Chapter 19 - A New Home
Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!
AN: Well here is another chapter :) I hope you all like it! Thanks to Turnlach for his BETA work once again
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"So! What do we want to do this summer?" Sirius said happily, loving his new freedom.
"Umm… I was thinking that… we could maybe… buy another house." Harry said, "I want to live in a normal size house… not like this one. And I don't think I want to live in any of the houses my parents owned yet." Harry said. Sirius seemed to be thoughtful.
"Yes… I was actually going to suggest the same thing… this house is way too big for my liking and since there is only the three of us…" Sirius said, "What do you think Moony?"
"It's your money… it's not up to me." Remus said
"Now, now Remus! My money is your money, you better remember that! And anyway… I doubt I could spend all of the Black money if I tried." Sirius said seriously. Remus just nodded.
"Ok then, it's decided! We're buying a house! Anywhere you're interested in Harry? Hogsmeade? Diagon Alley?" Sirius asked.
Harry just shook his head, "No, no I want it to be in a muggle area. I don't really want reporters pitched in front of the house… and we don't really want Voldemort and his followers knowing where I live." Harry said. Sirius and Remus nodded their heads in agreement.
"Yes I can see your point… anywhere you can think of then?" Sirius asked. Harry was thoughtful for a bit.
"Actually… Canton seemed like a nice area… wouldn't mind living there." Harry said, Sirius nodded, while Remus looked at Harry suspiciously.
"So… why Canton Harry?" Remus asked raising an eyebrow.
Harry just shrugged his shoulders, "Hmm… No real reason." Harry said, lying through his teeth. He didn't really want to tell them that Hermione happened to also live there.
"Ok then! If it's where Harry wants to live, it's where we will live. He deserves to live in a place he wants after those damn muggles…" Sirius said, growling out the last bit, then his eyes took on a mischievous gleam, "Harry… you said your uncle worked at a drill company?" Sirius asked.
"Er… yeah Grunnings" Harry asked slightly confused. It then dawned on him what Sirius was thinking, "Oh My God! That would be great!" Harry said his eyes wide.
"What are you two planning now?" Remus asked, as he watched the two of them.
"Well Moony old pal, could you imagine the look on Harry's uncle's face when he finds out that Harry happens to own the company he works for?" Sirius said a large grin on his face.
A large grin grew on Remus' face at the idea, "Well old Padfoot, I would say he would be… devastated."
"Another time then! We have to go house shopping!" Harry said. Sirius and Remus both nodded but Harry could tell that Sirius was still planning his revenge on the Dursleys.
The three of them left via the floo to the Leaky Cauldron and then took the Knight Bus into Canton, telling Stan to drop them off near a real estate office.
The three of them entered the office and went up to the reception desk, a fairly young lady looked at them, with a smile on her face, "Hello, how may I help you three today?" She asked sweetly.
Sirius had that mischievous look in his eye again, "Hello, we need to speak to someone about buying a house here in Canton… we were hoping to make the purchase today." Sirius said. The lady's eyes seemed to widen at this.
"Umm… yes… Mitchell should be able to help you… will you follow me?" She asked getting up and leading them into an office just around the corner.
A lady, who looked to be in her mid thirties stood up and greeted them, "Hello, I'm Mitchell; I hear you are looking for a house in the Canton area?" She asked.
Sirius smiled and nodded, "That's correct, we are looking for one and hope to make a purchase today." Just like before, Mitchell's eyes widened,
"Umm… Do you know the house you want to buy?" She asked. Sirius shook his head, "So… you want to find and buy a house today…" this time Sirius nodded. "I see… well… what price range are you looking at?"
"Any… the price doesn't matter." Sirius said, Mitchell nodded and started looking though her computer.
"There are currently only four houses on sale in Canton… which I can show you now if you would like?" She asked.
"That would be lovely." Sirius said. The four of them then left the office and took Mitchell's car to the first house.
The first house was nice though it was a little too small for Harry's tastes, Remus and Sirius seemed to agree with him… after all it wouldn't always be the three of them.
The second house was an old run-down place which they turned down before they even stepped foot inside the house.
