History's Footnote

Remus and Sirius strolled up to a row of terraced houses, dressed in their best muggle clothes. As they approached, Sirius whispered something in Remus’s ear, causing all the houses to shuffle outwards, making room for a grand old house to unfold into the centre.

“Well,” said Sirius, “home sweet home.” They walked up to the steps carefully, pulling their wands out as they crossed the line that would be visible to muggles. 

One full month had passed since Voldemort had returned, and the Ministry had yet to even acknowledge it. It was two weeks since Harry would have left Hogwarts, returning to the Dursleys’ for the first time in three years. Grimmauld Place, Sirius’s childhood home, was the key to free him, but they had to make it safe first. 

“Alright mother,” said Sirius, rolling up his sleeves. “Let's see what you’ve got!”

He pushed the door open, slowly, and they ventured inside.

*

It was strange for Remus, being inside Sirius’s old home for the first time. He’d heard it described, and remembered vividly each Summer when the cockiest boy he knew would disappear, returning in September a shell of himself. The hallway was tall, but oppressive, and he felt a coldness in the stone that didn’t match the Summer air. There was clutter everywhere; weird objects in jars, silver and crystals, and suspiciously large spiders in corners. There seemed to be an endless maze of rooms with no discernible purpose; he was sure he saw one that just contained a large tapestry with the family tree on it, but Sirius pulled the door closed on that one sharply. 

“Er… kitchen first?” Remus asked. Sirius nodded down to the left, and Remus cautiously inched the door open. 

At first - silence. And then came a rumbling. He peered into the darkness, and had time to make out a couple of hairy legs before a giant spider was upon him, its eyes flashing dangerously, pincers raised.

“Stupefy!” Sirius’s voice rang out, and the spider crashed down on Remus, knocking him over. Before he could react, another one took its place. “Petrificus Totalus!” He yelled.

“How many of them are there?” Sirius cried, sending a couple of well placed curses under the kitchen table. 

“We have to find the queen!” Said Remus, shoving the spiders off of him and hoisting himself up. “Any ideas?”

Not hearing any reply, Remus glanced over at Sirius. The man’s face had no colour in it; his eyes were glued to a spot just above Remus’s head. It could only mean one thing. As Remus turned, he knew what was behind him, but he still wasn’t prepared for the size of it. 

“Oh, fuck!” Forgetting his wand, he grabbed the nearest chair and smashed it over the spider’s head. He got it right in the eyes, and it fell down, blinded. Remus followed up with several more bashes, until he was certain it was dead. 

“Arrrrgh!” He turned to watch as a sea of spiders began to swarm from every crevice - but they ran straight past him, into the hallway. Sirius, looking panicked, ran to open the door, and they streamed out onto the street.

“Erm… is it ok to let them out?” He called back. 

“Too late now, I think.” He replied, trying to sound nonchalant, as if he hadn’t just killed a queen arachnid that was the same size as him. “Without their queen they’ll return to regular size by morning, so I think it’s fine. Unless you’re a bug.”

“Alright.” He heard the door slam, which in turn set off a series of screams from the upstairs landing. They’d checked they were the only humans present when they’d entered, but somehow a female voice was hurling insults at Sirius. Abandoning the carcass, Remus ran out to see what was happening. He followed the voice to a portrait that Sirius was trying to pull off the wall.  “Disgusting, vile, werewolf scum!” It was screaming at him now. 

“Moony, meet my mother.” Sirius gave up on removing the portrait, and instead swung a thick, heavy curtain across the front of it, shutting up the screams immediately. “Old hag must have used a permanent sticking charm. Delightful.”

He took in the look on Remus’s face, and chuckled. “C’mon, let’s go to my room.”

“Is it… safe?”

“Yup, did a charm on it when I left, so that nothing could enter without my express permission. Goes for spiders as well as wizards” he grinned. “Speaking of which - Remus Lupin, you have my permission.” He swung his door open with a flourish. 

Remus didn’t sleep well that night. The whole house seethed with dark energy, and it felt impossible that they’d ever make it inhabitable. He knew Sirius felt it too, perhaps even more so than he did himself, and he could feel him withdrawing into himself. 

*

The morning carried with it a renewed determination; they repeated Sirius’s charm to prevent anything unseemly re-entering the kitchen, and lit a fire in the hearth. Molly and Arthur arrived around 11am, and between the four of them, they were able to slowly begin to reclaim the house. 

