Chapter 3 House Keeping Chores
For the first three days of summer vacation Harry tried to avoid spending much time in any room that was occupied by a Dursley. He tried to avoid talking to the Dursleys or bumping into them or even allowing them to see him at all. That seemed to suit them just fine. Now that Harry was about to come of age and was a trained wizard they were less confident about forcing him to do chores in order to earn his meals. But without being asked to do so, he mowed the grass and pulled some weeds just to get out of the house. He figured that if he sat in his room he would think about Dumbledore and all of the others and he’d get depressed.
He had received a reply to the urgent note he had sent to Hermione on his first night home, within a few hours. Her letter sat open on his desk. He had read it several times because he hadn’t heard anything from anyone else since.
Dearest Harry,
We were attacked the moment we apparated by two of the Death Eaters who had been involved in the fight at school. A big blond fellow killed Mr. Shacklebolt before we knew what was happening. Hestia Jones was also hit almost immediately. Mr. Moody and Mr. Podmore killed the Death Eaters with a spell you absolutely must learn.
Please don’t worry about me. We are safe for now, though saddened by the sudden loss of Mr. Shacklebolt and Ms. Jones. On top of Dumbledore’s death, this a great blow to the Order. We haven’t fully come to terms with the horror of this new reality yet.
It seems that Snape left your house just moments before we got here. We think the two in the alley were acting as his lookouts.
The house is full of traps. We’ve cleared the front hall and the kitchen so we’re all camping in here tonight. We’ve put up a new barrier to stop intruders. Mr. Lupin has arrived to help. The Weasleys sent an owl with a promise to be here to tomorrow. Professor Flitwick is clearing the traps out of a bathroom. I hope he hurries.
I’ll contact you as soon as we’re ready to put a proper Fidelius charm on your house.
Yours,
Hermione
That treacherous bastard Snape had filled his house with traps. His friends were risking their lives by cleaning out his booby-trapped house while he sat here doing nothing. He wondered what spell Moody and Podmore had used on those two Death Eaters. They would certainly not use Avada Kedavra, it was an unforgivable curse. But whatever they used, it was fatal. Harry couldn’t wait to learn it and then use it on Snape.
Harry picked up The Daily Prophet for about the tenth time that day. The news was still mostly about the deaths of Dumbledore, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Hestia Jones. There were rumors of sightings of known Death Eaters and a story about some mysterious damage to trees that was attributed to giants. The only thing interesting in the paper was a picture of the Holyhead Harpies in their new Quidditch outfits. The league wanted to have their uniforms banned for being too revealing. He took another good look at the Harpies, but even with their sexy uniforms they couldn’t distract Harry for very long. Harry needed action. He needed motion. Hermione was right once again.
“Potter!” Harry’s Uncle Vernon called.
Harry walked downstairs to see what his Uncle was shouting about.
“There is a telephone call for you,” his Uncle said staring at him suspiciously.
“Hello,” said Harry.
“Hi Harry, it’s me, Hermione,” said a familiar girl’s voice. She sounded a bit out of breath and there was a lot of noise in the background. “I’m sorry to not get back to you for three days. I hope you haven’t been too awfully worried, but things in the house were worse than we thought they’d be.”
“Is everyone alright?” Harry asked.
“We’ve had some scary moments and some minor injuries. Sturgis Podmore had to go to St. Mungo’s. But we’re all fine now,” she said.
“Where are you?” Harry asked.
“Paddington Station,” she answered. “We’ll come get you tomorrow morning.”
“I thought I had to stay here for two weeks,” Harry said.
“You have to live at the Dursleys’ house for two weeks, but you can get out for a few hours during the day,” Hermione said.
At nine the following morning there was a knock on the front door.
“Don’t those people know how to use the bell?” Uncle Vernon grumbled.
Harry easily beat his corpulent uncle to the door. He glanced through the peep hole and saw Hermione and Remus Lupin waiting on the steps.
“Where’s you wand?” Lupin asked Harry as soon as the door was opened. “You should always have it out when you open the door and you should ask us some question that only we can answer before opening the door.”
“You sound like Mad-Eye Moody,” Harry said with a smile.
“Mr. Moody sounds more and more sensible everyday,” Hermione said in Lupin’s defense. “And it’s not because he’s getting less paranoid. Ask me a question Harry.”
“Alright Hermione,” Harry said, “What did you smell when you inhaled the vapors of Amortentia in our first potions class with Slughorn?
