Chapter Nineteen: Midnight Departures

Hogwarts, for the most part, was asleep. There were, in fact, only four living souls up and about at this hour: Harry, Sirius, Filch, and Mrs. Norris. Filch and Mrs. Norris were doing their jobs: patrolling the corridors, making sure doors were locked and windows were closed, keeping an eye out for any errant students, and generally attempting to keep the dangerous castle safe. However, neither Filch nor Mrs. Norris possessed the skills necessary to catch two miscreants rushing through the corridors armed with an invisibility cloak and an incredibly advanced map of the castle.

Harry moved quickly under the invisibility cloak, Sirius beside him, their steps synchronised as they navigated the familiar corridors. The quiet was heavy; no creaking floors, no portrait whispers, no drifting Peeves. Just cold stone and their carefully timed footsteps.

They easily avoided Filch by utilising the map, and Mrs. Norris never even caught their scent.

The entrance doors creaked softly as they pushed them open. Sirius, still lean but recovering, muttered, "Never thought I'd sneak out of Hogwarts again."

Harry grinned. "First time for everything. Again."

They crossed the frostbitten lawn quickly, boots crunching softly through the snow. At the Whomping Willow, Harry raised his wand and levitated a stick into the knot and the willow froze. Taking off the invisibility cloak and stowing it safely in his satchel, they descended without a word.

~OvO~

The Shrieking Shack was silent, dust-choked and cold. Their breath fogged the air.

Sirius looked around with a faint smile. "Didn't think I'd ever miss this place, but I don't suppose I'll be back for a while."

"Just wait until we get to the next one," Harry said, extending a hand. "Ready?"

Sirius took it.

CRACK.

They appeared on the doorstep of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. The ancient wards crackled faintly around them, sensing unfamiliar presences but allowing them through by virtue of their blood. Harry steadied Sirius, opened the door, then raised his wand.

The old house was exactly as he remembered; dim, sour-smelling, heavy with silence.

The hallway groaned under their steps. As they passed the long-faded tapestry, Sirius said, "Kreacher."

The house-elf appeared with a sharp pop, hunched and scowling.

"Kreacher does not-"

"Enough." Harry stepped forward. "I am Harry Potter, son of Lily and James, and I know what Regulus did."

Kreacher froze mid-sneer.

"I know about the locket. I know about the cave. I know he died trying to destroy Voldemort's Horcrux."

The name didn't even make Kreacher flinch.

Harry continued, softer now. "You were with him. You brought back the locket. You tried to destroy it. I know what you did."

Kreacher stared at him, eyes wide.

"I trust you, Kreacher." Harry said. "But I need your help. I can finish what Regulus started, I can destroy the locket and your final task from Regulus will be complete."

The old elf dropped his gaze. Harry waited with baited breath, hoping with all his might.

"Kreacher will help."

Harry's face broke into a wide, genuine smile.

Sirius gawked. "How the hell did you-?"

"Time," Harry said. "And respect. That's all it takes."

~OvO~

After Harry locked the door to the study that contained the Horcrux so securely that even Dumbledore would struggle to get in, they found a bedroom on the second floor that was mostly intact: dusty, but structurally sound. Sirius opened a window to let in fresh air while Harry cleared the clutter with a few well-placed charms. Kreacher returned with spare bedding and a bottle of firewhisky.

"I could get used to this," Sirius muttered, stretching as he sat on the now-clean bed. "Hey, I never asked, but how come you're using magic all willy-nilly? Doesn't the Ministry know?"

"To be honest, I didn't even think about it when I first came back. I apparated to Diagon Alley and used at least a dozen spells in and around London on that first day. I figure most of them would have been hidden by the ambient magic around the Alley, but that first apparition should have meant alarm bells ringing in the Ministry. I'm guessing that since it clearly didn't, I don't have the trace active on me."

"But how?"

"Well, I've got two educated guesses, but I don't actually know. First guess is that technically, since I never bought a wand from Ollivander, the Ministry doesn't have me registered at all. I'll have to fix that eventually if that's the case. Second guess is that they do have me registered, but my soul is actually closer to twenty-two than eleven so the Trace is already broken."

"Do you know how to find out?"

"Nope, but I figure that's a problem for the summer."

Sirius lay back on his new bed, contemplating. Harry conjured a small ritual table and laid out a silver bowl and a small knife.

Sirius frowned. "This is for the Fidelius?"

