.

So far... Susan has been rescued from Azkaban and, after the safe return of Harry and his friends, Ginny has destroyed Slytherin's Horcrux locket. Later in the evening, Harry and Ginny set out to visit Grimmauld Place to inform Mad-eye Moody that Sirius died during the escape. Now read on...

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Chapter 54

Chary Potter and the Lost Souls Part 9


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~~~ Repercussions ~~~

The passageways of 12 Grimmauld Place, always gloomy, seemed positively funereal to Harry when he and Ginny entered. Sirius's absence was itself almost a spectre glowering at him accusingly from the drab walls, and, in his head, Harry could hear his godfather's voice echoing these corridors, 'Don't even think about Azkaban, I implore you.' Even within the kitchen's hearthglow, Ginny did not wander far from Harry's side while he told Moody a contrived story of what had happened at the prison.

That explains this morning's news then," growled Moody. He gestured to the Daily Prophet that lay upon the table. Harry picked it up.

"Rather vague, isn't it, Potter? Unusual for the Ministry to be unclear about events at Azkaban. They know there was a big disturbance but I don't think they've confirmed yet there was a breakout — though they must suspect. How the Dementors weren't around to observe exactly what happened in their own prison is unheard of. No doubt the Minister has sent a team to investigate."

He searched Harry's expression as the youth frowned through the article on the front page, with Ginny peering around his arm.

"And Amelia Bones quitting the Wizengamot the next morning and apparently gone into hiding. Strange that, isn't it? Especially since she logged a visit to the prison on the evening before — possibly with some other, unknown person."

Harry didn't look up but he could sense Moody's suspicions and feel he was staring at him. "All I know is what I just told you."

"It'll be very bad for Scrimgeour now; Bones was a key figure against the gathering dark votes in the Wizengamot. That said, she was bound to be eliminated one way or another anyway; it was just a matter of when."

Harry put down the newspaper. Moody appeared particularly anxious and fidgety as the repercussions of Harry's tale began to sink in.

"Sirius was a bloody fool!" The rosy-yellow firelight eerily flushed Mad-eye's face from below as he stomped before the hearth in the otherwise dark kitchen, and Harry noticed that, while his wooden leg was intact, he still had the white patch tightly strapped across his empty eye socket.

"He was a hero!" Harry protested. "He gave his soul to save Susan."

Mad-eye stopped his pacing. "And how would you know that?"

Harry didn't even blink. "It stands to reason. Only Susan returned to my boat so he must have been caught — and you know what Dementors do to escapees."

"And how did you get away from them?"

"Portkey. I anchored outside the wards."

"And how did you know the ward limits?"

"Got lucky, I guess."

"Just you, Potter?" Moody glanced at Ginny and she was glad he had not yet found a way to replace his piercing magical eye.

"Just me," said Harry. "I had a hard time persuading Sirius to even let me help. I think he realised in the end he'd be unlikely to survive." Harry's tone was bitter but it was not as false as his story.

"So... after suffering a year of being drained by Dementors, a weakened child flew by herself five miles from Azkaban to your boat?" The suspicion in Moody's attitude was very clear.

Harry had little time to think of an explanation. "I had to capture the broomstick when she was within range. Sirius had bound her to it and sent it in the right direction somehow." Harry crossed his fingers that there was such a spell.

"But why in the name of Merlin would he not come with her!" snapped Moody.

"Why do you think!" cried Harry.

It took a lot to startle Moody but he gasped when he realised the implication in Harry's tone. "He deliberately delayed the Dementors for her sake?"

Harry did not reply.

Moody thought for a few moments. "Better you keep quiet about your part in it, Potter. Nobody knows how this will all end."

He desisted then from his interrogation and looked again at Ginny. "Your dad is on his way."

"What? Coming here? Now? It's going up for ten o'clock. I can't see him! What am I to tell him! He'll be furious!"

"Calm down, he's seeing me about Order business — he doesn't even know you're here yet. For Merlin's sake don't mention the risk you took. It was crazy for an inexperienced young girl to be at sea in this weather!"

"I'm fifteen and I did as well as—!" Ginny quickly clapped a hand over her mouth.