“Oh Harry!” Hermione exclaimed rolling her eyes. “Alright,” She sighed, “I smelled cut grass and fresh parchment.” She started to blush a bit.
“And what else?” Harry said teasingly?
“You don’t know and you don’t need to know!” Hermione said defensively, turning redder.
“I’ll bet it’s Ron’s brand of soap,” Harry said chuckling.
“No, that isn’t it! Now I’ve answered your question so let’s get going,” Hermione said in frustration.
“How are we getting there?” Harry asked.
“I heard you could apparate,” Lupin said.
“Sort-of,” Harry said, “I haven’t passed the test yet.”
“You can legally apparate side-by-side with either one of us,” Lupin said. “But I would assume that you would rather hold hands with Hermione than with me,” he added with a chuckle. “Let’s move into the parlor so none of the neighbors will see us dissapparate.”
Harry moved into the living room and looked back at his friends. He had expected to see Lupin limping slightly, but he was surprised to notice that Hermione was leaning on a cane as she moved down the hall.
“What happened to you?” he asked her.
“I fell off a stool,” she said in disgust. “It wasn’t enchanted at all! But Snape had cut two of the legs nearly all the way through, and he had put an enchanted music box on top of a wardrobe. The box wouldn’t move when I used a summoning charm, so I used the stool to get to the music box and it collapsed on me.”
“Snape’s a clever bastard isn’t he,” Harry said as Remus Lupin dissaparated with a loud CRACK.
Hermione was looking at him and holding out a hand. Harry hesitated. The only person he had ever apparated with was Dumbledore, and that thought made him sad.
“It’ll be alright Harry,” Hermione said quietly. “I know our destination. All you have to do, is to be determined to stay with me.”
“Yes, yes,” Harry irritably. “We’ll deliberate together and probably get dumped in a dirty derelict dustbin or some dumb d-thing like that.”
He took her hand and they were sucked into a tight rubber hose that transported them to an overgrown vacant lot not far from Number twelve Grimmauld place. Apparating was very uncomfortable and Harry hated it. He was surprised to hear Hermione giggle.
“What’s so funny?” he asked her.
“We were deposited in the dirt surrounded by dozens of darned dandelions,” she said with a mischievous smile.
“Delightful,” he said.
“You sound depressed,” she said grinning.
“Oh stop that,” he said smiling back at her.
“Your house is no longer at Number twelve Grimmauld Place,” Lupin informed him. “We changed the name of the street to Greenfield Way.”
“You can just change the name of a street?” Harry asked in surprise.
“We just changed the wizard’s name for the street. The Muggles have always called this street Grunnell Court,” Lupin said.
“Grimmauld Place was a name used just by Wizards, and then only wizards who knew the secret,” Hermione explained. “We changed your house number too. The new address is Number twelve and seven sixteenths Greenfield Way.”
“Twelve and seven sixteenths! Why not just Twelve and a half?” Harry asked.
“Professor Flitwick was afraid that if we moved it that much we’d crush a peony bush,” Hermione said.
When they got into the house they were greeted warmly by Ron and Ginny, who were there with their mother helping in the final bits of cleaning. Professor Flitwick came striding down the hall.
“Harry! Good to see you! I’m ready to put the new Fidelius charm on your house,” the little professor said. “Have you selected a secret keeper?”
Harry’s reply was drowned out by a burst of shrieking and swearing from the portrait of Mrs. Black. So Flitwick and Harry retreated to the drawing room with Harry pulling on Ron’s arm.
“Ron, you are my best mate,” Harry began, “but I’m going to make Hermione my secret keeper and I wanted to tell you why.”
“Well, alright,” Ron said sounding a bit disappointed.
Harry glanced over at Professor Flitwick before continuing. The Charms Professor moved a few feet away.
“Ron, I might be going to some dangerous places in the next few months,” Harry said quietly. “Ginny doesn’t know what I’m up to, and I want it to stay that way. I want her to stay out of danger. Hermione already knows too much, and she’s stubborn. If I make her my secret keeper, she’ll feel obligated to be extra careful, so she doesn’t get captured. I want her to stay out of danger too. Do you agree with my reasoning?”
“Well, yeah, I guess so,” Ron said unenthusiastically. “But it’ll make it harder to arrange for a surprise party.”
“Would you please tell Hermione to come in here, Ron,” Harry said patting his friend on the back and leading him to the door.
