Harry Potter and the Chains that Bind

Chapter 2 - The Noble House of Potter

The Noble House of Black had changed so much that Harry hardly recognized it. There was still a bit of the moldy smell, but the walls had been re-papered and the rugs and carpets were all freshly cleaned, while the wooden floors were scrubbed and deeply waxed. There were no cobwebs anywhere, the dusty drapes were now wrinkle-free and gleaming, and the chandeliers shone. Harry looked around in wonder.

"Oh, we've done a lot of work here," Tonks said, smiling proudly.

"Mind you," Bill said, "if I ever have to scrub another floor, it will be all too soon."

"Mais you look so good doing eet!" Fleur Delacour appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and beamed at Harry, whose heart was getting a regular workout.

"You should see the library, Harry," Lupin said. "It's finally safe to enter again. There are quite a few books I'm sure you'd be interested in. They're not all legal, strictly speaking, but they have some good information regarding the dark arts."

"All the more reason for him not to see them," Molly Weasley said, entering the hall from the kitchen. "Come. Harry. Let's get your things settled in your room. You can catch up later. Bill, Remus: Moody says he'll be late but that you should wait for him before you go." Bill groaned, but didn't say anything. Molly led Harry upstairs, and Lupin and Bill followed with his trunk. When they reached the landing, Harry paused, noticing something different. Bill and Lupin slid around them and continued up the stairs, talking quietly.

"No more portrait then?"

"Heavens no, Harry. It was only a matter of time before someone figured out how to get her down, and she's in a very dark corner in the cellar, now. With any luck, the rats will eat it, although I can't think of any vermin foul enough to be willing to deal with that rubbish."

Where the demonic portrait had previously stood, there was a slender pillar, upon which rested a pinkish-white plant with leaves that radiated out in stars. Normally, Harry wasn't a plant person; he did as well as could be expected in Herbology, but it was by no means his favorite subject. However, after the incident at the Ministry of Magic, he felt he owed those who had gone with him a bit more personal attention. He didn't know when exactly Neville's birthday was, but he knew it was near the end of July.

"Mrs. Weasley?"

"Yes, dear?"

"What kind of plant is that?"

"That's a Ghost Plant, Harry. Do you like it?"

"What's it do?"

"We keep it around because it's pretty. As for what it does, well, you meet the...ah...requirements to understand it. Tell me, do you know what a Thestral is?"

"You have to see death," Harry said, gazing at the plant. "What would it look like if I hadn't?"

"Oh, much the same, except watch..." She brushed a leaf briskly, and it fell from the plant. To Harry's surprise, he could see a smoke colored leaf remain behind.

"You can't see that if, ah, otherwise."

"Did that just hurt it?"

"Only a bit," Molly Weasley said, "because we can put this in a pot and it will put down roots and grow into a whole new plant. You do need to be somewhat careful with them, but they're not nearly so hard to keep as some other breeds."

"Could we plant that? How long will it take to get it to grow into a new plant?"

"I'm not sure, Harry, perhaps a few weeks. Would you like it?"

"I'd like to give it as a gift. Is that okay?"

"I don't know why not," Mrs. Weasley said, "I'll see to getting it potted for you. Let's get you to your room."

The portrait of former Hogwarts Headmaster Phineas Nigellus was still on the wall in Harry's bedroom, although even it looked somehow cleaner. Phineas was not in it when Harry entered the room, but he appeared as soon as Mrs. Weasley left and the door shut.

"Mister Potter." Harry looked up to see the dour-looking former headmaster peering curiously out at him. "I see you haven't removed me yet. I suppose it's only a matter of time?"

"I...don't know what you're talking about, sir," Harry replied. "I don't intend to remove you. And even if I did, it's not like I've got anything to say about it."

"Ah...then he hasn't told you? Well, well." Only then did Harry realize that Lupin was sitting on his school chest.

"Let him be, Phineas."

