Forever and Always Yours, SS [Book 3]

Chapter 117

Amilia stood in front of the brick house labeled number four on Privet Drive; it was dark save for a couple of streetlights. She sighed and pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders. This was a last resort. Minerva had admonished her and threatened to curse her if she continued to darken her doorway. Amilia did not blame her; it was a rather odd request, wanting something that belonged to the boy that the most feared wizard in the world wanted to kill.

Amilia had even tried to go to Grimauld Place; she made it inside and then was greeted by a dust form of Dumbledore, and the House-elf came careening around the corner brandishing a cast iron pan. He was kinder to her than Minerva was, probably because of her blood status, but he refused to give up anything belonging to his master. Amilia understood, but she was running out of time.

A car drove by, its lights glaring back at her off the front window. Amilia waited to see if it was going to stop, but it did not, and the engine sputtered somewhere down the road. She looked around one more time before approaching the front door. She pointed her wand at the locks, "Alohomora."

The locks clicked, and she turned the handle, quickly letting herself into the house. It was cold inside, her breath floating out in front of her just like it did outside. She pulled her cloak even tighter to fight off the shivers. The air was stale inside as if the home had not been opened in months. A thin layer of dust had settled on every surface that it could. The first floor provided Amilia with nothing; it had been cleared out. She could see where pictures hung on the wall and where the furniture sat, but there was nothing.

Amilia walked up the stairs, halfway up a single step squeaked under her weight; how odd. She shook it off and continued; there were four doorways. One led to a bathroom, empty like the downstairs; the next was a large bedroom. It reminded her of the one at Spinner's End but newer and just as empty.

The second bedroom was smaller and faced the front lawn. It smelled of putrid body odor. "Oh gross." Amilia assumed this was Potters cousins room. She recalled overhearing him say he hated walking by the room because of the smell.

The final door was a smaller room; a few Hogwarts memorabilia hung on the walls. Amilia grinned; it looked like her room when she was a student...before Voldemort.

"What did you leave behind other than this?" Amilia ran a finger along the Gryffindor pennant. She flicked her wand, the drawers opened, and so did the cabinet. All of them were empty.

Amilia groaned, "son of a bitch." She could not return empty-handed. Severus depended on her. She ran her hands through her hair, turning to gaze out the window when she saw bars. "What?" She stared at it, confused; no one would put bars on a child's window unless something terrible happened.

She stormed out of the room, "There has to be something I missed!" The step squeaked beneath her foot again.

She went down a couple of steps, wrenched at the carpet, and used her wand to break the board, revealing an open space below. She was expecting forgotten valuables, not a large opening.

Amilia jumped the rest of the steps and walked into the small hallway, spying on the door that she had previously walked past. She opened the small lock, and the door opened with a soft whine.

Inside, Amilia saw a small bed, some old clothes on a shelf, and little toy figurines. "What the hell?"

She picked up the figurine and examined its small features. A toy long forgotten and ravaged by insects. The clothes were in a similar manner, much too large for the size of the bed and yet well worn.

"Why is there a bed?" She put the clothes in her bag and stared at the bed again before grabbing the pillow. "This should be enough." She stood there, staring at the bed, confused, for some time before leaving.