Disclaimer: nothing Harry Potter is mine
AN: chapter 6! Sorry to disappoint some, but they are not yet going back to Godric's Hollow. I am not sure whether I should use the name Sirius or Padfoot to refer to his dog dorm... hope it doesn't confuse anyone.
Also, I am trying to figure out how should the OWLs thing works. There should be how many subjects in total for them? Transfiguration, Potion, History of Magic, Care of Magical Creatures, DADA, Charms, Divination, Herbology. Is there anything else Harry was supposed to be taking? Responses to some of my fellow reviewers:
krenya-alenak: well, strictly speaking, that scene was not really supposed to be funny... was it really? glad that you like that scene, though!
emikae: um, of course I couldn't go all the way into the end, cause the end is not yet written! But I am working on chapter 9 now, actually... but I don't want to post too fast, because I can't write that fast. But really, I didn't think the end of last chapter was a cliffy O.O anyway, to keep me update faster, you know what to do
elvenwolf: sorry about the grammatical mistakes, but I'm trying the best I can... and I think this cant be compared with book six at all! But I m flattered all the same! And u raised a good point: about whether this Sirius is real or not. It' s supposed to be confusing ... : p but it is not now, is it?
HoshiHikari4ever: Remus being informed is not included in my short term plan, though entirely keeping it secret from him will be very difficult
Snuffles2: yes, you are quite right! Their method of communication is tedious and time consuming, but it will not last for too long!
HarryPotterFan17, SiriusElvenStar, Jackie, serrebi, gohan/videlgoten/trunkslover, grangerhermoine, chocolate-wolfie, PhoenixPadfoot89, iyoku-chan, elanastar : THANKS so much for reviewing!
Now, on with the story. Enjoy!
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Chapter 6 12 Grimmauld Place
Harry stopped before the stone steps leading to the dark and looming house. He stared at the shabby door where the silver number 12 stood vividly out of the scratched black paint. Someone patted his shoulder and he looked up.
"Come on, Harry, let's get inside." Remus said with a gentle smile on his wary face and walked up the steps. Harry could tell the effort behind the friendly gesture. Guilt for not telling Remus the truth and hence placing the poor man into agonizing turmoil rose inside Harry. Harry was not sure for how much longer he could put up with the act.
The feel of something slippery brushing against his knee brought Harry back to reality.
'Harry?' Remus asked. Harry had to restrain himself from looking down to check that his godfather was still there with him. It would rouse Remus's suspicion, not to mention pointless. Harry could have seen nothing of his godfather's dog form because unlike Dumbledore, Harry couldn't see through invisibility cloak. Harry straightened himself and flashed a weak smile towards Remus as he approached Remus. The feeling of the silky fabric occasionally brushing against his leg assured Harry that Sirius was still accompanying him.
.
Harry slept on the floor with Sirius curled at his side the night he had the vision with Voldemort. Next morning, the sound of beak knocking his window woke them up. With his limbs stiff and aching, Harry made his way to the window and was thrilled to see his beloved owl, Hedwig. Harry immediately let Hedwig in. Glimmering in the blinding sunlight in Hedwig's beak, was a single scarlet golden feather that looked familiar. As Harry stroke Hedwig's feather, his heart swelling with happiness of seeing his pet intact, Hedwig dropped the feather onto Harry's desk. The thought of Hedwig and the dog bouncing up and down beside him were driven out of Harry's mind as the feather stood vertically by its pointed end upon a piece of parchment on his desk and started quivering. The moment the feather slide across the parchment in a graceful motion, leaving a golden trail behind its progress, Harry realized that it was Fawkes's feather. It moved across the parchment in a dancing-like motion and eventually stopped and fell innocently back on the desk. Harry picked up the parchment and read.
Harry,
As you should have noticed, this feather belongs to Fawkes. It is a means to communicate among Order members. Each feather can only be used by a single person and the message it sent cannot be intercepted. The feather would not deliver message unless the owner is alone. Dumbledore thought it prudent to give you one. In case you want anything, just pick up the feather and address the person within the Order you want to contact. End the message with your signature, and the feather will send the message to the feather belonged to that person. The message would appear on any surface the feather has written on and would only stay for one minute after it had been written. Up till this moment only Dumbledore and I know that you have got this feather, so unless it is absolute emergency, don't use it yet to contact other members of the Order.
