He Will Be Loved

Chapter 18 - Dinner Discussions

It was just over half an hour later when a knock came from his door. Harry, who had been so immersed in his book, jumped, the Tales of Beedle the Bard falling to the floor with a thump.

"Harry? Are you okay?" Sirius' voice came from the door. 

"Yeah," Harry replied, picking the book up from the floor just as the door opened and Sirius came in, his face concerned even after Harry's reassurance. "I just dropped my book." 

"Okay," Sirius said, looking relieved. "Dinner's ready, if you want to come down. If not, I can bring something up to you."

Although he was temped by the idea, Harry decided that he should go down. He couldn't hide upstairs all summer holidays. "Nah," He replied, hauling himself up from the armchair. "Might as well get it over with."

When they had first made their way up to the third floor after they had arrived, Harry had been too dazed and exhausted to take in much of his surroundings, but as he and Sirius made their way downstairs once more, he finally had the chance to look around.

The first time he had visited Grimmauld Place the summer before, the whole place had been dark, dirty and old fashioned. It hadn't been lived in for nearly two decades, and hadn't been renovated for nearly ten times that long. Now, as they walked down to the second floor, Harry noticed that it was not only his room that looked different. The entire second and third floor had been redone, electric lights put into place, the old carpet replaced and the walls repainted to make the entire place more welcoming and modern. All of the macabre pictures that had previously lined the walls had been replaced with several photographs. As he watched, teenage versions of Sirius, Remus and his dad waved at him from their frame, their arms wrapped around each other, wide smiles on their faces. Pettigrew was notably absent. He also spotted several pictures of his parents at what looked to be their wedding, Sirius standing beside them as best man.

"This place looks..." Harry struggled to find the right words.

"Like it didn't come straight from the dark ages?" Sirius suggested, glancing down at Harry with an amused expression. Harry nodded, smiling slightly. "Remus and I started overhauling the place last year, to try and make it more inhabitable. The original plan was to get it finished by your birthday, have your party here and then ask you to live with us, but..." Sirius shrugged, wrapping an arm around Harry's shoulder in a sideways hug. "I guess it was a blessing in disguise that things didn't go to plan."

"But what about the blood wards?" Harry asked. "I thought they protected me-"

"And they did. That was the best protection that Dumbledore could give you. You were completely protected and somewhere that Voldemort's followers couldn't find you. At least, so we thought." Sirius added darkly. Harry looked at him, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"The wards work best when the one being protected regards the place of dwelling as home. Obviously, you did not." Sirius explained. 

Harry nodded in agreement. He couldn't remember a time when he had ever called the Dursley's house his home. 

"The blood wards would still work, somewhat, but any half-decent wizard would eventually be able to break them down. Once we realised this, we knew that it was only a matter of time until Voldemort discovered where you lived and took advantage of this weakness. After the blood wards, a Fidelius charm is the next best thing, and this place was already charmed for Order purposes, with the secret keeper Albus Dumbledore himself. Not to mention the fact that I'm your Godfather."

"Dumbledore's the one that put me with the Dursley's in the first place." Harry pointed out. He knew the old wizard meant well, but his poor judgement had ruined his childhood, and he wasn't sure if he would ever be able to trust the man completely.