Opened At The Close...

5:Grim Old Place

It was three days before Hermione showed up at the Burrow, a very happy smile strecthed across her face. Ron, Ginny and Harry were playing every-man-for-himself Quidditch in the backyard when she appeared with a pop on the back porch. Ginny was the first to notice her.
"Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed, speeding back to the ground.
"Hermione!" Ron and Harry said, following suit.
"We've been waiting for you!" Ginny said, hugging her."How're your parents?"
"They're doing great! It was good to see them again," Hemione said to them all, with a look of satisfaction on her face.
"Do you wanna meet Teddy, now that you're here?" Harry asked her after she had hugged everyone.
"Oh, yes!" She said happily, filing into the house.
"He's asleep right now in my room," Ron said as they all marched throught the kitchen to the hall.
"I put your stuff in Bill's room," Harry told Hermione.
"Thanks. Where's Crookshanks?" Hermione asked.
"In his cage on top of your trunk. We haven't fed him since we got here, but I'm sure he's fine,"Ron smirked.
"He's probably in the garden. You know how he likes to chase gnomes," said Ginny, ignoring Ron as they reached his room and stalked inside quietly. Teddy laid on the floor, sprawled across a fluffy rug that Harry siphoned the dirt of off.
"His hair..." Hermione said, collapsing into hushed giggles. Indeed, Teddy's hair was a wispy periwinkle blue today, and his eyes proved to be the color of emeralds. Hermione leaned over him, still grinning, and picked him up.
"Hermione!" Scolded Harry as Teddy opened his eyes. "I just got him to sleep minutes ago!"
"Oh, sorry!" Flustered Hermione. She tapped her wand on Teddy's forehead. "Tellus," she said, and Teddy's eyes closed again as he drifted off.
"What charm was that, again?" Asked Harry eagerly.
"Tellus. It's a Relaxing Charm," Hermione explained as she cradled Teddy, and Harry made a mental note of her words; they could definitely come in useful if he just remembered them.
"Are your parents living in the house they had before you modified their memories?" Asked Ron, leaning against the wall and gazing at Hermione and the baby in her arms.
"Yes. I think that's one of the things that took me so long; moving their old things back and forth from their apartment in Australia to the house. First we boxed everything up, then we put all the boxes in a bunch of piles and I Apparated home with as many as I could hold at a time. Then, I Apparted back to get more boxes. It was a bit exhausting, really. I splinched myself once, see?" She pulled a hand from under Teddy, displaying it; half of her little fingernail was gone.
"That never happens to you!" Said Ron, aghast.
"Well, this time it did," Hermione said a little bitterly." I'll never Apparate that many times in a single day again."
"Well, now we know, don't we?" Harry said at an attempt at pleasantness. At that moment, Mrs. Weasley came through the door bearing a basket of laundry. She looked at Hermione, surprised, then glared at the others accusingly.
"'Don't worry, Mum! We'll tell you when Hermione gets here!' You said to me. I guess I shouldn't have believed it," she chastised Harry, Ron and Ginny, who all stared at their feet guiltily. "Hello, Hermione, dear," she added to Hermione, giving her a hug as she set the basket down on Ron's bed.
"I only just got here, Mrs. Weasley. I just wanted to see Teddy first," Hermione defended the others.
"Oh, well, alright," Mrs. Weasley said, flushing. "How are your parents fairing, Hermione?"
"Very well. I've got them moved back to England, and they understood why I modified their memory." Hermione said happily.
"That's very good, dear. I'm sure any parent would have understood why you did such a selfless thing," Mrs. Weasley replied kindly, before leaving the room once more.
"How long are you staying, Hermione?" Ron asked her. She shrugged.
"I'm probably going to leave when Harry does," Hermione said uncertainly.
"I'm leaving in a few days to go to Grimmauld Place," Harry said conversationally.
"Wow, already?" Hermione said, surprised.
"Yep. I had Kreacher take down that portrait of Sirius's mum in the entrance hallway, so that we won't have to be so quiet about coming in anymore."Harry said. Hermione looked indignant, so he added,"I told Kreacher to put it in his room."She seemed pleased.
