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chapter twenty nine | a place to stay
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The dusty walls and cold air of Twelve Grimmauld Place was somewhere Stella Mason thought she would never observe and feel again after Sirius died. After the Battle of Mysteries, the Order stopped using the house as their meeting place. Stella looked around as the four friends stopped at the entrance doorway. It was silent, the hallway ahead of them pitch black. Suddenly, a mist was produced coming from the floor. The mist turned into the shape of Dumbledore, shooting toward them. The girls screamed as they all flinched back, only for the figure to disappear.
"What was that all about," Stella breathed, gripping Harry's arm.
"Probably Mad-Eye's idea," Hermione answered, "in case Snape decided to come snooping."
A loud clunking noise was heard ahead of them, causing the four to freeze. Stella gulped and stepped forward, her wand in front of her, "homenum revelio," she spoke, listened to the silence as the spell spoke to her, "we're alone."
The four decided to unpack and get settled, seeing as it was late at night. Stella wandered away from the group, going upstairs to look around. The girl wasn't very tired and didn't think she could fall asleep anytime soon as much as sleep sounded exactly what Stella needed at the time.
She reached a door that she could read out to be Sirius's room. The door creaked open, the girl wincing at the sound, not wanting to wake anyone if they were asleep downstairs. Stella pulled her jacket tighter around herself as the cool air seemed to intensify. The bed was a complete mess, picture frames on the ground, wallpaper chipped. Stella guessed this room was in the same condition from when Sirius finally had enough and ran away. She noticed some pictures were still intact on the dresser. Her arms wrapped tightly around herself, she gazed intently at the photos, her eyes stopping at one in particular. There was a picture of a young Sirius, his arms wrapped around a young Rowland Mason, wide smiles gracing their faces in their Hogwarts robes. Stella's heart clenched at the photo in her hands. She will never understand or know why her father betrayed everyone in his life.
Footsteps hitting the floorboard made the girl shoot her gaze toward the door, meeting the eyes of Harry Potter. She took a deep breath and looked down at the photo again, "you scared me, green eyes."
The boy walked forward, "sorry. I didn't know where you were, so..."
Stella chuckled shortly, "it's quite alright. I don't know how I'll be able to sleep here, or at all when we eventually leave."
Coming up next to her, he peered over her shoulder, "you'd be surprised how quick sleep can catch up to you."
The two were silent. Harry observed how intently Stella looked at the photo in her grasp, her brows furrowed, her lip pursed. He was quick to put two and two together and figured out who was in that photo, "it isn't your fault, you know?"
