Ginny05- Thank you for the kind review. I greatly appreciate it.
Authors note: I am terrible with writing accents and house elf speech so just imagine that the various characters are speaking the words that I write with the appropriate accent please. Once again please remember I own nothing except the new characters and the plot.
Chapter 7 – One Surprise After Another
Harry and Remus spent about another hour going through Sirius' old room, Remus had removed the charms on the door after their talk. They would come across different things that would remind Remus of a story about the Marauders. They talked and laughed, finally getting to let the pain go and truly accept the changes in their lives.
It was after a rather hilarious story, which was very embarrassing to both Sirius and James, that Harry's friends came upon them rolling on the floor clutching their sides in laughter. "Well this is getting to be a habit, seems like every time the two of you disappear together you end up being found in fits of laughter." Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were standing in the doorway smiling at their friend. Ginny continued, "It's good to see your having a good birthday."
Harry took a few more moments to calm down enough to speak, "Yeah I suppose you could say I'm having a pretty good birthday. Now that I have my friends around me, it's bound to get even better." He was smiling back at his friends with a genuinely happy smile that made it hard to believe that he was anything but normal. By the look of utter joy and contentment on his face, it was hard to tell that he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. It was undeniable he was happy, happier than he had ever been.
Ron spoke up, "So what's so funny, Harry?"
Harry and Remus shot each other a look and broke into another fit of laughter causing the three new arrivals to look at each other quizzically. They eventually calmed down enough to fill the others in on the various stories and after a while, everyone had tears in their eyes from all of the laughing being done. They were all so relaxed it felt good. They needed this release from all of the stress and worry in their lives.
After a while, the laughter died down and the conversation turned to why Harry and Remus came in here in the first place. Harry hesitated before remembering his pledge of openness to his friends. He then recounted his dream and once again received the usual reactions, which Remus helped him to soothe. When he got to describing the book, he began to feel curious about the properties again. Harry was sitting on the bed holding the book with Ginny sitting on his right with her left hand on the book. Ron, Remus, and Hermione were all standing around the other two with hands resting on their shoulders looking over their shoulders. It was while in this position that Harry said, "I just wish I could see these other properties, I would really like to see Black Castle."
As he finished the sentence, he felt the familiar jerk behind his navel. They were all being pulled through a swirl of color and a howl of wind. Their feet hit the ground and due to the surprise of the situation, no one was able to remain on their feet. Harry jumped up first wand in hand, followed closely by all the others. They weren't sure what to expect, so they kept their guard up, listening intently to the sounds in this place.
They were in a large room with a set of mahogany double doors behind them and a doorway on each other wall of the room. The doorway on the wall in front of them was flanked on each side by a pair of grand looking semi-circular staircases with a joined landing above the doorway. The décor in the room was dark and uninviting causing them to feel the need to be cautious. There were torches lining the wall that had seemed to flare to life as soon as they appeared, along with a couple of paintings of people who looked somewhat familiar but Harry didn't know.
It was while looking at one of these paintings that someone finally spoke in a thick Scottish accent, "You don't look like a Black. How did you come to be here?"
The group was stunned, Harry stepped forward to the painting and replied, "Sorry sir, but we aren't exactly sure how we got here. One minute we were all sitting in a room looking at that book on the floor over there, and the next minute we were here. Could you please tell me where we are?"
The portrait looked quizzically at Harry for a moment, "What book were you looking at?"
Harry pointed to the book on the floor again not wanting to pick it up for fear of being Portkeyed somewhere else, "That book on the floor."
The Portrait scoffed, "My eyesight is not that good, would you bring it closer so that I can see it properly?"
Harry was still apprehensive, but did as he was asked. He picked up the book and walked over to the portrait holding it up to be looked at.
The portrait was now joined by the inhabitant of the other portrait in the room, both of them looking skeptically at the book and then the new arrivals in the room. "Tell me can you read this book?"
