12 Grimmauld Place
Now that autumn was closing in on winter, Hogwarts found itself blanketed in snow. The Great Hall, common room, and most classrooms were kept warm, but the corridors were chilling to the bone. Harry had taken to charming the first year Slytherins’ robes to be self-heating before leaving the common room. It was especially useful in potions, that took place in the freezing dungeons. The Gryffindors all seemed to huddle close to the cauldron fires for warmth, but Professor Snape didn’t appear too inclined to warn them of the fire hazard.
History of Magic was another class that stayed frighteningly cold. Being dead, Professor Binns didn’t take notice of the change in temperature at all, and continued droning on in his boring voice as usual, despite the violent shivering that went on among the students.
Soon enough, Christmas was due to arrive, and Harry found himself nervous about going to visit Aunt Wally. Luckily, Draco and his family would be staying at her home for the holidays as well. At least he wouldn’t be alone.
Still, he was apprehensive about meeting Sirius Black for the first time. He was glad the man was free. He also appreciated the intermittent updates he got from Aunt Wally about how he was doing. So far he seemed to be doing well, but still hated his mother, so there was only so much she could glean from him. At least it didn’t seem like they were fighting according to her letters. Avoidance might not have been the best solution, but given the Black tempers that they were known for, it was likely the only option to keep their home from being reduced to rubble.
After the train ride to London, Harry and Draco met Narcissa at King’s Cross Station. From there, it was only a 20-minute walk to get to where they needed to be. Harry was surprised at how ordinary and muggle like the neighborhood was. He never would have guessed a regular, though posh looking, townhouse to be the home of Aunt Wally. It was far too normal, but he hadn’t been inside yet. So he didn’t let his guard down.
12 Grimmauld Place was far nicer than Harry had expected it to be. Although he supposed that was due to the quartet of house elves that Narcissa had insisted come to prepare the home before their arrival. The stifling dark colors, high ceilings, and narrow halls still had the place looking haunted. However, it was easy to see that it was a grand and luxurious home without the several inches of cobwebs and dust that Narcissa had warned of.
Harry followed the Malfoys into the sitting room, which he was surprised to see had been lavishly adorned in brightly colored and sparkling Yule decorations. They looked very much like Christmas decorations, but with a far more natural and less plastic and manufactured theme.
There was a pentagram made of evergreen branches hanging on the wall above the sofa. It was garnished with holly, pinecones, and crystals, and the whole thing seemed to glow with an inner golden light.
Nestled in a corner, there was a large tree, bare except for the candles charmed to float among the branches. It was topped with a large fairy that closely resembled a snowflake dancing around to the sound of music trailing through the halls.
Beside the tree was a long table filled with translucent ornaments of different shapes and sizes. Some were perfectly clear, while others were stained various shades of reds, greens, purples, and blues. Behind them was an array of jars filled with various herbs, stones, crystals, ribbons, and pretty much anything else Harry could think of. Beside those were small scrolls, paintbrushes, and quills. Harry couldn’t fathom what all of those things had meant to be used for.
The whole thing looked so familiar yet foreign to Harry, and he found himself impatient to learn more about Yule. It was a shame that Dumbledore had changed the Hogwarts tradition to celebrate Christmas like the muggles. Although, according to Draco, lots of wizards celebrated Christmas instead of Yule. For the most part, it was only the ancient families that refused to incorporate any of the Christian holidays into their yearly celebrations.
The Malfoys’ house elf, Dobby, led Harry and Draco up the stairs to rooms that would be theirs. Harry was given a room on the top floor that was decked out with silver, black, and green from ceiling to floorboard. It was a bit extravagant for his tastes, but he quickly grew rather fond of it. Draco’s room was on a lower level and a bit plainer, but it was the same room he’d used any other time he stayed at the townhouse, so he quite preferred it.
After settling in and playing chess for a bit, it was time for dinner. Draco was creaming Harry like usual, anyways, so Harry didn’t mind.
The formal dining room was enormous. It was much larger than the Malfoys’. So large, in fact, that it seemed much too big to fit into the townhouse. Aunt Wally explained that it had been the meeting place of the entire House of Black. It had once been a very large family. The majority of the House was either dead and gone or married into another family. Once Sirius was gone, there would be no House of Black any longer.
Harry had wanted to ask why she was so certain Sirius wasn’t having any children, but Narcissa warned him off it with an awkward smile and a brisk shake of the head.
At the head of the table sat Arcturus Black. He was an ancient looking man. That said a lot considering wizards often lived into their triple digits. Arcturus was much younger than that, but Aunt Wally had explained in a letter to Harry that he was ill. Despite being a fighter and a tough old man, he wasn’t long for the world.
