Chapter 5

Looking Around

Harry looked around. They were in a large dining room. The long table in the middle could seat over twenty people. It didn't even fill half the room however. Two large fireplaces were centered in two of the walls. Harry thought the room must have been a grand ballroom with the table removed and the cobwebs cleaned. Tonks whistled.

"Merlin's beard." She trailed softly. Harry looked up and gaped at the ceiling. Under the layers of age he could make out a grand painting of tremendous proportions.

"It was a special request of your great great grandmother. She loved having big parties and wanted to have a ballroom with a ceiling like the Sistine Chapel's. The best artists around, though, were all Muggles. Famous sure, but not magic." He laughed softly. "She had a hard time explaining why she wanted dragons and wizards instead of cherubs and angels." The ceiling was indeed painted with a depiction of many witches and wizards surrounded with magical creatures. There were unicorns and dragons around the edges. In the center was a large red phoenix, its golden plumes shining. It was the largest figure in the painting, fully twice the size of the largest dragon. Lupin started leading towards the archway in the wall on the right, leading into the next room.

As they stepped into the next room, Harry recognized the sitting room he'd first been brought to when they'd arrived last night. With the fireplace and candles lit, and the afternoon sun pouring through the windows, it looked very cheerful. A place he could see a bunch of ladies sitting and chatting in. They kept on walking around into the entryway. It too looked more welcoming with the day's sunlight dancing across the floor and reflecting off the chandelier. Lupin led them straight across the entryway through an archway on the other side into a room he hadn't been in before.

Harry found himself in a large study. It reminded him a lot of the Gryffindor common room. There was a large fireplace with many comfortable looking armchairs positioned around it. Several of the walls were lined with bookshelves or covered in maps. There was a large desk on one side, a large leather chair behind it. "Your grandfather's study." Lupin said quietly, looking around. He laughed suddenly. "Oh the number of times your father and Sirius got called in here to answer for some mischief they'd caused." Harry felt a knot in his stomach tighten at the mention of Sirius and his father. Lupin put a hand on Harry's shoulder as he walked past, back to the entryway. Tonks followed closely behind, and Harry slowly followed.

As they walked up the staircase to the second floor Harry shook his head to clear the sorrow closing in again. Now wasn't the time to be weak. He determinedly walked up the staircase and caught up to Lupin and Tonks. At the top of the stairs was a long hallway. They'd come up into the middle of it, and it stretched for what looked like fifty feet in each direction. To Harry's left there were two doors on one side of the hall and double doors across from them. To his right was the same, symmetrical almost. Straight ahead of him was a pair of masterfully carved oak doors. It was these doors that Lupin was walking towards.

"I suppose this is a good place to start up here. Your ultimate grandfather was somewhat studious, an extraordinary thing in itself during a time where importance was decided by your skill in a duel, or the size of your Gringotts vault." He pushed open the doors. As the dust of fifteen years cleared, Harry could make out tall shelves in all directions. "Your great grandfather, however, believed that a wizard's worth was in his mind." He had walked across the room and now pulled open the faded curtains on the far wall. Harry had to shut his eyes to the sudden rush of sunlight, but a second later he opened them to the room around him. This would be Hermione's dream he thought to himself. Indeed, he was standing in a library that looked roughly the size of the library at Hogwarts. The room was scattered with unmatching, but comfortable looking couches giving it a homey look. There were desks and tables too, for studying. Tonks opened another set of curtains allowing more light into the room. Harry noticed a large door to his right and another to his left.

"Where do those doors go?" He asked Lupin.

"The eastern door is to an armory, a museum almost." He chuckled. "Your ultimate grandfather wasn't quite completely above all the tournaments of his day, and he had a room built to show off his awards and weapons. The other door is to a room for studying potions and dueling." Harry nodded. This house was amazing to him. Each room had been designed by his family. He was walking around evidence that his family existed, that he had a family like any other. Besides the fact that all my family is dead. Harry followed Lupin back into the hallway. They were walking to a door to their right Harry noted, still feeling a bit turned around in the house. Lupin's hand seemed to be shaking a little as he reached for the door.

"This room was…" He tried again "This was your mother's room, Harry." Harry froze where he stood just inside the doorway and looked around. There were light green walls with small white lilies painted around the borders. On one side was a bed with a large green comforter, the other side of the room had a large cherry wood dresser next to another door. In the corner, next to the large window hung with white curtains was a small vanity-like table. There was a mirror hung above it, and the table was decorated with a few pictures. Harry picked one up and wiped off the dust. It was a picture of his mother and what could only be her parents. He cleaned off another, not noticing a tear forming in his eye. It was a picture of his parents, younger, still in school. They were smiling so happily, his father waved at him and hugged Lily tighter. He picked up the last picture. This one was of all the marauders. The four of them were obviously at Hogwarts in the photo; the castle rose behind them like a guardian. He found it strange to see them here, all happy and innocent. This was before Pettigrew's betrayal, before Sirius' time in jail, before Lupin had to face the full extent of the prejudice against him, before his father had to go into hiding to protect his son. He set the picture back down and turned to Lupin and Tonks. They were both still outside the door. Lupin looked very pale. Tonks was rubbing his back comfortingly. "The other door goes to her bathroom…" He choked. "She… she stayed here sometimes, before your parents were married, for a few weeks at a time or so." He turned around and slowly started walking down the hall. Harry walked after him, pausing a moment to softly close the door behind him.

