The Half Blood Prince Revealed
Summary :
Harry's summer before sixth year is no different from the others. Around every corner surprises, good and bad, and adventure of all kind await. And it looks like the gods have finally granted Harry a possibility for a nicer life. What will this mean for his 6th year at Hogwarts ?
General Disclaimer :
I am just playing in the sand of JKRowling's literary produced beach and am attempting to build my own sandcastle for others to enjoy.
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20 There may be trouble ahead
Harry's return to Diagon Alley did not go totally without mishaps.
They'd made it in and out of Fortescue's in no time, even though Mr Fortescue at first had not wanted to hear about Harry paying for the ice they'd eaten the day before on account of Harry saving everybody, again. But Harry had quickly countered that he would not have been able to do it alone, that many others had helped and that Mr Fortescue did not offer them free ice ! Mr Fortescue had finally given in with a smile.
The visit to Madame Malkin's on the other hand had started innocently enough. Harry had crossed the street to the clothes shop and had entered. There seemed to be no other customers about, as a matter of fact, there was no one to be seen.
A voice from the back, Harry recognized it as Madame Malkin herself, called out.
"Good morning, I'll be with you in just a moment."
The moment she appeared from the back of the shop Harry wished her a good morning and continued on without giving her an opportunity to respond.
"Madame Malkin, my apologies for not returning yesterday to pick up our extensive order. After all that unpleasantness we just wanted to return home and picking up clothes got pushed far to the back of our priorities."
"Nonsense, Mr Potter. There is no need to apologize. It was quite understandable. Will you be taking just yours, or all the clothes that were ordered in your party ?"
"I'll take them all, it will be so much easier. How much do I owe you for them."
Madame Malking added up the individual totals and as Harry was counting the money she returned to the back of the store and came back with an armful of bags. She dropped them on the counter and returned to the back four times more, each time carrying several bags. She was making small talk as she tapped each bag, shrinking them down to pill-box sized little bags and putting them in a very nice silk pouch, stamped with the shop's logo and name.
"All the bags are labeled with the customer's name. Ten seconds after you remove the bags from the pouch, they'll enlarge to their original size. Twenty-four hours after the bag is emptied it returns to our storage room, so you'll need not worry to bring it back. It is very good of you to return so quickly but there was no hurry to pick these clothes up. I would have sent you a reminder about them by the end of the holidays anyway."
Harry laughed at the notion. After all he'd bought quite a few casual clothes so he would be able to get rid of his cousin's large hand-me-downs for good.
"There might not be the need to hurry on your side, Madame Malkin, but the only decent clothes I have are a pair of jeans and a few shirts Remus bought me a week ago. I don't think I would appreciate it having nothing else to wear than that."
"Remus, you don't mean Remus Lupin ?"
"Why yes, Madame Malkin. He's my guardian since my godfather passed away."
"But, Mr Potter, he's a werewolf ! And they are all dangerous."
"Madame Malkin ! The way you speak, makes me think you believe all wizards are bad, because of Voldemort and his band of death eaters. Surely you realize that there are good as well as bad people, no matter what they might be. I personally have met and know six 'werewolves' and I must admit that on the night of the full moon I wouldn't want to come across any of them, but the other days of the month, these six men are the finest of men. I realize I don't know any other ones, but because there might be a few bad apples in the pile, are you going to throw them all out ?
Remus is the best thing that could have happened to me. For the first time in my life I have someone who'll look out for me, not because I'm the boy-who-lived, but because I'm the son of his best friends and he cares for me. He's my family !"
Madame Malkin was speechless at the quick defense the boy had for the werewolf. Harry on the other hand, having spent most of his sudden anger, apologized, remembered to pick up the silk pouch and bid her a farewell, leaving her with much to ponder.
Tonks, still under her invisibility cloak had difficulty to keep up with him and only just made it out of the shop without being noticed. She caught up with him halfway to the Leaky Cauldron.
"Oh Harry, that was a wonderful thing to say. But you are wrong, you know. Remus isn't the only one. A lot of people might start out seeing you as the boy-who-lived, but once they get to know Harry, they like you despite the title."
Harry had now cooled off completely and even felt a little foolish for his outburst. "I know, Tonks, a lot more people care, but they all have their own family. Remus and I were on our own, and now we're family, together ! You have no idea how good that feels."
Tonks didn't know how to reply to Harry's statement so the two made their way to the Leaky Cauldron apparition point in complete silence. Harry's mood picked up greatly when he arrived back at Grimmauld Place. Both Ginny and Hermione were waiting for them. Hermione was especially keen to get her hands on the books she'd purchased yesterday and they were still packed away in the Book bag. Ginny was keeping her company all the while trying to calm down her friend a little. Hermione's words reminded Harry of the moving boxes he still had to unpack but the practicalities of that unpacking and then moving the lot over to Black Manor made him suggest moving back to Black Manor before unpacking would start.
