Chapter 5

Harry followed the delicious smell of frying sausages into the kitchen. Walking over to the table, he saw Molly Weasley observing several frying pans on the large oven filled with piles of sausages, eggs and bacon and he took a seat, stomach rumbling in anticipation. As he waited impatiently, Tonks entered the kitchen along with Bill and Arthur Weasley, and Remus Lupin. They all plonked down on seats around the table, and a moment later Sirius strolled in too, tipping an irritated Crookshanks off of the chair and sitting down next to Harry.

"Morning, Harry. Sleep well?" Sirius asked him with a grin.

"Alright," Harry said, stifling a yawn.

"You're fooling no one, Harry," Sirius laughed. Harry grinned back at him, punching him lightly on the arm.

"Fine! How did you sleep, Snuffles?" Harry questioned him back. The dark circles under Sirius' eyes suggested that he wasn't well rested.

"I slept perfectly well. Don't look at me like that!" he said, at Harry's amused look. "I'm just not a morning person, alright!"

He poked Harry in the ribs in retaliation and Harry wriggled away, realising in horror that Sirius had found his one ticklish spot. Harry gulped, hoping he hadn't noticed. Looking sideways at him, Harry saw Sirius had a particularly evil look on his face and he panicked, jumping out of his seat, but he was too slow. Before he even reached the kitchen door Sirius had grabbed him, pinned him against a wall and was edging closer towards Harry's ribs, laughing at the terrified expression on his face.

Leaning close, Sirius whispered in his ear, "I've got you now…" Harry attempted to wriggle away but Sirius laughed huskily and let loose, tickling Harry's ribs and making him scream like a girl.

Harry was laughing hysterically, in between screeching and shouting "HELP!" at the top of his voice. Sirius paused briefly and Harry panted, catching his breath, hoping that Sirius was about to give up. A moment later however, Sirius gave his most evil grin yet and put his hands under Harry's t-shirt, tickling him even harder. Harry fell on the floor, laughing so hard he felt his lungs were going to explode, and tried to push away the heavy lump on top of him that was his supposedly grown up god father.

"Stop, stop! I admit defeat!" Harry gasped out between laughing, although for some strange reason he almost thought that he liked the feeling of Sirius laying on top of him, pinning him to the ground. He opened his eyes, and gasped as he saw Sirius' handsome face just inches from his own, lit up with laughter. His eyes really were beautiful this close up, such a striking shade of silvery grey... His musings were cut short by Molly Weasley shouting at them in an exasperated but amused tone of voice.

"Boys, you'd better get over here if you want any breakfast before it's all gone!"

They both quickly scrambled up and ran to the table, grabbing what food was left and shovelling it in their mouths as if they hadn't eaten in weeks. Harry looked up and saw Remus' amused expression across the table, and he grinned back.

"We're going to need you in the drawing room today, everyone. There're a lot more doxies than I thought in there, and I found a nest of dead puffskeins under the sofa," Molly said to the room in general. They all ate up quickly, and after a little while of chatting they met in the old drawing room. It was a long, thin room, with olive green walls and a horrible musty smell. The walls were hung with dirty tapestries that looked centuries old, and the long curtains on the far wall were buzzing as if full of bees. Molly was standing near the curtains, looking rather odd with a cloth tied around her face covering her nose and mouth, and holding a spray bottle of black liquid.

"Everyone cover your faces and take a spray," she said briskly, pointing towards a pile of cloths and spray bottles in the corner of the room. Harry quickly tied a cloth around his face and picked up a bottle, looking to Molly for further instructions. "This is Doxycide – I've never seen an infestation this bad," Molly continued, looking in trepidation at the buzzing curtains.

Just then, Sirius walked in holding what appeared to be a bag of dead rats. Harry looked at him curiously and Sirius caught his eye.

"Just been feeding Buckbeak," he explained, "I keep him upstairs in my mother's old bedroom."

"I'd forgotten about Buckbeak! Can I see him at some point?" Harry asked eagerly. He had a soft spot for the hippogriff after Sirius had escaped on him during his third year at Hogwarts.

"Course you can!" Sirius smiled at him. Their conversation was cut off by Molly Weasley's business-like voice.

