First Morning in a Grim Old Place

Early the next morning, Harry lay in bed and thought about the locket.

Should he wait? Nah. He decided to go for it and sat up to cast a locking and silencing spell at his door. Then he called out, "Kreacher!"

The old elf popped in and looked at Harry in confusion, "Master-not-Master called for Kreacher?" he asked in his bullfrog-like voice.

"Yes, sorry. I cannot tell you about the strange half-bond between us, but what I can tell you is that I want to destroy Master Regulus's locket."

Harry had decided to blurt out the most important thing right away. Kreacher had no patience for hedging and long-winded explanations that were slowly leading up to a point.

The elf stood stock still, "Master-not-Master wants to destroy it for Kreacher?"

"Yes. And for Regulus, and for me and the wizarding world."

"Kreacher will go get it," with that the elf popped away.

"Huh, that went easier than expected."

5 seconds later Kreacher stood there with the locket in his hands and asked suspiciously, "How does Kreacher know Kreacher can trust Master-not-Master?"

"Hm. I would need to cast the killing curse at the opened locket. I will open it with parseltongue. So, you can put it over there and stand out of the way and I will cast it from here," Harry pointed to three different points in the room. "So, I don't need to hold it and technically it will never leave your possession.

Kreacher nodded, "Kreacher is no parselmouth and couldn't open it." He went over and laid the locket in front of the bathroom door and went to stand in another part of the room Harry had indicated earlier.

"Just one question. Are there wards that can detect a killing curse being cast in this house?"

"There are."

Harry slumped, but perked up again when Kreacher went on, "But they only tell the Head of the Black family. There is no head right now. And the bee didn't cast any wards of that kind. Neither did the crazy-eye."

"Good, and it will not be recorded, right?"

"No."

"And Mad-Eye is not in the house?"

"No, Master-not-Master."

"Very well. Open – Avada Kedavra."

Harry had given the Horcrux no time to react. So, the only thing it did was screech and discharge some black vapour. Even though it didn't open. Huh… Right… Not a parselmouth anymore. Idiot!

Harry then looked to Kreacher and found the elf standing stock-still, with his huge eyes bulging even more.

"It's done, Kreacher. Your task has been completed."

Kreacher slowly turned his head to stare at Harry in wonderment and croaked, "Thank you Master-not-Master," and burst into horrible wrenching sobs that made Harry gather the little being in his arms and let him cry It out.

Harry just held him. He didn't say anything and didn't pat the elf consolingly on the back, just letting him grieve for his beloved Master at last.

About five minutes later, the old elf stepped back and snapped his fingers to clean Harry and himself from his outburst.

"Kreacher thanks kind Master-not-Master," he rasped. "What does Master-not-Master want to do with the locket?"

"Okay, I will answer that in a moment, but please call me Master Harry or just Harry. I don't want anyone to know about our peculiar bond. Someone from the Back family could order you to tell them everything you know about it. Could you do that?"

"Kreacher can, Just Harry."

Harry sniggered, "I walked right into that one, didn't I? Anyway, do you want the locket to remember Regulus? If not, I will put it in my wallet and later into my vault."

Kreacher thought about it and said, "Kreacher doesn't want it. Kreacher hated it for so long. Kreacher has memories of Master Regulus, so Kreacher is happy."

"Very well," Harry waved his wand, and the locket flew into his left hand and soon disappeared into his wallet. "Will you be able to work again, now?"

Harry wasn't bothered that Kreacher hadn't wanted the locket like in his LF. The goblins had warned him that unexpected changes would happen, like his new room at Grimmauld Place. On the other hand, Kreacher had wanted the fake locket in the LF, not the real one, now that he thought about it. And Harry didn't know if Sirius had fixed the room up for him last time too, but hadn't said anything about it when Harry agreed to room with Ron. Those thoughts raced through his head in a second, but his attention moved back to Kreacher when the elf answered him excitedly (for him).

"Kreacher can and Kreacher will!"

"Better squirrel everything remotely Dark away, or Mrs Weasley will throw it out."

"Kreacher does so already."

"Good. And watch out for Mundungus Fletcher, he takes everything he thinks he can sell."

Kreacher nodded, "Kreacher will."

"Maybe we should commission Gringotts to do a ritual of recall. That would return anything unlawfully taken or thrown out."

"Kreacher would like that."

Harry nodded and said, "Well, that was all. I'll go looking for breakfast now."

"Just Harry does that and Kreacher starts bringing order to the house," he snapped his fingers and Harry's bed made itself and the already tidy room looked cleaner somehow.

As soon as Harry was alone, he whined to no one in particular, "Why do house-elves always give me funny names?"

No one answered,not even Hedwig, who was sleeping on the bird stand. She must have returned during the night via the window Harry had left open before going to bed. Harry huffed and squared his shoulders. It was time to face the music.

He quietly left his room and snuck down to the basement. The door to the kitchen stood open, which made Harry decide to listen first before going in.

"Come on, Hermione, he didn't mean it. He probably was tired and angry. You know how he can be," Harry heard Ron say.

"But he said our friendship was debatable. Since when does he know and use words like that?"

Harry decided to just walk in and said, "wow, you really must think I'm an idiot." He walked to Sirius and sat down next to the man, who drank his tea and looked blearily at Harry.

"G'morning, pup."

"Good morning, Sirius."

Harry served himself some breakfast from the full platters on the table, but his full plate was pulled away just when he wanted to start eating.

"Hey!" he protested.

"You need something else," Molly Weasley said decisively, put Harry's plate next to Ron's, filled up another one with food from the stove, and sat it in front of Harry.

"Here you go, dear."

Harry stared at the food and then at Molly and said, "No thanks." He got up and exchanged the plates next to Ron, who protested with a full-mouthed, "Hey."

"You'll live." Harry sat down again and started eating his food. His ring was quiet with this one, but the stuff Molly had handed him had made his ring warn him strongly as soon as his hand came close to that plate.

Meanwhile, Ron had pulled Harry's second plate close and put his left arm around it to keep it safe and just started eating from it when Molly screeched, "No! Don't eat that!" and vanished the food from Ron's second plate.

Ron complained loudly and Remus asked, "Why did you do that, Molly? You wanted Harry to eat that food, but not Ron?"

Molly huffed and answered annoyedly, "There were nutrition potions in it to help Harry. He always is so thin when returning from his relatives. Ron doesn't need them."

"But they wouldn't have hurt him, either. No reason to waste perfectly good food," Remus said and looked at Molly with some suspicion. This explanation just didn't add up.

Sirius, who was much more awake now, waved his wand at the food on the stove and said, "There is more than one potion in this food."

"Just things to help the boy!" she said, and vanished the food on the stove as well. "Harry, my dear, you don't mind me taking care of you, right?"

Harry frowned and said, "I don't want special treatment. And I don't want people staring, stealing, and potioning me."

