Part XVII
When Tom, Sirius, Harry, and Hermione entered Number 12 Grimmauld Place, Sirius realized just how glad he was that Tom had persuaded him to get most of his affairs in order before reuniting with Harry.
The house was nothing like the home he'd grown up in, and was such a stark contrast to Azkaban that it still filled him with a sense of accomplishment that he couldn't quite explain. At one point he'd hated this house, but now it was a proper home, something both he and Harry needed.
Even Kreacher, who had spent most of the week in the presence of Narcissa's elves, was healthier than Sirius had ever seen him. He still mourned Regulus deeply, but he'd regained some of his former house-elf pride and had decided the best way to honor Regulus was to show Sirius similar loyalty.
The boggarts had been removed, furniture restored when possible and replaced as needed, and nearly all of the dark artifacts lingering around the house had either been safely locked away in warded spaces or moved to Sirius' family vault. The structural integrity of the house was verified and updated during the remodel, replacing crooked or creaking areas of the house as the floor plan was tweaked.
Every piece of carpet and plank of hardwood had been replaced. Outdated utilities and lighting fixtures were repaired and updated. Every wall was stripped and repainted. Every rug, towel, and linen sold or burned and replaced. Tom had used a spell Sirius hadn't cared to know the origin of to strip Walburga Black's portrait from the wall. Sirius didn't ask what became of the portrait. It might've been tossed in the vault. It might've been burned. It hardly mattered to him.
When Sirius encouraged the two teens to explore at their leisure with the promise to call them down for lunch, Tom followed him into a drawing room Sirius was starting to grow fond of.
"She reminds me of my brother," he told Tom. "Clever. Quiet for the most part. Seems like Harry's decided that she's honorary family."
"He has," said Tom. "It's good that you're drawing comparisons between her and Regulus on your own. I was worried I'd have to nudge that bond along."
Sirius rolled his eyes as he leaned back in his stuffed chair and got more comfortable. "Doesn't the whole omniscience thing get old?"
"Hm…no," Tom answered. "The annoying part is not knowing what I help along versus when happens naturally. It's tiresome constantly trying to prevent paradoxes."
Sirius frowned in sympathy. "Sounds like a pain in the arse."
Tom hummed in agreement.
"So I should get used to having her around, yeah?" Sirius asked. "Not that I mind. I already had the sense that she comes with the Harry package. With as few people who care about him in his life as the kid has had, the last thing I want to do is take one of those people away."
"She'll be around," said Tom. "They'll only get closer as time goes on and they start to feel less connected to Gryffindor."
Sirius nodded. "Does this conversation have anything to do with your insistence that Harry's bedroom share a drawing room with the next room over?"
Tom's lips twitched into a smirk. "You're learning."
After lunch, Tom and Sirius gave the teens a proper tour and showed them their respective bedrooms.
The entryway walls had been repainted in a mosaic blue, with the trims and door frames done in dark pewter. The wood floors were replaced with wood stained to match the trim. The rug that ran from the doormat to the end of the hall was only slightly lighter than the trim, but the stitching was noticeably light blue, matching the walls.
The kitchen was redone in a muted dolphin blue with simpler, modern cabinets finished in pale cream. The windows and trims were a blue-ish silver that complimented the periwinkle-pewter coating on the new stone floors. The dining room had the same flooring and accent colors, but the walls were a stony hue of mint instead.
All of the bathrooms had been redone with smoke blue-violet walls and a blend of white and stone accents that reflected nicely off the polished black marble floors.
When it came time to personalize the bedrooms, which had been prepared with charmed paints and flooring, Tom produced a furniture catalog and a magazine-style book of charms left by the design team that had altered the house the week prior.
Harry chose a pale stony color for the main walls of his bedroom with a slightly shimmery charcoal for the trim, window sills, door frames, and doors. They picked a desk from the catalog that would go along the right wall, which was charmed to be entirely coated in black chalkboard paint for studying. Harry's floors were hardwood and stained a dark grey, which was similar to the shades he picked for his furniture. With a bit of tweaking, thin diagonal strips of deep emerald green lessened the maturity of the stone colored walls, but kept the decor tasteful. Harry was pleased with the small nod to his true house affiliation and took comfort in the color pallet he'd chosen for his new room. He'd even gotten Sirius to recreate the charmed ceiling from the guest room at Malfoy Manor, which would only appear as the sun went down and the stars became visible outside as well.