Harry replied, "Yes sir I can, but it seems that I am the only one who can, my friends can't seem to see any words on the pages."
The portraits looked at each other again and spoke, "As I said earlier you don't look like a Black, so my question is how do you find yourself being able to read this book?"
Harry was beginning to feel like he understood what happened, "Sirius Black was my godfather, since he had no other family to pass on his belongings I am his only heir. This book is not only a list of the family assets but a portkey between them as well isn't it?"
The portraits looked at each other again, and then the woman spoke, "You say that Sirius was your godfather? Do I take it to mean that he is no longer alive, and if so that our line has now come to an end?"
Now Remus spoke up, "There are still bloodlines of Black cousins who have married, but yes the name of Black has come to an end. I take it that you are some of Sirius' ancestors?"
The two portraits seemed to become depressed, "Yes," the man spoke again, "I am Ailbert Black, and this is my wife Moireach. We are the first of our family to posses this castle. We were really where the present-day Black family began. It has been many a year since anyone has come here. You must be quite pure of heart young man, or you would not have been able to learn of this castle, for only someone pure of heart and intention can read about the castles in that book."
Harry and company were all exchanging questioning looks. "Please excuse our confusion," said Harry, "You just don't seem like the members of the Black family we have met, other than Sirius."
Moireach let out a laugh, "Of course not, over the centuries the family has become a bit pompous and dark in their beliefs, this is not what we would have chosen for our family to become. We feared that the money we had would corrupt our heirs at some point down the line so we charmed that book to only let an heir who believed as we do to find the castles and the secrets contained within these walls. You are obviously the heir since only an heir can read the information in the book, and you must also be a young man of pure heart and intentions to be able to find out about the castles."
Ailbert interjected, "Now young man, you now who we are, but we don't know who you are. I believe that it is time for you to share your identity with us, as well as that of your friends."
"Oh I'm sorry, my name is Harry Potter and these are my friends Remus Lupin, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Ginny Weasley."
The two Blacks shot each other a curious look, "Did you say you're a Potter?"
"Yes, do you know of my family?"
"If you are of the same Potter line that we know of, then yes, we do know of your ancestors. Your family goes back a long way, young man, and if I am not mistaken, so does yours young Mr. and Ms. Weasley. I do not recognize the surnames of Lupin or Granger though, where are your families from?"
Hermione spoke first somewhat hesitant of what the reaction would be, "I don't think that you would know of my family, I am the first witch in my family, all those before me were all muggles."
Remus added, "My family also is descended from muggles, however not as recently as Hermione."
"Ah, that would explain," responded Ailbert. He could see the apprehensive looks on the visitors' faces, "Don't worry as I said earlier we do not feel the same way as our descendants. You have nothing to fear from us, we know that at some time all magical beings were born from non-magic beings."
Moireach added, "We know of both Potters and Weasleys, both families have always had qualities which we have found very agreeable. The Potters have always been brave and noble, standing up for what they believe to be right. The Weasleys have always been loyal and trustworthy. If in fact you do come from these lines then you are more than acceptable to have access to these properties."
Harry decided to press for more information, "How exactly did we manage to get here, and where are we?"
"Oh I am sorry, this is Black Castle, and the only way that you could have come here is to ask to be here while holding the book. It is charmed in many ways, as you may have figured out. That book is the key to attaining anything in it. Only an Heir can read it, and in so doing get to the properties and access the vaults. The book acts as a portkey between all of the properties the heir can read about, all you have to do is hold the book and request to go to a specific property. Once you have been to the property, you no longer need to portkey there, it is necessary for showing you the whereabouts of the properties the first time. In addition, the properties are protected by many secrecy charms to keep their locations and even existence a secret from anyone who the heir does not willingly show. No one can force you to show them the properties or extract the information from you unless you want them to know it."
Harry nodded, "So what about people who already knew about the properties or were living in them? Wouldn't they still have knowledge of the buildings and be able to access them?"
