"Mr. Potter, where do you think you're going?"
It was the morning the Hogwarts Express left for London for the Christmas Holiday – Winter Break – and Harry was all smiles because he was headed for the city to spend the entire holiday with his godfather. When he heard Professor McGonagall's question, he turned back from the hallway where he was talking with Neville Longbottom, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, and Ernie Macmillan, waiting for their turn to ride to the train station.
Smiling, Harry explained, "Professor McGonagall, we're going to catch the train. I'm going to spend Christmas with my Dogfather."
"No, the headmaster restricted you to the castle," the stern professor replied as if that ended the matter. Harry's happy mood vanished for a moment, but then his friends rallied to his side.
"What? Dumbledore can't do that," insisted Ernie.
Susan Bones looked as if she'd swallowed something sour but said, "My aunt and I invited Mr. Black and Mr. Potter to our house for Boxing Day. She will have lots of questions for the headmaster if you illegally detain Harry."
Neville gathered his Gryffindor courage and said, "I know my grandmother will be upset by the headmaster limiting my friend from spending time with his guardian. Are Susan and I the next orphans the headmaster is going to lock up in Hogwarts?"
McGonagall's face resembled stone but her eyes reflected the anger she was about to unleash on four students when Pomona Sprout walked up with the list of students who'd signed up to return home for the Christmas holidays. Stepping between Minerva and the students, she asked, "What's the problem here? The train leaves shortly and you'll miss the ride. Miss Granger left with Miss Brown almost five minutes ago."
"Mr. Potter is not permitted to leave Hogwarts for Christmas."
Professor Sprout looked at her colleague as if she'd grown a second head. "Where in Merlin's treasure chest did you ever get that idea? Mr. Potter can leave for the holiday, just like any other student.
"Headmaster Dumbledore says that Potter is to remain here," Minerva insisted, not seeing the new deputy headmaster, Gregory Haight-Poole appearing behind her, his face displaying his confusion.
Motioning Susan to move away from the confrontation, Pomona huffed and said, "Let's find the old lemon drop old and let me yell at him."
"He's at the Wizengamot today. The vaults for Hogwarts are almost bare." Professor McGonagall focused on the other witch and didn't hear the students slip away. Once out the front door, the teenagers ran for the carriages and left for the station.
Pomona argued, "Minerva, you're supposed to be an advocate for the students, not Albus Dumbledore's lap dog…or pet cat in your case."
"I am deputy," she began to protest but then fell silent remembering she wasn't deputy headmistress any longer.
"Can't you be an independent witch?" asked Pomona.
"Professor McGonagall did Headmaster Dumbledore give you another illegal order?" asked Haight-Poole. "I thought we discussed this last week when you attempted to enter the Gryffindor Tower after curfew."
"I was Head of Gryffindor for forty years."
The wizard replied, "But the current prefects can't find any time that you held a house meeting. Or ventured into the tower unless it was something to do with Mr. Potter. It is very strange, Professor McGonagall."
The argument continued for another five minutes until Minerva turned around and realized the students had slipped away and were well on their way to the train. The witch turned back toward the deputy headmaster with her wand slipping into her hand. She hesitated when confronted by Haight-Poole's wand as well as Pomona Sprout's wand already in her face with spells prepped to fire.
Keeping his eye on McGonagall, Haight-Poole said, "Professor Sprout, I believe we must take Professor McGonagall where she will be checked for potions and compulsions!"
"I'm perfectly healthy!" argued McGonagall.
By the time Poppy Pomphrey confirmed that Minerva McGonagall was just her natural sour self without potions or compulsions, and Haight-Poole and Pomona made their sincere apologies, the Hogwarts Express was two hours into the trip back to London.
Change SCENE ^^^The same day the holiday began, Arthur Weasley appeared outside the gates of Hogwarts with his wife at his side late in the afternoon. Molly's lemon meringue pie flew from her hands to splatter over the bars of the gate and gravel. With the wound on her head that would not heal, Molly had discovered she was accident-prone and feared using apparition on her own.
"Arthur! That pie was the headmaster!" she screeched.
"Why didn't you shrink it and put it in a protected pocket?" he asked.
"The meringue never tastes right if you shrink the pie and then enlarge it again," Molly explained with a huff. "What will we do now?"
"We'll shop for a gift in Hogsmeade tomorrow."
"There's no money," Molly reminded him. "None of the children are getting any gifts this Christmas. The ministry cut your salary because there are no taxes being collected."
