Fred answered the door when the bell rang and George closed the curtains. They were probably so tired of being in their rooms, Sirius didn't blame them. The portrait had, once again, been silent for quite some time; now that he thought of it, the last time it had screamed had been the first time Minerva and Snape had come to Grimmauld Place. He put supper on the table as Albus swept into the kitchen. "Ah, Sirius. Not answering the door today?" "They beat me to it Headmaster, what can I say," said Sirius, turning away towards the stove so he didn't have to see any disapproving looks.
After supper Albus swore in the two new members, Nymphadora Tonks and Sturgis Podmore. Sirius was vaguely familiar with Sturgis's name, and the man seemed nice enough. He was related to Nymphadora, which was a little strange since he had never met her. His whole story had, of course, been explained to both of them before they had come to the house, so she just smiled and shook his hand. The very first order of business after swearing in the new members was assigning them guard duty. It was evident just glancing around the table how little sleep everyone was getting; there were dark circles under Molly's eyes, and Remus looked dangerously pale. Snape's eyes glittered strangely, but then maybe they always did that, Sirius wouldn't be surprised. Arthur yawned about every five minutes. Thankfully Nymphadora and Sturgis were each willing to take four shifts a week, which cut back shifts for Albus, Arthur and Remus. Minerva and Snape said they were willing to keep most of the overnight shifts until the fall term started, and Albus promised more new members coming soon.
"Now," said Albus, as the meeting drew to a close, "how are things coming with the house, Sirius? Anything we should know about? How are things with Kreacher?" Sirius was caught off guard; he hadn't expected anything like this. "Oh, fine. Yes, all fine." "We'll most likely need two or three guest rooms, definitely one for Nymphadora here. Let her know which room you'd like her to use if she needs to stay here." There were no clean rooms other than the one extra guest room they had prepared with the Weasleys just after their stay. Sirius smiled weakly and told Nymphadora how to get to that room. When he stole a glance at Albus, he could see the storm brewing behind his eyes.
Once the meeting was over, Albus took him to the drawing room. "What has been happening Sirius? The children seem desperate to get out of their rooms, no progress has been made on cleaning – were you not given tasks to complete?" "Yes Headmaster," Sirius said, staring past Albus and out of the window, which wasn't as impressive as it should have been since the drapes, which were buzzing, were drawn. "This is very important work Sirius. Without Grimmauld Place in good condition, and the children kept busy, the Order cannot function half as well. I know you would love to be out on guard duty yourself, but this is for your own safety. You must hold your end of the bargain up, or you will find your vow broken and the protection that we can offer you gone." At that point it didn't sound like such a bad option, but Sirius knew there were no other places that were safe from the combined threats of both the Ministry and Voldemort. "You want Molly Weasley to trust you, don't you? Then stop giving her reason not to. Hermione Granger will be coming to stay within the next week, and the three eldest Weasleys are in the process of giving me their answers about joining the Order. This organization is about to get bigger Sirius, and you are at the heart of it. If the existing members do not trust you, than the new ones won't either."
Albus left after that, leaving a general disappointment in Sirius lingering in the air. The next day he sent word that Hermione Granger would arrive that afternoon, and that he had sworn Bill Weasley into the Order. Bill had taken another of Remus's guard shifts, which left Remus with just two a week; with the promise of a new guest coming, and Remus's return to him, Sirius found his spirits buoyed enough to begin cleaning anew. He announced at breakfast that they would be working together that day and all the children looked up with expressions of such shock that he felt awful for confining them to their rooms so much. He promised himself that he would try to fulfill his duties at Grimmauld Place, at least for their sake; and at least so that when Harry arrived, the house was as clean as possible.
It was with a lighter heart that he led the four children upstairs. Remus would be home at four that afternoon, and Ginny and Ron especially were both excited about Hermione's pending arrival. Remus had told Sirius that Hermione had contacted Albus from vacationing with her parents and asked if it would be alright for her to spend the rest of the summer wherever Harry and Ron were. Sirius knew little of the girl, except that she had always displayed beyond average intelligence in his presence, but commended her for her Marauder-like spirit.
He stopped on the second floor; there was Remus's door, Molly and Arthur's room down the hall, and the door to the room that Nymphadora sometimes occupied. That left two more doors, one a bathroom and one a bedroom, on this floor that had yet to be conquered. Thinking of how people were always running up or down stairs from this floor to find a bathroom to use, Sirius decided to start there first. The room itself was huge, large enough for him to get Ginny started on cleaning the tile floor while Fred worked on the tub itself. Ron, who was complaining again, managed to win the responsibility of the toilet, and Harry began working on cleaning the door which had once been white but was brown on the outside and black on the inside. Meanwhile, Sirius and George each grabbed a door to the vanity under the sink and pulled.
A massive shape was lurking in the corner; otherwise the cabinet was empty. "What the hell is that?" Sirius mumbled to himself. He could see it was moving; it had to be at least a foot tall. He lit his wand and lifted it to illuminate the space enough to find a niffler, huddled into the corner as far back as it could go. "I think there's something wrong with it," said George as Sirius came to the same conclusion. Usually nifflers were friendly little beasts, but this one was growling and obviously quite threatened by them. "Stupefy!" Sirius muttered, and the creature slumped forward out of the cabinet. Ron screamed. "Really Ron!" Ginny berated him, continuing right on cleaning the floor. Sirius scooped the niffler up. "Right, George, use a couple of spells and get that cleaned out." He swung open the cabinets over the sink and found that they were blessedly empty except for grime. "Those too, please. The rest of you carry on, I'll be right back. Not sure what we're going to do with this."