"Ok everyone, get ready! When I say the word, spray directly at the curtains. The doxies will come flying out at you, but one spray to the face should knock them out. Their fangs are poisonous, I have some antidote here but I'd rather we didn't need it, so be careful." She raised her spray in front of her, about a foot away from the curtains, and everyone else followed her lead.

"Alright, spray!" Molly shouted, and Harry began spraying along with everyone else. Almost immediately, doxies started flying out of the curtains at them. They looked like fairies with thick black hair, beetles wings and 4 tiny fists raised. One fully grown doxy flew directly at Harry's face, teeth bared, and he caught it full in the face with a spray of Doxycide. It hit the ground with a thud, and Harry gingerly picked it up and put it in the bucket.

After a while, Harry noticed Fred picking up an unconscious doxy while his mother wasn't looking, and putting it in his pocket. Harry looked at him inquiringly, and Fred muttered to him under his breath.

"We want to experiment with doxy venom for our Skiving Snackboxes," he whispered.

"What are Skiving Snackboxes?" Harry asked, intrigued.

"Range of sweets that make you ill," George whispered, keeping an eye on his mother. "Not really ill, just ill enough to get you out of class."

"You swallow one end, and it makes you sick. Then when you swallow the other end, as soon as you're out of class, it makes you all better!" Fred winked at Harry.

"We've been developing them this summer. We haven't had the chance to get premises yet, but we're running the joke shop as a mail order service at the moment."

"All thanks to you, Harry," George grinned, "luckily mum doesn't look at the Daily Prophet anymore so she has no idea we're advertising in there".

"That's great, guys," Harry said in admiration. He had no idea the twins had got so far towards getting their business started, and he was very happy that he had been able to help them out with his Triwizard winnings.

"Cheers, Harry!" the twins said in unison. Molly looked over at them and they hurried back to work, spraying the doxies until only the odd one or two zoomed out at them. They collapsed down on the old sofa and various arm chairs, taking off the cloths from around their faces and mopping their brows. It had been hard work, and they were all looking forward to lunch.

"Alright, I'm going to make some sandwiches, you lot stay here," Molly said sternly, and strode off down the stairs. Harry turned and saw Sirius standing at one end of the room, looking at one of the old tapestries on the wall with an almost resentful look on his face. He walked over, standing next to Sirius and reading the tapestry that hung before them. It seemed to be a family tree, going backwards to the Middle Ages. He scanned the bottom of the tapestry.

"Hey, your name isn't on here!" Harry remarked. He could see that it was an ancient Black family tree, so surely Sirius' name should be on there somewhere?

"It used to be there," Sirius pointed grumpily to a black charred mark on the tapestry, almost like a cigarette burn, "but my mother blasted it off when I ran away from home."

"You ran away from home?"

"Yeah, when I was sixteen. I'd had enough."

"Why?" Harry asked, surprised. He knew Sirius had had a tough adulthood in prison, but he had no idea his childhood had been bad as well.

"Why did I leave? Because I hated the whole lot of them," Sirius remarked, smiling bitterly. "I hated my parents with their pureblood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royalty. I hated my soft brother who was stupid enough to believe them…that's him there," said Sirius, pointing towards the name Regulus Arcturus Black on the tapestry. There was a date of death next to it.

"He was younger than me, and a much better son as my parents constantly reminded me."

"But…he died," Harry said quietly.

"Yeah, stupid idiot. He joined the Death Eaters."

"You're kidding!"

"Come on Harry, you've seen what this house is like, you must have guessed the sort of people my family were."

"Were your parents Death Eaters too?" Harry asked tentatively.

"No, no, but they thought Regulus had the right idea. They agreed completely with Voldemort's views on purifying the Wizarding race, getting rid of Muggleborns and having Purebloods run everything. A lot of people got cold feet when Voldemort showed his true colours, and they saw what he was willing to do to get power. I bet my parents thought Regulus was a right little hero to start with though," Sirius said bitterly.

"Was in an auror that killed him?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"Oh no," Sirius said. "No, he was killed by Voldemort. Or on Voldemort's orders, more likely, I doubt Regulus was ever important enough to be killed by Voldemort in person. From what I found out after he died, he got in so far, then panicked about what he was being asked to do and tried to back out. Well, you don't just hand in your resignation to Voldemort. It's a lifetime of service or death."