Some of the people, who were eating at the table while ogling Harry, blushed and looked down at their food and then waved their wands over it to check it for potions.

Wow, that backfired on you, didn't it, Molly? Harry thought, grinning internally but outwardly he was scowling.

"Don't give any potions to my godson without my permission, Molly," Sirius said, still frowning. "And you guys stop staring or get out!" he barked at some of the Order members who had returned to looking at Harry rather quickly.

"Doesn't work. The kids at school don't stop doing that either. It's like I don't warrant decent human behaviour," Harry scowled.

"Fuck it. Get out. Anyone not living here for the summer, get out and look for something else to entertain you. Now!" Sirius barked at the now outraged-looking peanut gallery. But most huffed and left, much to Harry's internal delight.

"Sirius, you cannot throw the Order members out of the Order's Headquarters!" Molly scolded.

"Watch me. There is no meeting scheduled today, they have their own homes. They don't need to be in my house and eat my food."

Soon some of them might need to, Harry thought vindictively.

"Your food?" Molly huffed.

"Yes. Or did you or the Order pay for it?"

Wow, Sirius really is showing some spine here. He's not the pushover I remember. And what is my money for the Order for if not for food? Harry thought. Did he really pay them to guard me? Wouldn't put it past him. Well, they didn't really earn their money, did they?

Molly huffed and said, "It's not right. I wish Albus was here to put you in your place."

"Woah," Harry yelped and stared at Molly as if seeing her for the first time. "Aren't you a guest here too? Why do you talk to Sirius like that?"

"He doesn't know how to raise you and shouldn't have a say in it. He is just an irresponsible drunkard, Harry. Don't listen to him. And change into some other clothes. With some colour, like you wore before."

"Like my cousin's hand-me-downs?"

"What's wrong with hand-me-downs, dear?"

"Nothing, as long as they fit."

"But Harry–"

"Whatever. I chucked them. And I like my new clothes."

"Harry, you can't throw out perfectly good clothes!"

"I'm done eating. Do we need to stay in the kitchen, Sirius?"

"Nah, come. I'll show you around. Remus, are you coming?"

The three got up quickly and as soon as they were out of the kitchen, it erupted into a chaos of noise. Everyone was talking over one another with Molly screeching over it, "Harry, stop! You need to help clean the house!" Just when the door fell shut behind them.

"Huh? I do?" Harry asked Sirius in the hallway while following the man up the stairs to the first floor.

"Nah. That's her way to keep the kids busy. You don't have to do anything she says. Now, come quickly."

"Sirius –" Remus started to say, but Mrs. Black had woken up, probably due to all the noises. She started screeching now too, so as soon as they were on the first floor, Sirius and Remus wrestled the curtains close. Then they went to the drawing room on the same floor to catch their breath from all the excitement.

"Do all women screech like that? Mrs Weasley, Hermione, Aunt Petunia, even that portrait… Who was that anyway?"

Sirius chuckled and said, "you will find that in some cases, it's great when women start screeching."

"Sirius! – Harry, that's a portrait of Sirius's mother, Walburga Black."

A haunted look settled on Sirius's face, "That bitch. I hate her! I hate this house!"

"Sirius, language!"

"Why don't you take the portrait down then?" Harry asked.

"Permanent sticking charm. And she somehow can operate the curtains. Silencing charms don't work on it, either."

"Huh. Now I have a possibly stupid question," Harry said.

"Shoot," Sirius perked up. He loved that phrase, which he had learned from Lily. And stupid questions often led to good fun.

"Couldn't you, like, sew the curtains shut and nail their borders to the wall, or something, so they can't be moved?"

Sirius sat up straight, "Yes! That would work! But you can't silence them either."

"Huh. Then nail another piece of cloth over it and silence that one?"

Sirius jumped up and ran out of the room. Probably to do just that.

"I hope this works. Good idea, Harry!"

"Thanks, Professor."

"Woah, please call me Remus! I am not your professor anymore."

"But you still sound like one."

"Yes, Sirius kind of awakens that side in me."

Harry sniggered and then looked around the room, while they waited a few minutes.

The room had seen some "cleaning" and looked rather gutted, but not very homely.

"This house is a bit…"

"It's a dump," Sirius said while entering the room again. He elegantly flopped down onto one of the armchairs looking like a suffering, dark, and unhealthy hero.

Harry looked around again and said, "Could I practise my cleaning and repairing charms?"

Remus sputtered, "Harry, you aren't allowed to use magic during the summer."

"Moony, that's a lie. All children from Pure- and Half-blood households use magic, and you know it."

"But…"

"No. Harry is allowed to. How Molly raises her brood is her prerogative. Harry is mine."

Remus sighed and said, "You are right. And I don't understand her reluctance either, to be honest. There are only two underage children left in her family and the pranksters aren't them."

"So, can I practise?"

"Sure, have at it," Sirius waved his hand nonchalantly.

Harry chuckled and cast a repairing charm onto Sirius's armchair.

Sirius laughed while his seat righted itself slightly, gained its former bottle-green colour, and the wood looked like polished mahogany once again.

"Huh, that's pretty!" Harry said, astonished. The chair hadn't survived the twins in his LF.

Sirius preened, "Thank you."

"Goof," a chuckling Remus said and showed Harry some home-repair charms and decoration spells.

Sirius got pulled into it, and within 15 minutes the room looked amazing.

Except for one thing.

The tapestry.

Harry cast a repair charm at it, but only some threads that were hanging out rewove themselves and some of the burn marks got a little smaller.

"Oh," he said sorrowfully.

"Hm, maybe…" Remus said haltingly. "What do you think, Pads? An overpowered Reparo Maxima cast by all three of us at the same time? – We developed that one during school," he told Harry.

Sirius tilted his head thoughtfully, "It might work. That tapestry is a great piece of magic, and to repair it would be a great prank on my dear departed mother. Let's do it! Just point at the thing and push as much magic into the spell as possible," was all the instruction Harry got.

The three gathered in front of the tapestry and brandished their wands. – Harry felt like one of the three Musketeers – and Sirius took command and cried, "On three! One. Two. Three! Reparo Maxima!"

The other two yelled the spell at the same time. The tapestry was hit with three bright beams of white magic, and it started to repair itself at once. All the weaving looked like on the first day of its making and the cloth looked nearly white now and not the yellowed colour it had before, while the burned patches repaired themselves like they never had happened, and some of them started branching out forming new names and pictures, like the one of Tonks and one of Harry?

Just when Harry wanted to ask about it, the door banged open and Molly rushed in, followed by the twins, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny.

"What did you do?" she screeched.

"Molly, could you please yell a little more quietly? My ears cannot stand much more of your screeching," Remus begged her. "And we repaired the tapestry, see?" he stepped to the side.

"But half the house repaired itself! You can't do that!"

Sirius huffed, annoyed, "I cannot repair my own house?"

