𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 ⟶ Harry Potter AU

Chapter Thirty-Seven

But then Harry thought about how Sirius had waved the stick in his hand and summoned his bag of belongings, which sailed through the air.

"What are you?" Harry asked as he took a step back from them. "How did we get here? Where are we?"

"Sirius," Charlus called out, " let's get him inside and then you go and get the others. Harry, I'll explain everything to you once we go inside, alright? Come on, everything is going to be okay. I already promised you that, didn't I?"

Charlus himself had never stepped foot into 12 Grimmauld Place, he had only heard stories about it when growing up with Sirius. However, it was far off what he had imagined. It gave off a cold yet, sophisticated air of the aristocratic Black family. Harry was still recovering from witnessing a townhouse appear between the already established buildings as Sirius led the way to enter. As they entered through the door, they were met with a long hallway, dimly lit by old gas lamps, and a large chandelier hanging overhead.

To little Harry, it was like walking into a haunted house. He could hear the floor creak beneath every step he took and he could hardly see where he was going to begin with as his vision had always been blurry, and now it was dark on top of everything. He stumbled twice, but each time Charlus caught him and kept him up on his own two feet.

When they reached the end of the hallway, there was a large staircase but the three finally came to a stop.

"We'll wait here until you come back with everyone," Charlus told Sirius. "Hurry before they start to worry."

Sirius didn't like the idea of leaving Charlus and Harry alone with his mother and Kreacher in the home, but he knew there was no point in arguing. After all, Charlus would insist that he could manage and they would be just fine until he returned.

"Alright, my mother is upstairs and I'm sure Kreacher is not going to leave her side. But if he bothers you, let me know and I'll deal with him when I get back."

Once they were left alone, Charlus turned to Harry, who looked to be a mixture of scared, excited, overwhelmed, and tired.

"I know this is a lot to take in, Harry, but once you get a basic understanding, it will all make sense and become second nature to you."

Harry turned his back to Charlus for a moment, craning his neck to look around the corner. Then his side faced his uncle as he started asking questions about where they were and what exactly was going on. But before he could continue, he felt Charlus reach under his chin and direct him to make eye contact.

"Harry, you need to be facing me when you talk, otherwise, I don't know what you're saying," Charlus said, " I can't hear you or anyone for that matter."

"You can't? But you can talk!"

With a snort, Charlus nodded his head to agree that, indeed, he could talk. "Yes, I can. But that doesn't mean I can hear. But you know how you can read a book, well, I can do that with your lips when you talk. I can read the words if I can see your mouth. You just have to make sure I'm looking at you if you want me to 'listen'."

"Can Sirius hear me?"

"Yes," Charlus let out a laugh, " he can hear you. So you can always call on him too. Now, before things get hectic, I need you to listen for a minute. You saw a lot happen today and I know you don't understand all of it. But to make it simple, what you saw today is magic."

"Magic?" Harry repeated in awe. "You can do magic?"

"Yes, I can and you can too. That's why we're called wizards."