AN: Ok, so here's all the usual stuff. This fic's got spoilers for HP 1-5, basically, if you haven't read the series and don't want it to be spoiled for you, I suggest you don't read this fic. Second, I don't own Harry Potter and all that goes along with it. This story is set in their sixth year, basically, taking up where the last book left off. With that said, here's the story!
"I can't believe we're doing this already." Hermione Granger's voice was hushed and strained as she, Ron Weasly, and Harry Potter crept down one of the many stone corridors in the castle that was home to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. "We've only been back for a few hours and already we're sneaking around."
"You didn't have to come." Harry replied bluntly. It was already taking quite a bit of concentration to keep his invisibility cloak covering the three of them, and he wasn't in the mood to be pestered by Hermione. "I've been waiting a month to get back here and find this. I'm not going to wait any longer. Besides, what makes sneaking around tomorrow any less risky that sneaking around tonight?"
Hermione made an annoyed clicking noise, but didn't say anything.
"At least none of the teachers will probably be expecting it." Ron said. "Ouch! Harry, remember, you're three times as wide when we do this." They had turned a corner to closely, and as Ron was hopping on one foot, Harry decided he must have stubbed his toe on the edge of the corner.
"Sorry." Harry mumbled. His mind was preoccupied by his summer. It had been a long stay at the Dursley's, full of grief over Sirius. Dumbledore had told Harry he would be able to come to #12 Grimund Place on his birthday. In retrospect, Harry was almost glad he had been at the Dursley's for a while. After the Order members had given their ultimatum, Harry had been ignored by the Dursleys, but he had still received three square meals and some peace and quiet, and for the time, that was all he could ask for. As much as he loved Hermione and Ron, he had needed time to work things out. During that two months he had been able to heal enough to at least face the school when the time came.
- - - -
On his return to Grimund Place, Dumbledore informed him that Sirius had named him the sole benefactor of the Black fortune. Everything was his, except that the home was to belong to the Order until Harry graduated from school. Standing in the entrence hall of his godfathers home, Harry realized he could care less for the fortune, except that it reminded him that Sirius had clearly thought of Harry as his only family, and while Harry had felt the same, his closest thing to flesh and blood family was now gone. The news did however, jar something in Harry's mind that he hadn't given much thought to in a while.
"Professor, I know my parent's house was destroyed, but what about my grandparents home? Sirius told me he used to stay there sometimes."
"Yes, your grandparents house does still stand." Dumbledore said. "Your father and mother lived there for a short time after they inherited it when your grandparents died. When they needed to go into hiding from Voldermort, they chose to move into something less known."
"So it's mine then?" Harry said, it wasn't really a question, and once the words had left his mouth, he felt they sounded cold and greedy. "I mean, it doesn't belong to anyone else?"
"Yes Harry it is yours." Dumbledore smiled, as if to say he hadn't thought the question to be out of line. "You did inherit everything your parents owned. That combined with what Sirius left you amounts to quite a bit. I think you would be rather amused to see what, other than money, is now in your possession. Between your father's and Sirius's exploits over the years, they managed to acquire some interesting items." He gave Harry another knowing smile.
Harry had never really given the subject much thought. The trip to Gringots his first year had left his head spinning, that coupled with the disappointing news of returning to the Dursley's every summer after had distracted him from dwelling on it.
"As I'm sure you've guessed by now," Dumbledore continued, "I neglected to remind you that you owned the house because you needed to return to the home of a blood relative every summer." He smiled weakly, and Harry got the feeling that the Headmaster was waiting for him to explode at the news. However, after everything that had happened, Harry just didn't have any desire to be angry with Dumbledore. Harry felt Dumbledore was the closest person to understanding what he was feeling. Besides, if he had thought about the house, it would have made living with the Dursleys that much more undesirable.
