Asylum

A special thanks to my beta, Saeadame.

Asylum

Chapter 5

To say Harry was surprised was an understatement. After walking out of the clinic Sirius had gripped his hand a bit tighter. Then it felt as if he was being squeezed in all directions, and he heard a loud pop in his ears. He opened his eyes after the weird sensation had ended only for them to widen at the sight in front of him.

They were in front of 11 and 13 Grimmauld Place. Nowhere near the Laraul-Creak Institute.

But, how did he get here? And where was number 12?

Sirius loosened his hold on Harry's hand and turned towards him, before he remembered that he is not, in fact, the secret keeper.

"Albus." Sirius waved a hand in Harry's direction. Harry needed a slip of paper telling where they were before he could see the house.

Albus twinkled and pulled a small slip of paper from his pocket. He handed it over to Harry.

"Read this. Remember it." Was all he said.

Harry read the paper and scrunched up his face in confusion.

The Headquarters to the Order of the Phoenix is located at 12 Grimmauld Place.

But, there is no 12 Grimmauld Pl--Harry looked up while thinking it over, only to stop short.

There, directly in front of him sitting between number 11 and 13 was 12. It was just standing there innocently, as if it had been there the whole time. Which Harry knew for a fact that it wasn't there just a moment ago.

He's crazy, but not that crazy.

"How-" Harry began, but was cut off by Dumbledore.

"All will be explained momentarily, Harry. Let us go inside and get comfortable. It is a long story." Albus said before entering number 12.

Harry nodded, more than a little confused, and entered the dark house.

The house was dark, but no longer depressing. Since Sirius's release, he has remodeled the house to look more homely. No more dangerous creatures lurking in the curtains or cupboards. No more peeling wall paper or dust everywhere. And best of all, there was no Kreacher. The small house elf had gone insane after Sirius started to remove the old, ugly furniture from the house and had seemingly died. No one was quite sure how, but many had suspected that he had stolen one of the many dark potions that had lingered in the cupboards at the time and killed himself with it. No one bothered to find out if it was true, or if he had simply died of old age, and no one really cared enough to look into it.

The only bad thing was they were never able to remove Mrs. Black's portrait from the wall. They had tried everything, but the vile woman was determine to stay, so they still had to be quiet when entering and exiting the house, or that hallway.

Harry looked up as he heard a rushing of steps on the stairs. A pair of identical people, twins obviously, showed themselves and then screeched, "THEY'RE BACK!!!"

That was all it took for Mrs. Black to open her curtains.

"FILTH!!! DISGUSTING MUGGLE-LOVERS AND HALF-BREEDS. I SHOULD HAVE DROWNED YOU AT BIRTH, VILE LITTLE SPAWN, UNGRATEFUL CHILD." That was all Harry got to hear from the portrait before Sirius and Remus were able to shut the curtains.

Everyone, excluding Harry glared at the twins.

"You know better." Was all Arthur said before he, and everyone simultaneously looked at Harry to see his reaction to yet another display of magic.

Harry's mouth was open and his eyes wide as he stared at the curtains that shielded him from the portraits view. What was worse is that he was pale and shaking all over. The words she yelled reminded him all too much of his aunt and uncle. Filth. Ungrateful. Vile spawn. The Dursleys always did say that he was a mistake and that his parents should have drowned him at birth.

He flinched as a hand was put on his shoulder, "Harry." Sirius said trying to get his attention. "Are you okay?" He asked; removing his hand after Harry flinched.

Harry shot a fake smile at Sirius, still pale, but at least the shaking had subsided. "I'm fine." Which was obviously a lie.

Sirius looked at him critically, not believing him. "If you're sure?" He left it a question.

"I'm fine." Harry said a bit more forcefully this time.

"Well then, let us proceed to the kitchen." Dumbledore said with a sad smile, and swept away, the others following.

Everyone took a seat at the very long table and waited a bit more for others that were not at the hospital to arrive. The twins came and sat down, along with two other red headed boys and plump red headed woman, whom he assumed were all related to Arthur Weasley. A dirty looking man that was eyeing the fine china on the table came in next.

A young woman with shocking pink hair entered and sat next to Kinsley, as well as a man with a false eyeball that rolled around in his head. A very, very tall and large man with a beard was there as well, talking to a few of the teachers. The plump woman, Harry noticed, had begun to fix tea for everyone and had sandwiches already made that a few people were grabbing.

"Go on and have some if you're hungry Harry. We missed lunch when we came to get you." Sirius whispered in his ear. Harry grabbed what looked like a turkey sandwich and a cup of tea, preparing it how he liked it. The plump woman beamed at him before fixing some more tea and sitting down.

"Well it looks as if everyone is here-" He stopped when he noticed another red head sneaking into the room.

"Ronald, was there something you needed?" The headmaster asked kindly.

Ron shook his head. "I thought I would attend the meeting." He said, holding his chin in the air in what looked to be a rather snooty way.

