Disclaimer: I don't own any character! all belongs to J.K.Rowling
Authors note: Sorry for taking so long to update it and hugs to Mabel who's been so generous and betaingthe story andbeacause withoutherI wouldn't be able to update this.
Chapter 3; Godric's Hollow
Harry stopped when Hermione stopped. Before he was allowed to open his eyes, he heard the door shut behind him.
"This is nonsense," he said out loud and heard Hermione giggling next to him. It was rather odd, he thought, Hermione wasn't the type of girl who giggled. "Can I open my eyes now?" he asked in annoyance.
"Just a second," she responded as he felt her move in front of him. He also realized they were still holding hands, but his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her voice. "You can open them now."
Harry didn't let her tell him twice before he opened his eyes, and when he saw what lay before him, he gasped. It was something he could have never imagined. He was standing in the middle of a vast hall; the walls covered with paintings and portraits. Opposite the door where they were standing stood an enormous staircase and to the right, was a large living room.
All the way up to the staircase there were portraits of his parents and grandparents, they weren't moving thought, but he still loved those. He walked a bit closer to the staircase to look one specific portrait. All three of them were there. Lily was holding him in her arms, smiling while James was holding his hand around his wife. Even thought it was just a portrait, Harry would tell James seemed to be proud. Harry kept looking at the portrait, tears swelling up in his eyes. He didn't know how long he had been staring it, or how long he could stare it, but feeling Hermione's arm on his shoulder, he came back to reality. Smiling weakly at her, he found her hand again and held it in his.
He walked towards the living room, not actually feeling his legs beneath him as Hermione remained next to him, supporting him and smiling brightly.
The living room was bigger than any other room Harry had ever seen. There were red and soft couches, an enormous fireplace and plants of varying species everywhere. The window in the room was just as big as everything else he had seen and it lightened up the room with rays of sunshine. When his eyes fell upon the fireplace, he couldn't hold back his tears any longer. There stood a large portrait of his parents wedding day. Harry had never seen in any picture of his mother looking more beautiful than she was in that portrait.
He walked up to the fireplace and now he noticed the small photos standing in the fireplace. There were photos of his mother and father, photos where he was sitting between his parents, and photos of Sirius and his friends.
Hermione, as if reading his thoughts put her arm around her friend. "Welcome home Harry," she said and gave him quick peck on his cheek.
If Harry wouldn't have been so surprised with what was standing in front of him, he would have felt the spot where Hermione had kissed him.
"So, what do you think of it?" she asked as she eyed the portrait of the Potter family.
"This is a trick, right? There was nothing left. Walls, only walls," Harry mumbled.
"I think you should sit down," Hermione said as she led him to the sofa. "I'll explain everything to you," she added as Harry sat down. "To answer your question, no, this isn't a trick. What you see here is real. This is your home," she smiled.
"But…but…I lived with the Dursley's. Why? Why did I have to live with them when I had this? Why I couldn't I have been here? How long have you known about this?" he demanded. "Why couldn't I see a house? Why did I only see what was left of the house?" he exclaimed.
"You had to live with the Dursley's for your own safety," Hermione explained. "Privet Drive was the safest place for you to live in for all these years. Besides, this house wasn't ready yet, at least not the protection spells," she added. "But now, there is no safer place than this house. Even Hogwarts isn't this safe especially now that Professor Dumbledore isn't there," Hermione finished and immediately looked down.
Harry couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe what he saw in front of him and he couldn't believe what Hermione was telling him. This was his home. He looked up to the portrait of his family, hoping to see them moving, hoping and wishing that he could speak with his parents, even if they were only in a portrait, but his parents hadn't moved a inch since he got there. He lowered his head and sighed. He had hoped too much.
"Can I continue?" Hermione asked and Harry nodded. "I've known about this place since the end of our first year," she said and silenced a protest from Harry by raising her hand in front of him. "Let me finish before you ask anything," she berated, but Harry wasn't willing to wait. He rose up from the sofa and looked at Hermione furiously.
"You knew about it all this time?" he yelled at her. "You KNEW but you didn't tell me? I thought we were friends Hermione! WHY?" his anger was raising fast. "WHY didn't you tell me about this? You knew how important this was to me, you knew it, but you didn't tell me because you didn't care, did you?" he said as he collapsed, tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Are you finished?" Hermione asked coldly. "May I continue now? I was just about to explain everything to you, but you couldn't wait could you? Of course you couldn't. That's your only problem, Harry; you never wait. You act in a rush and start lashing out at everyone, making your own explanations," she yelled back. "Just when I was about to explain to you why I kept this secret, you start yelling at me, and I did care; I still care. That's the only reason I kept this secret from you. You should remember what Professor Dumbledore said to you about living with the Dursley's. It was the safest place at the time. If you would have known about this house, your protection at the Dursley's would have faded away and you would have been in greater danger. You couldn't come to live here because it wasn't ready and you couldn't have lived here alone, nor could you live here with Dursley's. They wouldn't be able to see this house and the house wouldn't let them enter. I kept this secret from you because I care and I wanted you to be safe, Harry," she ranted. "Do you now understand why I had to keep it secret from you?" she asked worriedly with tears in her eyes, and to her relief, Harry nodded.
"No one knows about this place except Professor Dumbledore and I. And now you," she said and Harry looked up at her.
"What about Ron?" he asked
"I couldn't tell him. I knew he wouldn't ever be able to keep this secret from you. He would have made some comment over it or accidentally talked about it near you. As much as I hated keeping this from the two of you, I had to. I made a promise to Professor Dumbledore," she said. "Not even the Ministry of Magic knows about this place."
"But why you? How?" Harry managed to ask. He was much calmer now after hearing Hermione's side of the story. Once again, he had to admit that she was right. He couldn't have lived in that house all alone but there were still many questions that needed to be answered.
