The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black
Martha followed them all upstairs, looking grim.
"I want all of you to go straight to bed and no talking." She said when they've reached the first landing. "We have a busy day tomorrow."
Chrys and Mary said goodnight while Arthur, David, Mike and the twins continued climbing up to the next floor.
"Alright, you three…" Martha said to Arthur, David and Mike upon reaching the second landing, pointing them to their bedroom. "...off to bed."
"Night." The three said to the twins.
"Sleep tight." Jack winked.
Martha closed the door behind the three with a sharp snap. The bedroom now looked more dank and gloomy than it did when Arthur first entered. A blank picture that was on the wall seemed to be breathing very slowly and deeply, like the invisible occupant was asleep.
Arthur put on some pyjamas and climbed into his chilly bed while David threw some Owl Treat up on top of the wardrobe to pacify both Athena and Goliath, who were clattering around and rustling their wings restlessly.
"We can't let them out to hunt every night." Mike said after he pulled on his purple pyjamas and David with his grey ones. "Dumbledore doesn't want owls constantly swooping around the square, it would look suspicious."
David then went to the door, bolting it.
"Why are you doing that?" Arthur asked in confusion.
"Kreacher." David replied as he turned off the light. "The first night we were here, he wandered in at three in the morning. You do not want to wake up, finding him prowling around your room."
He then got into his bed, settling down under the covers turning to look at Arthur and Mike, all of their outlines being visible thanks to the moonlight filtering in through the grimy window.
"They told us what we would've guessed." David said, Arthur and Mike knowing what he's talking about.
"Though that part about the weapon was new to us." Mike pointed out. "The twins never heard any mention of it."
"You think Sirius let slip about it?" Arthur asked, remembering how Martha reacted.
"I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case." David shrugged.
"But if it is in fact a weapon, what would make it worse than the Killing Curse?" Mike questioned, sounding a bit concerned over what this thing Voldemort is after.
The three boys were all silent as they each thought about what it could be, but they couldn't think of something that would make sense.
"Well, whatever it is, where could it be?" David asked.
"Probably somewhere safe and under watch from the Order, including Dumbledore." Arthur theorised, remembering the plans he saw before Martha grabbed them. Maybe they are related.
"Shh!" David said. "Listen!"
They fell silent and heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
"It's mum." David whispered and they all laid in their beds just in case as they heard the floorboard creak outside their door. Martha was listening in to check if they were talking or not.
Both Athena and Goliath hooted dolefully and then the floorboard creaked again before Martha's footsteps were heard going upstairs to check on the twins.
"She doesn't fully trust us to be asleep." David said regretfully.
Arthur didn't know if he would fall asleep right now, considering how packed this night has been, expecting that he'd just stay awake for a few more hours.
He heard Martha creaking back downstairs as he found himself dozing off to sleep.
The next thing he knew, he heard Kevin speaking loudly into the room.
"Mum wants you to wake up. Breakfast is in the kitchen and she needs you in the drawing room, there's much more Doxys than expected and found a nest of dead Puffskeins under the sofa."
Half an hour later, Arthur, David and Mike all dressed up and had breakfast as quick as they could before entering the drawing room.
It was a long, high ceilinged room on the first floor with olive green walls all covered in dirty tapestries. The carpet exhaled clouds of dust every time someone stepped on it and the long, moss green velvet curtains were all buzzing like they were swarming with invisible bees.
Around these were Martha, Chrys, Mary and the twins, all looking odd with them all having tied cloths over their noses and mouths. They also each held large bottles of black liquid with a nozzle at the end.
"Grab a spray and cover your faces up." Martha told the three boys when she saw them, pointing at three more bottles of black liquid that stood on a spindle legged table. "It's Doxycide. I have never seen an infestation this bad before. That house elf has done a poor job for the last ten years."
"Could it be because of his age?" Chrys asked.
"You'd be surprised what Kreacher can manage when he wants to, Chrys." Sirius said when he entered the room, carrying a bloodstained bag of what Arthur thought were dead rats. "I've just been feeding Buckbeak." He added when noticing Arthur's look of disgust. "I keep him upstairs in my mother's bedroom. Anyway… this writing desk…."
