Elektra Black II

Chapter 37 | A Shared Warmth

The trip back to Grimmauld Place was sweltering as the June heat set upon them, and El was forcibly pulling off clothing items to stay chilled, using them to shade Alaric instead. Remus stayed low as he stressfully marched his way through tube stations to reach their nearest one to the house's location.

"Now, wands out and keep hushed." He ordered them as they walked up to the number 12. The two teenagers took out their wands, and even El had pushed some of her energy down into the palm of her hands as a precaution.

Remus shoved open the door, looking all around him to make sure they weren't being watched as the light of the darkened hallway flickered, revealing a somewhat disordered house. Some books appeared discarded on the floor, and coats and boots covered the hallway as if someone had performed the explosion spell. Harry moved in closer, marching up to where Remus was to get a better look. "It looks ransacked," He mumbled.

"A-HA!"

El stared up and examined a purple-haired young woman, with her wand in her hand, ready to pounce. She swiftly recognised the three of them, rolling her eyes at her not so clever plan. "Oh, it's just you three." She mumbled, stepping back to let them in. "Hi, Tonks." Harry chuckled.

The dining room was the cleanest and most-tidied part of the house as Tonks led them all in, pouring them each a cup of freshly made tea to help with their travel fatigue and stress-induced headaches. A black-suit Sirius welcomed them with open arms, thankful that they all had made it back in one piece. But El and Harry were itching to find out if the locket had been stolen or not.

"So, any updates?" Remus asked, putting down the last of their things. Sirius shook his head, "Not a clue. The useless thing won't say a word." He flung his finger to where Kreature was reorganising the china cabinet. El cocked her eyebrow, "I wonder why..." She mumbled, sipping her tea. Harry quietly nudged her elbow, "We should go check upstairs."

They were out of the door in an instant, climbing over fallen down paintings and miscellaneous objects that lined the floor before Sirius could ask them how they were coping. They didn't have time for chit-chat when something as big as a Horcrux may or may not be hiding away in El's bedroom.

As they got to the attic stairs, El had a sudden urge to hold Harry's hand though her's were sticky from the heat, she noticed, wiping them on her trousers.  Harry began the climb to the top but stopped when El grabbed it in a rush of the moment, squeezing tight. Harry turned around hastily, thinking she had fallen over or needed support up the stairs, but when she reassuringly smiled up at him, he rubbed his thumb across the back of hers.

"You alright down there?" He asked as he forgot the whole point of coming up to her room. El adoringly smiled at him for a very slight moment, "Sorry- yes. Let's get going." She hurriedly apologised, looking up past her door, as Harry pulled her up, clenching his other hand around the rusty door handle and pushing it open to reveal what looked to be the worst room in the house. The bedsheets flung around apart from on the bed, all of her clothes that she left appeared draped over everything that wasn't her drawers, the majority of her books missing from the shelf, including her copy of Magical Creatures by Newt Scamander with all of her notes inside.

"No..." El whispered, her heart clenching tight as she looked around the room. The only thing left in perfect condition was Newt's tree! "Here you go, little buddy. It looks like your tree was thankfully too heavy for the robber to take." She carefully took Newt off her shoulder and placed him into his home before turning back to face Harry. "Who would do such a thing?" She whispered, barely knowing where to start when it came to the cleanup. As for her closet, the person had torn it to shreds. All of the mouldy aged boxes of Regulus' were on the floor in a giant damp heap. "It was in there." She pointed her finger to the darkened closet as both herself and Harry stepped forward to examine it. El's ears perked up as she tried to listen to the hissing noise she had heard the first time, but no sound came out from within. She huffed, rummaging through the now-empty boxes. "This was all of Regulus' things." She whined, still searching as Harry bent down to look with her.