It took a bit of encouragement from Harry, Sirius, and Tom for Hermione to decorate her room as she pleased, but eventually they got her to choose a shade for her walls that was similar to the blue-violet in the bathrooms, only slightly less vibrant and with a more grey-blue hue. Tom charmed literary quotes from some of her favorite books to appear as vanishing decals in a light green-tinted silver across the walls. The quotes would appear and disappear at random, only pausing in their unpredictable circuit when they were being read. Hermione had liked Harry's chalkboard wall and picked out her own smaller desk, which would be placed in the top-most left corner of the room.
Tom had suggested she use a dark Arcadia blue for the trims, window sills, doors and door frames that was very similar to her main walls in its slightly muted shade, and he'd been adamant about purchasing her new furnishings. In addition to her desk, she had several free-floating grey-ish white shelves that were arranged from floor to ceiling in the bottom left corner, spread out so they made the shape of a tree along the wall. He'd picked out a chaise that would go in the corner with the tree shelves that had nooks carved out of the body for more book storage. She'd wanted a rug for under the chaise, something circular and a deep emerald that reminded her of the accent paint on Harry's walls.
Her bed, a four poster similar to Harry's, would be far more modern their beds at Hogwarts, with silver cloth wrapped around the top of the curtain rods. They'd be charmed to roll up instead of being pulled to the sides. She'd picked out tiny fairy lights that would be clustered about the room, but were charmed to dim at night and morph into the constellations she would've seen if her walls weren't blocking the sky; similar to Harry's ceiling.
Overall, Grimmauld Place had been given a cool-toned makeover, changing the entire atmosphere of the house. Now it was a peaceful, clean, lighter place with proper lighting and much more relaxed vibes all around. After all the furniture had been ordered and set up for Harry and Hermione's bedrooms, Draco had been invited over to see the finished products. He'd been pleased to inform them that they're recreated the Slytherin common room without the dampness of the dungeons or worn stone.
Harry and Hermione's favorite part of their bedrooms weren't the rooms at all, but the space between them. Their rooms were separated by what used to be two smaller guest rooms, which had been combined into one antechamber during the remodel. It was a space they could share together and with friends if anyone visited, like Draco, but it also gave them the ability to spend time together without being confined to one or the other's bedroom. After seeing what Sirius and Tom had done to the room after Harry and Hermione's bedrooms were finished, the pair had nicknamed their study space 'The Hollow' and agreed to combine their bedroom color schemes to make the place their own. The charmed waterfall along the back wall, courtesy of Tom and Sirius, functioned as a decoration piece and the windows. Natural light was slightly muted and tinged blue by the water, but could still make its way into The Hollow to brighten the space during the day.
"Like it?" Sirius asked. "We figured the more Slytherin inspired aesthetic would suit you both better."
"It's perfect," Harry said, turning to Hermione for her reaction.
"So many places to read," she said wistfully. "I think this will be my favorite, though."
"Just wait 'til it rains," teased Sirius. "Tom charmed it so the scent would come through the waterfall."
"I've never wanted a rainy day so much," said Harry.
Hermione couldn't agree more.
On the Saturday before Harry's birthday, a gentle knock sounded from the front door of Number 12 Grimmauld Place.
Kreacher was a few paces ahead of Sirius, who had a hand on the wand in the back pocket of his jeans -just in case- and answered the door. Sirius relaxed and grinned when he saw who was on the other side.
Remus gave him a shy smile in return.
"You look like shite, mate," Sirius said fondly. "Rough monthly?"
Remus couldn't bring himself to be annoyed, but rolled his eyes at the familiar joke that had gotten old when they were in fifth year. "A bit, yeah," he admitted. "You've no idea how happy I am that you're innocent, Pads."
Sirius gestured for Remus to come into the house and Kreacher insisted upon taking the man's coat. The former marauders shared a quick embrace before Sirius led Remus to the drawing room.
"He's mine," Sirius said with an impish grin as they sat down.
"So the Prophet says," Remus teased. "How is he? Is he adjusting alright?"