"You most certainly are not, Ronald Weasley. Go back up to your room right now! You're to young to be here." The plump woman shouted at the boy who looked about Harry's age.

"But I want to join the Order!" He said heatedly. "I'm 17 now, I'm old enough to join." He glanced Hermione's way. "Besides if the know-it, I mean Hermione can join then why can't I?" He cut himself off from saying know-it-all, knowing that if his mother heard him say that he would never hear the end of it.

Hermione's face went red at the near insult, but didn't say anything about it. She was used to it by now.

"But you have not been inducted yet. It is rude of you to assume that you are allowed in the Order on age alone." Molly said.

"But the rest of the family is in the Order. I want to help to. I want to bring down the monster that killed Ginny. I want to fight with you. Besides that kid over there looks like he's 15, what does he have that I don't?" He pointed at Harry, not knowing that he was asking what THE Harry Potter has that he doesn't.

"I'm 17." Harry bit out. He thought he looked right for his age. Sure, he wasn't as tall as the 6' 4" red head towering over him, but he never would be. He could be 40 and still have the same stature as he does now. It was a bit unfair of the guy, Ronald, to point fingers when he was the one acting like a three year old.

"Stay out of this." Ronald said then went back to fighting with his mother.

"Ahem." Dumbledore cleared his throat, and everyone was silenced. "Molly, I think it's time to let Ronald in on the meetings." Molly looked ready to protest, while Ronald grinned triumphantly. And Harry thought he heard both Snape and Hermione groan, but that might have been his imagination.

"But Albus, he's my baby boy." Molly said as if that explained it all, which to her it probably did.

"I have considered asking him for a while now. He is now of age, and we could always use another Weasley." Albus said.

His twinkle only upped a few notches when he heard Snape mutter, "Like hell we could."

"Ron, would you please take a seat as I make introductions. Now I will go left to right by those you don't know." Albus said looking at Harry. "That is Fred and George Weasley." He was interrupted by the twins.

"It's Gred and Forge." One said.

"Prankster's extraordinaire." Said the other.

"Owner of Weasley Wizard Wheezes."

"Smart and cunning,"

"Brave and loyal,"

"And did we say hot?"

"Honestly, we're modern day Casanovas!" They said, but were finally cut off from their boasting and flirting by Molly.

"Boys enough!" She looked furious.

Harry was laughing though, finally something to break the awkwardness that he had been feeling since he left the institute.

"As I said, that is Fred and George Weasley, next to them are their brother's Bill and Charlie. Molly, Arthur's wife. Ronald Weasley, Arthur's youngest. That is Mundungus Fletcher." And the list when on until finally ending with, "Nymphadora Tonks."

"Call me Tonks, please!" Said the girl with pink hair, in an almost pleadingly.

"And everyone, as I'm sure most of you know by now, this is Harry Potter." Albus said with a sweeping gesture.

The only one surprised by this was Ron. "Bloody hell."

"Ron, language." Molly said.

"And now Harry, I'm sure you have many questions."

Harry nodded and began.

"So, how did I get here and why do portraits move and talk?" Harry asked confused.

Albus chuckled. "Magic." He said simply. Harry looked only more confused at this.

"You're a wizard, Harry."


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A/N: Hmmm….nothing really to say this time.

Thanks to reviewers:

Ssserpensssotia: Yeah, well, I have never been inside an asylum before, but I wanted the place to be comfortable as this one was meant for long term care…I probably glorified it a bit. And as much as I LOVE Harry/Voldemort *eyes glaze over at pairing*, I am determined to make a pro-Order of the Phoenix for once and am going to keep him with Severus, who I am also attempting to keep in character. As for your question on whether or not Harry can see through the Dark Lords eyes…well, that’s a secret. Keep in mind though that he is prone to ‘fits’ and him being able to see through his eyes could be the cause of that (hint, hint). Thanks for the review!

PotionsPet: I know! I couldn’t imagine having to share a room with someone who is totally opposite of me. I happen to be bright and bubbly most of the time, so having an emo-I-just-want-to-die-roommate would probably drive them to kill themselves. Thanks for the review!
Ash: Don’t you hate that? There’s a few stories that I have read and a quite literally just want to steal the what they have and write an ending for myself. And then, you try to get into contact with the person to ask if you can take it over (honestly if you haven’t updated in over 2 years it’s abandoned) you can’t get a hold of them. At least if you can’t write it anymore hand it over to someone else. Anywho, thanks for the review!

Poohbear74: Me too! Thanks for the review!

Deaths_mistress: Hehe…yeah I have a few scenes that everyone in Grimmauld is just going to be like, “What the hell? Did he do what I think he just did?” It’s going to be fun! Thanks for the review!

Sneakyfox: Yeah, they can be a bit naïve sometimes, but they really do have only good intentions. Thanks for the review!

Middy-kun: Thanks for the review!

Alex: Thanks for the review!

Briar: Thanks for the review!

Please review!