Chapter 2
Exploring

It was late at night when Harry awoke. He found himself still sitting in the chair he had collapsed into when he arrived at Sirius' house. Harry still felt the need to call it Sirius' house though it seemed odd because he was now the owner. Then again, he wasn't completely comfortable with the concept of calling his dead godfather's house, "home".

Harry stood up; his back hurt from sitting for so long in the uncomfortable chair.

He didn't get any sleep the previous night and had slept the entire day.

Hermione and Ron must have responded to his letter right when they got it because Hedwig had already returned with their letter. Hedwig landed on the table next to Harry and stuck out her leg from which Harry retrieved the letter of response from his two best friends.

Dear Harry,

Hogwarts? Are you sure about this Harry? Why would we return to Hogwarts? You said yourself that there is nothing left for you anymore since Dumbledore and Sirius both died. But if you're sure about this, of course we will go with you, of course not until we get an explanation that is. We will be awaiting Hedwig's return.

Ron and Hermione

P.S Happy Birthday

Harry had expected this kind of response, but in the unfortunate event that his letter was intercepted he could not send his explanation to them in a letter. Instead he wrote and told them to come see him at his new home.

Dear Ron and Hermione,

If you want an explanation meet me at my inheritance tomorrow. See you then.

Harry

Harry hoped that Ron and Hermione understood what he meant by inheritance, but again for fear of interception, he couldn't exactly write out 12 Grimmauld Place or Sirius' old house, because anyone who intercepted the letter would know where he was; and anyone who would intercept his letter, probably was not someone who should know his location. He tied the scroll to Hedwig's leg and she flew out the window. Then he tried to get back to sleep but he couldn't. He doubted that he could ever sleep through an entire night in this place.

So he got up and began to explore the house. Harry had a memory of the last time he was there before his fifth year at Hogwarts. Mrs. Weasley was bringing him to his room where Ron and Hermione had been staying and she had told him to be quiet. "Why do we have to be quiet?" he had asked. "I don't want to wake anything up" she had replied.

He quietly walked through the house and up the dark staircase. He held his wand out in front of him. "Lumos" he said and the end of his wand lit up so he could see around him. It was then that he noticed that the shrunken house elf heads were still mounted on the wall and Harry groaned when he remembered Kreacher.

As he walked around the big house and through the musty rooms, Harry was suddenly haunted by images of Sirius prowling in the dark. He quickly pushed the images out of his head and continued exploring his new house. The house hadn't changed much; it was as dark and dank as ever. He went back downstairs and walked past the moth-eaten curtains that had last time covered Sirius' mother.

He remembered how Sirius had said that he thought there was a permanent sticking charm on the back of the portrait. He wondered how long he could go on living in the house without waking her up and having a repeat performance of what had happened last time.

Again Harry was instantly depressed by the memory of Sirius. Harry spent the rest of the night pacing around the floor waiting for morning.