"No! I need it to look like it did to keep the children busy! And why are you holding your wand, Harry? You cannot cast magic outside of Hogwarts!" she screeched again.

Harry said nothing. He just raised his eyebrows.

"Molly, please. Inside voice," Remus begged her again.

The twins intervened, "Come on, Mum. Everyone knows you just forbid us to use magic because if all of us had done so in the past there would have been uncontrollable chaos at the Burrow during the summers," one of them said.

"But we aren't allowed to use our wands outside of Hogwarts!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Not true," the other twin said, wincing a little. "In magical households, no one can distinguish who cast a spell. So, it's an open secret. What do you think we do in our room all the time?"

Hermione rounded on Harry, "Did you know?"

"Hey! How is this my fault, now? And I just learned about this last night."

"You should have told me!" She screeched at Harry.

Remus winced once more and Sirius had enough, "Out. Discuss this in the kitchen. We don't want the yelling in here!"

"But–" Molly tried to inject but was pulled out of the room by the twins, while Ginny pushed Hermione out.

After the door had banged shut (courtesy of Ron), silence settled over the room and the three wizards left in it slowly relaxed.

"Wow," Harry said.

"Hurricane Molly Weasley," Sirius sighed.

"My poor ears," Remus whined.

The other two nodded.

"So…" Harry looked around. "We repaired half the house?"

"That is amazing! We should do the rest of it!" Sirius said excitedly. He felt much better in this room now. It didn't feel as oppressive as it had during his childhood, and it certainly didn't look like it anymore. He could live in this house if it was like this room, he decided.

"Maybe we wait until the hurricane has made landfall," Harry said dryly.

The other two laughed and nodded.

"Sirius?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Why is there a line from yours to my name and picture on the tapestry? Are you my…"

"Uh, not exactly. James is your dad, don't worry! But I did blood-adopt you on your first birthday, so I'm your father too?"

"Really?"

"Really."

Harry blinked, feeling choked up. Even if his mind was 28, his body sure wasn't, and the feeling of loss knew no age limit anyway, that was for sure.

Sirius carefully gathered the teen in his arms and hugged him for a long time while Harry buried his face in Sirius's neck and Remus intently studied the tapestry to give them some space.

When Harry pulled away, sniffing, Sirius commented, "You have grown."

"Yeah, it looks like I hit a growth spurt," Harry rasped. He was quite thankful for the normal topic. It seemed even 28-old-him was still very sad about no one loving him during his childhood.

"Good. I thought I needed to squirrel you out of the house to go to the goblins. They have a backdoor entrance, did you know?"

"Did you go and get some healing done yourself?"

"No. I don't see the need. Do you want to go?"

"I'm not the one who sat in Azkaban for over a decade. Please go there yourself. For me?" Harry turned his rarely used puppy-dog eyes on, and Sirius caved at once.

"I will, pup. I just need a good disguise," he still hedged a little.

"I'll give you my invisibility cloak. You'll go tomorrow, ok?"

"Bloody hell, turn off those eyes! I'll go! I promise!"

"Language, Sirius!"

Harry grinned at Remus, "See? That's what I meant, Professor Lupin."

Sirius fell over laughing, "Professor Moony! Hahaha."

Remus huffed exaggeratedly, grinning himself as Sirius's laughter was quite infectious and much better than the man's usual brooding mood.

"Now tell me what this Order is that this house is the headquarters of?" Harry asked. "Are you fighting Voldemort and stuff?"

"… and stuff. No fighting or training. We would look very old against the Death Eaters," Sirius huffed, looking quite… well… serious now.

Remus frowned at Sirius but answered Harry readily as well, "Our group is called the Order of the Phoenix and was formed by Albus Dumbledore during the height of the first war against You Know Who."

"Why doesn't anyone call Voldemort by his real name?" an exasperated Harry asked.

"No one knows it, cub," Remus explained earnestly.

"Not true! I know it, the Headmaster knows it, and I am sure many others do too. His name is Tom Riddle, and he was a student at Hogwarts in the forties, I think. What?"

Harry looked to the gaping half of the Marauders.

"H… His name is known? Albus knows it? Fuck!"

"Sirius!"

"Please stop that, uh, Remus. I cuss, too. Just not in the company of adults at the moment. But if we have to stop our talk every time you have to be professorly, we won't get anywhere," Harry complained.

Remus nodded slowly, but couldn't help himself with correcting Harry, "That's not a word, you do know that, right, Harry?"

"Yes, Professor."

Sirius laughed.

"Back to this Tom Riddle. Are you sure?"

"Yep. I'll tell you all about my second year at Hogwarts another time. We were talking about this Order who does stuff but is not fighting Riddle. So what are you doing?"

"We are exchanging information and Albus plans to protect something in the Ministry, I believe. But I don't know what exactly. Just that it is in the Department of Mysteries," Sirius told Harry and Remus nodded. They knew they weren't supposed to tell Harry any of this, but what did it hurt?

"A weapon?"

"We suspect so. Or some information You Kn… I mean… Riddle shouldn't learn," Remus said.

"Riddle. That's not a name in the Sacred Twenty-Eight," Sirius realised, frowning.

Harry shook his head, "That's some Pure-blood rot, right? He's a Half-blood. His mum was a witch, I think his spectre said. His dad was a Muggle."

"Nooo!" Sirius looked disbelievingly at Harry, who just nodded. "Wait a second, you talked to his ghost?"

"In a way. That's part of the 2nd-year story."

"Damn!"

Harry and Sirius looked at Remus, who just sighed and waved them off.

"So, all the Pure-blood families are following a Half-blood?" Sirius cackled again. "That is amazing! Why does no one tell them?"

Harry blinked, "I don't know. Maybe Riddle killed everyone who knew about it?"

"We should make it public!"

Harry nodded emphatically but Remus cautioned, "How? The Prophet is under the control of the Ministry and the Quibbler is much too out of it at the moment."

"So, there is no such thing as an independent press in magical Britain? Isn't that against the law?" Harry asked.

"It is. And another law is that the press isn't allowed to tell lies and use innuendo."

"Wow. But they do!"

"And everyone believes them, because of this law."

"That's horrible!"

"Yes! I so wish I could prank them!"

"Too bad we can't spell their printing press to only print the truth as the reporter knows it. Or at least not to print any known lies and innuendo," Harry mused.

Sirius perked up and exclaimed, "That would be amazing! It would have to be done in a way they can't find the enchantment or the runic array. But I will figure out how to enchant the printing press! Ha!"

The man rushed off, just calling out, "Library, here I come!"

Harry and Remus chuckled a little disbelievingly.

"It would be amazing if it worked though," Harry said.

Remus nodded, "If anyone can figure it out, Sirius can."

"Yeah! You guys were brilliant! The map is amazing. I wouldn't even have an idea where to start to make such a thing. Either Hogwarts got much worse in teaching us this stuff, or the Marauders were an exemption."

