Chapter 65: Away From Hogwarts
"This place felt so, I don't know, peaceful or something." Lily commented as she stepped out of the fireplace with Arabella and Stefanie. The Potter's Manor, once so full of life and colors had appeared to be of the gloomy despite the furnishings had remained untouched.
"Is there anything we can do about it??" Stefanie asked.
"We leave it until James arrive. Afterall, this is his house." Arabella suggested.
Whooosh!!
"Why do you have to knock onto me everytime we floo??" A male voice shouted which sounded like Sirius.
"It's not my fault that you are always blocking the exit whenever we floo." A deep masculine voice of James was heard.
"Guys, just in case you didn't realize, we already reached your house." Remus called out from the side. He walked out of the fireplace with Sirius first and James followed behind. The three guys were dusting themselves as if they had a major soot-fight in the fireplace.
"You three look so comical in the fireplace." Lily commented.
"This happens everytime we floo together at the same time. No big deal actually." Remus said with pretended unconcern for that matter and gave Stefanie a gentle kiss on her lips.
"James, you okay??" Sirius asked James who was gazing around the house as if it was a new place for him.
"Yeah." James replied without much of a thought. "Let's bring the stuffs to the bedrooms." The six of them, once again, walked in silence. There were not even sound of house-elves scurrying around the rooms.
"Where are the house-elves??" Arabella asked.
"I think they're probably in the kitchens. There's nothing much to dust and pack around here though."
"I go and get them to make us lunch." Remus offered and handed Sirius his backpack.
"I go with you." Stefanie added. Lily took her rarely light backpack along with her own.
Without much of a word, the four separated into two rooms, which was facing one another.
"Bell, how do you think James and Sirius are coping with everything??" Lily asked the moment they closed their bedroom door behind them.
"They're doing fine actually. In fact they're already quite prepared for this day to come a couple of summers ago. It'll come sooner or later for them. And this is beyond their control." Arabella said as she magicked her belongings into the large wardrobe and dresser along with Stefanie's.
"I think so. I mean they can still joke in the fireplace." Lily said agreeing. She was magicking her stuffs onto their respective place. This room afterall had been their bedroom over their last few visits to the Potter's Manor.
"James and Sirius are emotionally strong. We've all been through a lot over the last few years, you know."
"Ya, I get your point. At least they still have one of their parent."
"Now you still do, you're the princess of the Undersea City. Have you forgot??"
"Not that I forget or what, that just felt kind of, strange, you get what I mean??"
"Of course I do. I knew my mother for five years not knowing she was my mother. I don't think that felt normal for most people."
"Ya, anyway the reason why we're here are for Stef, James and Sirius."
"Actually I don't know how to start talking to them. It's not like Sirius and I can ever have a civil conversation."
"I know. I noticed that in the last couple of years when we're together." Lily said, laughing at the memory of Arabella and Sirius bickering at every possible moment.
"What's so funny huh??" Stefanie came into the room, looking happier than she had in the last few hours.
"What did you and Remus do??" Lily asked cheekily.
"We went to the kitchen to ask for lunch??" Stefanie said, blushing slightly.
"And then??" Arabella asked, grinning away.
"Nothing." Stefanie said, not meeting their eyes.
"Really??" Lily teased.
"Nothing really."
"You're blushing."
"No, I'm not."
"Hmm.."
"What's the hmm for??"
"Nothing."
"Anyway, who's hungry??"
"I am."
"Me too."
"Let's go for lunch."
"You sure have a big wardrobe for a guy." Remus remarked as he unpacked some of his stuffs into a section of Jame's eight-door wardrobe.
"Padfoot's wardrobe is not any smaller." James commented.
"It is one door lesser than yours." Sirius defended.
"The dimension of my door is much smaller than yours."
"Your wardrobe is higher."
"Ok with the wardrobe size. You two are getting a little feminine when discussing about wardrobe."
"Don't you know that we're partially women beyond the masculine self??" Sirius whined dramatically in his fake high-pitched voice.
"I never knew you're partially woman, Sirius." Arabella called out. The three girls just entered James' room.
"Don't you girls learn how to knock??" James called out from a corner.
