Potter Manor
A/N Pay attention, I get nothing from writing this except my own pleasure from reading reviews. JKR owns it all!
The next morning, Harry could barely contain himself long enough to change out of his pajamas into his regular clothes. He was anxious to get to a copy of The Daily Prophet to see the story they were supposed to do on Sirius.
“’Mione,” mumbled Ron, rolling over and cuddling with his pillow. Harry had to hold his laughter as to not wake his best friend and roommate. He closed the door softly behind him as he left the room.
Once he had cleared the door to his room, Harry ran down the steps and towards the kitchen. He was in such a hurry that he almost knocked Molly off her feet as he burst through the kitchen door.
“Sorry, Mrs. Weasley,” he said with a sheepish grin. “Has anyone seen a copy of The Daily Prophet today?”
“On the table, Harry. Sirius got top billing today,” Molly said, happy to see that Harry’s face was alight with anticipation. She was so used to seeing him subdued. Seeing him with all this energy and an abundance of smiles was an absolute joy to her.
Harry read the article in the Prophet quickly, and then went back to read it more slowly. It was as if he was trying to memorize every word of the article which announced to the world that Sirius Black was not the murderer everyone had thought him to be.
“Mrs. Weasley? After everyone is done with this, do you think I could cut out this article and save it? It may be too late to give him any freedom, but I think this would have meant a lot to Sirius. I’d like to keep it so I can always remember how it felt to see his name finally cleared,” Harry said, sounding so much like a small boy.
“Take it, Harry. I got extra copies just for you and Remus. Professor Dumbledore let me know that the article was going to be in there today,” Molly said with a smile. “Sirius and I may not have agreed on everything, but we both had your best interest at heart. I almost miss the verbal sparring; it reminded me so of my brother Gabriel and the spats we used to have. I lost him during the first war with You-Know-Who.” Molly got a look of nostalgia in her eyes. She had not thought of her long dead brothers for some time now. The memories were quick, but she refused to shed a tear. This was supposed to be a happy day, and she was not going to ruin it by blubbering over events that were in the past.
Remus walked slowly into the kitchen, not quite fully awake. He mumbled what sounded like a hello to everyone in the room, and proceeded to pour himself a cup of tea. He sat down at the worn kitchen table, picked up the newspaper, and began to read as he took his first sip of morning tea. As he read the headline, he almost spit out his tea into the newspaper and ended up choking on it instead.
“Merlin! Why didn’t anyone tell me about this? Sirius has been cleared. Do you hear me? CLEARED! This is such great news,” he exclaimed. Almost magically gone was the sleepy man that had entered the kitchen just moments before. Remus had gotten up and was dancing in the kitchen, twirling Molly around no matter how much she tried to slap his hands away.
Tonks entered the kitchen just in time to be grabbed and twirled around the room by Remus. “He was cleared! He was cleared!” was all that she could understand out of him. Remus was so caught up in his celebration that he kissed Tonks as he was twirling her. When he realized what he had done, he stopped in his tracks, dropped her on the floor, and blushed furiously.
Tonks was not prepared for the kiss, and even less prepared to be dropped to the floor. She landed in an ungraceful heap, her hair changing colors again from embarassment. Harry reached out a hand to help her up off the ground, amazed at what he had just witnessed. He had never seen Remus so jubilant.
“Oh my, Nympha,” he paused as she shot him a withering look. “…er…Tonks, I am so very sorry. I got a bit carried away. I was just so excited! Sirius was cleared!”
“So I gathered,” Tonks said, trying not to sound disappointed. “That is very good news indeed. So,” she said, turning to Harry, “what time are we leaving to go explore this Manor of yours?”
“You’re going to Potter Manor today?” Remus said, shocked that he had been left out of so much.
“Yes Remus, and you would have known if you had not run off so quickly last night after the meeting,” admonished Molly. “I even get to go along on this one. But we do need more for the guard if you are interested. We leave in three hours,” Molly said in her best motherly tone. Tonks shot her a look of gratitude. She had not quite gained her composure back enough from the kiss to think coherently, much less form too many sentences. Tonks suspected that Molly knew exactly how she was feeling and was trying to help cover for her.
“Mrs. Weasley, have you seen my aunt this morning? I would really like to invite her to come along, if no one minds. Dudley too. I’m sure they have been feeling a bit left out over the past few days,” Harry said thoughtfully. “I’m still not sure exactly what their plans are. Where they are going to stay and what they are going to do. I do feel bad for ignoring them, but there has been so much happening.”
All three adults were amazed at the thoughtfulness Harry was exhibiting. There was such a capacity for forgiveness and love within this teenager, it was staggering.
“We’ll think of something by summer’s end Harry. You know they won’t be left out in the cold,” said Remus with a small smile. “And I think asking them to come along would be a grand idea.”
