Draco
Draco was shoved forward as they all piled into the narrow entryway. It had been a surprise seeing the house emerge from seemingly out of nowhere. Ever since his mother learned that they would be staying here, which was about five minutes ago, she hadn’t stopped jabbering on and on about it. Her excitement to see the home she often visited when she was younger oozed off of her.
He looked around the dank house, it was dark and gloomy, he had no idea who lived in a place like this. If the noise his mother made was any indication, it hadn’t always looked so bleak.
“Whoever Grimmauld place belongs to now is not in good shape.” Narcissa mumbled to herself and ran a hand down one of the wallpapered walls.
“What do you mean by that?” Luna asked.
“Fully bonded wizard houses often reflect the owner’s mental and physical state.” Pansy offered.
“Given the fact that the house was passed to Sirius I expected it to deteriorate because of his imprisonment.” Narcissa said softly, “I had hoped that with the new Master of the house would have changed that.”
“Oh,” Luna said, she tapped her chin as if she was pondering something, “That is very interesting, I would love to hear more on wizard houses. I have no idea how I hadn’t learned of that before now. It must be very ancient magic.” She turned around and led them deeper into the house, it was in the same condition as the entryway.
Draco patted his pockets making sure all of his things had made it with him through the door. All of their belongings had been shrunken and now rested in their pockets. It would have been a pain to haul regular sized luggage around the narrow corridors. They had only taken the essentials when they ran which wasn’t very much but it still would have been horrendous trying to juggle it all.
“That’s the dining room, and up there is the parlor.” Luna said, pointing to two rooms to their left, “and straight back down that hall is where you can get to the basement. There are doors in the parlor that lead to the back garden.”
Draco looked around the black and dark green walls of Grimmauld place, the name fit, the sight truly was grim. A slow irregular thudding noise sounded on the stairs. He walked over and looked up the many flights. Someone was moving heavily up towards the upper floors, he could see their hand gripping the banister tightly.
“Who is that?” Blaise asked right next to Draco, making him jump slightly. The man was unnaturally silent and gave Draco several aneurysms per day.
“Oh that’s-“ Luna began, she was interrupted by a loud cracking noise.
They all turned around to see an ancient house elf by the front door. His skin resembled a crushed up piece of parchment, his tea towel was dull but not dirty. The most interesting thing about him was the big locket that hung around his neck.
“Mister Kreacher!” Luna said, excitedly, “just in time, let me introduce you to everybody.” Luna listed off their names, when she got to Draco and Narcissa Kreacher’s eyes went wide.
“Miss Black has returned to Grimmauld place,” Kreacher said happily, or Draco thought it was happy, he couldn’t quite tell based on the elf’s scrunched face and scratchy voice. “What an excellent surprise, and she has brought a young Mister Black with her!”
“Actually, it’s Malfoy now, Kreacher.” Narcissa collapsed her hands in front of her. “I would like it if you didn’t call me a Black.”
“Kreacher will do as Ms Malfoy says,” he grumbled, “though he doesn’t understand why she doesn’t like The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.”
“Surely you know why Kreacher,” Luna said, “they have done some horrible things, but Narcissa and Draco left that life behind.”
“Yes,” Kreacher grumbled, “but there were many great members of the Black family that were not so wretched. Like Master Regulus.” The house elf’s voice turned soft.
“Yes,” Narcissa said, “Regulus and Sirius were what the family should have been.”
“Kreacher supposes Master Sirius could be added into the good group.” Kreacher walked through their group to the base of the stairs, “if the guests would follow Kreacher he will give a tour and show you the rooms.”
The group followed Kreacher up the first few steps until Narcissa stopped.
“Kreacher,” she said, “Where is Aunt Walburga’s portrait, and the house elf heads?” She looked around them, trying to find what wasn’t there.
“Master was not pleased with those, Mistress Walburga is up in the attic with the other portraits discussing things all the days long. Master told Kreacher to give the house elves their proper rights to help them move to the next life.” Kreacher moved to continue walking up the stairs. Narcissa was quiet the rest of the way with a thoughtful expression on her face.
The six of them made it to the first floor landing. It was much like the first floor, dark and dusty. Like his mother had said, the new Master of the house was in a dire state.
“Kreacher,” Draco asked, “where is your Master?”
“Master has retired to his quarters to rest.” Kreacher said.
“But he has barely woken up,” Luna said behind them. She had been so quiet Draco had nearly forgotten she was with them.
