The Lewis House 119 страница

"I can't stay," Harry said, reaching out a hand to her. "And neither can you. It's time for a break."

Ginny looked down at her Healer text, obviously torn. "Well… is it outside?" she asked. "It's a beautiful day."

"It is. Come downstairs. Remus is coming too, it won't take long."

"Where are we going?"

A thrill ran through Harry as he walked with Ginny down the stairs. Somehow, he felt like this might be the most special thing that they'd ever done. It was a good feeling to have a surprise for someone. Ginny was constantly surprising him with words, or letters, or just with actions. Only rarely had Harry truly felt as though he'd had something to share. He remembered how he had felt the night that Ginny had successfully wakened the Grangers – when she had seemed to relax at his touch. This feeling was similar.

He didn't answer her until they reached the study, where Remus was standing in the center of the room reading a book, which he put down when Harry and Ginny entered the room.

"Are you going to enlighten us now?" Remus asked.

"Yes." Harry said, and he pulled the map out of his pocket and put it on the desk. "We're going to Godric's Hollow."

"What?" Remus said, examining the map more closely. "Did Sirius draw this?"

"Yes, he's gone to get Ron and Hermione and they'll meet us there. I want you all to be there with me to see where my parents lived."

Ginny squeezed his arm and looked at him as though she were very, very proud of him. Remus, however, looked apprehensive.

"He's got you Apparating to the top of the hill, where the ruin of the old manor is located," Remus said slowly. "Harry – did Sirius tell you anything about your parent's house?"

Harry couldn't help smirking. Sirius had been right, in a way. Remus was much better at preparing people for unpleasant things. Perhaps that had been why he'd been such a good Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

"We've just come from there," Harry told him. "It's okay, Remus. I know." He turned to Ginny. "The house isn't there anymore. But it's fine. Really," he said, when she raised her eyebrows. "The house is quite a ways off from here, on the other side of town," he explained to Ginny. "I haven't got a map for that part, but if we Apparate together, you should be able to get to it."

Ginny nodded and pulled out her wand, still holding onto his arm. Together, they Apparated to Godric's Hollow.

When they arrived, Sirius, Ron and Hermione were already there. Harry imagined that Sirius had not given them much time to discuss things.

Sirius was standing against the fence, talking with an elderly woman. He waved when he saw Harry, Remus and Ginny, and beckoned them over.

"Here's Harry now," he said. The woman looked around at them, astonished. "Where did you lot come from?" she asked. "I didn't see you come in the gate."

From this, and the way that she was dressed, Harry guessed that she was a Muggle. She shook her head, as if she felt she were imagining things, and held out a hand to him. "I'm Mrs. Blythe," she said, kindly.

"I'm Harry," he said. "And this is Ginny. And Remus."

The woman looked shocked. "Remus! I hardly recognized you – you've both grown, I suppose. You'll be forever young men in my eyes though." Sirius patted his hair self-consciously and from the way that the corner of his mouth turned up, Harry could tell that he wanted to laugh.

"And you. I used to look after you, you know. When you were a baby. And now, you've grown. And you look just like your father. He was such a nice young man. And your mother – a beautiful girl. I knew your grandparents, too. It was such a sad, sad day when the Potter house burned down – it's just lucky that your parents were on holiday when it happened."

Harry tried not to feel sick.

"Mrs. Blythe is the one who has been tending the garden," Sirius explained.

"I hope you don't mind," she said to Harry.

"Mind?" said Harry, recovering. "It's brilliant."

"Oh! I'm so glad you like it," she said, clasping her hands together. "I had to do something. Such tragedy – your parents dying in that car accident the very next day – although I wasn't surprised, I'd never seen them drive a car, you see. And then I heard that you were with relatives in the north, which was a bit of a surprise – your mother said she wasn't on speaking terms with her family. Still, I assumed that someone would be back to sell the property, but no one came, so I decided to start the garden. Of course, you'll be wanting to build on it now, I suppose?"

She ended her monologue with an imploring look at Harry, and he shook his head. He looked out over the garden. Hermione was walking the perimeter of the garden, looking down at the plants with an intent look on her face. Ron was hanging back by a tree; he held up a hand to Harry when he noticed Harry looking his way.

Even though she was a Muggle, Mrs. Blythe certainly had a magical way with plants. His parents had lived here. A house had once stood right where the foxgloves and buttercups mingled in the center of the lawn. Had that strawberry patch near the back belonged to his parents, or had Mrs. Blythe planted the berries later? Before they'd arrived, before he'd known, he had entertained the idea of living in his parents' house. His family's house. But now, somehow, he didn't see the point. Bad things had happened here, and as beautiful as the garden was, he didn't think he could ever visit this place without thinking of that.

