took only taking two steps down for Harry to get the life scared out of him when Dobby popped up in front of him saying, "Master Harry Potter not be going alone to scary Black place. Master Harry be feeling scared through bond so Dobby will help. Dobby be going with him even if Kreacher thinks we be being silly!"
Harry had to laugh at that and while he laughed he felt the tension leave him. Laughing truly was the best defence against fear. It was like with the boggart in Remus's DADA class. It had been a great lesson. Dobby looked satisfied, he was happy that he could help his great Master Harry Potter Sir.
"Alright Dobby, lets go into the dark gloomy basement together then." Harry said as he and Dobby took a step down the stairs. Harry took his new wand out of his pocket and cast the first spell he had learned, "Lumos."
As the wand lit up brightly, they walked down the stairs only to find another door at the bottom of the steps. At least this one was plainly visable. Opening the door was strangely nerve wracking but he did it with another simple spell. There wouldn't be anything dangerous in there, right? It was all quite easy to open so there wouldn't be anything truly dangerous. At least Harry hoped so. He opened the door and he saw-
… A normal basement.
Well that was a bit of a let down. Harry bet that Kreacher was laughing at him right now. At least there was enough light in this room and so Harry cast, "Nox." so that the light shining above his wand went out.
He and Dobby entered the basement and looked around. Now that he was actually in the basement he could see like, fifteen, portraits hanging on the walls but they all seemed to be sleeping. He wondered what they all did in life to be exciled to the basement of the House of Black. He looked at the nameplates under the portraits and quickly found Alphard Black.
Alphard Black's portrait was painted as a cosy library and he seemed to look quite a lot like Sirius. All the portraits looked like Sirius actually. Harry wondered what it was like to have family around you that you could see yourself in.
Alphard Black had the same dark hair and high cheekbones most Blacks seemed to have. Since he was sleeping Harry couldn't see his eyes but he would bet they were the same bright blue-ish grey colour as Sirius's eyes.
Harry's gaze fell on the two Runes at the side of the painting and he was relieved to see that he recognized them. They were the Runes that meant Activating and De-activating or wake and sleep in this case with the portraits. He was so glad he had read that Runes book the day before.
But what if he accidentally activated a trap? It had been suspiciously easy to get here in the hidden basement. He could see the Blacks cursing unwitting guest that found themselves here accidentally. A house as big as this was easy to get lost in, after all.
No, Kreacher wouldn't have let him go if there was a trap down here. The old House-Elf and he had a better relationship now so that was unlikely to happen.
Harry put a finger on the activating Rune and he felt a tiny shock when he felt some magic travel from him to the Rune. Could it feel in his magic that he was the Heir of House Black?
The man in the painting started stirring and yawned dramatically. He stretched his arms above his head and opened his eyes. Harry could see that Alphard Black did indeed have the same eyes as Sirius.
Alphard looked at the boy in front of him, saw the Black and Potter features in his face and said, "You must be Sirius's boy, Hadrian, yes? My name is, as you can see Alphard Cygnus Black. Your Father would be so very glad to see you chose to do the blood-adoption. He was always very proud of you when he came down here to talk to me."
"Hadrian?" Harry was confused. He knew that he wasn't aware about a lot of information but surely he would at least know his own name, right?
Alphard seeing what had confused the boy said, "Your full name is Hadrian James Potter-Black, child. Hadrian James was chosen by your parents- as the Potters always named their children after the Kings and Emperors of old. Black was added because of the blood-adoption. Harry was a nickname your parents and their friends called you. Did no one ever tell you this?"
Harry shook his head mutely. How could he not know his own name? Why did no one ever tell him? Did they think he already knew? Harry felt angry. How could he not have known this?
Hadrian James Poter-Black. His name was Hadrian, not Harry. Hadrian James.
"I see you haven't claimed you Lord of House Black ring yet. Hadrian, listen to me, you need to get to Gringotts as soon as possible. Tell them you want to do an inheritance test. Claim your ring. After that, as last of the Potter family and Head of the Black family, you can enter the Main vaults and there you will find anything you want to know about both of your families and yourself." Alphard looked very serious when saying this.
