Old Blood at Hogwarts

After everyone had read the parchment, Mr. Weasley lit it on fire with the tip of his wand.The paper curled up, burned, and fell to the ground.Aaron looked up and looked at the surrounding houses. They were standing outside No. 11.He looked to the left and saw No. 10, and to the right he saw No. 13.

"Why is there no number 12?" Aaron asked immediately.

"Think about what you just remembered," Mr. Weasley said softly.

Aaron was thinking intently, and as soon as he thought of No. 12 Grimmauld Place, a shabby door appeared out of thin air between No. 11 and No. 13, and then dirty walls and gloomy windows also appeared. , it looks like an extra house has suddenly expanded, pushing out everything on either side.Aaron was stunned. The stereo in No. 11 was still blaring dullly, and it was obvious that the Muggles living there didn't feel anything.

"Okay, come in quickly." Weasley urged everyone.

As Aaron walked up the broken stone steps, he stared at the newly transformed door with wide eyes.The black paint on the door was peeling off, and it was covered with scratches left and right.The silver door knocker is in the shape of a coiled snake.There was no keyhole in the door and no mailbox.

Mr. Weasley drew his wand and knocked on the door.Aaron heard a lot of loud sounds of metal hitting metal and clattering like chains.The door creaked open.

"Everyone, hurry in," Weasley whispered, "but don't go too far in, and don't touch anything."

Aaron crossed the threshold and entered the nearly dark foyer.He smelled a damp, dusty smell, and a sweet rotten smell.The place feels like an abandoned, empty house.He turned to look behind him and saw others filing in.Mr. Weasley stood on the top step outside and released the balls of light that the Deluminator had stolen from the street lamp.The light balls jumped into their respective light bulbs one after another, and in a blink of an eye the square was illuminated by orange light again.Mr. Weasley walked in and closed the front door, making the entrance hall completely dark.

"Okay, everyone, stay still while I get some light here." Mr. Weasley said softly.

Then, Aaron heard a rustling sound, and then a row of old-fashioned gas lamps on the wall lit up, casting a swaying unreal light, illuminating the peeling wood in the long and gloomy hall. Wallpaper and polished rugs.A spiderweb-shaped chandelier overhead shimmered, and portraits blackened by age hung crookedly on the walls.Aaron heard something scurrying past behind the skirting board.The chandelier and a candelabra on a nearby rickety table were shaped like serpents.

With a flurry of footsteps, Sirius Black emerged from a door at the other end of the hall.

He looked at Aaron and the Weasley family, nodded and said: "You are here, Dumbledore is waiting for you. And..." Sirius had a look of obvious disgust on his face, "He is here too, the meeting is about to begin. It’s about to begin.”

"Then I'll go now." Mr. Weasley said, walking towards the door that Sirius just came out of.Bill followed his father and walked over.

Aaron was about to follow Bill, but Sirius stopped him and whispered: "Only members of the Order of the Phoenix can attend the meeting. You, Ron and Ginny can go upstairs and wait until the meeting is over, and then we will go to dinner .Speak in a lower voice in the foyer."

"Why?" Aaron asked curiously.

"I don't want to wake my mother," Sirius said.

"Your mother is here?" Aaron asked in surprise.

"It's her portrait," Sirius replied.

"But what is your mother's portrait doing here?" Aaron asked doubtfully. .

"This is my parents' house." Sirius said, "But I am the only one left in the Black family, so this house belongs to me now. I gave it to Dumbledore as a headquarters, and I can probably That’s it. Okay, now I’ll take you to your sleeping place.”

Sirius led Aaron and others past two long curtains covered with insect holes, around a large umbrella stand that looked like it was made of a severed leg of a troll, and then along the dark stairs going up.A row of crumpled heads clustered on a panel on the nearby wall.Aaron looked carefully and saw that they were the heads of house elves.They all have the same ugly big nose.The more Aaron looked, the more he felt like this was a dark wizard's base. If he hadn't known it in advance, he would never have imagined that this was the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix formed by Dumbledore.

They came to the second landing of the stairs. Sirius said to Aaron and others: "Okay, there are not many people here now. You can stay in whichever room you like on this floor. However, you may need Clean the bedroom by yourself. This house has been empty for many years, and a lot of things have grown and multiplied in it. We are going to do a general cleaning for him in two days. Now I have to go over quickly. I should be at the meeting. I will come after the meeting. Call you." After saying that, he hurried downstairs again.