The Weasleys took the drawing room, while they moved upstairs and onto the bedrooms. Sirius took one look inside his mother’s room, and swept his wand, gathering the contents into a tight ball and placing them into a bin bag. “This room just needs to be started again.” He declared, and then, noticing that something inside the bag was crawling, incinerated the whole thing. “I’ll buy a new bed tomorrow.” 

The next three rooms got the same treatment, at the fourth, he paused, and then simply skipped it, as if he hadn’t seen it at all. Frowning, Remus went over to inspect it, and then he understood. The initials R.A.B. were carved into the door. Regulus’s room. 

They tried to write to Harry when they could, but The Order was strict with censoring information that could be dangerous in the wrong hands. Unsure what to put, Remus glanced over at Sirius’s letter, and snorted.

“You can’t be serious Pads… ‘be careful and don’t do anything rash’ - you’re the most rashful man on the planet, he’s not going to respect hearing that from you.”

“Well, what do you suggest then?” Asked Sirius, pushing him playfully.

Unable to come up with a good response, Remus let him send it.

Members of the Order began to come and go, each of them bringing different expertise that they were currently making good use of to rid the house of evil. Once they were content that the worst of the contents had been removed (nothing had yet topped the spiders, although they did find a cursed grandfather clock, several Boggarts and a single severed hand), the younger members of the Weasley clan began to move in, followed soon after by Hermione. They hadn’t yet been given clearance to bring Harry, and Remus felt his absence heavy at every mealtime. 

Molly began doling out rooms to the newcomers. “Ginny, Hermione - you’re first on the left, then it’s Fred and George, Sirius is on the right and - oh, Remus, I never asked - which room are you staying in?”

“Err…” Remus, of course, had been sleeping in Sirius’s room. But they hadn’t discussed this with anyone else. “I’m… I’m bunking up with Sirius. To make room for everyone.” He felt ashamed the moment he said it, but it was too late to change his mind.

“Right, ok” beamed Molly, apparently oblivious. “Well then, I’ll give Ron his own room, he can share with Harry when he arrives.”

It still felt funny, after all their time on the run, to be around so many other people. Sirius seemed to be taking to it well, whereas Remus needed his space. 

Feeling overwhelmed by all the people, Remus slunk off to the library to read. He took care to bring one of his own books, not trusting the contents of the Black household books not to bite, or worse.

Sirius came and found him after about an hour, and he had news. “You’ll never believe what Hermione did?”

“Mm?” Remus responded, without looking up.

“Remember that Rita Skeeter woman?”

“Of course”

“Have you noticed she’s been rather quiet recently?”

“I have, actually.” It was odd, now that he thought about it. The current climate was primed for exactly Skeeter’s brand of harmful nonsense to succeed in.

“Weeeellll, I know why” Sirius was grinning, looking about as happy as Remus had seen him since they moved into this house. He knew that in this kind of mood, asking for information would be futile. He had to seem uninterested in order for Sirius to get impatient and spit it out. It didn’t take long to work.

“She’s an animagus! A beatle! Hermione figured it out, and has been keeping her in a jar with a little lettuce!”

Remus paused, and then sat up, closing his book. “Are you for real?”

“Well, she only kept her in a jar for a few hours. But she’s threatening to tell the world if Skeeter publishes any more of her shite.”

“That is unbelievable” Remus stood up. “That is incredible.”

“I know!” Said Sirius “Hermione is a fucking genius.”

“If the Marauders had had a Hermione, we would have been unstoppable.”

“Hey, I was the Hermione - I became an Animagi aged 15 didn’t I?” Protested Sirius.

“You also once stuck your wand to your own hand for a full week…” Remus countered.

“And wasn’t I that much more prepared for any situation that came up?”

“...no.”

“Regardless, imagine what the world would be like with her as the Minister?”

Remus came up behind Sirius and snaked an arm around his waist, stooping to rest his chin on his shoulder. “Fucking amazing.”

They weren’t usually a positive pair. 

They were interrupted by Tonks sticking her head through the door. “Um… we might have a problem. Harry seems to have done some underage magic and… Fudge is trying to expel him. So yeah, you’re needed in the kitchen.”

Well, the good news had been nice while it lasted.