Harry nodded and said, "I know that I need to get to Gringott but I'm just not sure how. I got away from my relatives without anyone knowing and I can't be spotted by someone from the Order or they will sent me back. Do you have any idea on how I could get to Gringotts without being spotted?"
"That is indeed a problem. I see that you have a House Elf next to you. Can you write a letter and ask your Elf to give it to your account manager? Ask for a private meeting room in the letter and ask for permission for your Elf to bring you there."
Harry slapped his own forehead in frustration. Of course! Why hadn't he thought of that! He looked down to Dobby and asked, "Dobby could you deliver a letter to my account manager at Gringotts? I'm not sure who that is exactly, but could you find out for me?"
"Dobby can be doing that! Dobby be waiting upstairs for Master Harry to write letter now yous be knowing evil basement not be evil. You be calling Dobby when ready and I's be going to Bank for Master!" Dobby said excitingly and he popped away.
Alphard laughed, "That is a very excited Elf you have there, lad. It is always nice to see an House Elf who is treated well and so happily magical because of it."
Harry blushed, "Thank you, but Dobby is a happy Elf all on his own. I just try my best to treat him and Kreacher well and I hope they will do the same for me. Thank you for your advice. Sirius said in his letter that you could help me and that you were his favorite uncle growing up."
"Yes, Sirius was my older sisters first born. He was a rambunctious child that didn't fit in my sisters idea of how her children should behave. You might have seen her charming portrait when coming inside the house?" Alphard asked with a smirk.
"Walburga Black was your sister?! But you seem so normal!" Harry said shocked. He hoped that wouldn't offend the man. Portrait. Man in the portrait.
"Ah Hadrian, each Black has a bit of madness in them but unfortunately it was my sister who got the brunt of the madness in her generation." Alphard looked a bit sad while he said this. He visably tried to cheer himself when he said, "But enough about that. I believe you've got a letter to write."
Harry nodded and said, "Yes, I do. Thank you for the advice and I will come to visit you again soon. Do you want me to activate the Sleep Rune again?"
Alphard said, "Yes please do, Hadrian. It gets very boring here when you are the only one awake. Perhaps when you get the Lord ring you can take me upstairs again? Only the Lord or Lady of the house may decide where the portraits are placed."
"I will do that! Does that mean that when I get the ring I can put the portrait of Walburga somewhere else?" Harry asked with a very Black looking smirk that Alphard was glad to see on his nephew's boy. Or his pup might be more accurate after hearing how Sirius talked about him.
Alphard smirked back at his new nephew, "That is indeed possible for the Lord of House. Now go write your letter to the bank and I will see you soon."
Harry nodded, said his goodbyes and pressed a finger against the Sleep Rune.
When he walked back into the living room he saw that there was handsome looking owl sitting on the owl stand next to Hedwig with a letter and package tied to his leg.
He saw Hermione's handwriting on top and he wondered if his birthday owls had returned to sender when he activated the wards of Grimmauld Place and how only this one could get through when the others didn't. A bit afraid for what he would find, he opened the letter and read,
Harry James Potter!
How could you finally leave those horrible relatives of yours and then not even tell me that you are safe where ever you are! And you better be safe, you hear me!
Harry, did you have any idea how worried I was when the owl returned to me with your birthday present? I thought the Dursley's had locked you up again or that you-know-who had found you! Then a day later Professor Dumbledore came by to interrogate me about your location.
Professor Dumbledore was acting so strange, Harry. He was obsessive and angry and he scared me. Something was very wrong with him. He is an old man I guess but this seemed to be more than the usual age-related ailments.
Don't worry, I told him nothing. He does not deserve to know where you could be after he put you back by the Dursley's, time after time. Not that I know for sure where you are but there are only so many options, really.
