Easter vacation came almost unexpectedly. Hermione was going to spend it with her parents, of course, while Harry would spend it with Sirius. They still reserved one morning for checking Grimmauld Place together. Harry was still unaware of this, but Sirius wouldn't live there in principle, although he'd managed to subdue the remaining house-elf, Kreacher, to do his bidding. It wouldn't take off Mrs. Black's portrait, though.
Harry was surprised that Dumbledore didn't insist on Harry going to the Dursleys. On second thought, Dumbledore probably didn't mind the few days of vacation, that his other self used to stay at Hogwarts. It was the long summer vacation that counted, at least it seemed that was the way Dumbledore thought.
Harry was also surprised that Sirius didn't bring him to stay at Grimmauld Place. Instead, he brought him to a nice house in a high-end suburb of London. It was basically a Muggle house with only some magical enhancements. Sirius was proud to show Harry a television set in the living room, along with a music system with state-of-the-art electronics. He also had a small collection of music and video. Harry suspected it was only started after Sirius's trial.
"We can go to my ancestors' house at Grimmauld Place tomorrow, or the day after it," Sirius told him. "You may call Hermione and see when it's more convenient for her." He pointed at a modern telephone on the kitchen's wall.
Despite knowing from his other self how much Sirius loathed the house he'd grown in, Harry asked, "Why didn't you bring us to that house to start with?"
Sirius's face darkened. "I grew there as a child and I loathed every moment of it. My mother was crazy even before I was born and only got worse as time passed. My father, although as bigoted as her, used to protect me from her viciousness. I'm not sure that his death was wholly natural either. I suspect that crazy bitch had done something that eventually caused his death without implicating her. Despite her craziness, she was smart and devious."
He sighed, trying not to dwell on his past. "Besides, I wanted all the comfort that Muggle technology offers, and most of it wouldn't work in that house."
"It costs quite a bit to buy a house in this neighbourhood, doesn't it?"
Sirius waved his hand as if it wasn't important. "There's enough gold in the Black vaults to buy the whole street and then some. I could also choose another of the Black residences, since they all stand empty, but I like this house better."
It really was a very nice house. The front was deceivingly modest, although still elegant. It had two floors and a basement. The ground floor contained a very large living room, a formal dining room, a library that extended to the upper floor and an adjacent study. It also contained two guest toilets, the kitchen and some storage spaces. The upper floor, reached by an elegant and wide staircase, had the master bedroom along with seven more bedrooms, all with attached bathrooms. The basement was currently undivided and unused. "I plan to make a training room in there and a potions lab, but that can wait for the summer vacation," Sirius explained.
The backyard was quite large. "I thought of turning it into a Quidditch field, but it isn't really large enough, and I'd need much heavier wards to prevent the neighbours from noticing that activity. Instead, I'll make it into a place suitable for garden parties or outdoors receptions," Sirius told Harry. Currently, there was only a large lawn there with some flowerbeds scattered somewhat randomly. Harry still thought it was very nice.
He spent a large part of the evening just talking on the phone with Hermione, making Sirius chuckle. It turned out that her parents needed to visit London for something related to their business and had no problem dropping her close enough to Grimmauld Place, where Harry and Sirius would be waiting for her.
\/\/\/
Grimmauld place looked worse than Harry's older self remembered. He could now understand that Molly Weasley could really make a difference for that house. Still, it was quite clean and most of the rooms on the lower two floors had been at least scanned for dark objects. Those found were put in magic-suppressing bags and stored in an otherwise unused room.
Kreacher wasn't happy to see them. "What can Kreacher do for blood-traitor master and his half-blood and Mudblood guests?" he asked.
Sirius didn't let the disrespect bother him. "Kreacher, this is Harry Potter and he's my heir, at least as long as I don't have my own children. Act respectfully! He's as much your master as I am."
The old house-elf nodded. "Kreacher is not happy, but Kreacher must obey master and his heir."
Sirius led the children to the room with the dark objects. Harry had a quick look at the objects. He wasn't surprised that the locket wasn't there. "Kreacher, we're here to remove all dark magic from these objects. I believe you also keep some such objects. Bring them here so we can destroy the dark magic. You'll get them back after they're cleansed."
Kreacher didn't reply. He just popped out of the room and returned a few minutes later with several objects in his hands. Harry was content to see the locket among them.
"Now, Kreacher, I want you to bring us some old clothes that nobody is going to need. Bring enough to wrap all the objects in this room," Harry instructed.
While the elf went to collect the clothes, Hermione cast the spell to identify a Horcrux. Only the locket seemed to glow red for a moment, although Harry could feel the darkness within it even without that spell. She then used a few more spells to verify that the other objects were also tainted by dark magic. Sirius looked at her with fascination.
"Where have you learned these spells?" he asked her.
"We found a room with some old tomes about curse breaking. It seemed to be useful, so I learned all that I could." Hermione sounded nonchalant.
"Some of these spells are quite advanced," Sirius noted.
