Unity & Perseverance

Exploring Grimmauld Place

A/N:  This chapter mentions a character from the Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery mobile game. If you haven't played the game, check out the certain character mentioned (Tulip Karasu)'s wiki so you know who I'm referring to.

You'll notice that this chapter and the previous one are quite similar to the chapters in the Order of the Phoenix where Harry arrives at Grimmauld Place, and that's why I ommited a bit of information out (such as the weapon they talked about and the order's activities)
Enjoy! :)

Harry was a tad confused. "Your mother?"

"Yes, my dear old mum," said Sirius, a bit sarcastically. "We cannot seem to remove the painting - we think she put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of the canvas. Let's go down into the kitchen now, quick, before dinner gets cold."

"What is this place? Why is a picture of your mum here?" Amelia asked, still a bit bewildered as she tried to peek up at the other portraits in the hall.

"This was my parent's house, but I'm one of the few Black's left, so it is mine now. I offered it to Dumbledore for Headquarters - about the only useful thing I've actually been able to do." Sirius replied. Harry noticed as well that Sirius was another person not particularly happy with the Headmaster of Hogwarts either.

The kitchen of this place was only a little bit nicer than the hallway - it was mainly lit by the fireplace at the other end of the room and though it had a high ceiling, didn't feel entirely homely. There was a long rectangular table taking up half the room, and beside the kitchen units was an entrance to a pantry.

He sat down at the table, with his twin sister sitting next to him and Dorea two seats down. Sirius sat at the table too. What Harry had mistaken to be a pile of dirty clothes started snoring and speaking.

"Mundungus, wake up." Sirius said, kicking the man's legs under the table, where he promptly sprang to life.

"W-what? 'Oo' said that? What's 'appened?" The man Mundungus's head started moving side to side around the room. Amelia and Dorea started chuckling. Harry felt himself smiling too. "The meeting finished almost ten minutes ago, Dung." Sirius said, not looking that pleased. "Harry and Amelia are here."

"Blimey, so they are." Mundungus looked between the two of them. "Blinkin' nora, it's almost canny how much they look like-!" After a loudly cleared throat from Sirius, Mundungus went all faux proper. "Mundungus Fletcher, Miss Potter. I've met yer brother." Amelia reluctantly took Mundungus's grubby hand and shook it with the most minimum of efforts. Harry smirked, but then the man turned towards him. "I owe ye an apology, Mr Potter," After being told off for smoking a pipe in the kitchen, Mundungus explained that the night Harry and Dudley were attacked by the dementors, Mundungus was "sorry" to not have been watching him as he "had a business opportunity". Harry pretended to look sympathetic and brushed his apology away.

When dinner was finally served (a tasty stew made by Mrs Weasley), Harry instantly kicked into interrogation mode, as he politely asked what on earth the Order of the Phoenix was all about. That one question had almost descended the table into chaos - Sirius wanted to inform both him and Amelia, whilst Mrs Weasley argued that they were too young and that they shouldn't be told more than what they need to know. It had gotten quite bitter - Mrs Weasley had mentioned James Potter and how Sirius had a hard time pretending that Harry and Amelia weren't their father. Mrs Weasley was overruled though, and soon enough the whole table was talking about what Voldemort was up to.

"So you're trying to stop him from gaining support and followers?" Amelia guessed.

"That's our aim, yes." Lupin replied.