The door opened and there stood Molly Weasley. "Oh, Laurel, dear! How good to see you!" she cried and hugged me.
"Hi, Mrs. Weasley," I said.
"Quickly, inside," growled Mad-eye.
I stepped through the thresh hold, followed by he twins, Tonks, Emmeline Vance, Kingsley and Moody. The door closed and the seven of us were ushered into the kitchen by Mrs. Weasley.
"Laurel!" Sirius Black said and gave me a one armed hug. He had a bottle of butterbeer in his other. "Holding up alright?"
I nodded and he sat me down at the table. "What is this place?" I asked glancing around in awe.
"This is Grimmauld Place, the house of Black." Sirius stated in disgust.
"This is your house?" I questioned.
He nodded and took a large gulp of his drink.
"Laurel!" a voice shrieked from behind me.
I turned to see a blur of bushy brown hair before being crushed in a hug. "Hey, Mione." I said.
"Hermione, dear, could you take Laurel to your room while the adults have a chat?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
Hermione nodded and took my hand, dragging me out of the kitchen. The twins followed, carrying my things up the stairs. After walking up numerous flights of stairs, we came to a door and Mione pushed it open. Inside was a bunk bed on the left wall and a regular bed on the right wall. There was a nightstand on the inside side of each bed (excluding the top bunk bed) and a dresser in the middle. There was a door leading to a small bathroom and two other dressers on opposite walls. The room wasn't very big and it was crowded, but I was happy to spend the next few weeks with my friends. Fred dropped my trunk at the foot of the single bed and George placed my backpack on the bed. The twins walked out silently and left us girls to talk. As soon as the doors shut behind them, I burst into tears.
Hermione and Ginny spent twenty minutes calming me down and saying soothing things. They sat on either side of me and rubbed my back and gave me tissues to wipe my face. Once I had stopped crying, my face was red. They did their best to cover it in a light layer of make-up, which totally unnecessary because I wasn't leaving this room until the morning. They helped me unpack in the dresser on the right wall, the one by my bed. The drawers were enchanted, much like my trunk, to hold impossible amounts of clothing. I put my diary, sketchbook, pictures, phone and iPod all in the top dresser drawer. I didn't need the nightstand, so I let Ginny use it.
After I was unpacked, I changed into a tank top and pajama bottoms, curled up on my bed, hugging my picture of me and Ced and fell asleep.
When I woke up, the girls had left the bedroom and sitting on the edge of my bed was Sirius. "Morning," I mumbled.
"Everyone went to Diagon Alley for the day, so it's just you and me. Hermione and Ginny wanted you to go too, but I had a feeling you wanted to sleep in."
"Thanks," I said sitting up.
"You want to play a game after breakfast? I have wizards chess, exploding snaps or muggle cards." Sirius listed.
"I'd love to," I smiled weakly, "Oh, I don't eat meat..."
Sirius laughed, "That's fine, I have lots of options."
He made breakfast for me, chocolate chip pancakes and fruit. Turns out, he's a pretty good cook. By the time we were done eating, it was 11:00 am. Sirius disappeared into a different room for a minute while he got out some games for us to play. I knew he was trying to get my mind off Cedric, and it wasn't working. But I did appreciate the effort.
A week had gone by in Grimmauld Place. There were top secret Order of the Phoenix meetings down stairs, the twins were working on their practical jokes and Sirius and I got a lot closer. I spent a lot of time with him and Buckbeak, playing chess or talking. He was trying so hard to make me feel better, and he was lonely here. He did have the Weasleys staying here, and the Order visiting for meetings. But he never got to leave the house. I spent time talking about the outside world with him, the two of us did our best to cheer the other up.
Finally, one night the front door opened revealing the Advance Guard (a group of aurors who went to get Harry) who had interrupted a meeting. I watched from the staircase, I was supposed to be in the girls room. Harry caught a glimpse of Sirius before being sent up stairs by Mrs. Weasley. I dashed up a flight of stairs so as not to be seen, and waited for Harry to come.