A Taste of Magic

Chapter 49: 49th Course - Old, but less Grim

Remus smiled. "You ready?" His smile was replaced by a small frown. "Have you, how do I put this delicately, put on weight recently?"

Harry grinned and gently patted the front of his shirt. The large bump shook and hooted. "Hedwig doesn't love apparition and doesn't want to ride in her cage so we're going to try this."

"Ah, that makes sense," Remus said, smile returning. "Right then, to your new home!" He put his hand on Harry's shoulder and the three of them were whisked away with magic, appearing in a small stand of trees beside a busy London street.

"In the future, once you are more familiar with the place and have been added properly to the wards, you'll be able to Floo or we can Apparate into the secured place for it in the home," Remus explained. "Since this is your first visit, we thought this would be best."

"That'll be good," Harry said, shaking his head slowly to shake away the effects of the apparition. He patted the Hedwig bump gently, feeling her hoot with discomfort and disgust. "And Hedwig will know how to fly there after visiting today, right?"

"Yes indeed," Remus said. He led Harry out of the stand of trees and down the street. "There, you can see it now," he said, pointing. "Number 12, Grimmauld Place."

Harry looked at it as they approached. The street itself looked like many other streets, though a bit quieter and grayer. The row of homes were older, riding that thin line between aged and neglected. As they approached Number 12, he felt a slight tingle over his skin. It was something he had grown accustomed to, the feeling of ambient magic. The door opened as they reached the landing and Sirius beamed at them.

"Welcome!" he practically shouted, his smile from ear to ear. He looked far healthier than the last time Harry had seen him. They had exchanged letters fairly regularly since they last interacted in person, but it had been almost a month since they saw each other face to face. Sirius was no longer gaunt, his skin no longer waxy and sunken. His hair was shoulder-length but neat and his eyes lost their manic quality.

"You look great!" Harry said happily.

"Thanks! I feel great," Sirius said. "You look great too!" He looked at the bump and looked confused. "Wait, did you have that before?"

Harry chuckled and opened his shirt a bit and Hedwig came climbing out. She wriggled her way out and clambered onto his head, looking about with interest. "We did that for apparating."

"Ah that makes sense. Well, what do you think?" Sirius asked, arms up and gesturing to the house.

The interior was dark wood, almost black. Magical lanterns hung from the walls, shining warmly. The general sense of time passed and neglect was a touch stronger within the home, but there was a feeling of difference too, of things being moved and aired out. Things were moved haphazardly about and looked out of place somewhat.

"Bit of a work in progress admittedly," Sirius said with a light tone.

"It looked much worse before," Remus said wryly.

"It did," Sirius laughed. "This was my ancestral home and let me tell you, it's always been a dark and grim place, fitting the name. No one lived here save for the House Elf while I was away in prison and it got left to rot and languish a bit. Been a fight to get things cleaned up and the like so that's why you haven't been able to move in yet, sorry about that."