His silver eyes were milky and listless. He wasn’t blind, more just bored than anything else. He glanced at the few people entering the room at the time, but returned his blank gaze ahead at nothing.
“Lord Black,” Harry addressed the man, bowing before him. “I would like to express my gratitude for you so graciously welcoming me into your family home, and allowing me to join you at your table.”
Arcturus Black regarded Harry curiously before nodding to him. “Please, young man,” he replied in a quiet, raspy voice. “You are welcome at my table anytime. You are technically family, after all. Feel free to call me Uncle Arty.”
Harry smiled, remembering that he was legally a ward of the House of Black. The thought soothed him as he recalled that meant he didn’t have to go back to the Dursleys’ unless he chose. And he most certainly did not choose. “Thank you, Uncle Arty.”
Arcturus smiled back at him softly, slowly moving an arm to gesture for him to have a seat. When Harry stepped away, he saw Aunt Wally smiling proudly at him. He went to greet her as well, and was enveloped in a warm hug. Despite his previous apprehensions, he really did quite like the woman. She was far better to him than he was used to. A part of him couldn’t help but wonder how Sirius could hate her so much. Then again, she hadn’t said anything racist just yet, so there was still time for a reminder.
Dinner was a nice—if quiet—affair, and Harry found himself in a pleasant mood for the rest of the night.
A few hours after dinner, Harry couldn’t help but be curious as to where Sirius had been. Aunt Wally had started their meal off by apologizing for his absence, but she never said where he was. Draco had been wondering the same, and actually asked Narcissa. She told him that he was hiding away in her Uncle Orion’s study on the 4th floor.
Harry was nervous, but with a solid amount of cajoling on Draco’s part, he finally trekked up the stairs to search for the man.
Most of the doors were open, exposing a number of empty rooms. That meant the remaining room, that was shut, had to be where Sirius was hiding. Harry knocked on the door lightly, then waited for a response.
There was only silence.
He knocked again, a little harder this time, but was only met by more silence.
“Um, Mr. Black,” Harry called. “Are you in there?” Harry could hear the sound of footsteps on the other side of the door, but no one came to open it, or reply.
“That’s just rude!” Draco squawked indignantly. He slammed his fist on the door a few times, banging on it loudly. “Mr. Black! You should open this door! Harry wants to meet you! It’s the least you can do! He is the whole reason that you are free from Azkaban, after all!”
Still silence.
“Let’s just go, Draco,” Harry sighed, giving up. “Clearly, he just wants to be left alone.”
“Left alone, my foot!” Draco reached over and swung the door open impatiently. To his surprise, he was greeted by a giant black dog. It was easily the size of a small bear, with long, scraggly black fur. His mouth was pulled back in a snarl and it was growling loud enough to echo in the hallway.
The dog gave two deep, vicious barks and that was enough. They were loud enough to vibrate the bones in both boys’ rib cages and leave a ringing in their ears. Without further hesitation, Draco pulled the door shut as quickly as he could and they both took off running down the stairs, barely containing howls of fear.
They made it back to Draco's floor, and hid away in his room for a while.
That was fine. Sirius didn’t want to be talked to tonight. That’s alright. No big deal.
Things were much less exciting the next morning. It was the day of Yule, and the boys were up early to attend a formal family breakfast. Harry got ready, then donned his nicest black robes. The sleeves were slitted from just below the shoulders, exposing his bare arms when he moved them to walk or reach for something. The robes were fitted snugly to his torso, with deep green accents and embroidery over the chest. They were looser below his waist, where they trailed down to just a few inches above the floor.
He spent a significant amount of time fussing with his hair. One of the spells he’d picked up from Aunt Wally’s books was a hair neatening spell. He’d tried it a few times before, but all to varying degrees of little success. This time, he combined a few of the techniques from the most recent book she’d given him and was actually able to get his hair to look mildly acceptable. It wasn’t neat, by any terms, but it at least looked artfully tousled instead of like a general mess.
Once he was ready, he finally left his room, but was greeted by an odd sight.
“Please, Master Black!” Dobby frantically begged the door on the opposite side of the hallway. “Mistress Black is not being very happy if you is staying upstairs for breakfast and festivities!”
There was no response, and Dobby began wringing his hands together and shuffling his feet nervously.
“Dobby will not leave Master Black alone until he is downstairs!” the house elf threatened. There was still no response and he grew even more anxious. “Mistress Malfoy has commanded it!” After another moment of silence, Dobby rapped his bony knuckles on the door again.