There was a smile — with perhaps a tinge of grudging respect, Harry thought — on Moody's face as he nodded slowly to himself. "All the others get back okay?"

Harry scowled. "It was just me in the boat. Everyone else stayed at home. They're fine."

"Potter, it's bloody obvious a small open rowboat could not have carried out this rescue operation and a larger vessel would need more crew, if only to share the watch!" He looked back and forth between them both. "You can tell Arthur and other Order members that you and I arranged to meet in Kirkwall where you, Harry, collected Susan from me two days ago because she's safer with you and ought to have girls around her not some ugly old mad wizard! Anyone else, tell 'em you had nothing to do with it at all except to hear about it. You came here today to keep me informed as to her health. That's the story. Okay?"

"Kirkwall? Where's that, in case they ask?" said Harry.

Moody stared hard at Harry. "It's the capital of the Orkneys of course! Where else would anyone with a brain set out from to reach Azkaban?"

Quick as a flash, Harry answered, "How should I know? I only did what Sirius asked."

As Harry was speaking, the fire flared green, but it was not Mr Weasley that arrived. Harry was surprised to see Mr and Mrs Bones step from the flames and the expressions upon their faces was a mixture of concern and rapture.

Mrs Bones reached Harry first. For a moment he feared she might hug him, but she smiled self-consciously instead and shook his hand warmly, as did her husband too. Harry could see the question forming on their lips. "How is—?"

"We just left Susan enjoying some hot soup and fruit pie." He tried to sound as reassuring as he could.

"And she's not...?" began Mr Bones.

Ginny spoke up, "She's nervous and confused and upset as might be expected, but I sat talking with Susan less than an hour ago and she's her normal self."

Mrs Bones was clearly embarrassed by the big silent tears of relief that now rolled down her cheeks and tried to rub them away with a tissue. "Mr Potter, I don't know how you managed to persuade the Order or how it was even possible for their members to... or how ... thank you all, and..." — she struggled to form the words so turned to Moody — "and you, sir, have my most—"

Mad-eye growled, "Only one Order member took part in this rescue, Emelyn. It was not I but Sirius Black who saved your daughter."

Both Mr and Mrs Bones eyes opened in astonishment and they glanced quickly around the dark corners of the kitchen with a questioning expression.

"And is he at home this evening?" asked Mr Bones.

"He's dead," said Harry, flatly. His throat felt suddenly dry. "Sirius died during the rescue."

Ginny helped Mr Bones guide his wife to a seat beside the fire, and he sat down next to her, both looking rather dazed.

"How are we to...? How?" he murmured, half to himself, half to his wife.

Moody took Harry aside, but Ginny was quick to join them and Moody didn't protest. "Listen, Potter, this changes things here."

"What do you mean?"

"Once news of Sirius gets out then the next direct male heir in line should inherit this house. But since Cygnus Black only had girls and the eldest, Bellatrix Lestrange, has no boys, she will get it herself — and that means Death Eaters coming here. I'll be leaving here any day myself anyway, now I've recuperated."

Harry almost choked which he turned into a lengthy cough to give him time to answer. "She's dead. Bellatrix is dead. Susan said she was in Azkaban too and got accidentally killed in a confrontation with Sirius." He felt Ginny's hand grip his arm more tightly and she did not contradict him.

Moody's eyebrows shot up. "Bellatrix dead?" He chewed this over for a few moments then rumbled callously, "Better than she deserved. I told Dumbledore, if it had been up to me I wouldn't have stopped the Dementors giving her the Kiss."

One good eye searched Harry's face while Moody thought for a few moments. "Well, Andromeda was disowned so that leaves Narcissa..." He frowned. "The next male heir is her son. Draco Malfoy will be the new owner of 12 Grimmauld Place."

