Here is the much anticipated ninth chapter. I hope everyone has had great summer so far. I know did. I'll keep this short just want to say thanks for all of the great reviews I loved reading all of them.
On with the story.
Harry stepped gracefully out of the fireplace and quickly stepped out of the way so Sirius wouldn't run into him. The older man stumbled slightly as he came out of the fireplace and Harry heard him mumble something about, "stupid Floo network, can only get it right half the time." Harry suppressed a smirk and kept his face expressionless. Sirius turned to look at him and gave him a sheepish grin.
"I usually end up on the floor. Never could get the landing down." grinned Sirius.
Harry simply nodded and kept silent. He took a moment to examine his surroundings. The room he'd stepped into appeared to be either a sitting room or a family room. Two couches sat across from each other with a low sitting wooden coffee table placed in between them. Dark wooded lamp tables sat at either ends of both couches and magically powered lamps sat on them. On the wall to his left was a window that looked out into muggle London. The wall to his right had a forest landscape painting hanging on it.
"Well. I'll show you where you'll be staying and then give you a quick tour of the house." said Sirius.
He put his hand on Harry's shoulder and led him out of the room. As they walked down the hallway towards the stairs Sirius pointed out which doors led to what rooms. Harry was led up to the second floor and Sirius stopped in front of one of the doors.
"This will be your bedroom. Once the Weasley's and Hermione arrive tonight, Ron and his twin brothers Fred and George will be staying in the second bedroom so you will have to share the bathroom." he pointed out the correct doors.
He opened the door and allowed it to swing inwards. He motioned for Harry to go in ahead of him. Harry walked to the middle of the room and looked around at his new bedroom. A queen sized four poster bed sat in the middle of the wall to his right, with a nightstand on either side. The sheets and pillow cases on the bed were a dark forest green color that matched the curtains hanging on the bed and the down comforter was white. A door was situated to his left and led to what Harry assumed was a closet. Beside it was a nice sized dresser. Beside the dresser was a decent sized bookcase, that Harry hoped would fit all of his favorite books. Directly ahead of him was a window that looked out across the small back yard. Under the window sat a writing desk and chair. The walls were bare except for a few strategically placed magical lamps.
"You can decorate it however you like, I don't care. My room is on the next floor up. After tonight Remus and my cousin Tonks will be staying here as well." Sirius explained. "Well I'll leave you to get unpacked. Once your done come on down to the dining room, we'll have lunch and I'll finish showing you around." Sirius smiled at him and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Harry looked around the room and sighed, "At least I don't have to share."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his trunk and set it down on the floor at the foot of his bed. He waved his wand and it immediately returned to its normal size. He tapped the lid and it sprung open and Harry began removing his robes and cloaks and began hanging them up in the closet. He made quick work of all of his shirts and was soon putting his jeans, pants, socks and boxers in their proper drawers. He finished and then moved back to his trunk. He closed the lid before tapping it twice and then opened it to reveal all of his posters. Since he'd be staying here for the next two months he wasn't going to force himself to look at the same four drab walls everyday and began pulling out posters. He began placing them around his room with a handy Sticking Charm, that only had to be renewed once a month. Soon his walls and both of the doors were covered with both posters and family photos. Harry moved back to his trunk and was soon walking between it and the bookcase, placing books in their proper places. It was a tight fit but he was able get six dozen of his favorite books on the shelves. He left the rest of them in his trunk along with his more questionable texts. The last items he removed from his trunk were his guitar, violin, photo album, his parents wands and his small memory chest. He leaned his guitar case in the corner where the wall with his bed and the wall with his desk met. His violin case was set on top of his dresser and the wand cases and album were put on the nightstand farthest from the door. He looked around the room and was happy with how it looked. He glanced down at his watch and saw that it was nearly 12:30 in the afternoon. Unpacking everything had taken longer then he'd thought it would.
