Bound To You

Chapter 29: Spring Cleaning

"I'm not sure what lurks in here, Albus, I'll warn you about that," Sirius said, pushing the door to his childhood house open. It was dark and creepy, dusty and filled with who-knows-what. Stuffed house-elf heads hung on the dark, cob-webbed walls, curtains hung, most if not all of them moth-eaten.

"Well I'll say! I thought the Black Family have house-elves to aid with house cleaning?" Molly asked, her expression scandalized at the state the house was in.

"There should be..." Sirius mumbled. "Kreacher!"

There was a pop, and the oddest house-elf anyone had ever seen popped into existence right in front of them.

"Traitorous Master Black came back... Kreacher is not knowing why Kreacher cames to his call, but Mistress will bes furious if she sees traitorous Master Black being here, oh she will, she will!" he mumbled under his breath, even as he bowed to Sirius.

"Kreacher, why have you not cleaned this place?"

"Oh, says traitorous Master Black to poor, poor Kreacher! Master Black too has Black heir spawns on the way, oh he has. Kreacher will be telling Mistress about this oh Kreacher will!"

"Answer my question, elf!" Sirius said irately.

"Kreacher has not thinking traitorous Master Black bes coming back, no Kreacher hasn't," he mumbled before walking away. Sirius just rolled his eyes at the demented house-elf and turned to his guests.

"You heard him, and I would bet anything that he wouldn't be helping us with the cleaning," he grumbled the last part.

"Well, Sirius, my boy, I guess we'll all just have to start cleaning, don't we?"

"Sure," Sirius shrugged. "You're the one who wanted to make this place a meeting point of some sort. Just be careful about the hidden portrait, the one with curtains? You won't like it if you woke up the occupant."

"Noted," Molly said. "Now come on boys! Let's start with the kitchen and the dining room!" Grumbles came from the people who'd come with them for the cleaning of Grimmauld Place. At least the children are in Hogwarts at this time of year...

Classes started as usual, with everyone asking everyone how their holidays were, about homework and this and that--at least Harry felt like a normal child at this time of year. It was also the first time he'd not stayed in Hogwarts for the whole holidays. The Golden Trio went about their days as usual, with Snape and Sirius getting bigger each time he saw them--usually when he visited Tom.

Harry was curious. They were so big, with babies' lives in their tummies, but they could walk and move as if they didn't have any additional burden in their midsection, though with the pregnancy came with a bonus of Snape's increased irritable moods. Sometimes the potions master would be in the middle of teaching when a few odd words slipped out--like salad, tofu, some sort of meat, with the oddest additions to them like shaved ice, chilly sauce, and triple cheeseburger with additional pickles. Tom told him that it was the hormones that was talking, making pregnant people crave things.

But it's not like Harry was curious as of to why people crave things. No, it was about the baby inside their tummies he was curious about. There was that one time in tea time, where Severus suddenly doubled over. Remus had assumed that he'd gone into labor, which wasn't it at all. He'd just got a very vicious kick to his stomach that made even him wince. But how could babies move around in their tummies? Isn't it cramped in there?

Questions flew in his mind, until Hermione's shout of "Harry!" snapped him back to Earth. He was weighing pollen, and when he looked at the jar label, he realized why Hermione had called to him. It was Belladonna pollen, something that shouldn't be exposed to air lest it flew around and poisons whoever inhaled them. They should be mixed with juices from beans or insects if one wanted to avoid getting poisoned altogether.