Chapter 14: Pests and Portraits

Harry awoke in a cold sweat, breathing hard. From the small amount of light that was filtering through the single window, he guessed it was about 4 o'clock in the morning. He glanced over at Ron. To his intense relief, his friend was still asleep; Harry didn't feel like explaining his nightmares.

He lay in bed for a while staring at the ceiling before he remembered that he wasn't at the Dursleys and was allowed to leave his room. When that thought occurred to him, he climbed out of bed and slipped silently through the doorway, thinking of getting a drink.

Harry descended the staircase and walked through the living room to the kitchen. Once there, he retrieved a clean glass from the dish drainer and filled it with water. After gulping it down, he walked back into the living room and sat on the couch in front of the fireplace. He stared into the jumble of cold black coal and tried to avoid thinking about his dream.

'Harry?'

He jumped.

Rubbing her eyes sleepily, Lissa limped into the room and sat next to him. 'Did you have another nightmare?' she asked sympathetically.

'Yeah.'

Lissa moved closer and put her arms around Harry, leaning her head on his shoulder. 'I felt you were upset and frightened so I came down. Somehow I knew you were here.'

'It's late, Liss, you should get some sleep.'

'I'd rather stay here with you. I can sleep anytime.'

'Thank you.'

'That's what families are for,' Lissa returned quietly.

Feeling considerably calmer, Harry drifted off to sleep. For the first time since the Third Task he slept without nightmares.

'Sirius! Sirius! Get up! I can't find them anywhere!'

The frantic voice of his wife brought Sirius to full wakefulness. 'Who can't you find?'

Emily was almost in tears. 'Harry and Lissa. I went to Harry's room to help him change his bandages but he was gone. Ron said he hadn't seen him this morning so I checked Ben's room and then Lissa's thinking he would be with one of them, but she's missing too and I can't find either of them!'

Sirius leapt out of bed and threw on some fresh robes. 'Come on, I'll help you look.'

Together they combed the lower floors. Their voices attracted the attention of Molly, who insisted on helping them in their search. Nearly twenty minutes later, they entered the living room. Emily slumped onto a couch and put her face in her hands.

Sirius suddenly tapped her on the shoulder. 'Look over there, Em.'

Emily raised her head to where he was pointing. Asleep on the couch across from her were Harry and Lissa, each with an arm around the other. She smiled at the sight. 'I've never seen either of them so relaxed.'

'They're good for each other all right. I think Dumbledore was right about them and Ben adopting each other as surrogate siblings.'

Molly dabbed at her eyes. 'They look so sweet.'

'Sweet? It's a good thing they're asleep. Harry would be mortified. Perhaps I'd better wake them up.' Sirius walked over to the children and shook them gently by the shoulder. 'Harry, Lissa, wake up.'

The children shifted as they gradually woke up. Lissa rubbed her eyes while Harry blinked several times. Once fully awake, they glanced at each and smiled sheepishly. They both looked up as they noticed the people staring at them.

'Morning!' Lissa said brightly. Despite her cheerful tone, Harry distinctly saw her cast a nervous glance at Sirius.

Emily returned her smile. 'What are you doing down here? We were worried when we couldn't find either of you.'

'Oh, sorry.' Harry was embarrassed. He didn't want to admit to his frequent nightmares; he shouldn't be so bothered by them at his age. Figuring he should just get it over with quickly, he opened his mouth to explain.

Lissa jumped in before he could speak. 'I had a nightmare about the Death Eaters.' She edged closer to Harry and gave a convincing shiver of fear. 'I came down here and Harry followed me. I guess we fell asleep.'

'Oh Lissa,' Emily was troubled. 'I'm sorry; I should have made sure you were okay. Why don't you go upstairs and get changed, I'll make you and the others some hot chocolate in the kitchen. Molly, could you show me where you stored the chocolate?'

Harry fell into step with Sirius as the small group made their way to the kitchen. Minutes later, Ben came charging down the stairs with Fred and George hot on his heels. After wordlessly undoing the Muggle prank he had pulled on the twins, Emily went straight to work making hot chocolates for everyone while Mrs Weasley got breakfast started. The two women seemed to get along famously; at present they were happily chattering on about their respective broods.

'You must be delighted that you could take in the children,' Mrs Weasley was saying. 'How are they settling in?'

'Very well, you'd think they've been here for weeks the way they adapted. I can't wait to tell Lissa that we've adopted her and the others. She's always dreamed of having a family, but none of the adoption interviews worked out; no one recognised what a captivating girl she is.'

Emily spoke with pride evident in her voice. She ruffled Harry and Ben's hair as she set their cups in front of them. 'And she has two marvelous brothers to blame for all her pranks.'

'Hey!'

Molly, Emily and Sirius laughed at the indignation on the boys' faces.

'Can't I blame her for stuff too?' Ben piped up.

'Of course not, she's a girl.' Emily turned back to the stove to hide her smile.

'Blame Harry,' Sirius advised seriously. 'The Potter men are notorious for their inability to come up with a decent excuse to get them out of hot water.'

'Oh?' Harry took another sip of his drink. 'I must have missed out on that trait. Back in second year, one of my excuses made Professor McGonagall go all teary-eyed.'

Sirius almost fell off his chair with shock. 'Really? Wow! Even Remus never managed to do that, and he came up with some pretty good ones. Okay, I take it back, Ben. Just take the blame like a man.'

Ben grinned back; he was starting to warm up to Sirius.

Ginny entered the room helping Lissa hobble along on her weakened leg; it seemed the stubborn girl had finally accepted she needed help. Behind her, Hermione was holding Laura by the hand while engaged in a spirited argument with Ron.