He walked out of the room and made his way down to the main floor and walked down the hallway to the dining room. The door was closed but he could hear voices coming from the other side. One of them he recognized as Sirius's and one was male and the other female. He pushed the door open and the talking stopped and everyone turned to look at him. Sirius was sitting at the head of the table and to his left was a second man. He had light brown hair that was peppered with premature grey and his eyes were a soft amber color. He was dressed in simple but nice light tan robes. Harry recognized him almost immediately from the photos in his album as Remus Lupin. The woman sitting across from him looked like she was only a couple years older then he was. She was dressed in torn up muggle jeans and a Weird Sisters t-shirt. Her eyes were a dark, sparkling brown and her hair was a bubble gum pink. A plate of sandwiches sat between them along with a pitcher of what Harry assumed was a juice of some sort.
Sirius smiled at him, "Come and have a seat Harry."
Harry walked over and sat down next to the woman with the pink hair. She passed him an empty plate and he grabbed a few sandwiches.
"Harry this is Remus Lupin," he introduced, "He was a friend of Lily and James. And that's Nymphadora Tonks, my cousin Andy's daughter."
Harry nodded and began to eat. He declined the offered Pumpkin Juice and accepted some water instead. He listened as the three adults talked about the meeting that was taking place later that night after the Weasley's arrived. Harry wondered what kind of meeting they were talking about and if there would be any information on his parents and uncle.
"Will you be discussing my parents and uncle at this meeting?" Harry asked, looking Sirius in the eye.
"Probably not Harry. This meeting is going to be about something else entirely. Dumbledore is going to begin working on getting a trial date set soon. Your going to just have to be patient."
Harry scowled at the thought. If there was thing he wasn't good at it was being patient. He asked to be excused and walked out of the dinning room and began to explore the rest of the house himself. He found that the first two floors each had two bedrooms, a bathroom and another room. The first floor had a Drawing Room that looked like it doubled as a small library, if the shelves of books were anything to go by. The second floor had a room that looked a like a cross between an office and a den. The third floor had the Master Bedroom, two other bedrooms, a guest bathroom and a small linen cupboard. The fourth floor held two bedrooms and another bathroom and the attic had been turned into a Potions lab.
He walked back downstairs to his room and shut the door. He sat down on his bed and picked up the photo album and just looked at the cover of it. It was bound in black leather and embossed with the gold letters HJL. He remember when his mom and dad had first given it to him when he'd turned eight. They had been living in India at the time and Bellatrix and Rodolphus had given it to him as a special Birthday present.
FLASHBACK
Harry sat on his bed, sorting through the presents he'd received from his family and few friends. They'd been living in India for five months and his parents, aunt and uncle were beginning to talk about when they should think about moving. He hoped that they didn't have to move soon he like where they were living and didn't want to leave his friends. A quiet knock on his door pulled him from his thoughts.
"Come in." he called.
His door opened and Bellatrix and Rodolphus walked in and closed the door behind them. Bellatrix was holding a square wrapped package.
"Can we sit down Harry." asked Rodolphus.
Harry nodded, "Of course you can dad." he waited for each of them to take a seat before asking. "What do you and mom need?"
"You know all those pictures that you have of your first mum and dad and how we used to show them to you all the time. Well your dad and I decided that it's time for you to have them all in one place so that they won't get lost, like we thought they did last year."
Harry remembered that. He had been two weeks shy of turning seven when they'd had to move again. That time from Sweden to Germany. He'd thought that all of the Potter photos, as he like to call them, had been put into his trunk for safe keeping. When he hadn't found them he'd run to his dad in tears and said that he'd lost all of his photos. Rodolphus had tried to calm him down but Harry had been so upset that they'd had to resort to giving him a Calming Draught and a mild Sleeping Potion before he made himself sick. It had taken two more days before the photos had been found. They'd been accidentally placed in the wrong box. When Harry found that out he ended up spending an entire day just sitting in his parents room looking at the photos.
"Yeah I remember. Why?"
Bellatrix flashed a smile at her husband before handing Harry the wrapped package, "Well here is your last birthday present. We waited until after everyone else had given you their's so that you wouldn't be distracted. Happy Birthday baby."