"A bit of both, I think. Well, we weren't an exemption, but an exception."

"Uh, ok. So, will you help him?"

"Oh yes. This is a very worthy goal. And maybe you could think about hiding the enchantment, okay?"

"Okaaay… uh. Hm. Remus, I had another idea. What if we made the press print an additional page and write the articles ourselves for it? Or just write an article which squeezes itself between the others? But no. If it was noticed before they sell them, they can take the page out or blacken the article, or something..."

"Don't throw ideas to the wayside at the beginning of a project. We learned that keeping an open mind leads to some amazing pranks," a grinning Remus said. "I will add them to Sirius's pile of ideas, which he surely has started to build by now. Come, I'll show you the library. We somehow got distracted from our tour of the house."

"True. But it was worth it, hopefully."

"Oh yes. But first, let's have a look at Sirius's attempt at gagging his mum."

"That sounds wrong somehow."

Remus winced, "True. Come, cub."

Walking out of the room showed a fixed-up hallway. It just needed some cleaning, but the interior, like the wallpaper and flooring, looked new.

"Woah! This looks so much better!"

"It does!"

Just that moment Kreacher walked by, snapped his fingers and all of the dust disappeared.

"Masters repair the rest, Kreacher cleans. Masters don't clean. Kreacher wants to clean!" The old house-elf ordered and walked on, snapping his fingers at regular intervals.

"Somehow this picture needs some underlying Spanish music. And the elf should move his hips a little," Harry mused.

Remus burst out laughing, "You are truly your father's son!"

Harry grinned and they walked to the front hall and started laughing again.

Sirius had used his Gryffindor flag to silence his mother. The flag was nailed onto the wall and bulged out a little. It even moved, as if the portrait tried to move the curtains under it. But to no avail. It was silent.

"Even if she manages to open her curtains, the silencing spell will hold, right?" Harry asked.

"Yes. It was a great idea! Much better than mine. I wanted to take down the wall."

"Which is shared with the neighbouring house?"

"Exactly."

"Is there a spell which hides a bulge under some cloth?" Harry asked thoughtfully. "There must be! Maybe Madam Malkin knows one."

Remus nodded, "You're right! And I know it. I just didn't think of using it for this purpose."

He waved his wand and the flag stretched itself and lay flat against the wall, no hint of the portrait could be seen.

"Perfect!" Harry exclaimed.

Remus looked around and said, "Our repair reached this far. It looks so much better now!"

"Just don't clean it!"

Remus laughed, "I won't. Now come, I'll show you the house."


Some time later they met up with Sirius in the library, which was much further in the back of the huge house on the 2nd floor and had not profited from the repair work they had inadvertently done to another part of the house. (Apparently Molly Weasley's assessment that they had repaired half the house had been a bit optimistic.)

Harry and Remus told the astounded Sirius about the snapping house-elf that had ordered repair work, but no cleaning, and then entertained Sirius with the vision of a flamenco-dancing Kreacher.

They decided to cast the repair spell in the library after Sirius had to assure Harry that no books would get damaged due to the nature of the repair spell and the protections on the books. And so, the three got into position again, pointed their wands at one of the reading tables, and yelled "Reparo Maxima" once again.

They watched as the spell washed over the worn room and its furniture and repaired them, and a dusty but very handsome library was left in the spell's wake.

"I don't think this will ever get boring," Harry commented in wonder and the other two nodded.

"Let's do the rest of the house, alright?" Sirius said excitedly.

"Maybe just some parts? This spell is very tiring and there is no need for us to get too exhausted," Remus cautioned.

"And it leaves some fun for tomorrow," Harry added, nodding.


They repaired parts of the 3rd floor, where many of the guests slept, and the 5th which was the family floor that held the rooms of Remus, Sirius, Harry, and Buckbeak for some reason. Their last stop was the kitchen, which also was in the back of the house and looked the same as it had that morning. Molly and her brood must have been somewhere else when they repaired the tapestry then, Harry guessed distractedly.

Luckily for them, no one was in the kitchen at the moment and so, the three did their last Reparo Maxima for the day.

"Wow! This is nearly as amazing as the library was. Everything looks so new now!" Harry exclaimed after the spell had finished its work.

"Only a little cleaning left," Sirius snapped his fingers and stomped his feet like a dancer.

"Yes, Master, Kreacher will see to it," the elf said.

"Huh, where did you come from?"

"The sunroom. The Banshee and her litter are 'cleaning' it. Kreacher told them to repair and not clean, but they don't listen."

"Are they using their wands?" Harry asked, quite interested.

"No. And they are complaining about it."

"Huh. Well, then you can clean it again, don't you think? It still will make a huge difference," Harry offered.

"Just Harry is right. Kreacher makes lunch now. Without potions. Sit."

The three wizards obeyed, and the elf snapped his fingers a few times until the kitchen sparkled. Then Kreacher served them tea and scones 'to tide them over' and started to get busy making lunch for the three of them.

"Remus?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Tomorrow, when Sirius is at Gringotts, could we train a little?"

Sirius huffed and Remus said, "Sure. But then we should repair the arms and duelling rooms first thing tomorrow morning."

"Cool! Is there a potions lab somewhere, too?"

"Yes. But don't work there alone. Also, we should ask Kreacher to remove all the ingredients in that room before we repair it. Or the duelling room, now that I think of it, because it is close by. And we should look through the stuff if it's still fresh enough."

Kreacher turned and said, "All is fresh. It's in stasis. Kreacher will take the ingredients to the attic today."

"Thank you!" Harry called out.

"Now, pup. Tell me why you only wear black clothes."

"It's easy. This way they all coordinate . No need to think about it. And I like it. You're wearing black too, aren't you?" Harry pointed at Sirius's black robes.

"Huh, you're right. Wizards normally wear black. It's just when I see Muggle clothes I think of colour."

"That's not quite right. Most Muggle men normally wear black or dark blue with light coloured shirts. At least in the more formal settings. It's more the kids and girls who wear colours. And there's a whole group of teens that wear black and silver jewellery.

"Really? In my mind, Muggles wear bell-bottom trousers and have long hair."

"Uh, right. That was the seventies. No wonder you think Muggle clothes are much more colourful. That fashion is long gone! Wow, and you missed the eighties! The black-clothed teens did appear then, I think. But there are still plenty around. You can kind of wear anything you want now. Especially in London. You probably could walk around just in your underwear, and no one would bat an eye in some parts."

"Really?" Sirius asked quite interested and Remus facepalmed.

"Yep," Harry grinned.

"So, you really will make me go to Gringotts tomorrow?" Sirius whined.

"Yes!" Remus and Harry answered together.

"Bloody hell."

Harry sniggered and Remus facepalmed once more.


The Twins

The door to the kitchens opened and the twins entered and closed it behind them again, "Harry-kins!" they called out delightedly and pulled Harry off his chair to hug him together. Harry hugged them back hard. Especially the one he thought was Fred.

