CHAPTER 35: GRIMMAULD PLACE
Buffy, Willow, Xander, Anya and Giles appeared suddenly, and shakily, on the deserted streets of Grimmauld Place.
"Remind me why you insist on traveling like this," Xander said, picking himself off the ground.
"It's fast and cheap," Buffy shrugged. "You just have to get used to portkeys; they get easier with time. I think."
"So what house are we looking for, again?" Anya asked.
"Number 12," Buffy said, scanning the street. They were at the entrance to the subdivision, right in front of Number 1. "I really hope nobody saw us," Buffy said as she realized they were in plain view of the entire street in broad daylight. "Do English people do the whole Sunnydale thing or do they believe what they see?"
"It depends," Giles said. "Unless someone was avidly staring out their window at the exact spot we appeared from, they might believe it was a trick of the light of their lack of attention."
"Gotta love the Sunnydale syndrome," Buffy said, walking down the road, her friends falling behind her. "Are you picking up any magic residue, Will?"
"Yeah, but it's not as strong as I would've thought," she said.
"Well that's good, right?" Buffy asked happily, although everyone could hear the anxiety present in her voice.
"It should be," Willow said. They continued to walk past all the old houses that all looked the same. "I don't think I'm ever going to get used to this; it's like some weird twilight zone or something."
"The English are practical and don't feel the need for..."
"Individuality?" Buffy interrupted.
"Useless space," Giles answered, glaring at Buffy.
"So do they not feel the need for the number 12?" Xander asked, speaking up after he noticed the missing number.
"What the..." Buffy said, looking at the numbers. On her left, there stood Number 11. On her right stood Number 13.
"Where'd Number 12 go?" Anya asked.
"Do the English have a different counting system?" Xander asked.
"Well, they put all their numbers on the one side," Willow said. "We split our streets up even on the right side and odd on the left. Or odd on the right and even on the left, depending on which way you're going. Either way, we segregate our numbers," Willow said with pride before she fully realized what she said. "Oh. Hey, wait! Why do we segregate our numbers! We're supposed to be the land of the free and equality and all that, not that we really are, but we're getting better. Although I do have some bones to pick with the way we still treat..."
"Willow, off topic," Buffy said gently.
"Right, sorry," she said sheepishly.
"I don't understand..." Buffy said.
"Join the club. I'm president," Xander said. "You can be Vice President if you want, although I think Anya would probably like that so you could be treasurer or something, although Anya would probably like that too and I'm shutting up now."
"Thank the Lord," Giles said quietly, removing his glasses.
"The point is," Buffy said, interrupting any more discussion, "we can't get into a house we can't find. So, how do we find the house?"
"Well, I can feel the magic radiating off this place; not a lot, but enough to know a spell was cast," Willow said. "It feels like only one, but a strong one."
"Wow, she's really quite the smart one," Anya said, which only earned her a glare from Willow.
"A single spell," Buffy said, thinking to herself whilst the others bickered. "There are single spells all over the place! I mean, we have spells on the Leaky Cauldron to keep muggles away; only by knowing that it's there will you be able to see it. We have spells on some cars to make them speed right through other traffic, I mean, it looks like the buildings are being pushed away to make room for it. What am I missing?"
"Maybe they shrunk it," Anya suggested helpfully, tuning in to Buffy's muttering. "That's why you can't find it; everyone is really, really tiny," she said, beginning to look around the area between the houses.
"Ahn," Xander said, giving his girlfriend a look. "I don't think the neighbors want you peering in their bushes."
"Why not?" she asked. "It's not like I'm looking in their windows while they're having sex," she said. "The shades are drawn, the doors are locked, and it's not like I could've if I wanted to. Not that I would," she said defensively due to the stares she was getting. "I'm just saying if I wanted to. But I don't. Want to."
"Doors," Buffy said, a sudden memory deterring her attention. "Doors..."
"What about doors," Giles asked, thankful for the reprieve.
"It just reminded me about my dream," Buffy said.
"What happened in your dream?" Giles asked, intrigued.
"Sirius and I were standing in front of a door to my room," Buffy said.
"And?" Giles asked. "What happened?"
"Nothing. We were just talking."
"About what?"
"Um..." Buffy said, thinking back. "We were talking about... James! We were talking about James."
"And what about James?" Giles asked.
"No... not about James," Willow said remembering. "It's about James!"
"Wait. What?" Xander asked.
"It's not supposed to be about James the person, it's a reminder of James and what happened," Willow said excitedly. "Remember the vampire in the cemetery? We learned that when James and Lily went into hiding, they had..."