"Have you been called to work yet, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"They sent me an owl once about some old hag being sighted in the Leaky Couldron, but when I was about to leave they sent me another one that said it was just a really ugly old witch," Harry said with a shrug. "Appearantly so soon after Voldemort died there haven't been too many Dark wizards running around. But I'm not complaining. It's like a nice and quiet vacation." Ginny and Ron laughed; Hermione, however, did not.
"There are probably plenty of Dark wizards in hiding, Harry," Hermione said darkly.
"Not possible. They've been giving anyone who's been born with magic blood Veritiserum and asking if they broke the law. In any way,"Harry added as an afterthought. Hermione shrugged.
"Maybe you're right, then. I don't feel like opening right now. Shall we go downstairs?"
"Yeah," said Ron, standing up and stretching. "I'm hungry. Think I'll ask mum what's for dinner."
"I think that Teddy is hungry, Harry," said Ginny, pointing to the stirring infant. Harry sighed.
"All right. Be right back," he said, walking out of Ron's room before the others. After rumaging in Teddy's bag for a minute, he finally found everything and made the bottle, just like Ginny had showed him. He wondered where she got her baby-sitting skills, as she was the last of the Weasley children. But he supposed that Mrs. Weasley had always given her tips, or maybe she had just inherited Mrs. Weasley's motherly tendencies.
Walking back downstairs, he heard whispers from Ginny's room. He stopped to listen, throwing the Cloak (which he now thought a good idea to carry with him wherever he went, just in case an urgent business owl was sent to him and he needed to leave a.s.a.p.) over himself.
"I'm just saying that maybe he'd want to talk to us about this-" Hermione's reproachful whisper came.
"Harry wouldn't want to do it, Hermione! We all think Malfoy's a prat, I know you do, and you know I do, everyone knows that Harry does, so that's all that matters. We don't need to talk to him," said Ron harshly.
"But we should at least tell Harry that Malfoy sent him an owl! You know how Harry hates to be kept in the dark," said she.
"I guess you're right," Ron said grudgingly starting for the door, and Harry whipped off the cloak as fast as humanly possible and stuffed it in his robes again. He put one foot on the staircase behind him, taking it off as they opened the door, making it look like he was just getting down the stairs. Neither suspected a thing, so Hermione said with unconvincing casualness,
"We got a letter for you. From Malfoy." She thrust an envelope in his direction. Tucking the bottle under his arm, Harry opened the letter,(which he guessed Hermione had resealed with magic) and it read:
Dear Potter,
I request a meeting with you, and I'm told you own an old Black house. Could you send me the address and we can meet there next week? I just want to have a civil conversation, no wands invovled.
Sincerely,
Draco A. Malfoy
P.S. The bird doesn't wait for a reply, he just takes off as soon as the letter's left his ankle. You'll have to use your own owl to respond. If you do respond.
Harry snorted. If he did respond...what was that supposed to mean? Of course he was going to resond. To tell Malfoy to leave him alone and never talk to him again. What. A. Git.
"What did he want?" Ron asked.
"For my address because he wants to talk," Harry said coolly.
"That git," said Ron idly. Harry nodded in agreement.
"Will you talk to him?" Hermione asked nervously.
"I...don't know yet," Harry said uncertainly."Maybe I should just give him a chance. But I'm not taking my wand off him the whole time he talks," he added savagely.
"Whatever, mate," Ron said, walking downstairs. "Hey, Mum, what's for dinner?"
*_____*_____*
"I'll be fine. Really, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said for the umpteenth time as Mrs. Weasley insisted that he should stay a few more days.
"Oh...all right, then. It just seems much too fast, is all. The battle was only two weeks ago, you know, and I worry that it's too soon for you to live on your own," she said fretfully.
"I'll be fine," Harry repeated, smiling reassuringly at her. "Besides, I have Kreacher. He can help out a lot more now, you wouldn't believe how far he's come."
Mrs. Weasley looked disbelieving, and Hermione harumphed.
"He really is a sweetheart," Hermione said pointedly. Mrs. Weasley said nothing more, but nodded briskly and strode from the living room, where Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione now sat in alone.
"Do you want us to come with you?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah, we could help you unpack," offered Ron.