"We knocked. But no one bothered to open the door for us." Stefanie joked. "So we helped ourselves with the doorknob."
"We came over to ask if you guys are ready for lunch." Lily said.
"Almost ready." Sirius magically dumped the last bit of his belongings into one of James' empty sector of wardrobe.
At a corner, Stefanie used her wand and made one of Sirius' briefs dropped from the opened wardrobe. Lily and Arabella noticed and giggled.
"Aha, don't worry. I got more than enough briefs and boxers with me this time. Besides I can always go home and take." Sirius laughed. Apparently he had forgotten that one of the tasks they had to do was to pay a visit to Sirius' actual home, which was not the one he had stayed for the last sixteen years. It seemed like the five of them noticed that and just gave him a look. "Hey, don't give me that look. I know that I'm supposed to go to this home at Grimmauld Place, but the Black's Mansion will always feel like my real home."
"That's my Sirius." Stefanie gave Sirius a big sisterly hug.
"Hey, when was the last time you gave me such a loving hug??" Sirius asked with a strange expression on his face. The six of them laughed at his good-natured joke. "Anyway, it's lunchtime!!"
"Mum, how're you feeling??" James asked his mother gently, a sort of gentleness that none had seen before.
"I'm fine." Helen said weakly. Her grief-stricken face was looking more haggard and pale than any of them had seen before. "Thanks for coming." She smiled appreciatively as the five other teenagers.
"Hello Mrs. Potter." They greeted the weak-looking lady who was lying on the pale white sheets on the hospital bed.
"We got you some flowers." Lily handed her a bouquet of white tulips.
"Thank you my dears." Helen said as she attempted to sit up, the bed adjusted itself accordingly to the patient's maximum comfort.
"I get a vase for them." Remus offered and went to fetch the vase, Stefanie unwrapped and arranged it and placed them on Helen's bedside table.
"It's beautiful." Helen said gratefully, looking at the beauty of the tulips.
"Glad that you like it." Arabella smiled.
"Thank you for taking time off to come all the way here."
"No trouble at all."
"Mum, have a good rest alright??"
"I've been resting for who-knows-how-long already." Helen joked.
"You look really tired though."
"James, I'm glad you kept calm about everything. I always thought that you're too young to handle all these."
"I'm already sixteen. And you, dad and Fion had prepared me that these might happen someday when I was thirteen."
"I'm comforted to know that you are taking all these as a matured adult."
"Don't think about so much. Take a rest first."
"Alright, whatever you say." The bed adjusted by itself down so that the patient could lie straight down in a sleeping position.
"Sleep well, mum." James said and he pulled up the covers for his mother.
"Have a good rest, Mrs. Potter." They said non-simultaneously.
"Thank you." Helen said and she closed her eyes. Within minutes, the breathing became regular with a light snore.
"Let's go." Sirius ushered James out of the hospital. "We better go get some lunch at home." The six of them apparated back to the Potter's Manor living room.
"Where's this Grimmauld Place??" Sirius asked. They had been walking around an area with a lot of unkempt grass.
"I think we're going around in circles." James suggested. "Why don't we try to look for a road sign or something??"
"Hey, look at this. Does it state Grimmauld Place or something??" Lily said, pointed at a dirty heap of rubbish along a side of the wall.
"G-R-I-hmm-A-U-L-D P-hmm-E." Remus tried to read, magicking the rubbish away the letters on a broken sign.
"I think this is the place. Let's look for the house number twelve." Stefanie suggested.
"This place doesn't look very tempting." James remarked. The grimy fronts of the houses were not inviting; some of them had broken windows, glimmering dully in the light from the streetlamps, paint was peeling from many of the doors and heaps of rubbish lay outside several sets of front steps.
"It doesn't smell nice either." Remus added. There was a pungent smell of rotting rubbish coming from the pile of bulging bin-bags outside a nearby broken gate.
"Where's house twelve??" Stefanie asked. Sirius was obviously too busy looking around at the environment, which he might have to live in.
"Ten.. Eleven.. Thirteen." Lily commented. They were walking to and fro in front of the gates. There was obviously no house number twelve in sight. "You sure you got the correct number??"
