Chapter 299

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-Still at 12 Grimmauld Place – 2 Hours Later-

"Well, from what I can tell, this place sucks," I said, looking around the kitchen.

"Swear, Sherlock?" Sirius asked me sarcastically, and I shrugged.

We spent those two hours walking around the house, analyzing every nook and cranny, trying to get an estimate of how much work it would take to renovate the place.

And unsurprisingly, the house is going to need a complete renovation. The only good thing is that as 12 Grimmauld Place is a wizarding house, it is more resistant than a normal house, and therefore there is no danger of it breaking or falling apart, at least not completely.

The rooms were somewhat intact, and the only thing needed to get them looking good again would be a new paint job and some new furniture.

The real problem would be the attic, basement, kitchen, living room, and library. But with a little magic here, and a few spells there, the house would return to its former splendor.

Now Sirius's real concern wasn't fixing the place, but getting rid of all the obscure magical items his family kept in storage.

As a Black, he knew how dangerous some of these items could be, and he knew that it would take some professional help to get rid of them, as even though he understood a little bit of dark magic from living with his family, he wasn't really proficient in that dark and terrible branch of magic.

I could get rid of these items myself, because of the whole sensing magic thing and having a special connection to it, however, when I spoke to Sirius about it, he immediately declined my offer, not wanting me to get involved with these items, afraid that I would end up hurting myself, or worse.

I offered this option so I could get closer to the Slytherin's Locket, which unfortunately wasn't where it was supposed to be.

I looked for the locket in the house, but with my senses I discovered that it, as well as other items filled with dark magic, were kept in Sirius' brother's room, which was magically locked.

Actually I could have tried to break into Regulus's room, but I didn't have enough time to try to get past the blocking spell, and I knew that if I did, Kreacher would probably show up to stop me.

But speaking of the grouchy elf, I was puzzled by the fact that I hadn't seen him at all since I entered the house.

"You know, for a pureblood family so paranoid about purity, and that values ​​superiority above all else, I was expecting this place to be more... taken care of... and clean" I commented.

"Well, I find it difficult for a house to stay neat and clean if there's no one alive to take care of it," Sirius said.

"You have a point" I said, but I kept looking around, "But you already told me about your family's house-elf, and as far as I know he should be looking after this house"

"Maybe he died of old age" Sirius said, and I turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

"Sirius, you know as well as I do that it's hard for an elf to die of old age, especially if he's living in a wizarding house," I said, and then looked at him with narrowed eyes, "And besides, I know there's a elf inside this house, so tell me, where is he?"

And hearing my question, Sirius remained silent, looking around while pretending not to notice my gaze.

"Sirius…" I called out to him in a tone of voice that said I knew he had done something.

"Maybe, just maybe, I ordered Kreacher to keep his distance from me or any guests while we were in this house," he said.

"But that still doesn't explain why I didn't hear him or see even his shadow."

"It's because I also told him to stay in the broom closet quietly and not do anything until we were done" and at this point, I stopped, looking at Sirius with a dry look.

"...Sirius, I don't know if you've forgotten, but a house-elf's job is to clean, organize, tend, and keep the house as presentable as possible," I started to say, feeling a vein pop in my forehead, " And you, in all your incredible wisdom, decided to order your family elf, who was supposed to be looking after the house, to stand by and do nothing?"

"Well, I don't know if you noticed, but before I got out of prison he should have been taking care of the house, but it's still in this state." Sirius said gesturing around.

"Oh, so instead of ordering the Kreacher to clean the house, something he would be obligated to do since you're his master, you decided it would be better to have him locked up somewhere," I said, and that made Sirius stop.

"Well, I hadn't thought of that," he said.

"Oh, don't tell me?" I said sarcastically.

Sighing, I rubbed my temples, "I can understand that you don't like the Kreacher, but you must understand that ordering an elf to stay in one place and do nothing, especially after several years of being isolated with only your mother's portrait , is nothing more than torture"

"He'll get over it" Sirius shrugged, "After all, that's nothing compared to what he suffered at my mother's hands"

"Sirius, that's not the point," I said, frowning.

I then sighed, before looking back at the stubborn dog-man.

"Look, if you don't want to have any contact with Kreacher, you can order him to obey me, and then I'll talk to him about cleaning the house," I said, and Sirius pondered for a few seconds.

"Okay" he nodded, "But he must still stay away from me" he frowned, and I rolled my eyes.