.

~~~ The Guinea Pig ~~~

Ginny's eyes flared and she snarled, "Draco Malfoy? Inherit Sirius's home? Over ... my ... dead..."

"Ginny! What are you doing here?"

"Mum! Dad!" Ginny swung into a big hug from her mother as her parents stepped from the floo. When her father did likewise, Harry noticed he quickly dropped one arm but not before he had revealed a small brown paper package tied with string gripped in his left hand. It was gone by the time Harry had emerged from one of Mrs Weasley's embraces himself. He began to wonder about Mr Weasley's business with Moody.

Ginny was relieved to hear Moody answering Mrs Weasley's question. "Sirius got Susan out of Azkaban and sent her to Harry yesterday. They came to tell me she's recovering well."

The moment he saw them glance around exactly as the Bones had done, he added, "He's dead. Sirius died during the rescue."

Mrs Weasley drew a deep breath and turned to her husband. "Oh, Arthur..." As she did so, she realised the Bones were there, and braced herself before going over to them. She sat beside Mrs Bones and Harry was glad of the warm conversation they took up together; somehow, the Bones had seemed a little too stiff and formal to console each other well, and it must be especially strange to feel so obligated to a dead man they probably hardly knew. A little voice in Harry's head nagged him that he, himself, had not been a good enough friend to Sirius either.

Before he could get too deeply into grovelling in the mire of might-have-been, a gruff, furtive whisper drew his attention. It was Moody behind him, speaking to Mr Weasley. "You have it?"

Harry didn't turn but somehow he knew that Mr Weasley's silence meant he was nodding.

"Order business. Back in a while," muttered Moody to the room in general and Harry heard the door open. He looked at Ginny.

"What is it, Harry?" she said.

"Don't know. They're up to something."

They listened as the main staircase creaked somewhere above.

"Come on," said Ginny.

"Where are we going?" said Harry, following her out.

"Fred used to hide an extendable ear in their old room. Might still be there."

As they hurried upstairs, Harry pulled out his invisibility cloak. On the first floor they heard faint voices coming from the drawing-room. Harry pressed his ear to the door while Ginny sprinted up to the next floor. She found the ear Spellotaped underneath a chest of drawers and wasted no time hurrying back down to Harry.

"Anything?" she whispered.

Harry shook his head. "Something about about a golden hamster..."

"A what?"

"It's like a guinea pig, a sort of rodent I think, Muggle pet."

"Like a rat?"

"Smaller. Cuter."

"Harry, you don't suppose...?"

They had to press their ears together to share the listening device, but at least they could more safely stand to one side of the door. Neither of them realised that as he and Ginny clung together, they had half-dragged the invisibility cloak sideways so their feet were showing.

"They're arguing!" breathed Harry.

"Why wait? I could make good use of it right now!"

"Moody!" whispered Ginny. She felt Harry nod against the side of her face.

"Let's stay with what was agreed."

"And what is this, Kreacher asks himself? Thieves and sneaksies at the drawing-room door of my poor mistress. Oh, what would she say if she only knew!"

Harry groaned. It was the old house-elf.

"Shush, Kreacher!" whispered Ginny, quickly adjusting the cloak.

"Nobody can survive all curses all the time, not even Potter."

"It has to be done, Alastor."

"The filthy blood-traitor speaks to Kreacher. Oh the shame of it!"

"Be quiet, Kreacher," hissed Harry, straining to hear what was being said inside the room.

"How can we be sure?"

"It's been tried. I've not seen it but I'm sure it'll work."

"I don't like it one bit."

"We have no choice."

"Damn you, Arthur, there's always another way — Avada Kedavra!"

In the dim passageway, a flash of green light showed briefly under the door. Harry and Ginny could neither think, nor move, nor speak, so astonished were they. Within seconds the door opened and Moody burst out. "Bloody fool!" He hurried off downstairs.

Ginny stared at Harry, mouth agape in shock. Harry eased closer to the open doorway but at that moment Mr Weasley strode out, narrowly missing him, closed and locked the door behind him, cast a spell upon it, then headed after Moody. They heard his footsteps fade down the stairs.

"Wha...?" Harry pulled off the cloak. "Ginny, you okay?"

She nodded. "For a minute, I thought Mad-eye had..."

"So did I," said Harry.

"Harry, what just happened?"

"I don't know." He tried the unlocking charm on the door but without success. "Maybe they killed the hamster? Perhaps they knew it was acting for one of the Death Eaters? Perhaps Voldemort himself?" He tried to peer through the keyhole but saw only the vague, shadowy outlines of furniture.

"What do we do?" said Ginny. "I can't ask Dad, I just can't."

Harry shook his head. "I'm not stopping here tonight. You?"

"Course not — not if you're not. We'd better split up before we go back down."