The third one they looked at was lovely. It was a two storey house, with a large basement. Sirius and Remus also seemed impressed by it. It was a relatively large house, 6 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, dining room, lounge room, basement, and a kitchen. It was still nowhere near as big as most of the Potter and Black houses. The outside of the house was a white. When they went inside it was even nicer, the walls were an off-white colour so that it wasn't too bright.
The furniture was nice, and suited each room very well; the thing that sold it for Harry was the fact that it was only a two minute walk from Hermione's… and the fact that it wasn't a dump like the last one.
"So… what do you think Harry? It's your choice remember." Sirius asked. Harry could see Mitchell's eyes widen at this in the background.
"I like it… and I think we should take it." Harry said happily, Sirius smiled and nodded at Mitchell.
"We will take this one… how much is it?" Sirius asked.
"Umm… this house is three hundred and fifty thousand pounds." Mitchell said, Sirius just nodded.
"We will pay them… four hundred and fifty if they let us move in today." Sirius said. Mitchell's eyes widened again at this.
"I-I-I'll just call them… give me a moment." She said before going into the next room. She came out about ten minutes later with a large smile on her face, "They said that they are very happy and will happily allow you to move in." she said.
"Thank you… We will go see our bankers now and have the money transferred… do you have the banking details?" Sirius asked.
"We can do it from the office…" Mitchell said, but Sirius cut her off.
"Well since we are having this money deposited straight away, we have to go in… unless it will actually take a couple of days before the money actually goes into their account." Sirius explained, Mitchell nodded, though she had a confused look on her face. She then wrote down the family's banking details and handed them over to Sirius.
About two hours later they were back in the real estate office. Mitchell was gobsmacked that the house was already paid for… she didn't know what to say, she just got them to sign the required documents and handed them the keys.
Once out of the office Sirius used a duplicating charm on the keys and handed a set to Remus and Harry, "Ok! Lets go get settled in!" Sirius said happily. The three of them then found an empty alley and apparated right into the living room of their new house.
They then separated and went to move into their rooms. After leaving Gringotts they had packed and shrunk all of their stuff. About an hour later they were done and back in the Living Room.
"Binky!" Sirius called, Binky appeared in a soft 'pop'.
"Master Sirius be needing something?" Binky asked, smiling happily.
"Well Binky… we will be living here from now on and we were hoping that you would come with us?" Sirius asked, Binky was crying softly.
"Binky would be honoured, Master Sir… Binky will get to setting up the house." She said and with another 'pop' she was gone.
"Well, what are you guys going to do today?" Remus asked.
"Well I was thinking about setting up some wards around the house… then taking a look around the neighbourhood." Harry replied. Remus' eyes widened at this.
"Er… Harry… Where did you learn about warding?" Remus asked. Harry looked towards Sirius and nodded his head.
"Remus there is something that we have to tell you." Sirius said. They spent the next hour explaining what had happened to Harry, how he was from the future and what they had been doing during the summer. Remus was so shocked he just nodded.
"I guess it explains how you could perform a corporeal Patronus." Remus said still in a state of shock. Harry just smiled.
"Actually… I learnt it in my third year… you actually taught me how to perform it." Harry said smiling at the man.
"That's nice to know." Remus said and then he had the sparkle in his eyes… "So… you and Hermione engaged eh?" he asked, teasing a little.
"Shut up Remus." Harry said before laughing. When the laughter finally stopped Harry stood up and walked into the living room. "I think I will set the wards now." he said.
Harry then began waving his wand in all different motions, softly speaking long lengths of Latin and other ancient languages that neither Remus or Sirius had heard before.
About fifteen minutes later, Harry had lain down an anti-apparation field, only allowing in the ones on the permitted list. So far that was, Harry, Remus, Sirius, The Weasleys and Hermione. He had then laid down his anti-dark mark ward, but this time didn't use the anti-magic field.
He also added some emergency wards; these were a more… severe anti-apparation ward, where if they were not on the list, instead of harmlessly bouncing off they… most likely would survive. There was also an anti-magic field with these emergency wards… again meaning that anyone that was not on the allowed list would be completely unable to use any magic.
Once Harry had laid the wards he explained them to Sirius and Remus, who were amazed that Harry could actually do this. He then, said his goodbyes and headed off down the street. To anyone watching it looked like he was aimlessly walking down the street, but in fact Harry had a destination.