"As you wish, half-breed. However, unless young Potter here has grown up a bit in the last few months, you may want to consider keeping things to yourself. Just some friendly advice." Remus smirked.

"I don't know if there's such a thing as friendly advice from someone who calls you 'half-breed'."

"Well," Phineas said, "maybe you should view it as less of an insult and more of a...fact?" The former Headmaster looked more carefully around the room, "One thing I can say for you, you keep a better house than dark wizards. They're always too busy taking something over to bother with dusting. The house hasn't looked this good in years!" He faded from the frame, still talking to himself, and Harry turned to Lupin, who was still resting on the chest, slumped forward with his arms resting on his knees.

His bed looked downright comfortable, although he didn't expect he'd be sleeping for quite some time, as that's all he had done for the last day and a half. He felt very much as if he could stay awake all night. He sat on it, facing Lupin.

"What did he mean by all that?"

"Harry, how grown up do you want to be?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," Harry said, looking at his shoes, which were also new.

"I mean what I asked. How grown up do you want to be? There are things we'd have to talk about, things that have happened because of Sirius's...er, what happened to Sirius. Do you want to deal with them now?"

"Well, I guess. Yeah. I mean, we can talk about some of them, right?" Harry glanced at the now-empty picture frame. "What was he talking about?"

"Well, Harry, Sirius was the last of the Black Line. There are a few distant relatives; Narcissa, Tonks and her mother Andromeda...but that's about it. They were an ancient family, as old as any other you could name. You know all this. What you don't know is that Sirius made certain that this house wouldn't fall into the hands of anyone like Narcissa, and he took care of the Tonks family suitably. He gifted some of it, more than he should have, really, to me and a few others. Still, most of what he had he gave to you."

"Me? But...er...what do I do?"

"Well, you don't do anything. You are still an underage wizard. It's held in a trust; in this case one very similar to that which fronts the Order, until you're of age. Still, you have the right to order us out, if you so desire. This is now the house of Potter. We can act in proxy, which is how we removed a few of the more unsavory elements, as you may have noticed with the portrait of Mrs. Black and Kreacher."

"I was hoping he was dead."

"You're better off not knowing. I can say you'll never see him again."

"What is there, besides this house?"

"Money. Quite a bit of it. Sirius took a decent bit to buy you that Firebolt, but what's left makes it look insignificant." Lupin paused. "Well, nearly insignificant. It was an expensive broom."

"So, this is my house now?"

"It is."

"And," said Harry, ideas flooding his head, "does that mean I don't have to stay with the Dursleys anymore?"

"I really don't know. This house is safe, one of the safest in all England, but your aunt is still blood, and because of that you're still afforded potent magical protection with them."

"Didn't do much for Dudley's friends, did it?"

"There is that," Lupin sighed, "and we knew that could happen. On the whole, I think you're safer here, but we'll have to see what comes up."

"You'll have to ask Dumbledore, you mean."

"Yes. Harry, Dumbledore has done and seen more than most of us will ever dream of. He's not trying to confound you, I promise. He was just worried about you. Here you are, fifteen and having to be more grown up than any sixth year ought to be."

"Well," said Harry, "I don't really want to talk about that now. Someday I'm sure I'll ask you to help me more, if that's okay."

"It certainly is. For now, there are a certain number of things we'll have to do before you go back to school. You'll be fairly busy helping me recreate the protective runes, and such. The house will have to be acclimated to you. I don't know what buying a house is like in the Muggle world, but in the wizarding world, owning property is almost like having a child. It can be a place of sanctuary, but you need to protect it, you need to keep it in repair, in some ways, you even have to feed it. Do you see what I meant, asking you if you were ready to be grown up?"

"Yeah," Harry said, "but how am I going to help you place runes if I can't use magic?"

"You can participate in some of them without casting anything. The others will have to wait. Since the order operates in proxy, and it's technically there to represent you, you can designate a master of the house." Harry thought about this.

"Will you be returning to Hogwarts? Will you be teaching Defense?"

"No, Harry. You'll have someone else."