He dropped the bag of rats into an armchair before bending over to examine the locked cabinet, which Arthur noticed now for the first time, seeing that it was shaking slightly.
"Well, Martha, I'm pretty sure this is a Boggart." Sirius said, peering through the keyhole. "But perhaps we ought to let Mad Eye have a shufti at it before we let it out, knowing my mother, it could be something much worse."
"Got it, Sirius." Martha nodded.
A loud clanging bell came from downstairs, which was followed by a cacophony of screams and wails that were triggered the previous night by Tonks knocking over the umbrella stand.
"I always tell them to not ring the doorbell!" Sirius said exasperated before he hurried out of the room. He can be heard thundering downstairs as his mother's screeches echoed up through the house again.
"Stains of dishonour, filthy half-breeds, blood traitors, children of filth…."
Arthur closed the door, now finding the screeching to be annoying.
Martha was bending over to check the pages on Doxys in Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests, which lay open on the sofa.
"Okay, you'll need to be careful, because Doxys bite and they have venomous teeth. I have a bottle of antidote just in case." Martha said before straightening up and positioning herself in front of the curtains and beckoned everyone forward.
"When I say the word, spray instantly. They'll be flying out at us, one spray should be enough to paralyse them. Once immobilised, throw them in the bucket."
She then stepped carefully out of their line of fire, raising her own spray.
"Ready… squirt!"
Arthur sprayed for a few seconds when a fully grown Doxy soared out of a fold in the material. It had shiny beetle-like wings that whirred, as well baring tiny needle sharp teeth and its fairy-like body was covered with thick black hair and all four tiny fists were clenched with fury.
Arthur sprayed Doxycide right in its face, making it freeze in mid air, falling with a surprisingly loud thunk on the worn carpet below. Arthur then picked it up and threw it in the bucket.
"Jack, what are you doing?" Martha said "Just spray it once and throw it away."
Arthur looked and saw Jack holding a struggling Doxy between his forefinger and thumb.
"Alright." He said, spraying it quickly in the face making it faint, but when Martha's back faced him, he pocketed it with a wink.
"We're planning to experiment with Doxy venom for our Skiving Snackboxes." Kevin said under his breath to Arthur.
Spraying two Doxys at once as they soared for his nose, Arthur moved closer to Kevin and muttered out of the corner of his mouth "Skiving Snackboxes?"
"A range of sweets to make you ill." Kevin whispered. "Mind you, not seriously ill, just enough so that you can get out of class when you feel like it. Jack and I have been developing them over the summer. They're double ended as well, colour coded chews. So if you eat the orange half of the Puking Pastilles for example, you throw up, and the moment you get rushed to the hospital wing, just swallow the purple half and you are restored to full fitness, allowing you to do whatever you'd like for an hour."
"We're working on the adverts to make them seem enticing." Jack whispered, having edged out of Martha's line of vision, sweeping a few stray Doxys from the floor and adding them to his pockets. "And that's among all the other work we still need to do to make them function properly. As of right now, we're testing them out and are having trouble to stop puking long enough to swallow the purple end."
"You're actually testing the stuff out?" Arthur asked with concern.
"Yes." Jack said. "We take it in turns. Kevin did the Fainting Fancies and we both tried out the Nosebleed Nougat -"
"Mum thinks that we've been duelling." Kevin said.
"So you're still planning to run a joke shop?" Arthur asked, pretending to be adjusting the nozzle on his spray.
"Still need to get the premises." Jack replied. "We're running it as a mail order service right now. We also put advertisements in the Daily Prophet last week."
"And it's all thanks to you, cub." Kevin said, using their old nickname for Arthur.
Arthur grinned. He made the twins take the thousand Galleons prize money that he won in the Triwizard Tournament to help them realise their desire to open up a joke shop.
The whole process of de-Doxying of the curtains took most of the morning. It was past midday that Martha finally removed her protective scarf, removed the bag of dead rats from the armchair and sat down. The curtains were now no longer buzzing, hanging limp and damp from the extensive spraying. At the foot of them were unconscious Doxys that lay crammed in the bucket beside a bowl of their black eggs, which Crookshanks sniffed and the twins looked at covetously.
