The Hidden House

The hour after Narcissa and Sirius parted ways passed in a blur. Sirius rushed directly to the Potters and pulled Lily and James out of a deep sleep. They were so startled that it took him an extra ten minutes to convince them that neither they nor he had been dreaming. Once they were reasonably aware of what was going on, Sirius explained what his cousin had been going through over the past several years. 

His grief for Narcissa must have shown on his face because his friends did not ask questions. They remembered how devastated Sirius had been when he had failed to talk her out of the marriage. James had long suspected that Sirius had been mourning her as much as he had mourned his brother’s death. It was rare for Sirius to talk about his childhood, as most of it was tarnished by his family’s abuse. Still, when he did have fond memories, they usually included Regulus and Narcissa. Andromeda was so much older than him that they rarely interacted. Bellatrix had been a wild card even before she joined Voldemort. Narcissa had looked after him and indulged his silliness. 

He had watched Sirius’s face fall when he received the invitation to her wedding. He had known as well as Sirius that any marriage his parents approved of would spell pain for her. She had never been as dark as the rest of the Black family, but she had never been bold enough to rebel like Sirius had. With a sister like Bellatrix, the fight had long been beaten out of her. It was those memories that propelled James and Lily into action. The spare room was cleaned, the cabinets emptied, and a crib installed before Sirius made his way back to his flat to wait for her. 

When he reappeared with a frazzled Narcissa and a crying Draco twenty minutes later, Lily had firewhiskey, a drought of dreamless sleep, and cookies waiting for them. She didn’t say a word about Narcissa’s appearance, instead opting to coo over Draco. It had taken longer than they had planned, but Narcissa had insisted that she was safe, and that was the end of that. 

Lily’s gentle kindness set Narcissa at ease enough to hand over her son. Lily held him as she showed Narcissa to their room and laid him gently in the temporary crib she had transfigured. At her encouragement, Narcissa cast silencing charms around the room. Lily showed her how to make them one way so that she could hear if Draco woke up without worrying about waking him herself. 

Once he was sure she was well taken care of, Sirius went to bed, and James left to check in on Harry. Narcissa wasn’t sure why she felt so safe in this home filled with strangers, but she remembered Lily. So when Lily wrapped her arms around her on the couch, Narcissa melted into her and finally, thankfully, relaxed. James, Sirius, and Remus found the pair there the following day, Narcissa’s head resting on Lily’s chest, sleeping peacefully. 

Boxing day was all business. Everyone was up to speed in a few minutes, and they were all determined. The number one priority was keeping Narcissa safe. Remus cast a protean charm on a necklace and then duplicated one for each. If Narcissa held it in her hand and whispered, “help,” all of their necklaces would burn, and they would immediately come to her aid. James added a charm to inform them of her location when she signaled so they wouldn’t waste time looking for her. 

Lily got to work orchestrating distractions for the boys so that Narcissa wouldn’t have to worry about Draco and they wouldn’t prevent any rescue attempts. James got to work reaching out to his friends within the department of magical law enforcement. He would have preferred to have Arthur’s help, but Narcissa had been adamant that only essential persons should know what was happening, and James respected her wishes. 

While James was out, Remus and Sirius got to work expanding the wards to look after Narcissa and Draco while excluding Lucius. Remus had had the brilliant idea of using blood magic to seal the extra wards in case the fidelius charm was compromised somehow. He had had the idea from participating in the ritual that separated Lily, James, and Harry’s life force. 

He had taken a drop of blood from Sirius, James, Lily, and himself and bound the wards to their signature. Narcissa and Draco, being blood relatives of Sirius, would be included, but Lucius would not. He had told Narcissa about the spell before she left that morning, and the relief on her face had been evident. From what Sirius told him, Remus suspected Narcissa was very familiar with blood magic. 

Sirius had helped Remus with the more complex aspects of the spell that were not written clearly in the book that he had found and then had moved on to his role of preparing the house for two more people. He would’ve taken Narcissa into his flat, but it was clear that she felt safer in a more warded home where Lucius would be even less likely to look for her. Beyond that, after what Lucius had done to her, Narcissa seemed more comfortable around Lily than she did around men. 

He quickly cleaned out any remnants of himself from the room he had occupied and turned it into a room fit for Narcissa. His former room was directly across the hall from Lily and James, and the spare room was next door to Harry. He figured that would be more comfortable for Narcissa than sharing a room with a one-year-old. Once the room was thoroughly cleaned and prepared for a new inhabitant, he found Lily to give her a break from the boys and give her a chance to make the space more comfortable in ways he might not notice. 