Ailbert responded, "Yes they would but once the new heir took possession of the book they would be able to remove anyone who they wished to remove and the knowledge would be removed from them as well, thus protecting the property. This is something that you don't really need to worry about though, since all properties except the one in London have been vacant and unknown for many centuries. As we said before it has been many years since there has been anyone to visit let alone live here."
The group spent the next hour getting to know more about each other and each other's times. They learned that Ailbert was a Scottish Lord who had been granted this castle and lands back in the year 752 after his marriage to Moireach. The other castle, known as Macnicol Keep, had belonged to Lord Gordain Macnicol and his wife Colina. Their lands were part of the Black heritage now, due to the marriage of Annabel, the daughter and only child of their only heir three generations later, to Kerr Black, the heir of the Black family. It was Kerr and Annabel who had moved the Black family out of Scotland and into England by building Black Manor. It was also revealed that the last time anyone had been in either castle had been some 700 years.
As they reached the end of the hour, Remus reminded them that they should be getting back to Grimmauld Place, since no one actually knew that they were gone to begin with, and if a certain elder female Weasley discovered their disappearance that she would be quite upset. There was a definite agreement with that thought, so they bid farewell to the Blacks promising to return soon, and Harry portkeyed them all back to headquarters. They landed back in Sirius' room and made their way down to the kitchen for lunch.
They determined that no one had noticed that they were ever gone; although once Mrs. Weasley found out, she was a little upset about it. After a long discussion, it was decided that Professor Flitwick should come by and check the book over to make sure that there were no dangerous charms, hexes, or curses on it before they used it again. Even though Harry was sure it was ok, he agreed to have it checked just to pacify the older Weasleys.
After lunch, and after promising not to use the book, Harry took the book back to his room and stowed it away in his trunk. The four teens then decided it was time to do some more practicing. They proceeded to attempt to beat each other up for the next couple of hours, and then Harry began to help them continue learning to clear their minds. After a couple more hours, they all decided to go clean up and relax until dinner. They gathered in the drawing room to play some games of chess, exploding snap, and do some reading.
A while later, it was time for dinner so they headed down to the kitchen. Upon entering the kitchen, Harry was assaulted by an incredible amount of noise in the form of shouts of Happy Birthday. The room was full of Order members. All of the Weasleys, except Percy, were there along with Moody, Tonks, Remus, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Arabella Figg, Hagrid, and Professors Smith, Flitwick, McGonagall, and Dumbledore. There was a spread of food on the table to rival the holiday feasts that Mrs. Weasley was famous for. Everyone sat down to a very noisy yet enjoyable dinner. After dinner, there was cake, which was decorated with Harry in his Gryffindor quidditch robes on his Firebolt chasing a golden snitch. Everyone gave a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday, and then dug in for desert.
After all the food had been consumed, it was time to open presents. The twins gave him a gift box full of various products that they sold in their shop. They also made a point of telling him to come by the shop sometime to take a look at his investment. Ron got him a selection of his favorite sweets. Moody, Tonks, Kingsley, Arabella, Hagrid, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Hermione all got him books about defense covering everything from spells to how to become an Auror. From Charlie and Bill he got a pair of dragon hide boots that were charmed to keep his feet comfortable no matter what the weather conditions, leave no footprints, and make no sound. Professor Smith got him a nice wand holster for his wrist, designed to be completely hidden and allow for quick access to his wand. Professor Dumbledore truly surprised him with his own Pensive, telling him that he thought he could find a few good uses for it. Ginny gave him a small album full of pictures of his friends around school. The picture in front was one of the entire DA, and the one in the back was one of just the group that had gone to the Department of Mysteries, his closest group of friends. Remus gave him a framed picture of his father playing quidditch, which brought tears to Harry's eyes..
