Chapter 5
An exam is coming up. Wish me luck.
/hp/
Harry entered the huge rosewood door and looked in awe at the huge circular entrance hall. He observed it while Mipsy had gone to call all the house elves. It was made of sandstone and had a number of paintings lining the walls, most being beautiful landscapes. A soft burgundy rug led to a wide carpet covered staircase which had golden metal railings. The ceiling was high and a large glass chandelier hung from it.
He was still enthralled by it when the house elves popped in front of him, he jumped in surprise. All of them cried, "Young Master Harry!" and many of them clung to him almost choking him. He looked at Mipsy for help and she piped, "You all are choking him", and pulled them off him.
He saw that all of them had tears in their eyes and some were sobbing. One of them came forward, he looked quite old, and said, "Forgive us for acting like this Young Master but all us elves being just too happy to see Young Master being back at home".
"It's okay ermm…", Harry started. "Torry, Young Master Harry, I'm the head Potter elf", he said proudly. "It's okay Torry, I'm glad to meet you all too and I'm going to live here, from now, with mum and dad", Harry said smiling.
The elves stared at him and Harry realized they would need an explanation. "I meant to say their portrait, I got it on my birthday and they would be coming here with the elf, Tricky soon", he explained.
The elves almost danced with joy on those prospects. Harry, when they had quietened down a bit, asked, "Now that all that's settled, may I know your names? It will be quite inconvenient if I don't. Do you not think so?", giving a mischievous smirk that reminded them too much of his father, and they almost fell over each other in order to introduce themselves.
Torry finally got them to stand in semi-circle in front of Harry and started introducing them. Finally, Harry could place them all, Torry was the head elf; Tizzy, who took care of the garden; Cissy who maintained the basement, the ground floor and the first floor and Hoppy who did the upper four floors; the cook Sippy and his parents' personal elf Cody and his, of course, Mipsy. He was also told that Tricky was quite young and just helped others for now.
Harry then asked Mipsy to show him around the house and the other elves went to their work. Sippy had promised that he would cook 'the most delicious food he had ever eaten' for him. He was excited to taste some wizard food.
Mipsy first showed him around the ground floor, a door towards the right led to a parlour and another door further down led to formal dining room that had a 40-seater dining table but could expand or reduce in size as required; towards the left was informal dining room with a 15-seater that too, could contract and expand and a large kitchen. Each room had a large fireplace.
Down in the basement was a warded potion lab, the hose elf quarters and a cellar.
They went to the 1st floor and that's where his jaw dropped to the floor for the first of the many times, in this tour. It was a grand ball-room with walls that were stone but were polished to such a high degree, they were reflective as glass and there were a number of small chandeliers but the one that truly took his breath away was the huge crystal chandelier in the middle hanging off the high ceiling.
The 2nd floor had 25 guest rooms, 15 bigger ones and 10 smaller ones. The size of the house was, by this time, making his head swim.
The 3rd floor was where his bedroom and the master bedroom were along with 10 more guest rooms for the closer friends and family and the Head of the House's study. Harry had noticed three rooms with name tags on them before Mipsy took him straight to his room. He decided to ask about that later. When he saw his room, his jaw dropped, again.
His bedroom was not just a room but a suite. It had a sitting room almost the size of the Dursleys' living room, with a fireplace with a comfortable looking sofa and a rug in front of it. It also had many comfortable chairs. The whole room was done in earthy tones and had many bookcases some of which had a few books, too.
While he was looking at all this Mipsy had went to the bedroom. He, too, went inside and saw that, it was even bigger than the sitting room and on the right side of the door there was no wall, but a large balcony with a roof till half its area. It was totally empty except for a king size, four-poster bed against the wall to the left of the door.
He went to the two doors flanking the fireplace, opposite the door, one was a closet the size of Dudley's second bedroom. his eyes grew wide in shock but it was nothing compared to how shocked he was to see the size of the bathroom. It had a sink and the toilet had smoked glass around it. The bathtub was white marble and could easily hold 5 grown men.
He came out, still not able to believe that this was his room, and went to Mipsy.
She looked at him and asked, "What colour Young Masters wants his bedroom being?". Harry thought for a moment and replied, "Well, I always wanted my bedroom to be in blue and grey, whenever I had one. Can you do that?". "Yes, Mipsy be doing it. And what colour you be wanting the trimmings to be?", she asked, practically bouncing on her heels in excitement.
Harry was laughing at her antics in amusement when Tricky appeared and informed them that his parents had come and wanted to talk to him. Mipsy told him that she would show him the library, the training room and the mirror room some other time and popped him to the informal dining room where, Tricky had told them his parents were.
They had just finished getting mobbed by the elves when Harry appeared. They smiled warmly at him and greeted him. "Hello Harry, how did you like our home?", Lily asked. "It's beautiful", Harry beamed, "it's bigger than I thought a house could ever be, it's beautifully decorated but none these matter a bit when compared to the fact that it's home', he almost whispered the last word, with such a longing that James and Lily felt their hearts clench.
