The Older Potter // HP Older Sister

71

C H A P T E R  71

Harry almost cheered in excitement. He read Samantha's letter and was pacing he was so relieved.

Sirius was free.

His Godfather was free.

He had another family member, along with Samantha and Remus.

But he was still upset he couldn't live with him. Harry was still confused as to why he had to stay with the Dursleys. Dumbledore had his reasons, he knew that, but he was still confused. Harry thought that since they were Muggles, he would be safe but he would be safe with Sirius, right?

Samantha had also told him to cut his hair after telling her in his last letter that he decided to grow it out like Sirius.

"No way," Harry muttered, a small smile forming on his lips, as he wrote those words in a short and sweet response. He gave Oaks a treat and mentioned he would give him the response in the morning so Oaks could rest for the night. Hedwig looked at him oddly and begrudgingly made room for her guest.

It seems that Hedwig was still hung up on a certain owl named Cypress.

Back at Grimmauld Place, things finally started to settle down.

The Muggle community had been informed of Sirius' innocence and it seemed they needed some more convincing than a short, vague explanation saying that they confused two people and imprisoned an innocent man.

Remus and Sirius have been working hard to clean up Grimmauld Place to make it more habitable. They went room by room and casted many spells to clean up the mold and drive away any creatures that were living there.

Samantha had been staying in the master bedroom since that was the cleanest besides Sirius'. Remus took the guest room next to Sirius' since that was the next cleanest.

Something Sirius then mentioned about living there was his old House Elf, Kreacher. Samantha had never heard about this before and wondered why they haven't seen him there yet because they've been there for a few weeks.

"Maybe, he's just shy or shocked that I'm back in this house again," Sirius mused while preparing lunch. "We never really had the best relationship."

"What do you mean?" Samantha asked after taking a bite of her turkey sandwich.

"Well Kreacher is like the incarnate of my dear old mum. Believing that Purebloods are superior, half-breeds don't belong, and people like us are blood traitors," Sirius spoke, his voice laced with disgust. "So pretty obvious why he didn't like me very much."

Samantha frowned, feeling bad for the poor Elf. Maybe she could talk to him and get his perspective. "Do you think he's around here or will show himself?"

"Doubt it. He's probably somewhere in the attic trying to bring back mum. It's bad enough we have that portrait of her," Sirius replied and then glanced at Samantha with furrowed eyebrows. "Why?"

Samantha shrugged. "No reason."

Sirius did not buy that. He knew James far too long to not notice the mystery behind those hazel eyes. "You won't like Kreacher."

"How do you know?"

"Because I've lived with him for years."