Harry nodded. "It's complicated. I've only seen it done once, after the war, before everything had settled down. We hid the Shrieking Shack, believe it or not."

"Why?"

"Hermione, Ron, and I used it to lay low for a couple of weeks after Voldemort's death. The Ministry was in complete and utter chaos and there was nothing I could do to help them, so we left them to it and hid until it calmed down. It wasn't the smartest move in hindsight."

"Right. What do I need to do?"

"Trust me."

~OvO~

The ritual began with blood.

Sirius pricked his thumb with the knife and let three drops fall into a shallow silver bowl in the centre of the table.

"This is because I'm the Secret Keeper right?"

"Yes."

"Sorry, I've never done this before. When your parents did it I was out of the country on a diplomatic mission to France. Not like any good came of it."

"Well, this is our chance to make sure things go our way this time around Sirius."

Then came the anchors.

Harry and Kreacher scoured the house for them: a brick from the front porch, a bit of soil from the back garden, a splinter from the attic rafters, and a rusted nail pulled from the floorboards of the drawing room. One from each cardinal point of the house.

Each was placed into the bowl.

Then came the runes.

Harry knelt and drew a perfect circle in chalk, adding glyphs in precise order: ten for concealment, ten for stability, and ten for truth. He traced the runes with his wand, charging them with magic as they pulsed faintly in silver.

Once the first thirty runes were in place, he had to add a further forty-seven evenly spaced throughout the property. Each of these forty-seven runes were for protection.

Back in his bedroom, Sirius stood in the centre of the chalk circle.

Harry picked up the silver bowl and held it between him and his godfather.

"Do you know the secret?" He asked, voice low.

Sirius nodded. "Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place is the hiding place of Sirius Black."

"Do you accept the burden of keeping it secret?"

"I do."

"Are you ready to seal this secret with your soul?"

"I am."

Harry raised the bowl high above his head.

"D-lakh d-barneshutakh ata d-asir hatha sutra."

Light exploded from the bowl, pouring into the runes, sweeping outward and upward like a dome. Sirius staggered but stayed upright as the magic locked into place around him. The glow vanished into the walls.

Then, stillness.

It was done.

Sirius Black was now the sole Secret Keeper of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

He looked around, blinking.

"I... felt that."

Harry had his eyes screwed shut, swaying slightly as if in the wind.

"Sirius, tell me the secret, I feel like I'm gonna be sick."

"Oh! Sorry Harry, Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place is the hiding place of Sirius Black."

Harry exhaled slowly. "Phew, thanks Sirius, that felt really weird." He grinned. "You just became one of the safest secrets in the country."

Sirius chuckled. "Let's hope it lasts. What was that incantation? I've never heard anything like it before."

"Aramaic, or at least that's what Hermione thought. She's the one who cast it last time and did a load of research on it beforehand. It's a bloody old spell."

~OvO~

They spent another hour making sure the wards were solid. On top of the Fidelius they reinforced the pre-existing ones, and added some Black family wards that essentially kept all but Sirius and Harry from entering a two hundred metre radius of the house. Any who tried would completely forget why they were there and return to their point of origin. Sirius found the communication mirrors and handed one to Harry as he was preparing to leave.

"Thanks, I'll check in every few days," Harry said. "Only me."

"I'll be fine," Sirius said. "Kreacher and I are practically best mates now."

Kreacher narrowed his eyes but said nothing.

Harry stepped through the front door onto the front step. "Time for me to go."

Sirius clapped him on the shoulder. "Thanks, Harry. For all of it. I'll see you at Easter."

"Rest up. We've got a war to manipulate."

CRACK.

Harry reappeared in the Shrieking Shack.

From there, it was a quiet sprint through the tunnel, past the now-thawed Willow, and up the snowy grounds.

The castle was dark.

He slipped into the Tower unseen, crept into his dorm, and collapsed into bed.

His eyes closed before his head hit the pillow.

And for once, he slept without dreams.

Thank you so much everyone for your reviews and for following or favouriting this story, it really means a lot. Thank you in particular to the lovely person who messaged me about a couple of typos from earlier chapters, which I have now fixed.

Please do leave a review if you're enjoying it or if you have any feedback. I am struggling to find the right pacing: am I spending too much time on small scenes and exposition? Is the story moving too slowly? Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading!

(And for anyone wondering, I am still waiting for my MRI appointment!)