A/N - I know, it's been a long time! First of all thanks to all the reviewers, few as you may be :-D then - nothing more to say, just getting on with the chapter
Chapter 14 – Cleaning up Grimmauld Place
Wednesday, 4.8.1999 / Remus
We've returned to Hogwarts for some preparation work for the coming school year.
I'm up fairly early, only to find that Addie has been up as well. She tells me that Winky has made some breakfast for her.
"Good morning, Addie. That's good. I'm just having mine quickly, then I'll have some work to do."
"Can I come along?" she asks.
"That might be a bit boring, dear!" I warn.
"I can always come back to the flat if it is, no?"
"That you can do."
Winky brings my breakfast as well and I check the mail, which has come in. There isn't much, just the Daily Prophet, which I look through quickly. There's a letter from the Werewolf Registry. Those always make me a bit queasy, but this time it's an information about some of the newly changed laws that actually make things better for werewolves instead of worse. Thank you, Mandy, I know it's your doing! I leave it on the table for Sirius to see when he comes in for breakfast. I also leave a little note that I'm up at either Minerva's or our office and that Addie is with me.
"Okay, dear, let's go!"
Addie follows me out of the flat and through the corridor, out through the wall and then the tapestry. I ask her:
"Do you still remember the passwords, Addie?"
"Yes, the wall is Giant Squid and the flat is Seven Up."
"Very good. Remember those, please. When they change we'll tell you again. For safety reasons you're not allowed to write them down. But should you ever find yourself locked out and have forgotten the password you can always call Winky, she'll pop you back. So – now this is the marble staircase, which leads up to most of the classrooms, to the Gryffindor tower and the Ravenclaw wing. Down this door is the way to the Slytherin dungeons and on the other side it's to the Hufflepuff quarters. Which way you will have to go will be the Sorting Hat's decision next year."
"Sirius said one can give the hat wishes…"
"You can. But the hat only grants it if you fit. It's better to think where you don't wish to go."
"So the hat's still taking the decision?"
"Exactly. Sirius thought at the hat to get it over with and shove him into Slytherin already. But the hat didn't agree he belonged there. And Sirius was more than happy to go anywhere else. Harry thought at it not to put him in Slytherin and the hat told him he'd do well there and would find lots of support, but he didn't want to, so the hat put him into Gryffindor."
"What about Hermione?"
"She said something about the hat not really knowing whether it should put her into Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, and that she said herself she'd like Gryffindor. The hat noticed she needed friends and to lighten up a bit and obliged. Hermione is a very true Gryffindor. If need be she can be very courageous, and with time she's grown a great sense of humour."
"And you?"
"I was terrified that the hat could find out and put me into Slytherin, because I was a Dark Creature. And the hat quickly responded that I wouldn't last a week in that house and sorted me into Gryffindor and would you believe it used almost the same reasoning as with Hermione? But it took quite a while for that decision, too, because it kept thinking that Ravenclaw would possibly be the best house for me."
"Did it tell you why it still put you into Gryffindor?"
"Yes. It found too much mischief in my head."
She laughs at that while we walk up the marble staircase. Up on the fifth floor I open up the door to my office and show her inside.
"I'm sorry, but I can't give you the password to our office, Addie. If you want to find us in here you'll just have to knock. Now – I need my clipboard and quill…"
While I gather what I'll need to meet up with Minerva, Addie looks around the office and the pictures on the mantelpiece.
"I love your office, Remus!" she comments.
"Thank you, dear, I love it, too. Sirius and I wanted to share so we used this old classroom. Sirius needs sun and light a lot, you know."
"Why?"
"Because he had so little of it when he was a child and later in Azkaban. Let's go, I've got to go up to Professor McGonagall's office now to work out the schedules for the new school year."
Addie hops off a chair and follows me out to the corridor. We have to walk back down a lot of the stairs and then along another corridor.
"It's so huge here! Don't you ever get lost?"
"Most first years do once or twice, Addie, but there's always a ghost or the paintings, or someone else to show you the way back, all you need to do is ask for help. You see all these portraits? They'll gladly give you directions whenever you need them. – Here we are. This gargoyle watches over the door that leads up to the headmistress' office. Cadogan's pony!" I tell the gargoyle, who jumps aside. Addie takes my hand as we move to the rolling staircase and are carried upstairs. Some of the portraits on the wall casually greet us.
"Did you have to come here often when you were a student, Remus?" Addie asks.
"Not as often as Sirius and James…" I reply.
"Where is this office? This looks like it never ends…" she remarks squinting up.
"It's on top of a tower. One of the highest towers of the castle, though a tiny one. But the rooms are magically expanded."
When we reach the top I go straight to the oak door, which Minerva opens before I can even knock. We go inside and wish her a good morning.
"Good morning, you two. Social call or are you ready to work, Remus?"
"Ready to work. Addie wanted to come along."
I look around. I miss Fawkes on his perch, but of course Albus has taken the phoenix back to his house with him. Minerva notices my glance and smiles.
"Yes, I miss Fawkes, too! Sometimes he turns up to come and say hello now, maybe he misses us a bit, too. Well then, let's start at the table over there. I've made a table for every teacher, which makes it easier to plan than the classes. Then we can just put together the schedules for the classes from the teachers' schedules."
"Sounds logical to me…"
Phineas looks out of his portrait. I can see him staring at Addie. Then he points at her and asks in his usual blunt ways:
"Is that Sirius' little sister?"
"Well spotted, Phineas. She's his spitting image, so you'll forgive me for not handing out any points for your observance though…" I say with sarcasm dripping.
Addie snickers. Then she asks the portrait:
"I'm Adara Black. And who are you?"
"Your great-great-great-grandfather, brat. Phineas Nigellus."
"Oh. Pleased to meet you then. Why is there a portrait of you here?"
"He's once been a Hogwarts headmaster, Addie, all of them have a portrait here, see, even Albus Dumbledore is here already," I say and point out the latest portrait of a smiling Albus, who's eyes twinkle like their real counterparts.
"Good morning, Miss Black," Albus says.
"Good morning, Professor. Are you well?"
"Excellently well, thank you very much. I think, I will be off to Cornwall quickly to send Fawkes for a quick visit, I am sure you would be pleased to meet him."
With that, Albus vanishes from his frame and only returns half an hour later.
Minerva and I sit down at the table. For each teacher there's a large parchment. She's got her collected notes ready.
"Here, let's sort out the people and check the days they want off. I decided it would be easier to give you whole days instead of just hours during the day. Filius and Pomona have seniority and both of them would like Fridays off. You and Sirius are next in line and therefore I can give you the Mondays off. That leads to the new ones who have two lessons more than you per week, which makes 20. That still allows them to have a whole day off. Six of them, that's good, we can give Annis and Kate on Tuesday, Clancy and Waldo on Wednesday, Neville and Penelope on Thursday off. – That reminds me, you don't know Annis Limbury yet, she'll be taking over Potions for the fifth through seventh years. She was a Gryffindor, class of 1968, so you probably don't know her."
"No, I never met her, but I've heard of her," I say with a grin.
Minerva actually cringes.
"Yes, she was definitely spiritually related to you, as I heard from Albus. He even had the audacity to point out the fact that I seem to attract your sort!"
Now I have to laugh. Good old Minerva should just own up and return to what she was herself back in school!
"I suppose she'll probably be here soon, won't she?"
"Yes. In fact I've told them to inform us when they'll join us here, most of them have taken a few weeks off to have a vacation before they start here, Annis will come next week to start organising her office, classroom and stocks."
"Good. So that's for the full days off. We can start from there."
We fill in Filius' chart first. Looking at it I'm smiling, because it shows quickly how much more free time we'll have to use for the grading and lesson preparing. In Filius' case it's the whole of Friday off as well as Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. Monday he only has one lesson in the afternoon. Then we move on to Pomona's. Only two lessons per week and class, except for the advanced classes for sixth and seventh years.
Sirius and I are off on Monday the whole day, which extends our weekend nicely to three and a half days. I could kiss Minerva, as she sees to it that we don't have any classes on Friday afternoon. I've also got some free space on Wednesday afternoon, Sirius the same. This will be used for my deputy headmaster duties mostly. Thursday I get only two lessons in the morning, two in the afternoon, then I have some more time for correspondence and stuff. I don't have any lessons past half past three. Quite an easy schedule I find.
The last core subject we have to cover is Potions. Annis Limbury gets off quite nicely, too, her day off is Tuesday, no lessons on Wednesday, and she gets Thursday and Friday afternoons off, too. Now we move on to the core subjects for the first through fourth years, starting with Waldo Hawkridge, then Clancy Malvern, Neville, Kate Calverleigh and Penny Clearwater. Then we move on to the electives, which are a bit more work, since we have to weave them between the other classes and still manage to get a fair schedule for the teachers. Claire's Astronomy classes are only for the first and second years and take place at night, there are advanced classes for the fifth years with two lessons during the day and one at night. Most of the third years have Care of Magical Creatures as electives, so these are kept as stand-alone lessons. All those students who have chosen not to do this have a study period. Divination and Arithmancy is about half and half and luckily none of this year's third years have chosen the two subjects, therefore it can be divided and backed at the same time. Most students who have chosen Arithmancy have also chosen Ancient Runes. Muggle Studies has been chosen by only about a third of the students. Therefore we decide that Muggle Studies and Ancient Runes will also be stand-alone lessons and the students not taking it will have study periods.
Addie is cuddled into an armchair reading a book while we're working on the schedule. She's still very self-sufficient and doesn't seem to be bored for a minute. I'm amazed at how fast we advance with our work, as by lunchtime the teacher's part is done. All we have to do is to put together the students' schedules now.
