"To your right is the library sir," said Therane the house-elf as he gestured towards a pair of broad doors.
"My name is Harry, not sir," Harry told Therane for what seemed to be the hundredth time since Therane had volunteered to give Harry a tour of Valahost Hall.
"As you wish sir," Therane.
Harry silently sighed. Therane wasn't being rude. He was just being. . . formal. Harry turned his attention towards the doors and opened the one on the right and stepped in with Therane following him. He quickly scanned the room for anything interesting. The library was just about the same size as the Hogwarts library. The only difference was that all the books looked ten times older than those at Hogwarts. "Lead on please." Harry instructed as they exited the library.
Therane led Harry another couple of hundred feet down the hallway and stopped at another door. "This is your private study sir."
Harry opened the door and entered the room. There were a couple of bookshelves filled with various reference and fiction books. In the center of the room sat a desk with a throne-like chair. Around the room were tables with various instruments. Harry recognized several has Dark detectors. He had no idea what the others were. "This looks nice," Harry commented as they left the room and headed on.
The pair climbed up a staircase and came to the top floor. It was rather bare and looked very unused. "This is the final floor sir. It's used for spare bedrooms when all of the others are filled as well as storage."
Harry raised his eyebrows. In case they ran out of rooms? There must have been at least thirty guest rooms on the third and fourth floor. "What about the towers?" Harry inquired. There were seven towers. Each of equal height. At least, according to the other elves he had met in the kitchen. One for each corner of the castle.
"We can go up one of them if you wish sir. The north tower is the closes to our position though." Therane said.
"The north tower it is then." Harry said agreeably.
Therane led Harry to a stone spiral staircase from where they climbed to the top. They opened the door and stepped out onto the broad top. Harry promptly walked over to the battlements to get a view of the surrounding countryside. "No wonder this place is so secret," Harry muttered quietly to himself. "There's nothing for miles! It's all forest and sea!"
He scanned the borders of the castle estate. The castle sat on the edge of a very steep cliff. There was a deep ravine on the other side. Basically the castle sat on a miniature plateau. On the forest side there was a bridge that led to the castle, or at least partway. It seemed that there was a drawbridge for the last hundred or so feet. The drawbridge was currently up. Harry turned back towards the sea. "Do any ships ever come by?" he asked Therane.
"Not close enough to see the castle sir," Therane replied. "Special magic and charms repel ships unless the master, you, allows them to come. Beneath the cliff is a secret harbor. When darkness once ruled this land the port was used to smuggle supplies and people in and out."
Harry's attention was drawn away from the sea as a bell sounded from bridge stretching over the ravine. He turned and noted a figure standing on the edge. The person appeared to be signaling Harry. "What do you want!" Harry called.
"Hello Harry! How about letting me in?" a familiar voice yelled back.
"Professor Lupin!" Harry yelled excitedly. "I wasn't expecting you so soon!"
"You've been here all day!" Lupin yelled back.
Harry looked down at his watch. Lupin was right! It was nearly time for dinner. "How do I let you in?" Harry called. "Can't you just Apparate or use a portkey?"
"The castle has wards just like Hogwarts Harry! You need to let the drawbridge down." Lupin hollered.
Harry turned to Therane. "How do I get the drawbridge down?"
"You could go down to the gatehouse sir, and pull the drawbridge lever. . ."
Harry turned to rush down the tower, through the castle and to the gatehouse.
". . . or you could just tell the ring to put it down." Therane replied.
Harry stopped in mid footstep and gave Therane an annoyed look. Harry lifted up his left hand, looked at his ring and concentrated. Let the bridge down, let the bridge down, Harry thought as he looked at the ring. The ring gave a slight pulse of heat and suddenly the chink-chink of chains could be heard as the castle's drawbridge was let down.
"Thanks for the tour Therane." Harry said graciously. He then rushed down the tower and towards the front entrance to great Professor Lupin.
* * * * * * *
Harry and Remus Lupin sat at the center table in the main dining room of Valahost Hall. The house elves had seen fit to prepare a scrumptious supper for the pair.
"The Weasleys will come to stay in two days Harry. Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley will see to setting up the headquarters." Professor Lupin informed Harry as he passed him the potatoes.
Harry nodded. "Will you be staying as well?"
"I'll try Harry," Lupin replied. "I will be doing a few things for the Order so I won't be able to stick around all that much."
Harry put down his fork and sighed in disappointment. Every since Sirius's death he had been longing more for the company of his parent's friends. Who knew if they would be the next one to be killed?
"Don't get too sad Harry," Lupin replied in a cheerful voice as he picked up a goblet and took a sip of pumpkin juice. "You'll be seeing me for the rest of the year. Dumbledore has asked me to step in as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher again."
Harry brightened up considerably. "Really? That will be great. That Umbridge lady was horrible! She didn't teach us a single thing worth remembering!"
Lupin gave Harry a knowing smile. "That doesn't mean that you and your friends stopped learning plenty of defense, did it?"
"You know, don't you?" Harry said grinning. "I'll miss those lessons though. They were great. I looked forward to them all week. Til that dumb sneak betrayed us."
"Maybe you won't miss them as much as you think. . ." said Lupin, giving Harry a wink.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry demanded.
Lupin only smiled. "You'll see Harry, you'll see."
"So did you know that I owned this castle?" Harry asked Lupin.
Lupin nodded. "Yes, I knew. Not many know though. The Potter family has owned this castle for generations. It hasn't been the official residence for quite a while however. You family mainly used this for private retreats away from everyone. Or a place of shelter in time of danger. James, Sirius and I used to spend much of our summers in this place. Even Lily came one summer."
"What did guys do here during the summer?" Harry asked, digging for more information about his father.
Lupin grinned. "Oh, you know. Marauder stuff and all that. This whole castle is filled secret passageways, secret rooms. Even a secret treasure vault. We used to spend a lot of time hunting for the vault. It was nearly impossible to find. When we did find it, we couldn't get in it! That was certainly a waste of time. It took us two whole summers."
"What's in the vault?" Harry asked in a fascinated voice.
"I don't know," Lupin shrugged. "Probably more galleons than you could ever spend in a lifetime for one. Probably other things as well, maybe just as valuable as money, maybe even priceless."
"Do you remember where the vault is?"
Lupin shook his head. "I'm afraid not Harry. I'll tell you one thing though. It's supposedly a lot easier to find if you need to find it. Not just want, need. Don't waste your time looking for it though. You won't find it."
Secrets, secrets, and more secrets, though Harry to himself in an irritated manner. I bet Dumbledore knows the precise location of it. "I'll have other things to do I suspect." Harry said offhandedly.
Lupin smiled. "Have it your way Harry. As for me, it's getting late and I shall go to bed." Harry nodded and sat in the dining room thinking about Sirius and his family long before heading to his own room the elves had shown him.
He climbed into his broad four poster bed and fell fast asleep, only to have more disturbing dreams about Lord Voldemort.