"The quidditch World Cup is at least not until the summer," Remus consoled Harry, as they were spending another morning cleaning Number 12 Grimmauld Place.
It was mostly just Remus, Sirius, and Harry, since Hermione was busy reading and her parents had both had enough of the infested magical townhome and wanted to give Harry more time to bond directly with his godfather and "uncle" Remus. They'd managed a beachhead, at least, making the front of the house on the main floor and the kitchen underneath clean and free of pests. A spelled tarp blocked off the central stairway from the entry hall, since there was just no other way to ensure doxies didn't re-infest areas they'd cleaned until they'd cleaned everything.
"Scourgify. I don't know," Harry complained as he racked up more mastery levels on the scouring charm as they made headway cleaning out the basement, "I think we got way ahead of the other two main quests, so who knows if I'll accidentally skip ahead on this one, too."
"I think getting into the World Cup would be great fun," Sirius said, enjoying more than he'd ever expected the simple domesticity of cleaning his house with his remaining best friend and his godson. It helped that neither of them was stopping him from destroying any hated decorations from his childhood that he came across. He even was more than able to help since he had a new wand they'd gotten from Gregorovitch's shop while they'd been out east. The old man was close enough to retirement that he didn't ask many questions.
"You're on your own for brewing polyjuice," Remus smirked. "I was never patient enough for the really complicated potions."
"Huh, yeah," Sirius nodded. "There should be a potions room down here that we could clean out. Maybe I can figure out how to make Wolfsbane Potion for you."
"That would be… great actually," Remus nodded, touched. "The last few have been a lot easier with Padfoot for company, but I'd feel much safer on the potion, too."
"I could help!" Harry suggested.
"Maybe over the summer," Sirius disagreed. "They both take longer than the week you've got left of holiday."
"And I doubt Severus would approve of you doing it in secret," Remus added.
Harry shrugged and explained, "The twins have loads of secret places around the school that they can brew. Get me the ingredients and the recipe, and I can try it out. I'm not getting much XP from the second-year potions we do in class."
"Ah, yes, this mythical ex-pee," Remus just shook his head, and Sirius chortled at the bathroom humor of the way he drew it out. Neither of them could deny the reality of the various powers Harry had demonstrated, but that he could quantify his ability to learn things and improve overall as a person into discrete numbers was the hardest to swallow without a background in roleplaying games. "But, certainly. I can go over to the Alley this week to do a components run. Nothing in the recipes is too hard to come by." He paused and admitted, "I need to go out tomorrow to talk to Dumbledore anyway."
He had their full attention, and Harry asked, "He's going to offer you the defense position?" The idea finally gelled between remembering the headmaster telling Dawlish he had a replacement in mind right after Harry had mentioned being in touch with Remus, and looking up that the werewolf's Abjurer class meant that he'd mastered defense.
"I think so," Remus nodded. "It's… I don't know if I should accept it." He put up a hand to stop Sirius' token objection and explained, "While I'd enjoy the paycheck, and the ability to be in position to help Harry, I feel like I should be out here helping hunt down Peter. And though my occlumency is solid enough that I expect that I could resist the headmaster's casual probing, I still worry about your secrets." As part of their Christmas presents, Remus and Sirius had found copies of the missing books on resisting mind reading for Harry and his friends. "And I don't exactly want to leave Sirius alone. He'd have a lot of trouble making purchases as a dog."
"Easy," Sirius told him, "tell the old man that you just got a new dog and you'd need to bring me to stay at the school. It's not the weirdest familiar anyone's had. And I'm a legitimate companion animal to keep you safe when you have your monthlies. Then we're both available to help."
"The dementors are gone, and nobody knows you can be a dog unless the rat tells them, right?" Harry added, kind of thrilled at the idea of two adults he actually trusted being available. Though he'd be sad to see Dawlish go, since he was learning a lot. But he knew before anyone that the auror wasn't sticking around for long, and there could be much worse replacements. Like anyone on par with any of the prior defense instructors. "Though if there's a jinx on the position…"
"Good point. I'll sign a contract for the rest of the year only," Remus agreed. "Maybe if we put our minds to it, we can figure out how to break the jinx, so I have the option to extend."
SOUR GRAPES
If Tom Riddle can't teach defense, no one can!
O Research methods of jinxing a teaching position
"Quest log thinks that's possible," Harry told them. "Sounds like the jinx is because Voldemort didn't get the job?"
"That was the rumor in the Order," Remus agreed.
"I think this is a good plan," Sirius nodded, but looked a little sad. "I guess we probably won't be able to finish cleaning the house until the summer, though."
"Why have you been so interested in cleaning the place up?" Remus asked him.
Sirius explained, "Well… I was kind of hoping that Harry would want to come live here, if it was safe."
"What!? Yes! Definitely!" Harry said, not having even realized not going back to the Dursleys' house for the summer was even an option.
"Yeah?" Sirius beamed, thrilled by the enthusiasm. "I know that life with your aunt hasn't been great, but you've gotten a taste of the difficulty staying with me over the last few days, if we can't clear my name."
"Are you kidding? This has been so much better! I'd stay here with you even if I was having to fight doxies and boggarts every day."
