6 Storms
Easter break at Grimmauld Place had left Harry and his friends at a loose end. With the help of a few other house elves Dobby had made Sirius Black's family home very livable. There was little left to do to the house and Mrs. Weasley was doing it. Ron and Hermione were getting on well for once. Harry decided to slip away into Muggle London for the afternoon. He drifted along, walking here, taking a bus there, and stopping in at a little pastry shop for a snack. By dinnertime Harry found himself at the zoo, the very same zoo where he had accidentally freed a boa constrictor. "The last time I was here I hadn't even begun to suspect that I was a wizard." Harry reflected on how abruptly his life changed from a bit of uncomplicated middle-class misery to being the Chosen One. Coming here helped Harry Potter gain a new perspective and other things he would need for his quest. He took a last look at the serpent house and slipped into the crowd.
Harry returned to Grimmauld Place before dark. He heard activity downstairs and went straight to the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley looked at him with motherly concern. "Harry dear, dinner will be quite late tonight. I've made some sandwiches to tide you over. Ron and Hermione are in Sirius's old room. Would you please bring them this tray?"
When Harry took the sandwiches to his friends he nearly dropped the tray. He saw Hermione and Ron on a huge, garish couch.
Dobby had turned Sirius's old bedroom into a playroom of sorts. The room was now open and airy. The color scheme was wanting: a plum colored sofa, lime carpet, lemon hued drapes. "He must have been hungry when he did this." Ron grumbled.
"Fine, have these sandwiches then," Harry fumed as he went off to find Dobby. How could Dobby do this to the only personal place Sirius had in the entire house?
The room had an opposite effect on Hermione. She got a little giggly seeing hobby horses, game tables, and bizarre elf-made pillows and quilts spread around the bright room.
"How could Dobby do this? It's so odd, yet somehow it works. I feel good in this room. Dobby must have really thought this would cheer Harry up."
She pulled Ron closer on the Hagrid-sized plum sofa and giggled a bit more at its ridiculous proportions. Rain pounded on the spotless windows but that only made the strange and wonderful room more inviting. Hermione quieted down and snuggled up to Ron. She spoke softly to him about her feelings on the day's events. Ron looked away from her, watching the rain. He shifted uneasily on the sofa. Their hands touched and Hermione clasped his hand. The rains gave way to a thunderstorm.
Ron was at the kitchen table eating double his normal breakfast when Hermione came down and sat next to him. Ron would have choked to death on the spot if not for his long experience at wolfing down food. He swallowed hard.
"You OK, Hermione?"
"Fine Ron, never better," she snapped.
Mrs. Weasley turned from the stove to say good morning.
"And what can I get you for breakfast, Hermione?" Molly Weasley asked pleasantly.
"I'll have what Ron's having." She said in a flippant tone.
"Coming right up, dear," Mrs. Weasley seemed not to notice.
Hermione ate quickly, gave Ron a stony look and left. Mrs. Weasley was
called away, leaving Ron staring at an empty breakfast plate.
Ron wanted Hermione and at the same time he was embarrassed to see her. He, no they, had really broken something. The two of them had been swept away in powerful moment. "That's a lie." Ron said to himself. The energy of the storm wasn't the reason. They were taking refuge from darkness and uncertainty in a whimsical game room at twelve Grimmauld Place. He wanted the bossy, brainy, wonderful book-pest that was Hermione Jane Granger back.
The Easter Break came to an end and the three friends had found little more than a broken map. No one from The Order would tell them much.
"I asked Kingsley and Moody but they haven't seen or heard of Mundungus Fletcher. Kreacher seems to have either gone to ground or left this world," Harry said dejectedly.
"Wait a minute. Try to get hold of Dobby again, Harry, you know how he likes to turn up at the last minute!" Ron said excitedly, "he'd do anything to help you. Dobby, we need your help. Harry's not angry about the room anymore, it's OK to come out," Ron pleaded. Harry frowned at Ron.
"Dobby has found the locket Harry Potter is looking for," a voice said.
Dobby held the locket up dolefully to Harry.
"Thanks Dobby, where was it?"
"Kreacher hides it. Dobby had to look for a long time. Dobby also had to punish himself for displeasing Harry Potter," the bandaged house elf squeaked.
"How could you do that to Sirius's room, Dobby?" Harry was indignant.
"Harry Potter must move on. Master Sirius was most clear on that, sir."
Harry stood there, mouth agape for a second. Then he smiled tightly. "Don't worry about the room, Dobby . . . Hermione really liked it anyway. You did the right thing. Thanks."
Ron blanched. Harry looked at him, confused. Dobby was ecstatic. He bowed and disappeared.
"Right, let's see if we can get this locket open--, carefully," Harry added.
The two of them spent hours cursing and puzzling over the locket. Spells just fizzled against it. Harry and Ron's combined strength couldn't shift it.
Hermione entered the drawing room silently.
"If you two boys are finished I'll get that open," she said imperiously, grabbing the locket. "You'd better get cleaned up. We'll be leaving soon."
They looked at each other and shrugged as she stalked out of the room. Ron recalled fondly the first time he, Harry and Hermione had met on the Hogwarts Express.
She returned an hour and a half later with singed hair, a bandaged hand and blackened fingernails.
"Hermione are you alright? What happened?"
"I'm OK Harry. It's just a hard to open locket, not a horcrux," she said dispiritedly.