“Doing such magic to allow the new guests to come into Grimmauld place is not the greatest for him.” Kreacher pointed to a bedroom to their right, “This here is Ms Malfoy’s room, the bathroom is just down the hall and at the end is the drawing room.” He walked to another set of stairs and led them up.
“Is your Master really weak or something?” Pansy asked. Kreacher stopped dead in his tracks.
“No!” He said angrily, they all took a step back, “Master is most powerful, you will not say such things again!”
“Sorry,” Pansy said sarcastically while raising her hands, “just the fact that the house is falling and doing some simple magic points to the fact that he must not be very powerful.” As if proving her point, the house groaned. That didn’t stop Blaise from elbowing her in the side though.
“Pansy, that is very rude.” Narcissa said while glancing around them, “he has opened his home to us, you mustn't say things like that.” Pansy ducked her head and rubbed the back of her neck. Though they were all grown, a mother’s criticism was still respected.
Kreacher huffed and continued up the stairs. Draco wondered what made this ‘Master’ so powerful. And the fact that Kreacher had been on board with removing Walburga’s portrait and the house elf heads was interesting. Based on his mother’s reaction to the new developments made it seem like it was out of character for the house elf.
Given the fact that no other members of the ‘The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black’, what a mouthful, were in ownership of Grimmauld place made the elf’s behavior even more interesting.
Draco was sure if anyone in his family had inherited Grimmauld Place his mother would have heard of it. Usually house elves served their families with an undying passion and a great sense of duty, which Kreacher still did, given his use of the obnoxiously long name. House elves often did not listen to outsiders, especially an elf as old as Kreacher.
When they made it to the second floor landing, they all piled up and waited for Kreacher to tell them what was on this floor. The elf pointed to two doors on the right.
“The bedrooms for Miss Pansy and Mister Blaise.” He moved his finger down towards the end of the hall, “the bath is down there, across is the study and in the back is the library.” The elf turned and continued up even more stairs.
Draco decided that this house was not a place he could see himself staying in forever. For one, it had too many stairs. And secondly, it was dark and the tour was horrible. He would have to wander the house for himself after he settled, the elf didn’t even open any doors. They received the same excellent tour on the third floor.
“This is Mister Draco’s room.” The elf pointed to the first door on the right. “The bathroom for this room is on the floor below, the kitchen and all that is in the basement. Kreacher has been told to take any of the guests' requests. If they are acceptable.”
“What’s on the rest of this floor?” Draco asked, He looked to a door at the end of the hall, a sliver of light was shining underneath it. All of the other rooms had been dark.
“Master’s quarters,” Kreacher turned and started walking towards the stairs.
“What’s up there?” Pansy walked to the base of another set of stairs and placed her foot on the first step; she was immediately thrown backwards as if she had run into a wall.
Kreacher chuckled to himself, “Per Master’s rules, no one is allowed.” Blaise pulled Pansy to her feet, she shoved him off and blew her dark hair out of her face. “Kreacher will leave you to get settled, call him for requests and such.” The house elf snapped his fingers and disappeared.
“Well that was fun!” Luna clapped her hands, “now go and settle.” She shooed them down the stairs, all except Draco.
Draco looked up the stairs to the fourth floor. He would have to ask his mother what was up there, but he was more interested in who this ‘Master’ was and why Luna and Kreacher were avoiding saying his name. He turned to go into his bedroom but he bumped into Luna who was standing right behind him.
Before he could say anything she grabbed his wrist and pulled him into his bedroom. She shut the door behind them.
Draco looked around the room. It wasn’t as big as his in the manor but that was okay, it was still plenty large. A four poster bed was against the back wall. Along the right wall there were two big windows looking out into the back garden, they were surrounded by bookshelves. Across from the windows was a big fireplace with a settee in front of it. On either side of the door there was a dresser and a small desk. Thankfully, the room was devoid of any grime or dust.
Luna stepped in front of him. “There are a few things you need to know.” She said.
“Yes there are,” he replied, “I expect you will tell me who this friend of yours is, and why his house is barely hanging on by a thread. And with it, his sanity.” He folded his arms, “you said we would be safe here, so why do I feel like you have a second agenda?”
The naive and floaty headed girl he once knew was still there but she was sharper and more clever than ever. He was starting to understand why she was placed in Ravenclaw instead of Hufflepuff.
“Yes, you are right.” She led him to the settee and sat down next to him. “I knew if I told you who it was you most likely would have never come.” She had her eyes in her lap.
“My mothers and friends' safety comes before anything else.” Draco stated, “just tell me who it is.”
“Harry Potter.”