"... a secret keeper," Buffy said. "Of course. The only way for him to stay hidden from anyone is to have a Fidelius Charm performed! It would hide his actual location and deter anyone from using location spells to track him down. Remus must be the secret keeper; that's why we couldn't find him either! They're both in the house!"
"So how do we get into the house?" Xander asked.
"Well, normally only the people who are told the address by the secret keeper can find the house. I think," Buffy said. "Seeing as how we haven't been told, we can't find the house."
"So again, how do we get in the house?" Xander asked.
"That's where we come in," Willow said. "We should be able to break the spell using Wiccan magic. If we find a tiny flaw in the magic somewhere we'd be able to make the hole bigger and eventually break the spell."
"Why would there be a flaw?" Anya asked.
"If the spell's not done perfectly, which only a very, very powerful wizard would be able to do that, or if the secret keeper let a lot of people in on the secret," Willow said. "The more people that know, the more strain it will produce, causing little flaws to occur in the magical structure. Nothing noticeable, of course," she added. "Unless you're me."
"Seeing as how Sirius is a convicted murderer, I don't think a lot of people are in on the secret, so we'll have to go with option number one and hope that no one really powerful cast the spell," Buffy said. "And unless Remus gained quite a bit of power while I was gone, I don't think that's happening. I mean, he was good, he just wasn't flawless."
"Okay," Willow said, taking a deep breath, "this is going to take quite a bit of energy because we're breaking a magical barrier. I'm going to need everyone's help. If we stand in a circle and hold hands, I can use your energy to force the spell that much more."
"Don't you have all the power you need?" Anya asked, "Because I clearly remember you having all the power you needed and I don't fancy getting my energy sucked out of me."
"I don't want to go back to that place," Willow said with a nervous shudder. "I won't take too much, but it'll be enough from keeping me from using all of mine and digging deeper to use the darker supply. I'd rather let that sit for a very long time."
"You can use plenty of mine," Buffy said, grabbing Willow's hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I've got enough to share."
"Thanks," Willow said. "I'll also need you to help me look. We've been working on wandless magic for several months now, but it's only been a little at a time. Don't get me wrong, you're progressing at an amazing rate, but wandless magic is a little more tiring and takes more concentration that wand magic, so you'll have to be really careful. Remember what happened our first lesson."
"Right," Buffy said. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. We have been working on it almost every night, like you said."
Willow gave her a last worried look before nodding and grabbing Xander's hand. Xander in turn grabbed Anya, who grabbed Giles, who held on to Buffy, and soon they were in a circle focusing their energies. Willow could feel it all flowing into her and she opened her mind to the small empty space between Number 11 and Number 13 where Number 12 should've been. She could feel the magic pulsing around her and she began to see the magical barrier that kept the house hidden.
After a couple minutes of prodding and probing, Willow was able to "see" the house beneath the magical shell. Buffy and Willow worked together, their minds in synch, and look over the bluish shell in front of them. It wasn't too hard to find a flaw and Buffy found it much easier than she had anticipated. Perhaps Willow was just hyping it up trying to prepare her. It seemed that the wizard hadn't cast a perfect spell, although in reality it was just that too many people knew.
Buffy and Willow magically worked to make the little flaw into a small hole. It was kind of like undoing a sweater in one's mind. They saw the loose thread and they started pulling, creating a tiny empty space. They tried to pry their "fingers" into the hole, pulling it to widen the hole. The two of them began to deplete their magical sources; the strain was too much as the "shield" was "tightly woven." Buffy and Willow pulled on the energy from their friends and we finally able to gain the power to rip open the generous hole, tearing the shield in two and destroying the spell.
Everyone opened their eyes and began breathing heavily, their energies temporarily drained. It didn't take long to notice the appearance of Number 12 Grimmauld Place right between Numbers 11 and 13.
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Dumbledore was sitting in his office, Remus and Sirius in their room while the trio ran off to class, when he felt something odd pulling at him. It didn't really hurt but it was a sense of some discomfort for him. Over the next half and hour, the sense of discomfort began to grow. It seemed like he was struggling to hold himself together.
It had to be Professor Fox working her magic, but he couldn't believe how she was doing this. How could she get through his spell? Dumbledore concentrated hard, trying to resist the tearing he could feel; he was trying to repair the damage but, much to his amazement, it wasn't doing much good. How powerful was this woman and her friend? Who was she?
That was all Dumbledore could think before he felt a last surge of energy and the final ripping of the connection. They had destroyed the Fidelius Charm; something that has never been done before.