Sirius shrugged. "James owes Lils twenty galleons. Kid looks just like him, but gods if he doesn't take after Lily in a lot of ways too. He seems to be adjusting alright, but Godric, Remus, her relatives treated him like shite. Lord Riddle is putting together a deal for them, but I doubt they'll take it. If they don't, this goes back to the Wizengamot and I press charges for neglect and abuse." He sighed. "I still get the sense that he thinks a shoe is gonna drop, but he remembers me. Well…he remembers Snuffles."
Remus laughed. "Of course he does. That's good at least."
"Yeah," Sirius agreed. "His best mate is staying with us. She's Lord Riddle's sponsee. Good kid. Muggleborn, not that it matters, but I think it's part of why they connect so well. I'm getting the sense that she was one of the first people to really care about him. They're very close. She's good for him."
"Good," said Remus. "Is he skittish or does he seem alright? I know Lily's sister was a piece of work when we were younger, but…"
Sirius' jaw clenched as he remembered Harry crying in his arms. "They barely fed him," he said. "They treated him worse than most house elves are treated and kept him in a bloody cupboard under the stairs. They're the worst sort of muggles, Remus, but he seems alright all things considered."
"Bloody hell," Remus muttered.
"The main roadblock right now is trust, I think," said Sirius. "Trust and affection. I'm trying to write a list of ground rules to go over with him at some point, probably after his birthday. That way we can discuss what I expect from him and vice versa. I don't want him to hesitate to communicate with me or be afraid that mistakes or slip-ups will yield the same punishments he was given in the past. Not that I think he'll be in trouble much. He's a good kid, even if I'm furious about how he came to be so well behaved."
"You'll do fine," Remus assured him. "You've been in shoes similar to his and you've loved him like he was your own since we first found out Lils was pregnant." Remus smiled. "Besides, I'll keep an eye on him for you…in Defense at least."
Sirius' eyes lit up. "You got the job?"
"I got the job," Remus said proudly. "Tom Riddle contacted me part of the way through your trial, asked what I knew about the situation and such. After the fact, once he knew you were in the clear, he took me out for lunch and told me some things…" His expression became somber. "We were lied to and misled. I'm not pleased to be under Albus given the circumstances, but it means Harry will have a marauder looking out for him while Tom deals with that problem."
"Yeah," said Sirius. "Did he invite you into the Order?"
"Of Hermes?" asked Remus. "Yeah. I get formally inducted later today actually."
Sirius chuckled wryly. "It's kind of ironic. Harry and Hermione -that's her name by the way- both did what I did with the Sorting Hat. The adult Gryffindors are defecting to the 'Slytherin' side and Tom said they'd switch houses sooner than later."
"Hopefully they go together," said Remus.
"They will," said Sirius. "If they had it their way, they'd be siblings. There's no way one will leave the other behind."
Kreacher popped into the room with a tea tray and sandwiches. "Tea and snacks for Master and his friend," the elf announced.
"Thank you, Kreacher," said Sirius. "Check on Harry and Hermione, if you could. Make sure they eat something if they haven't eaten anything since lunch. We're having dinner with the Malfoys tonight, so they'll be waiting longer between meals."
"Kreacher will check on Young Master and Miss," the elf promised before disappearing again.
Remus raised a teacup in Sirius' direction. "To new beginnings?" he said.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Sap. Why not?"
They clinked teacups and caught up until Remus had to leave for his induction.
"Next time, I'll say hello to Harry," Remus said. "For now, don't worry about it though. Let him settle."
Sirius nodded in agreement as they walked back to the door and glanced at the stairs. "Yeah. We'll make sure he meets you before they go back to school, though."
"Of course," Remus said.
The two friends shared another embrace before Remus left. Sirius yawned once the door shut behind him and transformed into Padfoot.
He found Harry and Hermione in The Hollow and curled up with his godson. A nap before dinner wouldn't hurt and the sound of them quietly snacking on their own tray of tea and sandwiches while they worked on their summer homework soothed him. He dozed without nightmares, occasionally grunting or nudging Harry with his nose to agree or disagree with a conclusion the pair drew. Once or twice he opened his eyes long enough skim a page of Harry's second year textbooks and pat a passage with his paw, but otherwise his input was rarely necessary.
It did remind him that they needed to make a trip to Diagon sooner than later, however. Something about the idea of school shopping with Harry for the first time made Sirius wish there was a canine equivalent to purring, just to give him a way to audibly express his happiness as Padfoot.
Happy Tuesday, loves!