Chapter 11: Grimmauld Place
Harry sighed a little as he sat in the chair next to the desk in the room he had been in before moving from the Dursley's house. Yes, he was back, but simply because he knew they would come looking for him.
It was nighttime and he had simply walked into the empty house. According to the memories he received from the future, members of the order had made his uncles and cousin believe that they won a prize by means of a letter, so he was completely alone and without interference to get him out without too much trouble.
But they were taking a while, causing Harry to get a little impatient.
The only thing he could do at the moment was use magic to scan around the house. This magic was pretty good at being able to 'feel' the surroundings. Harry compared it to the echolocation of a bat. But it wasn't that easy to learn, not only did you need good control of your magic, you also needed to learn occlumency to be able to recognize and differentiate things.
For example, even if you released a pulse with the spell, you wouldn't be able to tell what it was that was hitting the pulse. You might be able to tell if you were in a room by the walls surrounding it, but outside, where you were in more open spaces, you would only know that there were things around you. If you added occlumency, you could store and differentiate things with your memories.
Shapes, densities, and so on would be easier to recognize.
Harry was sending pulses around the house for a while, until he felt someone enter the house. He smiled as he stood up from the chair near the kitchen table, where he had sat after sending that last pulse. And as he listened to the slow footsteps, he opened the fridge and took out a closed can of coke that Dudley seemed to have bought.
Of course, he also wanted to surprise them, so he simply disappeared thanks to his invisibility cloak transformed into a jacket.
Harry smiled as Alastor entered the kitchen and began scanning everything with that eye of his, but it didn't even rest on him for a second. To the magical eye he simply didn't exist.
"He's not in any of the rooms upstairs," Tonks said with a frown and a slightly worried look.
"That's not possible. As far as I know, Harry has nowhere else to stay," Remus said seriously, but froze when he felt something press against his neck. Almost at the same time, his left wrist had been grabbed tightly and twisted up behind him.
The advance party was surprised to see one of Remus' arms move back as his body leaned forward slightly, as if he had been pushed. But that surprise turned to shock as Harry's figure appeared as he looked at them all.
"If you don't want me to kill you, then you'll put your hands up where I can see them."
"Wait Harry, we're allies!" Tonks immediately shouted. "We were sent by Dumbledore to get you out of here!"
Harry smiled coldly as he tightened his grip on the tip of his wand on Remus' neck, causing the man to growl a little. He couldn't break free, probably due to a spell, but he could also feel Harry's strength; it was much stronger than he imagined.
"Illusions aren't impossible with magic. And likewise, having a different appearance isn't that difficult either," Harry spoke up and then looked at Alastor with a smile, "Didn't something like that happen at Hogwarts?"
"Please put your wand down Harry. We really are your allies," Hestia Jones said carefully, showing her hands, so that Harry wouldn't do anything rash.
"I don't even know you," Harry replied with a snort and then looked at Remus before bringing his face closer.
"Tell me something only we know."
Remus immediately opened his mouth, noticing that he could only speak, not move. He was really surprised by Harry's ability to do magic, but these were not times to think about that kind of things, he had to answer to dispel Harry's doubts.
"I taught you about the Patronus Charm, and also that my fear was the moon. Your father was my childhood friend, and I believed that Sirius was responsible for the death of your parents, until we found out the truth when we caught the rat."
Harry looked at Remus for a few moments before letting go and stepping back as he waved his wand, bringing Remus out of his frozen state.
"How can you use magic?" Remus asked immediately. "You're not supposed to."
Harry snorted before answering, "I overloaded the detector to pieces with my own magic. The Ministry won't detect me."
"That..."
"Enough! We don't have that much time!" Mad-Eye exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention.
"They want to get me out of here, how?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We have brooms to fly to safety," Tonks said.
"Brooms... of all the possible things in the wizarding world, you brought the ones most visible to muggles? Why not use a portkey or even apparate there?"
Harry's question caused everyone to fall silent, until Alastor's wooden leg was heard as he walked out of the house. It seemed that even the man who always remembered constant surveillance could forget some things.