"We'll deal with those after lunch." Martha pointed over at the dusty glass fronted cabinets standing on either side of the mantelpiece. They were crammed with various different objects: some rusty daggers, claws, a coiled snakeskin, some silver tarnished silver boxes that were inscribed with languages that Arthur didn't understand, and the least pleasant, an ornate crystal bottle with a large opal set into the stopper, full of what Arthur suspected to be blood.
The clanging doorbell rang once more, making everyone look at Martha.
"Stay here." She said firmly as she snatched up the bag of rats as Sirius' mother's screeches started up again from down below. "I'll bring up sandwiches."
She left the room, closing the door carefully behind her. Immediately, everyone dashed over to the window, looking down on the doorstep. They could see the top of an unkempt ginger head and a stack of cauldrons that were precariously balanced.
"It's Mundungus!" Chrys hissed. "Why'd he bring those cauldrons here?"
"Finding a safe place to keep them." Arthur said. "He was picking up dodgy cauldrons the night he was supposed to be tailing me."
"Mum's gonna be livid." Jack said as the front door opened and Mundungus heaved the cauldrons through it, disappearing from view.
Both he and Kevin crossed over to the door, standing beside it, listening intently, hearing the screaming stop.
"He's talking to Sirius and Kingsley." Jack muttered, frowning with concentration. "Can't hear them properly. Let's risk the Extendable Ears."
But then an explosion of sound from downstairs made the Extendable Ears unnecessary. They could all hear Martha screaming at the top of her voice.
"WE ARE NOT RUNNING A HIDEOUT FOR STOLEN GOODS, YOU PATHETIC PILE OF TRASH!"
"It is scary when mum yells, no matter who she yells at." Jack said as he opened the door an inch to allow her voice to permeate the room better.
" - YOU ARE NOTHING BUT IRRESPONSIBLE. WE ALREADY GOT ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT WITHOUT YOU BRINGING STOLEN CAULDRONS INTO THE HOUSE -"
"She's been meaning to have a go at Fungus ever since he snuck off when he was supposed to be following you, Arthur - and there goes Sirius' hag of a mother." Kevin said.
Martha's voice was now lost amid the fresh shrieks and screams from the portraits in the hall.
Kevin went to shut the door to drown the noise out, but before he could do that, a house elf edged into the room.
Excluding the filthy rag that was tied into a loincloth around its middle, it was completely naked. It also looked very old with its skin being several times too big for it and, though it was bald like all house elves, there was a large quantity of white hair growing out from its large, bat-like ears. Its eyes were also bloodshot and watery grey. And there was its fleshy nose that was large and snout-like.
It took absolutely no notice of Arthur and the others. The elf acted like it could not see them, shuffling along hunchbacked slowly and doggedly, towards the far end of the room, muttering under its breath in a hoarse, deep voice, making Arthur think of a bullfrog.
"...smells like a drain and a criminal to boot, but she's no better, nasty old blood traitor with her brats messing up my mistress' house, oh, my poor mistress, if she knew, if she knew the scum they've let into her house, what would she say to old Kreacher, oh, the shame of it, Mudbloods and werewolves and traitors and thieves, poor old Kreacher, what can he do…."
"Hello, Kreacher!" Jack said firmly and loudly as he closed the door with a snap.
The house elf froze in his tracks and stopped muttering, giving a very pronounced and unconvincing start of surprise.
"Kreacher did not see young master." He said, turning around and bowed to Jack. He then added, facing the carpet "Nasty little brat of a blood traitor it is."
"We heard that, Kreacher!" Kevin spat at him.
"Kreacher said nothing…" The elf said, bowing to him before adding in a clear undertone. "...and there's its twin, unnatural little beasts they are."
Arthur just couldn't stand Kreacher within first meeting him. He knew that house elves tend to share the beliefs and opinions of their owners, especially if they're loyal.
Kreacher then straightened up, eyeing everyone malevolently, seemingly convinced that they couldn't hear him as he continued muttering.
"...and there's the Mudblood, standing there bold as brass, oh, if my mistress knew, oh, how she'd cry, and there's a new boy, Kreacher doesn't know his name. What is he doing here? Kreacher doesn't know…."
