At 6:30 that evening Freddie Apparated onto a dark and unfamiliar Muggle street. The sun was sinking low in the sky, casting dark shadows from the buildings that lined the road. She could see a number of street lamps along the sidewalk but none of them appeared to be working. She'd left herself with plenty of time just in case she did get lost, but a street sign at the corner where she had appeared told her she was indeed on Grimmauld Place.
And I didn't splinch myself, she thought smugly.
Keeping her Occlumency in place had become second nature to her around anyone other than Snape, but Freddie focused her magic to keep it even stronger as she walked down the sidewalk. She was on high alert, keeping one hand on her wand in her pocket, eyes peeled for any sign of another presence on the street. But she didn't see any Order members, Aurors, or Death Eaters. There weren't even any Muggles out and about tonight, though the houses were clearly inhabited. She could hear the sounds of a television through an open window as she walked past a house marked with a number 8. A couple in number 10 were arguing loudly and she heard a door slam. She passed number 11 and stopped short when she saw the next number was 13.
'The house should appear if you think about what was written on the parchment',she remembered Snape saying.
I guess it's kinda like the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts, she thought to herself and she pictured the parchment in her mind. Okay. Number 12 Grimmauld Place, Number 12 Grimmauld Place, Number-
Suddenly a tattered wooden door appeared between the walls of houses 11 and 13. Walls appeared next, then windows, stretching outwards and seemingly pushing the other two houses out of the way. The Muggles in either house were oblivious that an entire new structure had just appeared, separating them from their neighbors.
Freddie stood on the sidewalk a minute, staring at the dilapidated structure before her. The windows were so thick with grime she couldn't see through them and the outside walls of the house were just as dirty, but there was something about the place that gave Freddie the feeling that she'd been there before. Impossible, she told herself. What would I have been doing in a place like this?
She shook off the feeling of deja vu and climbed the stone steps to the mysterious house. The wooden door was painted black, but there were scratches in it and the paint was chipping away. A silver doorknocker in the shape of a twisted serpent hung at eye level and again Freddie got the feeling she'd seen it before.
It's like something that would be at Gray Manor, she thought as she drew her wand. Maybe I've seen something similar there and that's why it's familiar. What was the spell Severus told me to use here? ...Aperta ianua.
She tapped her wand and the door as she thought of the words and immediately there was a series of loud clicks like a number of locks opening and the sound of a chain being undone. The door creaked open and she stepped into a dark foyer, gripping her wand tightly ahead of her. The first thing that hit her was the sickly smell of mildew and dust. A number of gas-powered lights lined the hallway, casting a flickering light over a dirty threadbare carpet, faded wallpaper that was peeling in places, and a serpent-themed chandelier that hung from the ceiling, covered in dust and cobwebs. Portraits hung along the wall that were so old they had turned black and it was impossible to tell what they had once depicted.
This looks more like a Death Eater meeting place than an Order one, she thought uneasily as she made her way down the hall, still keeping her wand at the ready.
Farther down the corridor there was a pair of large moth-eaten curtains made of velvet. She wondered what was behind them, maybe a door? But then she noticed the staircase ahead and she thought she heard voices coming from the upper level of the strange house. At the base of a staircase there was an umbrella stand that looked to be made from a troll's leg. Along the wall heading upstairs were a number of shrunken heads mounted in a row – house elf heads. She knew that, whoever's house this was or had been, these were all the house elves that had served the family in centuries past. They had a similar display at Gray Manor with all the ancestors of her uncle's current house elf Anubis. She had been disturbed by them when she first went to live with her aunt and uncle, but Anubis was really proud of his ancestors and would tell her their names and stories he knew about each one, until eventually it didn't bother her anymore.
"Freddie!" said a loud voice from the top of the stairs. She barely had time to register that it was Tonks who had greeted her when there was an unearthly wail from behind her. Freddie spun around, on the verge of firing a Stunning Spell, but was confused when she saw the curtains she passed a moment ago were now open. They revealed a life-sized portrait of an old woman wearing a black cap. Her eyes were rolling and she was drooling like a mad woman, her mouth open in an earsplitting shriek.
