House History

The former home of the Black family and current property of the Potter family, 12 Grimmauld Place is located in Islington, London, England. It's under the protection of a Fidelius Charm, so none of the nearby neighbors see a number 12 house. They only see numbers 11 and 13, which is something they have grown accustomed to and blame on the ones who built the neighborhood. Formerly, however, Muggles did live in the home, but a member of the Black family came into ownership of the house, which is when the house disappeared to the Muggle eye.

Order Of The Phoenix Use

During the Second Wizarding War, specifically in 1995, Albus Dumbledore became Secret Keeper of the house, using it as headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. The sought-after Sirius Black also lived there with his family house-elf, Kreacher, as he knew he would be safe there under the protection that Dumbledore had placed upon the building. By this time, the house had become derelict from the time nobody lived there. Molly Weasley, as well as the Weasley Kids, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger cleaned the home in an attempt to get it back to the way it once was, all while dealing with Walburga Black's portrait screaming insults at them for being in her house.
While the children were off to Hogwarts for the school year, the Order remained in the home, meeting and planning on their next move. During the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, some Order members joined the children to fight against Lord Voldemort and his army of Death Eaters, with the only casualty of the battle being Sirius Black. When Sirius passed, the house was left to his godson, Harry Potter. There was fear it had been passed to Bellatrix Lestrange, but it was soon proven Harry was the new owner of the home. The Order continued to use the home as headquarters until Dumbledore passed away, moving to the Burrow, the home of the Weasley family at that point.

Under Harry Potter's Ownership

Once the Order had vacated the home, it fell empty again, the only occupant being Kreacher the House-Elf. Occasionally, while on the run, the Golden Trio stayed in the home, but after the Death Eater Yaxley discovered the location of the home, they abandoned it, not returning to it. As far as anyone knows, the house stayed in the possession of the Potter family after this and began being passed down over time, although nobody truly knows.

Credits/References

Written by Brittany Black
Base code by Andrew Sutherland, edited by Iselin Merilä and Desmond Gray.