Feel free to drop me a word or two if you want anything. We will hopefully meet soon. Take care.
Remus.
The letter written in golden ink vanished one minute after the feather had stopped moving. Harry absent-mindedly fed Hedwig with owl treat as he held Fawkes's feather close to Sirius.
"Do you recognize this?" Sirius studied the feather for a while and sniffed it. Then he nodded, his pale eyes shining with a hard to discern emotion. Harry sat heavily on his bed.
"I don't understand. If you had had such a safe method to communicate, why didn't Dumbledore give me this last year? You wouldn't have . . . you wouldn't have to be stuck if he had . . ." Sirius stopped Harry with a determined shake of his head and fixed Harry with his gaze clearly saying "Drop it, Harry."
Sirius had not discussed the meaning of Dumbledore giving the feather to Harry, nor had he mentioned "Godric's Hollow" again. He just asked Harry to contact Remus with the newly acquired quill and arrange a visit to the Headquarter of the Order on the coming Friday.
Harry had complied and Remus had agreed. That was why Harry was standing in front of the Headquarter of the Order of Phoenix at the afternoon of that Friday with Sirius hidden under his invisibility cloak. They had chosen to make their visit on Friday afternoon because, according to Sirius's experience, Moody would be most busy with duty for the Order during that period of the week. Remus arrived at the Dursleys' house with a Portkey that afternoon. Harry nearly had a heart attack when Remus frowned and looked around Harry's bedroom in confusion. Harry remembered somewhere from the textbook that werewolf was supposed to possess superior senses normal human beings lack. He might be able to detect Sirius's smell even if he was under the invisibility cloak. Panic-stricken, Harry shoved a bag of every favour beans under Remus's nose and at the same time offered him chocolate frogs. To Harry's great relief, those sweets seemed to have distracted Remus for the moment being. Harry then had his hand placed firmly upon Sirius's invisible head as he reached for the portkey Remus had brought.
Harry's mind stopped wandering as he stepped into the Headquarter. The hallway was as gloomy as ever regardless of the brightness of the daylight outside the door. Harry tiptoed after Remus across the hallway, careful not to produce the smallest of sound, which might provoke the person residing in the portrait behind the curtains to go berserk. Remus led the way down a flight of stone steps to the room where they usually ate. The room seemed even more messy and disordered than Harry remembered, judging from the chairs, dishes and forks that littered the floor and the thin layer of dust upon the cooking pans and the large wooden table. On first glance, Harry thought it was void of any living creatures, but on closer inspection, Harry noticed someone was sitting on a battered wooden chair close to a corner of the room with a bottle of beer held loosely in the person's hand. The person's head was bent and long lock of muddy coloured hair obscured her face from sight. She seemed to be sleeping.
Remus approached the woman and called tentatively. "Tonks?"
Tonks jerked her head up, the bottle in her hand fell to the floor and shattered with a loud crash. The sound woke her up fully and she started to babble apologies at messing up again. Her black eyes were dull and blood- shot, as though she hadn't slept for days.
"Why didn't you go home and get some sleep?" Remus asked as Tonks knelt and tried to clear up the fragments of the glass bottle with her hands. "I just wanted to catch some breath here before going back to work. I didn't mean to fall asleep. No, you don't, Remus, let me clean up the mess. " Tonks held up her hand to stop Remus from helping, while at the same instant she let out a sharp 'ooch'. She seemed to have cut her other hand.
"Let me - " Said Remus, his hand reaching into his pocket. But Tonks was faster than him. "Oh, this is ridiculous!" She exclaimed and stood up, her wand already on her unwounded hand. She levitated the fragments of the bottle up and directed them towards the trash bin. Then for the first time, she noticed the presence of another person in the room other than Remus.
"Oh, Harry!" Before Harry knew what was happening, he had been engulfed in a tight hug. Tonks released him after a few seconds as if realizing the imprudence of her behaviour. She smiled at Harry sheepishly, her usual cheerfulness returning. "How are you doing, Harry?"