“You go and get cleaned up. I will stay here and watch for Petunia and tell her of our plans for the day. If you could dear, would you wake up Ron and the girls? We need to get breakfast done and get everyone moving if we are all to be ready when the headmaster gets here with the Portkey,” Molly said, walking across the kitchen to get the pans started heating for cooking.
“Yes ma’am,” Harry said as he left the kitchen. This had the possibility of being a really great day. It was already off to a fantastic start. Harry took the steps at a run, two at a time. He felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted off of his shoulders, if only for a short time.
*~*~*~
A few hours later, everyone was ready to go. Dumbledore had shown up with Kingsley and Moody in tow as extra guard.
The party gathered in the entry hall of Grimmauld Place in a circle around the enlarged key chain that Professor Dumbledore had turned into a Portkey. As everyone touched the Portkey, they felt the now familiar pulling sensation behind their navels.
When everything stopped spinning, and Petunia and Dudley were picked up off the ground, all that could be heard were gasps of wonder. They were in another entry hall, but this one was very different.
The room had vaulted ceilings and black marble tile flooring that sparkled with their reflections. The walls were painted in the same very light silver color that was the marbling in the floor tiles. There was a staircase off to the left that wound its way up to the second floor. They could see a hallway leading off to the back of the house just past the stairs. To the left and right were huge oaken doors leading into other rooms.
“M…M…Master James? You is not Master James. What is you doing in Potter Manor looking like Master James?” said a very distraught house-elf dressed in a miniature suit.
“I am Harry. James was my father,” Harry very gently tried to explain to the upset house-elf.
“Master Harry? It has been a long time. Last time I’s seeing you, you was a baby. I am Idget, house-elf of Potter Manor,” the house-elf said bowing very low. “Will Master James and Missus Lily be coming home soon too?” Idget’s face lit up with so much expectancy that it almost broke Harry’s heart to tell him that his parents were gone, but it had to be done.
Idget handled the news well. He told Harry and company that all the rest of the house-elves had left many years before. Idget had known that someone would come back to Potter Manor one day, so he had stayed, even though Master Harold (Harry’s Grandfather) had freed him years ago. Idget took it upon himself to make sure someone was there when the Potters came home. Now he had a family to take care of again, he could barely contain his excitement.
Hermione was beside herself. She was not the first one to believe in freedom for house-elves. Or maybe Harry’s grandparents and parents knew they would not be back, and that’s why the freed Idget. Either way, she was very impressed with the Potters. She looked around the room and peaked through the open doorways. She gasped as she looked through the doorway to the left. The library she saw beyond that door HAD to be the size of the one at Hogwarts, if not bigger.
Hermione’s gasp seemed to break everyone out of his or her reverie. They all looked around for the enemy, laughing when they saw that the reason for Hermione’s gasp was a massive amount of books.
“Master Harry, you and friends go look around Manor. Idget will be in the kitchen starting the evening feast,” Idget said, bouncing on his toes. “Idget is still working on the upstairs. Idget apologizes if it is not good yet. It takes Idget a month to get the Manor clean from top to bottom. Yous just be calling Idget if you need him.” With that he gave a small bow and bounced out of the room.
Harry was in shock at this news. Clearly the Manor was too big for Idget to handle alone. Harry looked at Professor Dumbledore, knowing the perfect house-elf to help out.
“If you ask Dobby, you will have to take Winky as well Harry. They have bonded,” said Professor Dumbledore. At Harry’s confused look he continued, “that is the house-elf form of marriage.”
“Oh. Both of them would be fine. Do you think they would agree to help out here and at Grimmauld Place? Or would they be too missed at Hogwarts? Should we talk to Idget about it first?” Harry asked, not wanting to inconvenience anyone.
“We have hundreds of house-elves at Hogwarts, Harry. Let’s talk to Idget first, let him know you are not replacing him. Then we can ask Dobby and Winky and see what they say,” Professor Dumbledore said, impressed that Harry cared so much about the feelings of others.
Mrs. Weasley, who was not used to having house-elves around at all, was shocked and amazed that Harry was about to have three. She had seen how most witches and wizards treated their house-elves, and it was nowhere near the kindness that Harry was displaying. Harry was already one of her favorite people, but he went up a few steps in her book simply for being himself.
After being told of the new house-elves, Idget was in hysterics. Once Idget was comforted by the assurance that the new house-elves weren't because of his doing a terrible job, Dobby and Winky were called to Potter Manor. Once they got over their initial fear that Dumbledore was firing them, and their excitement at seeing Harry and his Wheezies (including Ginny and Hermione of course),; they accepted the job willingly. They were going to go back and forth between Potter Manor and Grimmauld Place, helping out at both locations. They would not take more than 3 Galleons a week, and had to be talked into taking one day off a week. All in all, the meeting went well with all the house-elves getting right to work.
Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Remus and Tonks stayed in one group and headed directly up the stairs to see what they could find. Everyone in the group had to promise Hermione that she could come back and look at all the books for a while a little later.
Petunia, Molly, and the rest went to explore the downstairs first. When they got to the kitchen, their mouths hit the floor. The kitchen was a homemaker’s dream! One area of the wall was taken up with a triple oven, double chrome sink, and full sized pantry. The refrigerator looked like something that would be used in a restaurant; that didn’t include the walk in freezer. The hunter green tile flooring actually sparkled, as did the matching countertops. There was enough counter space for at least four people to be working at once.
Idget was definitely in his element in the beautiful kitchen. Petunia and Molly both noticed him humming. He seemed genuinely happy that he now had a family to look after. Petunia stepped forward as if to ask Idget if he needed any help when Molly stopped her. The poor house-elf would take it as an insult. Molly may not have had much experience with house-elves, but she did know proper etiquette for the situation.
The ladies sighed once more at the kitchen, and moved along with the rest of the group to continue exploring the first floor. The living room, formal dining room, den, study, family room, and library were almost as impressive as the kitchen. It seemed the Potters had excellent taste and put it to good use. Petunia quickly fell in love with each and every room she explored. It was almost like stepping into one of the magazines that she so loved to peruse.
*~*~*~
Upstairs Hermione and Ron were walking a little bit ahead of the rest of the group. Harry was listening to Remus give a few facts about the house itself. He had been there as a teenager many different times with Sirius and James. As far as he could remember, Peter had never made it to Potter Manor.
“I remember twelve bathrooms upstairs and fourteen bedrooms. Each room had it’s own motif, although they were all very beautiful. Your grandmother had impeccable taste,” Remus said, as he wandered through the maze of halls until he found the room he was looking for. He stopped at the closed door, took a deep breath, and opened the door slowly. “This was your father’s room. After he got married, it was his and Lily’s bedroom.”
In the room there was a king-sized, mahogany canopy bed. The bed had hangings on it just as the ones at Hogwarts did. The bedclothes were a deep burgundy color, accented with dark gold trim and throw pillows. The room itself looked fit for royalty.
Looking above the fireplace, Harry saw a portrait of his mother and father. His mother had a baby in her arms in the picture that he presumed was his younger self. But to his disappointment this was not a wizarding portrait. All of the characters in the picture were absolutely still and lifeless.
He did, however, see many framed smaller wizarding pictures around the room. Remus followed Harry’s eyes and laughed, “Your father was always wanting our picture taken. He loved to have pictures done at every opportunity. It was almost as if he was trying to make a record of time.”
“Seems like he succeeded,” replied Harry with a sardonic smile. “In most of these I see you, Sirius, and my parents. Pettigrew is not in even one of them. Isn’t that odd?”
“Most likely, Peter went into hiding and took himself out of the pictures,” Remus replied with a sneer. “He may have finally figured out he was not wanted.”
Remus went back to looking up at the large portrait of Lily, James, and baby Harry. His eyes began to mist over. He truly missed his friends. A single tear rolled down his cheek as Tonks stepped up beside him. She knew how upset Remus was, so she threw caution to the wind and reached for his hand.
Seeing this, Harry quietly grabbed Ginny and left the room to give the adults some privacy. He knew that Remus was upset but was not sure how to comfort him. There were many more rooms in the upstairs level of the Manor to explore.
Remus felt a hand lightly touch his. He looked over at Tonks, and saw such understanding in her eyes that he broke down and let the tears flow. He had opened the gates and was letting it all out. Sobbing, he told her how he missed his friends and how lonely it was to be the last one left.
Tonks thought about this for a moment and then pulled his chin up so he would look her in the eye. “You don’t HAVE to be lonely or alone Remus. You choose to shut everyone out. You’re just lucky that I am too obstinate to listen to the rubbish. You have to let people in at some point Remus. Why not start with me?” Tonks said, her hair and eyes changing multiple colors due to embarrassment, yet again. She could not believe she had been that bold. Whatever had come over her?
She began to turn to walk away when she felt a tug on her hand. Remus was holding it tight. She looked up from their entwined hands to his face, a face that was coming closer to hers. She opened her mouth to apologize for stepping out of bounds. He silenced her with a deep and passionate kiss.
A/N A very special thanks and big hug to CraftySlythern who has been a very wonderful beta! Check out her story Caves of Consealment when you have the chance. Big thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed. Reviews mean a lot, especially in first fanfics! If you haven't checked it out already, also check out Remembering Sirius by Dumblydoor. Til next time....