So after thinking about it, the only house you could get to would be you-know-where and that should be a very safe house for you if you can activate the wards around it. Did you activate them? How did it go? Was it as magical as the books described?
I am so glad you got away from them, Harry, and I hope you are happy. I wish you wouldn't have to be alone in that big house but it is probably better then you're used to, unfortunately. I want to meet you sometime this month to see how you're doing for myself but we can talk about that later. But I do want regular updates!
Now before I forget, Happy Birthday Harry! I hope you had a nice relaxing day in your new place. Included with this letter is a present from me and my parents. I hope you like it. May we make many more memories together. Now write me back!
I better hear from you soon.
Love,
Hermione Granger
PS. Now you have left the Dursley's you have no excuse not to do your homework! I will check it over for you when we can meet.
Harry could almost feel her anger, concern and worry when reading the first part of the letter and he felt a bit guilty. He should have let her know he was safe before now.
It was also interesting to read that Dumbledore was already looking for him. Apparently the letter he sent him worked if he didn't come to Grimmauld Place directly. Harry felt a bit smug about that. Would you look at that, he, Hadrian Potter-Black could fool the Headmaster.
He grabbed the package Hermione had sent with the letter and he could feel it was some kind of book. He was not surprised since it was a present from Hermione and her parents. Bibliophiles the lot of them.
But when he opend the present he saw a dark green leather foto album with on the front in glimmering golden letters, 'Harry's Hogwarts years and beyond'.
It was beautiful.
He opened the album and saw both wizarding pictures and muggle ones of him. Hermione, Ron, Neville, Luna and a lot more. He was so small as an eleven year old! There were also a few pictures of him and Hermione from when she sneaked over in the summer vacations to visit him. She was the only one who did that for him and he would always be grateful for that. His kind and thoughtful friend.
After dinner he would write her a letter back. Harry hoped they could meet safely in a few weeks, he had a lot to tell her after all and he missed her already. But first he should go to bed before Dobby got angry with him for doing to much in his state. He could write the letter for Gringotts tomorrow.
took only taking two steps down for Harry to get the life scared out of him when Dobby popped up in front of him saying, "Master Harry Potter not be going alone to scary Black place. Master Harry be feeling scared through bond so Dobby will help. Dobby be going with him even if Kreacher thinks we be being silly!"
Harry had to laugh at that and while he laughed he felt the tension leave him. Laughing truly was the best defence against fear. It was like with the boggart in Remus's DADA class. It had been a great lesson. Dobby looked satisfied, he was happy that he could help his great Master Harry Potter Sir.
"Alright Dobby, lets go into the dark gloomy basement together then." Harry said as he and Dobby took a step down the stairs. Harry took his new wand out of his pocket and cast the first spell he had learned, "Lumos."
As the wand lit up brightly, they walked down the stairs only to find another door at the bottom of the steps. At least this one was plainly visable. Opening the door was strangely nerve wracking but he did it with another simple spell. There wouldn't be anything dangerous in there, right? It was all quite easy to open so there wouldn't be anything truly dangerous. At least Harry hoped so. He opened the door and he saw-
… A normal basement.
Well that was a bit of a let down. Harry bet that Kreacher was laughing at him right now. At least there was enough light in this room and so Harry cast, "Nox." so that the light shining above his wand went out.
He and Dobby entered the basement and looked around. Now that he was actually in the basement he could see like, fifteen, portraits hanging on the walls but they all seemed to be sleeping. He wondered what they all did in life to be exciled to the basement of the House of Black. He looked at the nameplates under the portraits and quickly found Alphard Black.
Alphard Black's portrait was painted as a cosy library and he seemed to look quite a lot like Sirius. All the portraits looked like Sirius actually. Harry wondered what it was like to have family around you that you could see yourself in.
Alphard Black had the same dark hair and high cheekbones most Blacks seemed to have. Since he was sleeping Harry couldn't see his eyes but he would bet they were the same bright blue-ish grey colour as Sirius's eyes.
