Author's note: Once again, many thanks to all my reviewers. A. Troll, I'm glad Moody's posters reminded you of the Uncle Sam posters from WWII, because I had them in mind when I was writing about the posters in the Ministry. At first I wanted them to be more obviously like the Uncle Sam posters, with a pointing figure, but I couldn't decide on a figure from the wizard world that would be the equivalent of Uncle Sam.
Chapter 3 - The Will
Not long after I first met Him I was very much in love. I didn't tell many people about this. I may have mentioned him to some friends, but after I'd left Hogwarts I didn't see them very often and wasn't as close to them as before.
As for my family, they had already left Britain at the time so there were not there to warn me not to be foolish. Of course, even if they had been able to warn me, I probably wouldn't have listened.
Since you will probably never meet your grandparents from my side, I should explain to you the reasons for their leaving Britain. My parents both came from proud pureblood families. Like so many purebloods, they distrusted Muggles and believed they were inferior to magical folk. They taught me to avoid Muggles and keep the wizard world secret from them, but they also taught me never to use my advantage of magic to harm Muggles.
When the Dark Lord's rise to power began, they believed it to be a good thing at first. They thought he was going to restore a lost dignity to pureblood wizards. However, soon they learned about the murders and tortures committed by him and his followers, and they were disgusted.
However, they didn't like the opposing side either. Dumbledore was the Dark Lord's strongest opponent, and they believed he was undignified and a disgrace to the wizard world. To avoid being forced to make a decision, they bought a house in the south of France and moved there as soon as I finished my last year at Hogwarts. They wanted me to move there with them immediately. I told them I would follow them eventually, but I wanted to spend some more time in Britain first.
I thought it was going to be the best year of my life. I was young, pretty, free from the influence of my parents but with enough of their money to be able to live comfortably. I knew that the Dark Lord and his followers were dangerous, but I was a pureblood and I thought I had no reason to worry. I was just going to live my life and ignore the fact that he existed.
As I was about to learn, the Fates have a cruel sense of irony.
--
Harry entered the room with a sense of unease - a year ago, Arthur Weasley had led him to another room in the Ministry to attend his disciplinary hearing for breaking the International Statute of secrecy. Although he wasn't guilty of anything this time, the situation seemed unnervingly similar.
However, the setting was completely different this time. Instead of the large, imposing courtroom his hearing had been held in, he found himself in a simple office panelled with wood. Three people were sitting together at a large oak table and talking; the atmosphere seemed to be quite relaxed. One of the three people was Dumbledore, and Harry realised he was, despite everything that had happened, glad to see him.
One of the other two people was a thin elderly woman, who beamed at Harry.
"Ah, you must be Harry Potter! Please, sit down. Nice to see you, Arthur. We can begin immediately if everyone is ready."
Harry and Mr Weasley took their places at the table. Dumbledore looked at Harry over his half-moon glasses; there was a kind expression in his blue eyes, but he was not smiling. He must have guessed that Harry wouldn't like anyone to behave too happily on this occasion.
"Harry, I would like you to meet Elspeth Limmeridge, who will represent the Ministry in this reading. And this -"he nodded towards the third person, a solemn-looking man with curly grey hair "- is Tobias Grimwig, the law-wizard who was entrusted with Sirius's will."
"How do you do," Harry said politely but a bit too fast, looking somewhere between Mrs Limmeridge and Mr Grimwig. He knew that hearing words written by Sirius, even if it was an impersonal legal document, was going to be painful.
"Let us begin!" Mrs Limmeridge said in a business-like voice, opening a large book with yellowing pages that lay in front of her and taking a quill in her hand.
"The twenty-fifth of July, nineteen-ninety-six," she said aloud while writing the date on a clear page of the book, in a flourishing handwriting. "The reading of the last will and testament of the late Sirius Black" She proceeded to list the people present and then said:
"Please, read the will now, Mr Grimwig."
The grey-haired wizard pulled his wand out of his robe pocket and pointed it at a sealed scroll of parchment lying on the table. He said:
"Signum frangeo!"
The seal broke and the law-wizard unrolled the piece of parchment. He began to read, in a very grave and formal manner:
"I, Sirius Erasmus Black,
request that my belongings be, in the event of my death, distributed as follows:
What remains of my family's collection of Dark magical objects, to be given to the Order of the Phoenix to use whatever they can for studying the Dark Arts and preparing for defence. I trust them to destroy everything they are unable to use.