"Sure," Harry said from the corner as he cleared Teddy's daiper in the corner. A second later he returned to the sofa, a clean-daipered (dark green haired) Teddy in his arms.
"What color are his eyes today?" Asked Ginny enthusiastically. Harry looked, and announced,
"Purple now. Earlier it was pink."
"Are you planning on Apparating your things and just Flooing with Teddy? Because if you wanted, you three could Apparate and I can just Floo with him. It would save Floo powder," Ginny said.
"Good idea," Hermione said. Harry stood and handed Teddy to Ginny, walking over to his trunk and placing a hand on it, taking Teddy's over his shoulder.
"Come on, guys," he said to Ron and Hermione. They linked hands, and Harry turned on the spot; half a scond later they all stood in the hallway of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. The picture of Mrs. Black was gone miraculously from the walls without a trace, and the only thing to greet them was Kreacher, who stalked up the kitchen stairs with a most satisfied look on his face.
"Master is back," he rasped."Kreacer will be honored to help Master unpack his trunk, or the strange bag on top of the trunk that Kreacher has never seen before..."
"Kreacher, I'm going to be living here with my godson, Teddy. " said Harry kindly; the words felt very strange to say."These are his things. Could you bring them to the kitchen, please? I haven't picked out his room, yet."
"Of course. And Master's trunk?" Kreacher asked.
"We've got it, thank you," Hermione said, levitating the trunk with a flick of her wand.
"Miss Hermione is most welcome," Kreacher said with a bow. (He was very pleasant to Hermione now, since Harry had ordered him to only be polite to her, although he never told Hermione that. She just thought that Kreacher was being nice. Which he was, but Harry still sometimes caught Kreacher saying '...and one for Master's Mudblood friend...' under his breath while he was loading a tea tray, after which he would jam his head against the wall. Harry didn't tell Hermione about this, either.)
"To Sirius' room, Harry?" Hermione asked, the trunk floating precariously above her head. He nodded.
"Should be interesting. I've never been in there before," said Ron as they followed Harry to Sirius's room. Harry laughed.
"You've got to admire his nerve," Harry said. "He went and put Gryffindor posters all over the walls."
"Bet his mum wasn't happy," said Hermione furtively. Ron laughed.
"That's the point, isn't it? He wanted to show off the fact he was Gryffindor, because the whole lot of the Blacks had been Slytherin until him," Ron said reasonably.
"That's what I think," Harry agreed, pushing open the door.
"Oh, man, Muggle posters, too!?" Ron asked, laughing incredulously.
"Of bikini models?" Hermione asked, open-mouthed and equally stunned.
"And Muggle motorcycles," Harry confirmed with a nod, opening his chest once Hermione had set it on the floor.
"You were right, Harry. I'm admiring Sirius's nerve right now," Ron grinned, helping Harry stuff his underwear and socks unceremoniously into the dresser.
"Shouldn't you be a bit more organized?" Hermione frowned, hanging Harry's robes in an highly polished oaken wardrobe.
"I've lived this far without being organized," Harry said with a shrug, dumping the last few pairs of socks from the trunk into the drawer and slamming it shut. Hermione tutted, and Ron laughed.
"Well, at least your robes and shirts look halfway decent hanging up in the wardrobe,"She said wistfully.
"Thanks, Hermione," Harry said sincerely.
"You're welcome," she said distractedly, picking up loose papers off the floor with magic.
"Where is Teddy sleeping?" Came a voice from the doorway. They all turned to see Ginny, holding Teddy.
"I don't know yet," Harry said.
"Well, come on. We can pick a room together. My arms are getting tired," Ginny said, spinning out of the doorway and down the hall."It should be close to your room, so if he wakes up in the middle of the night like he always does, you can hear him and get there faster."
Harry nodded and entered a roon about two doors down from his room. It had potential to be nice, and he remembered cleaning it with the Weasleys, Sirius, and Hermione the summer before fifth year. The room was small and cramped; the walls a dull beige; three old, elegant cabinets, a dusty desk, and a twin sized bed with no sheets or blankets lined the walls, (all of the cabinets were empty save for the china cabinet, which had nothing evil in it to discard (except for a teacup that grew teeth and clamped down on your hand when you touched it.)