"I'm Arthur Pendergast, you piece of trash." Arthur introduced himself coolly. "And don't you dare call Chrys a Mudblood!"
"Is it true? Is it Arthur Pendergast? Kreacher can see the scar, it must be true, that's the boy who stopped the Dark Lord, Kreacher wonders how he did it -"
"Don't we all?" Jack said.
"What the hell do you want?" Mike then asked the house elf.
"Kreacher is cleaning." He said evasively.
"A likely story." A voice behind Arthur said.
Sirius had come back, glowering at the elf from the doorway. The noise in the hall had been abated; Martha and Mundungus must've moved their argument down to the kitchen.
Upon seeing Sirius, Kreacher flung himself into a ridiculously low bow that flattened his snout-like nose on the floor.
"Stand up straight." Sirius said impatiently. "Now, what are you up to?"
"Kreacher is cleaning." The house elf repeated. "Kreacher lives to serve the Noble House of Black -"
"And it's getting blacker every day, it's filthy." Sirius cut him off.
"Master always liked his little joke." Kreacher said, bowing again, continuing in an undertone. "Master was a nasty ungrateful swine who broke his mother's heart -"
"My mother didn't have a heart, Kreacher." Sirius snapped at him. "She kept herself alive out of pure spite."
Kreacher bowed again as he spoke.
"Whatever Master says." He muttered furiously. "Master is not fit to wipe slime from his mother's boots, oh, my poor mistress, what would she say if she saw Kreacher serving him, how she hated him, what a disappointment he was -"
"I asked you what you were up to." Sirius said coldly. "Every time you show up pretending to be cleaning, you sneak something off to your room so we can't throw it out."
"Kreacher would never move anything from its proper place in Master's house." The elf said, before muttering very fast "Mistress would never forgive Kreacher if the tapestry was thrown out, seven centuries it's been in the family, Kreacher must save it, Kreacher will not let Master and the blood traitors and the brats destroy it -"
"I thought it might be that." Sirius said, casting a disdainful look at the opposite wall. "She'll have put another Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of it, I don't doubt, but if I can get rid of it I certainly will. Now go away, Kreacher."
It was like Kreacher didn't dare disobey a direct order, but he gave Sirius a look as he shuffled past him being full of the deepest loathing and muttered all the way out of the room.
" - comes back from Azkaban ordering Kreacher around, oh, my poor mistress, what would she say if she saw the house now, scum living in it, her treasures thrown out, she swore he was no son of hers and he's back, they say he's a murderer too -"
"Keep muttering and I will be a murderer!" Sirirus said irritably, slamming the door shut on the elf.
"Remind me why we can't just set him free and be rid of him." Chrys said, shaking her head in disgust.
"Because he knows too much about the Order." Sirius replied curtly. "And anyway, the shock would kill him. You suggest that he leaves this house, see how he takes it."
He then walked across the room to the tapestry that Kreacher tried to protect hung the length of the wall. Arthur and the others followed.
The tapestry looked incredibly old; being faded and looked like Doxys gnawed it in places. Regardless, a golden thread that was embroidered still glinted brightly enough that it showed them all a sprawling family tree that dated back to the Middle Ages, as far as Arthur could tell.
Large words at the very top of the tapestry read:
THE NOBLE AND
MOST ANCIENT
HOUSE OF BLACK
'TOUJOURS PUR'
"You don't seem to be on here." Arthur noticed after scanning the bottom of the tree.
"I used to be there." Sirius said, pointing at a small, round, charred hole in the tapestry, looking like a cigarette burn. "My sweet old mother blasted me off after I ran away from home, Kreacher's quite fond of muttering the story under his breath."
"When did you run away?" Arthur asked, understanding why he'd leave such a rotten place, especially with a foul mother and house elf.
"When I was about sixteen." Sirius said. "I'd had enough."
"And where did you go?" Arthur asked again. Sirius turned to him with a fond smile.
"Your dad's place." Sirius replied. "Your grandparents were really good about it; they sort of adopted me as a second son. Yeah, I camped out at your dad's in the school holidays, and when I was seventeen, I got a place of my own. My Uncle Alphard had left me a decent bit of gold, he'd been wiped off here, too, that's probably why, anyway, after that I looked after myself. I was always welcome at Mr and Mrs Pendergast's for Sunday lunch, though."