"At least, we'll be together as a family," Arthur replied.
Scowling, Molly complained, "Charlie never came home because the tournament was canceled, and he stayed with his stupid dragons. And because the bank's business is bad in Britain, Bill's gone again."
Arthur nodded. "He was transferred to South America to work on tombs around some silver mines. It's a good opportunity to make a name for himself."
"Bill wasn't in England for a month and wasn't the least bit sorry to leave again!" groused Molly. Arthur never mentioned that Bill and Charlie, both sent him money each month to help with food and other expenses with the taxes still not returned to normal levels to pay salaries.
Hagrid arrived and opened the gate to allow the Weasleys inside the wards. Fang, the groundskeeper's dog licked up the meringue and pie crust though he left the sour lemon filling.
Inside the Great Hall, Minerva welcomed the couple reluctantly and invited them to sit with their children at the Gryffindor table for dinner. Arthur noticed that Ginny sat with a few friends at the end of the table, Ron sat alone, and the twins were engrossed in conversation with a couple of friends even further up the table. Deputy Headmaster Haight-Poole was only informed of the visitors for Christmas after the couple was seated at the Gryffindor table.
"Why aren't you sitting with Ron?" Arthur asked his daughter after he hugged her.
Looking away, Ginny replied, "Ron's been in a bad mood all day. This morning, Potter left for London for the holiday and Ron's the only boy in the fourth-year dorm. He said he was going to beat Potter up and steal his cloak and bag of galleons if they didn't become friends again. He'll stuff his face with food for an hour and then force someone to play chess in the common room."
"But the headmaster said the boy would stay for Christmas!" Molly growled, with a drip of blood flowing from her hair onto her cheek and then down toward her robes. "I brought…I thought he was supposed to apologize to me and be friends with you children again."
Haight-Poole glared angrily at the former deputy headmistress hearing this conversation. While Minerva McGonagall remained silent, she imagined the curses she'd cast at Albus Dumbledore for inflicting the whole of the Weasel – Weasley – clan on her at Christmas. He would hide at the ministry every day while she had to deal with Molly's tirades.
With the Weasley parents in the castle, Deputy Headmaster Haight-Poole expected multiple problems. The first was when Molly insisted that she be provided with a kitchen and allowed to bake a lemon meringue pie for Albus Dumbledore.
"There aren't any kitchen facilities outside the kitchen in the dungeons," Haight-Poole explained.
"Oh, there must be some kitchen somewhere…everyone doesn't eat elf food here," Molly insisted. Snickering, Pomona admitted she didn't know how to boil water and loved the meals and desserts the elves made appear on her table.
"And that's why you never caught a wizard to be your husband, dearie," Molly replied. There followed a duel with Professor Sprout leaving Molly without any hair on her head for two days and a pronounced limp. Arthur apologized but the witch sneered and refused to hear it.
After Pomphrey repaired her new wounds and expressed concern over the cursed wound, Molly complained, "I don't understand why that stuffy witch got so bent about my comment."
Standing to one side with his wand in his hand, Haight-Poole explained, "A week before their wedding, Pomona's fiancé was killed during Grindelwald's only raid on Diagon Alley. Young Jason Greengrass led the defense of the alley and was killed. Pomona has his Order of Merlin First Class on the wall in her quarters."
Arthur sighed as his wife pretended the entire matter never happened. He was in the castle for two days before he ever saw Dumbledore. The headmaster came down from the head table to thank Molly for the delicious lemon meringue pie he'd enjoyed for dessert after dinner.
"But headmaster, the elves won't let me in their kitchen," Molly wailed, as she wiped away another dribble of blood.
The Weasley children were not pleased that their father remained involved with their lessons, but Deputy Headmaster Haight-Poole provided a classroom where Arthur and his four children worked on their holiday assignments, reading ahead, and for Ron, completing missed assignments.
CHANGE SCENERYHarry found Grimmauld Place to be dreary, but he and Sirius were there only to sleep so he managed to avoid the dirt and pests that appeared everywhere. Doxies infested one lounge and dust bunnies roamed underneath all the furniture. At lunch with Andromeda and Ted, she asked about the state of the house, and Sirius tried to sidestep the issue.
"Sirius, you can't expose Harry to danger and dust in Grimmauld Place. Your mother and her insane elf let the house go to ruin twenty years ago. What's going on there?"
