After Albus's departure, Remus came upstairs and helped Sirius in his efforts to finish cleaning up his room. While they worked they talked over the massive workload that Albus had left them with; having calmed slightly, Sirius was able to think more clearly and had decided that moving forward without a schedule would be best.
"That way we don't need to worry about sticking to a timeline, we just get however much done and what isn't finished, Albus can deal with himself!" Sirius yanked Gryffindor paraphernalia off the wall for emphasis on the end of his statement. "Well you go forward as you want, Padfoot, but I'm making some type of plan. And you'll want to keep that – in fact I think you'll find you want to keep most of this if you would stop and think. There are a lot of good memories here" said Remus gently, rescuing the bedspread from Sirius and folding it. "I'll see if Albus can get us a washing machine, cleaning by charm is lovely and all but nothing beats linens that are actually washed with soap." Sirius rolled his eyes behind Lupin's back but said nothing on the subject. "Why don't we both sleep in here tonight, and we'll pick out a room for you and work on that in the morning?" Remus laughed. "Who has a plan now, eh?" "The next part of my plan involves dinner and a lot of Firewhiskey," Sirius muttered. "That doesn't sound too bad" Remus said. "If we work on a room for me tomorrow, then the day after we should find a place where I can transform. Once the Weasley's get here I'll go home for transformations, but I'd rather stay for this one." Sirius knew Remus just didn't want to leave him alone, and he appreciated that.
The two men set up a cot for Remus in Sirius' bedroom; it really was quite nice now. Remus was right about the bedding, though Sirius didn't want to admit it; once it was washed up he would be glad to have something that reminded him of days at Hogwarts. The closet was mostly empty and would be able to hold what few clothes and possessions he had. With a fresh coat of paint, he wouldn't really mind living there for a while. The list of items they needed to ask Albus for kept growing longer, and it was only the first day.
The following morning they put in a joint effort to clean a room out for Remus on the second floor of the house. The room had been chosen simply because it appeared the least daunting to make habitable; there was no mold and nothing moving when they poked their heads in. They stripped the room bare of most of the furniture, leaving only the bed frame, a wardrobe and bookcase. The room also had its own private bath, which, as Remus said, would be handy once the children and members of the Order began to call Grimmauld Place home. Once the main decluttering was done, Remus went to Hogwarts to ask Albus about some of the things they needed while Sirius mopped the floors and cleaned the bathroom. By the time Moony came back the room was gleaming. "It looks wonderful Sirius, thank you!" Sirius smiled at his friend. "Did Albus let you get anything?" "As a matter of fact he did – more than we even asked for." Remus led him downstairs, where a huge pile of items sat by the door. "Mattresses – for both of us – brand new! And new bedding, new curtains, towels for the kitchen and two of the bathrooms, and a lot of paint. I warned him we'll need even more than this, he didn't seem bothered. He even found us a washer and dryer, I'm going to get them next!" Remus was beaming; Sirius could see that he truly believed in the Order, in the value of the work they were doing, and it gave him a bit of hope too. "Well go get them then! I'll start dealing with this lot."
By the end of the day there were two neat, clean, bright rooms to spend the night in. They had chosen the next days' work – a monumental task that would take quite a while, Sirius expected, as there were odd rustlings coming from the dark corners at the back of the room. It was also on the second floor, two doors down from Remus' room, and quite a bit larger, so they thought it would accommodate Arthur and Molly nicely. From there they went up to the third story and chose a room for Harry and Ron, with an odd painting whose occupant was elsewhere on the wall, a room for Fred and George, a large bathroom to clean with what Remus suspected were grindylows living in the toilets, and finally a room for Ginny – where they found the most unpleasant surprise of all.
Sirius had opened the door and nothing horrid popped out so he ventured inside – the room was darker than the others so he lit his wand. It illuminated a bed that would either need to be thrown out or massively repaired – it looked as though it had been eaten by something – a sinister looking wardrobe, a painting of someone who Sirius thought was a distant grandfather on his mother's side, who leered at him – and a pair of gigantic black ears. Sirius gave a shout and leapt in the air, and then realized the ears were shadows projected on the wall of a rather smaller set of ears by the bed. The house elf moved forward into the light and began to mumble under its breath. "Who is this wizard who disturbs the noble House of Black, he's woken Mrs. Isadora now. What shall Kreacher do, shall he kick the wizard out? Kreacher can see his wand, oh yes, knows he is a wizard, indeed."
Remus came in from one of the other rooms, drawn by Sirius' yell. "What's the matter? – oh. Hello there, what's your name?" he asked Kreacher kindly. "It's Kreacher," said Sirius "he was one of the younger house elves that worked for my mother back when I grew up. Certainly not the younger of them now" he said in a quiet voice to Remus. He doubted Kreacher would have heard him anyways, as he was in the middle of mumbling again. "Who is this other man, Kreacher doesn't know him, he smells different, is he a wizard too?" "Kreacher! Do you remember me?" Sirius interrupted the house elf in a loud voice. "Sirius, I left here many years ago. I've come back to try and make this house a bit cleaner. I'll be living here." He saw Kreacher's eyes widen. "The wizard says he is Master Sirius but Kreacher cannot see his face, not with the light in Kreacher's eyes." "Come out into the hall Kreacher." Sirius and Remus backed into the hallway and the elf reluctantly followed. As he came into the light Sirius put his wand out, and Kreacher saw him for the first time. The elf showed no recognition and Sirius remembered suddenly that the last time Kreacher had seen him was before Azkaban, before Lily and James, before any of… all that. He had been a different man then, had looked like a different man then. Before he could say anything else though, the elf peered more closely and a glimmer of recognition dawned on his face. "It might be Master Sirius, Kreacher thinks it is, but he is so changed. Heard he was a criminal, Kreacher did, heard he went to Azkaban. Kreacher's mistress told Kreacher to stay away from Master Sirius but here he is in the flesh, and he says he's cleaning the house but that's Kreacher's job, it is." Remus cut in softly. "Kreacher, my name is Remus, I'm a friend of the Blacks." Sirius chuckled at what his mother would have said if she had heard Remus say that. "We're only here to help you, this is a big house and there's a lot to do for one elf. We don't want to get in your way, but we'll be choosing rooms to work on cleaning so if you want to pick a room too we can stay away from you." Kreacher stared at Remus a long while and then began to slope away down the hallway. "Kreacher cleans the whole house for mistress Black," he said as he departed. His voice became louder as he retreated, and Sirius knew for certain that the elf was in his right mind and meant them to hear every word. "Kreacher does not know if he must obey Master Sirius but he certainly must not obey his… friend."
Sirius opened his mouth to yell after Kreacher and see if the elf would be bound by the old house to listen to him as a direct descendent of his mother, but Remus put a hand on his arm. "Leave him be, Padfoot, I'm tired and hungry. He's just had the greatest shock of his life I expect. The next time we run into him you can try and test him more. He will have to be dealt with before the Order begins to operate out of here, but right now I think the wards on the house protect you and I sufficiently. And who would he talk to, anyways? Let's go get some food. Tomorrow will be a long day." Sirius thought a moment and then nodded and followed Remus down to the kitchen. Tomorrow would indeed be a long day – and all the days to follow would be as well, he thought gloomily. The fact that there were still living remains of his mother's presence in the house was almost more than he could bear. Deep down he hoped dearly that Kreacher would prove to be an asset, but something told him that the old values of his family ran deep in the elf.