Harry Potter: Dragon Whisperer

What Were We Doing Again?

Disclaimer – I solemnly swear that JKR owns everything Harry Potter. Whether or not I am up to no good with her characters is for you to decide.

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Harry Potter: Dragon Whisperer

Chapter 26 – What Were We Doing Again?

9:05am

Thursday, 25 August 1995

12 Grimmauld Place, London, England

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"Honey! We're home!" Sirius called as he walked through the door.

'Honey', as it turned out, was an ancient, grouchy house elf who didn't seem too pleased with the term of endearment.

"Master has returned," Kreacher stated, his tone implying that he would have been happy if Sirius had never returned in his lifetime.

"Hope you've been keeping the house clean, Kreacher," Sirius said. "We've got guests."

"Kreacher sees," and again, the house elf implied that Sirius was imposing on Kreacher's house and time.

"Come on in, you lot," Sirius waved to Harry, Remus and Charlie. "The old house isn't much but it'll keep us out of the Ministry's sight until we're ready."

"Are you sure that you want to stay here, Charlie?" Remus asked. "You could always go home to the Burrow?"

"No thanks," Charlie replied quickly. "We've got no idea how long we're going to be in England, and I don't think that I could handle my mother for more than a day or so."

Harry had only ever met Mrs Weasley the once and once was enough. She'd tried to hug him and he didn't even know her! If she was like that with strangers, he shuddered to think what she'd be like with her own children.

"Come on up to the second level, there should be some rooms clean enough for us to use, despite Kreacher's lack of talent in that area," Sirius said.

"Kreacher does as his Mistress commands," the elf defended himself.

"Your Mistress is dead," Sirius barked. "Your job is to do as I command!"

"Yes, Master," Kreacher grudgingly replied.

"What's the plan for the day?" Harry asked as they began trudging up the staircase.

"We get ourselves settled and then we go find where this new Reserve is, see if we can have a look for ourselves before we make our presence known officially," Charlie said.

The first floor looked as dark as the entry. The walls were grimy and almost black from age. The wooden floors were no better and if there was a pattern on the hall runners, Harry could no longer see it. The covers over the gas lights were tarnished with age, seeming to only grudgingly share its light with the four of them.

The bedrooms on the second floor were barely usable and Harry scrunched his nose at the first one they investigated. The curtains rustled on their own and there was a thick layer of dust covering everything. Sirius took one look at it, grunted in disgust and promptly slammed the door shut, throwing up an impervious charm on it to keep whatever was inside the room where it was.

In the end, they managed to find three that, with some judicious use of charms, were usable enough to be going on with. Sirius declared that his old bedroom was good enough for him; Harry was given the honour of getting to use Sirius' younger brother's old room (which, surprisingly to Harry, was in immaculate condition); and Remus and Charlie were given the last one, both content with the twin beds on either side of the room.