"Sir, I don't suppose you'd let me visit the place?" Dumbledore gave him a searching look and Harry rushed to continue. "I just want to have a quick look around is all. You can send Professor Lupin and Tonks and Moody..." Harry's voice trailed off. He was rather sure Dumbledore wouldn't let him, last year they had been nervous taking him to King's Cross, let alone an unnecessary venture out into London.
"Harry, you may go." Dumbledore said, "I'll take you tomorrow." Harry was so surprised that he merely gapped at the man, his mouth flapping open and closed. "After not telling you about it for five years, I feel that I owe it to you." Harry nodded, it was clear that Dumbledore was still pained by what had happened last year and he had a feeling the Headmaster was trying to make it up to him. "I need to leave now." Dumbledore continued, "But I'll be back tomorrow and we can visit your grandparent's home."
- - - -
The house was not what Harry would have expected. It was located in a residential area of London, surrounded by middle class flats and when Dumbledore led him into a grassy lot in between buildings, the surrounding apartments seemed to melt away to reveal a well kept garden. They walked through an iron arch covered with years of ivy growth and the house came into view. It was rather large and made of stone and was covered in moss in some places. It had clearly been there for a couple hundred years. There were two turrets and the building consisted of three stories.
"Who's been taking care of it?" Harry asked. Even though no one had lived in it for sixteen years, it still was in good condition.
"There are a couple of house elves that have been tending to it."
Harry nodded. It all made sense, but his heart was hammering in his chest at the thought of what he might find inside. Aside from the invisibility cloak, he had never laid hands on anything that belonged to either of his parents.
Once inside however, he could feel the desertion. The home was still furnished, but all the personal touches seemed to be missing. It only caused the air of vacancy to lay even heavier.
As they stood in the foyer, Harry noticed there was a small table with a vase sitting on it. It was void of fresh flowers, as Harry suspected it had once been filled with. It set the tone, dead and gone. Off to his left was a staircase that led upstairs. The banister was made of expertly carved mahogany wood and was polished to a high gloss. The whole house seemed to be wrapped in rich, warm colors and the areas that Harry could see, had wainscoting and wood floors.
"I'll wait here." Dumbledore's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Go ahead and have a look around."
He nodded shortly and headed up the stairs. The rest of the home was decorated similarly to the foyer but for a while, all the found were several empty rooms. Finally, he found a large library with windows that let in bars of light. He stepped into the room and noticed a painting hanging on one of the walls. It was a portrait of the Potter family. Harry instantly recognized his father, as it was like looking into a mirror with subtle faults in it's reflection. The painting had clearly been done when his father was around the same age as Harry was now.
Standing behind James, where Harry's grandparents. His grandfather had long black hair that hung sleekly past his elbows and half moon glasses like Dumbledore's that were perched on his nose. His grandmother had deep brown hair, with an almost red undertone, and it hung in glistening curls that formed a halo around her face. His family waved merrily at him.
"Harry, Dumbledore said you would be visiting." The painting of his father said. "There is a book in this library that your father left for you. I may be just his painting, but I know he wanted you to have it before you finished with school at Hogwarts."
Harry gave the painting a quizzical look. "What sort of book is it?"
"I don't know." The painting of James replied. "But it's located in the HP section, for your initials of course."
"Well, er, thank you." He found it strange holding a conversation with a portrait of his father, mostly because he had never known the real man and speaking with his portrait left him feeling hallow. Harry proceeded to the HP section, there were only three books there, and he pulled them down. On was a book on charms that supposedly only worked on days that were Tuesday, the 25th, and there was a full moon. The other was a book on magical trees of India. The final book had a blank, leather bound cover. Harry replaced the other two books, and opened the cover of the third. His heart skipped a beat as he noticed an inscription written on a sheet of paper placed in the front of the book. It read:
This book is for my son Harry. I hate to think it, but with the situation now being as bad as it is, I am faced with the real possibility that your mother and I might not live to see you grow up. She would be incredibly angry with me if she knew I was talking to you like this. If this bleak possibility is to be our future, then there are many things about Hogwarts that I wanted to share with you. If I can't do it in person, then I'll leave this written account. This is my journal from my years at school. If we never do get the chance to tell you this, I want you to know that your Mother and I love you very much and can only hope the best for you.