“Dobby?” Harry asked, approaching the elf. “What are you doing?”
“Oh Master Potter!” Dobby fell to Harry’s feet, sobbing. “Master Black will not come out of his rooms! Mistress Walburga is wanting him to be attending the Yule breakfast, but Master Black is not cooperating. Dobby is not listening to Mistress Malfoy’s orders! Dobby is a bad elf!” Through his tears, Dobby lifted his head off the floor and slammed it into the carpet repeatedly.
“No!” Harry yelled, trying to stop him, but the elf was surprisingly strong for such a small, skinny thing. “Stop it, Dobby! That’s not necessary!”
Draco exited his room just then. He glanced up the stairwell and chuckled as he caught sight of Harry struggling with the elf.
“Don’t laugh!” Harry shouted. “Come help me!”
Draco scoffed and rolled his eyes. “And you call yourself a pureblood?” he teased, scaling the steps. Harry glared at him when he reached the final landing and he chuckled again before pulling himself together. In his sternest and most impatient voice, he snapped, “Dobby!” The elf froze immediately. “Stop this, at once!”
Dobby scrambled to his feet and bowed at Draco. “Yes, Young Master Malfoy. Dobby is very sorry, Young Master Malfoy.”
Draco threw Harry a smirk, which he stuck his tongue out at. “You’ll get it one day, Harry. I promise,” Draco taunted. “Now, what’s going on?”
“Dobby’s trying to get Sirius Black to come out of his room, but he won’t listen,” Harry explained. “He’s not responding at all.” Dobby sniffed loudly at that.
“Is he even in there?” Draco asked, skeptically. They’d been told he had been staying at Grimmauld Place ever since he was released on Halloween, but aside from Aunt Wally’s complaints in her letters, they had no real proof that he was there at all. For all they knew, Sirius could have been dead.
The first time Harry and Draco tried to speak to him, they were attacked by a monstrous black dog. The dog could have eaten him.
“Have you tried just opening the door?” Harry asked Dobby. The elf whinged even louder.
“Dobby cannot be barging into Master Black’s bedroom without permission! That is very rude!” he shouted. “Oh no! Oh no! Dobby is not allowed! Mistress Narcissa is not the lady of Grimmauld Place. She cannot order Dobby to be breaking boundaries here! If Master Black wants Dobby in the hallway, then Dobby is being in the hallway!”
Draco shrugged, seeing that the elf had no choice. He approached the door, pulling his wand out of his inner robes pocket and pointed it at the doorknob. “Alohomora.”
The door clicked unlocked and cracked itself a bit as the bolt unlatched. Dobby gasped and threw his arms over his head protectively, cowering away. Draco gestured Harry toward the door as if to suggest “after you.”
The last time they did this, they were attacked, so Harry couldn’t exactly blame him. Even though he was kind of throwing Harry under the bus if they had trouble again.
Harry hesitated for a moment, taking a deep breath as he prepared to enter the room. Carefully, he pushed the door back, until it gently clicked against the wall. Draco stepped up beside him in the doorway as they peered cautiously into the darkened and silent room.
Harry cleared his throat. “Mr. Black?” he called. There was no response. “It’s… uh. It’s Harry. Harry Potter.”
There was a sudden rustling in the left corner of the room and both boys jumped as they snapped their heads over to find the source. Draco hadn’t realized it, but he’d grabbed Harry’s hand and was squeezing it painfully.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” Harry continued, speaking to the dark shape in the corner. “But Aunt Wally wants you to come down to breakfast. And uh… and I wanted to meet you.”
There was a low wheezing that drifted across the room. It was raspy and animalistic. 3 short huffs that cut off abruptly. Draco grabbed Harry’s sleeve with his other hand and the boys pressed closer together.
“I suppose,” came a hoarse throaty voice, barely above a whisper. “I owe it to you at least, considering you’re the whole reason that I’m free, after all.” It echoed the words that Draco said last night.
The dark shape in the corner rose as the man stood and took a few careful steps toward the boys.
Draco gulped loudly and Harry stepped in front of him protectively. Previously, Harry had been more nervous to meet the man than scared of him. With Draco suddenly so riled up, it was hard not to remember that this man had been convicted of mass murder and literally no one had bothered to question it. That spoke volumes as to the amount of power he had, and exactly how dangerous he had the potential to be. That’s without even remembering that he was a Trueblood. With that thought in his mind, Harry found himself just this side of terrified.
Regardless, he stood his ground, and waited for the wizard to approach.
