A Drarry story in which Harry braves Grimmauld Place three years after the war with its ghosts and its odd collection of portraits and a surprising number of other hidden guests. Then, about six weeks after, life has a surprising turnaround from an unexpected quarter. Events mostly take part between 1st May 2001 and 31st July 2001. This was going to be a fluff one shot based around the dance towards the end but 100k words later...
Warning: contains swearing, scenes of a sexual nature but no smut. Slow build. Deals with issues of PTSD and anxiety. Mostly slow-build fluff with a small angsty misunderstanding at some moment.
Please bear in mind that the British have a specific way of numbering the floors in houses, so Grimmauld Place has six storeys: Basement, Ground Floor, First Floor, Second Floor, Third Floor, Attic rooms. I've done a rough sketch (below) of how I envisage the house floor-plan based on the descriptions in the books, from Potterwiki, and plans of London terraced homes in the Islington area. The kitchen is in the basement with doors out to a low-level walled garden, Dining Room and Old Library on the ground floor with front door to street level, Drawing Room and Snug on the first floor, Bedrooms on the second and third floors. These are linked by a grand u-shaped staircase that has a landing halfway up. Walburga Black's portrait hangs on the first landing and she has a view down over the hallway to the front door and up the stairs to the Drawing Room. There are also rooms off each of these landings at split height, including Harry's Study. All this is relevant for the story.
All rights to the Harry Potter World belong to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury, and Warner Bros. No money is being made, just a bit of fun.
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(Sorry, they're a bit rough but it takes ages to redraw them)