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"Looks like you did it," Xander said, breaking the silence.
"We did it," Buffy said.
"I wonder if they know the spell's gone," Anya said.
"I don't know, but I hope not," Buffy said.
"Perhaps it would be best if we hurried along," Giles said. "I don't think it would be wise to dawdle."
"You're right," Buffy said with a deep breath. "We're going in." This is what she had been waiting for. She was finally going to see Sirius again... for real, anyway. Buffy could hardly contain the emotions inside her. She was worried about what he'd say, afraid of what he might do, happy that she'd see him, anxious to see his reaction... this was it.
"Should we knock?" Willow asked as Buffy walked up to the door.
"Guess not," Xander said as Buffy used her magic, which was harder than she would have imagined after that spell, causing the door to swing wide open.
"We don't want to alert them," Buffy said quietly.
"Of course not," Xander said. "We'll just break into their magically sealed house and surprise the nice wizards with pointy wands and hope they don't kill us."
Buffy ignored Xander and crept quietly down the hallway, the others following close behind. "There aren't any heads," Buffy noticed, not knowing how Sirius removed them all during his house cleaning.
"Normally I'd take that as a good thing, but you seem to be taking it as a bad thing," Xander said. "Why?"
"There were heads in my dream."
"Right. And moving on."
'Kitchen,' Buffy mouthed, feeling a sense of unease creeping about her. She stepped up close to the door and gently pushed her way through, hoping not to startle anyone too much. She snuck in and then her heart stopped fluttering briefly as she saw no one else. She opened the door wider for her friends and looked around the place. "Someone's here," she said quietly, pointing to the still warm bowls of soup on the table.
Buffy moved out and began to search the rest of the house, her heart pounding wildly. She followed the path in her dream, going up the stairs and to the door, ignoring the growing agitation she felt. She walked towards it while her friends searched the other floors. She hadn't heard any screams or any scuffles, so she figured they hadn't found him yet. He had to be in his room.
Buffy stepped in front of the door and stared at it before hesitantly lifting her hand and knocking. After getting no response, she grabbed the door knob. "Sirius?" she called quietly, turning the door in front of her. "Sirius?" She stepped inside the room, looking around carefully. "Sirius?" she called again, her adrenaline pumping when she didn't get any answer. "Sirius?!" she yelled, wanting so badly for him to be there and the chase to be over.
Buffy raced through the room, noticing the clothes that littered the floor and the sheets that lay tangled on the bed. She checked the bathroom and found no one there and then frantically tried another door, freezing when she saw a giant creature staring back at her. "You must be Buckbeak," she said, remembering the conversation from her dream.
The beast that was a strange hybrid of bird and horse snorted at her, making Buffy quickly decide to leave the room. "Good animal thingy," she said, shutting the doors again.
Turning around, she remembered the reason why she was here in the first place and her heart rate jumped up dramatically. Where was he? He was supposed to be here! Running out of the room and down the stairs, Buffy raced back to the kitchen, unknowingly mimicking Sirius' movements from earlier that morning.
"Sirius?" she yelled out, wanting so badly to find him. She was tired of the game she was constantly playing. She just wanted to be held and kissed and loved again. She wanted everything to be okay. "Sirius? It's me, Buffy! I'm alive!" she called out desperately. "Sirius! Please come out!"
She made it back to the kitchen close to tears. She finally acknowledged the uneasiness that had been gnawing at her since she stepped foot in the house. Sirius wasn't here. The house was empty. "I don't understand," she said slowly after dejectedly pushing the kitchen door open. "They were right here... where are they?"
"I don't know," Willow said, hurting for the palpable pain of her friend.
"They were supposed to be here. He was supposed to be here and everything was going to be okay again," Buffy said.
"I know," Willow said.
"Where'd they go?" she asked like a lost little girl.
"I don't know," Willow repeated.
"I'm tired of not knowing!" Buffy yelled suddenly, her anger rising to the surface. "I'm tired of hiding! I'm tired of being in the dark! I'm tired of being alone! I'm just tired! I don't know who to trust or what to do or where to go! I don't know if I'm doing the right thing or if I'm falling into someone's trap! I don't know where Sirius is and I don't know how to find him! I'm tired of not knowing!" Buffy sobbed, throwing the bowl of soup against the wall.
Everyone in the room jumped and covered their ears as a giant wailing began to reverberate around the house. It seemed Buffy's loud screaming and the subsequent crashing of the bowl was enough to wake up Mrs. Black.
"What the hell is that?" Xander yelled, trying to be heard over the loud noises.
