Chapter 6

Amelia nodded as though she understood, something Harry highly doubted, especially considering that he wasn't sure that he completely understood what he was feeling.

"And what will you do with the place if you buy it?" Amelia asked.

At this Harry shrugged. He'd been dwelling on that very question since he'd found the place and still had yet to come up with an answer. Instead, he answered her question with a question of his own.

"If I was to buy it, how much would a building like this cost?"

Once again, Amelia consulted her black folder.

"The asking price is three million," she said. "A big chunk of that has to do with the heritage listing and the fact that you're so close to downtown New York. The Empire State Building is within walking distance and once Stark Tower is completed, you'll only be three blocks away from that. One is already a high-density traffic area and the other is expected to be."

Harry nodded absently, once more turning about as he took in the room. Three million was a huge chunk of money in anyone's currency. And then there'd need to be a lot more spent on it to make it habitable again.

Idly he attempted to do some currency conversions. He had a rough idea what the exchange rate was between US dollars and British pounds. And then he needed to convert that figure into galleons. Four hundred and fifty thousand galleons was a lot less than he expected, a figure that was only a small portion of the money that Sirius had left him.

He knew that he was going to be in North America for a while - easily a year or three, if not longer. And the idea of having the option of running his own little business to occupy himself when he wasn't off exploring the continent appealed. The fact that he could add space expansion charms to the place, not to mention any other sort of magic that he wanted to was also a bonus. A small smile lit his face as he thought about making sure that there was a small library and a room especially for Hermione to come visit - she was definitely the one person from home that he missed the most.

"I'll take it," Harry said suddenly.

"What?" a startled Amelia replied.

"I'll take it," Harry repeated.

"You will?" Amelia asked.

"Yep, now where do I sign?" he asked.

ooo00ooo

Really, Harry knew that he shouldn't be there. Sure, he'd basically bought the place, but it'd be weeks before the deal settled. But he simply couldn't help himself - he had to look through it again, this time at his own pace. And if he happened to do a bit of cleaning or a couple of reparos, well, what harm could it do.

Even with as dirty as he knew the windows were, he refrained from lighting his wand after apperating into the main downstairs area - it'd be just his luck if a stray bit of light seeped through and caught the attention of the wrong people. Instead, he waited until he was in the big kitchen before casting the lumos charm.

The kitchen was just as he remembered it: enormous and in serious need of a massive overhaul. It was also perfectly designed and placed for a small restaurant or perhaps a pub of sorts. The fact that there was a walk-in fridge/freezer plus a cellar definitely supported the idea.

Not seeing much that he hadn't already seen here, Harry descended into the cellar. This was a room that he hadn't looked at properly at all.

Holding his wand high, he stepped down and quickly grabbed at the banister of the stairs to keep from slipping over. Directing his wand downwards, he quickly identified the problem: a layer of black slime coated the stone floor.

"Scourgify," Harry intoned, swinging his wand backwards and forwards in front of him.

He had to repeat the cleaning charm another half dozen times just to get a somewhat decent area to move around in. And even then, the floor wasn't completely clean. Harry suspected that it'd need another dozen cleaning spells or more likely a high-powered blaster to get rid of the slime.

The slimy floor, though, wasn't the only thing about the cellar that needed a good cleaning. One entire side of the room was filled with old rotting cupboards and boxes. What they held was anyone's guess and not something that Harry had any desire to experience right then.

The glint of reflected light rebounded from a different corner and Harry cautiously edged closer to find that a wooden wine rack had been built into and across the back wall. The gleam had come from one of the few remaining bottles that still sat there. Whether they had anything fit to drink in them was a question for another day when it was safer to cross the length of the room.

Deciding that he'd seen enough, Harry turned to go when an idea occurred to him. Turning back, he pointed his wand at the trap doors that led to the outside alley.

With a small smile and a thought of a bushy-haired, buck-toothed witch in mind, he cast a spell he'd first learnt back in his third year.