12 Grimmauld Place

> "*It's ideal for Headquarters, of course. My father put every security measure known to wizardkind on it when he lived here. It's unplottable, so Muggles could never come and call — as if they'd ever have wanted to — and now Dumbledore's added his protection, you'd be hard put to find a safer house anywhere.*"
> ― Sirius Black[source]
>
>

**12 Grimmauld Place** was the ancestral home of the Black family, located in the Borough of Islington, London, in a Muggle neighbourhood, and the location was protected by a Fidelius Charm. As the house was invisible to the neighbourhood residents, the local Muggles have long since accepted the mistake in numbering which landed number 13 next to number 11.

In 1995, the home became the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix with the consent of Sirius Black, with Albus Dumbledore becoming Secret-Keeper. After Dumbledore's death in 1997, everyone in whom he confided the location of 12 Grimmauld Place to became a Secret-Keeper.

## History

### Early history

> "*Tucked away in northwestern London, a twenty minute walk from King's Cross Station, lies number twelve, Grimmauld Place. Both Unplottable and hidden behind a Fidelius Charm, the house is invisible to all but a few. Though the neighbouring Muggles don't even know the building exists, it was for many years home to the Black family — one of the wizarding world's oldest pureblood families, and extremely proud to be so.*"
> ― Description of the house[source]
>
>

Number 12 Grimmauld Place, was formerly a handsome Muggle townhouse built in London. At some point, an early member of the wizarding House of Black coveted the beautiful house and managed to "persuade" the original Muggle occupant to leave, and put the appropriate spells on it.

## Etymology

The name is another of J. K. Rowling's puns: Grimmauld Place can be taken as *"grim, old place"* or *"grim mould place."*The house's owner for most of the books is also Sirius Black, whose Animagus form is confused for, and referred to as, "the Grim" throughout ...

Unduer other Black family Memeber...

* Phineas Nigellus Black
* Sirius Black II
* Arcturus Black III
* Orion Black

## Under Walburga Black

The house was, apparently, in the Black family for some generations when Walburga Black took possession in the mid-20th century. Sirius and Regulus Black grew up in number twelve, Grimmauld Place. Sirius ran away from home around 1976, at age sixteen and both Regulus and Orion died just a few years later, in 1979. This left Walburga living in the house alone with the family house-elf, Kreacher. Upon Walburga’s death in 1985, the house passed to her only living descendent, Sirius, who though he had been blasted off the family tree had apparently not been disinherited.

Since Sirius was in Azkaban, however, the house sat empty for ten years with only Kreacher, now “round the twist,” to look after it. Walburga Black made it clear through her disgust of having anyone less than pure-blood in her home through the hostile shrieks of her portrait, which was affixed to the wall of the home with a Permanent Sticking Charm.

Although Sirius Black stated that the house was unoccupied after the death of his mother Walburga in 1985, the Black family tree shows that both of Sirius's grandfathers, Arcturus Black III and Pollux Black, were in fact alive until at least 1990, as was his great-aunt Cassiopeia and Callidora Longbottom. It is unclear why none of them would have lived in the house, given that it was the ancestral home of the Black family.

## Under Sirius Black

...**Photo**...

Sirius Black, Walburga's son, hated number 12 Grimmauld Place, and left when he was sixteen. He never imagined he would have to return to his family's home. During Sirius's imprisonment in Azkaban, wrongly convicted for the crime of murdering several Muggles (Peter Pettigrew being the real perpetrator), the house was unoccupied, besides the Black family's house elf, Kreacher. After his escape in 1993, Sirius gave the home over to the Order of the Phoenix to be used as a headquarters. The home required an arduous cleaning up to make it even remotely habitable. Much of this work fell to Molly Weasley and her children. The home was in such disrepair that doxies and boggarts had made themselves quite at home.

Following Sirius’s death in 1996, the Order temporarily vacated the building for fear that its ownership had passed to his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange; however, it soon proved that Sirius had successfully left the house to Harry Potter in his will, and with his blessing the Order moved back in once again

## Under Harry Potter

#### The Order of the Phoenix

After Sirius Black was murdered by Bellatrix Lestrange in 1996 during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, the house was inherited by his godson, Harry Potter. He continued to allow the Order of the Phoenix to use it as a safe house. After the death of Albus Dumbledore, Grimmauld Place's Secret-Keeper in 1997, each of the members of the order to whom the secret had been imparted became Secret-Keepers themselves, giving them the power to reveal the house to others.