"I'll do that in the afternoon, Minerva. It's only copying anyway, so it should be done very quickly."
"Good. I need you to collect the book lists from the new teachers, Remus, so we can send out the letters for the returning students. Here are the suggestions for the new fifth year prefects, you need to order the badges from Dervish & Banges, they're making them. We usually get them done within two days. Can you do this right away? Then we need to organise the first team meeting before the term starts, that will be a bit longer, as we've got a few points to clear with the new staff members and discuss changes we might implement. Basically I intend to go on the way Albus has stopped. You'll have to prepare the list of first years for the sorting."
I'm taking notes for everything I have to do. It's quite an impressive list, but that comes with the new job. After all I get paid twice as much for the job. Minerva smiles and says:
"Give it a few years and you won't need my reminders of what you have to do, Remus. You'll do it without thinking. Oh, and looking over those schedules I see that all of Wednesday afternoon is free for all, so we'll hold the team meetings every two weeks on Wednesday afternoon, please add that to the teachers' schedules."
"Will do!"
"Good. Let's go down to lunch."
We call Addie and walk down to the Great Hall for lunch. In the afternoon I'm busy writing out the schedules for the classes. I prepare one for every student according to their electives. Then I start on the book lists, for which I gather everything that's already known and then write letters to the new teachers to ask what they want to use as text books. I know Kate's, as we've decided on the books already.
I'm feeling quite accomplished by the time dinner comes along. It's still almost four weeks until the start of term and most of what I need to prepare is done already. I have to prepare the lessons still, but of course I'm going along with most of what I've already taught, so I have it quite easy there.
At dinner there's the flutter of wings and Fawkes comes to land on the back of Addie's chair. Everyone smiles at the phoenix.
"Hello Fawkes!" I greet the bird.
Addie stares at the phoenix. She tilts her head and when Fawkes hops on the table she asks:
"Is that the phoenix?"
"Yes, Addie. His name is Fawkes and he's very fond of being caressed," Filius tells her.
She starts to pet Fawkes who trills one of his lovely melodies. She smiles.
"He's beautiful! And friendly!"
"That's a typical phoenix trait, Addie," Sirius explains, "but only if the phoenix thinks you worth its time! They have an innate knowledge about the character of people and will only come to people they deem worthy."
"What's their criterion?"
"Your heart! You have a good heart and the phoenix will come to you. Almost all children can be sure of a phoenix's sympathy," I tell her.
"Is it true they never die?" she asks.
"I haven't yet heard of one who truly died. Every once in a while a phoenix goes up in flames and is reborn from its very own ashes as a little fledgling who's unable to do much, but he grows back quickly into the phoenix. Such burning days happen about every few years. In truth Fawkes is already thousands of years old."
"Wow. And what will happen to him when Professor Dumbledore dies one day?"
"Then he'll look for a new companion after a period of mourning. Phoenixes are very compassionate and don't take easy to the death of their familiars. No one can go out and choose a phoenix as his or her companion, phoenixes will always look for their suiting familiars themselves."
"I like him. You're a nice friend to have, Fawkes!" Addie says to the little bird.
Now there's another little property to a phoenix, which doesn't seem to fit their overall perfect beings, they're very vain. If someone tells them they're nice or beautiful they will simply suck it up! Fawkes is no different, he flirts with Addie even more once she's said she likes him. Which Addie finds hilarious. If he's taken to her and likes her back, which seems to be the case, I can imagine he'll visit her more often. As the bird is absolutely free and does what it pleases it is well possible we'll see him around at times.
Ginny
I'm awoken by the ringing of my Commumirror. Sleepily I crawl over Ernie to get my wand and summon the Commumirror to reply. It's Mum.
"Ginny! Angelina has gone into labour an hour ago. If you want to welcome the baby with us you'd better come to Witch Maternity Ward!"
I'm awake in moments flat!
"Oh, that's nice! I'll be there in a while, Mum!"
I look on the watch. It's close to nine. Ernie is just waking up and I tell him I'll be at Witch Maternity Ward until the baby is there.
"Do I have to come along, love?" he asks.
"Only if you want to get a peek at the baby, Ernie," I reply with a grin.
"I'm sure I'll get to meet the little one later on, Gin, if you don't mind I'm staying here."
"I'm sure no one will be offended, Ernie! See you later."
I take a leap to the shower and then get dressed and tell those in the house who are up already. I apparate directly to Witch Maternity Ward and ask about Angelina.
"Second floor, room six, Miss," I'm told and head up the stairs.
Witch Maternity Ward is a friendly building in Diagon Alley, with about twenty rooms and it's the standard place where wizarding children in Britain are born, unless the mothers decide to have their babies at home. Hermione plans to come here as well. I find the room soon, which consists of a waiting area and a closed off delivery room. Second floor contains eight such rooms and then there are two more floors with rooms for the new mothers and their babies. They usually stay on for two or three days after the birth, mostly to have a chance to rest, be waited on and get used to the baby.
Half of the family is already in attendance, mum and dad, Angelina's parents, whom I haven't met yet, George, Bill and two of Angelina's siblings. Alicia is there as well, as far as I know she'll be the baby's godmother.
"Hi Ginny!" they all greet me and George points with his thumb to the other room.
"They're both in there…"
Several hours later Ron and Justin turn up and another hour later, shortly before six in the evening Fred finally emerges from the delivery room, beaming and calls:
"We have a daughter! Come and see her!"
One by one we file into the delivery room where Angelina sits propped up against the mattress, which is in an upright position. She has the baby on her arm and looks exhausted, but happy. She beams no less than Fred in any case.
"Here, dears, meet Carolyn Alicia Weasley," Fred says in a soft voice that I haven't ever heard from him before.
She's cute! Angelina is black, so the baby in her arms now has a skin colour that looks like milk chocolate and she has brown eyes like mine. Her head is covered with reddish brown hair. Mum and dad are the first to get to hold her and they pass her on to Angelina's parents. All of us congratulate the new parents as quietly as we can.
"I'm so happy it's over. It wasn't quite as bad as I feared, but still… there was a point where I wanted to kill or at least hex Fred for having done that to me and somehow I conveniently forgot that I wanted it myself. But he's forgiven me already."
Fred just smiles. I'm quite sure that this small girl is going to wrap him around her little finger in no time.
"I'm just as happy it's over. But it was the most impressive thing I've ever seen in my life and I find her simply amazing!"
Mum is all teary of course. Carolyn is her first grandchild after all, so I guess she's entitled to be. I'm allowed to hold the baby for a while as well. Alicia passes her on to me.
"Gods, she's so tiny! I've already forgotten how small Denny, Andy and Seraina were last year! I hope you have as much fun with her as I have with Denny, Alicia! It's great to have a godchild."
"I intend to spoil her rotten! Baby-sit her whenever they let me and so on…"
"That's good! Exactly what she needs."
Angelina's older brother takes a ton of pictures. I'm taking out my Muggle mobile phone and take a few, too, so I can show them at home. After an hour I decide to leave. Angelina really looks like she needs some rest now. Apparating home I'm thinking that I'll be back in that building in only four months when Harry and Hermione will become parents. Heavens, there's so many of us, this is going to be one hell of a family once everyone starts producing offspring! Hogwarts beware! Gryffindor tower is going to explode in a decade or so.
That thought makes me smile. Draco and Parvati are preparing their wedding at the beginning of next month. They've decided to rent a ship again, but this time it will be the lake of Geneva instead of the one at Thun. That lake is about twice the size and has tons of mountains on its southern banks and tons of vineyards on the northern shore. That's going to be a very nice party.
When I get home I pass the news on to everyone and there's a great 'Yahoo for Fred and Angelina!!' from everyone around and then they want to see the photos I've taken. I'm quite sure that someone has already informed Remus and Sirius, too. They're at Hogwarts today and probably until Friday, when they come back, so we can all go together to our party on the Lueg on Saturday.
Thursday, 5.8.1999 / Hermione
Harry and I are busy today. First we'll go and see Angelina and little Carolyn in the Witch Maternity Ward, then move on for the monthly check-up and then we'll go and shop for a ton of furniture to put in the Stöckli. We're moving in there as soon as it's fully furnished. We can buy the stuff, have it shrunk and resize it at the places we want the stuff. I just love my magic!
Angelina is still tired, but happy and the baby is absolutely cute! She's not your typical Weasley, even if there is a shimmer of red hair on her head, but it would have been a miracle for her to look like all other Weasleys, given that Angelina is black and that this usually pushes through. But it's a lovely baby. She's even got a few freckles on her nose! I start to question Angelina about the birth and nursing.
"I can only tell you how it was for me, Hermione, which doesn't mean it will have to be the same for you! She's been due, not overdue, but due and she's quite big…"
"She looks tiny to me, Angelina, but then we had the triplets as an example and they were naturally a bit smaller. Yet they're already a year old now and I think it's gone from the memory so quickly how they really looked at the beginning."
"Well, she weighs just above seven pounds. That's a pretty lot, considered you've got to push that out of your body, Hermione!"
"Oh yes, I can imagine."
"When are you due?" Angelina asks.
"Date has been determined as the tenth of December."
"That's not too far away anymore, eh?"
"No. More than half the way through. How did Fred manage while you were pregnant?"
"Quite well actually. As exuberant as always, but he's hugged me lots and I really loved it when he pressed his ears on my belly and caressed me. How do you do, Harry?"
"Probably similar to Fred. Minus the exuberance… I'm trying to be different than my dad. Everyone tells us he was a bundle of nerves and drove everyone mad. He says it's so not true, but I think I believe the majority in this case and that would be Mum, Sirius and Remus."
Angelina laughs.