Harry wasn't sure exactly how to take the letter. He read through it a couple more times before carefully folding the scrap of paper and placing it in his pocket. He leafed through the journal and saw that ever page was coated with writing almost as small and neat as Hermione's. After a few minutes, he snapped it shut and started to move through the house again, the book still with him.
About forty-five minutes later, he returned to the foyer to find Dumbledore still calmly waiting. Harry wondered how long he could have been gone before the Headmaster would have told him it was time to go. It didn't matter, he felt there was nothing else to see. Dumbledore noticed he was carrying the book, but he didn't comment. However, Harry was sure he saw the man smile at the journal.
"Are you ready?" Dumbledore asked. Harry nodded and they returned to Grimund Place.
- - - -
He avoided Ron and Hermione, and headed strait for his room to start reading. Harry was planning on sharing the book with them, but for now, he wanted to read in solace.
The journal wasn't all that thick, his father had only written in it sporadically. Most of it was a commentary on his classes and what school was like. Harry got the feeling that his father had intended to give it to him when he went off as a first year, so that it could act as a head start of a sort. However, when he reached the last few pages, his father had listed secret passageways and short cuts throughout the castle. Harry wondered if his father would have been disappointed to know that his son had learned about ever passage he was mentioning before he had personally gotten to tell him. Then, of course, his father didn't get a change to do anything with him. And now, Sirius was gone also.
A wave of grief washed over Harry and he was forcibly reminded of the dreams he had been having during the summer. They were much like his dreams about Cedric the previous summer, but now, he dreamt about Sirius falling through the veil. More often than not, he dreamt that he was the one pushing Sirius through, his godfather looking back at him in shock. Dumbledore had promised to teach Harry Occlumency this year, so for now, he endured the dreams, hoping to learn to block them in the near future.
There was however, one spot listed on the places of interest that Harry had never heard of. His father described it as being a crawl space that led to a small room. It was located down in the dungeons and although Harry had only recalled going through the corridor a couple times, he knew where his father was talking about.
His father continued on to say that he had found it a good place to work undisturbed and Harry smiled at that, sure that he meant that it had been a good place for his practice towards becoming an Animagus.
For the rest of the summer, Harry felt he couldn't wait to visit the room his father had described. He had told Hermione and Ron that he would be visiting it, as soon as he got a chance. Ron had agreed the instant Harry had proposed the idea, but Hermione had seemed to be on the verge of trying to talk him out of it. Ultimately, she gave in, but now, back at Hogwarts, she seemed to be regretting the decision...
"Listen Hermione, we're almost there." Harry felt bad about snapping at her earlier, after all he was grateful for their support. Somehow, after losing Sirius, he realized how important they were to him. He could feel her head moving in a nod under the cloak, but she didn't say anything.
Creeping through the dungeons had them all on edge. Not only were they not supposed to be out, but being so close to the Slytherin common room and Snape's office made it feel like they were moving through enemy territory. Finally, they reached their destination.
His father had described it as being a stone in the east side of the passage, between a threadbare tapestry and a rusty mace hanging on the wall. There was supposed to be a stone
who's top left corner had a large chunk missing.
"We have to try to pull that out?" Ron breathed, looking at the stone which was about two feet up on the wall. "That thing must weigh a ton!" Harry was inclined to agree, the stone was about two feet in width and a foot an a half in height.
"It has to be possible to move." Hermione said, "If your father was able to move it with the help of the other three."
"Do you suppose they levitated it?" Harry asked.
"Maybe," Hermione replied, "but it'll be tricky to try to move out of the wall. If we can pull it out a bit, it would be easier to get a magical 'grip' of a sort."
