The Importance of Intent: After the Credits

The Family Stone - Part 1

Daphne found it oddly surreal to be skulking about under Harry's invisibility cloak in the streets of muggle London but his pragmatism had made sense. If there were any fanatical Death Eaters remaining it would make sense for them to be hanging around the headquarters of Dumbledore's resistance group...hoping to pick off an unsuspecting enemy. It was exactly the type of cowardly act Voldemort's followers would stoop to. For all of their pureblood dogma from the stories she had heard they were absolutely devoid of honor.

Daphne had apparated them to King's Cross and from there they had enjoyed a leisurely stroll to the Black residence before donning the cloak once they were a block away. The walk in sunny muggle London had only lasted twenty minutes and ended far too quickly for Daphne's liking. Being able to walk hand in hand with Harry quietly without fear of his celebrity attracting attention was liberating. They could have called one of the elves to apparate them inside but Harry's idea had turned out to be a much more enjoyable option.

After a quick check of the perimeter confirmed that nothing was amiss she found herself standing directly between Eleven and Thirteen Grimmauld Place. "I thought you said it was Number Twelve?" Daphne asked dumbly.

"Oh,I forgot," Harry exclaimed quietly as a smile blossomed. He handed her a small bit of parchment that read The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.

"Wha- ahh..." Daphne exclaimed as Number Twelve suddenly appeared, inexplicably pushing the neighboring flats aside. "Fidelius Charm?" she asked knowingly. With that protection in place it was a virtual impossibility that anyone would be able to track them down on their planned birthday 'date.' This place just kept getting better and better.

"I thought you said the outside was a mess," Daphne stated as she scanned the building. Based on Harry's description she had expected something much more run down. It wasn't the most immaculate building she had ever seen but it seemed to be well taken care of.

"It was," Harry said confusedly. "I guess Kreacher and Dobby have been working hard."

Daphne silently cheered. If Harry was correct than it meant the elves must have made loads of progress on the interior of the house. Everything was coming together.

As they crossed the threshold her excitement grew as everything within sight looked to be immaculately scrubbed. The overabundance of black furniture and assorted decorations were dreary in their own right but at least the oppressiveness was clean. It appeared the speech they had given Kreacher in the Hospital Wing had worked.

"Wow," Harry said in a hush, "this place looks loads better. If Kreacher's floor looks this good I'm guessing Dobby's is even better. Looks like she's still here though," he finished glumly, pointing to a curtained off portrait.

Daphne smirked as her eyes fell on the covered painting. It looked like she needed to remind Kreacher it would not do to disobey his current master's orders in favor of his prior master. "It will be gone by the time we leave," she replied confidently.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but go easy on Kreacher," Harry laughed. "I'll check upstairs while you catch up with your new friend," he joked before ascending the stairs in search of Dobby.

As if on cue the aged elf quickly scurried into the hallway. "Kreacher is happy to see mistress again!"

She forced herself not to laugh as she heard the elf mumble "Kreacher hopes mistress is happy with his work," under his breath. Apparently her pureblood act had paid off.

"Hello Kreacher," she greeted him formally. "I trust you have made good use of your time since we spoke?"

"Yes mistress," the elf answered nervously, "Kreacher has been working very hard. Would mistress like to inspect the rest of the floor?"