While he was playing duck, duck, goose with Draco and Harry, as much as you can play a game with kids that young, Lily added several wards that Sirius had not considered. Specific household spells that would dust for her daily, impervious floors, increased locking spells, and one that simply left a pleasant scent in the air would help Narcissa feel more at home. 

Lily knew that Sirius was trying to keep them busy as a distraction. His hand kept straying to the necklace as if he were waiting for it to go off. She had seen how he had pleaded with Narcissa at her wedding to run, leave him, and not trust their family. He had always considered it a personal failure that she had been wrapped up in the war like that. Now that he knew what she had been enduring, Lily knew that his guilt would only worsen. Still, she knew better than to acknowledge it. It was a minor miracle that Sirius had agreed to spend this much time with them. 

The distraction of caring for someone else prevented him from feeling the weight of his own pain. It would be a long journey out for all of them. James and Lily had often heard Remus’s nightmares when he forgot to place silencing charms, and she knew that he had heard theirs. They were all fragile in the aftermath of a war, their friend’s betrayal, and so many others’ deaths. Lily was still terrified to look for Mary, the girl who had been a sister to her through Hogwarts. Molly had told her that Mary was alive, but Lily wasn’t ready to face her. To face what they had survived and those who hadn’t. 

She had been trying to hide from her grief by pretending it didn’t exist. Taking Harry out on walks, play dates with Molly’s kids, and game nights with James and Remus, were all fleeting. The moment she stopped, it all came rushing back. She wondered for a moment if Sirius knew that they were all hurting too. Would it help him feel less alone or make him even more afraid of leaning on them if he did? She hated that she didn’t know where they all stood anymore. The one thing she was sure of was that she would not let any more of them go. 

***

Narcissa didn’t return for three days. The air in the Potter residence only grew tenser with each passing day. Sirius had been sleeping on the couch, not wanting to be unavailable to help if she arrived. Draco had grown increasingly concerned with the lack of his mother and his favorite house elf Dobby, calling their names every time they attempted to put him down. The rest of the adults had taken up Sirius’s habit of clutching their necklaces whenever they had a free hand. They were all terrified that they had all somehow missed a signal and Narcissa was somewhere suffering at the hands of her husband. 

It was nearly midnight on the third day when she arrived with a boom. Sirius had been ready to barge into her house without a signal until he saw the triumphant look on her face. She stood in the doorway like a conqueror, pride shining from her eyes despite the fresh bruising that mottled her complexion. In one hand, she carried a small bag that almost certainly had an undetectable extension charm on it. In the other, she held the hand of a smartly dressed house elf who was proudly carrying another bag. 

“You…are you okay?” Sirius finally choked out. 

“I am going to burn him to ash,” Narcissa responded. 

“Damn right you are! What did you find? I assume this is Dobby, the house elf Draco misses so much?” The wicked grin stretching across Lily’s face would’ve frightened Sirius if he hadn’t known who it was directed toward. 

“I found his journal, as well as several cursed objects holding his magical signature,” she gestured toward the bag Dobby was holding as she spoke. “I also included my memory of him begging for the dark mark. Will it be enough?” 

“More than enough,” James said, summoning the bag she had indicated. The grin on his face rivaled his wife’s. “I will bring this to my contact right now. No point in dawdling, eh?” Sirius thought he heard James call Narcissa a badass under his breath as he made his way out the door to deliver the evidence. 

“Let’s get you healed and moved in then!” Remus said, seeing the tension on Sirius’s face as he studied the bruising. Narcissa nodded and made her way to the couch while Remus fetched his medical supplies. He had the superior first aid kit by far. 

“What happened? You were gone for so long.” Sirius said finally. 

“Lucius came back an hour after I did. It was unusual for him to return that quickly, and I had to maintain my composure. I couldn’t let him find out what I was doing. Dobby helped me hide the fact that Draco was not home, and I granted him clothes as a reward. Sweet thing refused to leave me and told me about Lucius’s private study. When Lucius left this morning, Dobby packed everything we would need, and I gathered all the necessary evidence.” The smile on Narcissa’s face was fading as the adrenaline wore off, and Lily could tell she would want to be with her son tonight.

“Dobby is not leaving the mistress and young master!” The tiny elf cried. “Dobby is protecting them!” 

