A/N:

WARNING! This is not the first time I've updated today! You know the drill, go to chapter 17 and start from there. Thanks~

I don't own Harry Potter.

Exam week was fast approaching. More importantly, Sirius's court date was fast approaching. Dumbledore gave me a week of leave leading up to the court date and a week after, which I appreciated but probably wouldn't use. The day after the court date, a Thursday, was a full moon. I couldn't settle it with my conscious to leave Remus alone during that time, nor did I want to.

After announcing my impending absence to my third year class, they seemed reasonably upset. I smiled at the reaction before reassuring them that they wouldn't be taught by Severus while I was gone.

After class, Harry, Hermione, and Ron stayed after, joining me in my office as I finished packing my belongings.

"What's up, guys?"

"You're leaving for Sirius's trial, right?" Hermione asked, catching me off guard. I paused, looking up at the witch, and nodded.

"I won't be gone for long. I wouldn't be leaving until Tuesday if I didn't think that Fudge would try to move the date up. I've been in that situation before and I didn't have enough notice to get to the new location. Word of advice, if you ever get into legal trouble with the Ministry, get there three or four hours early."

"What would the Ministry have against you?" Ron asked obliviously. I smiled, exchanging a glance.

"He said, she said. Just like what happened with Sirius." I glanced around the room, making sure I had everything I needed for the trial. Memories, check. Wand, check. Two-way mirror, still at Sirius's place. "Alright, I've got everything I need. Will you guys stay out of trouble? At least until Thursday night?"

"Who do you take us for?" Harry laughed under his breath. I rolled my eyes before turning to Hermione, grabbing her next week of Calming Drought off of my bookshelf.

"You know what to do, just don't go overboard. Remember the risks every time you take it," I ordered the Muggleborn. She nodded, accepting the package and ignoring the confused stares of her friends.

"Stay out of trouble." I meet each teenager's eyes before throwing my arms over the three's shoulders, pulling them close. "I mean it."

I had forgotten how busy London could be. Between the crowds heading to and fro and my own agenda, I had to keep reminding myself on where I was going in order to keep from being sidetracked.

Looking up from the gray sidewalk, I closed my eyes, thinking briefly about Sirius's childhood home, Number 12 Grimmauld Place. When I opened my eyes, the building was stretching along the line between numbers 11 and 13. When the siding stilled, Number 12 was proudly emblazed on a door I now stood in front of.

I almost stepped away from the door, remembering everything that Sirius had told and shown me of this place. I swallowed the fears I'd never admit to anyone and slid a key into the front door, twisting it until the tumblers in the door clicked satisfyingly. I leaned into the door heavily, pushing it open with all of my weight.

The first thing I saw was dust. The second, cobwebs. The third, a laughably ugly umbrella stand that was most likely crafted from a troll's leg.

I laughed at the green clothing the walls, accented by the serpentine crystal chandelier that hung from the ceiling, covered in just as much dust as the rest of the room.

"Filth! Scum! Mutant, freak, begone from this place! Mudblood! How dare you enter the house of my fathers you-" I grimaced at the screaming woman. Or rather, at the screaming portrait of a woman. Sirius had told me of this painting and now I could truly emphasize with the man, having grown up with that beast for a mother.

"Silencio!" I muttered, jabbing my wand in the paintings direction. With the occupant furiously gnawing away at the charm, I examined the portrait more closely. "Definitely a Permanent Sticking Charm. Hmm... I think I can handle that," I mused to myself, picturing a small amount of destruction for a large amount of peace. I ripped the curtain back over her portrait before the woman could break the silencing spell.

"Kreacher, are you here?" I said to the air. The bitter house elf appeared with a loud crack at the head of the stairs, scowling at me.

"Filthy mudblood," he growled before looking behind me. "Oh, my mistress, if only you could free your father's home from this trash!"

