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Deep in number twelve Grimmauld place a portrait hung on the wall, this by any means wasn’t uncommon, as their were many Portraits that were displayed on these walls,
The small hunched over figure of a house elf is seen, kneeling before the portrait, cleaning the ground before it,
“Kreacher always cleans for Master Regulus, such a nice boy treated Kreacher well he did”
He grumbled while scrubbing, it did not seem as though this was a task that was put up to him though. The Portrait contained that of a boy who could not have been older than seventeen, hair forever held perfect curls of black like night and white like snow, skin fare dotted with few moles and eyes that looked like grey mist.
Three teenagers weave through the endless halls of the house, only to stop at the sound of the house elf, one of them, a girl with wild brown hair goes towards the sound
“Hermione!”
one of the boys voice hissed out, he had ginger hair, the last another boy with wild brown hair and piercing green eyes. Hermione walks towards the voice, rounding a corner to see the house elf scrubbing the floors on his hands and knees as he grumbled on about something under his breath
“Kreacher”
The house elf jumps, startled, then begins to stand up with struggle turns and looks at the girl
“Leave! You are not to be here!”
He spat out with such venom it had the girl shocked, the other two round the corner, going faster as they heard the voice to see the scene before them.
“Bloody hell..”
Ron murmured, looking at the portrait before him, it was spotless, but at the same time it looked like it was rotted, as if it was flickering between the two at any given moment, almost like it was only some type of reflection in the gaze of the sun.
As the house elf spitted out words like a venomous snake the three didn’t respond for once, they were stuck looking at the portrait, it wasn’t like any of the others that were in the massive place, but they couldn’t figure out what it was, there was no name of the portrait, only faint and small initials, but besides that nothing, they had no clue who this person was, only that they definitely were a member of house Black and they had the initials R.A.B.
They were unsure of how much time had passed, simply frozen looking at the portrait,
“James?”
A voice, smooth like velvet, but scratchy like a jagged rock gently called out from the portrait,
“Is that you James”
It spoke again, looking at Harry, or more like his soul with how sharp the gaze was
“No.. not James”
Harry stood shocked for a couple of seconds before answering
“No.. I-I’m his son, uh Harry”
The portrait tilted his head the curls of dark and light moved faintly, like a breeze, a silver locket with green glass moved with him, swaying gently against the soft white shirt he was wearing
“Hm”
The portrait only hummed in response, before it seemed to become frozen in time once more, looking only like a portrait once more, nothing more. Harry felt sick to his stomach for some reason, like his body was heavy but light at the same time, his fist clenching by themselves,
“I have to go.”
Was all he said before quickly leaving the small nook of the house, Hermione and Ron calling out after him. He had to leave, something wasn’t right with that portrait, it felt like it looked into him, his soul, his magic, not his actual body.
He briskly walked through the house, almost running at that point, he knew this house was filled with dark things, he had already seen some of it but that was different, no other words but just… wrong.
Harry eventually found himself mindlessly walking to one of the many dining rooms of the house, or more accurately no one else would be, his body was in full fight or flight mode, tensed like a snake ready to strike at any moment whatever that Portrait was, was not right, it felt heavy like it was weighing everything down with it, almost like the Portrait was drowning.
“Harry! Mate, are you okay?”
Ron’s voiced called out, though it sounded distant by the time they had stopped in the secluded room, the other two looked equally as shaken up and sick looking, it wasn’t just him the Portrait had affected
“There… is something wrong with that portrait I-I don’t know what it is but it’s wrong”
“Calm down, its alright”
Ron tried to calm Harry down, though it wasn’t really working, as he was just as shaken up, it truly was just.. wrong
“What… was that.”
Hermione’s voice called out, it was shaky and faintly said, though none of them could answer, as none knew what it truly was.