Chapter 17

''Are we done?" Harry asked the healer.

"Yeah, apart from a few bruises you are perfectly fine Mr Potter." The healer replied.

"Really?" Sirius asked, slightly disbelieving. "I remember Harry getting hit in the hand with a bone breaker." Sirius said, the image was still stuck in his head.

"And I repaired it." Harry shrugged.

"It's actually alright, not a bad job Mr Potter." The healer said. "Imagine what you could do with formal training. I don't suppose you have any interest in becoming a healer."

"Nah," Harry shook his head. "I haven't really decided what I wanted to be yet."

"Well, if you ever change your mind then let me know." The healer grinned.

"Alright thank you." Sirius said before he walked out with Harry, both waved goodbye to the healer as they did. "It is a bloody miracle that you are not hurt." Sirius said, shaking his head as he remembered all that Harry had done in the memory.

"Nah, I am just that good." Harry grinned. "But seriously, I am actually rather glad with how I did. Do you think it was alright?"

"Alright?!" Sirius blurted out with disbelief. "Harry! It was amazing! I swear if you faced off against the marauders when we were at your age then you would probably win even if it was four on one. Heck you might be able to beat me and Remus now! I knew you were a great wizard but what you did took the cake and the rest of the bloody bakery."

"Thanks," Harry said, blushing slightly. "so what now?" Harry asked.

"We got to go home and stay ready for Dumbledore to do the Fidelius charm." Sirius answered. "I would do it myself but it is a really hard charm to do, Dumbledore offered last time but your mother decided to do it herself."

"Really?" Harry asked in an interested voice.

"Oh yes," Sirius nodded. "your mother was a genius, your dad was the best at transfigurations but your mother took the number one spot in potions and charms, beating out Snivelus and Remus for both."

"Glad to know where I get it from." Harry smiled before a thought came to him. "By the way, we should probably go to Gringotts."

"Why?" Sirius asked.

"Well if we go under a Fidelius charm then it would be hard for us to get letters right?" Harry asked. "That means we won't be able to get any letters addressed to us, right?"

"Oh right, I didn't think about that." Sirius frowned.

"Yeah, so we should go get a Gringotts box." Harry said.

"A what?"

"Oh, it's basically this new feature that came around after the war. If I sent a letter to you and you had a Gringotts box then the letter would instead go to Gringotts who would check it for spells and traps, if it's clean then they put in a box and the box sends it to your box. They're a bit expensive but they seem necessary if we're going under the charm."

"Hmm, true." Sirius said after a moment of thinking. "And don't worry about the price, the Black family is loaded."

"Sirius I can pay for my..."

"No," Sirius cut him off. "I mean I know you can but I have no problem paying for you. I have missed so many years Harry, let me spoil you."

"If you insist." Harry rolled his eyes.

"By the way what is up with you and the lovely Miss Tonks?" Sirius asked with a teasing smile.

"Nothing, I couldn't do that to Ted. I mean his wife is a total MILF but I respect him too much to..."

"No," This time it was Sirius who rolled his eyes. "I am referring to Nymphadora 'don't call me that' Tonks. You know? The one with pink hair?"

"Oh," Harry said if he was surprised by who Sirius meant. "well not really sure at the moment. There is just...something about her."

"Oh god, just like your dad." Sirius laughed. "Let me explain," Sirius said when Harry raised an eyebrow. "your dad said the same thing about your mother. Shall I start preparing your wedding suit?"

"Whoa, whoa, marriage is not on the table." Harry replied. "Not yet at least. I am just trying to enjoy my life for the moment. And if that means flirting with the hot shapeshifting witch then I will."

"Fair enough," Sirius said before clapping Harry on the back. "let's get to Gringotts and then back home unless you want do anything else."

"Maybe stop at the leaky cauldron for some fish and chips?" Harry asked.