The key to my vault at Gringotts bank and all the money in the vault I leave to my godson, Harry James Potter.
My family's home I leave -" Grimwig stopped reading at this point and looked at Harry, raising his bushy grey eyebrows.
"This is a somewhat peculiar situation, Mr Potter. The location of a house is normally specified in a will to make it clear which house we are talking about. However, the late Mr Black refused to write anything else but my home. I trust that you know which home he was referring to?"
Despite of the quiet and respectful tone of Grimwig's voice, the words the late Mr Black made Harry feel as if salt was rubbed on his wound. Without thinking, he nervously hurried to answer:
"Yes, I know. It's in..." He stopped, suddenly confused. The location of the house was on the tip of his tongue, but he wasn't able to shape it into words. It was on a square, wasn't it? Or a street? A park, perhaps? In that town - a quite big town - the same town they were in now, wasn't it?
Puzzled by the games his brain was suddenly playing with him, Harry shrugged apologetically. Then he remembered that he probably wasn't allowed to say the address of Sirius's family home even if he was able to remember it - it was meant to be a secret.
He glanced at Dumbledore with embarrassment. The old wizard didn't seem to be angry with him. On the contrary, he looked rather amused.
"I apologise," Dumbledore said to Mrs Limmeridge, "but I need to speak to Harry in private for a moment."
Elspeth Limmeridge nodded and Dumbledore stood up and walked just a few steps away from the table. Harry followed him. Dumbledore took out his wand, waved it and said:
"Silencio!"
"They can't hear us now," he told Harry, lowering the hand in which he held the wand. "I'll be very short. The reason you were not able to say the address of Sirius's home is that it is still under the Fidelius charm. You know where it is, but you are not able to communicate it to anyone else - only I, as the Secret Keeper, am able to do that."
"Oh. Yes, of course," Harry said. He realised he should have remembered that himself.
"That is also the reason Sirius wasn't able to be any more specific when he was writing the will."
Harry nodded to show that he understood, and Dumbledore waved his wand once more to break the Silencing Charm. They returned to their seats at the oak table, and Mrs Limmeridge said:
"Well, that was quick. Please continue, Mr Grimwig."
Tobias Grimwig coughed and continued reading in a solemn voice:
"My family's home I leave to my godson, Harry James Potter, with one further request that is explained in a private letter enclosed with this will. That letter must be given to my godson on the day when my will is read, and is not to be seen by anyone else."
Harry stared at the polished surface of the table before him, trying to understand fully what he'd just heard. He didn't expect this at all. It had never occurred to him that he might become the owner of the house at Grimmauld Place.
The law-wizard went on reading:
"I also leave my pet to Harry James Potter, either to take care of it himself if he is willing and has the means, or to provide it with a suitable home." Once again he lifted his eyes from the scroll of parchment and looked at Harry. "Again, it isn't specified which pet this is, but I trust that Mr Potter knows it?"
"I do," Harry said shortly. He was concentrating much better now on what he should and what he shouldn't say, and he remembered in time that while Sirius's name had been cleared, Buckbeak was still a fugitive condemned to death.
That was all that was written in the will, except for a few legal phrases that Grimwig was now reading. Harry stopped listening; he was thinking about the sinister house at Grimmauld Place and wondering what he was supposed to do with it.
"Mr Potter!" The law-wizard's voice pulled Harry out of his thoughts. "This is the private letter Mr Black left for you."
Harry took the letter - a small scroll of parchment with his name written on it in Sirius's familiar handwriting. He didn't open it.
As if he'd guessed Harry's thoughts, Dumbledore said to Elspeth Limmeridge:
"If this office is not needed immediately for another case, perhaps we could leave Harry alone for a few minutes to read the letter in privacy?"
"Oh, by all means. Take all the time you need, Mr Potter," she said kindly and everyone except Harry stood up and walked to the door. Dumbledore was the last to leave: he stopped in the doorway for a moment and said:
"Arthur and I will wait for you outside, Harry."
Harry nodded and, as the door closed, started breaking the seal on the letter feeling a lump in his throat.