"Who?"

"I don't know. I've heard rumors that Kingsley may be doing it, but I'm really not sure if he's accepted the offer."

"Where will you be?"

"I'll have to stay here, I suppose. This is a convenient place to arrange for the financial and logistical needs of the Order. It's still hidden from Voldemort, and now that it's cleaned up it would be a shame to just leave it and go find some other place, wouldn't it?"

"I suppose," Harry said, "it does look nice." Lupin smiled.

"Sometimes, in the absence of any real solution to your problems, hard work is the best medicine."

"Do you miss him like I do, Professor Lupin?"

"Remus, Harry, Remus. And I miss him every day. If you ever need to talk about anything, I'm here for you." Harry shrugged, and Lupin continued, "I'm no Sirius. I'm no Dumbledore. I don't know that I'd rate a Neville in your world, but I'm here. One of the first rules of magic is to find something that works and steal it for your purposes. It works the same for people. Find one who shares your pain..."

Remus didn't need to finish. Harry nodded, looking at his shoes and letting the tears fall freely. He wasn't ashamed to let Lupin see him, because Lupin was crying too.

For the next two weeks, Harry helped Remus place and replace some of the protective wards. It wasn't defense against the dark arts, strictly speaking, but it was defensive magic, and Harry learned quite a bit. It was nice to see Lupin wearing clothing that was new, though his tastes still bordered on very casual, comfortable looking robes that didn't look as if they'd cost a mint. He spent a good deal of time in the library, examining the many volumes that lined its walls. Lupin informed him that there were a few choice books still 'put away', and warned Harry that Mrs. Weasley had put some wards of her own on them.

"They're still yours, Harry, and you'll get them eventually, but I wouldn't recommend taking them just yet. Mrs. Weasley can't keep them from you, but she can make things quite unpleasant."

Harry had no major disagreements with that, though he was curious about what kind of book Mrs. Weasley would want to keep from him. His part for the runes on the library tomes was to touch them after Lupin had cast the necessary spells. They tested a book by slipping one into Bill's pack just before he left for work one day; the book wailed impressively and Bill came rushing back, swearing under his breath. They would do this for anyone but Harry, Remus, or someone they had expressly allowed to borrow them. Harry actually had to say it out loud for the rune to let them take the book without screaming. Lupin even worked up a biting charm that they started placing on them late in the second week, and there were two or three that were set up to never leave the house, no matter who had them. They'd simply vanish and appear back in their spot in the library as soon as they reached a threshold. The external doors also had protection, but rather than howl, they alerted Harry to intrusion. Later, when he sat down to write a letter to Ron, he couldn't describe how they'd done it, other than just a feeling. He understood now how very easy it was for Deloris Umbridge to catch him sneaking into her office. As with the library, Harry had arranged to have the wards alert Lupin as well as him. He felt very comfortable knowing his father's friend would be watching what he still thought of as the Noble House of Black. Maybe they started off badly, but Harry could think of no nobler a person than Sirius, who had rushed to his aid without a second though after a summer of being pent up in a house he hated. Tonks had also nearly died at the battle in the Ministry.

Two weeks into July, Ron came to visit him for the first time. Harry noticed that his friend seemed to have grown quite a bit. He'd always been taller than Fred and George, and though he wasn't Bill's size yet, and Harry didn't think he'd ever be as stocky as the twins or Charlie, he'd certainly sprouted up even more. He knew Ron couldn't have grown that much in a month in a half, so all he could guess was that Ron had been at it for a while and that he just hadn't noticed. His friend was wearing decent robes, and Harry took that to mean Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was doing a booming trade. In spite of her promises, Hermione still hadn't been by, but she had sent an owl saying she would definitely be there for his birthday at the end of the month. Bill accidentally let on that he'd seen her at least once since they'd gotten to Grimmauld Place, and Harry pressed him, but he refused to divulge any more.