"Maybe stop at the leaky cauldron for some fish and chips." Sirius nodded in response. "Come on, the floo travel area should be close by." Harry and Sirius continued walking only to notice something, everyone was staring at them.

"It's Harry Potter!" One voice whispered, though not low enough to hide from the ears of Harry and Sirius. This opened up the flood gates for other people to start talking.

"Did you hear about how he fought that wizard?"

"Poor Black, spent years in Azkaban.

"Potter is going to be the next Dumbledore with the way he is going."

"Unless he becomes the next Voldemort."

"Oh Merlin, they are handsome."

"Wow," Sirius said to Harry. "I have not been this popular since school."

"I suppose it makes sense, you're the ex-Azkaban prisoner and I am the bloody boy-who-lived." Harry replied. "Anyway, let's hurry up before we start getting mobbed."

"Good evening." Dumbledore said as he arrived in Number 12 Grimmauld place where Sirius greeted him.

"Blood traitor!" Walburga Black began screaming at him as soon as she saw him. "Filthy excuse for a wizard!"

"Good evening to you too Mrs Black." Dumbledore said calmly as if he was not being shouted at by a painting of a dead woman.

"Harry!" Sirius called when Walburga began shooting out more insults.

"What is going on?" Harry asked as he came down the stairs. "Are you alright Lady Black?" Harry asked the painting, Walburga stopped glaring at Dumbledore and turned to Harry.

"I am perfectly fine." She said, she did not look happy but was far more calmer than before. "Have you been studying?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course." Harry nodded. "I must confess that it is lot less boring than I expected it to be."

"That is good," The corner of her lips lifted ever so slightly into a smile before returning to her usual frown. "I will test you on what you have learnt."

"Very well but if you do not mind, can you please wait until later before testing me? Professor Dumbledore is here and the sooner me and Sirius finish our business with him the sooner he can go." Harry said in a polite voice. Walburga glanced at Dumbledore and sniffed before turning back to Harry.

"Very well, I shall test you later." She said.

"Thank you, I will just close the curtains for you and..." Harry found himself cut off as more people arrived, namely the Weasley family. Arthur, Molly, the twins, Ron and Ginny. Hermione was also with them for some reason or the other. This had the effect of sending Walburga into another rant.

"Filth!" She screamed at them. "Blood traitors! Mudbloods! In the noble house of Black! I shall..."

"Lady Black!" Harry said loudly, interrupting her. "I shall handle this, there is no need for you to be disturbed. I will close the curtains and you can test me later, agreed?"

"Agreed." She said eventually, though she was still glaring at Dumbledore and the rest.

"Lovely." Harry commented before closing the curtains.

"Who was that?!" Mrs Weasley demanded, 'what a rude woman' she thought. Mrs Weasley could not understand why anyone would scream like that, especially at her.

"That is my lovely mother." Sirius said, rolling his eyes at his mother's behaviour.

"She seems..." Hermione paused, trying to think of the right word. "...charming."

"More like a pain in the ass." Sirius said under his breath.

"I could not help but notice that she seems rather fond of young Mr Potter here." Dumbledore said, though it was clearly more of a question.

"I don't know about fond," Sirius snorted. "I don't think she is fond of anyone. Though she does seem to tolerate Harry."

"I know what people want to hear." Harry said. "And we should all go before we disturb her again."

"Right, let's go." Sirius said quickly, not wanting his mother to make another appearance. "Follow me." Sirius said before leading everyone into the kitchen.

"Should I assume that the rest of the order is coming here?" Harry asked.

"Most of them anyway," Sirius answered before Dumbledore could. "a few of them can't make it today so will be told the location tomorrow. Like Remus, he would come if today wasn't a full moon."

"Alright, now forgive me for the dumb question and all, but what is Hermione doing here? I don't think she is part of the order."

"Miss Granger will be staying here for the remainder of the summer." Dumbledore explained. "While I understand that you two are no longer friends, it is possible that others may not care or believe that fact and try to get to you through her. Same with the Weasley's." Harry was about to respond when the floo flared and several order members arrived, one of which included Tonks.