“Quite right, Dobby,” Remus said with a smile. “My name is Remus. This is Sirius. The other two you saw are James and Lily Potter, and sleeping upstairs is your young master and Harry.”

“H-Harry Potter?” Dobby said with a small voice. “Harry Potter, who saved us all? Harry Potter, who defeated the Dark Lord?” Remus could see the glee rising in Dobby’s eyes as he processed the information. 

“That’s right, and you can meet him tomorrow. Tonight I think we should get everyone settled.” Sirius finally spoke. He was still so rattled by what had happened he didn’t think that he would be sleeping a wink. Still, he knew that the others needed to. 

“Dobby, you can stay here with me if you would like, or you can go anywhere you please. You are no longer bound to the house of Malfoy.” Narcissa said, not unkindly. 

“I is helping the young master! The young master and Harry Potter!” 

“Very well, we will ask Mrs. Potter where you can sleep tonight.” Sirius saw a slight smile stretch across his cousin’s face for the first time in years. That was all it took for him to know they had made the right decision. 

When Lily returned to show Narcissa and Dobby where they would each be staying that night, Sirius slipped away wordlessly. Before he left, he cast an extension charm to add one more room to the home for the little house elf to sleep in. After growing up with Kreacher spreading endless hate, he never thought he would be kind to a house elf. Still, the love for Draco and Narcissa was evident on Dobby’s face. His cousin deserved to have someone looking out for her like that. 

When he finally returned to his flat for the first time in days, Sirius felt a sense of peace wash over him. A peace that he wasn’t sure he had felt since his time at Hogwarts. He didn’t know what the future would hold for him, but he knew he had helped his cousin. If he could help her, if he could save her, maybe he too was worth saving. He had failed his brother, but he wouldn’t fail his cousin. 

***

Sirius woke up the next morning to someone banging on his door. He hadn’t yet lost his reflexes from the war, so he was on his feet checking his wards in an instant. Panic filled his chest as he took in his surroundings, checking to ensure that nobody had made it inside. None of his wards had gone off, and there was no trace of a magical signature, so he knew it couldn’t be Lucius outside seeking revenge. 

He hesitantly threw a shirt on as he made his way to the door and looked through the peephole. Staring back at him was Grace, her face a mixture of concern and anger. He had forgotten entirely about the woman who had taken him in. He was supposed to have been working for the last several days, but he hadn’t even left a word of notice. She must be furious. He found that the panic in his chest did not go away as he realized the position he was in, so he steeled himself and cautiously opened the door. 

“Hiya Grace, what can I do for you?” A sheepish grin spread across his face as he looked at the small woman. 

“Where the hell have you been, Sirius?” 

“Oh, you know-”

“I’ll not be hearing any of your bullshit, young man. I want the truth. I may have only met you a month ago, but I know you’re not the type to break your word. Tell me what happened.” One look at her was all it took for him to realize that she was telling the truth, so he decided to do the same. 

“Right, I guess you are entitled to that. It is a bit of a long story. Would you like to come in for some tea?” Sirius opened the door wider for her to enter before busying himself by attempting to figure out how to heat the water the muggle way. 

“No, don’t trouble yourself. Just tell me what is going on.” 

So he did. It was an abridged version, of course. He couldn’t exactly tell her about the wizarding war, the magically hidden house, or why he kept looking at his fireplace with concern. He could, however, explain what kind of man Lucius was and why his cousin was so concerned. Without meaning to, Sirius found himself telling Grace everything. He shared his fear for her and the worry that the police wouldn’t arrest her husband in time to protect her. He wept as he talked about his attempt to prevent the wedding from happening at all. 

At some point, Grace had gotten up and started fixing tea for the both of them. It did not surprise her that a 22-year-old man had no idea how to do it on his own. She had a son, after all. Sirius accepted the tea gratefully and realized as he looked down into the cup that he was crying. Grace took the cup back from him as he started to shake from the sobs and pulled him into her arms instead. 

Sirius didn’t know how long it had been since he had been comforted by a mother figure like this. He wasn’t sure he ever had. As he collapsed into her and let the emotion flow out, Sirius realized that not all the tears were formed by sadness. Some of them were joy. Joy for his cousin and her new chance at life, and joy for himself and his own fresh start. As he cleaned himself up and started drinking the tea Grace had made, Sirius finally felt hope blooming in his chest.