The answers weren't acceptable, and Andromeda insisted that Sirius take Harry to the second floor or higher in the house.
"What second floor?" asked Harry. "Are there stairs?"
"Sirius has to show them to you. And the first two floors of the house are warded to make visitors uncomfortable and want to leave."
Sirius admitted, "I never felt comfortable in the rooms where my mother and father lived. And the elf is still there but is surly and argues."
Andromeda smiled and replied, "So change the rooms and be firm with the elf. What was his name…Kredit? Kroner?"
"Kreacher," replied Sirius.
"Call him here," Andromeda suggested.
Looking uncomfortable, Sirius asked, "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Kreacher! Come here!" commanded Sirius.
Harry was surprised by the bent posture and filthy towel worn by the house-elf that appeared in Andromeda's lounge. Her house-elf, Greenie popped into the room and stood between the visitor and her mistress. With another pop, Dobby appeared between Harry and the visitor.
"Disappointment son and bad witch joining forces against Kreacher," the elf declared.
"Kreacher," Andromeda began to say.
The elf threw himself down on the rug and yelled, "No! Bad witch betrayed Black family. Family is all that matters! She's not speaking to Kreacher!"
Dobby and Greenie popped away with the screaming elf, surprising the wizards and witches. The party was a bit dull afterward, but Andromeda promised to send over magazines with pictures of new wallpaper, furniture, and ideas for redecorating Grimmauld Place.
When they returned to Grimmauld Place, Dobby and Kreacher appeared with the announcement that Harry's belongings had been moved to the second floor. Harry and Sirius were pleased with the bright, clean room for the teenager. And once he was prepared for bed, Harry called Dobby and when the elf appeared, they talked for a long time about Kreacher and Sirius. Harry was reminded that technically he was the son of Sirius Black, and Kreacher was the primary elf in charge of the house at Grimmauld Place. The old elf could activate the wards, and clean or spread dirt.
"Dobby and Greenie talks with Kreacher. He be sad and old," Dobby explained. "His family used to be very large and powerful in Magical Britain. Nows just be Sirius Black with no babies but for Mr. Harry Potters, Miss Bellatrix-Crazy-Bat in Azkaban with no babies, Miss Cissy-Married-to-Malfoy with one baby who not be any Black."
"Do you mean Draco? Is he my cousin?"
"Yes and no, Mr. Harry Potters."
Thinking carefully about Dobby's descriptors for the Black cousins, he asked, "And what do you mean he's not any Black?"
Dobby rocked back and forth, pulled his ears, and couldn't explain. Then Kreacher appeared in the room and stated plainly, "Miss Cissy-Married-to-Malfoy not make any babies. Her worthless wizard husband chases other witches. One witch be pregnant and sends baby to worthless wizard. Miss Cissy-Married-to-Malfoy holds baby and loves it. But it not have any blood from Black family."
Thinking about all the things he'd been learning about Magical Britain, he asked, "Isn't there something about a blood adoption? Like Sirius being my blood-bound godfather."
Dobby nodded but again it was Kreacher who explained, "If Miss Cissy blood adopts, then baby not look like Malfoys with white hair or sneer. Can't inherit Malfoy vaults. But Kreacher knows that worthless wizard and son get fed to dragons if they goes to Gringotts and try to claim Black vaults."
The next few days, with Dobby's help, Harry talked with Kreacher about cleaning the rooms and also got Sirius to move up to the second floor with him. At Dobby's urging, they agreed to move Kreacher into new behaviors over the winter.
One afternoon after an argument with Sirius, Harry spoke with the elf and gave him strict orders. "Kreacher, there's something I'm ordering you to do."
"What's be mudblood son of dog son thinks he can tell Kreacher?"
Harry asked, "Is the Black family important to you?"
"Yes, filthy half-blood son of mud-blood witch."
Ignoring the insult, Harry stated, "And the only way for the Black family to grow strong again is if Sirius Black gets well enough to become Lord Black."
Kreacher remained silent until Harry prompted, "Is the Black family important to Kreacher?"
"Yes," insisted the elf.
"Then you will let Greenie Elf visit Sirius every day to give him potions. And you will make certain Sirius cannot get any Fire Whiskey or any other alcohol."
"No Fire Whiskeys? Disappointment yells at Kreacher if no Fire Whiskeys to drink."
"As the heir of Sirius Black, I order you to not let Sirius or anyone else bring Fire Whiskey into No.12 Grimmauld Place. Greenie will bring potions but no alcohol of any kind. If Sirius objects, tell him that Harry Potter gave you the order."