"I'm fine." That statement was not a lie. However, as Harry reminded himself again that he had to act as though he was still mourning for Sirius's supposed 'death', he averted his eyes. Afterwards followed a moment of awkward silence, during which no doubt Tonks was kicking herself mentally for asking such an inappropriate question.
"I will let Dumbledore know you have arrived, Harry." Remus said, saving Harry and Tonks the task of breaking the silence. "Tonks, can you keep Harry company for the moment being?"
"Of course!" Replied Tonks with her cheerful voice in place once again. She ushered Harry to a seat near the table and with a few flick of her wand, conjured two goblets of pumpkin juice for Harry. "Here, have a drink."
"Thanks." Harry muttered and sipped at the goblet though he was not thirsty. "What are you up to lately? You seemed busy." Harry asked.
"'I am busy' would be a huge understatement. The folks at the Ministry are working us Aurors as if we are machines that need no rest, now that You-Know-Who has gone public. Not to mention Order duty . . . But the most tiring task is the research our group of Aurors is assigned to. It's about telepathy. Can you believe that? The skill of true telepathy has been lost to us wizards and witches for centuries, excluding those by dark magic means, of course, but now they are asking us to develop it again for use in the fight against You-Know-Who!" Harry wondered if Tonks was allowed to speak of Auror assignment to someone out of the department, but he reckoned it would be rude for him to point out.
"And they expect us to succeed in the near future! For God's sake, can you believe that, Harry? Today I have to attend a meeting at noon to 'report our progress'. As if there can be any . . ."
"Er," Harry cleared his throat, "sorry to intercept you, but it is already half past two."
"What?"
"It's now half past two . . ."
Tonks let out a sharp shriek and knocked down her chair in her haste to stand up. "Merlin's beard! They are going to kill me." She grabbed a shabby traveling cloak lying on the floor at the corner. In a flash, she reached the door leading to the hallway. "Sorry to leave you in such haste, Harry. See you around!" She yelled as her traveling cloak slipped through the door just before it was closed.
Moments later, Remus pushed the door to the room open looking alarmed. "What happened? Who screamed?" Remus surveyed the room again. "Where's Tonks?" By then, Harry managed to regain the control to his mouth. "She's late for work." Remus relaxed considerably and shook his head. "Not again?" He mused as he picked up the chair Tonks had knocked down and set it back on its legs.
"So, Harry," Remus sat down and looked at Harry, "Why do you want to come here today?" Harry tensed up inside. He could also sense the invisible dog lying motionless besides his feet under the table tense up. Harry took a deep breath and tried to keep his voice neutral. "I just want to get away from the Dursleys once in a while. Get some fresh air, you know. And I want to . . . " Harry struggled to keep his expression neutral. Even the slightest mistake would ruin Harry and Sirius's plan. "I want to have a look at Sirius's belongings."
Harry avoided eye contact, hoping against hope that Remus would view it as a sign of grieve rather than dishonesty.
"Can I . . .?"
"Of course you can, Harry. Now that Sirius is . . . not here, his possessions would go to you. I will take you up to his room later. Perhaps you should finish your drink first." Harry let out a sign of relief. However, he noticed there seemed to be a shaky edge to Remus's voice. Harry also noted that Remus's hair seemed even grayer than before. Harry lifted the goblet of pumpkin juice to his mouth and sipped again. He let his eyes roamed around and felt something amiss.
"Why is no one here? Where are the Weasleys?" Harry put down his goblet and asked.
"Everyone has his or her hands full these days. The Headquarter isn't filled with many people except during meeting. And the Weasleys, actually Molly, thought it best that they don't move in for the time being."
Harry frowned upon hearing the name of Mrs. Weasleys. He couldn't quite forgive Mrs. Weasley for being mean to Sirius.
"Harry, we really should put our grudges behind us. Molly hadn't had a night of undisturbed sleep these days. Do you know why?"
"She is no doubt worried about her family . . . and me."
"Not only that, Harry. She regretted how she had treated Sirius."
"She should be." Harry muttered under his breath, but it was not unheard by his former teacher and his godfather under the table.