"I'm so happy for you to have your parents back, Harry, have I ever told you that? It must make one hell of a difference…"
"It does! They're fun to be with. And I love my little siblings. I think there will be more, dad wants his own little Quidditch team, you know."
"What fun! Multiples again, do you think?"
"That's up to them, I'd say. Not sure if they'll go for another set of triplets again though."
"That was a wonderful thing they did for their friends."
"It was. And with a lovely outcome, they're all so happy with their little ones."
While we chat about our lives I'm getting to hold Carolyn, who's really a lovely little lady and I long for the day when I meet my own child. Like Sirius and Remus Harry and I have decided not to know the gender before the birth. We're also still discussing names, too.
"I think it was a very nice move of you and Fred to give her Alicia's name as her middle name, Angelina," I remark.
"Alicia was pretty smug about it; it was a surprise for her. We didn't know her gender either, so we just decided that either the godfather's or the godmother's name would make for the middle name."
"Good thinking. That helps bonding, too. George is her godfather, no?"
"That was one easy guess, Hermione! Yes."
After an hour we have to go and see the healer to check our baby's progress and health. A few spells take care of that, the results are entered in my file and we're dismissed for another month. We walk through Diagon Alley to Gringotts to raid our vaults for money for the furniture and then we go through the three or so shops that sell furniture. I'm forever amazed at the old-fashioned styles wizards prefer. Of course I don't mind the four poster beds, they are cosy and warm, but wash basins and water jugs for the bedroom? All that's missing is the chamber pot! We'll have a nice modern bath, thank you very much. I also think we'll get the living room furniture at a more modern, though Muggle shop. But we get the dining room, the nursery and the guest room furniture as well as the study from the wizarding shops. Of course we'll still do a lot of our studying over at the library, but it's good to have a room to deposit things and a place to withdraw. We could have taken out most of the wall to make for a larger living room, but we chose to leave it. We'll just keep the doors open at all times.
The traditional large kitchen with a sufficiently large dining area takes up the back half of the Stöckli. The front half holds two rooms and both parts are divided by a small corridor with the staircase to the upper levels. The main door leads from the side into this corridor, which has a door to the left to the kitchen and the two doors to the front rooms. On the first floor are three rooms and a bathroom. All rooms are reached from the landing and the corridor. Another staircase leads up to a large room under the roof, which we'll use as our bedroom. A small second bathroom has been built in for us, new big dormer windows let in more light. For the beginning we'll have the baby up there with us, so the nursery will be set up there until our child will be old enough to sleep in its own room one floor down.
All rooms are quite nicely sized, not very large, but comfortable. There is a basement with four cellar rooms, which can be reached over a staircase outside next to the back door from the kitchen. The rooms on the first and second floor hang about one metre over the kitchen at the back. This makes for a porch with a cemented floor and some supporting pillars along the width of the house.
We use the two front rooms for the living room and our little study. Dobby and Winky only used the kitchen and one of the rooms on the first floor. They'll keep that room of course. Though Winky is at Hogwarts most of the time, Dobby doesn't feel overloaded with work. He grins, snaps his fingers and the job he needs to do is usually done.
We also have to organise the day-care for our baby. There's a day-care at Diagon Alley, which will suit our needs very well, I'll be able to pop in from the Academy for the nursing at all times. So the baby has been announced to go there from on mid-January.
I'm doing a lot of 'listening' inside – sitting and caressing my belly and the baby. It's moving quite actively right now, but then there's enough space left still. Sometimes Harry sits down with me to take over and then we're not even talking much, just sitting arm in arm. I suppose this is a bit like the quiet before the storm, when we'll have to be on our feet all day and half the night for the little one. And I'm also aware that this is the one chance when we can be so still and quiet together, a next baby will have an older sibling and we won't be able to enjoy this concentration. Makes it twice as special.
Saturday, 7.8.1999 / Harry
Shortly before noon we get ready to drive up to the Lueg. We pack friends and family into the cars (in the meantime we're up to four of them!) and off we go. The drive takes about half an hour through a lush green area. Hills covered with pastures or forests mark most of the Emmental. Where there are no forests cows graze on wide pastures. There are no flat bits here. The Lueg is on one of those hills. And the weather is excellent today.
We are therefore guided to a long table in the garden part of the restaurant, where we all take our seats. Mum, dad, Sirius and Remus get high chairs for the little ones. Addie sits opposite of them between Ginny and myself. Hermione takes her place on my left.
"Should have brought my parents along, too…" she sighs.
"Are you a witch or aren't you? Why don't you go and get them? We're eating à la carte anyway, so we can just wait another 15 minutes or so," Sirius replies.
"Haven't we heard that somewhere before?" I whisper over to Ron. We have just instantly looked at each other and grin.
"Yeah, methinks I am! Good idea!"
Just a few minutes later Hermione has side-along apparated Helen and George and brings them to the table. They still look a bit frazzled from the experience. We ask for two settings more and get them without any fuss.
"Hello, everybody! What a great surprise! Hermione has just caught us on the way out to eat lunch somewhere; never thought that somewhere would be not a few miles, but a few hundred miles away…" George laughingly greets us.
"Hi George, hi Helen!"
We welcome them at the table and introduce them to the people they don't know yet. Minerva has come along and Jason and Mandy are there. They all admire the wonderful area and while we choose our food a lively discussion about anything gets under way.
The food and company are excellent. It's been a nice idea of Siri and Remus to have a family meal like this and in summer, too. This way we can enjoy the mood and the food outside. I get to hear about Addie's adventures at Hogwarts. She seems to like the castle and after a couple of months there she's really feeling at home.
"Remus says that I can't roam the castle during the school year, but then I'll be more busy with studying anyway. I'll also have to eat at the flat with the twins," she tells me.
"I can see his point, Addie. All the other children get to see Hogwarts for the first time when they arrive for their first year. You'll already know a lot of it, so the surprise is kind of gone… and believe me, it's great fun to discover the castle as a first year. I loved seeing it for the first time when Hagrid showed us the view on that first night."
"Yes, but I don't mind. I have to wait another full year, even though I turned eleven last winter! But your Mum says I have to catch up with a lot of stuff anyway and I'll need the time to learn things. Sirius and Regulus both had to wait for almost an extra year, too, and Remus, he even had a full year extra, because his birthday is at the beginning of September."
"You'll do well. You've already started, haven't you?"
"Yes. But not the whole day. They think I'm allowed to have a bit of a vacation, too."
"Aren't they kind?" I ask with a grin.
We study the menus and choose our food. Ginny and I help Addie to find something. It takes a while until the first course is served, because we've ordered many different things, and we use it to chat. Addie feels more and more comfortable around us, she smiles much more often and slowly but surely the smiles lead to a laugh here and there. She's learned what laughing means with the first tickling war she's ever fought yesterday afternoon. Ron and Justin have come home and were in a bit of a silly mood. They started fooling around with the triplets and Addie got drawn in somehow and then they tickled her until she couldn't stand it anymore. In the end she declared that she hated Ron and Justin.
But I don't think so. The two only need to turn up and the kids start to grin and smile at them. I suppose Addie will give in to their charm as well. Ron is looking forward to his godchild. He treats Hermione like a queen right now, I've never seen him so courteous before.
Sirius
I look across the table and watch Addie talking with Harry and Ginny. She's getting so comfortable with everyone now. She's a child and like all children she's curious and wants to learn new things.
"Addie is definitely getting better, I think, what do you say, Moony?" I ask my mate.
"Yes, I think so, too. She'll take a while to adjust fully, but with those among us she's seen a few times already she does feel at ease."
"I so wish for her to get happy. It still breaks my heart what she's gone through without realising it. I fear the day when she does. I just hope it's before her puberty is striking full force! Or way after…"
"That's probably in vain, love. We'd better prepare a few good answers beforehand. It's a big thing to realise that her father has stolen most of her childhood for such a stupid cause."
I sigh. Then I turn back to Denny, who sits on my other side and see that he gets a few bites to eat. Remus takes care of Seraina and in between helping the twins we get a few bites in as well.
Ron
It's a really lovely day today and this is a nice way to spend it. After the lengthy meal we enjoy a lovely walk for about an hour before returning to the cars and driving back home. It's Justin's and my last weekend of classroom Auror training. From on Monday we're working with a team of experienced Aurors. I've been attached to John Hill and Margaret White. They've both been on the job for several decades of years. I'm to accompany them on their shifts, so I've received a list of shifts for the next month. Justin has a different plan, but we've still worked out lots of opportunities to be together. We don't have to stay at the Auror Headquarters anymore and have already cleared our accommodation for the new students of this year. Justin has been teamed with Kingsley Shacklebolt and Dean Crosby.
This will mark quite a change in our lives. This is the real thing now, not the simulations anymore and I'll finally see what it's all about.
The really good thing is that when we both have a later shift, Justin and I will be able to sleep in. We don't say no that! The job pays quite well, too.
Monday, 9.8.1999 / Remus
I return to Hogwarts alone today. Sirius has nothing to do, but I have to prepare the letters for the returning students. I've received all the booklists now and have the letter done by the automatic device, which also addresses the envelopes, then there are the booklists to be written out and copied and added. The prefects have been chosen, the badges go into the respective letters. Eight students in sixth and a handful of students in seventh year have an extra letter from Sirius with the offer for the Animagus course he plans to give for anyone interested. This takes most of my time today. Later in the afternoon all the letters are up in the owlery though and on the way to their recipients.
Once the letters are out I can prepare the staff meeting. It will take place on the Monday before the start of term by which time all teachers are required to arrive at the school at the latest.
At lunch I'm meeting the teachers who have already arrived over the weekend, Hjalmar Nilsson and Kate Calverleigh. I have the teachers' schedules for Filius, Pomona and Carla already with me. We've just sat down at the table when the door opens and Penny, Neville, Sybill and Waldo Hawkridge enter. Minerva welcomes them and they find space at the table.
