Change the Future

DH 8

Harry woke early next morning, wrapped in a sleeping bag on the drawing room floor. Everything was quiet except for Ron and Hermione's slow, deep breathing. Harry glanced over at the dark shapes they made on the floor beside him. He looked up at the shadowy ceiling, the cobwebbed chandelier. Less than twenty four hours ago, he had been standing in the sunlight at the entrance to the marquee, waiting to show in wedding guests. It seemed a lifetime away. Desperate for something to do, for distraction, he slipped out of his sleeping bad, picked up his wand, and crept out of the room. On the landing he whispered, 

"Lumos," and started to climb the stairs by wandlight. On the second landing was his and Rory's bedrooms, he glanced into his. The wardrobe doors stood open and the bedclothes had been ripped back. 

"Why does it look like it's been robbed?" Regulus asks looking at the screen.

"Because it was by Mundungus Fletcher. Apparently he was less scared of Rory after she stopped going to Grimmauld Place, probably thought she'd never find out" Harry told him.

Harry's gaze wandered to the portrait that sometimes contained Phineas Nigellus Black but it was empty, showing nothing but astretch of muddy backdrop. Harry continued on until he reached the last two doors. The one facing him bore a nameplate reading Sirius. He pushed open the door, holding his wand high to cast light as widely as possible. As Harry moved deeper into the room, he head a scurrying of disturbed mice. Harry noticed the photo sat on Sirius's bed and picked it up. It was of him, Rory, Sirius and Remus the last christmas they were all together. 

"That's the one Rory was looking at" Lily says looking between her kids.

He put the picture back down with a small smile on his face before turning to look at the wall. He spotted a photo of James, Sirius, Remus and Peter whilst at Hogwarts standing arm in arm, laughing at the camera. Harry looked around at the floor. The sky outside was growing brighter. A shaft of light revealed bits of paper, books, and small objects scattered over the carpet. Evidently Sirius's bedroom had been searched too, although its contents seemed to have been judged mostly, if not entirely, worthless. A few of the books had been shaken roughly enough to part company with the covers and sundry pages littered the floor. Harry bent down, picked up a few of the pieces of paper, and examined them. One was a part of an old edition of A History of Magic, by Bathilda Bagshot, and another was belonging to a motorcycle maintenance manual. The third was handwritten and crumpled. He smoothed it out.

Dear Padfoot, 

Thank you, thank you, for Harry's birthday present! It was his favourite by far. One year old and already zooming along on a toy broomstick, he looked so pleased with himself. I'm enclosing a picture so you can see. You know it only rises about two feet off the ground but he nearly killed the cat and he smashed a horrible vase Petunia sent me for Christmas (no complaints there). Of course James thought it was so funny, says he's going to be a great Quidditch player, but we've had to pack away all the ornaments and make sure we don't take our eyes off him when he gets going. We had a very quiet birthday tea, just us and old Bathilda who has always been sweet to us and who dotes on Harry and Aurora. We were so sorry you couldn't come, but the Order's got to come first, and Harry's not old enough to know it's his birthday anyway! James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell also Dumbledore's still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance of little excursions. Your Little Wolf is also missing you and her Moony a lot as well. If you could visit, it would cheer him up so much. Wormy was here last weekend. I thought he seemed down, but that was probably the next about the McKinnons, I cried all evening when I heard. Bathilda drops in most days, she's a fascinating old thing with the most amazing stories about Dumbledore. I'm not sure he'd be pleased if he knew!