Harry potter and the breeding darkness

Chapter 12

When the dizziness of side-along apparition had abated and Harry's vision had cleared, he found himself standing with the large group of Order members on a muggle street in what he knew was still London since he already knew the address of the Order's headquarters, thanks to Sirius's 'gift' on his birthday. Harry blinked once, still clearing his head and looked around at the group expectantly. Kingsley then stepped forward, dug into the pockets of his robes, and handed Harry a piece of parchment.

"Read and memorize that then focus on the words in your mind. Then look straight ahead at the space between numbers eleven and thirteen," he said, motioning forward to the two old muggle townhouses before him.

Harry actually already saw Number 12 there but he certainly wasn't going to tell them that. He looked down at the piece of parchment and read it over. It looked almost identical to the scrap of parchment that Sirius had managed to smuggle to him earlier in the summer. Once that was done, he looked forward and Number 12 was still there. He pretended to be surprised by what he assumed would normally be the shocking appearance of a house that wasn't there then handed the paper back to Kingsley. It wasn't like he needed it. He still had the one from his birthday back at the manor with Tom.

Kingsley promptly burned the parchment and the group set forward towards the Order's headquarters. They climbed the steps to the porch then Lupin pushed the front door open, leading the way inside. The moment he had set foot inside, Harry felt the overwhelming presence of Dark magic inside the house. It was literally absorbed into the walls. Like it had seeped in over a long period of time, leaving it so deeply ingrained that it could never fully be removed. The old house seemed to pulse with darkness and Harry caught himself sighing slightly at the comfortable feeling the place gave him. Lupin looked back at him and gave him a curious look for a moment but seemed to push forward, ignoring it a moment later. Harry looked back and noticed that as each of the others entered through the door they seemed to shudder with discomfort.

The front door opened into a long hallway, lit by a large chandelier and dirty gas lamps. The wallpaper was peeling and faded, the carpet had been worn thin. Harry walked past an umbrella stand, which appeared to either be made to look like a troll's leg or actually was one. He raised a single eyebrow at it but kept going. A moment later, he heard a small yelp and turned to find the young female Auror, Nymphadora Tonks he thought her name was, had tripped over the umbrella stand. Strangely enough, when she did that, her hair changed to hot pink. It was also at that moment that the most ear piercing screams of rage began to pour from a portrait hanging on the wall just ahead of where he was standing.

Curtains flew open and behind them was the portrait of an elderly witch who looked absolutely insane was screaming violently. She was cursing and spitting and yelling things about filthy blood traitors and mudbloods, infesting her noble home. Harry grimaced and sneered at the obnoxious noise but found himself amused at what she was actually ranting about. If he were some old Dark witch and knew that his home had been taken residence by a bunch of Light wizards, he would be pissed too.

Lupin ran forward and began to pull the curtain shut over the portrait again but that only muffled her angry rant of insults.

"OH SHUT UP, YOU MAD OLD COW!" roared a familiar voice from the doorway on the opposite side of the hall from the portrait.

Harry spun to the side, staring in shock at the figure he now saw standing there.

"Sirius?" Harry exclaimed. "Wha... what are you doing here?"

Sirius blinked at Harry for a moment before a small sheepish smile graced his face. He looked a lot better than he had two months ago but he still had that haunted look to his sunken eyes. "I heard my pup was going to be staying here for the last few days of his holiday and I thought I'd drop by and say hello." Sirius said with a shrug.