"We're going to have to take the cloak off to manage that." Harry said. "Let's hope Snape or Filch doesn't decide to take a late night stroll through the dungeons." He cringed at that thought and Ron made a short laugh that sounded more like a gag. They stepped out from under the cloak and it hung from Harry's neck, making it look like his head and arms were floating in mid air.
They all tried to wedge their fingers into the space around the block and pull it out. To their surprise, it easily slid out a couple inches and moved to the right, hovering in mid air. A dark tunnel was revealed, and the smell of musty, dank, air flooded into the passageway.
"Well, that would be what you were looking then, wouldn't it Harry?" Ron sounded like he wasn't relishing crawling into a pitch black tunnel with no idea what was on the other end.
Harry nodded, but he had a frown on his lips. As much as he wanted to learn more about his father, doubt was crawling into his mind. His father had never mentioned how far the crawl space went for. What if it had collapsed, or some other damage had occurred to it?
How far in do you think it goes?" Hermione asked. She didn't really sound like she wanted to hear the answer. Harry wasn't all that surprised. Over the years, they had discovered several passages and tunnels that led to the bowels of the school. "And," she continued, "that looks like a really tight squeeze."
"It opens up quite a bit just inside." Ron had lit his wand, and his head was just inside the tunnel. "It actually looks large enough to crawl."
Harry turned to the other two, frowning. "I've got to check this out," he told them, "on the chance that my dad might have left something in there. I'll understand if you guys want to go back. You can take the cloak."
"I'm coming with you." Ron said, shaking his head. "I'm not going to leave you alone in the dungeons." Hermione nodded in agreement.
Harry was forcefully reminded of the previous year, when Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Nevill, and Luna had refused to let Harry try to save Sirius on his own. While he had been incredibly angry with them at the time, their loyalty meant so much to him that he didn't know if he would ever be able to properly voice it.
Harry nodded curtly. "Right, I'll go first." He lit his wand and crawled into the passage. As Ron had suggested, it did open up quite a bit once you were past the first stone. He could hear Ron climbing in behind him, and then Hermione. They moved along in silence, the glow of his friend's wands registering in his peripheral vision.
"Um," Hermione's voice broke the silence, "our exit just resealed it's self, so we'd better hope it responds from pressure on this side also."
"It should," Harry replied, "or at least it'd better."
"There you go Harry, way to tell the castle who's boss." Ron said with a laugh.
They continued on for about ten minutes, the tunnel twisting and turning every now and then. It seemed to be slanting downward, until finally, his wand light started to spill into what he saw was a rather large room. As they climbed out into the open, several torches along the walls flared to life.
Momentarily startled, Harry spun around, but there were nobody waiting for them. The room was about the size of the Gryffindor common room, and there were no windows, doors, or fireplaces, no means of access other than the tunnel they had just crawled through.
In the middle of the room sat a rather large wooden table which was surrounded by half a dozen chairs. An empty bookshelf stood against the wall opposite them, and on the wall hung an empty picture frame. It's canvas was missing, revealing the stone of the wall it was hanging on.
What do you suppose that was for?" Ron asked, gesturing to the empty frame.
"Since the people in the paintings can move from canvas to canvas, throughout the castle, maybe they used to bring a painting who's inhabitant would stand guard." Hermione suggested.
"Course, once you're in here, there's not really anywhere to hide is there?" Ron glanced around the sparse room.
"No," Harry said, distantly, "not really anything here at all." He didn't know if he had really been expecting to find anything in particular, but he had been hoping to find something.
"Well, I would say we could use it for DA." Hermione said glancing around the room. "But now that Umbridge's gone, we don't have to work in secret anymore." On the train to Hogwarts, they had been approached by no less than fifteen students asking if Harry would still teach DA.
Harry started to slowly make his way around the room, hoping there was something hidden somewhere.
"Hope that new professor, what did Dumbledore say her name was? Reckwall?" Ron frowned and Hermione corrected him.
"Professor Miranda Rockwell." she said with an exasperated shake of her head. "If you would just listen for once-"
"Hope she doesn't resent the DA like Umbridge did." Ron finished.
