The next day, around 9 in the morning, the Weasley children, along with Molly, arrived at The Marauder's lair so they could all go together in his other house, through his chimney which was large enough to fit 4 or 5 people standing inside. Of course Fred and George used their powers and 'popped' in front of the door, in the only spot they could appear in.
"Thanks again for coming." Sirius told Molly.
"Of course, dear, we're happy to help. Plus, the house is well taken care of with Winky in charge. I'll never thank you enough for what you did. I'm going to find myself with so much free time, I'll finally have time to take on a hobby. She, too, is happy to be with us." Molly replied.
Arthur and Bill, with the help of Fred and George, had built Winky's room the previous night and the elf had cried in joy when she saw it. It was not too big, but not too small either and they even told her that she could settle it the way she wanted. She definitly seemed to like belonging to them already. Of course they warned her about Fred and George's jokes and she agreed to be careful around them, though they did promise to be respectful and to not try to scare her. they knew how much it meant to their mother.
"You don't have to thank us, after everything you've done for Harry and the rest of us." Sirius waved it off before he showed them inside.
They all greeted each other and took the chimney, one by one. Once they arrived, Sirius decided that it would be best to make groups so they could search and clean the different rooms.
"We need someone responsible in charge of each group so we'll have Molly, Remus, Dobby and me." Sirius declared.
Of course Dobby immediately had tears in his eyes, happy to be treated as though he was equal to a responsible wizard. He wasn't used to it and it touched him.
"You, responsible? That's a new one. There's a reason Dumbledore never made you prefect. The school wouldn't have survived." Remus chuckled, making the teens smile in amusement.
"One rule you need to remember in this house, keep quiet while in the corridor. There's a large portrait of my mother that we can't take off and she's… very vocal about her dislike of the people who have been coming here lately. She could teach you some new vocabulary that would make Molly wash your mouth with soap if you used it." Sirius told them, pretending he didn't hear Remus.
"Have you tried everything to take her off?" Molly asked him.
"Everything the combined minds of the order members could think of, including Dumbledore. Moody even tried to Avada Kedavra her and it didn't work, just made her laugh like a maniac." He nodded, looking defeated.
"What about muggle ways? You know, products that can dilute glue or things like that? I know that aunt Petunia had pretty strong stuff under her sink to take off glue or paint. It usually stinks but it works well. Maybe even Acid as a last resort…" Harry suggested.
"Or cut the wall around her." Rose suggested too.
"You might have a point, I'll suggest it to Albus later. Until then, let's make the teams." Sirius nodded.
"I suggest we separate Fred and George, they'll work better if they're separated." Molly declared, making her sons frown and say:
"It's like you don't trust us or something." Fred joked.
"I'm hurt." George added.
"How about George goes with me and Fred goes with Remus?" Sirius suggested, knowing they'd be more serious if they were both with a marauder.
"Rose comes with us." Fred declared immediately, trying to make it sound natural.
"Fine with me. So Molly, with Ginny, Harry and Ron with Dobby, George with me and Fred and Rose with Remus. If you cross Kreacher, just ignore him. If he poses any problems, call me. If you have a doubt about something being dark or dangerous, chances are that it is dark and dangerous, so just but it in the danger box and we'll sort through it all later." Sirius decided and everyone nodded, took their instructions and spread around the house.
The next few hours went by nicely.
They sorted through potentially dangerous objects, books that would be better destroyed and clothes that sometimes tried to kill them. They also destroyed some creatures that had made a nest in this house. Fred and George happily put aside a few of them that they planned to use on products for their joke store. They had to do it behind their mother's back and were glad to see that the others seemed willing to keep the secret for them.
Rose blushed a lot during this cleaning, mostly because Fred seemed to take any occasion to flirt with her while Remus looked with a smile, amused by the boy's behavior. Rose didn't know if Fred was this way with everyone or if he acted differently just because it was her but she liked the attention, especially this kind of attention and especially when it came from him. Though his attention had been especially welcome when en empty jewlery box that had belonged to Sirius' grandmother tried to take a bite out of her and got stuck in her hair. Fred had been able to hold it back with Remus stun the box.
