Sirius' first day at Grimmauld Place was slightly horrifying, to say the least. For the first night they conjured cots and slept in the kitchen, between the huge table and the counters. Sirius didn't think he would ever forget the next morning, when Remus had gone out to get food and other basic provisions for them to live in the house and he had ventured up out of the kitchen and into the rest of the house for the first time.
He tiptoed slowly down the hallway, well aware that if he woke the portrait of his mother it would lead to a shouting match the likes of which had never been seen among wizard or muggle. He took a quick peek in the drawing room, confirming that the closed drapes over the windows surely were moving – and actually buzzing, too, that would be fun – before moving onward and up more flights of stairs. He passed bedrooms along the way, some of which he didn't remember being inhabited even when the house was clean while he was a boy. Every room was dark, dank, covered in varying degrees of filth. He felt as though he were ascending into his own personal hell. What would the Order of the Phoenix think of him once they learned that this was his house, that he had "offered" it to Dumbledore? Dumbledore had in fact thought of and proposed the idea himself, and Sirius of course had not said no – it was an ideal place for headquarters, and he needed to put his own personal reservations aside – but he had not thought for one second that he would be confined here and forbidden to leave. Fortunately, most of the older members of the Order knew of his tainted past, and the house would likely be no surprise to them – but Albus spoke more and more often these days of attempting to recruit new members, especially younger witches and wizards who had connections in the Ministry. Sirius knew Albus was looking ahead to the possibility of Voldemort taking the Ministry itself in the future, and that the more people they had on their side when that happened, the better; but he hated the thought of explaining this place to new recruits, or even to Harry for that matter. What would his godson think of him after seeing this house?
Sirius finally found the room he was looking for. On the fourth floor of the house, directly below the attic, there were three bedrooms, a bathroom, and a linen closet. One of the rooms was a spare room; he heard a skittering noise from within as he passed and shuddered. The other was labelled Regulus Arcturus Black; he passed it as well, not wishing to dwell on the memory of his brother. The final room, across the hall from the bathroom, was his own. The nameplate was still on the door, which was unlocked – not how he had left it when he fled the house. He remembered the charms he had cast on the room in a fit of rage, knowing that when his mother found out he was not coming back she would immediately tear down his possessions and throw them out with the contents of the rubbish bin. It seemed that whoever had entered the room might have done so after his mother's death; his possessions were untouched. He wondered if Albus had come up here last night merely to have a look around and had undone his old enchantments. Regardless, his things were still here. He moved around slowly, looking at the pictures on the walls. The old muggle pinups were dusty and faded but still smiling, made-up, scantily clad. Those had been almost entirely for the sole purpose of upsetting his family – anything muggle related was horrifying to both his parents and Regulus. His bed was full of dust but still draped in gaudy Gryffindor red and gold blankets. He smiled, remembering how happy he had been as a child to not be in Slytherin. He decided this room would do nicely for him to stay in while he had to live here. So what if it was the same room he had grown up in as a child? At least it wasn't full of pure-blood relics and house elf heads.
Sirius spent the next few hours until Remus came back cleaning up the room. He pulled the blankets and linens off the bed and cast a cleaning spell on the mattress, which worked nicely; spelling the bedding and drapes clean as well, he remade everything. The room had a single window which had been heavily curtained, so he tore the curtains open and lifted the bottom pane to let in fresh air. The thick layer of charms surrounding the house made the outdoors look odd and wavy when he looked out, but the summer breeze of the city still came through. He cast cleaning charms on dusty surfaces, made a large pile of trash and outgrown clothes in the hallway, and used cleaning spells on the floor, carpet and lampshades. By the time he heard Remus calling his name downstairs, the room almost looked hospitable; the reds and golds on all his Gryffindor paraphernalia were bright and vibrant again and the floor gleamed. He would finish the rest later, he decided, and banged his way quickly down all the flights of stairs and back into the kitchen, where Remus was pulling things out of bags on the kitchen table.