'…can't believe you haven't even started on your homework, Ron. You do realise you only have a month left to do it in?'

'I'll get to it later, I suppose you're halfway through already.'

Hermione raised an eyebrow. 'I finished it all two weeks ago.'

'Yeah, well you're you, of course you have. I bet Harry hasn't finished his either.'

'He's had perfectly valid reasons not to, Ronald.'

Rolling her eyes, Ginny squeezed past them and flopped into the empty seat across from Sirius. Lissa went to give Emily a hug before she sat beside Harry.

Laura pulled her hand free from Hermione's as she caught sight of her favourite person. 'Hawwy!'

Everyone smiled as the little girl darted straight to Harry's chair and tried to crawl into his lap. Harry quickly moved his left arm out of her path before awkwardly trying to help her up with his better (but still painful) right arm.

'Here,' Sirius scooped Laura onto his own lap. 'Harry's hurt, Laura. Look at his arms, see, ouchies. Don't touch them.'

Laura looked between him and Harry. Reaching out a small hand, she pointed to Harry's heavily bandaged arms. 'Ouchie.' She watched Sirius as if waiting for his approval.

'Yes, that's right, Laura,' he praised happily.

Seemingly bored of the subject of conversation already, she grabbed a handful of his long hair and examined it with interest. 'Pwitty!' she squealed.

'What?' Sirius glanced at his godson for a translation; to his surprise, Harry was struggling not to laugh. 'What did she say?'

'She said your hair is pretty!' Harry grinned.

Sirius stared at Laura as if she had suddenly turned into an onion and sprouted wings. 'No,' he said firmly once he regained the power of speech. 'No, it is most definitely not pretty. Stunningly handsome, perhaps, but pretty, no.'

She gazed up at him and touched his hair again. 'Hassum.'

'Yes, good girl!' His face was alight with delight at the way the little girl watched him eagerly for approval. 'Very smart kid,' he commented nonchalantly to the room at large.

Everyone fought to hide their amusement as they nodded solemnly. Mrs Weasley took the opportunity to pass out plates of toast and muffins. Sirius watched approvingly as Ben and Lissa helped Harry without comment; his son buttered Harry's toast while Lissa poured both boys some pumpkin juice. It was done subtly without drawing attention to Harry's temporary disability. Sirius knew he hated being dependent on others. He was glad these kids had such a tight bond.

'Sirius!'

'Hmm?'

Emily waved a hand in front of his face. 'I've called your name five times.'

'Oh, sorry. What did you just say?'

'We're assigning cleaning tasks. Will you take Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lissa and Ben to de-Doxy the drawing room? Fred, George, Ginny, Molly and myself will tackle the formal dining room. I'll keep Laura with me, I don't want her near those Doxies.'

'Sure,' Sirius answered. 'But shouldn't Harry and Lissa be resting?'

Emily rolled her eyes. 'I suppose you also daydreamed through their protests at being treated like invalids.'

'Erm…'

'I take that as a resounding yes.'

Sirius quickly changed the subject. 'When do we start?'

'Right after everyone's finished breakfast.'

Half an hour later Sirius led his small group into the drawing room, a long, high-ceilinged room on the first floor with olive green walls covered in dirty tapestries. The carpet exhaled little clouds of dust every time someone put their foot on it and the long, moss green velvet curtains were buzzing as though swarming with invisible bees. It was around these that he had the children stand as he passed out cloths and large bottles of black liquid with a nozzle on the end.

'Right, you lot. Cover your faces and take a spray. It's called Doxycide and will paralyse the Doxies. They're poisonous so try not to get bitten; I've got an antidote just in case but you'd be better off not needing it; it tastes horrible.'

Sirius stared around at them to ensure they had understood; his grim demeanour suddenly turned to one of amusement. 'My, you are a peculiar looking group with those masks. You could rob Gringotts in that getup – I'm kidding!' he added hastily as Hermione threw a reproachful look at him.

The boys quickly smothered their amusement and picked up their spays, watching Sirius expectedly.

'Right,' Sirius continued. 'When I give the word, start spraying; they'll probably come flying out but just keep your head; spray them in the face and chuck them in this bucket.' He moved to stand between Ben and Lissa. She edged away warily. Sirius chose to ignore it, convinced he was imagining things. 'Are you all ready? Okay – spray.'

Mere seconds after they began spraying, a number of Doxies shot out of folds in the material. They resembled fairies except they were covered with thick black hair and their shiny wings resembled those of beetles.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sirius saw a large Doxy charge angrily at Ben who caught it full in the face with the Doxycide. 'Good shot, Ben!' Sirius cheered as he flicked his own fallen Doxy into the bucket.

The de-Doxying of the curtains took the better part of the morning. When she noticed Harry and Lissa looked exhausted, Hermione tactfully suggested they rest before starting on the next job.

Sirius caught on immediately and plopped down onto the closest armchair with a theatrical sigh. 'That's it, I'm done for. No Ben, Harry, Lissa – don't wait. Go on without me! Live your lives to the fullest; cause Emily grief, prank Remus, hex Snape at every opportunity, but most important of all, don't get caught.'

Sirius couldn't help but feel satisfied when the kids dissolved into fits of laughter at his dramatic act. The feeling of contentment abruptly dissolved as the loud clang of an ancient doorbell sounded from downstairs; it was followed by a cacophony of screams and wails that startled Lissa and Ben to the degree that they fell off the couch.

'What is that?' Harry's eyes were wide as he and Ben helped Lissa to her feet.

Sirius sighed. 'My mother.'