The house woke late the next day, and people drifted like zombies down the stairs in twos and threes to grab a late breakfast. Yawning but hospitable, Molly cheerfully served them all.
Harry, however, pretended to snooze on when Ron dressed and left the room, shooting a dirty look at him as he walked out the door. Harry sat and looked around. Swiftly he removed the necklace Ginny gave him and laid it on the dresser next to the penseive from Dumbledore. Rubbing his Potter ring twice he glanced around the room. The necklace glowed the familiar blue of a loyalty charm. "No surprises there", Harry scowled to himself. Next, the penseive glowed a strange shade of green. What does this mean? Harry pondered. That color means some sort of security leak…what and how?
Casting a quick bubble shield around Ginny's gift, he put it back on to avoid suspicion, and was relieved to see the brief attraction he had felt the night before was gone. He dressed and went down to breakfast.
"Happy Birthday again, Harry dear" Molly crooned at him. "Eat up – you are skin and bones."
Harry grinned at her. Actually, with the three-year training and good nutrition he received from Griphook he was looking rather good, but it was useless to argue against the formidable matron of the Weasley Clan. He could have waddled in looking like Dudley and she would have said the same thing.
He finished up his eggs and sausages and looked around. The house-elves were busy assisting Molly, who was obviously quite fond of them. Hermione was growling something to Ron in the corner about OWLS, while they finished up the last of their meal. He assumed the twins were off to the shop, and there was no sign of Moony or Tonks, so Harry wandered out to the hall. He was gazing up at the stuffed elf heads and was disgusted to see the new addition. Ugly, gnarled Kretcher gazed out with glassy blank eyes. He grimaced at the sight, and before he knew it, had bumped the portrait of Mrs. Black.
Crazy old Mrs. Black, Sirius' mother. The most memorable thing about Grimmauld Place was that everyone was greeted by the insane screeches of the woman who hated all mud bloods, half bloods, half breeds, and people who didn't meet her standards (which was just about everyone). He winced, waiting for the yelling, but nothing happened. Opening one hesitant eye, he peeked at the portrait, and was amazed to see her curtseying politely. "My Lord" she said humbly "how may I serve you?"
Unconsciously Harry felt the Black signet ring camouflaged on his left hand. "Um, how are you today, Mrs. Black?"
The unattractive woman actually blushed. "Thank you for asking, my Lord. I'm well. And thank you for lifting the curse on my painting. I really didn't enjoy being so unpleasant."
"Er, how did I do that?" Harry asked curiously.
"When the Lord of house entered, it lifted the curse of insanity. Sadly, my son was never made Lord because of being wanted, and I had no control over my vile tongue. With the curse controlling me, I had disowned him and lost any chance of recovery."
"Gosh" said Harry, "you are going to be a lot easier to live with now. But please don't tell anyone that I've inherited the title – I don't want anyone to know yet." Mrs. Black did not look pleased. "It's not that I'm ashamed, my Lady. But I have enemies close by that must not know yet. Why don't you take a vacation? Your son's portrait is in my trunk upstairs – I'm sure he'd welcome a sane conversation with you."
Her eyes lit up. "Sirius has a portrait? He is here? I have a chance to make amends then. Yes, my Lord, I will do so. When it is safe to come back out, please let me know." And with a curtsey, she walked out of her frame and Harry pulled the curtains shut.
Harry shook his head. This was a summer to never forget. He proceeded to wander the house a bit, please to see how Nodding and Blink had really cleaned up the place. The windows sparkled, the wall paper was stripped, and carpets replaced. You no longer had the feeling of 'dark wizard lives here' when entering a room. Harry walked into the parlor and saw Lupin sitting in a leather chair, reading the Daily Prophet.
"Moony – how are you doing?" Harry asked him. The graying man set his paper down and sighed a bit, gazing at him with tired looking eyes. Harry sat down in a chair next to him and could feel the sorrow radiating off the man.
"I'm hanging in, Harry. More importantly, how are you doing?" The werewolf searched his face.
Harry smiled sadly. "I really want to talk with you soon, some place private. I've been dealing with it, I suppose." Harry paused and took a shuddering breath. "At first I was really blaming my self, and I was scared you would blame me too…"
He didn't get a chance to finish what he was saying. Tears dripping down the tired face, Lupin jumped to his feet and knelt down in front of Harry. Grasping his hands, he barely choked out "Don't ever think that, Harry. I don't blame you. We all made mistakes, but it all boils down to Voldemort – he's the one to blame. Sirius was hot-headed and knew he was running into a trap. He wanted to be there for you."