Rodolphus reached out and ruffled his hair, "Happy Birthday kiddo."
Harry took off the wrapping paper and saw that it was a beautiful black leather photo album. He opened and tears sprung into his eyes as he flipped through the pages and saw all of his photos in it. He launched himself at his dad and gave him a tight hug. He released him and then latched onto his mom.
"Thank you mom." Harry whispered into her ear.
"Your welcome baby."
END FLASHBACK
He opened the cover and read the short note that his mom had written for him.
Harry,
If you ever feel like your parents left you because they didn't love you I want you to look in here and know that they loved you very much.
Love,
Mom and Dad
Harry turned the page and looked at the first picture. He smiled every time he saw it. It had been taken in a hospital room and an exhausted but happy looking woman was sitting up in the bed grinning at the camera. In her arms she was holding a small newborn baby that was bundled up in a baby blue blanket. The caption at the bottom read, Lily and Harry James Potter, St. Mungos.
Harry loved looking at the picture because you could just see the love that Lily had for her son shining through her eyes. He continued looking through the photos, the album only held about fourteen of them and he hoped to someday find more.
A quiet knock on the door startled him and he quickly closed the album and put it back on the nightstand. He walked over to the door and opened it to reveal Sirius.
"Can I help you?" asked Harry coolly.
"I was wondering if I could come in and talk to you?" asked Sirius.
Harry nodded and opened the door wider so he could come in. He sat down on his bed while Sirius pulled over his desk chair. Sirius looked around the room, taking in all of the posters and family pictures that he had put up.
"I like what you've done Harry." Sirius finally said, after he finished looking around.
"Thanks." Harry said. "What did you want to discuss with me?"
"I just wanted to tell you what to expect during the meeting tonight. You and the rest of the kids will have to stay out of the kitchen while the meeting is going on ant it could go on for a couple of hours." explained Sirius.
"Why aren't we allowed to sit in on it?" Harry asked.
"You and the Weasley's are to young. Dumbledore doesn't want to recruit anyone who is still in school. This is a war we are in and war isn't the place for children." Sirius smiled sympathetically.
Harry nodded as if he agreed when in fact he wanted to be fighting against the man that had killed his parents and had caused his current family grief.
"The Weasley's are going to be here earlier then I thought. I'll call you down when they arrive and you can meet them." Sirius smiled and left Harry to his own devices.
Harry waited until the door was fully closed before he flopped back on his bed and let out a long all suffering sigh.
TAP, TAP.
He lifted his head and saw an owl sitting outside his window. He jumped up form his bed and opened his window, allowing the owl to fly in and settle on desk. He smiled when he saw the letter that was tied to its leg. He quickly relieved the owl of his burden, tore open the envelope and anxiously began to read.
Harry,
I'm going to make this quick. We got the news just a few minutes after you left, Aunt Sarah is coming home tomorrow. Aunt Narcissa is going to the Ministry to get her at 8:00. Expect a Howler shortly after that.
Elladora
Harry smiled sadly. He wished he could be there to greet his favorite aunt but he reminded himself he was doing all of this for his family.
"HARRY. COME DOWN HERE PLEASE. THE WEASLEYS ARE ABOUT TO ARRIVE." Sirius shouted from downstairs.
Harry sighed and set the letter down on his desk. He walked out of his room and made his way down the stairs to the Family Room. He got there in time to see the fireplace flare up green and a teenage boy about his age stumble out. The boy had enough time to get out of the way before the fireplace flared up again and another boy, this one a few years older then himself, stepped out. The fireplace flared up five more times before everyone had finally arrived.
The older woman, who Harry figured was Mrs. Weasley, spelled the soot of each of her children and then herself and husband before turning to Sirius with a smile.
"Thank you for allowing us to come a few weeks early." said Molly with a smile.
Sirius grinned, "It was no problem Molly. Besides this just means that Harry won't have to be here alone while I'm at work."