The Secret-Keepers included Severus Snape, who had killed Dumbledore and was believed to be in Lord Voldemort's employ and therefore would allow Death Eaters into the Order's headquarters. Alastor Moody placed a number of enchantments on the house to keep Snape from entering.

...**Photo**...

These were a Tongue-Tying Curse to prevent him from telling others of the place and a dust-composed form of Dumbledore, which disintegrated when the person it advanced upon said the word *kill* or a variant, the point of this being that Moody believed that Snape would be too overrun with guilt to say that he had killed Albus, forcing him to retreat. However, the Order did not know that Albus Dumbledore's death was prearranged with Severus Snape. Despite these enchantments, the Order ceased use of the house as headquarters as they still could not risk being ambushed by Death Eaters.

#### Use as a hide-out

**Harry Potter**: "*Grimmauld Place*"
**Hermione Granger**: "*Don't be silly, Harry, Snape can get in there!*"
**Harry Potter**: "*Ron's dad said they've put up jinxes against him — and even if they haven't worked... So what? I swear, I'd like nothing better than to meet Snape!*"
— Harry and Hermione arguing over a safe place to hide[src]

When Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger escaped from the Death Eater attack on Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's wedding ceremony on 1 August, 1997, they hid at Grimmauld Place. They were able to remain hidden there for a month, though Death Eaters, who were staking out locations linked to the Order, skulked about the street outside, unable to see the secret location.

While at Grimmauld Place, the trio learned that Kreacher had attempted to destroy Salazar Slytherin's Locket— one of several Horcruxes created by Lord Voldemort— at the request of his master, Regulus Black. Kreacher revealed that the horcrux was stolen by Mundungus Fletcher during a looting of 12 Grimmauld Place. After presenting Kreacher with Regulus Black's locket, Harry asked Kreacher to track down Mundungus.

...**Photo**...

Kreacher returned days later with Mundungus, who revealed that the locket was taken by Dolores Umbridge in Diagon Alley. The trio hatched a plan to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic. While performing four weeks of stakeouts at the Ministry entrance, they spent some of their free time cleaning up 12 Grimmauld Place.

After retrieving Salazar Slytherin's Locket from Umbridge, they Apparated back to Grimmauld Place, but Corban Yaxley grabbed Hermione's arm in the process. She struck him with a Revulsion Jinx and Disapparated away with Harry and Ron, but the house's location had been revealed to Yaxley, and they were forced to abandon it.

It's unknown what happened to Grimmauld Place when the Second Wizarding War was over, but even though Harry was not living in it, it's possible that it was kept safe for the order of the Phoenix.

## Security Measures

By the time the Order of the Phoenix made number twelve, Grimmauld Place its headquarters, the house had been placed under “every security measure known to wizard-kind.” Among other things, the house is Unplottable, which makes it accessible only to wizards, and had spells on the front door such that it could only be unlocked by a wizard using his or her wand. The house was also placed under a Fidelius Charm, meaning it couldn’t be accessed by wizards, either, unless they were told its location by the Secret-Keeper. Albus Dumbledore was the Secret-Keeper for Grimmauld Place until his death in 1997, after which everyone who had been told the secret became a Secret-Keeper themselves.

Dumbledore’s death also led Mad-Eye Moody to place additional enchantments on the house, in order to prevent Severus Snape from accessing it: he set up a Tongue-Tying Curse that sensed whether a person entering the house was Snape, and if so, bound his tongue; and a Dumbledore figure, made of dust, that approaches intruders unless they tell it that they were not the one who killed Dumbledore.

## Ground floor

Entrance Hall, Potter Cottage room, Bathroom.

### Entrance Hall

The front door opens into a long hallway, that is now brightly lit with gas lamps and a large overhead chandelier, along with the once's absent natural light, from cleaned windows. This reverted the entrance hallway back, to its grandeur. Under the old peeling wallpaper, where lightly varnished wooden paneling wall, which now flood the whole house in light.

There are a few portraits in the entrance hall, Alastor Moody, stands sentinel in his perch closest to the front door. Watching everyone who enters and departs. Further down the hallway, reside the portraits of Elbert Potter & Grace Potter, Frederick Potter & Nicole Potter, and in the absent place where Walburga Black portrait use to hang, now houses Fred Weasley portrait, opposite the doorway to the dinning room.