"Harry!" Tonks said before rushing over and pulling him into a hug. "I am so sorry!"

"You are forgiven, sorry for what though?" Harry asked, feeling more than a bit confused.

"This morning when you said you were tired because you had fought a dark wizard, I thought you just meant like throwing a couple of disarming and fourth year spells and not actually getting hurt too much! I didn't think that you ended up fighting in something out of an action movie!" Tonks said as she let go of him.

"It's fine Tonks." Harry replied.

"Potter." Moody said, limping towards Harry. "You were mighty impressive, you ever consider becoming an auror?"

"That is what I wanted to ask." Kingsley said. "I think Bones would kill to have you as one of her aurors, what do you think Potter?"

"I think I am far too young to think about my career yet." Harry replied. "But auror does not really sound like something I would do, it sounds like there is too much paperwork."

"There is." Tonks sighed. "A disappointing amount of it is paperwork."

"You think anything more than five minutes is too much." Kinglsey pointed out.

"Because it is." Tonks replied. Several members arrived as they talked, until eventually most of the members were there, apart from Snape and a few others.

"I can't help but notice that Snape is not here," Harry replied. "the lack of depression was one clue, the missing horrible smell was another."

"Harry, show some respect." Hermione admonished.

"Hermione, get a life." Harry rolled his eyes. "So Dumbledore," Harry said before anyone could respond. "we going to do the charm now or what?"

"Yes Harry," Dumbledore nodded. "I will perform the charm now. Now I will make myself the secret keeper, now everyone may feel uncomfortable but I assure you all that it will pass as soon as I tell everyone the location."

"Hold up, you are going to be the secret keeper?" Harry asked.

"Yes I will Harry." Dumbledore replied.

"Shouldn't Sirius be the secret keeper?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow at Dumbledore. "it is Sirius's house after all."

"Now Harry, the headmaster is the leader here and..." Mrs Weasley started only for Harry to interrupt.

"I understand that, but like I said, this is Sirius's house. I don't think any of us would appreciate it if somebody else, Dumbledore or not, was in charge of deciding who would come to their house." Harry responded. "Besides, Mrs Black would have my head if I let someone other than myself or Sirius be in charge of who can enter this house."

"Harry makes a good point," Sirius said in agreement. "It's my home, I should be able to decide who gets to come in."

"Sirius I understand that," Dumbledore said. "but I..."

"I am not making the same mistake as last time, I will be the secret keeper." Sirius said in a voice that said he would not change his mind.

"Very well," Dumbledore sighed, not particularly happy about this but knew better than to argue. "let's get to work."

It took about half an hour but eventually the Fidelius was set with Sirius as the secret keeper, once the charm became active everyone was hit with a sense of dizziness, they all looked around, unable to see the very building they were in. Thankfully Sirius told everyone the location before anybody could gain a headache.

"Wow, let's not do that again." Tonks said, shaking her head.

"Agreed." Harry nodded.

"Well, I believe that that concludes our business for today." Dumbledore said, "Sirius, I will drop by tomorrow as there is something important I have to discuss with you, but for now everybody is dismissed." Dumbledore said before he left, everyone else took that as their cue to do the same.

"See ya Sirius, Harry." Tonks waved as she left along with most of the order, now there was only Harry, Sirius, Hermione and the Weasley's left.

"By the way Sirius," Arthur said. "I want to thank you for letting us stay here."

"It's fine." Sirius replied.

"We might as well start eating now." Harry said to Sirius as he took a seat at the table. "Your mother will probably be testing me for half an hour at least."

"At least." Sirius nodded as he sat down as well at the end of the table, the position where the head of the house was supposed to sit, leaving Harry on Sirius's right. "She loves her bloody tests."

"Language." Mrs Weasley admonished. "Now you are right about dinner, I can start cooking and I will have it ready in..."