Harry looked at him sadly. His godfather had had a terrible life, and it really wasn't fair that he was stuck here now in this house full of bad memories. Harry glanced at the tapestry and noticed a name on it that stuck out.

"You're related to the Malfoys!" He exclaimed.

"Yes, all the old Pureblood families are interrelated. If you're only going to let your children marry other Purebloods then it's bound to happen, there aren't that many of us left. Two of my cousins made respectable Pureblood marriages, but Andromeda ignored the family's beliefs and married Ted Tonks, a muggleborn. She was always my favourite cousin," Sirius said.

"Tonks?"

"Yes, Tonks is related to me too."

Harry looked at the tapestry but didn't see her name.

"I expect my mother blasted her off the tree as well. Yes, see, Andromeda should have been there, with Tonks underneath," he pointed to another set of blast marks next to where it said Narcissa Malfoy and next to it, Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Lestrange…" Harry said aloud. He was sure that name rang a bell.

"She's in Azkaban." Sirius said shortly. "Along with her scum of a husband."

Harry remembered now. She had been arrested along with Barty Crouch Jr for the crimes committed against Neville's parents.

"You never mentioned that you were related to—" Harry began, but Sirius cut him off.

"Do you think I'm proud to be related to people like that?" he said heatedly.

"Sorry," Harry quickly said, "I didn't mean—"

"No, it's fine, don't apologise. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. I just hate being back here," he muttered, and he looked so dejected that Harry couldn't help but put his arms around him and pull him into a hug. Sirius was tense at first, but he quickly relaxed into the hug and put his arms around Harry in return, pulling him closer.

"I'm glad I have you here, Harry," Sirius whispered, "You're keeping me sane."

Harry pulled back slightly and smiled tentatively at his godfather, relieved when he smiled back. He looked into Sirius' greay eyes and suddenly remembered the feeling he'd had earlier when Sirius had been on top of him in the kitchen. He blushed slightly, and looked away.

"I understand how you feel about being stuck here," Harry said quietly, "I'd hate to have to go back to the Dursleys after thinking I was rid of them for good."

"You've never told me much about them, Harry. How bad was it?" Sirius asked him gently.

"Could've been worse, I guess. I mean they made me sleep in the cupboard under the stairs until I was eleven—" Harry started, but Sirius interrupted him loudly.

"They what?" He shouted, pulling out of their embrace and striding up and down angrily.

"Yeah," Harry said bitterly. "They locked me in it whenever I did something wrong, or when I did what I later found out was accidental magic. I guess they were at the opposite end of the scale from your family, they thought everything to do with magic was horrible and unnatural, and they were under the impression to start with that they could 'stamp it out of me'."

Sirius was furious, Harry knew that if he had been allowed to leave Grimmauld Place he would probably be half way to Privet Drive already to confront the Dursleys.

"Why do you still go back there every summer if they treat you like that?" Sirius asked.

"Well, Dumbledore seems to think it's the safest place for me," Harry said bitterly. "There's some kind of protection on the house."

"I see. Of course it would be Dumbledore's idea," Sirius said darkly.

"This place is practically impenetrable though…" Harry said thoughtfully. "Surely it would be just as safe for me to stay here?"

"I wish you could, Harry, I really do. But we both know Dumbledore won't allow it," Sirius said quietly.

"I would feel a lot better about the trial if I knew I could come back here, if I was expelled," Harry whispered. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach as soon as he mentioned the trial. He had put it to the back of his mind until now, but suddenly all the feelings of fear and anxiety came flooding back to him and he panicked slightly.

"Hey, you'll be alright," Sirius smiled at him. "I thought I could maybe come with you to the trial, as Snuffles, for a bit of moral support."

That certainly made Harry feel at least a little bit better about the whole thing.

"You would do that for me?" Harry asked, a tiny flicker of hope building.

"Of course I would! But seriously Harry, you'll be fine. I think I should have a word with Dumbledore about where you stay during the holidays though…it can't be right, you staying with those muggles."

Harry grinned at his godfather, feeling happier than he had a moment ago. He knew deep down that it would be pretty difficult, if not impossible, to change Dumbledore's mind about where he lived, but it was worth a shot.