"I'm pretty sure." Sirius said and he took out the bit of parchment and checked. James and Remus peeped to take a look and nodded that the house number was correct.
"Do you wanna ask someone or something like that??" Arabella suggested.
"The people who stay inside don't seem to be nice to talk to." Lily commented. There was a loud blasting of techno music in number eleven and the lawn looked like an unkempt forest with a lot of litter in house thirteen.
"So how??" Stefanie asked.
"Number twelve, Grimmauld Place, hmm.." Sirius muttered to himself. "Hey, there it is. Can't believe we missed noticing it."
"Where??" James asked, obviously he had yet to notice.
"I can't see it either." Remus frowned quizzically.
"Where is the number twelve, Grimmauld Place??" Arabella asked Sirius. "Eh, I can see the door now."
"You can see that black door out of nowhere between the number eleven and thirteen right??" Sirius asked Arabella.
"Yes, the one with all the gray walls and dark windows." Arabella said excitedly.
"Where??" Lily and Stefanie asked at the same time.
"There." Arabella was pointing at the door now. She walked towards the door.
"Huh??" James and Remus looked at Sirius and Arabella strangely.
"I open the door for you all to see." Sirius said and walked up the worn stone steps, taking the silver twisted serpent doorknocker and knocked on the door.
"Hey, I didn't see it until now." Lily exclaimed.
"Reminds me of Slytherins." James commented, eyeing the doorknocker.
"Same sentiments exactly." Remus said.
"No one seems to be in." Sirius knocked again using the silver serpent.
"Let's wait for awhile more." James said, trying to hear for footsteps or whatsoever sound from inside.
"Shall we come back again tomorrow??" Remus suggested. Dark rain clouds were forming above them and it looked like a downpour was coming down soon.
"Let's apparate back first and decide what to do." James said.
"Alright then. Let's go." Sirius said finally, giving the black battered door a final look before apparating back to the Potter's Manor.
Lily, Arabella and Stefanie were reading the Daily Prophet in their bedroom to catch up with the updates of the Ministry as well as Voldemort.
"Who is this Millicent Bagnold person??" Lily asked Stefanie.
"He's sort of adviser for Mr. Potter last time. He often appear in those big party and Mr. Potter do think rather highly of him, or at least my father did think highly of him." Stefanie replied, looking at the moving picture of the new Minister.
"The fair and just kind of man??" Arabella asked.
"I supposed so." Stefanie replied as they flipped to the next page of the newspaper.
"Oh no. Our trunks are gonna be so heavy." Stefanie commented.
"What can we do anywhere??" Lily said.
"We can use the Feather Light Charm and the Summoning Charm so we can skip carrying our trunk." Arabella suggested.
"But it occupies the space in the compartment." Lily pointed out.
"Don't complain. You can dump your trunk in the Prefects' compartment." Stefanie said good-naturedly.
"Oh, well." Lily answered sheepishly.
"Oh, Millicent Bagnold is going to be the new Minister." James commented, lowering the Daily Prophet after reading the headlines.
"Well, he's the next best candidate after your father." Sirius said bluntly.
"He is a fair and just guy, alright. But he is not that capable." Remus said.
"Well, I think Dumbledore would be better." Sirius remarked.
"Dumbledore would never leave Hogwarts. Besides he would not be interested in the Minister position. He didn't even apply to be the candidate."
"Hey, look at this. More Charms being banned. Guess they must be afraid Volcano might try using Reducing Charms to enter people's home or something." James said. "And using it illegally will land you in Azkaban."
"I don't really need daily reminders that I'll be going to Azkaban in the future." Sirius said dryly.
"That was just a comment." Remus defended James.
"That's why." James agreed. "You're just being sensitive."
"Whatever." Sirius said nonchalantly and went to lie in James' bed.
"This might be of some interest in you." James said putting down the papers.
"Cool. I thought we might not be able to become Aurors, judging from the way Maggie said about me during the career talk." Sirius commented and sat upright on the bed.
"Well, we can go try out for it in just two years time." James agreed.
"I don't think I might be able to get in." Remus said. "You know the Ministry and the way werewolves were treated in the magical community.
"Don't be disheartened. Read on." James grinned.
