Grimmauld Place: A Short Story

It had been three years since Tod, Sylvia, and the horses had visited Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. As Sylvia had recommended, quite a few of the members of the Order of the Phoenix were vacationing in Spain to get their mind off of life. Thanks to her advice, every one of them had survived both the attacks from the Death Eaters and the Battle of Hogwarts, both incredibly traumatizing events, but since it had been a year since then, they were happy to spend time in Spain on the beach.

Tonks, who would transform her appearance at will, had decided to become a dolphin and swim around off-shore. Remus was in striped swim-trunks, waist-deep in the water and attempting to swim. As for Sirius, he was just acting like a complete derp and, alluding to the fact that he was a dog Animagus, biting each and every wave that came in. Fred and George were collecting some salt water for their Saltwater-flavored Tonne-Tongue Taffy. In fact, even Gilderoy Lockhart was there, going to every single attractive girl on the beach and asking if they wanted his autograph.

In fact, the only person not goofing off and having a fantastic time was Professor Moody.

He was in a bathing suit, sitting in a beach chair underneath an umbrella. He had an especially sour facial demeanor, eyeing everyone around him like they were two-year-olds. Everything in this environment was completely below his level, and if it wasn't, then he was concerned it had something to do with the dark

arts.

"Come on, Moody!" called out Sirius, his hands cupped over his mouth. "Don't sit over there the whole time like a spoil-sport!"

"You never know when He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named will reappear!" he snapped. "Any number of these shirtless baffoons on their magical wooden boards could be a dark wizard!"

"We're in Muggle Spain!" reassured Remus, walking in from the sea. "And Mr. Weasley reassured us the fact that Snarfers on their Snarfboards will be no problem to us at all. It's been a whole year since He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named was defeated, why are you worrying about it now?"

"Somebody needs to try swimming a bit!" said Sirius, walking back over to the umbrella. They had brought a Muggle cooler, but for their own benefit, put a charm over it so that it could hold much, much more than a typical cooler. Reaching into the top, be pulled out a bottle of butterbeer, cracked open the lid, and began to drink it.

"Just the place a Death Eater would be..." mumbled Moody, "Snarfing on a snarfboard..."

"When do you suppose Harry is going to show up?" asked Remus, getting himself his own butterbeer. "The Weasleys are here, and he knows how to apparate... Spain isn't too far away, am I correct?"

"Not at all," commented Tonks who, once returned to human form, was going for a bottle of water. "He's gone farther, hasn't he?"

Grumbling a bit more, Moody reached into his cooler and pulled out a juice box pouch. He removed the little yellow straw from the back, took off its plastic covering, and submerged it into the little bit of paper at the top of the box. Then, he drank his apple juice, glaring at one of the surfers as if he was Lucius Malfoy.

"This is the life," commented Lupin, "This is the life."