He and Lupin talked a great deal, but there was actually very little about the Order that Harry found interesting. Most of the secret planning they'd been about last year was guarding the prophecy room in the Department of Magical Mysteries. No one had heard anything out of Voldemort for at least a month, so there was really nothing they could respond to. There were intelligence reports coming in that detailed the movements of known or suspected Death Eaters, but there was little Harry could do about that and he still wasn't allowed to see most of them. Most of the Death Eaters he didn't know, but the names he recognized came as no shock.

There was a report detailing the probable path of Wormtail when he hired Abel Greene to break into the Dursleys house, but he'd dropped out of sight after that happened, and hadn't been heard from again. The Dursleys were still being watched, even in France, though nothing indicated a threat to them now that Harry was gone. Perhaps even Voldemort realized how much Harry disliked his relatives. Lupin patiently answered every question Harry could come up with, but the problem was Harry couldn't come up with that many. Now that he had access to much of the information of the order, he realized there wasn't much he still wanted to know. Lupin mentioned to him that he oughtn't to share most of the information, and that he was giving more than he probably should. He warned Harry that Dumbledore's promise to treat Harry as more of a grown-up didn't in fact create any great need for Harry to know most of what was going around internally.

Remus was right about one thing, though: Work was freedom. Harry was so busy helping with the protective runes and studying the books in the library that he didn't have time to think about Sirius, Dumbledore, Hermione, or anything else.

Three weeks after he arrived, the Ghost Plant was ready for its trip to Neville. Harry included a note apologizing for not knowing Neville's actual birthday and explaining what little he knew about the plant's uses. He was pretty sure Neville would know more about it anyway. Arthur took it to work with him, promising that he could get it delivered safely.

The Monday before his birthday, Ron and Ginny arrived to stay for the rest of the summer. Since Harry was less busy with the runes, he had more time to talk. They spent quite a bit of time on the first day catching up. The Cannons had made a decent run at the end of the season, which made him quite excitable, and the Irish National Team was looking to repeat their performance of two years ago.

Eventually, they got around to discussing their test scores.

"I couldn't believe I got an 'Acceptable' in Potions. Say, did you get a letter about the Temporalism classes?"

"I did." Harry said. "Will you be in it?"

"Yeah! I wonder how they decided who gets in? Have you read anything about it?"

"I looked in our library here, but all I found about it was some introductory stuff. I guess it's pretty hard...the book said it was a little more difficult than Transfiguration."

"Great," said Ron, "but I only got an 'A' in Transfiguration. Why would they want me?"

"I dunno," Harry answered, "but they wanted me in it too, and I got an 'E' on my Transfiguration O.W.L."

"Well, I'll bet Hermione will be in it. Did she tell you how she did?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "Nine 'Outstanding' O.W.L.s, and one 'Exceeds Expectations'. She was quite upset."

"I don't think 'quite upset' begins to explain it," Ron laughed. "Breathing fire is more like it. She's threatening to appeal the Astronomy exam. She wants to retake it."

"Retake it?" Harry said. "I don't want another astronomy exam as long as I live!"

"Well," Ron replied, "that's Hermione for you."

"Have you...er...seen her at all?"

"What?" Ron asked. "This summer?"

"Yeah."

"I saw her once a few weeks ago. She was with Bill and Fleur. She, er, looks good."

"She hasn't come by here, and she said she would. I was wondering if she might be mad at me."

"What for? You haven't done anything to her, have you?"

"No," replied Harry, "not that I know of."

"I think she's just busy, mate. She should be here tomorrow."

"I hope so," Harry said, more to himself than to Ron.

"Me too," his friend replied.

When Hermione did arrive, Harry had to admit that Ron was correct. She did look good; very good, and he was left wondering how he could have thought the girl down the street looked like Hermione when Hermione was so much prettier. The awkward silences carried over from the phone conversation, but beyond the physical differences, she also seemed to have acquired a sort of quiet and patient grace, something Harry would have been certain she never had in the past. How so much could have happened in two months, Harry had no idea, but it had.

