The Grimmauld Place
The house at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, is steeped in legend. Countless defensive spells are laid on it so it can only be seen by persons who have been told the exact address by the Secret-Keeper. But even those persons cannot pass the address on so the house is as good as untraceable.
For many centuries it served as domicile of the time-honoured wizarding Black family, whose last descendant bore the name Sirius. He left the house to the Order of the Phoenix to use as headquarters.
The house consists of a kitchen, a living and a dining room, as well as five bedrooms. Directly next to the entrance hangs a life-sized portrait of the last female Black, fixed on the wall by a Permanent Sticking Charm. At the smallest noise, she starts to hurl insults at every wizard who is not a pureblood.
From the entrance hall one reaches the rooms in the upper floors via a staircase which is decorated with the decapitated heads of former house elves. In one of these rooms, amongst other things, an enormous tapestry showing the family tree of the whole Black family can be found. It, too, is fixed on the wall for all times with a sticking charm.
In Book Seven Harry, who inherited the house from Sirius, seeks sanctuary in the house along with Ron and Hermione when they are trying to find Slytherin’s locket and have to hide from the Death Eaters. On this occasion Harry can make friends with Kreacher, the house elf working in the house, who has until then looked after the house in a rather rough-and-ready manner.