"Are you all alone here? Where's your delightful family?" Hjalmar asks.
"I'm quite alone right now, yes, Sirius didn't have anything to do here, so we saved ourselves apparating the children back and forth. They're with him in Switzerland."
"I see. When's the staff meeting again? I'll be away again for a week in a few days..."
"On the 23rd."
"Oh, fine, by then I'll be back for sure. I'll get to see some interesting bits of runes in Heidelberg, where they've been found in an old wizard's cellar. He must have been about 180! In any case he was all alone, only three weeks after he had died did actually someone find him. Two months ago. Someone found those runes and I have been given the chance to see them firsthand."
"That sounds interesting. Do you have an idea what it's about?"
"Only that it's about some sagas. You know the area there is full of them!"
Neville has already received his rooms and his office. I approach Penny and Waldo Hawkridge after lunch:
"Hi, Penny! Hello, Professor Hawkridge! I'm Remus Lupin, Defence professor and Deputy Headmaster. I'm to show you to your new quarters if you'd like to follow me…"
"Hi, Remus! Very nice. Do I have an office already, too?" Penny asks.
"Pleased to meet you, Professor Lupin. I've heard quite a lot about you already…" Hawkridge says.
"Call me Remus, please. We're not overly formal among the staff."
"I'm Waldo then! Thank you, Remus."
"Will do, thank you! Well, if you'd like to follow me I'll show you the way and yes, you already have an office, Penny."
I accompany the two of them to the hidden entrance to the staff quarters and guide them through our long corridor.
"That password will change on September 1st. This here is my and Sirius' flat. I don't know if you've heard already, Penny, but we've received a third child to our family…"
"You have? Wow, so suddenly?"
"Remember when Sirius told you he'd have to work through his parent's house? We did and found that his father had not died when everyone thought he did, but was still alive. Sick, but alive. And his mother had lived five years longer than she had officially. The Blacks staged their deaths to try and produce another Black heir."
"And did they succeed?"
"Indeed. Only the child was a girl and when she was a year old her mother died, thus no more Black heir… Arcturus Black had imprisoned his daughter inside the house for all of her life and when we went to clear up we found little Adara Black, ten years old, the spitting image of her brother Sirius and the sweetest child you could imagine."
She stares at me, unable to say anything. For at least two minutes. I grin. She swallows and says:
"Wow. Now there's a shock!"
"Meanwhile we got used to each other, and she's a very nice child. Lily is taking over tutoring her as she has large gaps of basic knowledge and is not used to people, so we will not send her to the primary school and have her home schooled until she comes to Hogwarts next year. By which time her social skills should have been honed as well as her knowledge holes filled."
"Dear me, that's quite a story."
"Do I understand that right that you and Sirius Black are sharing your flat?" Waldo asks.
"Yes. We're a couple. We have two children of our own, twins who share their birth mother, while Sirius and I each sired one of them. They're fifteen months old. Which is why we have our flat down here, that's always been the family part of the teachers' quarters. In the past fifty years there were no families around, but with you young people, who knows who of you will move down here as well?"
"I'm definitely not in a hurry!" Waldo protests.
"Anyway, if you're in the mood, just come knocking on our door here and we'll share a cup of tea or coffee or a drink and chat. Now – here's the teachers' lounge. Sirius and I are rather rare guests here, because of our babies. But it's a very nice place as you can see. You have access to the large garden which is reserved for the teachers. Unless one of us lets the secret out how to get here there won't be any students here. And believe me, when I was a student we got to as good as every nook and hidden corner of this castle, but we never managed to get in here."
Penny laughs.
"Why does that not surprise me after what Sirius has told me?"
"Because he's told you, of course. Filch still trembles when he hears someone talking about the Marauders. Thankfully he's gone now and Minerva has hired a new caretaker. Who's warned, because we call our twins 'little Marauders'."
"Yes, I noticed."
"Well, you have to pass through here to reach the staircase to the two teachers' floors above here. The former Potions Master, Severus Snape, preferred to have his rooms down in the dungeons, Waldo. You're welcome to have a look at them, if you are someone who prefers to delve down there, too…"
"No thanks! I didn't mind Slytherin, but I do prefer some light! The classroom has been moved by Professor Black, hasn't it?"
"Yes, that's right, but since it's next to mine he wants to keep the room and change it to the Transfigurations classroom. We'll get you a nice room for sure. We have about thirty rooms that can be used as classrooms in this castle currently not in use. And that's only in the main castle, there are tons more in the not so frequently used areas."
"There will be a suitable one then. I'm not worried about that, but I also prefer to teach above ground…"
"I can quite understand that."
"I heard that Professor Snape brewed your Wolfsbane potion, Remus, sorry if I sound blunt, but do you need me to do that for you, too?" Waldo asks.
"No, Waldo, I have my sources. Sirius mostly makes mine these days and sometimes I get it from two of our former students or a friend of ours. So I have back-ups as well. In case this was going to be an offer I thank you anyway."
"I'm relieved, because I don't know if I'd have been able to brew it, to be honest."
"I know it's difficult. That's why I can't make it myself. I've been sufficiently good at the theory in Potions, but when I had to work with all those ingredients my nose would usually make me go bonkers."
"Well, you wouldn't either touch silver nor Wolfsbane, would you?"
"There's gloves for that, which would do quite well, but basically, no, I wouldn't of course."
We're climbing up a spiral staircase until we reach the second floor.
"On the first floor we have most of the teachers who have been here for longer. You will get rooms, freshly renovated and ready for you to do with them as you please, up here on the second floor. Ladies first, so Penny, this one is yours!"
"Thanks. Does it work with a password?"
"Yes. It's set for you to choose one. All you need to do is to supply the covering portrait with your name, your staff number, and say 'the new password is…' – only you can set it. The portraits are aware of the names and staff numbers, so there's no use trying it on other staff members' doors, by the way. I'm afraid that I'll have to know the passwords, for safety reasons, just in case one of you should once be stuck inside. I do keep them confidential though. Just send me a little note."
"Ah, fine. I'll do that right now."
"We leave you to it then. Waldo, your room is a bit further down the corridor. Well, rooms, really, because you have two bedrooms, a bathroom and a living room as well as a tiny kitchenette kind of thing. The fireplace is big enough so you can brew potions, just in case you need to. Here it is… same thing as I told Penny goes for your room, too! – I leave you to it. If you need any help or information, just call on me, I'll be here most of the days until the new term starts. You've seen my office already, it's the same as Professor Black's."
"On the fifth floor, isn't it? I'll find it if I need to, thanks. Do I contact you for the classroom?"
"Yes. And for the furnishing, call on Sirius, he's prepared the one you saw for your test lessons."
"I thought it was brilliant! No wonder he changes to Transfiguration, if that's been transfigured then he's done a marvellous job!"
"That's exactly what he did! It has become a bit of a speciality of his. And it's probably the only thing that marks him as a gay man," I reply with a grin.
"Yes, I wouldn't have thought him to be gay if you hadn't told me."
I spend the remainder of the day setting up the new passwords for the four houses, inspecting them all after that to check that the passwords work. The parchslip is added to the list of the first years.
As a last task I talk to the house-elves and ask them about the procedure for the menu plans.
"Each Saturday Professor McGonagall gave us the menu plans she had chosen for lunch and dinner once a week, Professor Lupin, sir, and the breakfast is always the same," one of them tells me.
"So that means I had to eat what Minerva picked? Well, that's fine then, I will give you the plans on Sunday evening for the week. And since I'm the one who chooses the boss will have to get used to a much more diverse menu from now on! I mean, I really like what you guys cook, but it does not contain too much change, does it?" I say, pleased with the prospect.
"We is cooking what you ask, sir. We is able to cook anything you like," the little helper claims.
"Excellent! Good little helpers you are!"
I'm really looking forward to choosing the food. Minerva is Scottish and that shone through the food at Hogwarts for as long as I can remember, but now the students and staff will get some more variety than just plain old English. I will leave the rich breakfast, maybe add a few little things, because that's what the students need in this cooler climate to get the energy they need for their classes, but lunch and dinner will see a much greater variety of foods. Southern cuisines will probably prevail, Mediterranean, but also Asian, making for a much lighter diet and tickle their palates a bit more than with heavy puddings and stuffing and thick gravies. Can't wait to go through my old cookbooks and get a few new ones. Actually that goes straight on my book list for the next shopping trip. To have a good excuse to visit my favourite bookshops is always good.
After talking to the house-elves I inform Minerva of my respective plans. She frowns at first. Scots don't like drastic changes, but I remind her of the dinner at Harry's and Hermione's wedding and ask:
"Wouldn't you like more of this lovely stuff on your plate? Our house-elves will do a perfectly fine job!"
"I should expect them to do that, Remus! I'll just miss my preferred food…" she says with a little pout.
"You'll survive that, dearest Minerva – from 1st September I'll get the ruling over what we get to eat!"
I grin and take my leave from Hogwarts for today.
Sirius
While Remus does his Deputy Headmaster job at Hogwarts I 'accept' some help from Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Ernie, Blaise and Padma to go through Grimmauld Place once more. The first of many more times I'm afraid, but it has to be done. The gang's help will be really great help!
When we get there I call Diggory on the Commumirror and he sends someone to take care of Kreacher. I've already spoken to him and he told me not to worry, he'd take care of it. So within an hour after our arrival someone from Diggory's department arrives to take Kreacher away. I'm told that I have to actually release Kreacher by giving him some clothes. I do this and they vanish with the old house-elf. I'm really sorry, but I don't see any other way.