Harry went up to the next floor to sit in his old room for a while. Ginny made her way downstairs and tried to slip unnoticed into the kitchen.

"Ah, I've made a pot of tea, Ginny. Where's Harry?" said Mrs Weasley.

Ginny looked carelessly around the kitchen, then said with calculated off-handedness, "Isn't he here?" She took a seat at the table and poured herself a cup. Her father was with the Bones by the fire, talking. Kreacher was adding more coal to the fire. For once, he wasn't grumbling to himself. Moody was nowhere to be seen.

"So..." said Ginny, "what brings you here this evening, Mum?" She took a long time stirring her tea. Her mother took even longer to answer.

"Order business — your dad had something to deliver."

"Oh, what was that then?"

"Something from the Ministry, I suppose." Her manner was as disinterested as Ginny's had been when asked about Harry's whereabouts. Ginny could tell her mother knew more than she was saying.

"Is that why Moody's gone out?"

"Why'd you think he's gone out?"

"Because he's not here."

"He's in the front room talking to Hagrid through the floo."

"Hagrid! ... Are they discussing creatures?"

"Creatures? Of course not. Using any of the Hogwarts' floo connections is getting more risky so they're setting up a secret wireless to keep in touch with Order members at the school. Professor McGonagall and Snape too. It's getting very serious now. Hagrid might not be able to stay much longer. I'm glad the twins have left."

"Have they got enough stock yet? Fred sounded quite optimistic during the summer."

"Their shop opens in December for the Christmas season." Mrs Weasley shook her head dubiously.

"They'll do fine, Mum, don't worry. They're clever and innovative, and they always land on their feet, you know that."

Mrs Weasley looked long and hard at her daughter. "How did you get so grown up all of a sudden?"

Ginny giggled softly into her cup.

"How do you occupy yourselves all day, anyway — at Harry's, I mean?" her mother continued. "I hope you make the boys pull their weight around the house. I suppose they laze about doing nothing."

"Something like that," smiled Ginny.

Mad-eye came into the kitchen at that moment together with Harry who looked very anxious and weary, and she wondered if he'd slept at all last night in his underwater boat. He and Moody were talking together and Ginny heard the word 'Hogwarts' once or twice. When she caught Harry's eye he gave a slight warning shake of his head as if to say, 'Don't ask.'

The Bones left soon after — rather more formally than when they arrived — and Harry promised them again that they would see their daughter very soon. He didn't remember anything beyond their goodbyes because the moment he sat down again, he collapsed into sleep.

Ginny sighed. "Looks like we'll be staying the night after all, Mum — Harry's been overdoing the gardening. Dad, could you let Hermione know?"

Mr Weasley nodded, "I will," and sent his Patronus on its way.

"The beds will need making up," said Mrs Weasley. She knew better than to try to give an order to the surly house-elf. "Where are the clean sheets for the guest rooms kept, Kreacher?"

The elf's expression was difficult to read but he sniffed and pointed vaguely upwards through the ceiling. Ginny thought she detected a sneer. "Thanks, that's a big help — not."

Together they found them in the airing cupboard on the second floor landing, and Mr Weasley used a Levicorpus spell to put Harry to bed. It had been a very long day.

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~~~ Kreacher's New Master ~~~

"Harry, Harry, wake up!"

"Ginny? Wassup?"

"It's nearly lunchtime. Mad-eye thinks we might have to all leave in a hurry."

Harry came wide awake then and reached for his wand. Ginny was pushing his glasses onto his face.

"No panic, but Kreacher's acting strangely. Moody thinks he already knows Draco is his new master."

A groan escaped Harry's lips as he swung out of bed, not only because of what Ginny had said but his body was still aching slightly from the last two days' ordeal.

"Hangover?" said Ginny.

He shook his head. It occurred to him that Luna's wine actually agreed with him and perhaps he felt fitter than he ought to under the circumstances.

"What's up with Kreacher?"

"He's refusing to talk to anyone," Ginny called over her shoulder as she hurried out of the room.

"Like, that's a problem?" Harry shouted after her.

The drawing-room door was open as Harry passed it and he glanced inside. There was nobody about so he nipped inside and checked the waste bin at the back of the room. Kreacher seemed to do as little as possible unless Sirius ordered him so the container was overflowing with rubbish — but there was no brown paper wrapping paper or string. No dead hamster, either, Harry thought to himself. A quick perusal of the room revealed nothing out of the ordinary so he ran out — straight into Moody coming by with a big open box. There were various scrolls and books in the box but if there was a brown paper package included, it was hidden below, out of sight.

"Lost something?" growled Moody.

