Disclaimer: Okay, I know that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will confirm all of my previous disclaimers, but I'll just say it again: all characters, magical creatures, locations, and everything else pertaining to the Harry Potter series belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. I'm merely borrowing her creations temporarily for your enjoyment.

Hey guys!

I know, I know…you all thought I abandoned this fic. Well, I'm here to prove that I didn't! I've been very busy (ya know…dancing, taking a trip to Japan again, and keeping up with life in general…and I start school again on Tuesday), and I was struggling for inspiration. What I ended up doing a few days ago was just rereading everything that I had written, and I kinda figured out where I wanted to go with this. I hope you will all enjoy!

Once again, thank you so much to all those who took the time to review! Some of you even reviewed months after my last post, which really helped to remind me that I still have a job to do!

Thanks so much!

saiyanwizardgurl

Chapter 14: Cleaning

"Now then, we need a few more guest rooms in this place," said Mrs. Weasley to the seven witches and wizards standing before her. "Alastor's had a look up at the four rooms on the third floor, and they're all perfectly safe, but they are all quite dirty, so it will be your job to clean them up."

"Aren't you going to help us?" asked Ron.

"I would, but there's another Order meeting tonight, so I have to start making dinner already. Besides, you want lunch, right?"

"Yeah, all right."

"Good. Now you five behave yourselves," said Mrs. Weasley, eyeing Fred and George specifically. "If I hear that you're giving Remus and Sirius trouble – "

"Hey, give us a bit more credit!" said Fred.

"Yeah, mum, you know that we'll be perfect little angels like we always are," said George, drawing an invisible halo over his head.

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"You needn't worry about them, Molly," said Remus, pleasantly.

"They won't give us any trouble," assured Sirius.

"Thank you for watching them," said Mrs. Weasley, turning to leave. "I'll be downstairs if you need anything."

"Yeah, and you'll be the first one I call if I get attacked by dust bunnies," grumbled Ron.

"Stop it, Ronald!" said Hermione, hitting him on the head.

"Ouch, Hermione! Whose side are you on anyway?"

"Your mum's the one that makes sure that we all don't starve, so be nice to her," said Hermione.

"Yes, but she's not the one that comes downstairs covered in dust and looking like an old grandfather every day, now is she?"

Sirius laughed. "Come on, kids, let's go," he said, shooing them all upstairs.

"Hey, we're not kids," said George.

"Yeah, we're seventeen already!" said Fred.

"So you two can clean up for us," said Ron.

"No way, little bro," said George.

"We just get to use magic while we clean," said Fred with a grin.

"I'm not sure about that," said Remus as they reached the second floor landing.

"Yeah, parts of the house might reject magical interference with some of its darker artifacts," said the Animagus.

"But surely one could dust with magic at least?" asked Hermione.

"Who knows," said Sirius. "We'll find out when we try."

"Why is the house so dirty, anyway?" asked Ginny. "I thought I saw a house-elf around here."

"You mean Kreacher?" asked the Animagus. "He's useless. I expect that he's just let the house mold and fester since my mum died. Probably likes the smell."

"You shouldn't be so mean to him," said Hermione reproachfully.

"You would be mean to him, too, if he kept muttering foul indecencies under his breath at you," said Sirius.

"He already does that, right?" said Ron.

"All the more reason to retaliate," stated the Animagus.

"My goodness," said Remus as he opened the door to one of the bedrooms they were to be cleaning.

"Merlin's beard!" exclaimed Hermione.

"Merlin's dirty sock is more like it," said Ron.

"What are you – ? Merlin's holey wife-beater!" shouted George. "What on earth happened to this room?"

It was filthy. The walls, which Sirius had remembered as being grey, were almost black with grime. The floor was covered with little flecks of dirt and what appeared to be goose feathers. All of the glass panes of the cabinets lining the walls were shattered, littering the ground with sharp, glimmering pieces. The broken pieces of a potted plant, now long dead, were scattered around the room. A table was roughly shoved in the corner. A wooden chair that matched the table was lying on its side in the middle of the floor; two of its legs were broken. A bed was shoved onto its headboard and was leaning against the wall opposite the door. Everything was covered in an inch of thick, powdery dust.

"Oh, it can't be that bad," said Ginny.

"Oh, it can," said Sirius as he walked into the room before her.

"Merlin's moldy shoe! This is disgusting!" she said as she spotted a pile of dirty rags in the corner.