"Oh wow, did you miss us? Sorry for not welcoming you earlier. It didn't seem to be the right time. Happy belated birthday! Mum intercepted our present for you and chucked it. It was a cake, without any pranks in it!" All was said in their usual twin speak, but Harry easily put it together into conclusive sentences in his mind.

Surprisingly Sirius and Remus seemed to be able to follow along, with Sirius muttering something like, "This reminds me of someone..."

"Thanks for the thought, guys. Sirius's letters got intercepted as well."

"Yeah. They could watch you, but they couldn't deliver mail," Fred scowled.

"What do you mean?" Harry pretended to be clueless like he had done so often today and yesterday.

"They did tell you that someone watched your house the whole summer, right?" George asked.

"No?"

"Cub…"

"Someone watched No. 4 Privet Drive the whole summer and didn't tell me? Is that legal? Did you know about it?" Harry rounded on Sirius.

"I did know about it but spoke up against it. Or rather, against not telling you," Sirius scowled.

"So, my legal magical guardian doesn't want me ignorant, and his opinion is ignored? Did any of you participate?" Harry looked to the twins and Remus who looked down at the hands in his lap.

The twins shook their heads and said, "No one trusted us not to contact you. We even tried to Apparate to you in secret on your birthday, but Mum caught us. That woman is like a niffler, just for rule-breaking instead of gold."

Harry looked to Remus, who nodded, "I did. I didn't think it would be a problem for you. But I didn't look at it from your perspective."

"Like with yesterday's mess?"

"Yes. That one opened my eyes. I'll try to learn from it, that's all I can do now, right?"

"Okay."

Fred looked at Harry, "So what happened yesterday? We only got the part where you threw a tantrum."

Harry huffed and told them about the events from his perspective.

"Wow, this was no tantrum. That was quite understandable," the twins said. "The Order made quite the bad first impression. No wonder they don't seem to be the good guys."

"I don't think it is as simple as good versus evil. Okay, Voldemort is quite evil, but that doesn't mean that Dumbledore is perfect, right? It's more like two factions fighting, than good versus evil even if the other side is eviler than we are. Eviler? More evil? Huh. Do you get what I want to say?"

"It's not all black and white?" a grinning Sirius offered.

Harry huffed, "Yeah, that."

Remus nodded, "We do tend to take Albus's words as gospel. That's okay when one is a child, but not as an adult. Sorry, Padfoot, for not helping you contact Harry. That was wrong."

"Okay, Moony, just don't do it again," Sirius said earnestly.

Harry, who was watching the twins, saw when the penny dropped and they realised who was sitting at the kitchen table with them.

"You… you… you are…" They even managed to stammer in twin speak.

"Are you alright, boys?" Remus asked them.

"You are Moony and Padfoot?" They blurred out.

"Yes?"

"Wow!" The twins stared at the two wizards in adoration, making Sirius and Remus squirm after a minute, and Harry fell off his chair because he was laughing so hard.

"Pup! Are you alright? What's up with them? Help!"

Harry pulled himself up again and sat back down, "Their greatest heroes are the…" Harry did a drumroll with his finger on the edge of the table, "…Marauders!"

"Really?" Sirius looked delighted. "How do you know about us?"

"How do we know of the greatest pranksters of all time?" the twins cried out, "Our inspiration! Our idols! Our heroes!"

Sirius and Remus looked rather gob-smacked.

Harry chuckled and said, "They found a blank parchment in their second year while serving detention in Filch's office. They pilfered it and learned that it insulted them. Then they figured out how it worked somehow and caused much mischief with it. Until they gave it to a boy who wasn't allowed to visit Hogsmeade, because a killer was looking for him."

"You found the map and made it tell you its code words! And then you gave it to Prongs' son! You are our true successors!" Sirius beamed at the twins.

But his words distracted them, "Prongs' son? James Potter was Prongs? Wow! And Wormtail?"

"Harry answered darkly, "Scabbers."

"Huh? Ron's rat?"

"Yup. The three learned to become Animagi because of Moony. That way they could keep him company when he transformed." Harry told them the whole sordid story while Kreacher served the five of them lunch.

Unfortunately, just as Harry reached the end of the story, the door banged open, and the rest came in. First the teens, then Molly.

Ron saw food and pulled the platter with sandwiches to him as he was sitting down and started munching one while grabbing the next with his other hand.

Harry frowned. He had been talking so much, he hadn't finished eating yet and so looked mournfully at the last sandwiches on the platter in front of Ron.

Kreacher huffed and snapped his fingers, making the last two appear on Harry's plate. He grabbed them quickly and started munching, too.

"Hey! He stole my food!" Ron complained loudly.

But even Hermione turned on him for that one, "You took theirs without asking. That was so rude! I am ashamed to call you my friend! And don't speak with your mouth open! It's disgusting!"

"Mum doesn't mind."

"It shows," she snapped and ran out of the kitchen.

Ginny turned quite red, feeling ashamed for her brother, while the twins magicked their prototype of a puking pastil into Ron's pockets in retaliation.

Molly just said, "That girl… so sensitive. Must be her age. Now, what did you do to my kitchen?" she put her fists into her. ample waist.

"Your kitchen?" Sirius asked.

"Yes. Mine. Put it back!"

You want it to look dirty and shabby again?" Harry asked incredulously.

Molly had no idea how to answer that one, so she huffed and pulled out ingredients to make some lunch.

But Sirius wasn't deterred, "Molly. This is my kitchen and my house. I allowed you to move in for the summer, but that didn't mean I gave it to you. You. Are. My. Guest."

"Sirius Black! Stop behaving like a spoiled child," she screeched and would have said more, but Sirius waved his wand and silenced her because Moony looked quite pained again.

"There will be no more screeching in my house, understood? Or I will withdraw my invitation. Nod if you agree to adhere to this rule."

Wow, Harry thought. Sirius is standing up to her? So much has changed so quickly!

But Molly didn't nod. She scowled and waved her wand at herself. Nothing happened, so she gestured to the twins who pretended not to understand her request and left the room. Ron really didn't understand, and Ginny's rather weak and lacklustre Finite didn't do any good, either.

"Molly, a Finite will not dispel it. Do you agree with my rule for a non-screechy house?"

She turned her back and went on preparing lunch for her youngest children and herself.

Sirius shrugged and said, "Have it your way," and got up. "Are you coming, Harry and Remus?"

The three left to collect the twins and go to the drawing to listen to the finale of Harry's story.

Not much later the five of them sat in the library and discussed the printing press of the Daily Prophet. The twins' creativity mashed perfectly with the Marauders' and Harry was somehow pulled in as well. It was great fun.

They also agreed to help Sirius leave the house under the cloak to go to Gringotts tomorrow and were delighted to learn that a potion lab and a duelling room were about to become habitable again tomorrow.