A minute later Hermione came into the drawing room.
“Are we ready?” Professor Flitwick asked?
It took only a few minutes for Harry and Hermione to make the necessary vows while Flitwick cast the protective charm. Soon Hermione Granger was the only person besides Harry who could tell anyone the secret that would allow them or enter or even to see Harry’s house.
Harry and Hermione then went around the house and told everyone the new address so if they left the house, they could get back in. Harry made sure that he personally told Ginny his secret address, but she didn’t seem a bit happy that Hermione was Harry’s secret keeper.
That morning the house was a scene of chaos as people ran around cleaning, destroying enchanted traps and repairing the inevitable damage that occurred in the process of battling choking chairs, smothering sofas and toothy toilets. The constant swearing and shouting coming from the painting of Mrs. Black was really beginning to annoy Harry. He was pulling the curtain over it for about the fourteenth time when Hermione, who had been glancing out the front window every few minutes as if she were expecting someone, suddenly announced, “Daddy and Mr. Weasley are back!”
Harry saw Arthur Weasley and Mr. Granger standing next to a Range Rover that was parked by the curb about a half a block down from Harry’s house. The two men had confused looks on their faces.
Hermione hobbled out the door to tell them the address of the house. They had been there earlier that morning but the new charm made it impossible for them to remember the address.
“The Muggles will see them if they try carrying in that drywall without using magic!” Moody snarled. “It’ll look pretty strange if two men and a sheet of dry wall just disappear in front of their eyes.”
“What is Mr. Granger doing here?” Harry asked in surprise.
Moody ignored Harry and cast a Disillusionment spell on himself. The door opened and closed. Harry assumed that Old Mad-Eye had gone out to help Mr. Granger and Mr. Weasley bring in whatever they were bringing in and to cast the spells that would make sure they weren’t seen by the neighbors.
“They’re going to build a false wall in front of the portrait of Mrs. Black,” Remus Lupin said. “There are enchantments on that painting that prevent us from removing it and we can’t just conjure a permanent wall in front of it either. But that curtain helps, and it is completely non-magical! Mr. Granger agreed to help us build a Muggle-style wall in front of the painting using no magic at all. Professor Flitwick thinks it should keep Mrs. Black quiet for a long time.”
Harry spent the morning helping Mr. Granger build the false wall in front of the painting.
Mrs. Black kept up a tirade of insults and curses aimed at halfbreeds and blood traitors and filthy mudbloods all of the while. The only respite they had from her foul mouth was when she learned that Mr. Granger was a Muggle. She had such an apoplectic fit that she couldn’t even speak for a whole minute. Mr. Weasley tried to help with the construction of the wall too, but Mr. Granger had to take the drill and screw driver away from him.
“We don’t want to run down the batteries,” Mr. Grainger explained. “There are no electric outlets in this house so I can’t recharge them.”
“How marvelous! Eclectic tool with batteries!” Mr. Weasley exclaimed enthusiastically
Being an old Gryffindor student and thus brave, Mr. Weasley wouldn’t let a little pain stop him from learning how to use a Muggle hammer. By mid-morning he was beginning to get the hang of it, but Molly was getting tired of having her work in the kitchen interrupted by his frequent calls to have her cast a healing spell on his thumb. Hermione was much more helpful. She could actually hit a nail with a hammer.
After lunch, Flitwick called Hermione into the kitchen saying he needed a small person to retrieve some evil enchanted items that were hidden in a tight corner.
Harry was just finishing up a long cut on a piece of drywall (using a hand saw with a plastic handle that delighted Mr. Weasley) when Hermione came out of the kitchen. She was clutching the quilt she had given to Kreacher for Christmas. Her face was white.
“Kreacher had a chamber pot in his den,” Hermione said in a shaky sort of voice.
“I’ll bet that smelled bad,” Harry said.
“Harry, come with me please, I want to show you this,” she said insistently.
She looked very stern (even though she had said please) so Harry left the wall building project to Mr. Granger and Mr. Weasley and followed her to the drawing room where the tapestry embroidered with the Black Family Tree hung.
Hermione said nothing but she opened the quilt to reveal a large locket. Harry recognized it immediately. He had seen it two years ago when they were cleaning out this very room. And he had seen it more recently in Dumbledore’s pensieve. It was Slytherin’s locket. Hermione had one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes in her hands.