"Definitely in the dangerous pile." Rose ended up saying, making them chuckle.
.
When the time came for them to eat lunch, they were joined by Tonks and Dumbledore. Winky brought them a lot of various sandwiches and they all went in the clean kitchen to eat them. Dumbledore would look through the dangerous objects to see what they'd do with it.
Harry and Rose used this opportunity to see if Harry's mental defenses were strong enough, if Rose had taught him the right way and if he had been able to follow her advices fully. According to the headmaster, it was strong enough to start but could use some more work. With time, they'd grow stronger and Harry would be fine. He did compliment the Potter twins on how well Harry had progressed in such a short amount of time.
"Kreacher seemed to have been everywhere this morning but he didn't do much cleaning." Molly noticed.
"I know, it's often best to just ignore him, Dobby checks his bedroom every night and if he takes anything that could be dangerous, he takes it back." Sirius replied.
"The good thing is, Sirius, your old bedroom hasn't been touched. They probably haven't opened it since you left it. It's covered in dust and several different life forms seem to have taken residence there but everything is still in place. There are a few things you might want to take with you, memories, old letters, pictures..." Remus informed him.
"Cool, there might be a few interesting things in there, you're right, I think I left all my letters from James there, maybe even a few from Lily. Harry and Rose would probably love to read them. Maybe even some old pictures of us. What about Regulus' room?" Sirius asked.
"We haven't been in yet. We'll see this afternoon." Remus replied.
"I doubt it's covered in dust. I'm ready to bet you anything that Kreacher actually cleaned this room, my brother was always his favorite." Sirius smiled bitterly.
"We're done, do you mind if we go upstairs again? This way George and Harry can see your bedroom too." Rose asked her brother's godfather who nodded.
Leaving the adults downstairs, Rose led them all upstairs to Sirius's bedroom. As soon as George was inside with his brother, they reminded Rose of the term 'fan girl' with their behavior.
"Whose bedroom is this one?" Ginny asked her friend while the boys looked around Sirius' old bedroom and Harry read over an old letter that was signed by his mother after Rose pointed it out to him.
"I think it's Regulus'. Come on, let's check it out." Rose suggested and the two girls entered the bedroom.
Just like Sirius had guessed, it was untouched but clean. There was absolutely no dust anywhere to be seen. Looking at the room, you'd think he had just left it and would come back at any moment.
"You can't be here, get out of this room!" Kreacher complained as soon as he appeared in front of them, not letting them look in the room for more than a few seconds.
"I can look if I want to Kreacher, Sirius told us that we could. We're not planning on destroying or stealing anything, I promise, we just want to look." Rose replied kindly.
"No you can't! This is my Master Regulus' bedroom, I won't let you traitors dirty it! My master was a brave boy, a good boy. He died fighting the Dark Lord and you're not worthy of him! Get out, get out, get out!" Kreacher yelled.
"He died doing what?" Rose asked, surprised, while Ginny, a bit afraid of the house elf, ran to get the adults and the boys came to see what this was all about.
Soon, Rose found herself with her brother on one side and Fred on the other. George and Ron were behind her too, she could feel their presence. For once, the twins looked serious, ready to protect and defend her and Rose noticed that Fred had one hand on her shoulder, ready to pull her back so he could stand in front of her if necessary.
"You're a nosy girl! Leave this room now!" Kreacher snarled.
"What is all of this about? What's going on here?" Sirius asked with a loud voice as he arrived, followed by Molly and Albus while Remus had left a few moments ago to buy, in a muggle store, what Harry had suggested earlier to try and get rid of the painting.
Tonks was supposed to get back to work but she decided to walk a bit of the way with Remus before that. She also wanted to relay an invitation from her mother to Sirius, since they were cousins. She kept forgetting to do it and was about to do it when they were called upstairs.
