Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(89) Glimpse of the Past

The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black definitely lived up to its title, atleast, only the ancient part, Florence thought, as she stepped in to the dusty house the first time.

What looked like decades of dust and filth clung onto the intricate hallway carpet, walls greying with grime and cobwebs were everywhere. It was evident that no one had been living in the house for quite a long time, all the items untouched and unbothered. Jane cringed as she looked around the interior of the house, Remus beckoning Florence forward as they walked into the narrow entrance hall. They could hear a few people talking now, and soon, Sirius came to view, in a casual shirt and what seemed to be silky pajama bottoms.

"Welcome," he said, stretching his arms as wide as he could, "to Hell on Earth."

Florence snorted, "Fun childhood then, huh?"

"Very. I had the best nightmares." he joked, before gesturing them over to the living room, "You might want to be very quiet," his voice dropped down to a whisper as they reached the end of the hall, "Emmeline found one of my mother's...portraits .. And we've been trying to root it out of the wall...It's very important that we remain quiet—"

Remus tripped on a lump on the carpet, causing him and his luggage to topple over, landing on the floor with a great big thud.

"Traaaiitoooors!" A loud voice shrieked menacingly, making Florence jolt in surprise. She whipped around, trying to find the source of the sound, while Sirius headed straight for something, as if he already knew what it was.

"Shut up!" Sirius roared, struggling to close the curtains over whatever it was making the loud noise. She peeked over Sirius' shoulder, and, much to her surprise, it was the painting of a scrawny looking woman with greying black hair. She had the same piercing grey eyes, with a stern facial structure. Even as a portrait, she was a pain in the ass, as Sirius argued to get her curtains closed over again.

Finally, after a solid two minutes, Sirius was able to stop her from yelling her head out. He looked over at Florence, slightly out of breath, "Lovely woman, isn't she? I've always wanted to slam her head into a brick wall."

"I don't blame you...I'd feel the same way too, you know, but thank Merlin my mum isn't like that."

"Even in death, the old hag is still trying to torture me." he sighed, looking around almost sadly, "You know, as a child, all I've ever wanted was to get out of this house. But now I'm back in here." his hands flopped down to his side tiredly.

"It won't be long," Florence said, giving him a small smile, "You'll be out of here and you'll never have to see this place ever again."

"I hope so," he sighed longingly, his face lit up after a second, "Hey, I want to show you something, follow me."

The stairs creaked with every step that they took, Florence refusing to put her hand on the railings as it was as dirty as the whole house. She was surprised to see a clean, and well made room as Sirius opened the first door. Gryffindor flags and posters of muggle women were plastered all over the walls, along with a few personal photographs of Sirius and his friends. She stepped inside curiously, looking around, "Ofcourse, this would be the first room you'd clean out in this whole house."

He chuckled, "I may hate this house. But my room is a sanctuary. I used it to make a statement that I would never be the bigot that my parents were." Sirius gestured to his house flags. He strode over to his desk, where a big cardboard box lay atop, lifting it up and plopping it down onto his maroon rug.

"Have a seat." he patted the spot on the rug beside him.

"What are we looking at?"

"Well," he started, "I finally mustered up the courage to empty out Marlene's Gringotts vault...Ofcourse the money was gone, with Jane, I presume, as the bank always transfers it to the living relatives if the person doesn't have a will stating who to give it to. Marley was far too young to even think of making a will," he chuckled, almost bitterly, "No one knew it would happen to her... But anyway, she had a few things in there aside from her galleons. Like this box of photographs."