Chapter 8

The Den

Harry woke up with the sun in his face the next day which was a new sensation after sleeping in the cupboard for 10 years, then moving to the small bedroom which barely caught any natural light in the evenings and then using the stuffy dark rooms in Grimmauld place for the better part of the last two weeks.

He felt around for his glasses and blinked the sleep away taking in his new surroundings. Hedwig hooted from her spot on a silver perch near the bookshelves.

'Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore.' He spoke to her as he got out of bed his bare feet hitting a fluffy rug. The room was painted a light yellow and it was the size of the Dursley's master bedroom if not bigger. He spotted his Gryffindor armchair sitting by the window, or was it door? It was too big to be a window, maybe a glass wall? No wonder he was woken up by the sun. He went to the window to look outside. There was a terrace, and was that a pool at the end of it? The garden beyond was green and lush with trees and bushes on either side of a lawn where Buckbeak was walking around casually. He turned to the book shelves. The books were mostly magical, although he recognized some titles that were Muggle for sure. The desk had a lamp on it and a framed photo. He picked the frame up. It was the photo of his parents' wedding. Harry smiled. There was another frame inside the bookshelves. It was one with him, Ron and Hermione when they were in first year.

He looked around remembering his trunk. He found it by the bed still unopened. He'd have to take the things out later. He needed the bathroom. He opened a door and stopped confused as it was not the bathroom but a walk-in closet. The clothes he and Sirius had bought the day before were already in there. Then he turned to the other door and remembered Sirius saying something that this was the bathroom. Yup, bathroom all right, only Harry froze. Who put huge windows in a bathroom? He managed to pee and wash his face feeling like he would see someone staring at him from outside any second now. He needed to install blinds. What was with all these windows? Leaving the confines of his room he went in search of Sirius. Before he found him however he found the living area with a huge modern fireplace and the dining all in one as well as the kitchen isle where his godfather cooked breakfast in a black t-shirt and shorts.

'Good morning sleepy head.' Sirius said cheerfully. His hair was tied at the back in a messy ponytail.

'Good morning.' Harry said confused. 'Where are all the house elves?'

'Ah, well, this place isn't accessible to house elves.'

'But my stuff…'

'Yes, well, that was done before the Fidelius took effect.'

'This place is under the Fidelius charm?'

'Yes.'

'But Kretcher…'

'It's not a normal Fidelius. It's slightly more restrictive, and when I say more restrictive I mean only you and I can get in and out of this place.'

'Who's secret keeper? You?'

'Nope.'

'But then how did I get here if it wasn't you?'

'The charm is called the Cypher Fidelius and it's not so much hiding a secret inside one soul as hiding bits of the secret in multiple souls.'

'I'm confused.'

'Think of it as a multiple lock on a safe.'

'So, how many are multiple souls?' Harry asked

'9 X 9'

'81?'

'No, 9 two times. Because there are two secrets, 9 for each secret.' Sirius flipped a pancake as he sprinkled seasoning on the omelette. 'There are 9 keepers for the location and 9 keepers for you and me at this location. To crack this place a person must be given the information from all 18 keepers in a specific order.'

'So how come I arrived here without anyone telling me where here is?'

'You and I are the secret. We don't need to be told, nor can we tell anyone.'

'And if we want to have friends over?'

'You can have them over at the Manor. At least for the next 9 years. That's the duration of the charm.'

'But the Floo network works.'

'Only between that specific fireplace in the Manor and only for us two.'

'Talk about security.'

'Yeah, I think I exceeded Mad Eye level of paranoia.' Sirius admitted.

'So we're safe here? Who are the 18 keepers?'

'No idea.'

'What?'

'They were picked through the Cabal and none of them know about the others, nor do they know of the order they have in the Cypher, or the entirety of the secret they are guarding. So we're safe even from them.'

'Who knows then?' Harry was really confused.

'Er, no one.'

'I'm going to take your word for it because it doesn't make sense at all.'

'Maybe it will make more sense after we eat.' Sirius levitated the food to the table and Harry joined him there.

'So if there are no house elves here, how did my clothes get inside the closet?'

'The secret began at midnight 14th August. Before that Tia placed your trunk and what we bought yesterday inside our rooms after she and the other house elves finished construction.'

'When did we get here?'

'12:01.'

'Why was I so out of it last night?'

'You tried that muggle drink Hughes had brought with him from the states.' Sirius pointed out.

'Oh…'

'Well, don't think that will happen again. I let you try last night but you're not drinking again until you're of age.'

'I think I'll stick to Butter beer anyway, that stuff had a funny taste.'

'Fire whiskey is worse, just so you know. Wizards are horrible spirit makers. And their cigarettes are pants too.'

'Noted.'

'On a happier note, you're a sleepy drunk which is good.'

'As opposed to?'

'A loud drunk, a whiny drunk, a depressing drunk.'

'What are you?'

'Used to be a loud drunk, but turned into a depressing one after Azkaban. Your dad was a sleepy drunk too.'

'When and how did you find out?'

'Er, Christmas holidays 4th year. We snuck out of the castle and got into the Hog's Head. Figured that place was safer than the Three broomsticks. Not true, just for the record.'

'I've never been there.'

'Well, if you do go, don't mention me to Abe. He's still mad at me from that night when I sort of ruined his prized Aztec goat statue.'