"What did Mr Weasley want yesterday?" Harry had blurted it out before he could stop himself.

Moody squinted at him, one-eyed, then glanced at the drawing-room doorway. "Were you listening?"

"Only in passing. Thought I heard voices."

"Potter, these are notes from Order meetings. Don't want to leave them around for Draco to find, do we? He's probably as inquisitive as you are." Moody stomped off along the corridor. "Presents. Gifts. That's the big secret so keep your nose out."

Yeah, like one special one wrapped in scruffy brown paper, Harry thought, but he kept his mouth shut. Maybe, just maybe, the Weasleys really had bought Ginny a pet for Christmas. Had there been any air holes in the package? Possibly. Then where had they put it? Or had Moody killed it? It made no sense. He frowned hard at the dowdy carpet on the landing, trying to think.

A picture entered his head of Ginny on Christmas morning, only a few weeks away. For some reason, the image was in the sitting room of The Burrow and Ginny was plucking apart a neat silk bow and a beautiful golden hamster with big adorable eyes popped out its head, and Ginny's face was illuminated with joy. And she was saying it was the best gift anyone had ever given her. What could Harry get to compete with that? He scratched his head. Not just Ginny, but what about Ron? A Quidditch racing broom? Hermione, a book? The others? Nearly everyone would get Hermione a book, he realised. What would be the one great book to beat them all! The book of books! And yet something personal... He scratched his head.

And then the solution came to him. It was so simple, and so obvious. His face lit up and he lifted his head... Moody was staring at him strangely from far along the passageway where he stood at the foot of the next flight of stairs up. He hollered back to Harry.

"Did Kreacher say anything to you last night?"

"No, why?"

"He's not spoken all morning."

"That's good isn't it? About time he shut up his grumbling."

"So I keep telling him." Moody held onto the stair rail, raised his good leg onto the bottom step then paused. "Have you ever told him?"

"Told him what?"

Moody struggled around again. "Did you ever tell him to shut up? More specifically, did you tell him last night?"

Harry started to shake his head. "Oh, yeah, I told him to be quiet because he was being a pain up the—"

There was a loud crash. Moody had dropped the box on the floor. Hard.

"Potter! Last night you told him to be quiet and he's not spoken since. Don't you realise what that means?"

"Er... this isn't anything to do with love potions, is it?"

"It means the elf regards you as his master now. It means that Sirius must have made a will!" Moody's one eye was unusually bright. "If we can find it then you, Harry Potter, are the new owner of 12 Grimmauld Place!"

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~~~ Loss Realised ~~~

"Me?" Harry frowned. "I don't want it." The idea of staying permanently in the house where so many memories of Sirius haunted its musty corridors was not appealing.

"But then Draco will get it."

Harry's jaw set very firmly. "No."

"Come with me then, Potter, we need to find the will and get it registered quickly or we'll have Narcissa and her brat around here faster than losing a greasy broomstick."

"But what about the protection on this address?" puffed Harry as he followed Moody up another three floors — he moved surprisingly quickly for a one-legged man.

"Good question. They would not be able to find the house but the Secret Keeper would be legally obliged to reveal it to the true owner."

"But Dumbledore's dead!"

Moody stopped outside a bedroom door with a nameplate reading Sirius. "When a Secret Keeper dies then everyone who knows the secret becomes a Secret Keeper. That's a lot of people in this case. Faced with court proceedings and possibly Azkaban — and you can bet the Malfoys would press heavily for the latter — someone like Mundungus Fletcher, and one or two others, might well plead they had no choice, especially if Veritaserum were authorised. That potion cannot overcome the Fidelius Charm but indirectly, the threat of what else it might reveal, might be enough to loosen someone's tongue. Which is why we have to find this will."

He pushed open the door and spun a floating ribbon of light from his wand. The first thing that caught Harry's attention was an abundance of posters covering most of all the walls — motorbikes, Muggle pinup girls, Gryffindor banners declaring Sirius's loyalty in faded red and orange. There were chests and wardrobes and a chair was overturned near the door. As he righted it, Harry felt a lump in his throat. Did this accident mark Sirius's flight to his doom? Had he grabbed his broomstick, ran outside the wards, then Apparated to the sky above Azkaban without a thought for himself?

