𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 | 𝑶𝑩𝑳𝑰𝑽𝑰𝑨𝑻𝑬 ─ 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝒙 𝒐𝒄

𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞?

This chapter is rather crucial for explaining a few bits and bobs. Narcissa's set to make a return in the next chapter, later today. Ta-ta for now, chums.

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The sun was already setting on the horizon as we walked hand in hand out of the hospital. The hum of car engines echoed through the bustling avenue as people hurried to get home before nightfall. Only a few handfuls of wizards could be seen here and there, easily identified by their clothes, far too eccentric for Muggle standards.

This was more than common since the Dark Lord took power. The statute of secrecy, which once protected our people from the eyes of Muggles, was no longer necessary, and the hunt for non-wizards had grown alarmingly.

I still read the Muggle newspaper whenever possible. It was common to come across advertisements for missing persons, Death Eaters competing to kill more Muggles, cases of brutally tortured, mutilated bodies, or mysterious deaths. The Death Eaters were becoming true artists of death, leaving a trail of destruction and chaos wherever they went.

When we finally reached the corner of Grimmauld Place, we stopped in front of the residences numbered 11 and 13. Right in the middle, in the crevice protected by the anti-Muggle spell, was number twelve. The walls began to shift, revealing a large gate with sharp bars. Barely had we crossed the threshold when a small boy came running down the corridors towards us.

"Auntie!" Harry shouted with a wide smile, enveloping me in a tight hug.

"Hello, Hazz, have you been behaving?"

"How dare you utter such blasphemy?" came Sirius's voice from the opposite end of the corridor, briefly leaning against the door frame. Today he seemed to have decided to shave and comb his hair.

"None of my godsons would do such a thing."

"Oh, shut it, dear," said Remus behind him, smiling as he saw us approaching. "He behaved quite well, we were baking cookies."

"I made one shaped like a duck!" Harry declared cheerfully, already holding my hand and grabbing Andromeda's other hand, trying to drag us to the kitchen. "Aunt Andy, I made a heart-shaped one for you."

Andromeda let out a laugh as she crossed the threshold, seeing the chaos that had become the kitchen. There was flour everywhere and a ridiculous pile of pots in the sink.

"I see you've been busy," she joked, running her finger across the counter and watching it turn completely white with flour. Sirius had the decency to look embarrassed.

"That was Harry," he said, pointing an accusing finger at the boy, who now widened his eyes and looked at his godfather as if he had suffered the greatest betrayal of his life.

His protests were drowned out by the sound of someone rushing down the stairs, the portraits in the corridors, painted with the faces of the family's ancestors, shouting for the girl not to run around the house as she might fall. But it was too late; as soon as she reached the first floor, there was a sound of something heavy falling to the ground.

"Ouch!" A few seconds later, the pink-haired teenager crossed the threshold with cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "That blasted umbrella stand."

I stifled a laugh behind my hand as I opened my arms for the girl to hug me. "It's alright, dear, but you should try looking at the floor once in a while."

"Mom," Dora blushed, hiding her face in my shoulders.

Andromeda laughed before also embracing her daughter, asking her to sit down before breaking something in the chaos of the kitchen.