“What was that doing in my house!” Harry asked in awe.
“It must have been brought here by R.A.B.” Hermione said as she carefully laid the Horcrux on the drawing room table. She looked at the tapestry for a few moments and said, “R.A.B. was Regulus Black!”
“Wow!” Harry exclaimed. “I didn’t expect to find one so soon.”
“What are you going to do with it Harry?” Hermione asked trembling.
“I’ll destroy it, of course,” Harry said.
“Yes, but how will you do that?” she asked. “None of us could open it when we found it two years ago. What if opening it activates some horrible curse like the one that withered Dumbledore’s arm?”
“I’d bet Snape really made Dumbledore’s arm worse rather than better” Harry said bitterly. “Just like he messed with my mind during those occlumency lessons. He was opening me up, making it easier for Voldemort to plant visions in my head.”
“Still, Snape aside,” Hermione persisted, “How do you destroy a Horcrux? I’m not sure if it’s even safe to touch it.”
“I don’t know,” Harry admitted. “A Basilisk fang worked on Tom Riddle’s Diary. But I hope there’s another way of destroying a Horcrux. There was still venom in that fang, and I don’t want to fetch a fresh Basilisk fang every time we find a Horcrux.”
Harry decided right then and there that he didn’t want anyone else, not even Ron, to know that he had a Horcrux in his house. So he cast a Colloportus charm to lock the door of the drawing room and Muffliato spell to keep their conversation unheard. After a bit of discussion Harry and Hermione agreed that they would have to hide the Horcrux until Hermione learned the proper way to destroy one. The safest place to keep it would be right there in Number twelve and seven sixteenths Greenfield Way. So they put the locket into a drawer at the bottom of one of the glass fronted cabinets and Hermione proceeded to put every sort of locking charm on the drawer that she could remember. Then she put a permanent sticking charm on the cabinet so no one could move it. Then she put an imperturbable charm on the cabinet so no one could smash it open. When Harry was satisfied with the security arrangements he removed the Muffliato spell and the locking charm on the door and he and Hermione left the drawing room.
Harry was pleased to see that the wall in front of the portrait of Mrs. Black was complete and he was even more pleased that he didn’t hear her nasty shrieking and cursing. Mr. Granger had brought a couple of gallons of white paint which would really lighten up the old hallway. They started to paint without using magic, mostly for Mr. Weasley’s benefit, but when Molly Weasley announced she had tea and cakes they charmed the paint brushes and let them finish up the job on their own. This delighted Mr. Granger.
Ron was strangely quiet while they had their tea and Ginny was not there at all.
“Where’s Ginny?” Harry asked.
“I’m surprised you care,” Ron said in a rather angry tone.
Harry thought Ron’s attitude was strangely sour, but he supposed Ron had been arguing with Ginny or his mother or had encountered a nasty trap while cleaning the last room upstairs.
“I like the way the hall is looking,” Harry said smiling. “I think I’ll paint the whole place bright cheerful colors.”
“What were you and Hermione doing in the drawing room?” Ron asked.
“Oh nothing,” Harry said lamely. “I mean… nothing you need to worry about. We were working on a little secret project. It’s of no concern to you. Don’t worry about it.”
Harry’s answer did not seem to improve Ron’s mood.
After tea the Weasley’s left for the Burrow. Hermione cleaned up the mess in the hall with a wave of her wand. Mr. Granger took Harry back to Number four Privet Drive since he and Mrs. Granger were staying in a hotel not far from Little Whinging.
On the following morning Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin picked up Harry in a car they borrowed from the Ministry of Magic and they all went to Hestia Jones’ funeral. After lunch they went to Kingsley Shacklebolt’s funeral. Altogether it was not Harry’s favorite day of the summer.
A few days later Harry got another telephone call from Hermione. This time he was invited over to her house for dinner.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
In chapter 15 of HBP (pg. 305 of the American edition), Hermione tells Harry that Ron is “at perfect liberty to kiss whomever he likes,” and that she “really couldn’t care less.” Hermione is clearly angry about something, but are you certain that she is angry about Ron being with Lavender? Are you certain that Hermione is telling Harry a lie? Is there an alternative hypothesis that might explain her anger at this moment? I think Hermione is angry at Harry over the Felix Felicis incident. (See my short fic entitled: The Moment That Was Not for my thoughts on that question.) Alternatively, the girls that were plotting to give Harry a love potion may have her bothered.