"Not nice…" Hermione says and sniffles.
"No. Not nice, you're right. Just no other way or he'd go and talk too much. Now I suggest we start by trying to get rid of all of these awful portraits."
To my surprise we can't take them down though! They're attached to the wall with a permanent sticking charm and one that we apparently can't undo. I conjure up something rather crude and definitely Muggle, a crowbar and a hammer and we try it that way. It's too much fun to hear my mother screech and scream, the crowbar does the trick perfectly well and we all laugh ourselves silly! But she's managed to have used a permanent sticking charm on her own portrait that we don't even conquer with the crowbar.
Hermione is the one who has the idea for the solution to this problem. She looks at the wall and asks:
"That's all panelling, isn't it?"
"Everything in here is panelled."
"Well, then she's attached to the panelling. Remove the panelling and she'll drop…"
"Worth a try in any case!"
We can't just remove the panelling. But the crowbar, this time used between panelling and brick wall, finally does the trick. Mother doesn't stop screaming, but it is of no avail, we just close our ears and laugh when the life-size portrait with the panelling comes off the wall and falls to the ground. We take it to the backyard and I tell Mother:
"That's all of you now, Mother! We'll burn this awful portrait on the spot. A new era of the Blacks has been started and I won't have my son and daughter enter this house to see all the old rubbish ever!"
"You're not going to burn me! You're not!"
She screams, but I point my wand and while she screams on I call:
"Incendio!"
And then I watch as the flames take care of what is left of my mother! Inside I'm burning, because I remember well, that as a child I never wished for anything as much as a real mother, one who would not be cold, cruel and distant, one who would hold and cuddle me, sooth my tears and laugh. I won't miss this one. She had given birth to me, but that was it. For a few short years I had Remus' mum Fanny, who was exactly what I had always wished to have and she treated me like a second son, just like auntie Dorea. How bitter the day when Fanny and Quintus Lupin were murdered by Death Eaters! The only solace I have to this day is that they never had to see Remus suffer after I had been cast off to Azkaban.
The screams have ended. Did she really feel that? It was probably just programmed into this portrait to scream. Merlin knows she did it enough in real life, too. I head back inside and from now on we treat everything on the wall with the crowbar and take things down. Everything is burned outside and by the evening the hall and staircase are cleared of all the rubbish. It's completely empty now.
"Okay. Tomorrow we tackle the drawing room…" I say.
We return to the Sunnegg and all of us vanish to take a good long shower or bath. Remus is back from Hogwarts. Lily and James have looked after the little ones. At dinner I look at Hermione who doesn't look too well.
"Stay home tomorrow, Hermione, and rather look after the children! We get along," I tell her.
"Yes, I think, that was a bit too much. I do have to keep calm for a bit. Thanks, Sirius!"
"No need to thank me, I have to thank you, sweetie! You've all been a great help. The hall of Grimmauld Place has been emptied of all the trash! My ancestors can all go to bloody hell now!"
Remus grins.
"Such language, Siri!"
"Couldn't care less, love, it's been almost like a nightmare! We couldn't take those portraits down, so finally I got a crowbar and we used raw human strength and did it the Muggle way! And look there, it worked. Would be my father's death to know that a simple Muggle instrument would take care of something no wizard could remove!"
The memory makes us all laugh again.
"It was priceless, Remus! We just took off all those portraits and heads of the beheaded house-elves!"
"And Kreacher?" Remus asks.
"Was picked up by Diggory's people," I say curtly.
"Ah. I see."
"Anyway, tomorrow we tackle the drawing room. That blasted tapestry must come down next."
"That might be more difficult, it doesn't have a frame…" Remus remarks.
"Yes, we'll have to find out how to do it, or we have to burn it out. These walls will have to be cleaned and painted anyway. Probably re-plastered as well. And if nothing else works, we'll just get the crowbar between the wood panel and the brick wall again."
"True."
Tuesday, 10.8.1999 / Blaise
Fairly early in the morning we reach Grimmauld Place again. Lily and James are with us today and look around with curiosity.
"Even the empty hall looks dreary, Sirius," James remarks, "I'm very glad that I never got to see this before we came here in spring."
"Well, you've never missed anything, Prongs! This is not a friendly place," Sirius says.
"No, it doesn't look like one. So – where do you want to get on with the work?"
"The drawing room right here next door. At least we don't need to tiptoe around my mother's blasted portrait anymore, we can talk and be noisy all we want now."
We step into the drawing room. It's just a bit dusty. Sirius guides us to one wall which is decorated with a huge tapestry containing the Black family tree. Sirius points to the bottom of it and stares, then he says:
"My mother has burned my name out of it when I left, but look! The line down and Denny's name is on it!"
Indeed there is Denny's name right on the bottom of the tree. I look for Tonks and find her as well.
"There's Tonks!" Padma says.
"And Andy has been burned out of it as well! Blasted people! But now let's see if the crowbar helps on this thing as well. I try to loosen a corner and you guys hold it if it comes away and pull while I keep loosening the fabric from the wall, okay?"
"Okay," we confirm.
Sirius gets the crowbar and starts going under the fabric, but of course he can't get it loose. We have to get the panels of the wall again and throw what's come off on the ashes of yesterday's trash to burn it with all the other stuff that will follow. In fact we decide to take the complete panelling down. It looks grubby and really not that nice to be worth saving.
There's a lot of old furniture in the house and no one will be interested in it, because there's nothing nice or even elegant about the heavy things. Everything looks centuries old, but it's not of a style that would be nice to keep as antiques. We open up all the drawers and take everything out in the middle of the room. Then the cupboards and bookcases get shrunk and thrown on the trash pile. There are several folders with papers which Sirius puts into a large crate in the hall. We add to that with everything other than old magazines or newspapers. We also find several photo albums and Sirius puts them away, for documentary reasons more than sentimental ones. Photos in frames are added to that pile as well. We reach the last sideboard and empty it. Now everything in the room is reduced to matchbox size and we put the stuff into another crate to take it out to the backyard, where it's burned in a nice bonfire together with the tapestry. In the end Sirius points his wand at the little mound of ash that remains and calmly says:
"Scourgify."
Inside the house we find a few nests of doxies and other pests, but we've soon taken care of those.
"Okay, now the library and the study we keep until last. You've already looked through the master bedroom, I think, we continue with all the bedrooms upstairs now…"
We all move upstairs, Sirius levitates the crate with the papers and photo albums and places it in the upstairs hall. This floor contains the master bedroom and the hidden flat, a huge bathroom and the library.
"I wonder about that little flat. I mean, there are the rooms here and then the rooms there, it must have been magicked in there somehow…" I say.
"Yes, I was thinking about that as well. Let's start with the main rooms first," Sirius orders.
Padma and I take care of one of the guestrooms. We look through the cupboards, but only find some linen, which seems to be in good order. Padma leaves to ask what to do with that. She comes back and says:
"Take the stuff out and pile it on the floor outside of the room, Sirius will think about it."
"Good."
That's what we do, then we reduce the furniture, which is as ugly as the stuff all around the house and add it to the trash crate in the hall outside. Harry brings some stuff from another room, as do Ginny and Ernie. James and Lily are with Sirius it seems.
James
Lily and I follow Sirius into the master bedroom. It looks like someone has gone through it before and searched it.
"My great-aunt has been here with her two sons after the funeral. I told her to take everything that she fancies. We'd already picked up all the important stuff, meaning the Gringotts keys and some jewellery. She must have found a few valuables still, because she didn't complain anymore. We reduce the whole caboodle and throw it on the trash pile…"
"With pleasure, dear Mr. Padfoot!"
We start shrinking the whole furniture until nothing remains except for a small pile of stuff, which we add to the crate outside. There is only a mirror left, which seems to be where the entrance to the little flat was. We're using a spell to detect passwords and find out it's covered with the words "Toujours pur".
"Geez, how predictable was that?" Sirius murmurs.
We go inside and try to find where the magical flat starts. After half a metre we've already found the point. Sirius tries a simple:
"Finite Incantatem!"
And we find ourselves pushed right back and in front of an unblemished wall! A pile of stuff from the flat has been spat out along with ourselves and is now covering the two of us.
"Wow… wouldn't have expected it to work, really!" Sirius grins, digging himself out from under the bed. He quickly disposes of the furniture along with the remaining bedroom furniture from the master bedroom.
"Neither did I! But it worked and Blaise and you were right, it was magical."
"It's gone anyway. And the room is empty, too. Next one…"
We move to the next floor, where there are eight bedrooms. Lily and I take one, Sirius the next, which is Regulus' room. We take our guestroom down completely without looking at anything in there. Then something happens and we hear Sirius screaming! Lily and I rush over just as Harry comes running, while Sirius falls to the floor, out of it.
"Shit! Is that a Boggart or a Dementor?" Harry shouts.
"Oh! Probably a Boggart, Harry!"
"Ah! Okay, step back a little, it becomes a Dementor for me, too!"
Harry lifts his wand and points it at the source of his discomfort, calling:
"Riddikkulus!"
While Lily already starts to help Harry I apparate to the lower floor and call the rest of the gang:
"We have a slight problem with a Boggart upstairs, can you come and help?"
They all come up the stairs and we face the Boggart in turns until it's so confused that it explodes. Ginny's is a handsome young man with black hair and blue eyes. She casts the spell and the young man is completely naked and sings into a microphone, blushes and tries to cover his privates. I look at her a bit astonished. What's scary in that young man? She calmly explains:
"It's sixteen years old Tom Riddle, James. When I was in my first year he got into my head through an enchanted diary, into which I wrote. I got the thing from Lucius Malfoy. Only knew that later on though…"
"Oh! The Chamber of Secrets thing, now I remember."