The four of them made their way back to the kitchen where they found the others still seated and talking. Since Harry wanted to have a quick look through the boxes in the attic before moving out he asked if 11 o'clock would suit everyone to move back to Black Manor. That left them with a little over an hour to get ready. After letting Remus know where he'd be Harry made his way up to the top floor and found both Dobby and Winky at work sorting through the boxes and through the glass wall separating the attic room from the hothouse he could see Blythe with an ecstatic look on her face busily working amongst the plants.
Dobby and Winky were able to tell Harry that this was where the every-day possessions and clothes from the previous masters were stored. Dobby took him to a small pile of boxes to the right. Upon closer inspection Harry could see some kind of label on the box, clearly giving Sirius' name, his date of birth and the date he died. The large pile next to it belonged to Sirius' dad who passed away in 1983, only some 18 months after Sirius was hauled off to Azkaban.
"Could you move both the boxes belonging to Sirius and his dad over to Black Manor, please ? Remus and I will have a look through those ourselves. As a project for when I'm back at Hogwarts, you could maybe sort through the others and indicate which boxes contain clothes and which boxes contain other items, then Remus could have a look through those. You never know, there might be more hidden treasure !" laughed Harry.
Dobby and Winky agreed and even before Harry had made the few steps to the hothouse the first boxes had disappeared. The moment Blythe noticed the presence of Harry in the hothouse she started raving about how good and kind Master Harry was for allowing her to work with all these extra wonderful plants. Harry just reminded her not to overdo things and that there was no hurry in restoring it. Everybody in the house would enjoy the place, even as it was now.
Harry walked down the stairs to his bedroom, packed the little he'd used back in his overnight bag and made his way downstairs to the tapestry room to wait for the others.
Mrs Longbottom had decided to return home for now, but she would be at Black Manor for the weekend. Mr and Mrs Granger were going home too, as they still had ten days before their holiday officially started. For the first week they'd booked a holiday for two by way of a second honeymoon but Harry was quick to invite them for the remaining two weeks of their time off work. Tonks really wanted to join them immediately but decided she would come out for the weekend instead.
And so the slightly smaller group made it back to Black Manor and after saying their hello's to Mr Black they headed up to their rooms to do some serious unpacking. Harry started to unpack the silk pouch from Madame Malkin's, knowing most of them would be his. He'd sorted the bags and wanted to start handing them out when Dobby appeared who tsk'ed at him and the bags all disappeared away, most likely straight into the new owner's wardrobe. Taking a good look around Harry noticed that all other purchases he'd made had been neatly unpacked. His bookcase by his desk now sported a big number of new books and at one end he clearly saw the box with his new stock of parchment. On top of his desk set the Ghost Quill he'd purchased for Mr Black.
"Dobby, I'm going to unpack the moving boxes now. Will you help me to hang up the two paintings from the Potter vault in here ? I was thinking that Mr Black might prefer to reside downstairs instead."
Dobby nodded his approval and Harry took the first of two moving boxes, tapped it as he was told and the box grew big again and opened up so he could take out the paintings of his parents and grandparents. Next were the Potter vault's booklist Griphook had made and the two letters from his parents and Harry immediately placed these in his secure drawer of the desk. The jewel box came next and was followed by a fair number of pictures. As if reading Harry's mind the house provided Harry with a box so he could safely store the pictures away for now.
The second moving box was restored to its proper size and Harry took out Mr Black's painting. Uncle Alphard was happy to see a complete new environment and Harry explained that this was the master bedroom of Black Manor.
"That place really exists then !" exclaimed Uncle Alphard.
"Oh yes," confirmed Harry, "Sirius' dad actually had access to the place but he never told anyone other than his cousin Andromeda and Sirius himself. Would you like a view outside, sir, while I continue to unpack the box. I won't be a minute."
"That would be lovely, Mr Potter, thank you."
"Oh, please call me Harry.
Dobby took hold of the portrait and walked it to the corner window. The house provided a small balcony, so Uncle Black had a good view of the surrounding garden and woods. Harry in the mean while had retrieved the animagus book, then got provided with several boxes so he could move all the pictures into them. He'd have to find a sorting spell of sorts in the library to bring order to these. The next compartment held the pensieve he still had to ask Mr Black about, and last not but least the Marauder Manual made it out.