"Oh there is no need for that." Sirius said.

"Really, it is no trouble."

"No, we really mean there is no need for it." Harry said as food appeared in front of them. "Thanks Dobby, Kreatcher." Harry said, the two elves appeared and nodded to Harry.

"Yeah thanks." Sirius said before he and Harry began eating.

"Harry! Please tell me you didn't get house elves!" Hermione said.

"I didn't get house elves." Harry said calmly after swallowing.

"What are they then?!" She demanded, pointing at Dobby and Kreatcher.

"They are house elves, can't you see?" Harry raised an eyebrow, he stopped eating as he knew that he likely wasn't going to be able to eat until she was done. "Besides I didn't 'get' them like you said, Kreatcher is the Black family house elf and has been living in this house and serving the Black family since before I was even born while Dobby accepted to be my personal house elf last year."

"I can't believe that you would condone slavery!" Hermione shouted.

"You're one to talk Miss 'I have to be in charge and control over everything'." Harry snorted. "Besides, it may surprise you but I do not condone slavery."

"Yet you have two house elves!" Hermione argued.

"Technically I have one, also I am a big believer in free will. So if they are willing to work for free and if it doesn't harm them then I don't mind having house elves."

"Harry," Mrs Weasley said. "you do not need house elves, it is a truly barbaric thing."

"Mrs Weasley is right." Hermione nodded in agreement.

"Oi Dobby, Kreatcher, would you rather be free and get paid or work for me?" Harry asked the house elves.

"Kreatcher will not be a 'free elf'!" Kreatcher said, spitting out the words like they left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Oh no!" Dobby shook his head so fast that he nearly damaged his neck. "No master! Please, don't make Dobby into a free elf!"

"See." Harry said, gesturing to both the house elves.

"They're brainwashed." Hermione argued.

"So are humans," Harry shrugged. "house elves don't want to be free the same way humans want to be covered in public. You don't physically need to be wearing clothes in public apart from when it's really cold, but we do it because that is the way that humans have done things for so long that it is considered bad to not do it."

"That doesn't make sense!"

"Yes it does," Harry replied. "it is basic house elf behaviour to work, the same way it is basic human behaviour to wear clothes in the presence of others, no matter what weather. Could you imagine what would happen if another race decided it was wrong for us to wear clothes and instead of talking to us about it they just decided to strip us all naked?"

"You'd probably like that." Ginny commented while Hermione was gaping.

"Depends who I'd be looking at." Harry answered honestly. "I mean if it was you.." Harry trailed off and smiled at her.

"Oi!" Ron said while Ginny blushed. "Don't look at my sister like that!"

"Ah Ron, you can't have my food." Harry said, covering it with his arm. "You have to wait for your own. Now as much as I would love to talk to you all, I have had a rather long day and I would like at least five minutes of peace and quiet to finish eating. Thank you." Harry said before he returned to his food and began eating, ignoring everyone else. Everyone else eventually sat down and food appeared though Molly and Hermione looked like they didn't want to eat. "Alright," Harry said once he was done. "as much as I would love to talk I have to deal with Mrs Black and I want to get to sleep so good night." Harry said before standing up and waking off.

"Daddy." Harry woke up to Selena slithering on his chest.

"Hi Princess." Harry said, stroking her head. "Have you eaten something yet?" Harry asked.

"Yes daddy, what do you want to do about the new ones here?" Selena asked, Harry could tell she was referring to Hermione and the Weasley's.

"I haven't decided yet." Harry yawned as he stood up, holding Selena in his hands. "When I decide on something you will be the first to know." Harry said. "Now get back on my arm sweetie."

"Okay, love you daddy."

"Love you too." Harry said as he kissed her head before she wrapped herself around his arm and changed back into a snake tattoo.

Harry sighed as he remembered that Hermione and the Weasley's were here. He knew the next few days would probably be difficult, the question now was simply if he would be able to last without doing something extreme.