Grimmauld Academy: Illegal School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Chapter 3

(unedited)

Hermione screamed, Kreacher Apparated out of the room, and Harry tripped over his own feet trying to get away. Acromantulas were no joke. However, they had no reason to worry.

The acromantula was covered in dust and cobwebs and had obviously been dead for a very long time. Either it had been put there to scare people or Walburga had a very unique, living security system. Sadly, that security system appears to have passed away.

"Kreacher!" Harry called, "You can come back; it's not alive."

The House-Elf popped back into the room and carefully crept behind Harry's legs. He seemed to have decided that he was going to hide there until it was confirmed. In the panic, Harry's lumos had dissipated, so he re-cast it. He sent the ball of light to float above the acromantula's head as they observed it.

Kreacher gripped Harry's legs and tried to make himself smaller. For all he acted invincible, the elf was still scared. Hermione lifted her wand and ran a few diagnostic charms.

"It appears to have been dead for quite some time. There's no trace of panic, so I'd assume it was a pet of some sort," she thought for a moment, running a few more spells. "Or it was at least put here to protect the room from strangers. Whoever put it here probably died so the acromantula died of hunger with no one to feed it."

This seemed to reassure Kreacher, so he stepped out from behind Harry's legs. He puffed out his chest and spoke to Hermione. "Acromantulas make very good potion ingredients. Master Regulus loved potions and was always telling Kreacher how useful acromantula parts were. Should Kreacher harvest the spider, Mistress Hermione?"

The corner of Hermione's mouth ticked down and her eyebrows dipped toward each other. Harry knew that look, so he interrupted her before she could speak. "That would be wonderful, Kreacher. Thank you."

Hermione gave him a scolding look and whispered, "What are we going to do with acromantula parts?"

"I have no idea," he replied, "Maybe there will come a time when we need to brew a super important potion that uses giant spider parts. It's better to be safe than sorry."

She still looked annoyed, but accepted Harry's answer nonetheless. "Kreacher, where are you going to store the....ingredients at?"

The House-Elf gave Hermione an incredulous look. "I'll be storing them in the potions chamber, of course. Masters of the past have stocked it well."

It was clear that Hermione hadn't realized that there was a potions chamber. Harry hadn't realized it either. After all, they hadn't gone through every single room when they arrived- they had just run enough detection spells to make sure the house was clear of Death Eaters.

Hermione, being the genius she was, was obviously coming to the sake conclusion as he was. If there was a whole laboratory, the potion possibilities were endless. They could probably make Polyjuice and finally get out of the house. "Are all of the ingredients still good for use?"

A thoughtful look crossed the elf's face. "Kreacher has not checked. Would Mistress Hermione like Kreacher to clean the potions chamber?"

"That would be lovely," said Hermione, "Thank you."

Kreacher nodded his head and walked right into the journal room. He was waving his hands around as he did, and Harry and Hermione watched in awe as the elf cleared cobwebs and piles of dust out of the room. They turned to each other and followed Kreacher into the room.

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"I can't believe this woman! How could she do this to her children?"

Harry marked his place in Sirius's journal and walked over to the dusty armchair Hermione had sat herself in. Walburga's name was embossed in silver letters across the front. Oh boy.

"What did she do?" Harry asked as he sat down on the dirty floor in front of the witch's chair.

"This foul woman!" Hermione complained, "She's detailed times she crucio'd her kids! No wonder Sirius hated this place."

House-Elves were magical creatures. So often times, they would come to adopt their Master's personality. If Kreacher was left alone for years with a woman who could do that to her own offspring, Harry no longer wondered why the elf had been mean. That's all he had ever known.

Hermione closed the book in frustration. "Harry," her voice softened, "how is his journal?"

Harry snorted and traced the gold 'Sirius' on the book lovingly. "It's just as I expected. Every other sentence is a jab at his parents and he's always talking about the Marauders. Mostly James. I think Remus comes in second." He was silent for a moment. "This was the most recent one he had. He says that he's dating Moony. There a couple of blank pages from when he ran away, but then there are things he wrote in here after Azkaban."

Hermione squeezed Harry's shoulder to comfort him. "I had no idea they were together," she said. "I don't think anyone even allowed Remus to grieve."

He gulped at that. He imagined Remus, alone in his room here as Grimmauld, sobbing as he waited for his lover to come home.

"Sirius said they were going to get married in November of 1981." Hermione gasped. "They couldn't get married afterward 'cus, ya know, Sirius was running from the law. But they had made a deal with Tonks. Because she's a Black, she would be a suitable surrogate mother. Hermione, Tonks and Remus got married as a cover so that Sirius and Remus could raise their baby. There was a magical timer set so that the pregnancy process would start sometime this year because they thought the war would be over. Teddy was supposed to be Remus and Sirius's."

He couldn't help it- he was crying. Teddy was his godson, and likely still would have been, but he would have been raised as Harry's brother. Hermione slipped out of her chair to hug him as he sobbed, but Harry could tell the hug was for her too. There tears dripping down onto his back.

There was something Harry hadn't told Hermione though. In 1981, Sirius and Remus had a different surrogate, and she'd already been pregnant in October. The baby would have been born a few months after they got married. On the same night Harry lost his parents, Remus and Sirius lost their baby and their baby's mother. Their surrogate had died while pregnant.

Lily Potter had died while pregnant.

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ouch. Ig I just felt like crying today, so you all must cry with me.
If I wasn't clear, Lily was the surrogate for Remus and Sirius. It was confirmed that Lily was pregnant when she died, but I decided to make it Wolfstar's baby. This isn't mentioned until later (or maybe even at all) but Marlene was going to be their original surrogate. Sirius chose her. But when she died, Remus chose Lily. After Sirius got out of Azkaban, he connected with Tonks and decided she would be the perfect surrogate mother because she held similar DNA to himself which means the baby would hopefully look a little like him.

Well, I hope that chapter made you as happy as it made me  :)
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Words: 1100
Last Updated: June 9, 2023