And there it was: on the dressing table. It was all that Harry could see now through blurry eyes. A small hand mirror lay there looking very ordinary. So normal in fact that Moody could have no notion of its significance. He could be heard — in the background of Harry's racing perceptions — ferreting about and cursing. Harry picked up the mirror and slipped it into Hagrid's mokeskin pouch alongside his own. Surely it was his now after all, yet he glanced slightly shame-faced at Moody who had fallen silent on the other side of the room.

It had not taken Mad-eye long to find the document; it lay openly on top of a chest of drawers. Clearly, Sirius had intended that his testament be found easily.

"Everything. He's left everything to you, Potter. A substantial sum in Gringotts too, according to these other papers."

Harry felt sick. He didn't want to hear it. Looking around at all of Sirius's personal effects, even the way the pillow on his bed was askew, brought home to him, as nothing else had so far, what his godfather had meant to him. And secrets, and fears, and a trivial prank had soured their friendship in the last few months.

It was a terrible fight he had with himself, trying not to cry, even scream, openly as he followed a jubilant Moody downstairs. Mad-eye was just that sort of person: you didn't want to look weak when he was around.

After Moody had departed for the Ministry, Harry explained the situation to Ginny, increasingly choking up until his throat seemed to close completely and he couldn't speak at all. Ginny understood his feelings well and wouldn't judge him. He could cry quietly and naturally on her shoulder and let out some of the emotions and guilt and fear he now realised had been suppressed while he had been so busily preoccupied with staying alive.

They talked about Sirius for a long while but it could never be long enough to be decent. To turn one's thoughts to other matters, even after most of an hour, seemed a betrayal, but Harry's attention had turned to Ginny herself.

"How about you?" he said, and his voice was still a little gruff. "How have you been managing? Was it really dreadful on the Marinda? at the end?"

She nodded. "It was bad but once we'd bolted the doors and couldn't see the Dementors anymore then it was a little more bearable. I was still terrified though — we all were."

She shivered. Harry's arm had never been far from her shoulder and they eased along the couch nearer to the parlour fire.

"Perhaps it's how they look that is your worst fear," said Harry.

"That's what Luna said. She says it's not death I fear but the appearance of the figure of Death in that old storybook."

Harry held her hand.

She shuddered yet again — as if the memories would not leave her alone. "Harry, if ever... if for any reason I... might be sent to Azkaban... promise me... you'll... you won't let it happen."

"Ginny! No! What are you saying?"

"No matter what," was all that Ginny replied and Harry did not press her.

"Let's talk about something else," she said. "What did Moody have to say about Hagrid yesterday? Is that where they got the hamster? From Hagrid?"

"Mmm... no. It was only that they'd hidden a wireless inside a dead tree within the Forest's edge where Umbridge would never find it. Hagrid was in charge of it."

"So... any news?"

"Not really. Snape says Voldemort is now seen as so weak by those in the know, that he is still struggling to recruit replacements for his most senior Death Eaters — you know, the ones who died at Thrust and Parry's, as well as Pettigrew and Bellatrix."

"But I thought his influence was stronger?"

"Yeah, at the Ministry, supporters and sympathisers don't properly realise Voldemort's magic is not what it was. The Death Eaters play it down."

"So we ought to tell them in The Corrector that his forces are dwindling."

"Well, he's got a few new ones but Moody was scathingly critical."

"Why? Who?"

"Oh, I can't remember the names now. Erm... there was an old man he got out of a foreign prison — Grim... vault, something like that... uuh... Gregor somebody, oh, and Karkaroff — you remember he came to Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament? Moody said he was a Death Eater before but betrayed one of them. Mad-eye couldn't believe for one minute that he'd been forgiven for that. He reckons Voldemort never forgives."

"Yeah, but You-know-who must be desperate now then."

"Oh, and guess who else! I just remembered — Ollivander!"

"The wandmaker! I always thought he was a bit spooky but... are you sure?"

"Moody says he doesn't know if he'd been forced into servitude or corrupted, maybe a bit of both. Oh, yeah, one of the others used to be an important wandmaker as well so Mad-eye reckons Voldemort's cornered the market for quality wands."

"So where's everyone going to buy really good wands now then?"

Harry shrugged. "Dunno. It's just what Snape says anyway, and I wouldn't trust him further than I can cast a short spell in a small room. Remember that Pensieve he nicked?" Harry was thoughtful for a moment. "Reckon that's still up there?"

"Maybe it's yours now, Harry. You own this place. Are you going to stay here?"

"Me? Not likely. I prefer my... our house in Harby. Mind you, this little sitting room is quite cosy, don't you think?"

Ginny giggled and they huddled closer to try out Harry's new couch.

.