He was left staring at her most of the time, and hoping that she didn't notice.

Ron was also correct about her feelings regarding the O.W.L.s. Harry made the mistake of asking her how she'd done, and she responded with a half-hour tirade that culminated with her plans to appeal the results of the practical Astronomy exam.

"Aren't you interested in retaking it? I know you could do loads better. You should get at least an 'E', easy!"

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "But the fact is, I don't care. I don't plan on taking it any more, anyway."

"It's the principle of the matter!" she insisted. "If I get them to re-offer it, will you take it with me?"

Harry recognized this as one of the times when friendship took precedence over desires, and bowed to the inevitable.

"Yeah, uh, sure. If they re-offer it. I may not try so hard this time, but I'll give it a go."

"Well, I think they owe us all a chance at it, I mean, come on! The ministry pulled that audacious stunt during the exam and then expected us to take the results without a fight? I think not!"

"Right on!" Ron added, half smiling. Harry didn't think that Hermione even noticed Ron's sarcasm, or if she did, she ignored it valiantly. Ginny, who'd wandered in and dropped heavily upon Harry's bed, had probably heard this same speech from Hermione several times and from Ron at least once. Even so, she did her best to look sympathetic to the cause. It was hard to do when her mouth was so lined with chocolate that she looked as though she'd been eating dirt.

"Hang on," Ron said, noticing her glazed eyes and candied lips. "What's going on here?"

"Oh," Ginny said, "Fred and George sent loads of sweets to us. Didn't you know that? They're working on something that apparently generates large amounts of spare candy."

"WHAT?" Ron roared, more scandalized by this revelation than by his astronomy score.

"I thought you knew! They've been sending them back all summer. I got these from Bill."

"That cheeky..." Ron said, arising, "I'm going to go have a talk with him!"

"That's right!" Harry shouted as Ron stepped out the door. "Give him hell, Ron!"

Both Ginny and Hermione laughed, though Ginny looked slightly dazed, and Harry found himself wondering if there was such a thing as sugar poisoning. This thought was chased from his mind by the question of how exactly Ginny stayed so thin while single-handedly depleting the chocolate frog population of 13, Grimmauld Place. He looked closer at Ginny.

"You look good."

Ginny, who was covered in the remains of a frog-army and dressed in clothing that no self-respecting teenager would be caught dead in public wearing, muggle or not, laughed.

"Thanks, Harry, but you're a bit late!"

"No," he said, "I mean it. I guess I've just never really looked at you before...you know, like, looked at you."

"Well," said Ginny, rolling her large, brown eyes, "I'm glad you approve." Hermione was looking at him with a strange half-smile.

"You too," Harry added. "I didn't mean to ignore you."

"Are you going to tell me you've never looked at me, either?"

"Hardly," he replied, "I've looked at you loads of times." He immediately wished he could take that back, but Hermione blushed and grinned. Ginny watched the whole scene with a serene look on her face that suggested both mild amusement and slight illness.

Ron chose this moment to return, sputtering curses. He noticed the two giggling girls and a blushing Harry and stopped short.

"What exactly did I miss?"

"Harry being a sweetheart," said Ginny, who appeared to be enjoying the look on Harry's face as he blushed even more.

"With you and Hermione? I guess he is," Ron replied, eyeing Harry the way he had once eyed Crookshanks. "Move over, sweetheart."

"It's not his fault. Maybe you should try it some time," his sister said, with mock indignation.

"Well, I'm not naturally sweet. That's why I eat so many of them. Except in this case, Bill has hidden them."

"Oh no!" Hermione said, trying not to laugh at the utterly ridiculous situation.

"Oh, yes!" Ron shot back, oblivious to her sarcasm. "But I will find them, yes I will, and when I do, I'm going to eat enough to make a Welsh Green ill." They all laughed, and Ron, in spite of his exasperation, had to laugh with them. It was good to be back together, even if he didn't have any candy.

Harry Potter and the Chains that Bind

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