The two embraced in an awkward hug, but both felt better. They shared a bit about favorite times with his godfather, and Harry, looking around, suddenly asked, "Moony, where is Hagrid? I didn't get my rock-cake from him this year."
The graying werewolf smiled. "Order business, Harry. He's fine last we heard."
After a bit more chatting, Harry excused himself from the room.
"I'd love to visit with Sirius right now" Harry thought to himself. "I also want to send a letter to Griphook".
At that moment Molly Weasley came from the kitchen with Ron. "Harry dear" she crooned, "I'm sorry we haven't had time to discuss this with you, but your godfather left us money to re-locate. I'm sure you agree the Burrow probably isn't safe anymore."
"Did you sell it?" Harry asked, his heart dropping. The Burrow was like home to him, even if Ron and Ginny weren't on his top 10 list of favorite people at the moment.
"No, dear" she continued, "but we have bought a new property. I'm taking the family with me, along with Nodding and Blink to help us move as quick as possible. I wish I could bring you and Hermione, but Dumbledore said the fewer people who know where we live, the better." Mrs. Weasley looked extremely unhappy as she explained the secrecy. "Try not to feel too left out or bored – Remus is here, and order members will be flooing in and out. And try not to abuse your ability to use magic here."
With that the red heads went back to the kitchen, grabbed a handful of floo powder, and disappeared.
Hermione came around the corner. She glanced around and tugged Harry up the stairs towards his bedroom. Making sure the coast was clear, he shut the door and charmed the room for the usual.
"What's up?" Harry smiled at Hermione.
"Well, I wanted to give you your real birthday present, but I have to give it to you in private"
Harry blushed and started thinking uncomfortable thoughts. Hermione noticed his flushed face and punched him in the arm.
"What are you thinking, Harry? Here!" And she reached under her sweater and handed him a small gift wrapped nicely.
"Oh, I, um, sorry!" he squeaked with cracking voice, and tore off the paper. It looked like a planner. Great – another homework aid he thought to himself.
She pulled a matching one out from her sweater. "Now I know you are thinking it's another homework planner, but look" and she opened the two binders. "When you go to the blank page after the 'to-do' list, and write in it..." she wrote hurriedly on her page, "it instantly appears on yours! We can communicate from anywhere, and its security charmed to only work for us."
"Wow, Hermione! This is super!" Harry gushed excitedly. "Thanks! Now let me show you the other toy I got when I bought our satchels!"
Harry bent down and popped the latches on his trunk. Opening the lid, Hermione peered over and saw the stairs. "Now where do they go?" she asked dubiously.
"Come on!" Harry grinned and led her down stairs by the hand. "I'd like to welcome you to Godric's Suitcase!" He opened the door at the bottom of the stairs and bowed with a flourish.
She gasped with amazement, eyes darting all over the place. "Harry, this is wonderful!" She walked around the room, taking in all the details. "Hi ya, cutie!" Sirius grinned down at her from his painting above the fireplace.
"Hi Sirius! How do you like your new digs?" Hermione asked him. Then she noticed Mrs. Black, sitting in the portrait with her son, sane and quiet. "Um, hello Mrs. Black?"
"Hello my dear" she nodded gravely. "I'm sorry about all the crude and coarse comments about your parentage. I was not in my right mind, and my speech was controlled by others. I could care less where a witch of your talent comes from." And she curtseyed at the open-mouthed girl. "Hello again, my Lord" she greeted Harry.
"How are you doing, my Lady?" Harry bowed politely.
Sirius had a smile a mile-wide. "Hey, cub. Guess who did this to mum?"
Harry looked at them. "Well, I'm ready to blame Dumbledore for everything, including the Grand National debt of the muggles, but what would be his motive?"
The two Blacks frowned darkly, and Harry could really see the family resemblance now.
"Right on one" Sirius growled. "That" (and his godfather bit back a foul word), "jerk put a curse of insanity on my mum before she died to get her to disown me. He pulled a lot of strings to get me away from you, Harry. Tried to take my home, got me locked up for 12 years without a trial, and then put an Imperious on Bella to make her push me through the veil. I really hope you take him down, and take him down hard" he spat.
"But why?" Harry asked, confused. "What was the big deal of keeping you away from me?
"Well, I never really trusted him" Sirius scowled. "James and Remus were quite taken with 'the most powerful wizard in the world', but I just never quite could feel comfortable about him. Perhaps it's the Slytherin in my family. After you were born and James and Lily made me your godfather, Dumbledore wanted to be sure he was the only hero in your eyes. He probably figured he could gain control of the Black family fortune, too."