~~~ A Mutual Understanding ~~~

Remus Lupin was with Moody when he returned that afternoon. He had a crushed look about him and Harry regretted it had not been himself to break the news of Sirius's death rather than the gruff Mad-eye. Furthermore, Harry had not really spoken to Lupin since the first encounter with the Boggart when Harry had not held back his bitter mistrust of the professor. How could he make it up to him?

Moody held out several documents. "Enchanted and authenticated," he declared. "You are now the legal owner of the entire estate, house and assets."

Harry's gaze flickered back and forth between a copy of the deeds to the Black family home and the amounts shown on the Gringotts balance sheets. "All this? But..."

"It's the complete Black inheritance plus Sirius's personal account. Sooner you than the Malfoys, right, Potter?" He went off towards the kitchen. "Okay, if I put the kettle on?"

Harry nodded. Was Moody asking his permission? He stared at the will, visualising the word 'kettle' included in the word 'all'. He had it all. He tried not to look at Remus's shabby robes but he could not hide his own flush of awkwardness.

"Harry..." Lupin tailed off, unsure himself what to say.

Harry nodded and struggled to think of something. The topic of Sirius was like a great black hole in the road they both were circling around as if it was not there.

Ginny spoke first. "I didn't know Sirius that well but I liked him. You've lost him twice, Professor, that must be unbearable."

Lupin stared at her for a long, long moment. Harry was scared he would burst into tears and and Harry's brain seemed to freeze. Suddenly, he was finding a hundred things to look at in the parlour other than Lupin. He envied Moody but couldn't bring himself to sneak away after him to make tea.

Finally, Lupin said, gruff with emotion, "You're right, Ginny. I've been feeling how unjust my loss is, but really Sirius is the one who has suffered the greatest... unfairness." His words sounded stilted and clumsy so he gave up. "I wish I could have helped."

Harry could not hold back any longer. He looked Lupin in the eye. "That was not possible," he said softly.

Lupin returned Harry's stare with astonishment, whispering hoarsely, "You were there? You were at Azkaban?"

"Ginny, would you hold off Moody?" He did not wait for her reply but said to Lupin, "Can we talk privately?"

Lupin nodded and gestured to Harry to follow him. The drawing-room on the first floor was still locked when Remus tried it. "That's odd. They don't normally lock this." He tried the unlocking charm without success.

"Mr Moody and Mr Weasley were in here yesterday," explained Harry. A thought occurred to him. Madam Bones had said Moody designed the Azkaban beast cage protection, perhaps Mr Weasley knew the enchantment too.

"Emancipare Maxima!"

The door opened.

"You're full of surprises, Harry," said Remus.

Harry could not recall being in the drawing-room during daylight hours. The tall front windows provided views of the square as well as illuminating the room more pleasantly than when they had confronted the Boggart. The Black family tree tapestry was now evident, but Harry wasted no time on it.

"You deserve to know the truth, Remus, but this is for nobody else, okay?"