Harry's gaze fell on the two Runes at the side of the painting and he was relieved to see that he recognized them. They were the Runes that meant Activating and De-activating or wake and sleep in this case with the portraits. He was so glad he had read that Runes book the day before.
But what if he accidentally activated a trap? It had been suspiciously easy to get here in the hidden basement. He could see the Blacks cursing unwitting guest that found themselves here accidentally. A house as big as this was easy to get lost in, after all.
No, Kreacher wouldn't have let him go if there was a trap down here. The old House-Elf and he had a better relationship now so that was unlikely to happen.
Harry put a finger on the activating Rune and he felt a tiny shock when he felt some magic travel from him to the Rune. Could it feel in his magic that he was the Heir of House Black?
The man in the painting started stirring and yawned dramatically. He stretched his arms above his head and opened his eyes. Harry could see that Alphard Black did indeed have the same eyes as Sirius.
Alphard looked at the boy in front of him, saw the Black and Potter features in his face and said, "You must be Sirius's boy, Hadrian, yes? My name is, as you can see Alphard Cygnus Black. Your Father would be so very glad to see you chose to do the blood-adoption. He was always very proud of you when he came down here to talk to me."
"Hadrian?" Harry was confused. He knew that he wasn't aware about a lot of information but surely he would at least know his own name, right?
Alphard seeing what had confused the boy said, "Your full name is Hadrian James Potter-Black, child. Hadrian James was chosen by your parents- as the Potters always named their children after the Kings and Emperors of old. Black was added because of the blood-adoption. Harry was a nickname your parents and their friends called you. Did no one ever tell you this?"
Harry shook his head mutely. How could he not know his own name? Why did no one ever tell him? Did they think he already knew? Harry felt angry. How could he not have known this?
Hadrian James Poter-Black. His name was Hadrian, not Harry. Hadrian James.
"I see you haven't claimed you Lord of House Black ring yet. Hadrian, listen to me, you need to get to Gringotts as soon as possible. Tell them you want to do an inheritance test. Claim your ring. After that, as last of the Potter family and Head of the Black family, you can enter the Main vaults and there you will find anything you want to know about both of your families and yourself." Alphard looked very serious when saying this.
Harry nodded and said, "I know that I need to get to Gringott but I'm just not sure how. I got away from my relatives without anyone knowing and I can't be spotted by someone from the Order or they will sent me back. Do you have any idea on how I could get to Gringotts without being spotted?"
"That is indeed a problem. I see that you have a House Elf next to you. Can you write a letter and ask your Elf to give it to your account manager? Ask for a private meeting room in the letter and ask for permission for your Elf to bring you there."
Harry slapped his own forehead in frustration. Of course! Why hadn't he thought of that! He looked down to Dobby and asked, "Dobby could you deliver a letter to my account manager at Gringotts? I'm not sure who that is exactly, but could you find out for me?"
"Dobby can be doing that! Dobby be waiting upstairs for Master Harry to write letter now yous be knowing evil basement not be evil. You be calling Dobby when ready and I's be going to Bank for Master!" Dobby said excitingly and he popped away.
Alphard laughed, "That is a very excited Elf you have there, lad. It is always nice to see an House Elf who is treated well and so happily magical because of it."
Harry blushed, "Thank you, but Dobby is a happy Elf all on his own. I just try my best to treat him and Kreacher well and I hope they will do the same for me. Thank you for your advice. Sirius said in his letter that you could help me and that you were his favorite uncle growing up."
"Yes, Sirius was my older sisters first born. He was a rambunctious child that didn't fit in my sisters idea of how her children should behave. You might have seen her charming portrait when coming inside the house?" Alphard asked with a smirk.
"Walburga Black was your sister?! But you seem so normal!" Harry said shocked. He hoped that wouldn't offend the man. Portrait. Man in the portrait.
"Ah Hadrian, each Black has a bit of madness in them but unfortunately it was my sister who got the brunt of the madness in her generation." Alphard looked a bit sad while he said this. He visably tried to cheer himself when he said, "But enough about that. I believe you've got a letter to write."