"I'm sorry," Lupin was saying. "It's just… being back in this house…" He straightened his back and shook off Tonks' hand from his arm. He looked at Harry. "Your parents and I had some wonderful times here. This house is full of memories; I don't want you to think it's all sad. You saw how happy we all looked in the pictures. That's what this house is full of." He kept walking past the large staircase they'd come up, towards the other hallway. "These two doors are both bedrooms, there's a bathroom they share inside. Harry glanced into each room on the way past, but he didn't pause long. He was eager to see the rest of the house. There was a staircase leading up at the end of each hallway. Lupin and Tonks were ahead of him, already mounting the stairs.

At the top of the stairs Harry found himself looking down another long hallway. This one seemed a bit homier then the second floor had though. The walls here were decorated with family photos instead of the expensive paintings of the floor below. There were comfortable armchairs and thick rugs placed sporadically down the hall Lupin led him down now. They passed a door on their left Lupin shrugged off as another bathroom. They stopped outside two doors, one on the left and one straight across on the right. "This floor is mainly bedrooms. This one," he gestured to the right, "was Sirius' during his long stay here after he ran away from Grimmauld Place. This room," he pointed left, "was your father's." Harry looked at the two doors and opened the one to his left. His father's room was fairly large; he estimated his bedroom at the Dursley's could be fit in this room at least three times. The walls were blue, and there were pictures all over every flat surface. Besides having a bed and dresser, the bedroom had several large armchairs of all different sizes and a large black couch. Tonks was looking at all the pictures on the walls. "A lot of these pictures have you in them, Remus." She said. "Ohhh, but look at these. Pictures from old World Cups, and from school Quidditch tournaments it looks like." Harry and Lupin looked at the section of the wall that seemed to be dedicated to Quidditch. There were dozens of pictures of famous Quidditch players and even more of James flying at school. Lupin smiled. "Yeah, James loved his Quidditch." Harry stepped back from the pictures and started walking out of the room.

He was opening the door across the hall before he had really thought about what would be on the other side. As a result, he was completely unprepared for the room he was looking into next. On the wall directly opposite the door was a large picture of Sirius and his father. Around it were more pictures of Sirius with Lupin, and Lily and one with Pettigrew. There was even one of him with Harry's grandparents. "Sirius decorated the room to make it as different from Grimmauld place as he could." Lupin was saying. It was true. Harry could not have found a room more different then the dark house Sirius had been forced to grow up in. The windows were large, with red curtains; the comforter on the bed was bright Gryffindor red, and the walls were decorated with photos and paintings. The familiar knot was back in Harry's chest. His throat was dry as he looked around the room. Harry walked to the door; he had to get out of this room before he broke down again. He stepped out into the hallway and turned right, determinedly walking down the hallway to the other end, getting as far away from Sirius' room as he could.

There were three doors at this end of the hall. The one on the right stood open and Harry could see it was Lupin's room. He grabbed the doorknob of the door across from it, to his left, and opened the door. At first he was disoriented; it wasn't a bedroom as he'd expected. The room was filled with shelves and mismatched furniture. There were empty cauldrons and vials, charts lined one wall, and on the other… was a wall sized map of Hogwarts. "Harry!" Lupin yelled as he ran down the hall towards him. "You can't-" but his warning broke off as he saw that Harry already had the door open. Harry was looking at the plaque above one of the windows.

THE MAURAUDERS

Moony, Padfoot, and Prongs

Lupin let out a sheepish laugh. "This… was our plotting room during the summer holidays." Harry looked up at him.

"Why isn't Wormtail on the plaque? You wouldn't have known he was traitor when you were here." Harry asked as Tonks came into the room. Lupin's back stiffened.

"Peter never visited here. Sirius lived here after he ran away, and I visited around the moons during the summers, and Lily came around a few times that last summer, but Peter never came. We never really thought anything of it." He trailed off looking around. Tonks whistled as she came in, her eyes wide.

"That map… it shows all the people at Hogwarts!" She exclaimed. Harry looked back at the map. A purple dot on the map caught his eye. Albus Dumbledore was written above it.

"It's just like the Marauder's map, only… huge." He said. Lupin smiled wickedly.

"This is how we planned a lot of our pranks. Look," he said, taking out his wand. "you can sketch on good locations for water bombing or for greasing the floor or for enchanting the suits of armor. That way we made sure not to neglect any part of the castle." They all laughed at that. "Well, I guess that's the end of this tour. You can look around more of course later, now you both know where everything is though. So… on to the cleaning I suppose." Tonks and Harry groaned.