"I'm starved Moony, I thought you were getting things for breakfast. It's probably nearly three o' clock!" Remus gave him a look. "It's just now getting on towards one, and your friendly little pack wolf here needed to buy quite a lot of things to get us by for the next week or so. The full moon is in a few days and I didn't want to have to leave the house again." Sirius felt a little bad, but he was too hungry and ruffled to apologize. He grabbed a bag, found enough edible components to make a sandwich, and stuffed his mouth full. As the two of them finished lunch, the doorbell rang loudly upstairs. They started and looked at each other. "It must be one of the Order" said Remus calmly. "Could only be Dumbledore, he's the only one who knows besides us so far," said Sirius, and dashed upstairs. Sure enough, it was Albus.
"You gave us quite a fright, headmaster; how are we supposed to know who's ringing?" asked Remus, coming up behind Sirius at a more sedate pace. Albus considered them for a moment and then nodded. "Good point my boy; let me remedy that for you." The headmaster turned and tapped his wand to the middle of the door, holding it there for a moment. Within a few seconds a peephole appeared. "The door and its wards are still sound, but you can check who is knocking before you open it now." "Thank you Albus," said Sirius. "To what to we owe the pleasure?" Remus could tell from Sirius' tone that he was carefully controlling his true feelings towards the Headmaster. His old friend harbored a lot of resentment towards Albus for what he had said the night before.
"I have come," Dumbledore said, leading the way down into the kitchen, "to give you an update on who will be coming here and when. Molly and Arthur Weasley will likely be arriving next week; although they will not be living here full time, they will spend some nights here as it will be close to the Ministry. You will both remember that I spoke to you of the weapon that Voldemort seeks in the Hall of Prophecy within the Ministry; even now I am implementing a plan to begin guarding it day in and day out so that if Voldemort does try to seize it, we can stop him. Molly and Arthur will need a place to come and rest at odd hours of the day and night. Their children – the youngest four – will be coming with them, and if we have enough rooms ready will indeed stay here for the remainder of their summer vacation so that they can be safe and near their parents without moving back and forth between here and the Burrow. Eventually, other members of the Order will likely use this house in the same manner – a safe spot to rest, eat, and then go back out into the world for work or guard duties."
Albus looked at Remus, who was nodding, and Sirius, who looked thunderstruck. "And what is it now, Sirius?" Sirius caught Remus giving him a look and was careful to temper his tone before speaking. "I took a walk through the house this morning while Remus was out, Albus; there's no way we'll have that much space ready and livable within a week! There are things moving all through the house, wherever I walked – the curtains are buzzing – mold everywhere – trash everywhere – how many rooms do you need?" Albus regarded him calmly, and then added up on his fingers. "Let's see – one for Molly and Arthur – one for the twins – Ron can have a room of his own, that way when Harry comes they can share, they shall be delighted I'm sure – and one for young Miss Weasley as well. That comes to five rooms, a few bathrooms, and the kitchen of course. A week should be plenty enough to do that!" Remus cut in before Sirius blew his top. "Headmaster, we also need to make some space for ourselves. We slept in here last night." Dumbledore merely beamed at him. "A week, Remus! I believe in you boys. You will be able to dedicate all your efforts to this task. And you will do it admirably." He turned and began to make his way back up towards the front door. "I have much to do, so I cannot linger – I shall drop by or send word when the Weasleys are coming! Good day!"
As soon as the door swung shut softly upstairs Sirius was yelling. Remus ran up to lock the door behind Albus and then ran back down to quiet his friend before Mrs. Black's portrait could hear the echoes. "Keep it down, Sirius, you'll wake that portrait up!" Sirius lowered his voice but continued to rage in a hissing tone. "The nerve of him! Throw me in here, give me clean up duty and then let me know I'm basically a house elf for whoever he decides to put up here for a few months! I'm not running a hotel here; I'm just trying not to get arrested!" Remus tried to keep a smile off his face. He found the whole thing just slightly amusing, since Sirius had always been a bit arrogant at school about cleaning up after himself. He was a little worried, however, that Sirius' wandering nature was not suited to being holed up in this place for a very long time, but he figured as the house got cleaner and more people came to stay Sirius' spirits would rise.
"Padfoot, who else should he use for this job? Think about it. You need to stay off the streets for a good long while, I need a place to transform and recover for a bit. Should he pull Arthur out of work to come and do this, and have him get in trouble at the Ministry? Take Minerva away from Hogwarts to come sweep floors and kill spiders? We're perfect for this job. Let's take it on and do it well, and once this house is clean you'll feel much better." Sirius glowered at Remus. His friend could be so annoying sometimes, and he almost always spoke the truth.