Harry shook his head numbly. He was going to start having more nightmares about Dumbledore than Voldemort.
Winky popped into the room. "Master!" she gushed. "Winky has birthday present for you!" She scurried up into her room over the closet, and came down tugging two large boxes. Dobby popped in with a good sized box of his own, and a fancy cake.
"Happy birthday, Harry Potter Sir!" the elf beamed at him. Swiftly the two elves set up a table with cake and drinks for the four of them, as Harry insisted they sit down with Hermione and himself.
"Wow, guys – you didn't have to do this!" Harry was touched, as he ate some cake.
"No, sir, we didn't. But we wanted to!" Dobby was busting with pride.
"Mine first, master!" Winky thrust a large, lightweight box in Harry arms.
He laughed and tore the paper off, and pulled out, to his surprise a very large teddy bear, like muggle kids have, but bigger. It was very soft and cuddly and Hermione swooned with delight. "Um, thanks? " Harry wasn't sure how Hermione would react to The-Boy-Who-Lived with a teddy, and if Winky had gone over the bend.
The little elf looked up at Harry with adoring eyes. "When Winky saw Master's memories, she was sad to think such a good and kind master had never had toys. No toys, no childhood! Winky decided it's never too late to have a good childhood. I like to sleep with my meself!" And she held up a very worn and very well-loved stuffed toy flobberworm.
Harry grinned and snatched the teddy out of Hermione's arms and hugged it. "Hey – this does feel great! But if you ever tell Ron or the guys about this, it's clothes all around!"
Winky and Dobby gasped and turned pale, and Harry swiftly apologized and convinced him he was only joking. The bear was given a seat at the table, and Harry decided to name him Hagrid, as he was black and hairy, and cuddly despite his size.
He picked up Winky's other box, which was far heavier and rattled most intriguingly. When the paper came off, he found it was a giant box of LEGO kits and parts.
"LEGO!" screamed Hermione. "Open! Open now!" She looked over at Harry and her jaw dropped for the hundredth time that day. "You don't even know what LEGO is?"
"Um, no" Harry picked up a box showing a kit of little blocks that would created a car. "It looks way cool though!"
"Oh gosh Harry – I assumed Dudley would have had this stuff – this is timeless fun! Come on, let's play!"
"Dudley only wanted action toys or computers and stuff. Anything that took thinking or creativity was taboo" Harry said, getting ready to rip open the car kit.
"No, Harry Potter Sir – open mine now!" Dobby hopped up and down, and handed him a box, not quite as large or heavy as the LEGO, but still a great size.
Harry grinned and ripped open the paper. Inside were a dozen or so action figures of wizards, centaurs, elves, goblins, and magical beasts. "Whoa!" Hermione and Harry cooed in unison.
"These are wizard toys, Harry Potter Sir! And I took them out of their boxes to they would be played with, not just displayed. Toys need to be played with!"
"Oh yah!" agreed Harry, gazing at all the goodies that had made their way to the floor. Hermione was already on her stomach posing a handsome roan centaur. "You two are the best!" And he gathered the two shocked elves into a big hug and gave them each a kiss on their heads.
Tears of gratitude poured down the house-elves' faces. They swiftly cleaned up the cake and dishes, and left the two kids to make complete fools of them selves. Harry was grateful they could spend hours playing because of the time charm, without risk of interruption or being discovered. He glanced over at Hagrid the Teddy. "Boy, who'd pay more to see that – Draco or Rita Skeeter" he thought with amusement.
After a few delightful hours of LEGO and wizards, Harry took a quick break to write a letter to Griphook.
Dear Teacher,
I've had a wonderful birthday today, and I owe it to you. Because of your help, I've had access to my money and got the ability to get my trunk and now have the privacy of Godric's Suitcase. I have two wonderful elves to help me, and I'm taking control of my life.
One thing that bothers me, though. Dumbledore gave me a penseive for a gift, and it glows the green of security leaks. Would you know what it does? When one of my professors was looking upset about the penseive, Dumbledore modified her memory, so it must be important. I have not used it yet.
I'll ask Winky to wait for an answer, or if you wish you can apparate with her back here. I'm in the trunk with my friend Hermione, and the room is charmed for privacy and time.
Love,
Harry
"Winky, could you please take this to Griphook at Gringotts? And please wait for an answer". Winky nodded proudly and popped off.
A few short minutes later, Winky and Griphook apparated into one of the larger shocks of the goblin's life. There, on the floor of a well-furnished trunk room, lying on his stomach was Lord Potter-Black, The-Boy-Who-Lived, the Chosen One, fully trained goblin warrior, playing with plastic blocks and action figures. The goblin mused that his student looked content and happy, so he simply smiled in greeting, and chose not to comment on his charge's choice of recreation.