"Yes, that."
"Sorry, I was a real prat for stirring up such memories…"
Ginny gives me a smile and replies:
"Don't worry, the Boggart already did that, and I have to face them now and then to remember it's all in the past. I won't be able to forget it!"
Now we have finally time to care for Sirius. He's coming around, slowly, but once he's conscious again he starts to cry. I haven't seen Padfoot cry often, but I know how badly he's affected by Dementors, even Boggart induced Dementors. Harry sits down and pulls Sirius into a hug. Lily asks Harry:
"What did you do against your Boggart Dementor, Harry? It went too fast for me to see."
"Oh, I always imagine them tripping over their cloaks and ripping them off… during the Triwizard Tournament I had to face one and at first I thought it was a real one, so I cast the Patronus, but then the 'Dementor' didn't vanish, instead it tripped over its cloak, so that gave me the idea how to make it look ridiculous. Works every time."
"Could have told me that, Harry!" Sirius sniffles.
"Are you feeling better, Padfoot?"
"Not much. But I will…"
Sirius transforms and Padfoot lies down on the rug and closes his eyes for a nap. Harry pats his back and strokes over the silky fur. My son is amazing. I have noticed that in such stressful situations Sirius will turn to Harry much rather than me, even though we have been best friends for so long. If he can't have Remus, Harry is the one he'll turn to. I could be jealous, but I can see where their closeness comes from: for just shortest periods of time since Harry learned about Sirius' innocence they've confided in each other and now they have come to an even closer relationship. The years both of them spent in their own personal hell has probably shaped their relationship, but I can't begrudge them their closeness.
"Let's continue with the remaining bedrooms and then go home, I think, we have quite enough for today," Harry suggests.
We leave Sirius for the moment and finish the bedrooms on this floor, then take everything out to burn it. Coming back into the house it looks very empty. Most of the rooms have been cleared now. All that's left is the dining room, the kitchen in the basement, the attic, the library and the study. The rest has been done. We wake Padfoot. He looks around, transforms and gets up.
"Sorry about that! I think, I should have known that one or two of those blighters would turn up. A mostly unused house is an open invitation for Boggarts. The bloody thing nearly gave me a heart failure!"
"Let's go home. You need a nice hot bath and a long night with Moony now. We'll take care of the children meanwhile, alright?" Padma suggests.
"Thanks, Padma, you're the best! I think, that might just be the remedy!"
We apparate back to the Sunnegg to relieve Hermione. Remus is also back already and after hearing what's happened he gladly leaves us with the little ones to take care of his mate.
Remus
What the heck is that? I left Sirius in perfect health this morning and when I come back I find him almost a wreck? Gee! I summon our bathrobes from our bedroom and take him into the bathroom where I fill the tub with very hot water and add essence of lavender to sooth him. Sirius lowers himself into the tub and says:
"Come join me, Moony, I need you!"
I take off my own clothes rapidly and step into the tub, placing myself behind Sirius. He sinks a bit lower and I hold him close to me. Sirius lays his head on my chest and sighs. While I grab and dunk a washrag and start to gently stroke Sirius with it I ask:
"So, what happened at that blasted place? When I left you this morning you were perfectly fine and now…"
"Boggart…" is all he says.
"Dementor?" I ask.
"Spot on…"
"And?"
"And? I passed out! Bloody Dementors still get under my skin every time, even as Boggarts. The others all came and helped take care of it in turns I think…"
"Good. It's natural for you that your Boggarts turn to be Dementors, love. Did they think of feeding you some chocolate?"
"None available…"
I summon a bar from the kitchen and see to it that he nibbles some of it. He sighs and I can feel him relaxing a bit.
"When did it happen?" I inquire.
"About two hours ago. I transformed and slept afterwards…"
"Okay. Now, which do you prefer, a healing dose of children or one of sex?"
"Can I have both?" he asks.
"Yes, love, you can. It's dinnertime soon."
We take our time in the bath, though. I carefully wash his long hair, something he loves and after rinsing it he gets up. I follow him, not without giving his cock a quick caress.
"Mmm, hold that thought for later, Moony!"
"No problem, Padfoot."
We dry ourselves and get dressed again. Then we join the family for dinner and Sirius calms down considerably. We even take the twins to bed ourselves, in spite of several of their godparents offering.
"No, thanks, not tonight, I think, I need a bit of their happiness and love right now," Sirius thanks them.
I pick up Seraina and take her up to the children's room, while Sirius takes care of Denny. Once Seraina is dressed for the night and her sleeping bag mounted I'm sitting down on a blanket with her. Sirius and Lily bring Denny and Andy, and we look at a picture book together. The triplets start to recognise simple forms like cubes, apples, teddy bears and the likes and point at them. Sometimes especially Seraina can even say the word. Well, close to it anyway. When we're through the book I banish it away and pull my little ones close and kiss them goodnight. Sirius and Lily return and pick one of the boys up to put them in their cots. Seraina sucks on her pacifier and fondles the ribbon around the neck of her teddy bear in her fingers. She's asleep in just a couple of minutes. I get up and gently lay her into her cot. I'm still watching her sleeping, when Sirius turns to me quietly and says:
"Denny is fast asleep."
"So is Seraina."
"Let's fall into our bed, love!"
Not a hard thing to do. I've been quite busy today, assigning Annis' and Kate's rooms and helping them all to settle in. There were a good number of replies to the school letters and some enquiries from parents that needed to be attended to. Now I'm tired, but in a very loving mood. We undress quickly, cast our silencing charms and when I turn to the window, to close the curtains I can feel Sirius behind me. The window is wide open, since it's still very warm outside. Sirius embraces me and kisses my shoulder, then my neck, lets his hand run over my spine and starts to fondle my nipples.
"You've wet my appetite nicely in the bathtub, love," he whispers.
"That's good. I want you!"
"I want you, too, Moony."
He gives me a little push, so that I can't but hold myself up on the window sill. His hand moves swiftly over my back, giving a little pressure on all the spots he knows I react the quickest. There's one in the small of my back, ooh, that's the one, Padfoot! Pressing on this little nub in my spine undoes me every time! Pleasure shoots through my body and my cock gets really hard now. I take one of my hands away to touch myself, but he puts it right back on the sill.
"Sirius, anyone who's going out for a walk can see us!" I hiss.
"Don't think they will look up and expect us here."
The hand now moves to the cleft between my buttocks and immediately I spread my legs a bit wider. I swear, I can feel his grin in my back! He never stops caressing me. He's sucking my earlobe now.
"Nnng! Love it, Paddy, don't stop!"
"It'll only get better, sweetheart!"
Sirius lightly presses his body against mine and I can feel his erection, which makes me shiver with need and want.
"Want that, love… please…"
"Please, what? What do you want me to do with it?" he teases.
More kisses on my shoulders and back. Sirius worries my skin with slight bites and starts to suck, probably leaving a nice, big hickey. At least on my back it'll be covered. The hand wiggles to my opening and he starts to sneak a finger inside, swiftly pushing forward. My legs go a bit further apart.
"Perfect position, dear sweet Moony!" Sirius commends.
He summons the lube and starts applying it on my opening as well as his cock, then keeps on finger-fucking me for a little while, before finally plunging inside. He gets it all in easily. When he's all inside, he stands still for a few moments, leaning down and kissing my neck again. I turn my face and look at him. Not that I can see him well in this position, but he manages to kiss me on my lips for a moment. Then he slowly starts to push. I breathe in sharply. And lean forward, so that I'm now with my underarms on the edge of the window sill. Luckily the geranium pot on the sill keeps my lower half completely hidden from the outside! But I'm slowly so far away that I'm not caring for anything anymore, I look over my shoulder at what he's doing. Sirius has bowed his head and concentrates on thrusting in a steady rhythm that makes me shudder. I try to control my breathing to last longer, but as soon as he goes back on my cock with his hand I'm feeling my climax build up quickly. I breathe in deeply again. Even with the open window I get the scent of my mate making love to me strongly and I love it. I growl softly and wait for that wonderful moment which never lasts long enough, no matter how hard we try. Sirius doesn't make me wait today, he goes right through until he comes with a low grunt and a cry of my name. I close my eyes as he thrusts another few times until I find my own release. How I love this feeling of him filling me up.
I lower my head on my arm and slowly my breathing returns to normal and my pulse slows down. I still gasp a few more times. Sirius has slumped down on my back and folds his arms around my waist.
"You know, we could probably make it to the bed…" I suggest.
"Not sure…" he mumbles.
"Apparating?"
"Think I'd splinch."
I laugh. Then I push myself up from the sill, pushing him back in the process. He shrieks a little, holds tighter and both of us tumble down onto the floor.
"Now that wasn't very clever, Padfoot, how do we manage to get into bed now?" I chide.
"As long as you're in my arms I don't really care, Moony."
"But I do, we'll freeze! Come on!"
I can finally free myself from his grip and roll off him to turn around and get up. I go to the bed and look back to Sirius.
"Do I have to summon you, Siri?"
"Jolly good idea, Moony! Anything that spares me getting up myself."
He beams. I laugh, but then I call him:
"Come on, you can't be out of it that badly. I agree it was good, but we've had much more exhausting."
He sighs, but turns around and gets on his knees. Pushing himself up he comes over to the bed and drops down next to me.
"How do you expect a second round, if you're that exhausted from the first, love?" I tease him.
"I must be getting old! Used to be like that after half a dozen times, remember?"
"Don't think we ever managed that many… but we were 20 years younger then!"
"Would be nice though, wouldn't it?"