Frowning, the house elf nodded that he understood the orders. There was an argument between Harry and Sirius about the order and the older wizard tried to circumvent the order by summoning the elf and giving him new orders.
Shaking his head with a grin on his face, the elf said, "Kreacher can'ts. Black family must be strong again and youse no drink Alcohol until you become Lord Black."
Harry hugged his godfather and said, "Get well, Sirius. Then we'll throw a party and give you a drink."
CHANGE SCENE ***During the spring break, Harry returned to Grimmauld Place for ten days with his godfather and Kreacher. The elf didn't seem to be any better with his attitude and Harry worried that other things were influencing the elf. However, Sirius was much better. The wizard was getting exercise, eating properly, and talking with old friends.
During the holiday, on four consecutive nights (Dobby and Harry cooked large meals) where Sirius welcomed Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Alastor Moody, and Albus Dumbledore to gather around the table. Other people including Minerva McGonagall and other old wizards who were friends of Dumbledore appeared expecting to get fed. Two other Aurors appeared at different suppers. On the third night, Dumbledore attempted to bring the Weasels through the floo to attend the dinner but several things happened simultaneously that prevented that mistake from occurring: Hedwig appeared in the kitchen and swooped close to the floo, her wings fanning the flames into a frenzy that set the hair of everyone gathered at the floo at the Burrow aflame, Molly's wound reopened and a stream of blood poured forth, and Dobby Elf stamped his foot to close the floo for more than three hours.
It didn't matter what Dumbledore attempted or Sirius pretended to try, the fire in the floo could not be re-ignited. Each guest was forced to exit through the front door and use apparition (or muggle transportation) to return home that night.
Without any discussion, the Weasels did not attempt to attend the meal the next night. Dumbledore expressed his disappointment and Sirius simply ignored the headmaster while Harry plotted pranks to play on Albus and the Weasels.
In an effort to keep his eye on Harry Potter, Dumbledore invited himself and his friends around the dinner table in the kitchen of No.12 every night of the spring holiday.
There, Dumbledore often spoke in low whispers with Moody, Lupin, and Sirius but refused to discuss things with Harry. The witch who refused to be called by her name and demanded that others call her 'Dora' or just 'Tonks', appeared to enjoy talking with Harry while the grownups sat and drank tea after the meal. The second dinner when this happened, Harry realized the witch had been assigned the duty of distracting him from the conversations.
That night the conversations around the table in Grimmauld Place centered on the rumors of strange occurrences in various parts of Magical Britain, the dreaded words 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' were bandied about in the newspaper and through gossiping floo connections.
Then one old wizard, Dumbledore's friend Elphias Doge, complained there was no brandy, whiskey, or wine at the table. Sirius apologized but Harry spoke up, "Mr. Doge, you've been a guest at our table three times this week. You know there's no alcohol in the house. Why do you keep coming back if our offering is so poor?"
"Shut it, boy! You won't speak to me that way!" Doge replied. Drawing his wand, Doge vanished from the table.
Dumbledore fussed, "Harry, what did you do?"
"I didn't do anything, Headmaster," the teenager replied. Sirius also denied any knowledge of what happened to the cantankerous wizard and eventually Dumbledore learned his friend had been dumped in the park across the street from the house. When Doge attempted to enter the house by the front door, he was thrown across the street into the park once again.
This prompted a memory for Sirius who explained, "Since Harry's my son and heir, the wards around the house perceived Doge drawing his wand as a threat. They removed him from the house. I remember once when Malcolm Belvedere threatened my life for – uh – well, something with his daughter. The wards threw Belvedere out of the house without his feet. It took a long day at Saint Mungo's to get them reattached and the wizard lost an inch in height."
"This is most disturbing…and dark magic too!" Dumbledore insisted.
"Oh, you mean like the rumors about the Dark Lord You-Know-Who trying to return this spring?" asked Harry with as much innocence as he could muster.
"Harry! How do you know about that?" gasped Dumbledore.
Grimacing Harry stood and said, "Albus, when you refer to me properly as Mr. Potter, I might explain."
"Have you had more visions of the Dark Lord? Has anyone told you anything?" asked Dumbledore.
"I read the Daily Prophet, Albus," Harry replied, unwilling to talk about the goblins removing the magic from his scar back in August the previous year.