Arthur and Molly stared at him, surprise in both of their eyes, "You mean he's here? You got custody of him?" Arthur asked.
Harry took that as his cue and stepped out of the shadows, "No he didn't. I'm here so that my parents will get a faster trial." He walked over to stand a few feet from Sirius.
"Molly, Arthur. I'd like you to meet my godson Harry Potter. Harry this is Molly and Arthur Weasley." Sirius introduced. "The twins are Fred and George. Then there's Ron, who is going to be in your year. Ginny is the youngest in the family and Hermione is family friend, who is also going to be in your year."
Harry nodded politely to each of them but didn't say anything. He studied each of them carefully. Fred and George were looking at him curiously, probably wondering if he was the famous Boy-Who-Lived. Ron was looking at him in shock and amazement. Hermione was looking at him in awe and like something that needed to be closely studied. The last person he looked at was Ginny, she was looking at him much like Fred and George were. He quirked his mouth at her slightly.
"Why don't you go put your things in your rooms kids." Mrs. Weasley instructed.
"Oh Fred, George. You're going to have to share with Ron. Remus is staying in the room you usually occupy." Sirius told them as they walked out of the room. He turned to Molly and Arthur, "I hope that isn't going to cause any problems."
"They'll live." Arthur said with a chuckle.
Harry rolled his eyes and walked out of the room, leaving them to talk. He walked up the stairs past Hermione and Ginny's room and went up to his. As he walked past the other spare bedroom he peaked in and saw that one of the two twin beds had been replaced with a bunk bed and Fred and George were each lounging on one of the bunks while Ron, Hermione and Ginny were sitting on Ron's bed and all five of them were talking. One of the twins noticed him and pointed it out to the others. The rest of them stopped talking, while the three on the bed turned around to look at him.
"Your Harry Potter? Aren't you?" asked the girl, who Harry thought was Hermione.
Harry stared at her stonily, "It's Harry Lestrange actually. I don't go by Potter anymore."
Hermione frowned at him, while Ron blurted out, "Why would you want to use a name associated with a bunch of Death Eaters?"
Harry glared furiously at him, "My parents are no longer Death Eaters," he voice was hard. "Don't talk about things you have no chance of understanding."
He turned on his heel and walked into his room. He slammed his door and suddenly wished he'd remembered to grab his stereo from Kara. He briefly wondered if she'd send it to him. Someone knocked on his door and he groaned in annoyance as he turned and pulled the door open. He was expecting to see Sirius or even Remus standing there, so he was surprised to see the Weasley twins instead.
"Can I help you?" asked Harry, wondering what they could want.
They looked at each other before looking back at Harry, "We were hoping to talk to you?"
Harry hesitated for a moment before stepping back and motioning them in. He waved a hand at the bed, "Have a seat."
Fred and George took a seat on the bed while Harry sat on top of his desk.
"What did you two want to talk about?"
"We just wanted to apologize for what Ron said about your parents." one of them said, Harry wasn't sure which twin it was.
The second one nodded in agreement, "He tends to talk and not think."
Harry snorted in amusement, "That's good to know. I don't think we were properly introduced, I'm Harry Lestrange. And you two would be?"
The twin who had spoken first grinned at him, "I'm Fred and that's George." he said.
They both looked around Harry's room and both looked impressed.
"Like what you did to the room." George said.
He stood up and Fred followed. They looked around at the posters and pictures that covered the walls.
"Is this your family?" asked Fred looking at one particular photo.
Harry hopped off the desk and went to stand next to them. The picture they were looking at had been taken the year before when they had been living in Greece. Harry and Elladora were standing in front of their parents, in the background you could see the shoreline and a beach. All four of them were smiling and waving at the camera.
"Yeah. That's my mom, dad and little sister Elladora. I also have three cousins, and an aunt and uncle. In fact if I hadn't come here I would've gotten to see my aunt tomorrow after the Ministry released her."
The two older boys suddenly looked a little uncomfortable, neither were sure how to respond.