"You talk as if being in the Kreacher's presence is worse than living with the Dementors in Azkaban," I said.

"You know it's not like that" Sirius said with a slight frown.

"Oh, then explain it to me, great Lord Black," I said sarcastically, looking Sirius in the eye, frowned even more upon being called Lord Black.

I knew the reasons why he didn't like Kreacher, but I knew the poor elf wasn't truly evil, and that coupled with the fact that I had a connection to magical creatures made me really upset with the way Sirius treated him.

Sirius and I continued to stare at each other for a while, until we heard the front door open, and with my senses I could feel Remus' magic.

"Hello? Sirius?" Remus called, looking for us, only he probably forgot that Walburga's portrait was in the hallway, as his voice woke her up.

And just as expected, as soon as she saw that the one who woke her up was her son's werewolf friend, Walburga began her hysterical and rabid screaming.

"Damn, I forgot about you" I heard Remus say to Walburga.

Realizing we had company, Sirius and I looked at each other one last time, meaning we'd finish our conversation some other time.

We then went to the entrance hall to receive Remus, and arriving there we saw said werewolf frowning at Walburga's portrait.

Remus didn't notice that we had arrived, as he was completely focused on the portrait, so focused that he even looked hypnotized.

Seeing the werewolf stare at the portrait, I glanced at Sirius who also looked at me, confusion written all over our faces, before we turned to Remus, looking at him strangely.

"I didn't know you were interested in older women...especially ones who are your friends' mothers and are dead," Sirius said, and that snapped Remus out of his musing.

"Huh? What?" Remus asked confused, before realizing what he was doing, "Oh...OH, No! That's disgusting, Padfoot" he said with a queasy face.

"Well, sorry, but that's what it looked like" Sirius shrugged.

"No, I was just wondering what spell was used to pin this portrait to the wall," Remus said, shaking his head.

"Oh, that makes more sense" Sirius nodded, before also looking at his mother, who was still screaming and cursing, "Actually, I don't know what spell was used either... But I'm still going to find a way to rip this portrait off the wall." he said with determination.

"You know, instead of trying to take the portrait, you could just break the wall and then fix it," I said, and that made Sirius, Remus, and Walburga herself stop, with all three of them turning to me.

"That's a great idea!" Sirius said excitedly.

"Hmm, why didn't I think of that?" Remus wondered.

And Walburga, realizing her fate was being sealed this very moment, turned to me, her face turning a startling shade of red.

"You damned mudblood" he said angrily, "It's not enough that you desecrate the holy home of the Blacks with your presence, you still have the nerve to try to remove a portrait of a Lady Black from her own residence?!"

"Actually I didn't try anything, I just said my idea" I said, but she wasn't listening.

"I don't know who you think you are, you inferior worm, but I curse you...you and your bitch mother for giving birth to a mudblood just like you" Walburga continued with her venomous slurs, utterly irritated by the thought of having his portrait removed from the Blacks' house.

However, as soon as Walburga said that, Remus and Sirius knew something was wrong, as the air turned cold and a pressure appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

And even Walburga, who was a mere portrait, seemed to sense it, for she, too, went still, and in the next instant three pairs of eyes turned to me.

"What did you say about my mother?" I asked in a cold tone to Walburga, who was wide-eyed.

Walburga, even though she was a portrait, could feel the magical pressure that was coming out of me, especially since she was a magical portrait, and that was enough to make her feel the air leave her chest.

Her silence did nothing to assuage my anger, and Sirius seemed to sense it, but he remained quiet, impressed to see his mother get scared.

And I was seriously annoyed that Walburga had managed to hit one of my weak spots, which was my family.

"Sirius, Remus, can you excuse me? I have something to talk to the Black Lady about," I said with an expressionless face..

And Remus was about to say something, but Sirius, who knew me well, knew I was serious, and covered Remus' mouth with one hand.

And ignoring his friend's protests, he dragged him into the kitchen, in a mixture of fear and anticipation, not knowing whether or not he wanted to watch what I would do to his dear mother.

And as soon as they left I was alone with Walburga's portrait, and when I heard the sound of the kitchen door slamming, I turned to her.

"Well, let's talk then," I said, looking up at her with my amber eyes twinkling.

End.

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(End AN: Well, these were the chapters that I haven't been able to post these past few days.

I hope you enjoyed!)