"Sometimes I find it hard to believe the lack of... Nevermind, let's just go," Harry pinched the bridge of his nose as he spoke, but changed his words when he realized there would be no point in continuing to talk about the lack of common sense in most of the wizarding world.
They all got out and got ready, holding brooms in one hand.
"Okay, we'll fly high!" Alastor said seriously. "We need to be high enough so the muggles don't see us!"
Harry rolled his eyes before mounting the broom and shooting off into the sky. Remus followed immediately, followed by Tonks and Alastor. The rest began to fly after, creating a formation. Alastor would be at the back while Remus was at the front. Tonks and Hestia on either side of Harry while Emmeline Vance and Sturgis Podmore brought up the rear.
"We should fly closer to the clouds!" Alastor shouted, looking up a bit.
"That would just leave us completely soaked!" Tonks shouted back.
Harry squeezed his eyes shut for a few moments. If they were being followed right now, then any thoughts of sneaking around and not being seen would have completely disappeared.
The good thing about this whole absurd situation was that it would be over soon.
In fact, it didn't take too long for them to arrive and land in front of a building. Alastor handed Harry a note, which caused everyone to look up a little as the building seemed to move, revealing a whole new part.
"Surprising, isn't it?" Tonks smiled as she gently nudged Harry with her elbow.
"Not really, it's just the Fidelius Charm after all," Harry replied and shrugged, as if a Fidelius wasn't surprising at all.
"You seem to have studied quite a bit, Harry," Remus commented at the knowledge Harry seemed to have.
"Being cooped up makes you boring..."
"Mm..." Remus just muttered a little before walking towards the entrance, with the rest following close behind him. He didn't say anything related to the letters or the apparent visit of a certain house elf to Voldemort, it was better that those topics were brought up at another time, where everyone was gathered and could talk more calmly.
The main door opened into a long hallway, lit by gas lamps and a large chandelier. You could smell damp, dust and a sweet rotten smell; the place had the feel of an abandoned building... Old-fashioned gas lamps sputtered to life along the walls, casting a flickering and insubstantial light on the dark and gloomy walls.
Harry simply followed the group, but stopped for a moment when he heard a scream.
"Damn blood traitors! Not only do they bring mudbloods, but now half-bloods too!"
Raising an eyebrow, Harry saw Walburga's portrait on the wall, along with several others, but they didn't move like hers. Hers was the most noticeable, after all her screams could be heard all around the hallway.
"Don't pay attention to her, Sirius tried to get her off the wall, but he couldn't. Just ignore her," Remus said with a small grimace on his face.
"Fine...", Harry nodded, but he was already planning to talk to the woman. Tonks, who was beside him, was the only one who noticed Harry's enigmatic smile.
As they entered another room, Harry saw Sirius and smiled immediately.
"Harry!"
"Hey Sirius, it's good to see you better."
"Hahaha!", Sirius laughed and gave Harry a hug before speaking excitedly "It's good to see you too, Harry."
Remus smiled at the hug of the two, feeling much more relaxed now.
"Harry!" An excited cry came soon after and Harry had to use some strength to keep from falling into Hermione's big hug.
"How have you been, Hermione?"
"Fine, fine. But it seems you were joking around too much, Harry. With the letters, I mean."
"Ah... that, I was just bored and decided to do some writing."
Harry smiled and looked over to see Ron and the twins approaching.
"Hey guys."
Ron was about to speak, but was interrupted by a cough. Everyone turned their heads, noticing Dumbledore standing a little further back.
"As wonderful as it is to see you all so excited, I want us to talk, Harry."
Harry's green eyes stared at Dumbledore for a few moments, but suddenly, he pulled out his wand and fired a spell at the Hogwarts headmaster. Shocked by the sudden attack, Dumbledore raised his hand and deflected the spell.
"Harry, what the hell!" Sirius exclaimed in shock.
"You've taken the words right out of my mouth, Headmaster. I think we should talk," Harry ignored Sirius as he looked at Dumbledore with his head slightly lowered; his eyes glittered as his magic began to affect the surroundings. Some things floated around as the ground creaked a little.
"And we should start with the fact that you didn't tell me that bloody Voldemort left a piece of his soul in my scar."
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