"I'm sorry. If you don't mind me asking why did you come to stay here?" Fred asked.
Harry waved off his apology, "It's alright. I came here because I agreed that I would come live with Black for the summer and attend Hogwarts in the fall if Dumbledore agreed to get my parents and uncle a trial. If I hadn't then the Ministry would have shipped them off to Azkaban until a trial date could be set. It could have taken years for them to get a trial and by then one wouldn't have been worth it."
Fred and George were silent, neither one sure what to say. Both could hear the resentment that Harry held towards Sirius and Dumbledore. The three stood in awkward silence for a few minutes before George broke the silence.
"So you like pranks."
A grin spread across Harry's face. Maybe the Weasley's weren't all bad.
Harry spent the rest of the afternoon getting to know Fred and George better. He found that the three of them were a lot alike. They all liked pranks, especially if it was aimed at a Professor or any other adult. Harry also found out that the Twins had graduated Hogwarts the year before and were in the process of opening up a joke shop. They talked until Sirius came up and informed them that dinner was ready and they had to hurry and eat before the meeting started.
Harry was the last one down to the Dinning room. He hadn't been paying attention to the room much that afternoon so he took the chance to take in the décor. The walls were done a slate grey color. Three decent sized chandeliers were spaced evenly down the length of the room. The table was big enough to comfortably fit around sixteen people, which is about how many were already seated. Sirius sat at the end of the table furthest from the door. Remus sat on his left, while an empty seat sat on his right. On Remus's side of the table sat; Moody, Kingsley, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Ron and Hermione. Next to the empty chair, that Harry could only assume was for him, sat: Mr. Weasley, Tonks, Mrs. Weasley, Percy, Fred and then George at the very end.
Harry walked to the end of the table and sat down in the empty chair.
Sirius smiled at him, "Harry, I know you met some of the Weasley's earlier but let me introduce you to their three oldest sons," he pointed to each red head as he said their names. "That's Bill, he the oldest, then Charlie and finally Percy."
Harry looked at each of them, already recognizing them from Fred and George's descriptions.
"Finally this is retired Auror Mad-Eye Moody and Auror Kingsley Shackelbolt." Sirius finished with the two people Harry didn't know.
"You're the Auror I fought against." Harry said looking straight at Kingsley.
The man looked at him with a sharp gaze. He was silent a moment before answering.
"Yes. I was." answered Kingsley. "You fought very well. Many of the spells you were using are more advanced then many your age should know."
Harry smirked, "I had good teachers. I'm the only one in my family that can use a fire whip as," he paused for a moment, looking for an appropriate word. "Creatively as my mother is able to."
Sirius frowned not liking what he was hearing. He was about to say something when Moody beat him to it.
"And that's something to be proud of boy?" the retired Auror growled, glaring at Harry with his one good eye.
"To me it is." Harry answered, glaring right back..
Moody was about to say something else when Sirius cut him off.
"Alright that's enough. Let it go Mad-Eye." Sirius told him, he looked at him for a moment before turning his attention to Harry. "Knock it off Harry."
Harry glared at him but kept his comments to himself and went back to finishing his meal. About twenty minutes later Mrs. Weasley began ushering that kids out of the Dinning Room. Harry stood up and walked out with needing to be told. He ignored the multiple pairs of eyes that followed him out of the room and made his way back up the stairs.
He shut his door and waved his wand at it mumbling a few locking spells that would ensure he'd have a little bit of privacy and wouldn't have anyone randomly bursting into his room. He looked at his watch and saw that it was barely 9:30. Harry sighed and flopped down onto his bed, not caring if it was early. His day had been exhausting, mentally and emotionally. He couldn't help but look forward to the howler he was sure to receive in the morning courtesy of his Aunt Sarah.
So there was no Lestrange's in this chapter but I decided I wanted this to be about Harry and his first day with Sirius. Next chapter will be a lot more interesting but this had to be done. Also next time we see how the Lestrange's are dealing with being in lock up and of course Sarah's howler to Harry. Won't that just be fun.