"It's probably just for publicity purpose." Remus pointed out, not sounding at all enthusiastic about being Auror as a career.
"Don't be so pessimistic about it." James said encouragingly.
"I try not to." Remus said dejectedly. James continued reading the papers first while Sirius was taking a nap in James' bed and Remus was playing with James' Playstation Two.
"This is the third time. If no one is going to answer the door, I'm not coming back here again." Sirius muttered loudly as he went straight to the door and knocked.
"Don't give up so soon." Arabella said civilly, following behind along with James and Remus.
"Yeah, that's right. We've got a few more days before heading back to school." Lily added.
"But I don't think they're interested to see me." Sirius said. "Dumbledore had already sent them a note regarding about this."
"Who is it??" A voice called from inside.
"Sirius Black." Sirius replied.
"You're lying. Master had already passed away six years ago." The voice replied.
"Dumbledore had sent a message to Mr. and Mrs. Black regarding my appearance."
"Please hold on." Footsteps were heard going in the opposite direction.
"Finally there's some response." Sirius said softly. They gave him an encouraging smile.
"It's probably worth the wait." Stefanie said optimistically.
"Probably." Sirius said with barely any interest in going into the house.
"Please come in." A house elf opened the door for them to enter.
"Thank you."
They looked around the hall of Grimmauld Place. It did appear to be grim, as the name had said. The old-fashioned gas lamps along the walls cast a flickering insubstantial light over the wallpaper and threadbare carpet of a long gloomy hallway. The serpent-shaped chandelier and candelabra on the table nearly glimmered and portraits were hung on both sides of the walls.
They looked at one another and then cast a look at Sirius to check how he was taking in all these at part of his house which was totally opposite from the Black's Mansion. Sirius, however, was not showing much interest in the totally Slytherin deco of the house.
"This way." The house elf opened a door to a very dark looking room. "You only." He ushered Sirius in while the five were left outside the room.
"This way." The house elf re-emerged from the dark room ushered them to the room beside the room Sirius had just entered.
The room was long and high ceilinged with olive green walls covered in tapestries. The green velvet curtains covered any trace of sunlight coming through the room. The only source of light was from the twisted serpent-shaped chandelier and candelabra. The five of them took a seat the green velvet sofa, which matched with the curtain and carpet perfectly.
After what felt like hours, Sirius and the house elf materialized from the doorway of the room.
"Wanna go now??" Sirius asked casually.
"Ok." They agreed and left Grimmauld Place in silence. They were shooting Sirius with questioning looks but his expression was unreadable.
"What??" James practically shouted at Sirius. He was telling them what had happened in the room with his parents after dinner.
"He told me the rules of being a Black. Can you imagine something as horrible as 'no association with any mudbloods or half-breeds'??" Sirius said seething with anger.
"Sounds ridiculous." Lily said, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Now I know why dad – Uncle Alphard – had left that home years ago." Sirius commented.
"It doesn't even felt like a home." Arabella said. "It reminded me of dungeons."
"That room I was in was practically crawling with silver twisted serpents, not to mention that most of the stuffs are silver and green, Slytherin colours, can you imagine??"
"The room we waited for you wasn't any better."
"And they have the nerve to scold me why I wasn't in Slytherin. Uncle Alphard was from Ravenclaw though, I wonder how did he ended up there."
"You know those inter-families, marriages and sorts. I supposed he was from Ravenclaw descent and not Slytherin."
"Still pure blood but yet not sly and cunning."
"I think you're right at that. I can't imagine my real biological parents telling me about what sort of son I gotta be." Sirius added furiously. "And they were telling me that I can learn from Regulus on how to be a good son."
"Doesn't sound like a nice name already."
"He's a typical Malfoy material. And today I just realized that I'm distantly related to the Malfoys."
"How??"
"Don't know. Some distant cousin's marriage or something. I don't really care."
"They told you about your family history??"
"That's not all. They said what sort of son my father – uncle – was and how he was disowned for marrying a half-blood and for not being in Slytherin."
"Totally absurd."
"Anyway I believe he was happier away from them. Given me, I rather leave than to stay in a home like that."
"You're always welcome here." James offered in a joking manner.
"Thanks mate." Sirius said gratefully.