"Harry," exclaimed Uncle Black, "what a beautiful garden outside. I can't wait to see the rest of this place."
"Ehm, sir, before we move downstairs, I'd like to warn you that an ancestor of yours has remained at the house as a ghost. He died just over 300 years ago, but he shares more than just Sirius' name."
Harry asked Dobby to take down the pensieve and the Ghost Quill while he would give Uncle Black a mini tour of the house. Dobby returned to his task to hang up the two paintings and would follow Harry down in a few moments. So Harry, surprisingly light portrait in hand, made his way outside his room and started showing off the property. Uncle Black had nothing but praise for the place. When Uncle Black saw the kitchen and the adjacent garden room he asked if it would be acceptable for the portrait to hang in there and Harry happily obliged but warned the man that until September the place was the heart of the house and would be very busy.
"Before Dobby affixes the portrait to the wall, I wanted to introduce you to your ancestor. I believe it might be better for that to take place in the study."
Harry took the portrait to the study and introduced the two men to each other. After having both of them answer him when talking to "Mr Black" twice in a row Harry suggested that maybe they could call Alphard "Uncle Black" to make the distinction. The suggestion was met with approval and Harry left the two men to talk, as Mr Black had obviously never met Uncle Black.
Harry made his way back upstairs to see if Remus was available but he was not in his room. He found the man in his own bedroom, staring transfixed at the two portraits Dobby had just mounted to the wall.
"I'm sorry Remus, I meant to warn you about these."
Remus shook his head and gave Harry a small smile.
"That's OK, it's just … I presumed they were destroyed at Godric's Hollow when we couldn't find them. It's lovely to see them back. Too bad they won't ever be animated."
"I don't really mind. I'm used to muggle portraits and this way, … I don't know. It would have been nice, but I think I'd miss them even more in that case. Does that make sense ?"
"I believe it does, Harry, they would become 'more real' but you'd still not be able to touch and smell them. This way the portraits provide you with a better picture, and the rest you can fill in on your own."
"Yes, that's it really, I didn't think of it that way, but it's exactly what I meant to say."
"So anything else you picked up at the vaults ?"
"Yep, I also acquired an uncle."
"An uncle ?" asked Remus, flabbergasted. "How do you …?"
Harry laughed and explained about Uncle Alphard's portrait and continued by asking after a spell for picture sorting, showing Remus the two large boxes filled to the hilt with them.
Remus admitted not knowing any but suggested they raid the library at some point.
Next Harry showed the jewellery set he'd found with the HP initials and showed off the ring and watch. Remus was impressed and happy to find that it wasn't made of silver but platinum. He further suggested that the set would most likely have belonged to his great-grandfather Horatio Potter.
Harry mentioned the pensieve he'd found in the Black vault that belonged to Mr Black and then showed the letters his parents left him.
"Are you sure you want me to read these, Harry ? I can understand they are too personal."
"I wouldn't want to loose them, but I believe you need to read them too. There's a bit about you in dad's letter that I believe will put your mind a little more at ease."
They both took a seat by the fireplace and Remus, just like Harry, reread the letters several times, silent tears rolling down his face.
"Thank you Harry." sighed Remus. "You were correct in assuming it would be beneficial for me. All this time I've wondered why they didn't tell me about the switch and now I know. Not because they thought I was the spy, but because they didn't want to burden me even more."
The two sat for some time, both deep in thought, when Winky popped in to announce lunch was ready.
With Remus now just as melancholy as Harry had been earlier in the day, Harry made the effort to lift their mood.
"Thank you Winky, we'll be down in a moment. Come Remus, let's be happy, for them. We know they are happy and well wherever they are, and, for the first time in long, I believe we both are well on the way to be just as happy too."
They both smiled as they felt a wave of warmth wash over them and so arrived in the kitchen in a happy mood.
Lunch was a lively affair and they were discussing what they'd do that afternoon when an unknown owl came flying in and dropped a letter for Remus.
After a quick perusal, Remus said "It's from Paul, addressed to the both of us. What could that be about ?"
"Won't find out …" started George.
"… until you open it !" finished Fred.
Dear Remus, Mr Potter,
I'm sorry my first letter as your legal representative doesn't come with a better message, but I believe there may be trouble ahead.
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Author's Note :
Thanks for reading. Would love some feedback from you though. If you have any questions about the story, I've opened up a forum you can access from my profile page. Please don't be shy. I'll be checking at least once a day so you can expect an answer within 24-36 hours maximum.
If you enjoyed this (and previous) chapter(s), you might be interested to know the story is a few chapters further along on my yahoo group (for link see profile page).
See you next week.
cheers
kadedeetje