"Griphook!" Harry called out happily, scrambling to his feet. "Winky and Dobby decided to give me a happy childhood for my birthday!" he gestured at the mess of toys on the floor. "Fun, eh?"
"Ah, yes, Mr. Potter" he nodded sagely. "The house-elves are wise".
Harry sadly bid Sirius, the elves, and the room good bye for now, and led Griphook and Hermione upstairs to his and Ron's room and the penseive. He gestured to the carved stone bowl and Griphook proceeded to wave his long fingers in intricate spell work around it. After a few moments he stopped and nodded to Harry.
"You are correct, Mr. Potter. It has Mr. Dumbledore's scent all over the hexing, too. It seems that whatever you decide to store into this penseive will have a copy sent to another one – presumably one of Mr. Dumbledore's." Griphook bared his sharp pointy teeth in disapproval of the headmaster's trickery.
Hermione clasped a shocked hand to her mouth in disbelief. "That is so wrong!" She gasped.
Harry nodded his head darkly. "Well," he almost purred, "if he want's to see what's in my head, I'm gonna let him!"
Griphook looked at him shrewdly, while Hermione sputtered away "Wait! Harry – you can't let him on to what you've been up to! Harry, don't!"
But the emerald-eyed wizard held up a hand to calm his friend. "Hermione – don't worry. He told me a penseive was very useful for organizing one's thoughts. I'm simply going to place all the bad memories of what I suffered under both the Dursleys and Snape for him to enjoy. And perhaps I'll add a little something to the mix so he can't back out until he's seen it all…" he mused to himself, with an almost evil grin.
Griphook made a noise that was as close to a chuckle as a goblin was going to get. He bowed slightly to Harry and smirked "it sounds like a plan, my student. Remember the finger motion for that hex – poke and twirl. I'll leave you to your revenge."
Harry bowed back. "I need to visit the alley soon – could I treat you to lunch my teacher?"
"That would be welcome, Mr. Potter". With a goblin smile, he apparated away.
"Well, Hermione, if you want to stay, this could take an hour or so. The room is warded for secrecy, silence, and slowing of time, so feel free to grab some of the books in my trunk and make yourself comfy." Harry picked up his wand and settled down on his bed. Hermione flashed him a smile of gratitude and skipped down the stairs of the trunk and returned with a stack of chosen reading material. He turned his attention back toward the penseive and touched the wand to his temple.
…a snarling and vicious bulldog, snapping at Harry's heels and chasing him up a tree in his relative's back garden. Uncle Vernon laughing cruelly…
….Aunt Marge, sitting at the dining room table at Privet Drive, referring to his mother and father's failings, insinuating he should have been drowned as a 'pup'….
…Vernon, screaming mad because Harry didn't mow the lawn in straight enough lines as a 6 year old, clubbing him across the face several times….
….Petunia whipping Harry with a belt for burning the pot roast at age 7…
…Harry lying in bed starving, waiting for the can of cold soup to come through the cat flap in his door…
….Dudley and his gang beating and pounding Harry in the front garden, Petunia screaming at Harry to stop bleeding on the flowers….
…Snape dropping a well-made potion on the dungeon floor when Harry had already cleaned his cauldron, glaring at Harry and daring him to say something…
….Snape's brutal bludgeoning of his mind during an occlumency lesson…
Harry proceeded to pluck memory after memory out of his mind and place them in the swirling silver cloud of the penseive. There could be no doubt now that Dumbledore would see just how 'safe' Privet Drive was for him every summer, or just how 'fair' Snape was. With a nod of satisfaction, Harry added an incantation woven of goblin magic to the penseive, and then looked over at his friend, totally immersed in a book.
"I've got to hand it to Dumbledore", Harry mused to himself, "my head does feel a lot better without all that negativity in the forefront."
"Hermione?" Harry gently brought her out of her book. "I'd like to see the rest of the house and visit Buckbeak – want to come?" She nodded, took the books back down to Godric's Suitcase and left them with a longing look. "Hey – keep the one you are reading in your satchel." He called down the stairs. Hermione returned with the favored book looking much happier.
They wandered the house, peeking in a door here and there on the way up to Mrs. Black's former bedroom. That Sirius would allow a gigantic half horse, half eagle (that was not house broken) to live in his mother's bedroom said a lot of the former relationship between mother and son. Harry slowly opened the door and they both wrinkled their noses in disgust over the stench. After exchanging formal bows with the stately animal, Harry stroked the beast's soft neck feathers and talked to him quietly while Hermione cleaned the room with a series of charms.