He thundered down the stairs; thankfully it was a Saturday and Arthur and Molly were both home. Arthur conjured up a cage for the critter and they decided to hand it off to Minerva after her watch that night, so that she could give it to Hagrid. Hagrid was in the order but largely needed to stay on the grounds of the castle, especially with most of the teachers and the Headmaster gone so often.
Sirius ascended the stairs and couldn't believe what having so many sets of hands could do; the room would have taken him and Remus a full day to clean, but it was already nearing completion. He went to collect some soap and towels to put away in the cabinets and by the time he returned, the bathroom was cleaner than it had probably ever been. "Right," he said, "Fred, can you put this lot all where it's supposed to be? The rest of you come down to the kitchen, we're going to decide on some regular tasks for each of you to do every week and then we'll make lunch." When they were all seated round the table he made a list of housework that was piling up and would need regular attention, and then let the children choose what was most appealing to them.
Fred and George were to collect, wash, and dry laundry each week; Ron was to fold it. Hermione would clean the bathrooms; this was the only chore left, and since she wasn't there to vouch for herself, Sirius had no choice but to stick her with it. Ginny would see to it that any floor already cleaned by their efforts remained clean, and would also keep stock of the food in the kitchen and make a list of what should be ordered each week. Quite happy with himself and feeling better than he had in weeks, Sirius got up from the table to make lunch but found that Molly had other plans. "Why don't you run and wash up, Sirius, and I'll handle the meal?" He took that as a kind hint, not having showered in quite some time, and went to his room. When he returned, clean and wearing fresh clothes, the children were happily filling Molly in on the adventures of the morning. "Who knew cleaning a bathroom would be such a thrilling headline?" she said, and gave him a genuine smile.
After lunch Sirius had just begun to think about going to work on the remaining bedroom on the second floor when the doorbell rang and the portrait howled. It was Hermione; Sirius now realized that every time someone new came to the door, the portrait awoke. For people who had already been to the house before, the picture of his mother mercifully remained silent. As Fred and George shut her up he let Hermione in; she gave him a shy smile before running to Ginny and then Ron for greetings and hugs. Sirius noticed she didn't hug Ron, and wondered how long that had been going on.
He ushered her and her trunk up to the third floor with Ginny in tow, excited to have a bunkmate. For a few minutes he lingered in the doorway as Ginny showed Hermione the tiny window that she always kept open to let in as much light and air as possible, the weird, small door in the closet that no one had yet been able to open, and how the beds were both brand new (Sirius didn't know what had been eating the original but hoped it had nothing to do with that door in the closet) and had new bedclothes. "I hope it's alright, Hermione," he said, and both the girls startled, having forgotten he was there. "Let me know if there's anything else we can do to make it better. We're not working with a whole lot." Hermione beamed at him. "It's just lovely Sirius, thank you! Mrs. Weasley told me you were the one who thought that Ginny and I might want to share a room, too, that was so thoughtful. It'll make all the difference." Her eyes wandered unbidden towards the closet and Sirius tried not to laugh. "I'm glad that the arrangements are to both your liking; I want all of you to feel safe and comfortable while you're here. If the room gives any trouble at all, just let Remus or I know. He's down on the second floor and I'm on the fourth."
He left the girls to unpack Hermione's things and returned to the kitchen, to news from Molly that Albus had been by briefly.
"He said that Charlie very much wants to be a part of the Order, he just can't leave Romania. So we aren't swearing him in, unless something changes. Percy still hasn't answered him yet." Her voice got a little odd there and Sirius wondered if she had insight into the views of her third oldest son that she wasn't sharing with Albus. "The good news is that Emmeline Vance accepted and was sworn in today! She's taking her share of guard duty now. And Albus said we're to have a proper meeting next week to discuss all the other work there is to do, he's hoping to hear from Percy by then and said he might have one or two others who will have made up their minds by that time, so we can all really get into working."
"That sounds good, Molly," said Sirius. "Hermione is unpacking, I have them all the afternoon off. I didn't know how much they'd be able to get done until she gets settled." "Right you are Sirius, there's bound to be a bit of an uproar for the rest of the day," she agreed, and they spent a rather pleasant afternoon planning upcoming meals, going over the shifts for guard duty, and discussing the work that loomed in the future for the Order. Sirius realized that talking to people other than Remus could actually be quite beneficial; by the time supper was served, he felt warm and happy both inside and out. Having all the children gathered around the table, along with Molly, Arthur and Remus, felt almost like having his own family; he just wished Harry was there to spend this time with them. He reminded himself to ask the Headmaster to confirm that Harry would be fetched before his birthday; his godson shouldn't have to celebrate with those blasted muggles.
The meal was finished and they were all relaxing in their seats; most were drinking tea, although Ron had wanted hot chocolate and Molly had guard duty so she had a cup of strong black coffee. Sirius was just thinking about going to bed early when the doorbell rang. He looked at Remus; they weren't expecting anyone this late. Then the portrait started caterwauling, and Sirius's hand went straight to his wand. He locked eyes with the other three adults in the room; they all had their wands drawn. A stranger at this time of night seemed to signify only one thing to Sirius; the enchantments that Albus had claimed were impenetrable were not so strong after all, and Death Eaters had come calling.