"Well Umbridge was a bit out of her mind wasn't she?" Harry said from across the room. He had already checked every shelf on the book case, and was now looking behind the empty frame.
"Dumbledore should have made you the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." Ron smiled to himself at the prospect. "You could have given me an automatic A and flunked all the Slytherins."
Hermione clicked her tongue irritably. "That would never happen. The ministry wouldn't allow it."
"I know that," Ron replied defensively, "but I can dream."
Harry sighed as he slumped into a chair. It appeared that the room was indeed deserted. Then something glittered slightly from under the table. He crouched down to get a closer look and realized it was a gold coin. At first, Harry thought it was a galleon, but when he picked it up and rubbed the layer of dust off of it, he realized it was something quite different.
"What's that?" Hermione and Ron had come around the table to where Harry was sitting, and had noticed the coin.
"I don't know." Harry said, shaking his head. The symbol stamped on it wasn't one he had ever seen before. It was a jumbled collection of letters that made up a star shape.
"Weird," Ron said. "what's on the other side?" Harry turned over the coin and they all fell silent. The symbol on that side was clear to all of them.
There was a hoof print that took up most of the coin. Inside of it was a large paw print, and inside of that was a somewhat smaller paw print. Finally, inside that was the smallest print of all, a rat print.
"Do you suppose your dad left that here on purpose?" Ron asked.
"Dunno," Harry replied, still studying the coin.
"Harry, I think we should go." Hermione had just glanced at her watch. "We'll be a lot safer studying that in the common room rather than in here."
"Yeah," Harry agreed. "You're right. I'll go first." They lit their wands again, and crawled into the passage. Harry was still clutching the coin, feeling the cold metal grow warmer in his palm. They had reached the end of the tunnel and Harry had just given the stone a hard shove and was half way out of the opening when he heard Hermione cry out.
"No Harry, Malfoy's out there!" His heart sunk, she had the Marauder's Map. He had no idea why she hadn't warned him earlier, she should have been able to see Malfoy before they exited the tunnel, but it was to late now.
Draco Malfoy emerged from the shadows of the corridor, a smug grin on his face. "I can't see you Potter, but I can certainly hear Granger's whiney voice so I'll assume she's merely along for the ride."
Harry could have easily slipped away wearing the cloak. Malfoy had no prof he had ever been there, but he wouldn't leave his friends to get in trouble, so he lowered his hood, glaring daggers at him. "Get lost Malfoy." He hissed. Behind Harry, Ron was starting to climb out of the opening, no doubt sensing a fight was about to occur.
"My, my," Draco chuckled. "Three students out of bed and deep in the dungeons." He said with a smirk. "Two of them prefects no less. I'm sure Professor Snape would be most interested in this."
"Which means we've just as much a right to be out as you do." Hermione said, her head sticking out of the tunnel. She started to climb out into the passage, but the hem of her robe caught and she was plunging head first to the stone floor. Harry and Ron lunged forward, trying to catch her. They all landed in a heap on the floor, and something on a long, gold, chain slipped up and out of Hermione's robes.
Harry recognized it instantly as a time turner. The small hour glass seemed to float through the air, Harry's quick eyes tracked it as it smashed against the wall. There was a roar of rushing wind, and a large fisher opened up in the stone floor. Glaring yellow light emanated from the opening, and all four Hogwarts students stared at it, thunderstruck.
The gold coin Harry had been grasping, slipped from his fingers and rolled along the ground, dropping into the fisher. The yellow light changed to a deep purple, and the gash in the floor started to grow. The corridor shook and chunks of the stone floor fell away. Dust filtered down from the ceiling and Harry was sure the noise was waking the whole castle.
They were trying to scramble away from the hole, but the floor was falling away to quickly. With a sudden lurch, the chunk underneath them dropped out. Hermione let out a shriek and then they where falling.
So ends chapter one. I'm already well into completeing chapter two, I promise! Please r&r and let me know what you think!