"Now children," chided Fred, who was still in the hallway and therefore could not see the state of the room, "let's not be too loud, lest our dear mum hears – Merlin's fungus-crusted shorts!"

"'Fungus-crusted shorts,' Fred?" said George, his eyebrow raised.

"It describes this room better than a holey wife-beater," replied his twin.

"True," he said. "Well, I suppose we should get to work, since the fungus won't clean itself."

"Right," said Remus. "Let's see if we can clear the dust first." He drew his wand. "Evanesco!"

POOF. Instead of the filth vanishing as was intended, it merely shot into the air as if all the broken objects in the room had shaken it off. This was followed by a long bout of coughing by the seven witches and wizards in the room.

"Apparently, it doesn't work," said Sirius, stumbling out of the room as he finally regained his breath. His voice was muffled by the hand he had put over his mouth.

"Remind me – achoo! – to never try that again," sniffled the werewolf as he scooted out of the room.

"It's all right, we had no way of knowing," said the Animagus. "Let's clean in here while the dust settles."

They clambered into the adjacent room. Its filth rivaled that of the previous room, but none of the furniture was broken. The light shining through an uncovered window gave the effect that the room was being blurred by dense fog.

"I guess we have to clean the Muggle way," said George, looking crestfallen.

"Alas, brother, I believe you are right," replied Fred, placing a hand to his forehead in imitation of a fainting princess. "We'll just have to bear with it."

"Speak for yourself," grumbled Ron.

"It's not that bad," scoffed Hermione.

"We need rags and cleaner for this," said Ginny.

"And a mop," said Fred.

"But first, a broom," said George.

"That we should be able to conjure with magic," said Sirius.

"Good," said Remus, pulling out his wand. He hesitated for a moment before walking into the hallway just outside the entrance. "Still, one can never be too careful in the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black." With a gentle wave of his wand, cleaning supplies appeared at the foot of the door. "Knowing your father, he would have placed a jinx on this room to attack any wizard that tries to clean it," he said, picking up a bucket and a sponge.

Sirius, Remus, Fred, George, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny spent the entire morning scrubbing, dusting, and scouring the extra rooms on the third floor, all (to Fred and George's disappointment and Ron's despair) without the use of magical cleaning methods. By mid afternoon, there was not a speck of dust to be found in any of the four rooms.

The Animagus stood back to admire their handiwork. "Not bad for a bunch of wizards cleaning the Muggle way."

"You forget that Hermione grew up in a Muggle household," said the werewolf.

"That's why I said wizards," he replied.

"What about Ginny?" asked Ron.

"I figure she can take care of herself, so there's no problem there," said Sirius. "Besides, growing up with six brothers, I'm sure Molly's asked her to help clean up after you boys at one time or another."

"You figure right," said Ginny.

"Now way," said George. "Mum would never make you clean our room."

"I should hope not," she replied. "I don't think I would come out in one piece."

"Now, now, young lady," chided Fred, "there's not a speck of dust in our room that would ever harm your pretty little head. It's dear Ronald's room you have to worry about."

"Hey, my room's just fine, thank you!" said Ron indignantly, tossing an unused rag at his brother.

"Temper, temper," sighed Fred.

"That'll get you into trouble someday," said George.

"Oh, knock it off," said Hermione. "We still have to get the furniture back into this last room."

"Fine, fine," they grumbled, shuffling out into the hallway.

The room, which was quite spacious, looked a lot cozier with a dresser, a table and chair, and squashy armchair. After getting stuck in the doorway three times, they were finally able to bring the bed in.

"I look older than Great Uncle Sagittarius," sighed Ron, gazing at his reflection in the mirror that Hermione had just hung.

"It could be worse," said Fred.

"How?"

"You could look like Great Uncle Marcus," said George. "You just have to stoop a bit."

"Or you could look like Great Aunt Tessie," said Ginny.

"I'd rather look like Great Uncle Marcus," said Ron, horrified as Sirius, Remus, Fred, George, and Ginny laughed in the background.

"Oh, honestly," said Hermione.

"She's quite right, dear," said the mirror. "If you just washed daily – "

"Oh, shut up," grumbled Ron as the others burst into another fit of laughter.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my story. I would really appreciate a review; it gets the creative juices flowing, ya know. I won't promise that I'll have the next chapter up tomorrow because I don't want to break any promise I make to you readers, but I will promise to not abandon this fic and to put up the next post as fast as I can!