"You sure don't look happy, do you boy?" Harry asked the hippogriff sadly. The mighty animal gazed at him with sad yellow eyes. "Hermione, we've got to let him go – look at the way his feathers are drooping. This is slowly killing him."
"But what about the Ministry of Magic?" Hermione looked at the hippogriff sadly. Poor Buckbeak still had a death warrant.
"No prob – you go downstairs and see if Moony is napping – he usually does this time of day." With a nod, the bushy haired witch crept downstairs. "Now for you, my friend" and Harry turned back to the eagle/horse. He closed his eyes and waved his hands over the back of the animal, and opened them a moment later. The result was just what he was looking for – now instead of opalescent gray, the hippogriff was jet black from head to claw.
Hermione returned and raised her eyebrows at the changed beast. "How long will that last?"
"It's permanent – I sort of changed his DNA a bit." Harry grinned. "Now for a temporary disillusionment charm, and we can just let him out the front door in broad daylight." A couple of finger movements, and the hippogriff now changed color to blend into his background, like a huge clawed and beaked chameleon. "Ok, boy, we are going downstairs very quietly. When I open the door, you make your way back to the forbidden forest, or find Hagrid – whichever you want. You are free to do as you wish."
The camouflaged beast nodded his head at Harry and Hermione pondered on just how intelligent it was. The three of them tip-toed down the hall and stairs, straight for the front door. Moony, just as Hermione had said, was stretched out in his chair snoring. The kids grinned at each other, quietly opened the front door and gestured the hippogriff through. It paused long enough to nuzzle Harry and Hermione in turn, and then walked down the front steps, stretched its wings and took off into the hazy sky of London.
"I hope disillusionment works for air traffic radar" Harry grinned. "They will never understand a low-flying horse."
Hermione giggled and then looked at Harry. "Well, what now? We spent hours playing with LEGO, released Buckbeak, talked with Sirius and his mum, talked with Griphook about the penseive and booby-trapped said penseive, and it's only 11 in the morning!"
"Ah" Harry smiled, "welcome to my world! How about we charm my room for time and work on occlumency for you?"
The next 14 hours/10 minutes flew by, with brief interruptions for meals from Winky. Hermione threw herself into it and was a quick student, as always. The hardest part for the both of them was the intimacy of sharing your worst thoughts and memories, but as Hermione philosophically observed, it was better to share them with Harry than Professor Snape.
Harry was mortified at first to be seeing how a girl really thinks. It was very hard to share the glimpses of her past fantasies about Ron, and more recently, interest in him self. Their relationship was never going to be the same. And it had always been extremely difficult for him to open up and share his childhood – something he had kept very closed about his whole life.
"So what was Professor Snape like as a teacher for this?" Hermione asked Harry during a lunch break. They were in Godric's Suitcase, munching on chicken salad sandwiches and playing with wizard action figures on the table. The jointed Merlin in Hermione's hand was pointing his tiny wand at a vampire that Harry was holding.
"Ugh – you want to see?" Harry grimaced, setting down the vampire.
"Sure" Hermione looked Harry in the eyes. Although Harry had told her how bad it was, after the gentle goblin techniques she figured he had to be exaggerating to a degree.
Harry took a deep breath, and returning her gaze he shared with her the memory of Snape's 'lessons'. Hermione gasp with pain as she felt the pounding rape of Harry's thoughts after a simple 'prepare your self' was sneered at him with hate. She whimpered along with Harry as he curled up on the floor, head splitting with pain and embarrassment as he had to re-live his worst moments. She shook her head with disbelief after watching Snape insult him for his lack of progress and 'unteachability'.
"Oh Harry – I'm so sorry I ever doubted you" Hermione trembled weakly when the vision ended, tears dripping down her cheeks. "That was awful – he didn't prepare you or even teach you how to block him! That was inhuman!"
"You now understand why I have such a hard time trusting him" Harry nodded in agreement. "Really, it's the same way he teaches potions – here's a list of ingredients, figure it out and if it kills you, it's your fault you are so unteachable."
At the end of the week the two had spent a couple months in the suitcase, courtesy of a newly conjured additional bed, Winky's good cooking, Hermione's planner, and the time slowing charms, Hermione was now just as accomplished as Harry in goblin occlumency, thanks to Harry's patient teaching and additional lessons with Griphook. She could now keep her mind blocked at all times, free from the prying of Voldemort, Dumbledore and Snape.