckled.
Xander nodded. "I tried, didn't I? Shame she still fell over it."
For the first time that day, Sirius barked out a laugh, despite the gloomy atmosphere and tirade of abuse from the angry painting.