"Yes, yes, I'm a worthless witch with horrible blood. I just thought I should tell you that I'm going to be staying here, with Sirius' permission, for the next week or so. You don't have to stay in the house, but I'd appreciate it if you help me clean the unused rooms. I won't touch Mrs. Black's room if you don't want me to, but I think you would be a better judge of what is garbage and what isn't. I'm sure a lot of the things in this house mean a lot to you," I said, not moving from the foot of the stairs. Kreacher didn't move but I didn't mind.

Being polite to the house elf was surprisingly easy. From the memories Sirius had shown me, I knew, even if I didn't like to admit it, that Sirius was at fault regarding Kreacher. House elves are nice to those who are nice to them, that is their nature as much as they are conditioned to it. Sirius grew up believing that Kreacher was the epitome of the 'Most Ancient and Noble House of Black' and treated him as such. That wouldn't have been bad if Sirius had followed in his parents' footsteps and idolized Riddle, but he hated his family. That was why he had moved in with James.

Following Sirius' memories to the kitchen, I opened the door. I sighed when I saw the state it was in. I needed serious reinforcements for a job like this. Someone with Auror training.

The week leading up to the court date was reasonably uneventful. Well, I shouldn't say uneventful. Something very important happened: Kreacher decided that I wasn't filth.

Normally that wouldn't be a compliment but, from a house elf born into a long line of elves serving a strictly pureblood family, that was huge praise. To not be filth meant that I heard earned respect as a witch to the elf, not just some mudblood that had befriended his master, whom he still didn't approve of.

With Kreacher deciding that I was worth some measure of attention, he began to help me with cleaning around the house, alongside Shannon Re. Shannon was an old friend. We were both sorted into Gryffindor that fateful year, and our beds were right next to each other. Until I started staying in the boys' dormitory with the other Marauders in fourth year, we'd spend each night just talking, gossiping, and unashamedly fan girl-ing about whoever the best Quidditch player in the school was or having in-depth discussions on which of the Marauders was the best-looking. We resumed that pattern immediately when I took my bed back in the middle of sixth year when Remus and I had started dating and the other boys felt awkward with both of us sleeping in the same room. Honestly, it's not like we shared a bed. Even when we did, we were always fully clothed. Boys, I scoffed to myself.

After the war, Shannon had started her Auror training with some of our other friends and we had a falling out over Sirius' imprisonment. I don't even remember what we were fighting over. Judging from the enthusiastic hug I received when I leaned over the wall of her cubicle in the Auror's Office, she didn't either.

Shannon didn't come over and help nearly as often as Kreacher did, but that was understandable. Not only did she have responsibilities in the Ministry, she also swore that I worked her like a slave.

I replenished my potions stores and tracked down Sirius' two-way mirror, did every thing I could think of. Most of the house was now 100% dust-free, and it was wonderful. Kreacher even admitted that it was better to breath without the need to cough every two seconds.

I even worked out how to deal with Mrs. Black. After cleaning her room under the close supervision of Kreacher, I carefully cut the wallpaper around her portrait, ignoring her screams of protests and insults. While the permanent sticking charm held her to the wallpaper, it did nothing to hold the wallpaper to the wall behind it. Once the wallpaper was cleanly cut away, Kreacher respectfully bore his deceased mistress's portrait to her bedroom, where she could scream her head off all she wanted.

All too soon, the future caught up with me and it was Wednesday night, the night before the retrial. I rehearsed my plea in my head half a dozen times before I was content that I had it sufficiently memorized. When I laid down to go to sleep, now in a completely clean bedroom on the third floor, I set my alarm clock to six in the morning, planning to get to the Ministry with plenty of time to make my way to the one o'clock retrial before the Wizengamot.

I awoke from a dreamless sleep to the smell of eggs and bacon. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes and quickly getting dressed, I stumbled down the stairs to the kitchen.

"You didn't have to make me breakfast, Kreacher," I smiled at the house elf, yawning as I sat at the table. He hummed, crossing the kitchen floor, his arms laden with plates of food. He set the food down all around me and I found myself piling food onto my plate, a piece of toast already being buttered in one hand. "Thank you, Kreacher. It looks delicious."