Ginny put an arm around his waist. She leaned her head against his and said, very quietly, "Don't dwell on it, Harry. You're here. You lived."

She was right.

He turned back to answer Mrs. Blythe. "I think you've done a lovely job with the garden," he said. "I want to leave it like this."

Mrs. Blythe looked visibly relieved, and began to thank Harry profusely. Remus stepped in to ask her how her strawberries had done, and she invited them over to the patch to taste for themselves.

Harry stayed back, his arm around Ginny now, and leaned against the fence to look out over the garden. Hermione had stopped walking and was kicking at something in the dirt. Ron wandered over to her. "What's wrong," Harry heard him ask. "Dogs not cleaning up for themselves these days?"

But Hermione wasn't listening. She'd knelt down in the grass and started clearing away something with her hands.

"There's something here!" Hermione said, reaching out her arm and clearing more dirt. "Harry! Come here!"

She stood up as Harry and Ginny approached, and dusted off her hands. Then, to Harry's amusement, Hermione stomped on the ground several times with her foot. He heard a hollow thunk as her foot came in contact with the ground, and he hurried forward for a better look.

"Harry, there's something under the garden - I think this is a door!"

Hermione, as usual, was right. It did appear to be a door – a heavy, metal door with a large, round, metal handle. It was rusted and dirty, and part of it was buried under several inches of turf.

"The cellar…" Ron said. "It must be a cellar of some kind." He turned to survey the property. "Yes. If the house started there, which makes sense because of where the trees are, then the outdoor cellar would be just about here."

He looked at Harry, whose heart was thudding so loudly that he was sure they could all hear it.

Harry looked back, in silent agreement, and a moment later, they got down to their knees, checked to make sure that Mrs. Blythe was fully occupied, and removed the dirt and grass from the door.

"Hermione," said Ron, sliding his wand back into his belt, "will you do the honors?"

Hermione nodded, pulled out her wand, swished and flicked, and said, "Alohomora!"

The rusty handle turned with a creak, and slowly, the doors started to open upwards from the ground. Harry and Ron both hastily grabbed onto a door, to make sure that Mrs. Blythe wouldn't see, but she was heading back towards her house. Remus and Sirius, however, started to walk towards them.

When the doors were finally open, a musty, earthy smell came up from the hole. Harry, who was used to having to face dark, endless holes leading nowhere, was happy to see a set of stone steps leading down into the cellar.

"I didn't know they had a cellar," Remus said, bending down to peer inside.

"Neither did I," Sirius said, "and I thought I knew everything."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Ginny asked, prodding Harry in the back with her foot. "You go first."

Carefully, Harry put his foot on the first step. It was very dark. "Lumos," he said, and the stairs illuminated below him. There weren't many, but he was able to stand upright when he reached the bottom. It was much colder here, and he shivered for a moment.

Ginny had followed him; the rest not far behind. Soon they were all down there, and Hermione conjured a lantern with a bluebell flame, which she set in the center of the stone floor. Soon an eerie blue light flickered and danced off the walls and the floor.

The room was empty. He tried not to be annoyed with his parents for a moment – had they been so neat and orderly that they hadn't left things lying around? He was certain that if this were his cellar, it would not be so pristine.

Then again, they had left that copper box at Gringotts for him. And the Kinolia – they'd left that with Sirius. And the Invisibility Cloak – somehow, Dumbledore had ended up with that and passed it on to him. Lily and James had seen to it that he'd inherited the things that mattered most. What did a house mean, really? Maybe his parents hadn’t known about the cellar either.

Maybe they'd never been here.

Harry wandered around the small room, breathing the musty air and looking for something, anything, that would indicate that his parents had been here – that this had been a part of their house. Something that would make him feel as if he'd been a part of their family.

When he'd finished circling the room, Harry looked up and saw that Ron and Hermione were standing near the stairs; Ron had his arm around Hermione's shoulders. Both were watching him. Sirius was leaning against the wall, looking lost, and Remus was standing near Ginny; both appeared to be trying to warm their hands from the feeble light of the bluebell flame.

This was his family. Harry smiled at Ginny, and was afraid that he could feel the tears forming in his eyes as he did so. But he was no longer sad. He no longer felt lost. He crossed the room to where Ginny and Remus were standing, and a moment later, he was surrounded on all sides as everyone in the room fused together in a tight and protective embrace. Someone kicked the bluebell flame, which flickered out and left them all in darkness, but no one moved to right it.

Harry shut his eyes and leaned his head heavily on Ginny's shoulder, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly.

He was home.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04