Finally, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley stepped forward with their gift. Harry opened the box and froze looking at the contents. He slowly looked up at the eldest Weasleys with tears in his eyes, then moved over to them, and gave them both a hug and a sniffle-filled 'thank you'. The rest of the group was curious as to what had gotten Harry so choked up. Ginny got up and moved over to the hugging trio and looking into the box, gave her own little sob and said, "Oh Harry. Welcome to the family." She then held up the box to show the rest of the group the metal arrow with Harry's name on it. It was his own hand for the Weasley family clock. As comprehension dawned on all of the faces in the room, there was not a dry eye to be had. If there was ever any doubt that Harry had a family who cared about him, there was not one any more. He was now an official honorary Weasley and he couldn't be happier.
After the party, Bill and Professors Flitwick and Dumbledore asked Harry to bring the book Sirius told him about to them in the living room where they would check it over for anything dangerous. Harry took all of his gifts up to his room and brought the book back down for the others to check. Then Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all headed down to the basement to do their training with Professor Smith.
After training when they were on their way back up to get ready for bed, Professor Dumbledore stopped Harry to give him his book telling him that they found nothing dangerous with it, then bid his goodnight. Harry settled down for bed realizing that this was the absolute best birthday he ever had.
For the rest of the week, the four teens decided that each day they would spend a few hours exploring the two castles and talking with the portraits in both. Before long, Harry learned that he had an extensive library available to him in both castles. The thing that made them special was that they were full of older books that were full of spells that had been long forgotten for one reason or another. Needless to say, Hermione was in her own little heaven. They also found extensive armories with weapons and armor that were in various states of disrepair, obviously seven centuries of neglect takes its toll on metal. They also learned that not only were the castles quite large, but the grounds outside were very extensive and also protected by the charms for a five mile radius around each castle.
They found their conversations with the various portraits to be very informative as well. They learned that the charms and enchantments were so extensive that any magic performed there could not be detected in any way. They decided that they needed to bring Professor Smith here to work with them on their spell work and dueling. Professor Smith agreed that would be an exceptional opportunity to see for himself what Harry and his friends were capable of. They also wanted to bring Bill to check over the various enchantments and make sure that they were still in effect and see if there was anything that could be added to make them even safer. They learned that the Macnicols were just as kind and helpful as the Blacks, causing their visits to both castles to be informative and enjoyable.
On their first visit to Black Manor, they learned that there were portraits of the Blacks and Macnicols there as well. It was through these portraits that the original portraits in the castles knew that the manor had been long since occupied. There was a library here as well that contained some newer books, many of which dealt with dark magic. They could see where the dark days of the Black family began. Harry made a note to himself to check out the books in this library so he had a better idea of what he was up against. He figured that learning about dark magic would help him learn to defeat it.
The Saturday following Harry's birthday arrived and so did Professor Dumbledore at breakfast. It was time to reply to the headmaster about what classes they wanted to take. To be honest, Harry had completely forgotten about that. Harry and Ron's choices were both very similar. They both chose Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, and of course Defense Against the Dark Arts. The differences were Ron added Astronomy while Harry added Potions since he needed it to become an Auror. Hermione just shook her head at the thought of her two friends only taking the minimum number of classes required for sixth year. She ended up choosing to take every class she got an OWL in except History of Magic, since it was no longer given after OWLS.
Professor Dumbledore nodded at each of the students as they gave him their respective lists. Before he left he turned back to Harry and spoke, "Harry, I have one other thing to discuss with you."
Harry looked at the wizard and nodded for him to continue. "Harry, I have come to ask a favor from you on behalf of two others in my employ. It has come to the attention of these two individuals that you have some properties that are in need of attention and they would like to offer their services to you."
Harry looked at the Professor with confusion on his face, "What do you mean, sir? Who do you employ that would want to work for me?"
The Professor smiled and continued, "It seems that there are two house elves at Hogwarts that would like to have a family to look after again." At this he called out, "Dobby! Winky!"
The two house elves appeared with a loud pop next to the Headmaster and bowed low. Everyone in the room had a surprised expression on their face, but none so more than Harry. Harry stood up, moved over to the two house elves, and sat on the floor in front of them. Dobby looked up with hopeful eyes while Winky had a surprised look in her eyes; no wizard had ever come down to her level before.