Harry nodded and said, "Yes, I do. Thank you for the advice and I will come to visit you again soon. Do you want me to activate the Sleep Rune again?"
Alphard said, "Yes please do, Hadrian. It gets very boring here when you are the only one awake. Perhaps when you get the Lord ring you can take me upstairs again? Only the Lord or Lady of the house may decide where the portraits are placed."
"I will do that! Does that mean that when I get the ring I can put the portrait of Walburga somewhere else?" Harry asked with a very Black looking smirk that Alphard was glad to see on his nephew's boy. Or his pup might be more accurate after hearing how Sirius talked about him.
Alphard smirked back at his new nephew, "That is indeed possible for the Lord of House. Now go write your letter to the bank and I will see you soon."
Harry nodded, said his goodbyes and pressed a finger against the Sleep Rune.
When he walked back into the living room he saw that there was handsome looking owl sitting on the owl stand next to Hedwig with a letter and package tied to his leg.
He saw Hermione's handwriting on top and he wondered if his birthday owls had returned to sender when he activated the wards of Grimmauld Place and how only this one could get through when the others didn't. A bit afraid for what he would find, he opened the letter and read,
Harry James Potter!
How could you finally leave those horrible relatives of yours and then not even tell me that you are safe where ever you are! And you better be safe, you hear me!
Harry, did you have any idea how worried I was when the owl returned to me with your birthday present? I thought the Dursley's had locked you up again or that you-know-who had found you! Then a day later Professor Dumbledore came by to interrogate me about your location.
Professor Dumbledore was acting so strange, Harry. He was obsessive and angry and he scared me. Something was very wrong with him. He is an old man I guess but this seemed to be more than the usual age-related ailments.
Don't worry, I told him nothing. He does not deserve to know where you could be after he put you back by the Dursley's, time after time. Not that I know for sure where you are but there are only so many options, really.
So after thinking about it, the only house you could get to would be you-know-where and that should be a very safe house for you if you can activate the wards around it. Did you activate them? How did it go? Was it as magical as the books described?
I am so glad you got away from them, Harry, and I hope you are happy. I wish you wouldn't have to be alone in that big house but it is probably better then you're used to, unfortunately. I want to meet you sometime this month to see how you're doing for myself but we can talk about that later. But I do want regular updates!
Now before I forget, Happy Birthday Harry! I hope you had a nice relaxing day in your new place. Included with this letter is a present from me and my parents. I hope you like it. May we make many more memories together. Now write me back!
I better hear from you soon.
Love,
Hermione Granger
PS. Now you have left the Dursley's you have no excuse not to do your homework! I will check it over for you when we can meet.
Harry could almost feel her anger, concern and worry when reading the first part of the letter and he felt a bit guilty. He should have let her know he was safe before now.
It was also interesting to read that Dumbledore was already looking for him. Apparently the letter he sent him worked if he didn't come to Grimmauld Place directly. Harry felt a bit smug about that. Would you look at that, he, Hadrian Potter-Black could fool the Headmaster.
He grabbed the package Hermione had sent with the letter and he could feel it was some kind of book. He was not surprised since it was a present from Hermione and her parents. Bibliophiles the lot of them.
But when he opend the present he saw a dark green leather foto album with on the front in glimmering golden letters, 'Harry's Hogwarts years and beyond'.
It was beautiful.
He opened the album and saw both wizarding pictures and muggle ones of him. Hermione, Ron, Neville, Luna and a lot more. He was so small as an eleven year old! There were also a few pictures of him and Hermione from when she sneaked over in the summer vacations to visit him. She was the only one who did that for him and he would always be grateful for that. His kind and thoughtful friend.
After dinner he would write her a letter back. Harry hoped they could meet safely in a few weeks, he had a lot to tell her after all and he missed her already. But first he should go to bed before Dobby got angry with him for doing to much in his state. He could write the letter for Gringotts tomorrow.