"Don't say or do things you would regret later, because you never know if you would ever have the chance to redeem them." Remus said in a soft tone, but it rang loudly around the otherwise silent room.
"I'm sorry." Harry blew his head.
"It's in our nature to make mistakes, Harry. Anything else you want to know?"
It was a moment before Harry could utter his question. "Has Percy come around?"
"I'm afraid not yet. He is still not on speaking terms with his parents." Harry had guessed as much. Percy's pride must be seriously injured now that he knew his parents had been correct all along. "It may be because every single Ministry employee is having a hard time lately with all the chaos surrounding the return of Voldemort. Percy might not have time to contact his parents still."
"Yeah, one can so hope."
"We shouldn't be too hard on Percy, though. Fudge is not at his best temper these days and it must be hard for Percy to cope. "
"So we can only hope he would someday come around?"
"He will, Harry. Percy may be ambitious, but he has his heart at the right place."
Harry felt disheartened by the discussion. He gulped down the last mouth of pumpkin juice and set the mug down. "I'm ready to go."
Harry followed Remus out of the room and upstairs. They kept climbing the stairs until they got to the fourth landing. There was only a single hallway with more than ten doors. Remus strode along the hallway and stopped at the third door to the right. The door was plain black with no marking or anything that separated it with the rest of the doors.
Remus reached into his robe and took out several keys. "This is the guest wing of the Black Manor. Sirius said he couldn't bear to stay in his old bedroom. Too many unpleasant memories, he told me." Harry realized it would be hard for him to think of Remus without his sad smile now. "All the stuff he valued is inside." Remus said as he found the key for the door and slid it into the keyhole of the door. With a metallic click, the door was unlocked. Remus swung the door open.
What greeted Harry was the sight of a room three times as large as his own small bedroom at Privet Drive. It didn't look as if no one had come inside for weeks – it looked as if no one had set foot into the room for years. There was no window inside. The walls were adjourned with nothing but greenish-blue and filthy wallpaper. At the corner lay a large four-poster bed with half of its green hangings missing. The hanging left looked every inch mould-infested. Shelves upon shelves of books filled the space of the four walls. The thick volumes of books and the several robes discarded on the floor were the only things inside the room that were not covered with inch-thick dust.
"Looks terrifying, doesn't it?" Remus waved his hand vaguely around the room. He took out his wand and directed them towards the torches around the room, which ignited in dim yellow flame. "Sirius only used this room for storage. He seldom slept here. " Harry thought it understandable that Sirius had not slept inside a room without even a single window.
Harry could feel Sirius brushed against his legs as he trotted into the room.
"Er, Remus, can I – can I have a moment alone?"
"Of course." Giving the room a last look, Remus willed himself to tear his eyes away from the room. The thick carpet under their feet absorbed the sound of footsteps as Remus withdrew from the room. With a barely audible click, the door was closed, leaving Harry and Sirius alone inside.
For a moment, Harry wanted to tell Sirius that the coast was clear; no one was looking, he could transform back to his human form. But then a leaden feeling, which Harry was fast being accustomed to whenever he set his eyes upon his godfather's animagus form, settled in his stomach. Harry was reminded once again that Sirius was trapped within the shell of his dog form.
Trying hard to keep the sudden and unexpected surge of sadness unnoticed with his blank face, Harry knelt down and reached his hands around for his godfather. Soon something came into contact with his outstretched hands, and after fumbling around the invisible fabric for a while, Harry got Padfoot out of the invisibility cloak. Harry managed a weak smile under Padfoot's sharp blue gaze. "Come on, Sirius, we don't have all day. Go." He ruffled Sirius's soft fur behind his long ears and gave him a pat on his back to urge him on. The feeling of his fingers running through the smooth fur of Sirius's pacified Harry's mind a bit.
Sirius wasted no time in reacquainting with his old bedroom. He walked straight to one of the many shelves that filled most of the space of the room. He stopped and wagged his tail eagerly to motion Harry to follow him.