"This one seems a bit small, don't you think?" Asked Ginny as Ron and Hermione walked right past the door, toward the stairs that led to the next story.
"It does, but we could probably put a dresser in here and take out the cabinets," Harry said, walking to the desk and wiping some of the dust off its surface with his robes.
"And paint the walls," added Ginny in disgust." Normally I wouldn't care, but God, this color is so boring it's about to put me to sleep."
"Don't worry, I'll catch you if you fall," Harry said, smiling.
"How kind of you," said Ginny with a smile to match his. They stared at each other for a moment, then Harry tore his eyes from her to glare distastefully at the cabinets.
"I'm going to move these three cabinets to the drawing room. You can stay here if you want," Harry said.
"Nah, I can help." Ginny said, lying Teddy on a rug after sucking the dust off with her wand-the whole room was very dusty.
"You get that one, I'll get these two," Harry instructed her, pointing to the china cabinet as he murmered "Mobilius," at the other two, causing them to levitate. Ginny repeated with the china cabinet, and they left the room.
"Where have Ron and Hermione got to?" Ginny said as they made their way cautiosly up the stairs.
"I saw them coming toward the staircase," Harry said."They must be somewhere up here."
"What do you think they're doing?" Ginny asked, suddenly suspicious.
"I don't know. I just hope that they aren't in the drawing room if they're snogging. I don't want to walk in on them," Harry said sheepishly.
"I do," Ginny said ferociously. "Let's interrupt Ron while he's kissing someone and see how he likes it..."
Harry did have an attraction toward this idea,(remembering, with a furious, vindictive jolt, his seventeenth birthday) but thought that maybe they should save it for another time.
"Maybe we should save that idea for another time," Harry repeated his thoughts as they neared the drawing room.
"We could, unless they're in the drawing room," Ginny pointed out.
"Yeah..." Harry said uneasily, turning the knob of the drawing room door and allowing the cabinets to go in before him."Come on, Ginny! They aren't in here." She came in, the china cabinet trailing in the air delicately behind her.
"I wonder where they are, then?" She said as she set the cabinet gently on the ground next to the two Harry had just put down.
"Dunno," Harry said distractedly as he pulled a pair of sheets and a comforter from a wardrobe in a corner.
"Let's find them," Ginny said expressionlessly.
"All right," Harry agreed, opening the door for her. They stalked down the hall, listening for sounds from the doors on either side of them. Ginny suddenly smiled, cupping a hand around her ear and gesturing for Harry to come to the door she was standing by.
"Isn't this room a bit, I don't know, dreary?" Hermione said.
"It isn't that bad. All you'd have to do is paint the walls," Ron suggested.
"And take down the curtains-"Hermione said.
"And change the flooring-" Ron added.
"And add a different chandelier," Hermione finished. They laughed, then there was a smack, another smack, and another...Harry and Ginny giggled silently into their hands, until a snide voice rang out.
"Go to a different room! I can hear you two all the way to my portrait in Hogwarts," Phineas Nigellus said with disgust.
"Sorry," Hermione and Ron mumbled together, then they walked toward the door. Harry looked frantically for a place to run, but Ginny sensed him and took his hand firmly, merely stepping back. Ron opened the door, noticed them, then stood glaring at them mutinously.
"What are you two doing out here?" He asked suspiciously, while Hermione peered over his shoulder, her face a bright, flaming red.
"Not so nice to be eavesdropped on, is it, Ronald?" Ginny said triumphantly, as Harry stood torn between guilt and amusment."Just so you know, we heard everything," she added mischeiviously, her eyes narrowed. Ron growled and stormed away, pulling a scarlet Hermione behind him. As they thundered down the stairs, Harry was no longer torn.
"That was brilliant, Ginny!" He said, laughing. She laughed along with him, and Harry could no longer resist; he put one hand on either side of her face and pressed his lips to hers. Ginny responded by wrapping her arms around his neck. It was many lustrious seconds before they broke apart, gazing at one another. It was the first time they had kissed, really and actually kissed, since last year, and neither of them wanted to stop just yet, so they didn't. They both stood entwined, the full realization of how lucky he was falling around Harry's shoulders like a warm blanket.