Sirius promised to include them in the wards of the lab, but not Molly. He also offered them a room that only they could enter to use as a storage room, which they happily took advantage of. Their mum wouldn't be able to throw out their stuff anymore now!

They Disapparated to make use of the storage room and Harry asked, "Why can't you just Apparate from within the house to Gringotts?"

Sirius frowned and said, "Because I'm stupid? Somehow I forgot it's possible for me as the owner. Normally, it's just not done, it's considered to be very impolite."

"Better than speaking with a full mouth," Harry scowled. He still couldn't believe Molly hadn't scolded Ron for his uncouth behaviour.

"Yes. I'm sorry to say, there's a reason some consider the Weasley family Blood Traitors. But the twins are different, they remind me of their uncles, Fabian and Gideon Prewett."

"Bill and Charlie are great too," Harry protested. "It's just Percy, Ron, and Ginny who are annoying. I think they're the kids Mrs Weasley loves the most. And the twins are the least favoured ones."

"Figures," Sirius scowled. "And Arthur is just absolutely hen-pecked."

The door to the library opened and Hermione walked in and stopped short, "What happened here? Did you damage my books? How could you! That was irresponsible of you!" Her volume had increased with every short sentence and the last one was screeched.

"What the fuck! Stop screeching! It hurts Remus! What's up with you people? Can't you understand that simple concept?" Sirius was at the end of his rope, but his language had shocked Hermione silent and she gaped at Sirius.

"You think they're your books?" Harry asked disbelievingly.

Hermione huffed and scolded Sirius, "Don't use that language!"

"Don't tell me what to do in my own home, girl. And get out of my library. You're not welcome here anymore," Sirius was so done being a doormat.

Hermione blanched and ran out of that room.

"Maybe you should close the library to everyone but the five of us?" Harry suggested and Sirius nodded.

"Good idea, pup. There was some talk about purging all the Dark books from my library. As if that would help against Dark magic practitioners. I'll do that right away."

Said and done. Not even Dumbledore would be able to enter now.


Letter to Grobhook and Time With Sirius

Afterwards, Harry, who felt quite exhausted by now, told them he would take a nap and went to his room. But once there, he wrote a note to Grobhook before he forgot about it.

Honoured Account Manager Grobhook,

I am happy to report that the next Horcrux has met its timely end. So, there are only two left now.
I will get the one in Hogwarts soon, but I have a question: Would Dumbledore know if I cast the killing curse in his school? I learned that the Head of the Black family would have known in a Black family home. Maybe it would be better if I sent it to you via the mailing box.
Apropos Black family. Tomorrow, Sirius Black will come to your backdoor under my invisibility cloak and request healing. I strong-armed him into it. I am sure you can help him.
Could you maybe convince him to do a Ritual of Recall in September? People are throwing his stuff away left and right. And might even be stealing some things.
Today, I learned that Sirius blood-adopted me on my first birthday. I don't know if that means that I am his heir, but I thought you might want to know about it. Does something like an inheritance test exist?

Sincerely yours,
Harry Potter

Harry sent the letter via mailing box, much to Hedwig's annoyance, and decided to do as he had said he would and took a nap.

Sirius woke him an hour later and showed Harry the secret garden on the roof that only he, Remus, and now Harry could enter. It was terribly overgrown but a great place to relax, with Kreacher serving them refreshments.

"He changed so much since you arrived," Sirius said wonderingly.

"How was he before?"

"He wasn't cleaning, cooking, or doing anything but sneak around and mutter insults under his breath."

"Huh, strange. Maybe shutting up that portrait helped? Or our repairing charm?"

"Who knows? The house feels lighter now, that is true. And he was alone in this house for quite some time with only that crazy portrait for company. Maybe he had to get used to interacting with other living beings?"

"Maybe. He seems happy to clean and cook now."

"Yes, and I foresee trouble in the kitchens when he dares to 'intrude' in 'Molly's kitchen'," Sirius scowled.

"Why do they think it's their kitchen and their books? Do you think someone told them so?"

"Possibly. I think Hermione's parents didn't want her to come and she needed an incentive to do her best to convince them."

"Wow, did the Order really think you are such a pushover?"

Sirius was quiet for a while and then answered, "I kind of was, you know? I let them ride roughshod all over me."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Everything was just too much, being locked in this house. I drank quite a lot, to numb myself and to forget. Didn't work. I stopped when I heard Molly and Albus talking about you. As if my guardianship of you didn't matter, like they could decide everything without any of my input. I stopped drinking then and started lobbying for you to come to headquarters."

"Thank you! I hope the goblins can help you a bit."

"Yeah... Oh, I told the twins I didn't need them to sneak me out because I would just Apparate."

"Are you sure no one did cast additional wards on the house to prevent that?"

"Good question. No, I am not sure. One moment."

Sirius waved his wand in the familiar patterns of the detection charms Harry had used on Privet Drive and soon held the parchment-like sheet with the results in his hands.

"What the fuck! That bastard!"

"Huh?"

"There is an enchantment that is keeping me depressed and mellow in this house!"

"Wow! Can you stop it without anyone noticing?"

Sirius narrowed his eyes in thought and then jumped up, "There is a spell that does that. I'll have to look it up."

"Uh, any other enchantments?"

Sirius looked through the report and shook his head, "No. He couldn't mess with the existing wards concerning Apparition."

"Who?"

"Dumbledore."

"Woah. Keep wearing that ring! If Snape can read minds, so can he!"

"Quite right. Let's go back to the library, alight?"

An hour later, the enchantment that kept Sirius in check was put into stasis, like the ones at Privet Drive, and Sirius visibly relaxed.

They decided not to talk to anyone about this and just let it seem like Sirius had recovered from his depression.

Harry was just happy his godfather/father would get a check-up tomorrow. Who knew if Sirius had been potioned, too?

"Is Mrs Weasley still silenced?" Harry asked when they entered the roof garden again.

"Yes. I think she is waiting for Arthur or Albus. No idea. She is too stubborn for her own good."

"I just wonder what those potions she wanted to dose me with were. Any idea?"

"Some, but they are all horrible. So, I better not try to guess. I wish you could come with me tomorrow."

"We can't both leave at the same time, even if I would like to go with you much more than staying here with the … how did the elf call them?"

"The Banshee and her litter?"

Harry sniggered again, "Do Banshees even have litters of little baby-banshees?"

"Heh, I have absolutely no idea. Maybe?"

"What a strange thought."

"It really is."

Then they just basked in the sun and each other's company for a while.


Another Run-in with the Order Members

Harry and Sirius heard the doorbell ring and then some faraway commotion downstairs and Sirius commented, "sounds like someone fell over the troll's foot. Tonks must have arrived. Let's go downstairs."

On their way down, Harry asked how they could possibly have heard anything from the first floor up on the garden and was told the bell opened something like a listening window for the Head, but Sirius had no idea why Harry had heard it too.