Harry looked up and down the shelf that was full of books and rolls and piles of parchments. He looked back down at the large black dog sitting on the floor. Harry pointed at the topmost row of the shelf and Sirius shook his head, indicating a 'no'. They repeated the procedure for a few times until they reached the fourth row of the shelf, which was just about Harry's eye level. Harry ran his hands over the cover of the books from left to right. Sirius barked as Harry's hand ran over a small leather bound book with green cover. Harry pulled the book out.
The moment the book separated from the wooden shelf, all books and parchment residing on the fourth row fell backwards, as if being sucked by an invisible vacuum cleaner from behind. The air around the shelf seemed to crackle with electricity. What left behind of the row was the wooden back of the shelf. Harry looked questioningly at Sirius. Sirius looked at Harry with a somehow mischievous glint in his pale eyes. He raised his paw and made a reaching movement, indicating Harry to imitate him. With the green book still in his right hand, Harry reached into the shelf. The progress of his hand wasn't stopped by the back of the shelf or the wall. Instead Harry kept reaching in until half of his arm up till to his elbow had gone through the wood of the shelf. Harry felt around with his fingers. It must have been the weirdest feeling Harry had ever experienced; what surrounded his forearm was not air. It felt cold to touch and the texture was slippery. It was swirling around Harry's hand smoothly and kept slipping through Harry's outstretched fingers.
"Sirius, what am I supposed to find?" Harry hissed in hushed voice. Sirius merely looked back at Harry, his pale eyes reflecting the yellow light from the torches. It was as if Sirius was waiting for something to happen.
Without warning, the slippery stuff behind the shelf warmed up. At the same time, invisible claws seized Harry's forearm in a tight grip. He pulled his arm with all his strengthen, trying in vain to free it, but the grip on his arm only tightened. Panic started to rise in Harry. But it should be nothing dangerous. Sirius wouldn't tell Harry to do this if something bad would happen to him.
"Sirius, what's happening? I cannot free my arm!" Harry couldn't bit down the fanatical tone in his voice. Sirius didn't look the remotest bit alarmed by the situation. "Sirius!" The invisible force was to bone- crushing point now . . .
Sirius barked. Harry could not care if Remus could hear Sirius's bark for the iron grip on his arm was loosened. Harry yanked his arm out and checked for any damage. He let out a relieved sign when he found none. As Harry looked again, the fourth row of the shelf was no longer empty. A single book that was as thick as Hermione's "Hogwarts: A History" appeared. Sirius jumped up and down eagerly, indicating they had found what they were here for.
Harry flipped through the little green book on his hand, and noticed that its pages were all blank. Harry replaced the green book on his hand back to the shelf and took out the thick book that had appeared. Harry almost dropped the thick leather bound book in shock when the air around the shelf reverberated with current of invisible force. The force shook the whole wooden shelf, making a few books and parchments fell from their resting place. When the shaking ended, the feeling of saturated charges around the air vanished. The fourth row of the shelf was filled with books again, looking as if nothing out of ordinary had happened.
Harry slumped down on the floor beside Sirius. "What happened?" Harry asked, his heartbeat still fast from the shock of his arm being trapped by the wall. Sirius, on the other hand, just sat studying Harry with an innocent look on his dog face. Harry decided it was pointless to ask, as Sirius couldn't answer him anyway. He turned his attention to the heavy book on his lap.
The cover of the book was plain black and thoroughly worn out. Harry flipped through the pages. There were pages filled with untidy handwriting. Scattered throughout the book were pages filled with printed words and pictures. Some pages were filled with language that Harry couldn't recognize.
Sirius stood up and his ears flickered. Harry looked up from the book in alarm. He quickly threw the invisibility cloak around Sirius as someone knocked the door. Harry shoved the book under the invisibility cloak before opening the door.
"Everything alright here?" Remus asked. Harry wondered if he could sense the residue of magic in the room.
"Yes."
"Harry, you have to leave now. I am sorry I can't let you stay longer, but Order duty calls. Perhaps we can arrange another visit later . . ."
"It's ok, Remus. Thanks for letting me come."
"You are welcome. Let's get downstairs. "
Harry waited until Remus started to descend the stairs before turning back to the room. Sirius struggled out of the invisibility cloak and sat still so that Harry could tie it securely around him. Sirius had the book secured between his jaws. They then went downstairs.