### Dinning room (linked to Potter Cottage

After the Second Wizarding War the first floor dinnng room of 12 Grimmauld Place was magical connected to Potter Cottage. So that the dinnng room in 12 Grimmauld Place, is the same as the whole ground floor of Potter Cottage. This enables movement between both locations, thought the ground floor dinning room of **Grimmauld Place**, to which was the whole ground floor of the cottage. The ground floor of the cottage was one large room, the walls where clad in bookcase and portraits of realities. One side of the room had a fireplace surrounded by worn dragon hide couches. While the other side housed a small dinning table with chairs, alongside an old oaken staircase to the first floor. On the first floor they're where a future three room, one Harry and Ginny bedroom, Harry's study along with a guess room.

Portraits on the walls in this room are: James Potter I & Lily J. Potter, Remus Lupin & Nymphadora Tonks, Sirius Black & Regulus Black, Fleamont Potter & Euphemia Potter, Henry Potter & Victoria Potter, Symond Potter & Elizabeth Potter, Stephen Potter II & Miriam Potter, Benjamin Potter & Adelaide Potter, Septimus Weasley & Cedrella Weasley, and Albus Dumbledore with his siblings Aberforth Dumbledore & Ariana Dumbledore.

While these portraits where in the first floor on Potter Cottage: Benedict Potter & Mary Potter II, Alfred Potter & Stephanie Potter, Edward Potter & (French.), Hamish Potter & Mary Potter I, Malcolm Potter & Martha Potter, Richard Potter & Margaret Potter, and Edmund Potter & Eleanor Potter.

Henry S Potter & Grace Potter 1/2

Leopold Potter & Adeline Potter. ?

### Staircase

Richard Potter III & Sophie Potter, Humfrey Potter & Harriet M Potter, Christopher Potter & Sarah Potter I,Richard Potter II & Mary Potter III, Dorcas Meadowes, Marlene McKinnon.

☀McKinnon family,

☀Fleamont family

Moody family, Ross family, Abbott family, Bagshot family, Sinclair Family, Gore, Greengrass, Princes,

☀ Urquart family,  Crouch, Dippet, Dupont,

☀ Lecuyer family.

* Edmund Potter ,Alfred Potter, Benedict Potter ,William Potter , Richard Potter ,Spencer Potter, Hamish Potter, Henry Potter. (Head boy badge)
* Edmund Potter ,William Potter ,Edward Potter ,Alfred Potter, Benedict Potter, William Potter II ,Symond Potter, Richard Potter II ,Humfrey Potter .Daniel Potter ,Thomas Potter III, Benjamin Potter, Fleamont Potter Quidditch uniform & medals.
* Harriet Potter Quidditch uniform & medals
* George Potter Quidditch uniform & medals. (two league cup medals.)
* James Potter I Quidditch uniform & medals. (Head boy badge)
* Lily J. Potter Medal for Magical Merit (Head girl badge)
* Chocolate Frog Card collection.
* Harry Potter's Quidditch uniform & medals, Order of Merlin first class, Special Award for Services to the School. (Draco's wand)
* Ginevra Weasley Tropy, Quidditch uniform & medals.
* Severus Snape's Order of Merlin first class. (Wand)
* Alastor Moody's (eye.) wand

## Basement Kickten

A door at the far end of the entry hall, a set of narrow stone stairs leads to the basement, and the house’s kitchen. Though less ornate than the floors above, the kitchen is still a large, “cavernous” room with a large fireplace at the far end. Iron pots and pans hang from the ceiling above, and a long wooden table sits in the centre of the room, large enough to fit a couple dozen people around it for a meal. The room had a gloomy feeling when it was occupied by the Order of the Phoenix, but when Harry later lived in the house, Kreacher cleaned the room up and made it sparkling, “almost unrecognizable” as the same room where the Order once held its meetings. However the Potter family used this room as their kitchen and for breakfasts, preferring to use the ground floor dinning room, to which is really the Potter Cottage dinning room.

There are only two portraits in the basement kitchen one of Dobby, and Severus Snape, the latter usually absent.