I turn to him and kiss him. His hand slowly glides over my arm up to my shoulder and his fingers tangle in my hair, while he pulls me close. I sigh into the kiss and close my eyes. Slowly we build each other up again. Endless kisses, slow hands over his back, his chest and kisses again. The wolf inside revels at the assault Sirius starts on my nipples with his teeth. He pushes me back on the bed and starts nibbling my skin. I continue to caress his back and just keep my eyes shut. His lips caress my chest and then he latches on to one of my nipples.
Sirius
Merlin, I love the taste of his flesh! I suck on his nipples, one after the other and catch them between my teeth. When I move from one to the other I look up into his face. He's got his eyes firmly closed and relishes the feelings he gets from my treatment. All of a sudden, the CD-player starts filling the room with piano music by Remus' favourite composer, Claude Debussy. I grin. He's just simply amazing! While I continue to caress him, we listen to the soft sounds of the Suite Bergamasque. Remus' choice of music is a fine one, I have to say. The music is dreamy and the soft sound of even the faster parts feel like the softest touches we administer on each others' skin. I lazily glide over his belly with my hand, down to where his wonderful cock has hardened again. I move closer and give it a few licks. His breathing accelerates again. I pull the foreskin back and give the head a few licks, cleaning it from the remaining seed. I can feel his hands on my back and it gives me goose-bumps. Soon I've swallowed most of his cock and suck. It takes a while, but once the growls start I know he's not far away from his orgasm.
"Yesss…" he hisses, "come on, Paddy, just a little more, yes! Siri!"
I love to feel him shuddering when he comes. His seed spurts into my mouth in two or three short waves and I swallow it down. I let my head fall on his abdomen, looking at this beautiful organ that gives us so much pleasure. I'm still not over missing this for fourteen long years. I close my eyes and simply relish in the flavour in my mouth and the scent in my nose that is the essence of my lover. Better than any perfume!
Before I can fall asleep he pulls me up and we find each other for another kiss. Then I summon a washcloth from the bathroom and he cleans my cock, rubbing it nicely in the process. I banish the cloth back and he starts to go down on me, suddenly quite alive and active, while he's kept so quiet before that I was almost afraid he had fallen asleep in the middle of my blow-job!
But now he seems wide awake! Without further circumstances he takes my cock into his mouth and starts going down, sucking and licking it. I tangle my fingers in his hair again. There's a faster piece on the CD again, lots of high sequences that remind me of tiny bells. I close my eyes, fill my senses with what Remus does to my cock and listen to the piano from the speakers. And I almost miss my climax! But only almost. I arch my back and push up, Remus controls me with his thumb, index and middle finger around my cock.
"Now, love, now! Oh, Remus!"
Slowly he lets go of my cock and turns back up to me. I sit up and pull him up to me, let myself fall back on the bed and feel him following me. It's still early, but we don't fight sleep when it comes.
Wednesday, 11.8.1999 / Sirius
Once more I have to go back to Gringotts, but this is to get everything settled now. I'm getting a statement of everything found in all of those vaults.
"Would you recommend to put all the money in one vault and all the valuables and whatever else is in those vaults in another?" I ask.
"It would certainly be a lot easier to handle, sir."
"Good. I still need several vaults. One hundred thousand Galleons go into two trust vaults in the name of Seraina Lupin and Dennis Black. I will keep the keys to those myself. One million Galleons goes into another vault in the name of my sister Adara Black. She's only eleven years old, so it will have to be another trust vault, which she can only use once she turns 17. My own vault requires two keys, one for myself, one for my life partner, Professor Remus Lupin. Then whatever is not money goes into a third vault, again in my name with a key for myself and Professor Lupin."
"That will be done instantly, sir, would you mind to wait for a few minutes, so we can arrange for the keys to be set up? Do you wish to keep your vault 711?"
"Yes, I won't mind that. If it's spacious enough…"
"Yes, it is. The vaults are fitting themselves according to what's inside as soon as the contents need more space than the standard size provides."
"Ah. Very convenient."
"I'll be back in a short while."
I really don't have to wait long until he's back with the keys.
"As you can see the keys are labelled. These two are for Professor Lupin, these are yours and this is your sister's. I have set up a trust vault with access for only you at the moment. It's another high security vault, since it contains a rather large sum of money. And finally these are the two other trust vaults."
"That's just fine, Mr. Tookook, exactly what I need."
"You will have access to your new vaults within two days, sir, we'll send you an owl."
"Thank you very much. I'll have to be back to look through all the personal effects in the vaults."
With that I'm apparating back home to the Sunnegg. I spend the afternoon playing with the little ones and Addie in the public bath. We stay there until dinner time when we're joined by Remus, Ginny and Ernie.
"Had fun?" Remus asks and kisses me.
"Lots of fun. I love the slide!" Addie says and grins.
"That's great, so we can go to the Alpamare with you now!"
It's wonderful to see the laughs coming to her now. We've watched the twins walk around and play in the sand pit, took them into the shallow pool and Addie swam alone for a while. When the bath closes at nine we take two sleeping babies and a fairly tired Addie home. On the way Addie falls asleep, too. Remus looks around and watches her.
"She's happy now, Paddy."
"Yes, Remus, I think so, too."
Monday, 16.8.1999 / Sirius
This is going to be an absolutely awful day. Two Aurors and an official from the DMLE, to my satisfaction it's Jason Taylor, accompany me to a place I really did not want to see again, Azkaban. The new head of the department, Ms McGovern, has assured me, that I would not have to go into an area where any Dementors would be around. My father and Narcissa Malfoy would be brought into two interrogation cells closer to the only entrance of the fortress.
So now the five of us and Remus sit in the boat over to the island, that was my 'home' for almost twelve years. Precisely those twelve years that I'm trying desperately to leave behind for good. Maybe this isn't so bad, I'll see how much I've healed. Still, it's going to be hard.
The boat is attached to the dock. I don't remember the day I've been brought in, I was unconscious all the way, but now that we approach the building the despair I felt when I woke up in that cell becomes tangible again. I don't even know how the building looks in this part, but the scent is bringing it all back again. A scent mixed of everlasting despair and cold cooked cabbage. Once smelt it will never go out of my mind. We enter the fortress through a small door. Right behind that are several rooms, the wizard guards inhabit those on their week-long shifts here at the prison.
One of them leads us to the cell in which my father is held for the interrogation after we've deposited our wands in the care of another guard. We all enter the cell. There's a small table and several chairs. Father looks close to death and completely out of his mind. He must be dying! He doesn't react to our presence at all. Not a word is coming out of his mouth to answer any of our questions. I look into his eyes. They're dull and almost closed. The guards look at me and I give up.
"We'll take him back then…"
"Where is he kept?" I ask.
"In one of the upper levels, but not high security. He's hardly a threat anymore. Still, the Dementors pass at least once every few hours…" the guard replies.
I nod.
We're then led to the other cell. If I hadn't known that the woman that sat in there was my cousin Narcissa, I would have had a hard time to recognise her. She looks like she's certainly never looked before! I'm not surprised and at the same time I am surprised at how bad she already looks. I know she has been put into one of the high security cells, but about two floors away from her husband's. Since she has nothing to keep the Dementors away, she's in a bad shape already. Not even the two or three hours away from them will do her much good. She stares at us with dull eyes, sunken deep into their sockets. I know that's how I looked when I got out of this place, but I'm still shocked. It's been about two years since her imprisonment and she looks like she's not going to make it for a very long time anymore. But she's still quite lucid. Sane enough to reply to my questions. We have two potions with us, a mind sharpening one and the Veritaserum, which will only be used if she refuses to give us the information we need.
Two Aurors keep her at their wandpoint.
"Sirius! So you're the reason they've shoved me in here. What do you want?"
She looks at me with disdain, just like she's done forever.
"Narcissa, I need something you should probably know. The blood binding spell at Grimmauld Place. What is it?"
"I don't remember!" she says, but suspiciously fast.
"You don't remember or you don't want to tell us?" I ask.
"I don't remember."
"Take this – it's a mind sharpening potion…"
"I don't want to!" she protests.
"I'm afraid it's not a question of want or not, Mrs Malfoy, we are allowed to force it down your throat if you refuse to take the potion," Jason informs her.
After a few more threats she takes the potion. While we wait for it to work she asks:
"How is Draco?"
"He's fine, Narcissa. He's getting married next month. He's working on opening a wizarding fun park in France next year."
"He's getting married? Already? Who is the woman he marries?"
"Parvati Patil. They have been together for almost four years already. You should know her parents."
"Ah. Yes, I think, I do."
"Do you remember the spell now?"
"Why do you want it? And why don't you know it yourself?" she wants to know.
"Because I've left the place at sixteen. It's not like I wanted to return there, but I had to clear up the whole mess of the Gringotts accounts. Do you remember when you've been there the last time, Narcissa?"
"Right after Auntie Leda's death. Why?"
"You were there after my mother's death? Only in the lower part of the house or have you actually seen her body?"
"No, I haven't seen her body, but why?"
"Because she didn't die then. They lied to you about her death. She died five years later. My father is even still alive, albeit just barely."
"What? You're putting me on! I know very well that I've received the news of his death! Only about a year or two after Auntie Leda's. Come to think of it I was told by the family lawyers not to go to Grimmauld Place… they said your father asked for no one to go there. They didn't give any further explanations beyond something like the house had sealed itself."
"Well, that would be because Father wasn't dead yet. They seemed to have withdrawn to quietly produce another heir to the family."
"Oh my!" She's shocked, but says: "Did they succeed?"
"No and yes. They had another child, but it's a girl. Because mother died a year after she was born there was no other chance. Father locked her up in the place and no one knew anything about her. Adara is going to be eleven years old in December. And father has taken residence here at Azkaban as well for his repeated use of Unforgivable curses. Since he was already very ill by the time we found him he's but a wreck now. I don't think he'll live much longer…"
"You really have no feelings left for your sire, do you?" she asks in a venomous tone.