Remus was searching his robe pocket when Harry arrived at the dining room. "There it is." He muttered as he took out a small piece of parchment and his wand. Remus tapped the parchment with his wand and the parchment glowed with a soft blue light.
"Harry, you . . ." Remus stopped in mid sentence and turned his head towards the direction of the door. "Could you wait for a minute? Someone has arrived. " Remus put the parchment back into his robe pocket and hurriedly made his way back to the hallway. Soon Harry heard hushed voice coming towards the dining room. He strained his ears to listen and caught bits of their conversation.
"Harry is here. He wanted to . . ." It was Remus's voice.
"Mr Potter is here? How is . . ." the authoritative and stern voice no doubt belonged to Professor Mcgonagoll.
There was a third noise. But it wasn't someone's voice.
Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.
Harry rushed to the threshold of the door. He swang the door open, and found himself face to face to none other than Alastor "Mad-eye" Moody.
"Potter! Good to see you up and around." One could almost say that Moody seemed pleased to see Harry. Harry, on the other hand, felt his stomach crunched and twisted in fear. His fear mounted as the electric blue pupil of Moody's eyes swirled into vision. Any second now. Moody would see through the invisibility cloak and notice Sirius . . . He must do something. . .
"Why are you blocking the doorway? Remus, are you quite sure that the boy is ok? " Moody said as he pushed Harry aside and entered the room. Harry was oblivious to the curious and worried gaze Remus and Professor McGonagall threw his way. He watched in fear as Moody stopped and stood still before the table. Moody's back became rigid.
"What's the matter?" Remus asked, alarmed at Moody's silence.
Moody didn't turn around.
"Damn!" he cursed, and to Harry's utmost horror, took out his wand. Knowing Moody, he was going to attack first and ask later!
"No!" Harry yelled as Moody waved his wand.
"What's the matter with you, boy?" Moody snapped with an irritated voice and turned around . . . with a glass of water in his grumpy hand. Moody had taken out his wand to conjure a glass of water.
"Can someone tell me what's happening?" McGonagall asked.
"My eye's stuck again! How am I supposed to work with the blasted eyes stuck up once every few days?" Moody's magical eye was stuck upwards again and what they could see was only the white of his eye. Harry could hardly believe his luck.
"I just have it checked by those folks at St. Mungo's last week." Moody grumbled as he took out his magical eye in a disgusting movement and threw it into the glass. Moody turned to Harry and stared at him in suspicion. "What were you yelling at?"
"Nothing." Harry replied perhaps a bit too fast. But luck was on Harry's side. Moody decided to let the matter drop.
The four of them moved to the table and settle down. Harry was anxious to go. He and Sirius had to leave before Moody had his magical eye back in place. But he would rouse even more suspicion than he already had if he exhibited his haste to get away from the house.
"Any luck in finding her, Minerva?" Remus's voice brought Harry back to reality.
"No."
"Who's missing?" Harry couldn't stop himself but asked.
"It's Professor Trelawney. She has been missing for nearly a week now. "
"Minerva, are you sure that woman is trustworthy? She appeared suspicious enough to me." Moody said with a scowl.
"She may not be talented at divination, but she is not evil. It is my guess that she is still upset with what happened with Umbridge last year. She had been noising about quitting and leaving Hogwarts for a while. Albus had tried to pacify her, and she appeared to be satisfied with the arrangement next term. It gave us quite a shock when she just vanished with the luggage she had packed since the last term ended. She must have got home, if you ask me." Professor Mcgonagoll said with the stern expression she always wore when dealing with naughty students.
"But Dumbledore seemed worried about her, though." Remus muttered to himself. "Before I forget," Remus freed himself from his own thought, "Harry, you should go."
"Okay." Harry wanted to listen more of their conversation, but as at the sight of the swirling magical eye in the glass of water, Harry decided he had better leave.
Harry rose from his seat and bid Professor Mcgonagoll and Moody goodbye. He then turned to Remus.
"You know how to reach me if you want anything." Remus said. Harry nodded and took the piece of parchment that was undoubtedly a Portkey from Remus's hand, his other hand already firmly planted on Sirius's invisible head.
Godric's Hollow will be next! Please Review!