"I don't know!" Buffy growled, her hands over her ears. Buffy stalked out of the kitchen, trying to follow the noise to its source. "Shut up!" she yelled as she saw a wizard painting was the source of the noise.
"FILTHY MUDBLOODS... TRAITORS!" it screamed. "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"
Buffy could feel her anger rising inside of herself. It was bubbling over and mixing with her grief. "STOP YELLING!" she screamed at the painting.
"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! TRAITORS!" the painting screamed again.
Buffy grabbed onto the picture frame, intending to rip it off the wall; unfortunately, all she got for her trouble was sore hands and louder yelling. Buffy then saw the curtains that seemed to be covering it at one point in time, but she yanked too hard and the shreds were left in her clenched fists.
"SHUT UP!" Buffy yelled again, the screeching becoming too loud for her as she covered her ears with her fists. The pain and anger and grief that were building suddenly erupted in the form of magic, causing the painting to explode off the wall. Bits of plaster and painting rained down in the blissfully quiet hall.
"Emotional control!" Willow said anxiously. "Emotional control!"
Buffy tried to calm down as Willow came over and did her best to help. Buffy actually felt much better after the explosion; it must have released a lot of the tension inside her. Although she was probably just exhausted from all the wandless magic she had done in such a short time.
"Well, it seems we have a solution for unsticking superglue," Xander said.
"Do you think we could market that?" Anya asked.
"Are you okay?" Willow asked when she saw Buffy was much calmer, although her hair and clothes were more disheveled and she was covered in plaster.
"I'm tired," Buffy said. "I just want to go home."
"Okay," Willow said comfortingly, wrapping her arms around Buffy, "We can go home."
"Now which home does she mean?" Anya asked. "The apartment or Hogwarts because I'm not giving up my bed."
"She can sleep with me," Willow said. "But not... with me," Willow added at the looks she received. "We're best friends. Nothing more."
"Oh, you've used that line with me many a times before," Xander said jokingly, remembering their kisses.
"I think it would be best if she stayed with us tonight," Giles added. "I don't really fancy her going back to Hogwarts in this state. It was bad enough we couldn't find Sirius, I doubt it would be much help to be alone."
"Couldn't find Sirius," Willow whispered to herself. "But we can!" she said suddenly, striking upon a very important thought. "Sirius was hidden here because of the spell. Now the spell's gone and he doesn't have anywhere else to hide! A simple tracking spell will help find him now."
Willow quickly conjured up a map and the necessary supplies while Buffy perked up slightly. She didn't want to get her hopes up too high in case nothing came of it. "I've got something," she said, looking at the blinking red dot on the map. "They're somewhere up north."
It didn't take too long before Willow was narrowing the search down with smaller and smaller maps, however, she got stuck before she could pinpoint an address.
"They're in the middle of nowhere," Giles said, reviewing the maps in front of him. "No streets go up there, no towns or cities, I would assume no people. It looks like they're just waiting in the woods."
"Or someplace else really far north," Buffy said, a twinkle returning to her eyes. "Someplace that wouldn't be anywhere near muggles."
"You think they're at Hogwarts?" Willow asked.
"They might be," Buffy said.
"But why would they go there?" Giles asked.
"They know the school better than anyone else," Buffy said, hope beginning to return to her voice. "If they wanted somewhere to hide quickly, I'll bet they went there. They could be in a dozen places in that school."
"Do you have the map with you?" Willow asked.
"No, it's at the school. I can't remember where I put it," Buffy said.
"Why don't you go get it?" Willow said. "Go to the school, find Sirius and Remus and if they're there then take them back to the apartment so we can meet them," Willow said encouragingly. "We'll be waiting."
Buffy's lips quirked up in the beginnings of a smile, and she quickly hugged Willow before turning into a beautiful phoenix.
"Aghh!" Xander said. "I keep forgetting she can do that! It's rather disturbing."
Buffy trilled a couple of notes at Xander, warming his being and casting all dark thoughts aside.
"And also very cool," he added, feeling much lighter and happier. Buffy herself was feeling the phoenix's healing affects. Her spirits lifted and she began to feel rejuvenated. She really loved phoenixes!
"Good luck," Giles said.
"Bring home the hotties!" she cried out before Buffy disappeared silently. "What?" she asked innocently.
"Bring home the hotties?" Xander asked looking at Willow amazed. "That's almost as bad as 'That's right big boy, come and get it,'" Xander said, flashing back to their summer slaying experience.
"I never said that," Willow said, blushing slightly.
"You did too," Xander said.
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Oh, do shut up."