Aaron walked across the dim landing with Ron and Ginny. He and Ron chose a room near the stairs as their bedroom, and Ginny chose a room next to them.George and Fred went up the stairs to the third floor and found a room there.

Aaron and Ron came to their bedroom door.Aaron turned the snake-head-shaped door handle on the door and opened the door.He glanced at the dimly lit room, the high ceiling, the blank oil painting, and the two single beds side by side, but there was nothing else.

Aaron put down his luggage and saw dust everywhere in the room, so he said to Ron next to him: "It seems we have to clean the room." After saying that, he took out his wand.

About half an hour later, Aaron and Ron had the room cleaned.Mrs. Weasley and Ginny appeared at the bedroom door and said, "The meeting is over. Now you can come downstairs for dinner."

As Aaron and Ron walked out of the door, Mrs. Weasley asked them, "Do any of you know where George and Fred are?"

Aaron and Ron looked at each other and shook their heads together.

Mrs. Weasley sighed and said, "Really, I told them to stay in the room. When will they stop making people worry so much?"

Mrs. Weasley led them down the stairs.The three of them looked down from the railing.The dim foyer below was crowded with wizards, all whispering excitedly.In the middle of the crowd, Aaron saw the head with shiny black hair and the protruding big nose, that was Professor Snape.Aaron was just about to hear what they were saying when the group started walking toward the front door and soon disappeared.Then he heard the front door open and then close again.

When Aaron, Ron, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley passed the row of house elves' heads on the wall, they saw after those people left, one wearing the shirt and jeans of the Weird Sisters, with bright pink hair. The witch was standing in front of the door and used magic to add many locks and bolts to the door.

"We are eating in the kitchen below." Mrs. Weasley said in a low voice, "You should have heard Sirius say that you must walk quietly through the hall and then through this door here..."

boom.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang from behind Mrs. Weasley.

Mrs. Weasley turned to look behind her, and saw that the witch who had used magic to lock and bolt the door was lying on her back. Next to her, there was an umbrella stand made of troll legs.Weasley quickly ran over and shouted: "Tonks! Are you okay?"

"It's okay." The witch climbed up from where she was and said, "I just tripped over that unfortunate umbrella stand. Be careful..."

Before she could finish her words, she was drowned out by a terrible, deafening, blood-curdling scream.

The two velvet curtains covered with insect holes that Aaron had passed before were suddenly lifted.For a moment, Aaron thought it was a window. Behind the window, an old lady wearing a black hat was screaming desperately, one sound after another, as if she was being tortured.Then he realized that it was only a life-size portrait, but he had never seen one so realistic and so unpleasant in his life.

The old lady was drooling, her eyes were rolling, and the yellow skin on her face was tense from screaming.Behind them in the hall, other portraits were awakened and began to scream so loudly that they were deafening.Aaron had no choice but to close his eyes tightly and cover his ears with his hands.

Mrs. Weasley rushed over in three steps and tried to close the curtains to cover the old lady, but she couldn't do it.The old lady's screams became more and more harsh, and she waved her claw-like hands as if she wanted to scratch their faces.

"Beasts! Bitch! Dirty and sinful scoundrels! Bastards, freaks, ugly monsters, get out of here! How dare you desecrate the home of my ancestors!"

"I'm sorry. It's my fault for waking her up." The witch named Tonks apologized repeatedly while dragging the huge and heavy troll leg back to its original position.

Mrs. Weasley stopped trying to close the curtains, and turned and hurried toward the hall, magically casting a Stunning Charm on the other portraits.Then Sirius burst out of a door opposite Aaron.

"Shut up, you horrible old hag, shut up!" he roared, grabbing hold of the veil Mrs Weasley had just dropped.

The old lady suddenly turned pale.As soon as she saw Sirius, her eyes widened and she shouted sternly: "You...you! The prodigal son, the shame of the family, the evil offspring I gave birth to!"

"I told you. Shut...your mouth!" Sirius yelled, and with great effort, he finally closed the curtain again.

The old woman's scream died away, and there was a reverberating silence.