"After our first year at Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore saw something between the three of us. We were quite close at the end of that year, and he wanted me to help him protect this house, to help to decorate it and he needed someone who would know you and what you liked. He needed someone who was close to you and whether you believe it or not, I think Professor Dumbledore knew he was going to die before you saw this house. He looked at the house as if seeing it for the last time…and it was his last time. He had a note for me that Professor McGonagall sent me week ago," she said. "In that letter, Professor Dumbledore left instructions that I should show this to you. He asked me to come alone with you and not to bring Ron with me"
"But why?" Harry asked, still confused.
"I suppose it's easier to explain everything one person at the time, and you had to know it before Ron did. You know Ron, he would have been excited to see this place and once he saw it, jealousy would have kicked in and he would have started attacking me with questions and…" Hermione said and saw Harry nodding.
"Remember my holidays with my parents?" she asked and Harry, and once again he nodded. "They never happened. They were lies so that I had time to come here. No one would have guessed that I had lied, it wouldn't have been very suspicious," she said. "I only did it because of you, and because Professor Dumbledore asked me to," she said as she touched Harry's hand. "Are you angry with me?" she finally asked.
"No, I'm not mad or angry at you, but sometimes I'm scared of you knowing everything. Sometimes it seems like you know me better than I do and right now, you're scaring me," Harry said not daring to look at her. "I didn't plan to come here at all. When I walked out of Privet Drive, I didn't know where to go or what to do. Even when I called the Knight Busm, I didn't know where to go, but somehow I got the words out of my mouth and ended up here. It was the first place that came into my mind," Harry continued. "But you, you already knew I would come here and then this," he motioned around him. "It's perfect and you did this. You did this for me. I don't deserve this, and I don't deserve you wanting to risk your life for me."
"Sometimes I am scared of it myself," she answered honestly. "But then I think how much good it may do to you and that fear disappears. Do you want to see the rest of the house before we go get Ron?" she asked, changing the subject.
Harry wasn't sure whether he wanted Ron there or not. Was he ready to hear this amazing story again when it was explained to his other best friend? Or perhaps he wanted to spend this night here on his own, just to get used to his surroundings, let Hermione's words sink in.
"Why don't you go alone and come back tomorrow with Ron," he asked, and for some reason, he was embarrassed to ask that of her. He didn't want to hurt her feelings by telling her to leave him alone.
"No," Hermione answered stubbornly. "We both go tomorrow. I don't think you should be here alone tonight," she explained and looked at his reaction. "But of course it's your decision. I'll leave if you want me to," she added quickly, and to her delight, she saw Harry shaking his head.
"No, you're right as always. I shouldn't be here alone. You can stay though," he suggested and smiled. "I just have one more question," he said as Hermione waited. "Why wasn't I able to see this house from the outside, and you were?"
"It's simple," she started. "As I told you before, this house is protected by many complex spells. That spell, is one of them. No one can see the house itself; everyone only sees what's left of it," she smiled as she searched Harry's face for a reaction.
"And now you probably want to know what happens when someone opens the door," she asked, and Harry nodded. "Nothing, absolutely nothing happens. It will remain a pile of rubble and no one can even get close to the door. This whole place is protected by the same spell that was used during the Quidditch World Cup to keep muggles away from it. Of course, since we're dealing with wizards and witches, the spell is much more powerful," Hermione added.
"How did you get in?" Hermione asked out loud, reading Harry's mind when he looked like he was about to ask a question. "First of all, you got in because you're the owner of this house. Secondly, you must be given permission to come in. The list is right over there," she pointed towards the door they had entered. Next to the door was a small cupboard, and on it, a piece of parchment. "You write the names of those who you want to be allowed to enter the house. Only you can give permission to enter, but before you, Professor Dumbledore gave out permission. That's why you find my name on that list," she said as she looked at Harry as he walked up to the cupboard. "This house is protected with the highest level of security and it would take all night to tell you what spells and charms Professor Dumbledore has used all these years. Anymore questions?" she asked and Harry silently shook his head.
"Harry Potter, sir," interrupted a squeaky voice from behind Harry. "Dobby cannot describe his happiness to see you sir," said Dobby who was looking up and beaming at Harry.
"Dobby, what are you doing here?" Harry asked in shock.
"Dobby cannot leave Harry Potter sir. Dumbledore told Dobby not to leave Harry Potter and to keep his eye on Harry Potter, sir" Dobby replied, "And Dobby will do it, sir."
"No one else knew about this, eh?" Harry said with grin as he looked at Hermione.
"Well, that's the catch. He doesn't know," Hermione said quietly and pulled Harry further away from Dobby. "Dobby was brought here, but never told where he was. He doesn't know where he is right now until you tell him. All he knows is that you live here now, but don't worry about him, he won't betray you."
Harry nodded at Hermione, and turned to face Dobby. "Dobby, can you make us two mugs of tea?" he asked and saw Dobby smiling.
"It would be an honour Harry Potter, sir," Dobby replied and vanished to kitchen.
"So, which way is the kitchen?" Harry asked as he turned to Hermione again.
"Don't you want to put your things away before you go into the kitchen? Don't you want to see your room?" Hermione asked as she began to lead him to the second floor and the end of the corridor. She stopped before she opened the last door. "This room belonged to your parents, Harry. If you want, you can take another room. I just thought you might want this one," she said as Harry put his hand on her shoulder.
"No, I'm fine. I'll have that room," he responded and Hermione opened the door. Harry stepped in, but Hermione didn't. She knew he needed time alone to take everything in and she wanted to go back down to help Dobby make the tea when she heard quiet sobs coming from the bedroom.