'His what now?'

'A goat statue he thought was from South America, it really wasn't. It was a cheap fake. Anyway. Where was I?'

'You snuck to the Hog's Head.'

'Yes, your dad and I convinced Remus and Peter to come along. We brewed an aging potion so that we looked of age and ordered a huge bottle of Fire whiskey. Three shots in, I was singing rather loudly but on key, my undying love to the Goat statue. Your dad was almost completely asleep, apparently to him it sounded like a lullaby. Remus was sulking that I cared about the goat more than I cared about him. And Peter was whining about something but I can't remember what exactly.'

Harry was laughing hard now.

'Wait there's more.'

'What? Don't tell me, Dumbledore walks in.'

'No, worse. McGonagall.' Harry's eyes grew big with mirth and horror.

'What did you do?'

'Well, by that time your dad was fast asleep. I saw Minnie and immediately dropped the statue and it shattered into tiny pieces before I turned my love singing towards her.'

Harry was now fighting to breath because of the laughter.

'Naturally she wasn't amused, but I was a happy drunk and couldn't care less so to her horror, and probably everyone else who knew her there in the bar, I dropped on one knee and confessed my undying love for her. Remus was the most sober one, I think it was probably because of him being a werewolf. He tried to stop me but Wormtail somehow managed to trip him and they both fell.'

'I'm afraid to ask how that turned out in the end.'

'Well, since it was the Christmas Holidays and back then we weren't specifically tied down to the castle it wasn't so bad. We got 20 points each for being out after curfew. And detention every day for a fortnight.'

'That doesn't sound so bad.'

'We thought so too. James concluded it was my singing that had done McGonagall in.'

'But why was she there in the first place?'

'Ah, well, that was because the Hog's Head is the worse place to be if you don't want to be heard or seen. It's quiet so anything you say is automatically heard by everyone else there. So they figured out who we were and alerted Minnie.'

'Wish I could have seen that.'

'Well, we can ask Remus for the memory. Mine is a bit fuzzy.'

'I'd like that.' Harry beamed. They finished eating and Sirius showed him the rest of the house. There was but one other bedroom, Sirius', a study, a training room and the large living area. Harry unpacked everything and put up the Gryffindor banner Dean had gifted him after they had won the Quiddich cup in his third year. It looked great hanging above his desk. Harry then decided to try the pool since he had never had occasion to swim much before. He was floating, admiring the clouds when his scar hurt and he lost his form and took in some water. He surfaced sputtering rubbing his forehead.

'What's wrong?' Sirius asked from his place at the table where he was reviewing some documents.

'My scar hurt. It's been doing that on and off all summer.' Said Harry shaking the wet hair from his eyes.

'You mean like it did last year?'

'Er, yeah, only without me being asleep for it. I'm guessing it's because Voldemort is back at full strength.'

'Did Dumbledore tell you anything about it?'

'He said it was because of the curse. That there's a connection between me and Voldemort through the scar. I can feel when he's close by or, well I guess now I can feel stuff randomly too. He can't be close, can he?'

'No, no he can't.' Sirius's frown didn't go away however.

'Do you know something about this?' Harry asked getting out of the pool.

'I'm not a curse expert or a healer, but I'd like to take you to one. Just to find out if we can't heal it or at the very least understand it better.'

'I guess, if you think it's necessary.'

'It would be best. I know a good medi-witch in France.'

'France? I've never been outside the island.'

'Do you want to go?'

'I guess, but we barely have two weeks until school begins again.'

'Let me worry about that.' Sirius grinned. 'You focus on finishing your homework.'

'You're serious about this? We're going out of the country with Voldemort back and everything?'

'Voldemort's supporters are all monitored and he'll not make a move out in the open just yet. I think it's safe for us if we take some precautions.'

'Such as?'

'Maybe get some disguises and go Muggle.'

'You mean by plane?'

'I've been once but it was semi magical. So what do you say? First vacation with your godfather?'

'More like first vacation ever.' Snorted Harry. Sirius's face fell and Harry sighed 'Yes, OK, I'll finish my homework as fast as I can and we can go.'

'Excellent.' Sirius got up. 'I trust you won't burn the house down if I go out for a bit to file these.'

'What are those?'

'Ah, well, some of them are me suing the ministry for wrongful imprisonment and some are me suing the Daily Prophet for slander on your behalf.'

'What!?'

'They will never write another word about you if they manage to not go bankrupt when I'm through with them.'

'Sirius, won't that make things worse?'

'Not likely. The law is on our side they aren't supposed to write about a minor without his or her guardian's consent and they know it.'

Harry grew uneasy.

'Do you think it can get worse than this?'

'Well, they could write horrible stuff about you too.'

'You mean like I'm a mass murderer and the next Voldemort?' Sirius shrugged 'Been there done that.'

And with that Harry decided to focus on something safer, like his potion's essay on Draught of the Living Dead.

Done with the Den. I like the idea of a multiple lock spell, and no, it isn't (even in my made up world) accessible to everyone. The fact that Sirius has access to Cabal resources made this type of Fidelius possible. It may or may not get a better description in the epilogue/sequel if I decide to expand it. IF being a very big IF. Anyway, as always review if you feel like it, new POVs are always welcome and have a nice day.