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Harry arrived at a familiar looking house and began to walk down the drive. Before Harry even reached the front doors they were thrown open and Hermione had attacked him.
"HARRY! What are you doing here! I didn't expect to see you today." She said, planting small kisses all over his face. Harry just laughed.
"Well actually… I was just having a look around the new neighbourhood." Harry said. Hermione looked at him in confusion. "You see… Sirius just happened to buy a new house… that happens to be about two minutes walk that way." Harry said pointing down the street, a large smile on his face.
Hermione's mouth dropped open before she slowly closed it and a large smile formed on her face, "This means I get to be with you through the summer!" She said happily, drawing him into a bone-breaking hug. Harry just smiled.
"So… you want to come over and see the new house?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded.
"Come on, we will go tell mum and dad." She said grabbing Harry's hand and dragging him into the house.
"MUM, DAD?" Hermione yelled out.
"In here dear." came Jane's voice. Hermione and Harry followed the sound into the living room where they found Rodger and Jane sitting on the couch watching a movie.
"Oh… Hello Harry, it nice to see you." Rodger said. Harry smiled.
"Likewise, Mr. Granger." Harry said politely.
"Harry… what have I said about the Mr and Mrs.…" Rodger said slowly.
"Oh… yeah sorry… Rodger." Harry said, feeling a little weird.
"Mum, Dad you will never believe it," Hermione said happily, Rodger and Jane just looked at her waiting for her to tell them, "Harry moved in down the street!" she said a large grin on her face.
The two adults then turned to Harry, looking at him suspiciously, "What? I-I wasn't the one to buy the house! It was Sirius!" Harry said defending himself.
"Oh… and who chose the house now Harry dear." Jane said sweetly, a smile on her face. Harry's face reddened before he looked down at the ground and mumbled 'mine'.
"And why did you happen to choose that house in particular?" Rodger asked, also grinning at him. Harry had given up; he knew his 'major' plan was busted, so there was no point lying.
"Because Hermione lived down the street... and I wanted to be with her during the summers." Harry said his face now redder than the Weasleys hair.
Hermione looked at him a large smile on his face, "You chose that house so that you could be close to me?" She asked softly, a small smile on her face, Harry just nodded. Hermione kissed him softly on the lips… right in front of her parents; this caused Harry to quickly look at them after the kiss. He was relieved to see they had smiles on their faces.
"I'd buy the world for you Hermione." Harry said softly, so that only Hermione could hear it. She just smiled at him, before turning to look at her parents.
"Mum, Dad we are going to go have a look at Harry's house. Is that ok?" She asked. Rodger and Jane just nodded.
Harry and Hermione walked down the street hand in hand, Harry then led her down the driveway towards a rather large house. When they entered Hermione gasped… it was amazing. Harry showed her around the house and she was wide eyed the whole time.
It was after the tour that two soft 'pops' announced the arrival of Sirius and Remus. Harry and Hermione went into the living room to say hello.
"Hey you guys. Where were you?" Harry asked.
"We went over to Diagon alley to pick up some fl… oh hello Hermione. I guess you're the reason Harry likes this part of England so much." Sirius said with a smile on his face.
"So I have heard." Hermione said, causing Harry to blush and Sirius and Remus to chuckle.
"I knew there was something Harry." Remus said, Harry just nodded, admitting defeat.
"So I take it Harry has shown you around?" Sirius asked, Hermione nodded, "So. What do you think?"
"It's great! It has to be one of the nicest houses I have seen." Hermione exclaimed to which Sirius smiled smugly.
"Merlin Sirius… you sound like a Malfoy… showing off your house." Harry said, a teasing grin on his face. Sirius's smile dropped and he turned to Harry.
"I'll get you for that one, pup" He said, an evil looking gleam in his eyes and a large smirk on his face.
Harry couldn't stop himself… he gulped.
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AN: Well there you go I hope that you all like it :P, Another chapter coming your way soon I promise!! Oh and I would also like to say, I have NO idea how much a house would cost in England, and well the moving in right away bit, with them offering another 150, well they got lots of money why not make others happy :P