"You must've ran because you had enough of your family." Arthur said knowingly.
"Yes." Sirius said bitterly, running his fingers through his hair. "I hated the whole lot of them: my parents, with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal… my idiot brother, soft enough to believe them… that's him."
Sirius pointed a finger at the very bottom of the tree, at the name 'Regulus Arcturus Black'. There was also a date of death, fifteen years previous, followed by a date of birth.
"He was younger than me…" Sirius said. "...and a much better son, as I was constantly reminded."
"And yet he died." Arthur pointed out.
"Yeah." Sirius said. "Stupid idiot… he joined the Death Eaters."
"Why am I not surprised?" Arthur asked, not all that shocked, considering how the Black family seemed like the type to side with Voldemort. "Were your parents Death Eaters as well?"
"No, no, but believe me, they thought Voldemort had the right idea, they were all for the purification of the wizarding race, getting rid of Muggle-Borns and having pure-bloods in charge. They weren't alone, either, there were quite a few people, before Voldemort showed his true colours, who thought he had the right idea about things… they got cold feet when they saw what he was prepared to do to get power, though. But I bet my parents thought Regulus was a right little hero for joining up at first."
"Did he get killed by an Auror?" Arthur asked tentatively, hoping he wasn't getting too personal.
"Oh, no." Sirius said, shaking his head. "No, he was murdered 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."
"Here's lunch." Martha's voice said.
She held her wand high in front of her, balancing a huge tray of sandwiches and cakes on its tip. She was very red in the face, looking angry. The others all moved over to her, eager for some food, while Arthur stayed with Sirius, who bent closer to the tapestry.
"I haven't looked at this for years. There's Phineas Nigellus… my great great grandfather, see? Least popular Headmaster Hogwarts ever had… and Araminta Meliflua… cousin of my mother's… tried to force a Ministry Bill to make Muggle hunting legal… and dear Aunt Elladora… she started the family tradition of beheading house elves when they got too old to carry tea trays… of course, any time the family produced someone halfway decent they were disowned. I see Tonks isn't on here. Maybe that's why Kreacher won't take orders from her, he's supposed to do whatever anyone in the family asks him -"
"You and Tonks are actually related?" Arthur asked, surprised by this fact.
"Oh, yeah, her mother Andromeda was my favourite cousin." Sirius said, examining the tapestry carefully. "No, Andromeda's not on here either, look -"
He pointed to another small burn mark between the names of Bellatrix and Narcissa. Arthur knew of the name Narcissa, it was the name of Draco Malfoy's (Arthur's enemy at Hogwarts) mother.
"Andromeda's sisters are still here because they made lovely, respectable pure-blood marriages, but Andromeda married a Muggle-Born, Ted Tonks, so -"
Sirius then mimed blasting the tapestry with a wand and laughed sourly. Arthur, however, didn't laugh, mainly because he was busy looking at all the various names to the right of Andromeda's burn mark. There was a double line of gold embroidery that linked Narcissa Black with Lucius Malfoy and then a single vertical gold line from their names led to the name Draco.
"I can't help but notice how you're related to the Malfoys." He said in contempt to Sirius.
"The pure-blood families are all interrelated." Sirius said. "If you're only going to let your sons and daughters marry pure-bloods your choice is very limited; there are hardly any of us left."
Arthur's attention was now on the name left of Andromeda's burn: Bellatrix Black, which was connected by a double line to Rodolphus Lestrange.
"Lestrange…." He said aloud. He recognised that name as well. He heard Sirius mention it in that cave outside of Hogsmeade months ago.
"They're in Azkaban." Sirius said shortly, making Arthur look at him.
"Bellatrix and her husband Rodolphus came in with Barty Crouch Jr." Sirius said, in a brusque voice. "Rodolphus's brother Rabastian was with them, too."
That made Arthur's insides constrict. He recollected when he looked into Dumbledore's Pensieve, a device that stores memories and thoughts. He saw Bellatrix: that tall dark woman with heavy lidded eyes and proclaimed what had to be unwavering loyalty to Voldemort, declaring that he'll rise again and break her, her husband and brother in law out of Azkaban.