Lupin nodded, and they sat down in the chairs before the cold hearth. "Kreacher's not exactly enthusiastic about his work," muttered Lupin and reached forward with his wand to cast some coal from the scuttle and ignite it.

They sat gazing at the flames for a minute or two while Harry thought how much to tell Lupin.

"Yes, I was there at Azkaban," he said finally, "all six of us went."

He described the events that led up to Luna asking Sirius for help, omitting only any mention of the Horcrux locket.

"She thought he might tell us the way he got out, never dreaming that he would, or even could, come to help us."

"How? How did he join you?"

"He Apparated high above the anti-Apparation wards of Azkaban then just fell in, believe it or not. He scarcely broke his fall in time."

Lupin gasped, then smiled thinly. "That sounds like Sirius, alright."

"He led us out, but he went ahead. By the time I got out..." Harry paused, reliving the scene in his mind's-eye, "he was across the graveyard, distracting the Dementors while we escaped." Harry drew a deep breath. "I couldn't think straight, couldn't get past the fence — if only I'd thought of using my broomstick — Ron dragged me away..." He paused. "He was right, of course. I could not have helped Sirius. I'd have died with him and probably Susan would have drawn the Dementors to Ron and Luna. They all would have perished."

They watched the flames some more. Remus related a few of Sirius's earlier escapades when the Marauders attended Hogwarts, and their naive dreams for the future.

"Remus, I need your help," said Harry, at a convenient lull in the conversation.

"Anything, Harry, you know that."

"Two problems really. I've got an excess of finances and a shortage of—"

"Oh, no, I can guess where this is going..."

"No, it's not what you think. I'm not stopping here at Grimmauld Place and Moody's leaving so I'll need someone to manage it, keep an eye on it for the Order, kind of housekeeper job — it'd be paid out of the Black estate, of course. If you're interested, I'd tell Kreacher to follow your orders while you live here."

"Harry, that's very generous. I don't know what to say."

"The other thing is, sooner or later it's likely I'll have to face Death Eaters again. I have to keep on with defensive training, and so do my friends. Would you take up teaching us again? We've got a huge basement but one can't replace expert guidance. I'd pay the same rates as Hogwarts, of course."

"Harry..."

"Just say, yes."

"I'd be delighted to help," said Remus, quietly.

"That's settled then." Harry wrote down the address of his home in Harby Port and handed it to Lupin. "Memorise and destroy."

He watched while Lupin cast it into the fire and the flames soared up briefly.

"We've got a Boggart — the one from this room actually." He gestured to the old cabinet, then took a quick gulp of air.

"What is it, Harry?"

"Nothing, just..."

Harry went over to the cabinet. It was locked.

"Emancipare Maxima!"

There it was. A scruffy, brown paper package tied up with hairy string. A label was attached to it. Harry strained his neck into the cabinet to try to read it...

"Found what you're looking for, have you, laddie?"

Harry banged his head on the inside of the cabinet. It was Moody at the drawing-room door. He strode in and seized the parcel. "I'll take that. I'll be gone by tomorrow, if you were wondering. Lots to do."

Harry nodded as he watched the packet disappear into the folds of Moody's robes, then depart out the door as Moody stomped away.

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—oOo—

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Author's Notes

I'm re-reading the books and since writing the above, I read in PoA that Sirius swam to the mainland as a dog (the Dementors didn't notice his absence for a while) then visited Little Whinging (because Harry saw the dog in the street just before the Knight Bus arrived,) then he journeyed north to Hogwarts. It kind of suggests that Azkaban is not in the far north of the North Sea, somewhere east of the Orkney Islands, which is where I put it in my story, but is way down south, close enough to the coast for a dog to swim, probably not far from my Harby Port actually which is fictional and somewhere on the southeast coast of England. I always imagined Azkaban positioned in the colder, more hostile north. Anyway, I can't change my story now.

I wish to credit J K Rowling with a few of the lines which are brief, fair use, direct or modified quotes from Half Blood Prince (because I felt they were irreplaceable and the situation unavoidable) to preserve canon as closely as possible unless changed as a consequence of Chary's character.

Many thanks for all comments and reviews. These are most welcome and very encouraging. :)

- Hippothestrowl

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