"Come on, you two, there won't be any food left!" They heard Molly shout at them and they both jumped. Harry had forgotten they were even in a room with other people, he had been completely absorbed in his conversation with Sirius. They walked over and tucked in to a plate of ham sandwiches.

Harry tried not to think about the hearing that afternoon, which he managed quite well as clearing the cabinets was a job that required a lot of concentration. There were a lot of strange objects in there, and many of them seemed reluctant to be moved. There was a silver snuff box that bit Sirius on the hand, a pair of tweezers that scuttled around and attempted to pierce people's skin. There was an old tinkling music box that started playing and made everyone feel curiously sleepy until Ginny had the sense to slam it shut. Also, they found a large heavy locket that no one could open, and Mundungus redeemed himself slightly in Molly's eyes when he saved Ron from a pair of robes that tried to strangle him.

Mrs Weasley kept them all working hard over the next few days, and it felt to Harry that they were waging war on the house. It helped that Harry knew how miserable Sirius had been here, as this made him put every effort he could into destroying any bad memories that might be lurking around in the dark objects that littered the house.

Various Order members popped in from time to time, some only stayed briefly such as Professor McGonagall who came in briefly for a whispered chat with Kingsley Shackebolt, and Snape whom Harry was very happy he hadn't had to come face to face with so far. Other people, however, were more than happy to stay and help with the cleaning. This included Remus, who was actually living in Grimmauld Place but kept disappearing for long stretches of time to do mysterious work for the Order. Tonks was also keen to stay and help out, and even Harry had noticed how close she had been getting to Remus lately. Sirius was always on hand to laugh and wink at Remus whenever he was caught complimenting Tonks, and Remus always steadfastly ignored him.

Harry found that he was actually having fun for the first time this summer, now that he was at Grimmauld Place. As long as he ignored the looming Ministry hearing, anyway. When he was distracted by cleaning the house or hanging out with Sirius it was fine, but when he lay alone in bed at night, or had a moment to himself during the day, the fear crept back over him and left him feeling breathless and sometimes almost paralysed with fear. The thought of what it would be like if he was expelled was too horrible to think about, although sometimes he couldn't help but imagine a Ministry official snapping his wand and ordering him to stay at the Dursleys forever. But he wouldn't let that happen…he was adamant that he would come and live here with Sirius.

Harry felt like a brick had dropped into his stomach when Molly turned to him on Wednesday evening at dinner and said quietly, "I've ironed your best clothes for tomorrow, Harry, and you should wash your hair too. A good first impression can work wonders!"

Harry gulped, and noticed that everyone in the room had turned to look at him. He swallowed dryly, putting down his knife and fork. His appetite had suddenly disappeared.

"How am I getting there?" he asked hoarsely, trying to sound as normal as possible.

"Arthur's taking you to work with him," Molly said gently.

"You can stay in my office until it's time for the hearing," Arthur smiled kindly at him.

Harry turned to look at Sirius, but his question was answered for him before he could ask it.

"Professor Dumbledore doesn't think it's a very good idea for Sirius to come with you," Molly said, "and I must say I agree." Sirius looked at her darkly and she pursed her lips.

"When did Dumbledore say that?" Harry asked quickly.

"He was here last night, dear, when you were in bed. He came to see how the cleaning was going, seemed very interested in that locket we found. He took it away with him, not sure what he thought he could do with it though, it doesn't even open," Molly said, but Harry wasn't really listening anymore. The fact that Dumbledore had been here the day before Harry's hearing and hadn't even bothered to talk to him made him feel even worse than before.

Harry went up to bed slowly, trying to shake off the overwhelming feeling of dread, and fell into a restless sleep. He was visited by the same old dreams as before, running down endless corridors towards unreachable locked doors. This time, his dream morphed into the now familiar scene of gold and jewels, and he saw that small gold cup that seemed the most important thing in the room. The feeling of fear was all around him, he could almost smell it, and he woke in a cold sweat again, wondering why he was dreaming about such an apparently harmless object that nevertheless filled him with terror.

I hope you liked that chapter! I know not many people are reading this fic, but I really just want to ask anyone who reads this and enjoys it to drop me a review, even if it's just a couple of words. It would make my day :)