"How can you stomach being cousins with her?" Arthur said.
"My deranged cousin… I have no idea." Sirius said, shaking his head. "I'm not proud to have a relative like her."
"I'm sorry if I've upset you, Sirius." Arthur apologised.
"It's alright, Arthur, you were just curious." Sirius assured him with a pat on his back. "The only reason I'm able to tolerate being back here is because I'm surrounded by my friends. And now you, regardless of whether you get expelled or not."
His words made Arthur feel better, both for himself and for his godfather.
"Of course, this is ideal for Headquarters." Sirius then said. "My father put every security measure known to wizardkind on it when he lived here. It's unplottable, so Muggles could never come and call, as if they'd ever wanted to, and now Dumbledore added his protection, you'd be hard put to find a safer house anywhere. Dumbledore is Secret Keeper for the Order, you know, nobody can find Headquarters unless he tells them personally where it is, that note Moody showed you last night, that was Dumbledore…." Sirius then gave a short, bark-like laugh. "If my parents could see the use their house was being put to now… well, my mother's portrait should give you some idea…."
Sirius then scowled before he sighed.
"I wouldn't mind more if I could just get out occasionally and do something useful. I've asked Dumbledore whether I can escort you to your hearing, as Snuffles, obviously, so I can give you a bit of moral support, what d'you think?"
Arthur's heart sank as he recalled that he had to go to the hearing, he forgot about it among the whole thing of being surrounded by the people he knew and learning about what's going on.
He stared over at the Merlons, Chrys and Mike, who all tucked into their sandwiches, dreading the idea that they could end up going to Hogwarts without him.
"Don't worry." Sirius said, making Arthur look up and realise that Sirius was watching him. "I'm sure they'll clear you, there's definitely something in the International Statute of Secrecy about being allowed to use magic to save your own life."
"But if they do end up expelling me…" Arthur said quietly. "...could I come and live with you?"
This made Sirius form a sad smile.
"We'll see."
"It's just… I do love the Dentleys… but I don't belong among Muggles."
"Hurry, you two, or there won't be any food left." Martha called.
Sirius heaved a great sigh before he cast a dark look at the tapestry and both he and Arthur joined the others.
Arthur tried hard to not think about the hearing as they emptied the glass fronted cabinets later that afternoon. Fortunately, it was a job that required a lot of concentration, since many of the objects seemed reluctant to leave their dusty shelves.
Sirius sustained a pretty bad bite from a silver snuff box; within seconds his hand developed a rather unpleasant crusty covering like a tough brown glove.
"It's okay." He said, examining the hand with some interest before tapping it lightly with his wand, restoring the skin to normal. "Must be wartcap powder in there."
He threw the box aside into the sack they all deposited the debris from the cabinets into; Arthur watched Kevin wrapping his own hand carefully in a cloth moments later, sneaking the box into his already Doxy-filled pocket.
They ended up finding an unpleasant looking silver instrument, looking like a many legged pair of tweezers, which scuttled up Arthur's arm like a spider when he picked it up, attempting to puncture his skin. Sirius managed to seize it and smashed it with a heavy book called Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy.
There was a musical box that emitted a faintly sinister, tinkling tune when wounded, making everyone curiously weak and sleep, until Mary slammed the lid shut.
Then they came across a heavy locket that had a bejewelled 'S'. None of them could open it and Arthur found himself feeling anger when he held it, making him pass it along to someone else.
They also found a number of ancient seals and in a dusty box, an Order of Merlin, First Class, which was awarded to Sirius' grandfather for 'services to the Ministry'.
"It means he gave them a load of gold." Sirius said contemptuously, throwing the medal into the rubbish sack.
Several times Kreacher sidled into the room, attempting to smuggle things away under his loincloth, muttering horrible curses every time they caught him. When Sirius wrestled a large golden ring that bore the Black family crest from his grip, Kreacher burst into furious tears, leaving the room sobbing under his breath, calling Sirius names that Arthur never heard before.
"It was my father's." Sirius said, throwing the ring into the sack. "Kreacher wasn't quite as devoted to him as to my mother, but I still caught him snogging a pair of my father's old trousers last week."
