Chapter 06

                                    

                                          
When the doors opened, everyone gasped at how beautiful the interior of Lilly Cottage is. The doors opened to a spacious foyer which had a staircase running at one end and the other end open to the inside of the house. They all took careful steps inside, getting wowed by all the details. "Let's explore this floor before going up, shall we?" Ron asked, to which everyone agreed, and followed Harry into the living room which was spacious and had ample natural lighting from the floor-to-ceiling windows on one side, and a cozy fireplace to the other. To the right was a smaller room with another fireplace and a lounge chair. "I guess this fireplace is for the floo network to be connected. Look there's a whole bag full of floo powder too." Hermione voiced out her thoughts. 
They then returned to the living room and ventured to the other side of it which connected to the dining area and a very spacious kitchen. "Oh, I like this layout already. everything has been thought through." Ginny marveled. The ground floor also contained a bedroom and a bathroom which also had only the necessities. They then came back to the foyer with the intention of going up the stairs. Before leaving the living room, something caught Hermione's eye. She reached her hands to the top of the mantlepiece which had some photographs in it. Harry, noticing the absence of Hermione's hand on his, looked back to see her holding two photographs, a tear running down her cheeks. Harry went over and looked at what she held. It was a photograph of Harry and His parents taken on his first birthday. Another one was of Lilly and James's wedding portrait and there was one of Harry with his mother, beaming at the camera. He hugged Hermione, mumbling a small "It's okay" and kept the photographs where they were. They didn't notice the six pairs of eyes that were focused on them. "They'd be proud, pal. I know they would." George said patting Harry's back and they continued climbing up the stairs.
The house was minimally decorated considering the Potters hadn't lived there for more than two three weeks maximum. The first floor had five rooms; a master bedroom with an ensuite bathroom and a walk-in closet, a nursery room, and three other guest bedrooms. There was dust here and there, but not so much. Another flight of stairs took them up to the second floor which had a huge library that was only half full, 'courtesy of Lilly Potter' they all thought. Hermione squealed at the massive bookcases and quickly started running her fingers across the spines of books occasionally stopping to pick a book out. After a good five minutes and half a dozen books in her hand, she came to her senses and rambled, " Oh, Harry, I'm sorry I should have asked you whether it's okay to..." Harry's chuckle cut her off. "Oh no worries 'Mione, take all that you want. Besides, she would have wanted you to read all of them." He said with a glint in his eyes. They continued their exploration to find out another few rooms, barely furnished.
One question that they all had in their minds was why there was only little trace of its past inhabitants. But, no one didn't voice out their concerns. It was Ron who found a door that led to the attic which was so full of boxes and all sorts of stuff. "Sirius! He must have put all of Their things in the attic. He mentioned he was getting the house ready for me." Harry gave the answer to the question they all have been having. "We'll leave to explore this bit on your own mate. I think you'll like doing it alone. We'll be back down, maybe having a bit of a stroll in the garden and backyard." Ron said while giving Harry a pat on the back. Harry was grateful for his best friend being able to understand what he wanted at the moment. He didn't want the others to see and pity him while he was going through his parents' stuff. Hermione came up and placed a kiss on his lips before moving down with the others, leaving Harry to wonder where he should start.
Harry explored through all the boxes and found a lot of stuff belonging to his parents. He was feeling sorrow at not being able to meet his parents and he was feeling grateful that Sirius preserved these and passed them down to him also, he was half glad that his friends decided to leave him alone to figure these out. He found a box full of beautiful frocks and dresses which he thought belonged to Lilly, which brought a lump to his throat. He found a few photo albums which he decided to take with him and also, a box full of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion which he now knew was an invention of his grandfather Fleamont Potter, which made him chuckle that James wanted to store an entire batch of it. 
There was also a slightly smaller box and on its lid, in beautiful handwriting which he now knew to be his mother's was written, Harry. He wondered what could that be and decided to take that back with him to open later and decided to join his friends downstairs. 
"Oh, Hi mate, didn't think you'd be back down this soon," Ron said from the kitchen "We did a bit of exploring ourselves, this place is absolutely wonderful mate. The courtyard has some varieties of beautiful roses, some of which are magical too. Mum would die to get her hands on a twig of some of those. The plants need a bit of care though, considering they were not taken care of in the past few years." Ron added. Just then, George and Ginny Returned grinning ear to ear. "Guess what we found, a beautifully secluded hedge, perfect for quidditch, and an abandoned broom cupboard with two Comet 260s in near-perfect condition." Ginny went on. 
Harry was glad that his friends were here with him today. "Thanks, guys, really appreciate you being here." he managed to say and he noticed a certain brunette absent from the crowd. "Does anyone know where 'Mione is?" he asked. "She said she'd be over by the lake. Do you want me to call her over? " George asked. "No it's okay, I'll go get her, and we can be off to her Parents' for tea. We don't want Mr. and Mrs. Granger to wait now do we?" Harry said stepping into the backyard. "Yeah, don't wanna give a bad impression to your future in-laws now do ya, Harry?" Ron called after him causing Harry to roll his eyes at his best mate's antiques.