A few moments later, Sippy entered with the food, in a silver plate and a water goblet, and they asked Harry to settle down and eat. He sat at the chair in the middle of the right side so that his parents would be in front of him.
He ate silently, taking in all that had changed in less than twenty-four hours. He loved the treacle tart and told Sippy, when he came to take the plates away, that it was the best thing he had ever had and thanked him. Sippy blushed and beamed at the compliment and went away.
His parents asked him to sit down on the sofa in front of the fireplace and asked Cody to put their portrait leaning on the sofa in front of him.
They told him all about their friends, the Fidelius charm, the secret keeper switch and finally, about Peter's betrayal. Harry was crying by the end; he couldn't believe how Peter could betray his friends in the way he did.
"Then where are Uncle Moony and my godfather?", he asked. "We have a theory but we can't be sure of it until it's confirmed, that's something we are going to inquire about. Could you please call Torry, Harry?", Lily asked.
"Sure, mum", Harry answered and called for the elf. He appeared and upon enquiring told them all about Sirius' supposed betrayal and arrest and Harry's position in the wizarding world as the 'Boy Who Lived'. He too, felt betrayed when he got to know that Sirius could do something like this and told them that all the elves were furious at him.
James told him that it was Peter and not Sirius who had betrayed them and that he should tell the other elves this, too. They also ordered him to go to Gringotts, with the Potter seal that Harry would give him, and ask their account manager Steelgrip to notify all the interested parties of the will reading that they requested him to hold at his earliest convenience.
After he had popped away, they asked Harry to go to the study and retrieve the seal. As he ran out of the dining room, Lily shouted, "Walk Harry, don't run! You can fall". Now, any other child would have found this annoying but Harry couldn't help grinning. He had PARENTS, who loved him, cared for him, and scolded him, too. He was not an orphan anymore.
Smiling at these happy thoughts running through his mind, he reached the study door and put his palm on it, as instructed by his father. Something silvery appeared to melt off the door and it opened smoothly when he turned the knob.
He entered and looked around, there were numerous bookshelves and a fireplace on the wall on the left of the door. On the wall opposite the door there was a window and in front of it, facing the door, was an oak table with a few files on it. There was a comfortable looking chair behind it.
He moved around the table and gently ran his hand along the soft material of the chair. This was the chair on which his father used to sit, may be even his grandfather and a people a few generations before him. It was an unequivocally emotional feeling, the same that he got from the house.
He removed his hand from the chair and turning back, opened the second drawer on the right. There was a velvet box and when he opened it, the silver Potter seal sat on a satin cloth. He took it out and stroked it once. Putting it inside he went back to the dining room, Torry was called and he popped away with the letter.
Harry asked, "Dad how will the well, will reading help Padfoot? And how can it help to find Uncle Moony?". James replied, "Moony's name is in the will, he will have to come and about helping Padfoot? You will see", smirking. "Aww dad…come on, just tell me", giving such cute puppy dog eyes that James almost gave in but managed to resist, but Lily, on the other hand, had to be stopped by him by pressing his hand to her mouth.
James left her and she chirped, "Merlin Harry! You are too cute". Harry blushed furiously and asked, "Why do you exclaim 'Merlin'? They had just finished telling him about the great wizard when Torry came back with a letter.
Harry took the letter, thanked him and sent him off. He read it to them. Steelgrip had agreed to hold the meeting the day at 12 in the afternoon. All of them smiled and that's when Mipsy appeared and told them that Harry's room was ready. He wanted to be with them for some more time so they decided to go to his room with him so they could see how it was done, as it was only 7'o clock.
Mipsy levitated their portrait behind her as they went up the stairs. Harry entered his room and was wonderstruck.
The walls were a light blue and were charmed to look like gently rippling ocean waves. Soft sounds of water could also be heard. The floor was covered in a mushy white carpet.
The room was done in blues and greys as he had asked. The balcony had dark blue and grey velvet curtains. The bed also had curtains in a thinner material in lighter shades. The bedsheet was grey and there was a royal blue comforter with silver snitches fluttering around all over it. There were many pillows, on the bed and the couch in front of the fireplace with silver silk covers.
He excitedly turned around and hugged Mipsy tightly to him and thanked her. Mipsy went red, piped a welcome and popped away.
James and Lily stayed for some time and told him about goblins and how to greet them. They also told him that the Potters always had a good relation with goblins and had a mutual respect for each other. They noticed, after some time, that Harry's eyes were getting heavy and wished him goodnight. Harry stood on his tip toes, kissed both their cheeks and wished them goodnight. They watched him slip inside the comforter and fall asleep with a smile on his face.
James put an arm around Lily as they watched their son sleep and waited for the good news the next day would bring.
/hp/
I didn't want to bore you all with all the details you already know so I did not explain all that in detail.
Guest/Guests- Thanks for the reviews😊 btw, I answered that in the 3rd chapter.😊
AshJaz- There you are, you didn't think I would leave Sirius in prison, did you? 😉
Guest- I agree, but I don't think I will be satisfied with that small spells. He will have to face Voldemort at some point and I already said he is going to be powerful. Thanks for the review 😊
Ruk- Thank you 😊