Martha kept them working very hard over the next several days. The drawing room took three whole days to decontaminate. Finally, the only things left that were undesirable were the tapestry of the Black family tree, which resisted any and all attempts to remove it from the wall, and the rattling old desk. Moody still hasn't dropped by Headquarters yet, so they couldn't be sure what was inside it.
After that, they moved to a dining room on the ground floor where they found spiders as large as saucers that lurked in the dresser (David left the room instantly, not even returning for an hour and a half). The china, which all bore the Black family crest and motto, all got thrown unceremoniously into a sack by Sirius, and the same happened to a set of old photographs in tarnished silver frames, all the occupants squealing shrilly as the glass covering them smashed.
Snape may call their work as 'cleaning', but Arthur felt like they were waging war on the house itself, which put up a good fight, being aided and abetted by Kreacher. The house elf kept appearing wherever they all congregated, his muttering becoming more offensive as he attempted to remove anything he could from the rubbish sacks. Sirius even threatened him with clothes, though Kreacher fixed him with a watery stare, saying "Master must do as Master wishes…" before he turned away, muttering loudly "...but Master will not turn Kreacher away, no, because Kreacher knows what they are up to, oh yes, he is plotting against the Dark Lord, yes, with these Mudbloods and traitors and scum…."
This made Sirius seize Kreacher by the back of his loincloth and threw him bodily out of the room.
The doorbell rang several times a day, being the cue for Sirius' mother to start shrieking again, and for Arthur and the others to attempt to eavesdrop on the visitor, though they gleaned very little from the brief glimpses and snatches of conversation they were able to sneak before Martha recalled them to their various tasks.
Snape entered and left the house several times, though Arthur was glad that he didn't go face to face with him. Arthur even saw Professor McGonagall, his Transfiguration teacher, Head of house and Mike's mother. She looked very odd in a Muggle dress and coat, though she seemed too busy to linger.
Sometimes, the visitors would stay to help. Tonks joined them for a memorable afternoon where they found a murderous old ghoul lurking in an upstairs toilet, and Lupin, who stayed in the house with Sirius but left for long periods to do work for the Order, helped them repair a grandfather clock that developed the unpleasant habit of shooting heavy bolts at passers by.
Mundungus 'redeemed' himself in Martha's eyes by rescuing David from an ancient set of purple robes that tried strangling him when he removed them from their wardrobe.
Despite still sleeping badly, still having the dreams of dark tiled corridors and locked doors which made his scar prickle, Arthur had some semblance of fun for the first time in the summer. As long as he was busy, he was happy; whenever the action abated, though, or when he dropped his guard or lay exhausted in bed watching shadows move across the ceiling, the thought of the looming hearing at the Ministry returned to his thoughts.
Fear started filling up within him as he pondered what would happen if he was expelled. He was so scared of this that he didn't mention it to anyone, not even David, Chrys or Mike, who he'd see whispering together and casting anxious and concerned looks his way.
During dinner on Wednesday evening, Arthur's stomach dropped when Martha turned to him, saying quietly "I've ironed out your best clothes for tomorrow morning. I'd recommend washing your hair tonight. You'll need to look proper and presentable."
David, Chrys, Mike, Mary and the twins all stopped talking and looked at Arthur, who nodded and lost his appetite for his chop.
"How will I get there?" He asked Martha, holding back his concern.
"Ben will be taking you to work with him." She said gently. Ben looked over at Arthur across the table and smiled encouragingly.
"You can wait in my office until the hearing." He said.
Arthur then looked over to Sirius, and Martha answered the question he was going to ask.
"Dumbledore doesn't think it's a good idea for Sirius to go with you." She said grimly.
"When did he tell Sirius that?" Arthur asked as Sirius stabbed a potato with his fork moodily.
"He came last night, while you were in bed." Ben informed him.
Arthur now felt even worse than ever.
The idea that Dumbledore was in this house on the eve of Arthur's hearing and didn't ask to see him made him feel tossed aside and ignored, like he was some tool. It irked him to no end.
We've just come across a key item in this chapter. And I hope you enjoy the more caring and supportive Sirius.