Harry looked at them for a little longer and asked, "Why do you want to work for me? Are you not happy working at the school?"
Dobby shook his head, "No, Harry Potter sir, that's not it at all sir. We both like working at the school, but we would prefer to work for just one family instead, Harry Potter sir." Winky was just nodding in agreement as Dobby spoke.
Harry considered the two house elves for another moment, "You do realize that I will not be around my properties during most of the school year and you won't have many people to look after during that time."
This time Winky responded, "It has been said that you have some properties that have not been lived in for a while. We could be kept quite busy tending to those for you, and if you needed us for any reason you would be able to call us to Hogwarts to help you."
Harry contemplated a little more before continuing, "I thought that house elves needed people to look after? Wouldn't you get lonely not having people around all of the time to look after?"
The Professor could see that he had some explaining to do. "Harry, there is something you need to understand about House elves. There are two kinds of house elves. The ones at Hogwarts are the kind that live to help many with no worry about a specific person or family. Dobby and Winky are family house elves. They need a specific family to look after. They can work in an environment like Hogwarts for a time, but eventually they need to have a family to look after. If they go to long without a family to look after, they will loose their ability to do magic and shortly after that they will die."
Hermione let out a gasp while bringing her hands to her mouth. Ron and Ginny also had astounded looks on their faces and then looked at Hermione with a look of compassion. It was obvious that in Hermione's zeal to acquire rights for house elves she didn't learn about the necessary connection to a family. Harry gave Hermione the same look as the others, then turned back to the two elves in front of him.
"I would be honored to have you take care of me and my family, but I do have a few conditions that you have to agree to first." Harry looked at both of the elves, who both had looks of worry on their faces. "First, I will from time to time give you clothing that I think looks nice as a gift. This does not mean that I am dismissing you. If I ever decide to dismiss you I will tell you that I am setting you free and only then will you be released from my service." Both elves nodded as Harry continued, "Second, I forbid you from hurting yourselves as a punishment." Dobby smiled at this. "Third, I want you to consider me, and anyone else that I identify to you, a friend. You are under no circumstance to call me master or sir, just Harry is fine. And last, you are to have an allowance to use to get anything that you wish for yourselves or for others as gifts from yourselves." Harry continued to look at the two elves, "Do you agree to my terms?"
Dobby and Winky looked at each other and then back to Harry. Dobby spoke first, "I agree to your terms Harry Po…Um Harry." Harry smiled and then looked at Winky, "What about you Winky?" Winky looked nervous, "I also agree to your terms, ma.. Harry."
Harry had a huge grin on his face, "Well then, welcome to my family." Harry then proceeded to introduce the two elves to the rest of his "family" and explain in more detail about the other properties. Hermione couldn't help but apologize several times to the elves for not knowing about the connection between the elves magic and their serving of a family. This caused the two elves to feel that she was great witch, along with Harry and Ron being great wizards, since she treated them like equals. Mrs. Weasley wasn't wild about having a couple of new helpers, since she was really used to caring for a lot of people. She was also unsure about house elves because of her experience with Kreacher. Professor Dumbledore simply smiled and then made his exit, telling them that they should be getting their Hogwarts letters and book lists soon.
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Extra notes.
The names that I came up with in this chapter I chose from a website that I found entailing names from different nationalities. I chose them based on what was written about them and their meaning.
Ailbert – Scottish for Noble.
Moireach – Scottish for Lady.
Gordain – Scottish for Hero.
Kerr – Scottish for Man of Strength.
Annabel – Scottish for Beautiful Grace.
Colina – Scottish for Victory of the People.
Macnicol – Scottish for Son of the Conquering People.
Macnicol was actually a first name but I chose to use it as a last name because I felt it sounded like a good Scottish last name.
Thanks for reading, please review.