They arrived to find Tonks and Shacklebolt casting detection charms onto the Gryffindor flag and were actually trying to dismantle the whole setup.

"Hey! Stop that, you idiots! Do you want to hear her screeching again?" Sirius called out as they were rushing down the stairs.

"But we want to know how you did it!" Tonks exclaimed.

"You could just ask, you know? What is it with you people behaving like this isn't my house? Behave like the guests you are!"

Harry saw that the flag bulged a little again and scowled.

"What do you mean? I didn't do anything wrong!" Tonks exclaimed.

Shacklebolt, on the other hand, looked much more thoughtful than annoyed now and said to no one in particular, "We kind of are treating this house like our Auror office. We call it Headquarters, but Sirius is right, we don't treat it like his home," he turned to Tonks, "What would your mum do if I came into her house and tried to figure out some of her enchantments by dismantling them? Without even greeting her. In her entryway?"

Tonks winced, "She would throw you out and tell you never to come back. Shit. I'm sorry, Sirius!"

Sirius nodded.

"So, how did you do it?" Tonks bounced right back to being her cheerful self.

"It was Harry's idea. I sewed the curtains shut, nailed them to the wall, nailed the flag over all of it, and cast a silencing charm on it."

"You better recast that one. And how did you make it look like it was flat on the wall?"

While Sirius recast the silencing spell, Harry answered, "Remus knew a charm that makes cloth hide bulges. It's for clothing actually."

"Wow. Ingenious! I can cast it again if you want."

"Sure, go ahead," Sirius said.

So the flag was put to rights, and Sirius pinned a note on it saying,

If you want to know how we silenced her, ask. Don't try dismantling it or you will get permanently banned from this house.
Sirius, Remus, and Harry

Meanwhile, Tonks looked around and asked, "Why does it look so good in here?"

"We developed an overpowered repairing charm during our time in Hogwarts and cast it around the house, and also Kreacher is cleaning now," Sirius told her.

"It looks fantastic! Now, let's go find some grub. I'm hungry."

Harry scowled at her and said, "You are doing it again."

"What?"

"Who do you think is paying for that 'grub'?"

Tonks blinked and blushed badly, "Hell, I'm sorry!"

Sirius just nodded again but Harry warned the two Aurors, "Don't be surprised when Mrs Weasley can't talk. She was screeching a lot today and it really hurts Remus's ears. She was asked repeatedly to stop until Sirius lost it and silenced her. He would have lifted the spell if she had just agreed to his demand of no screeching in his house."

"Wow. And now she's stubborn and won't consent to it?"

"Yeah. – I hate how everyone is treating Sirius. He was in Azkaban for over a decade, and no one tried to help him. You all just look down on him. Mrs Weasley even called him an irresponsible drunkard in his own house."

"It's alright, pup. The people close to me do try to help, meaning Remus and you. Come, let's go to the kitchen."

Tonks looked gutted now. It was like Harry was holding up a mirror (again) and she didn't like what she saw.

Shacklebolt patted her shoulders and then pushed her toward the kitchens that Harry and Sirius had entered already.

There they found many people trying to dispel the charm on Molly, to no avail.

Sirius grabbed the bull by its horns and called out, "Good evening, folks. I see you found my punishment for her constant screeching. If she agrees to stop doing that in this house, the silencing spell will be lifted."

A few people stepped back to consider the situation anew, like Bill and Fleur, but others rounded on Sirius full of accusations. Vance was one of them.

"End the spell!" She ordered. "You can't do that to someone in our headquarters."

"No. – Why are you all here anyway? Is there a meeting scheduled?" Sirius asked.

"No," Vance sneered, "We just came to meet for dinner and get to know The Boy Who Lived."

Harry, who was already feeling the stares again, turned around and wordlessly walked out of the room again. He just couldn't take it anymore. His younger self would have shyly endured, but he just couldn't.


Back in Harry's Room

Harry heard some commotion downstairs and felt bad for leaving Sirius to fend for himself, but it had been a long and emotional day in a hormone-ridden teenage body, so sue him! He threw himself onto his bed and just breathed for a while.

What a day. It hadn't been hard to fall back into his teenage mindset. His brain physically was that of a 15-year-old, and he had learned in his LF that it was still developing at that age. A fact that was quite helpful to him now.

But he did have to watch his every word. He had thought about telling at least Sirius but wanted to wait for the man's check-up at least. And would it be easier to juggle two groups of people? The ones in the know and the ones ignorant of his time travel? Well, Grobhook knew. But Harry could easily keep his account manager separate in his mind. At least the goblin didn't live at Grimmauld.

Speaking of Grobhook, did he write back?

Harry pulled the mailing box out of his wallet and saw it was glowing faintly.

Inside he found a letter by Grobhook,

Heir Potter,

With this letter, I confirm the appointment of Sirius Black for tomorrow August 22nd. Am I right to assume he doesn't know about your circumstances?
In preparation for this check-up, we will have a pendant ready to be enchanted like yours as soon as we have his scan results and know how he wants his possible disguise to look. We will also suggest the Ritual of Recall for September. I will prepare the contract for him to sign.
Additionally, I can report that the snake is at Malfoy Manor, and we are devising a plan to make her death look natural. If all goes well, all the Horcruxes will be destroyed by mid-September.
The rat hasn't been seen yet. But we cannot catch it before the snake is dead, anyway, for fear the Dark One leaves if Pettigrew disappears. The Horcrux is more important.
Regarding your question about the killing curse getting noticed at Hogwarts, I must confess we don't know. So, your idea to send the Horcrux via the mailing box is a good and advisable one.
The blood adoption was a surprise to me. I should have advised you to do an inheritance test the last time we met. We can do it the next time you visit Gringotts.
As you know, the audit has been completed and we are in the process of planning the retrieval of your funds and the reclaim of your properties, so we can strike quickly and with precision in September.
Your Uncle Vernon Dursley called us today and made an appointment for next week, August 29th. I will go to visit his abode under disguise as he cannot come to Diagon Alley. The Muggle-born operating our telephone noted that he was agreeable and reasonable.

Stay strong!
Grobhook – Account Manager of Potter Estate

Wow. Harry sighed. There was so much going on. He was just so incredibly grateful that Grobhook was handling so much of the load. He had no idea how he would have managed it all by himself. Just muddle through, probably.

He packed the letter and the box in his wallet and relaxed again. Unfortunately, his stomach started growling, and he tried to decide what to do about it. He just couldn't stand the idea of braving the kitchen again.

Luckily for him, there was a knock at his door, and he heard Sirius call out, "Food delivery!"

"Come in!" Harry jumped off his bed and rushed to the door, which had opened, and Sirius entered followed by levitating takeout boxes and Remus.

"Hope you don't mind me letting Moony enter?"

"Not at all! You survived!"