Both men shared a look. The Grangers had warned them about their suppositions about the Dursleys' treatment of Harry, but that he'd rather live in a decrepit house infested with magical pests and dark magic…
"Dumbledore could be an issue," Remus warned them. "I've been trying to visit Harry for years and he kept putting me off. He seemed to think his aunt's home was the safest place for him."
"You'll have five months to work on him," Sirius waved off, slightly manic with his excitement about the idea. "What do you think, pup? Want to come here to live with me?"
CHANGE MAIN RESIDENCE TO 12 GRIMMAULD PLACE?
"Yes!" Harry agreed to both Sirius and the system prompt.
SET 12 GRIMMAULD PLACE AS MARAUDERS GUILD HALL?
"The system says this is my main residence now. And it wants to know if this can be our guild hall?" Harry asked the men.
"Uh, sure?" Sirius agreed. "Is that like a clubhouse? I always wanted a clubhouse for the Marauders."
MARAUDERS GUILD HALL ESTABLISHED
"Oh. Wicked," Harry said, exploring the new pane that had appeared next to the Marauders on his guild interface. A three-dimensional map of the house floated above a listing of each of the rooms, and as he selected rooms, they would highlight and zoom in on the map, with information about them appearing below. "I can see all the rooms in the house in a list. Most of them have the 'filthy' condition, and little 'unknown' conditions. That's probably whatever is hiding in there. I bet that fills in when we explore the room. Yeah, the bedroom near the stairs has 'boggart' listed."
"Well that will make it a lot easier to tell when we've handled everything," Remus just shook his head at the powers of this game system.
"Huh, interesting. There's a section for the whole house," Harry narrated, still exploring the new interface.
Guildhall Features
Unplottable
Muggle-Repelling
Wards (Class 4)
Space Expansion (Level 3)
Compatible Upgrades
Potter Blood Wards
Fidelius Charm
"I didn't realize it was unplottable?" Harry said, familiar with the term from his inability to get a waypoint directly to Hogwarts.
"Doesn't do much this deep in the city," Sirius explained. "But that's why the house only really appears if you're looking for it. Not as good as a fidelius charm for preventing unwanted guests, but it's supposed to 'keep the riff-raff out' as my mother used to say."
Harry nodded, "It says that a fidelius charm would be compatible. Also Potter blood wards?" He inspected that little element for more information, since he'd never heard of such a thing.
POTTER BLOOD WARDS
Existing blood wards established by Albus Dumbledore from
Lily Potter's sacrificial magic could be relocated to this
location, if anchored to Sirius Black (cousin). Both Sirius
Black and Harry Potter would need to remain in residence
at least one month per year to maintain ward power.
"Woah," he said, then read out that information to the two men.
"Blood wards!" Remus nearly shouted. "No wonder he wouldn't let you live anywhere else. That's powerful—but borderline dark—magic. He must have attached them to your aunt, since she was Lily's closest living relative."
"But I could be the anchor?" Sirius looked confused. "Even though I'm Harry's cousin, not Lily's?"
"We are cousins?" Harry asked.
Sirius explained, "I'll show you on the tapestry once we get up to that room, but your great-grandmother Dorea is my great aunt."
Remus considered, "Clearly Dumbledore thought it would only work with Lily's blood relations, but if the game system disagrees…"
"How would we even move them, though?" Harry asked. Before Remus could admit he didn't know, a new prompt appeared:
DOES SIRIUS BLACK CONSENT TO ANCHOR POTTER BLOOD WARDS?
"Absolutely," Sirius agreed, without question, when Harry read that prompt to him.
PAY 500 XP TO TRANSFER POTTER BLOOD WARDS TO MARAUDER GUILD HALL?
"Sure," Harry shrugged. 500 XP wasn't nothing, but he'd earn it back pretty quickly.
BLOOD WARDS TRANSFERRING
Harry suddenly felt a little lightheaded, and clearly so did Sirius. Both of them carefully settled down to the floor so they wouldn't fall, as Remus stared at them in worry. But after a moment, the feeling subsided. Harry couldn't be sure, but he had a sudden sense that the building had gone from a cool but dangerous old house to becoming more of a home to him than anywhere but Hogwarts. "I think it worked!" he told the adults.
Guildhall Features
Unplottable
Muggle-Repelling
Wards (Class 4)
Space Expansion (Level 3)
Potter Blood Wards
Compatible Upgrades
Fidelius Charm
He inspected the feature to see if anything had changed, and it explained:
POTTER BLOOD WARDS
Originally established by Albus Dumbledore from
Lily Potter's sacrificial magic, these wards are
anchored to Sirius Black (cousin). Individuals or
magics hostile to Harry Potter cannot enter the
location. Both Sirius Black and Harry Potter must
remain in residence at least one month per year
to maintain ward power. Wards expire in 1676 days.
"Wicked," Harry said. He summarized that for the men but then asked, "I wonder why that many days?"
Remus used a charm to write numbers in the air as he did the math longhand, and said, "I think that must be your seventeenth birthday. Magical adulthood. It makes sense that the wards would break at the same time the Trace would."
Sirius was grinning like a loon, though, and finally gasped out, "This must mean that Dumbledore can't send Harry back to that place! He was keeping him there for the blood wards. And now they're here! Welcome home, pup!"