"Headmaster!" Albus insisted. "You should refer to me as headmaster."
"Then refer to me as Mr. Potter."
"But Harry, I've always thought of you as family."
"No thanks," Harry insisted vehemently. "I have enough terrible relatives and don't need another one. Sirius is the only family I claim."
The headmaster sighed and added, "And you've pushed away your best friends too. Ron and Ginny Weasley remain heartbroken that you dropped them."
Sirius stood up and said, "Well, that concludes the evening's entertainments. Everyone can make use of the floo or the front door."
"Sirius, there are still several topics to discuss," Dumbledore said.
A very fake yawn and stretch by Sirius was followed up by the wizard saying, "Save it for another night, Albus. My son and I are tired."
While the headmaster attempted to delay his departure by hectoring Harry about his friends, Sirius made certain every other visitor left. Once the other visitors departed and Dobby locked the front door, Sirius pointed to the floo and insisted the headmaster leave.
Disgruntled to be ordered about, Dumbledore used a large handful of floo powder, and the green flames shot out of the fireplace to scorch the walls and ceiling of the kitchen. The flames also burned through a dozen listening spells placed around the room. As always, Dobby removed tracking spells from the clothes and shoes worn by Harry and Sirius after the guests left the house.
"Can we avoid company for the rest of my holiday?" Harry asked. "We can play cards, look at old maps, go to the cinema, or go to the country and fly."
"We can't go out," Sirius replied. "But I agree that there'll be no more dinners. Those people can eat a fortune in food in a week's time! But the threat of Death Eaters is real. Tomorrow is the equinox and Dumbledore thinks Riddle will make his move then."
"Okay," Harry replied with the deep sigh of a disappointed teenager. Sirius hugged him and then put out the flames in the floo.
"Now, this is a Black Family secret," Sirius said as he pulled a large metal platter off the mantel. Dobby popped in to quickly clean the platter of soot before handing it back to the wizard. "To secure our home, we have many powerful wards. But to close the floo to all visitors and prevent anyone from remotely attempting to start the fire in a cold fireplace, we have the Black Salver."
"The what?" asked Harry.
"Salver…another fancy word for a platter," Sirius said as he fitted the large metal dish into grooves in the fireplace. It provided a flat surface almost two feet above the stone hearth. "Anyone who tried to floo in gets chopped in half if there's a fire in the floo. My grandfather said it's very messy."
"And if there's no fire when the Black Salver is in place, and a wizard (cough) Dumbledore (cough) attempts to cast a spell through the floo and start a fire here so he can invite himself inside, the flames bounce back ten times stronger."
"His fancy robes would burn away."
"And his weird wand too," laughed Sirius.
CHANGE SCENERY – SPRING EQUINOXOwls arrived with letters from Remus Lupin and Albus Dumbledore the next day, but Sirius and Harry ignored them. Dobby fixed a marvelous breakfast, tasty lunch, and scrumptious dinner for the two wizards who enjoyed the quiet day. Harry praised Kreacher for cleaning the first-floor hallway but then met the portrait of Sirius's mother who'd been asleep since her death ten years earlier.
"There's a great disturbance in magic today!" Walburga Black declared when she woke for first time. She blinked at Sirius, snarled, and then reminded him she'd hoped that Azkaban had killed him. When introduced to her only grandchild, the half-blood Harry Potter, the witch began a rant that continued for twenty minutes until Harry managed to close the curtains around her portrait.
The day after the equinox, there was a press conference where the Ministry for Magic revealed to a horrified Magical Britain that the Dark Lord He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had returned. The next day, the pictures of the ritual, the dead witch, Lucius Malfoy's broken body, and the stone cauldron in the Daily Prophet were disturbing but the photo taken from Alastor Moody's memory of the tubby Dark Lord was ludicrous.
Harry wondered, 'How is Tom going to terrify people when he looks like a bog roll? Or a toad?'
CHANGE SCENEIn his room the evening before he returned to Hogwarts for the spring term, Harry and Kreacher spoke at length about the elf's strides forward and how proud Harry was of his work.
"Now, Greenie will continue to bring potions to Sirius, and you must be vigilant and not let any of the visitors bring in any alcohol. Pour it down the sink in front of them but don't let anyone in with wine, beer, liquor, or fire whiskey."
As hopeful as Dumbledore pretended to be for someone's redemption, Dobby believed the house-elf Kreacher would be restored to the right frame of mind by summer.
END SCENE