"I did, by the skin of my teeth. Molly is still silenced and cooking dinner for the lot. But at least Tonks and Shacklebolt are on our side now. They kept the others from ganging up on Remus and me and we decided to do a strategic retreat. And I think Bill and Fleur weren't too happy with Molly either."

Harry nodded and helped Remus lay out the food on his small coffee table, which was enlarged by Sirius who also conjured some chairs to sit on while eating.

"Hope you like Indian food, cub."

Harry nodded, "Yeah. But where did you get all of this so quickly?"

"When I arrived at the take-out restaurant there was a big hubbub because someone had cancelled a huge order for eight at the last moment and I offered to take it off their hands. So, this is a bit of a surprise dinner."

"Cool!"

The next fifteen minutes were spent eating the delicious food with only a few grunts being exchanged when someone wanted a particular box.

When they had finished, Harry and Sirius leaned back feeling incredibly stuffed, while Remus cast some stasis charms on the still half-full boxes with some lazy wand movements.

"That was so good!" Harry sighed happily.

"It really was. We must remember the place and keep the bill with all the names of those dishes. Especially that beef one," Sirius said.

"And the tandoori chicken. That was awesome," Harry agreed.

They nodded.

"At least we will not go hungry when you go back to school!"

Remus looked around the room and said, "I like what you have done to the place. The light green goes well with the gold. Do you want me to make it look a little more burnished?"

"Sure, go for it," Harry agreed. He had planned on doing the same but hadn't managed to get to it yet.

A few waves of a wand later and the room looked even better.

"Cool! Thanks. So, did you decide on anything downstairs?"

"Nope, there were just some accusations and threats flying around. Nothing much. Bill and Fleur didn't stay in the end, though. They seemed to be quite uncomfortable with the situation and Tonks really was on my side, trying to make them see reason. She stayed to keep at it, together with Shacklebolt."

"That's the other Auror, right?"

"Yeah. Sorry pup. I forgot that you don't know these people, want me to introduce you next time?"

"Nah, they will start shaking my hand and not let it go, telling me what an honour it is to meet me. Been there, done that. But Tonks and this Shacklebolt should be okay. Now that they have seen the light, so to speak."

Remus and Sirius chuckled.

"I wonder when they'll call Albus in?" Sirius mused.

"He's at a conference or a retreat in Italy somewhere, I believe. He left as soon as I told him that Harry had arrived safely at Grimmauld Place," Remus said.

"Do you know how long for?" Harry asked.

"He planned on staying until August 31st. He authorised Minerva with finding a Defence teacher, as far as I know, and she has a hard time finding someone wanting to face the curse on the post."

Harry nodded. That was right, they did have the same problem in his LF, and the Ministry had passed some educational decree and sent Umbridge, who was now working in the mines in this timeline. Which probably was quite fortunate for the students. Well, it depended on who would take her place now...

"Is that why the Hogwarts letters haven't arrived yet?"

"Yes. I told her to just send them and leave the book for Defence class off the list and just get those books separately. But she would not budge. It has always been done this way I was told."

Sirius huffed, "The letters have always gone out to the students in July too. What about that tradition?"

"More work for her?" Harry chimed in.

"Damn, pup. I think you're right," Sirius scowled. "By the way, Hermione asked where your room was. But she looked quite irritated, so I blew her off."

"Thanks. I guess I'll have to talk to her and Ron tomorrow. I have dodged them long enough."

"Do you want to repair your friendships?"

"Not really. At least not with Ron. He was on his last chance after 4th-year. – I'll tell you later. – As for Hermione... I'm unsure. She really changed. And so did I, I think."

"It happens," Remus said consolingly. "Not all schoolyard friendships survive puberty."

"Yours did. But you're right. I've seen it happen in Gryffindor House quite often."

"You will gain new friends. Just stay open to the possibility," Remus advised, and Harry nodded.

He had already decided not to keep that friendship going, but somehow his 15-year-old self was still sad. Huh, what happened to that one anyways? Were there two Harrys in this body? Or did his 15-year-old self receive something like an update? Probably the latter, he guessed, or the goblins would have warned him, right?

"You need some more couches in this room if we do this again. I need to sit down somewhere I can lean back," Sirius groaned.

"True. I'll ask Kreacher if there are any."

"Or we use the informal dining room and then go relax in the informal living room or the drawing room. They're all on the first and second floors. We will need to see if the first two need our powers in repair work, though."

Harry and Remus chuckled and nodded.

"We never ate in the kitchen anyway. It was just not done. It's house-elf territory."

"Is that why the kitchen table looked like it came from the Burrow? It's actually theirs?"

"Yes. And why the cupboards are at such a low level now, after our charm."

"Huh, I didn't really notice. You're right. So, we repaired the Weasley table, too?" Harry sniggered.

"Yes," Sirius grinned. "And I think Kreacher wants to reclaim his kitchen. He made some noises about it."

"Do Mr and Mrs Weasley plan to stay here after we leave? With 'we' I mean us Hogwarts students."

"I don't think so. I hope not."

Remus answered, "They said they'll leave on the 1st."

"Phew," Sirius exhaled. "But you'll stay, right Moony?"

"Albus made noises last month about me going to the packs and asking them to join us."

"Did they do so in the last war?" Harry asked.

"No. And their lives got even harder during peacetime with the Light side running most of the show. At least it looked like the Light was at the helm from the outside."

"Sounds like a fool's errand to me," Harry remarked. "Why should they trust the Light side?"

"That's the problem. The only thing Albus ever did was allow me to attend Hogwarts. But only me. So they think he only did that to gain the loyalty of a werewolf should he need someone to contact the packs," Remus scowled.

"Huh, and why do you think he only allowed you to come then?"

Remus remained silent. What was there to say?

"Moony, I need you here. I just regained a little of my sense of self. If I have to stay alone in this house for too long, I don't know if I won't slide back into that mindset I had been in before Harry came. Please?" Sirius had some hardcore puppy dog eyes too, Harry noted.

Remus huffed and answered, "Okay, I promise. But I will look for a job, alright?"

Sirius cheered and Harry felt relieved. Even without the enchantment on the house darkening Sirius's mood, the man shouldn't stay alone for too long.

The rest of the evening was spent with lighter topics and digesting that huge meal they had.

At some point, Kreacher came and collected the preserved food. He was told to keep it safe at all costs.


A/N: I have a question regarding PMs. I got a couple of PMs with texts like, 'I am so lonely and lost in Australia', or 'Just feel afraid and alone' and I have to confess my first thought was, 'Are they trying to get my sympathy, then have a horrible emergency, and desperately need money? Or are those really just lost souls trying to connect with someone random?'

They both had over 20-year old accounts that had none ore one story posted and the profiles had been edited recently. I just wrote back that there must be a help-hotline wherever they were, and that I'm not a therapist... The last reply was 'I'm sorry.' = Major guilty conscience on my part...

Anyway. My question is, is this a phishing scam, or do people really try to connect that way? It seems a bit far-fetched.