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"It seems that Harry was right," Dumbledore said.
"They broke the spell?" Remus asked incredulously.
"Yes, about a half and hour ago. It was quite an interesting experience," Dumbledore said, "although it was quite tiring."
"How is that possible?" Sirius asked.
"I'm not quite sure," Dumbledore said. "I've never heard of anything like that before and I've never experience it, either. I'm not too fond of it, actually."
"What are we going to do?" Remus asked. "If she's that keen on getting Sirius..."
"I believe you are quite safe here, for the time being. Just stay out of sight and we'll come up with something," Dumbledore said getting ready to leave. "Someone's going to the house in a little while, trying to see what exactly happened."
"Do you think I could go with?" Remus asked.
"I thought you might ask," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye. "You can join Moody as soon as Professor Fox gets back to Hogwarts."
"Thank you," Remus said.
A little bell went off somewhere in the outer office and Dumbledore turned back to Remus. "It seems as if she's back already. Quite disappointed, I'm sure."
"What was that?" Remus asked.
"A signal I just set up to let me know when she returned back to her office," Dumbledore explained. "I believe you can floo if you hurry."
Remus hurriedly left the room and headed for the fireplace, while Dumbledore left his office to go attend other business, leaving Sirius alone in his room. Sirius changed into his animal form and waited briefly to make sure that Dumbledore was gone before he snuck out of the room he had promised to stay in. He had a painting to find.
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Buffy had just appeared in her office, making sure not to make too much noise, or land on anything. She quickly changed back and began searching the papers on her desk for the map she had taken from Harry.
She was in the process of frantically removing all the papers from her desk when the door opened. Buffy whipped out her wand and pointed it at the person staring back at her. "Oh, Harry, what are you doing here?" she asked, surprised to see her nephew.
"I trusted you," Harry spat. He had been waiting outside her office ever since the last class got out. People were already congregating in the Great Hall for dinner, Hermione and Ron included. "I trusted you and you were just using me for information."
"What?" Buffy asked, halting her search for what looked like a spare bit of parchment.
"For months now you've been doing things for me, trying to make me gain your trust so I'd tell you something or I'd let slip that I knew where someone was. You weren't doing anything for me... I was all just a part of your plan. I was a tool!"
"Harry, I have no idea what you're talking about," Buffy said, confused.
"Don't," Harry snapped. "Don't try and trick me again. It's not going to work. I know your tricks and I'm not falling for them again. I trusted you and you lied to me. You betrayed me. To think I was starting to like you... I hate you," he said.
Buffy was speechless for a moment, not understanding what was going on. "Harry, it's true, I have been trying to gain your trust, but not because I wanted anything from you. Well, I didn't want information from you. And I would never betray you. I have no idea what you're talking about or why you think that I did, but I didn't. The last time I saw you was when you were about to get expelled. I'm sorry if I saved you from that fate; I didn't know you wanted to be expelled."
"Prove it," Harry said, figuring he could use her guilt to his advantage. "Prove to me that you didn't betray me." He didn't know what was going on, why she wasn't confessing and why she looked genuinely confused, but he couldn't take another risk. Not with Sirius on the line.
"How?" Buffy asked, her eyes narrowing slightly at his tone.
"Where's that piece of paper you took from Umbridge?" Harry asked. "I need it back."
Buffy froze. She couldn't give him back the map for several reasons. One, she didn't want him to find out who she really was and two, she really didn't know where it was. "Why?" she asked, stalling for time.
"Hermione invented an invisible ink that can only be revealed with a certain thing," Harry said. "We were going to test it but Umbridge took it before we were able," Harry lied, having already made up this part. "She's really upset about it."
"Get a new piece of parchment," Buffy said.
"She used all the ink," Harry countered. Did she know what the map was for? If she did, she'd surely see Sirius and Remus in Dumbledore's office.
"Well that wasn't very smart, was it?" Buffy asked. "I hope she took detailed notes. She might have to be remaking it."
"Why? I just want the paper," Harry said.
"I don't know where it is," Buffy admitted. "I put it down somewhere and I can't remember where."
"Fine, I'll help you look," Harry said, walking up to the desk and pushing around papers. Even if she did know what it was, she couldn't have known how to work it. Buffy was about to open her mouth to object when Harry said, "You're proving, remember?"
Buffy clenched her teeth angrily and shoved a pile of papers at him, mostly homework assignments and essays, some graded, some not. "Fine," she hissed. "I'll go look in the closet." Buffy stomped over her now very messy office and yanked open the door to the closet, expecting to find some messy shelves.
What she found was worse.