"FILTH!" the portrait howled. "BLOOD-TRAITORS! MUGGLE-LOVING SCUM! FILTHY HALF-BLOOD FREAKS! HOW DARE YOU DEFILE THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS!"
"What the hell is that?" Freddie asked loudly as Tonks hurried down the stairs.
"I'll explain later!" Tonks bellowed back as the woman in the portrait continued her tirade. "Help me with this!"
Tonks had grabbed one side of the velvet curtains and was struggling to pull it over the portrait. Freddie stowed her wand and rushed to grab the other side.
"UNHAND ME YOU MUTANT FREAKS! MUDBLOODS!" the portrait spat wildly. It was a struggle to move the curtains even an inch, they seemed to weigh a ton. Whatever magic kept them open was strong. The woman kept shrieking and after the third time of being called a Mudblood, Freddie was starting to get annoyed.
"I'm a pureblood you crazy old witch!" she finally shouted back. The woman stopped for a split-second, then immediately started screaming again.
"BLOOD-TRAITOR! DISGRACE!" the portrait wailed as another woman came bustling down the stairs and grabbed the curtain next to Tonks. "BURN FOREVER IN A PIT OF HELLFI-"
With every ounce of her strength Freddie pulled at the curtain and finally between the three of them they were able to get it closed again. As soon as the curtains were closed the woman in the portrait was silent. Freddie leaned against the wall, panting from exertion.
"I've told you Tonks, you've got to be quiet in the hallway," hissed the plump, red-headed witch who had joined them.
"Sorry Molly," Tonks whispered back sheepishly and gestured to Freddie. "This is Freddie Gray, she works at St Mungo's. Freddie, this is Molly Weasley."
"Nice to meet you, dear," Mrs Weasley said kindly, still keeping her voice low. "Let's go back upstairs so we don't wake that up again."
"Nice to meet you, too," Freddie said quietly, still breathing hard as she followed the two of them up the stairs. "What was that – or I guess, who was that?"
"Old Mrs Black," Tonks said, climbing the staircase. "This was her house before she died, leaving only her old house-elf to care for the place. Clearly he hasn't done a very good job." Tonks pulled her hand away from the railing of the stairs in disgust at the layer of grime and wiped her hand on her robes. Freddie heard a skittering sound from inside the wall and she wondered if there were rats.
"Why haven't you taken the portrait down?" Freddie asked as they reached the landing.
"We've tried. Looks like there's a Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of it," Tonks said, shaking her head. "And we've had enough work to do as it is."
"The house has been abandoned for years," Mrs Weasley said. "We've been cleaning day and night just trying to get it suitable for human life. We started with the kitchen downstairs since that's where the meeting will be held. You can wait down there if you like."
"Or you can hang with us," Tonks piped up. "And help us tackle this second bedroom. I'm an absolute menace when it comes to household cleaning spells."
"I guess I can help," Freddie said with a shrug. "I am a bit early after all."
"You may regret that," Tonks muttered to her as Mrs Weasley opened a serpent-shaped doorknob to reveal the most disgusting bedroom Freddie had ever seen. Several inches of dust covered the floor and walls to where she couldn't tell what was underneath. Mildewed curtains with holes all in them hung over a cracked window. There was a four poster bed but the mattress smelled like mold and there was a huge, dark stain in the middle that looked like blood.
"Bloody hell," Freddie said under her breath as she looked around.
"Arthur's bringing the kids in a few days, just as soon as we get the bedrooms cleaned up enough for them to stay in," Mrs Weasley said. "Then they can help clean the rest of the house while school's out. I just want to get the rooms as clean as I can before they get here."
"Well then," Freddie said, mentally preparing herself for the task ahead. "Let's get started."