## First floor

### First floor hallway

On the first floor, there are three rooms: a bedroom, where Hermione and Ginny once slept, now Teddy Lupin bedroom, the Black family drawing room and a bathroom. The hallway was brightly lit by windows looking down on the street below and by a large overhead chandelier of four Badgers. Lining the walls of the first floor hallway are the Portraits of Edward Tonks & Andromeda Tonks, Lyall Lupin, Charlus Potter & Dorea Potter, Spencer Potter & Sybil Potter, William Potter II & Sarah Potter II, Ralston Potter & Angelina Potter and Phineas Nigellus Black.

### Teddy Lupin room

Huffepfuff c....

clean .....

### Black family drawing room

The Black family drawing room.
The drawing room, was an exquisite room, with serpent chandelier in the centre, with a grand piano in the corner. The room had large windows overlooking the street in front of the house, a large fireplace flanked by two ornate glass-fronted cabinets, and an entire wall covered with a tapestry of the Black family tree. This room housed the portraits of Alphard Black, Iola Black, Phineas Black, Callidora Black & Harfang Longbottom, Charis Black & Caspar Crouch, and Ignatius Prewett & Lucretia Black.

## Second floor

Rooms of James Potter II, Albus Potter, Lily L. Potter.

Watched over by the Portraits of Daniel Potter & Elesha Potter, George Potter & Madeleine Potter, Thomas Potter III & Harriet Potter, William Potter & Isobella Potter, Richard Potter III & Sophie Potter and Fabian Prewett & Gideon Prewett.

#### **Known Portraits in Entrance Hallway**

* Bilius Weasley
* Dobby
* Stephen Potter & Sophie Potter
* Samuel Potter & Miriam Potter
* Benedict Potter & Mary Potter
* Louis Potter

#### **Known Portraits in Dining Room**

* Fleamont Potter & Euphemia Potter
* Septimus Weasley & Cedrella Weasley
* Charlus Potter & Dorea Potter or Black
* Hardwin Potter & Iolanthe Potter
* Humfrey Potter & Isobella Potter

#### **Known Portraits in Stairway**

* Gordon Potter & Amelia Potter
* Christopher Potter & wife
* Matthew Potter
* Archibald Potter & Stephanie Potter
* Finnegan Potter & Elena Potter

### Known Portraits in Second-floor Hallway

* Sirius Black & Regulus Black
* Remus Lupin & Nymphadora Tonks
* Vincent Potter & Sarah Potter

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### Known Portraits in Stairway

* Symond Potter & wife
* Ralston Potter & wife
* Malcolm Potter & Matilda Potter
* William Potter & wife
* Frederick Potter & Nicole Potter

### Known Portraits in Third-floor Hallway

* Benjamin Potter & Adelaide Potter
* Edmund Potter & Charlotte Potter
* James Scamander
* Alphonso Potter & Isibeal Potter
* Leopold Potter & Adeline Potter

### Known Portraits in Stairway

* Thomas Potter & Madeleine Potter
* Alexander Potter & wife
* Hector Potter & Mckenzie Potter
* Franklin Scamander & wife

Teddy bedroom ..... (Regular Black old room.)

* Edward Tonks & Andromeda Tonks or Black
* Lyall Lupin

\_\_\_\_\_\_

* Nicholas Potter
* Cordelia Potter
* Isobel Potter
* Finnegan Potter two sisters
* Penelope Potter
* Anthonia Potter
* Benjamin Potter's sister
* Harriet Potter
* Seraphina Potter

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* Fleamont in laws
* Seddon in laws, Mr & Mrs Seddon
* Lecuyer in laws, Mr & Mrs Lecuyer
* Flawley in laws. Mr & Mrs Flawley

Attic Libary
Other

* Godric Gryffindor
* Rowena Ravenclaw
* Helga Hufflepuff
* Bathilda Bagshot
* Alastor Moody
* Benjy Fenwick
* Marlene McKinnon
* Amelia Bones
* Edgar Bones and family,
* Westenberg family,
* Emmeline Vance
* Colin Creevey
* Lavender Brown

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

* Severus Snape

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
In waiting

* Minerva McGonagall
* Horace Slughorn
* Kingsley Shacklebolt
* Arthur Weasley
* Molly Weasley
* Pomona Sprout
* Filius Flitwick
* Rubeus Hagrid ......,
* Neville Longbottom & wife,
* Luna Lovegood & Husband.
* Kreacher
* Weasley siblings.

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