Hermione shrugged. "They only need to be pronounced correctly and the wand movements have to be precise. Not a big deal, really."
Sirius only nodded in disbelief. He couldn't say that she was exaggerating, since he'd seen her paying utmost attention to these same details. It still seemed unbelievable.
Kreacher returned with a bunch of old children clothes. Sirius grimaced at the sight of some, but said nothing.
Harry and Hermione started with the locket. They used magic to levitate it and wrap it in some cloth. Hermione then cast the transfer charm. The cloth wrap seemed to turn dirty. Still not touching anything, she separated the locket from the cloth, which she encased in a transparent shield. Harry checked the locket, finding it free of any dark magic. The Horcrux had not been destroyed yet, but the locket was cleansed.
"Do you have a really hot furnace here? Maybe a room where you can safely cast Fiendfyre?" Hermione asked Sirius.
He contemplated the question for a moment. "The dungeons under the house should be safe enough. We can remove any combustible material before casting it, so it won't keep any longer than strictly necessary. Do you know how to cast it?"
Hermione shook her head. "I've read that it's one of the ways to destroy such dark magic. If you know how to do it, that's fine. If not, I may have another way." She took a small bottle out of her bag. "This is very concentrated Sulphuric Acid. A few drops of it can destroy the dark magic just the same. We only need a ceramic container, so it won't spill."
Kreacher popped at her side with a large ceramic bowl. "Will this do, Miss?"
She smiled at the old house-elf. "This will be perfect."
It only took a minute before the cloth was magically compressed into the bowl and then Hermione poured a bit of the acid on it. There was loud hissing as the cloth dissolved in the acid and then there came an ear-piercing wail of fury and despair as a dark substance tried to rise from the liquid but was dissolved by it almost at once.
Kreacher seemed to change completely as soon as it was over. He started dancing in place and then took Hermione's hands and started kissing them alternately, chanting "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
Sirius looked as if he couldn't believe his eyes. It took a few more minutes before Kreacher calmed down enough to explain. "Master Regulus gave this locket to Kreacher and ordered to destroy the dark magic in it or destroy the locket if Kreacher can't destroy only the magic. Kreacher failed. Whatever Kreacher could do, whatever Kreacher tried – nothing worked. Now Miss completed Kreacher's task. Kreacher can now die a happy elf."
Sirius seemed to get into a kind of trance at hearing that. "Regulus gave you this? When? Why?"
The old house-elf seemed to straighten. "Master Regulus took Kreacher to a cave. He drank nasty liquid from the green bowl and took the locket from there. He ordered Kreacher to go and do his bidding. Kreacher tried to take Master Regulus too, but Master Regulus forbade it. He said he was doomed and should better die there than endanger his family. He also forbade Kreacher from telling anybody until the Dark Lord was vanquished. Kreacher tried to tell Mistress, but she wouldn't listen. Kreacher is really sorry."
Both Harry and Hermione crouched down to look his height. "Kreacher, you did well. Master Regulus would have been proud of you."
Sirius joined them. "I'd like to hear more about Regulus. I thought he joined the Dark Lord, but now it looks like he wizened up." He then stood up and talked to the children. "Is there any other object that we need to promptly destroy, or can we leave that for another time?"
Hermione smiled at him. "The other objects are not quite as dark. We can come here another day if you like."
Sirius turned back to the house-elf. "Kreacher, I now live in another house. You may come there to tell me about my brother after you recuperate from the intense experience of today. You may even stay there if you like."
Kreacher nodded understandingly and popped away.
"What would you like to do now?" Sirius asked the two children.
They looked at each other and then said together, "Hamleys!"
At Sirius's questioning look, Hermione explained. "It's one of the largest toy stores in London, maybe even in the whole world. I believe you may also enjoy it."
Indeed he did. Three hours later, the children had to drag Sirius out, not before he bought several hundred pounds worth of toys, with only a few for the children. They then had to drag the still starry-eyed Marauder to a diner, where they all ate a (very) late lunch.
"Are you sure none of those toys uses magic?" Sirius asked them, not for the first time.
Hermione shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Sirius, it's a Muggle shop. Anything magical in there would be breaking the Statute of Secrecy. Do you think any sane person would take that risk?"
Sirius just shook his head, still unable to believe it was all just Muggle technology.
Harry and Sirius then escorted Hermione to where her parents were already waiting. They frowned when noticing the large bags full of toys, but Sirius was quick to reassure them. "Your daughter gave me a priceless service today. She helped me regain the trust in my deceased brother. This is the least I could do to repay her."
When stated that way, they couldn't really object to the many toys and games (all educational, of course) that their daughter got.
Much later, after Sirius and Harry had their dinner at a nice restaurant, Kreacher popped in. He seemed to be impressed by the modern style furniture and setting, although the Muggle instruments seemed to confuse him. Sirius took Kreacher to the study, where he intended to have a very long conversation with the house-elf. He let Harry watch a nature documentary film before going to bed. Harry wasn't sure if either Sirius or Kreacher slept much that night.