"Really, Narcissa, what do you know about feelings? You married Lucius 'Iceberg' Malfoy and you did that with open eyes. Honestly. I tell you why I have nothing left for my sire: biology will only reach so far. Their treatment of me – and Regulus – was abominable. I would never do to a child what they did to me, even if a child of mine should turn out completely different than I would like to see it turning out. And I've heard enough from Draco to know that he didn't have it much better. Either it was showering gifts over him or whipping him half to death. I'll give that Lucius didn't know any better, but what good has it done? None. Draco learned to think for himself luckily. My own children will never be physically punished beyond a slap once every blue moon. They're not trying me enough yet to know whether my hand will really be safe when I get really mad about something, they're too small yet. But I shall never use my wand on them, never, Narcissa! I simply love them too much for that. You see the difference? My parents produced me – and Regulus – to have a heir to carry on the name. There was no feeling in that at all. My mother gave birth to me and then left me to the house-elves and nannies, she only cared that I survived, but how I survived was neither an interest nor a concern of hers. And Father was no better. I learned to talk because Uncle Alphard was around speaking to me, playing with me and telling me how much he liked and loved me. This is the difference, that is why I was capable of compassion and learned to love. If you don't understand that then you should not talk about feelings. Uncle Alphard offered that to all of us, Narcissa. It wasn't his fault that only Andy and I saw the value in it. - What about the spell now?"
"Oh, the spell… as far as I remember it was a short incantation, should be noted down somewhere. Uncle Arcturus told me before I got married."
It takes a while, but in the end we get the incantation. A 'short' incantation, ha ha! It must be about two lines long! Remus notes it down. We'll need a while to figure it out, but I hope we find something in the library books about it and I do hope we'll find a counter-spell.
"Thank you, Narcissa, you've been a great help."
She watches us leave the cell, again with the two Aurors keeping her at wandpoint. While we collect our own wands we see them guiding her back to her own cell. The robes she wears are thin now and won't hold up for much longer. She must be colder than I, because I doubt those silk robes warm her any.
We leave the prison behind. Remus looks at me and asks: "How are you?"
"Better than I feared, love. But they really did keep the Dementors away, so it wasn't too bad."
"I'm glad to hear that. You don't look like you've suffered too badly."
"I haven't," I confirm. Then I ask: "She doesn't look like she's going to make it for a long time, does she?"
"No, I don't think she does, but then it might be for her best if she dies sooner rather than later," Remus says.
I nod. It definitely would be merciful. After what seems like only an hour or so we reach the shore again and can apparate back to the Three Broomsticks, where we both have a drink before we return to Hogwarts.
Wednesday, 18.8.1999 / Remus
We're mostly back at Hogwarts now. Sirius has finished cleaning Grimmauld Place, even the study is empty now. All the papers and books, journals and some photo albums in there have been looked through and we found all of the used blood spells, so that we could neutralise them. Sirius only left the ones that make the house unplottable and invisible. Then we stuffed the stuff into crates and into the new vault at Gringotts.
The spell has been mentioned in three of the books in the library. Sirius uses the retrieval spell and we're really glad the library here responds to this spell as does the one at Hogwarts. One of the books is even one that I can touch. Thankfully the incantation for the counter-spell is only one word. Sirius first uses it on the door. Then on all the crates containing the books from the study.
And we do have to go back and check the library. Sirius has already emptied the safe, which contained some more jewellery and a few very questionable artefacts, which we have handed over to a research team at the Department of Mysteries. They will see if there are dangerous enchantments on those things. Dad is delighted that we offered him a possibility to look through all the library books we'll put in the vault. We've found several snuffbox-like little containers that smell of Dark Magic ten metres against the wind! We're tempted to destroy them, but finally decide to rather put them into the vault, where they can't do any harm. Then there are several signet rings that were certainly enchanted, these go with dad to the Department of Mysteries, too. We also detect a few dangerous looking vials. Sirius calls Snape on the Commumirror, glad that Severus even has one.
"Severus, if you're interested in some very obscure vials that we've just found at Grimmauld Place, then hop over. There are no apparition wards up at the moment, you can apparate right in, we're in the library."
"Vials? You've found old potions? I'll be there in a moment, Black!"
He does turn up only a few minutes later.
"Where are you?"
"Over here, Severus…" Sirius calls.
Severus finds us behind a few shelves and we guide him to the safe, where we've found five vials containing unknown substances.
"No labels, no dates, no nothing. If they have to be destroyed you probably know how to do that much better than either of us, Severus," Sirius says.
He looks at them.
"This one I think I know. It's an ancient poison… this one here I recognise as well. It's a truth potion, hasn't been brewed in the past one hundred years! Pretty powerful stuff, but doesn't reach Veritaserum. The other three I have to check."
"Take them all. Interested in any of the books here? We're still busy of getting all the Black blood spells off."
"I don't think, I have time to look through this," Severus replies, but I can see that he regrets it.
"Much of it will probably come up to Hogwarts, just the really Dark Magic stuff we want to put into a high security vault at Gringotts until it can be decided what's to happen to them. So it won't be lost," Sirius explains.
"Thanks!
As for the books in the library, Sirius has to undo the binding spells that bonded the books to the Black family blood. He uses the unbinding spell on each shelf we encounter. We check them for a few books I can't touch and check again after Sirius has used the spell. Once Sirius has cast the counter-spell, I can touch those books without a problem. They're almost all quite dark and many of them are probably very rare. We make a call at Flourish & Blotts and get to talk to Mr. Blotts, who agrees to come over and look at the material. He's delighted, after all he knows the value of this old collection of books. He picks the very rare ones out of the shelves and some of them we're willing to sell to him. We're holding back the darkest ones though. We're still glad for his information about their value.
What books are there and don't contain Dark Magic we collect for the Hogwarts library or keep it here. Some of the Dark Magic books can go into the restricted section. We have about ten large boxes full of shrunk books to take back to Hogwarts and another six or so to be put into the vault at Gringotts. That makes for about 30 of the contents of this large library. Once everything has been stuffed away we can actually have the house more thoroughly cleaned and refurbished.
Friday, 20.8.1999 / Sirius
We're back in Grimmauld Place to see how the renovation work has been done. Most of it is already finished and I'm amazed at the change that house went through. If my parents could see it they'd probably die on the spot.
All the rooms have been stripped down completely, were plastered and received a fresh paint, all of them a soft, light cream. We have the bathrooms and the kitchen renovated and all the fireplaces got an overhaul as well. The cellar has a pantry and a wine cellar, everything in there was torn out except for the long wooden table from the basement kitchen, which I didn't want to let go, then it, too, got a fresh layer of plaster and a coat of cream paint. The hardwood floors are torn out and have been redone in a lighter wood. All the ugly old gas lamps have vanished as have the terrible chandeliers. The knocker on the door is now the head of an eagle as we wanted something neutral. All the rooms have also received new windows.
I look at Remus.
"What do you think, Remus, did we get ourselves a new townhouse or do we sell it? I wouldn't ever have thought that I could ever like the place, but now it looks like something so entirely different, that I don't recognise it anymore," I say.
We walk through the four floors and inspect everything. The ground floor, which consisted of the huge drawing room, the formal dining room and the cavernous study as well as two smaller rooms has now been totally refurbished and where once was the study is now the new kitchen. One part of the old study and a larger part of the old drawing room have been converted into the new dining room, while the old dining room has become a small, formal sitting room and a new bathroom, and the remainder of the drawing room is the new family room. Kitchen, dining room and family room are all connected with archways. French doors in all three rooms let in a lot of light and open to a patio area in the garden. The two smaller rooms will be guest rooms.
On the first floor are the master bedroom with an attached bathroom, two further bedrooms and a bathroom, and the library, now fitted with large windows. On the second floor are about eight bedrooms and two more bathrooms. The old attic is now completely renovated, insulated and has also been painted in cream. A bathroom has been added. The basement where the old kitchen was has been turned into a normal room, which can be used as a big playroom or games room. Remus sighs.
"It's almost a shame to sell it, Siri."
I nod.
"Okay, we'll keep it and furnish it. That can take a while… It's been a good idea to have it connected to get electricity and a telephone and all. The room in the basement can be turned into a playroom. The old drawing room we'll furnish as a big family room."
"Won't you mind sleeping in your parents' old master bedroom?"
"They've hardly used it. Father used it, Mother used the smaller room on the second floor. I don't hope it will matter to me, love, because it does look so nice now. All that remains is the backyard. Should be friendlier once it's sorted out, too."
"Shouldn't be too much of a problem. We have time to do all of this though. Clear up before fall and decide on the lawn areas and put down the turf"
"And the roses and spring flowers, those need to go in before winter, too, but that shouldn't take more than a weekend or two in September."
We have a few ideas for the garden already. Remus looks at the wonderful new kitchen, which is Muggle- and magic-fitted. It's amazing what's become of that old study, which I feared so much as a small child, because that would have been the room where my father's most evil punishments took place. I can't wait to have this place furnished in lots of brilliant colours, modern furniture and regularly filled with a lot of music. Most of the decoration is done already, what's still lacking are curtains, carpets and pictures for the walls inside and the work on the garden outside.
"I want a snooker table down in the cellar room," I say. Remus grins, but then he suggests:
"We can make it a multi-purpose room, Siri, I'd like to have a study area, too…"
"There's more than enough space for that in the dining room or in the family room, love, where you'll have light flooding in… if there are toys and stuff down there in the cellar you'll have peace from the brood in the family room."
The decision to keep the house after all made, we return to Hogwarts and wait for the term to start.