Sirius stepped into the light from the hall and Draco and Harry found themselves face to face with the man they’d spent the past few months obsessing over with Hermione. Harry had to admit, he didn’t look a thing like his latest mug shot.
It was clearly still the same man, but he was no longer deathly thin. The glint in his silver eyes looked less manic and more intrigued. What was a longer than waist length mane of dull matted locks, was now barely past shoulder length, neatly trimmed and parted in the middle to curl gently out of his eyes.
He didn’t look filthy and sleep deprived, although the circles under his eyes were still noticeable. The scraggly beard had been shaved to a thick stubble and trimmed into neat, sharp edges that showed off his jawline.
He was taller than the mug shot made it seem, so he was unexpectedly towering over both boys. The shabby prison garb had been exchanged for clean cut dress robes in teal and deep aqua with silver accents. For having been a mere 2 months out of Azkaban, he looked as if he was doing rather well. Harry might even go as far as to admit he was quite attractive.
Not that it mattered.
“You look just like your father,” Sirius stated, blankly. He was staring at Harry with an expression just a few degrees away from completely flat. “Except for your eyes. You have your mum’s eyes.”
“You were my father’s best friend?” Harry asked quietly, almost too nervous to ask.
Sirius nodded. “You know, I’m also actually your Godfather.”
This time, Harry nodded. “I know. That’s why I had to get you out of there.” He didn’t need to explain where “there” was. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t get you out any sooner.”
“No.” Sirius frowned. “That’s not your responsibility. I’m just grateful you got me out of there at all. Although, I hardly deserve it.”
“But, you’re innocent,” Draco finally spoke up, looking up at the man with barely concealed wonder.
“Not completely,” he replied somberly.
“But you weren’t the one who betrayed my parents. And you didn’t kill all of those muggles, either. Peter Pettigrew did all of that.”
“That doesn’t make me innocent…” Sirius dropped his eyes to the floor, as if he couldn’t even look Harry in the eye anymore. Harry opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the voice of Narcissa drifting up the hall.
“Boys,” she called. She wasn’t yelling, but she could be heard all the way up on the top floor anyways because of the way the sound traveled. “It’s time to come down for breakfast. We don’t want to keep Aunt Wally waiting.”
“You will come down with us, won’t you?” Harry asked, instead.
Sirius scoffed. “As much as I would love to irritate my mother more, I suppose I can.” On the other side of the hallway, Dobby sighed loudly in relief.
Draco chuckled at the way Sirius’ expression betrayed the tiniest bit of petulance through the blank haze. “You really don’t like your mother, do you?”
“Of course not. I hate the vile woman.” He stated it, as if it were a simple fact. The sky is blue. Grass is green. Sirius Black hates his mother. “In my defense,” he continued, “she doesn’t exactly like me, either.”
“We know,” Harry and Draco said in unison as they moved out of the doorway and led the way downstairs. They’d heard all about Aunt Wally’s disdain for her eldest son.
“You’re going to have to explain all of this to me, by the way,” Sirius said as he followed them.
“All of what?” Harry asked.
Sirius gestured to the whole house around them. “All of this. How you wound up here for Christmas, of all places. Why you’re calling my mother AuntWally. Why you seem to be attached at the hip to the little Malfoy.”
At the last sentence, the 2 boys leapt apart. Draco had long let go of Harry’s sleeve and slackened his grip on his hand. But neither boy seemed to realize that they were still pressed very close together. They had even stayed that way as they turned around to descend the stairs.
When they jumped away, they heard that low, grating, animalistic noise from before behind them. Apparently, it had been Sirius chuckling.
They continued the last steps to the ground floor landing in silence until they met with Narcissa.
“There you are,” she smiled at the children. She looked up to see Sirius behind them and gasped quietly. “Oh my,” she whispered. Sirius gave her a blank look and she cleared her throat. “I must be honest, dear cousin. I hadn’t expected you would actually come downstairs.”
“Well, Harry is capable of being very persuasive,” he explained. “Not to mention, that persistent house elf of yours.”
Narcissa smirked playfully at him. “I see you met my son, Draco.”
“Yes, actually I met him yesterday evening.” Draco frowned momentarily. He didn’t remember that. “The boys barged into my father’s study yesterday while I was attempting to avoid any visitors.” Narcissa shot Draco a disapproving look, but he didn’t notice, looking contemplatively at Sirius. “I’m afraid I gave them quite the scare.”
“You mean!” Draco gasped as realization hit him. “You were the-”
Sirius shushed him with a finger over his lips. He nodded at the younger boy with a barely there smile.
Narcissa gave her cousin a curious look, but he extended his arm for her to take and wordlessly lead her to the dining room.