"Kreacher just wants to prevent us from entering this bedroom but he let it slip that Regulus died fighting Voldemort, but it doesn't make sense, Sirius. You told us that he was a Death Eater and that he was killed by other Death Eaters for his cowardice near the end of the war..." Rose explained.
"All I know of my brother's last days is that he was killed by Death Eaters, but it could have been Voldemort. I just know what I heard from the other prisoners of Azkaban. It happened after I got there. What do you know Kreacher?" Sirius asked his elf.
"My poor master was a brave boy, a good boy. He tried to do the right thing and it got him killed and Kreacher couldn't do anything to save him because he ordered Kreacher to leave him..." Kreacher complained.
"Allow me, it'll be easier and much faster than having to force him to tell us everything, especially if he's reluctant." Dumbledore offered and he entered the elf's memories.
"Is he entering his head?" Ron whispered to his mother.
"I think so, come on now, give them some room." Molly nodded before she pushed her children out of the room to give them some privacy and space while they discovered what this was all about.
After a few minutes, Albus let go of the elf and they both took a few steps back.
"Albus, what is this about?" Sirius asked the old wizard.
"Your brother… He had one of the Horcruxes, Sirius! Voldemort took Kreacher to hide one and, when he came back, your elf told his young Master what Voldemort had asked of him, what they had done. Kreacher was greatly weakened and your brother got curious, insisted to know what was going on. Regulus knew that it was wrong to do this kind of magic and he was starting to see the kind of man Voldemort truly was so he went back with Kreacher to show him the way. He loved Kreacher and didn't want him to be poisoned again so he drank the poison to reach the Horcruxe. While an house elf's constitution allowed him to survive the poison, it killed your brother slowly and very painfully but he ordered Kreacher to destroy the medallion which held the Horcruxe. This elf covered for your brother's death according to his last wishes and did everything he could to obey but failed." Dumbledore explained with a growing smile.
"Kreacher, we're trying to do the same thing! There are more objects like the one Regulus wanted to destroy and we're looking for them, trying to destroy them. We actually know how to destroy them. Harry here already got one destroyed!" Rose told the old elf gently.
"You do?" He asked, looking between Sirius and Dumbledore who nodded.
In a pop, Kreacher was gone and he came back a couple of seconds later, with a closed box in his hands.
"This is the medallion Master Regulus died for and asked me to destroy." He declared, giving the box to Dumbledore who took it and closed his eyes.
"It's definitely one." The old headmaster nodded.
"What happens when Voldemort realizes that it's gone?" Rose asked.
"He won't, Mistress Rose. Master Regulus hid a copy in the place of this one and he believed that by the time the Dark Lord tried to look for them, it will be too late." The elf replied, suddenly looking nicer.
"Did Regulus know how many Voldemort created?" Albus asked in a small voice, as though he feared the elf's answer.
"He believed the Dark Lord planned to create 7 of them." Kreacher replied, making Albus nod gravely.
"Kreacher, I know this is important for you, would you like to destroy it yourself?" Sirius asked the elf, suddenly feeling like maybe he could get along with him.
"Poor Kreacher has tried and failed, Master Sirius, so many times... Too many times to count..." He replied, shaking his head.
"We'd give you a weapon to destroy it, of course." Albus offered.
"Kreacher would be honored to do it, Masters."
"That's settled then. Come with me, I have what we'll need in my office, back at the school." Dumbledore replied and the elf popped away with the headmaster.
"Maybe he'll actually end up doing some cleaning now." Sirius whispered before he made them all go back to work, closing his brother's bedroom door once more.
"Wait Sirius, what if Regulus did some research on the other Horcruxes? Maybe there's something in here to help us figure out what the other ones are..." Rose suggested.
"I know, I'll look through it later. Or maybe Remus will, he's been researching the subject, he'll be more efficient." Sirius nodded.
What did you think of this one?
Too easy?
Lorelei Candice Black