Sometimes Bad is Good

Chapter Three

The moment Harry stepped inside Grimmauld Place, he knew he was home. Or as close to home as he could be at the moment.

He was surprised at the change of colour scheme as soon as the door had opened before him. The hallway had been light then and had allowed him to see the dark velvet walls had taken over the once peeling wallpapered walls and smell the oil based paint. The floor had been redone as well, he noticed, but that hadn't surprised him as much. The floor had been barely salvageable, always squeaking and groaning under anyone weight other than Kreachers, and always managed to set off the portrait of aunt Walburga into one of her pure-blood supremacy rants.

The floors were now a polished black wood, which held durably and didn't groan under Harry's weight when he stepped onto it. In fact, Harry heard something he hadn't heard before when they'd visited number 12 Grimmauld Place in the past, he heard his shoes squeak on the cleanliness beneath them. But before he could marvel at the cleanliness of the floor, the large door shut behind them and darkness had shrouded them entirely. No one had left any lights on for their return, it seemed.

"Blimey!" cried Sirius gruffly, having accidentally stepped on the backing of Harry's shoe and pushed it down. "What's with all the bloody darkness?!"

Other than having Sirius step on the back of his shoe, Harry didn't mind that he was practically swimming in darkness, for he'd noticed another unusual thing about himself since the inheritance. He could see in the dark. He could still see the dark wood flooring beneath them as if the room was actually filled with light! Wicked, he thought, in awe at the sight of the room he knew was bathed in darkness, which looked like it was practically shining with light. It seems the House of Black, isn't so black anymore.

"I suspect that we have arrived a little earlier than they expected," said Remus, trying to sound pacifying to Sirius sudden anger. Harry could see him eyeing Tonks in the darkness, his hands resting on her waist to steady her stumbling steps.

"And I suspect that they assumed Head of the House since we'd gone," growled Sirius, though Harry could hear the sarcasm loud and clear in that low gruff voice.

"Calm yourself Padfoot," said Remus tiredly, as if he had to deal with Sirius acting like this all the time, "I'm sure that they have a perfectly good reason for why the light shouldn't be on. I see no point in asking someone to try and turn the light on when we can all conjure perfectly capable Lumos charms with our wands."

Never mind that I can't, thought Harry, only slightly bitter considering the situation. Even if he'd had an inheritance that claims that he's of age, he really wasn't willing to test if that meant that he could actually cast magic. He still remembered the last time he was held before court, and he definitely didn't want to leave his fate to chance if Umbridge was still on the bench.

Harry watched Sirius scowl into the darkness and comply with Remus' solution, jerking his hand so that his wand slipped out of the holster attached to his wrist. However, before anyone could spell out a Lumos, Tonks took an unmeasured step forward and stumbled harshly, her foot catching something invisible on the floor. Remus' eyes were wide with panic as Tonks stumbled out of his grip, Harry could see his arms flailing to catch any part of her.

As if they'd done this many times before, Harry jumped in to catch her before she could have a nasty fall and caught her by her forearms -which shocked her, as she couldn't feel where anyone was and having someone grab her in the darkness had scared her- and hoisted her up, double checking that her feet were flat on the floor before releasing her slightly.

Aside from a small adrenaline rush, Harry chuckled at the shocked look on her face, "How is it that even if there's nothing on the ground, you're always the one to fall?" he asked with a teasing voice, checking said floor for anything she might have tripped on. Nope, nothing.