"Big day today," he responded, nodding with a slightly lopsided smile. He walked back to the stove, his new apron shifting over his traditional house elf outfit. He wouldn't accept actual clothing, as I expected, but he did accept the vaguely floral apron as a new part of his uniform.

He began to wash the dishes and I smiled, reminded of how pleasant a well-treated house elf's presence was.

"Kreacher... what do you think of Sirius?" He froze, as I had expected, before continuing in his work, his humming now seeming forced.

"Kreacher won't speak bad of his Master," he said obediently. I nodded, a little saddened by his reaction.

"Well, last night when I was talking to Sirius, he offered to transfer ownership of you to me. That is, if it's alright with you. I wanted to talk to you before anything. Sirius knows that he hasn't been very fair with you and he thinks that you'd be happier with me."

"Kreacher must choose from Master Sirius and Mistress Rose?" he asked, pausing to look at me. I smiled to myself, keeping my facial expression neutral.

"Only if you want to," I repeated. "Neither Sirius or I will be offended if you choose. Both of us just want you to be happy. You can think about it; I just wanted to tell you before the retrial today so you'd have the day to think about it. There's no rush for you to make a decision, just think it over."

"Kreacher will," he said quietly. I nodded before grabbing my cloak off of the hook.

"I'll be home late tonight, Kreacher. You don't need to stay up," I called into the house as I shut the door. I heard a sound of acknowledgement and shut the door firmly before Disapparating, heading for the Ministry of Magic.

"This is so boring," I repeated. I was currently sitting in Tonks' spinning chair, amusing myself by spinning until I was dizzy before switching directions. The Auror didn't seem very happy with me.

"Then maybe you should have come an hour before the retrial like a normal person," she replied, her temper and patience thinning after having to deal with me for the past hour.

I'll admit it; when I scheduled the retrial, I had almost counted on Fudge rescheduling it. That is why I had requested such a late block of time. I thought I'd be able to do something useful for the rest of the day. Namely, get back to Hogwarts and party with the newly exonerated Sirius Black.

But no, I was stuck hanging out with Tonks while Mad-Eye was training some new rookies and Shannon was off on some top-secret investigation.

"You should be happier- I'm clearing your cousin's name here!" I protested. She shushed me, laughing.

"No, you're clearing my cousin's name in... three hours. Until then, you're in the way of my papers."

"Ya know, I remember when you were fun!" I complained, sticking my tongue out. The Auror's hair changed into a violent purple in indignation and she scowled playfully.

"Below the belt," she mumbled, her hair turning a mousy brown in dejection. I sighed before patting the younger woman on the head.

"I'm sorry," I said, rolling my eyes. Her hair reverted to pink and I moved over, letting her tack some new papers onto the corkboard entitled 'Sirius Black'. I suddenly laughed, figuring it out. "I know why you're mad at me! If I get Sirius' name cleared, you've wasted the past five months on tracking down an innocent man!"

Tonks stuck her tongue out at me before shooing me away from her desk.

"Go bother Arthur. Or Scrimgeour. Anyone else, please," she groaned, pushing me away. I laughed before obliging, leaving the girl her chair.

"See you later!" I shouted over the dull roar of the Auror Office. She waved, her hair growing out and darkening to match my red. I rolled my eyes as Tonks, now a copy of me, resumed her work, making a few of her coworkers look at her strangely.

A/N:

This is the last update for today. Whew, I'm kinda tired...

For those of you who don't do math or care, I want to point out once more that there are just 24 chapters in this story. That means, if I continue the chapter-a-day thing, this story will be finished on Wednesday. As in, three days. Weird, right?

Anyways, with that in mind, please review. Comments, concerns, random trivia, anything is appreciated.

x3 Thanks for reading x3

^.^ Susie ^.^