A/N: I'm back! Sorry I took so long to update, I've had a bit of writer's block. But now my writer's block is gone and I can update.
Thank you SO much to my reviewers: FroBoy, Juli Black Potter, Azabaza, RoxyLo, and MeTaMoRpHoSiS gUrL, you guys are awesome!
Disclaimer (I do have a habit of forgetting these things): I do not own Harry Potter.
Everyone started pushing each other out of the way to see the portrait. Harry and Ginny stood silently at the back, since they had already seen it.
"Wow Harry, you look just like your dad!" exclaimed Ron, shoving George to the side so he could see.
"Hello, I'm Hermione," said the bushy-haired girl sitting in front of the portrait. "You must be the Potters."
Harry and Ginny glanced at each other and tried not to laugh. Hermione was being so formal!
"Yes, we are," replied Lily. "Harry has told us so much about you."
"He says that you're the smartest witch in your year," said James.
"Congratulations," added Lily, smiling kindly at her.
Hermione blushed and looked away, trying to bite back a smile.
"You remind me of Lupin," commented James.
"How is he?" asked Lily, fear evident in her eyes. "He is alive, right?"
"Yeah, he's alive," answered Ron. "He might even come over today."
"What about Sirius?" asked James. "And Peter?"
Harry, Ron and Hermione explained that story, trying to recall the details of what happened that night in third year. Then, of course, they also had to tell them about Sirius's death in the Department of Mysteries.
"So it was Peter who betrayed us?" asked Lily, making sure she had all the facts straight.
"Yeah, Sirius was innocent," said Ron.
"Wow," said Lily, a tear falling down her face. (A/N: I don't really know if portraits can cry, but let's just pretend they can.)
"Well, enough of that depressing stuff," said James, breaking the tension with a grin. "What are you guys going to be doing today?"
"Cleaning," answered Mrs. Weasley, before anyone else could. "Lots of cleaning."
Harry, Hermione and the Weasley children groaned.
"I'm sorry, we didn't do a great job cleaning it out before we left," said Lily.
"Not to worry, we can get it done in no time," said Mrs. Weasley. "We should probably get started actually, it's nearly noon. Come on children, there's work to be done."
Everyone got up from where they were sitting and followed Mrs. Weasley to the kitchen, where she began to distribute jobs to everyone.
"Harry and Hermione, I want you two to clean out the fridge," said Mrs. Weasley, handing out large garbage bags to everyone. "Ron, Ginny and Bill, you two can clean out the basement, watch out for boggarts. Charlie, you and the twins can do the ball room, it's covered in cobwebs."
"They have a ball room?" asked Ginny. "For dancing?"
"Yes, lots of big houses like this do," said Mrs. Weasley.
"We should have a ball!" exclaimed Ginny, her eyes sparkling excitedly.
"That's a great idea!" cheered Hermione. "Can we please, Mrs. Weasley?"
"That would be lovely," said Mrs. Weasley. "But it's Harry's house, you'll have to ask him."
"Please, Harry?" asked Ginny, giving him her best puppy eyes.
"Uh, yeah, I guess," he mumbled. He hated dancing, but he knew that Hermione and Ginny would beg him until he said yes. This way, he could avoid hours of endless torture.
The girls squealed and hugged him, already planning out the details.
"When should we have it?" asked Ginny.
"You can decide that after you clean," said Mrs. Weasley. "Go on, start cleaning!"
"Okay, open the door," Hermione told Harry, pointing to the fridge.
"Er, you can," said Harry, not wanting to have to smell whatever was inside it.
"It's your fridge, you can do the honours," replied Hermione, backing away from the fridge.
"If you open it, I'll help you plan the ball," said Harry, deciding that helping the girls beat cleaning mouldy fridges hands down.
Hermione seemed to struggle with herself for a minute, then she nodded.
"Alright, brace yourself," she said, opening the door.
They were immediately overwhelmed by a strong stench of spoiled milk and rotten eggs.
"Ugh, that's disgusting," said Hermione, tossing a carton of eggs into the bag.
Harry reached in and grabbed a carton of milk. He quickly threw it in the bag.
Hermione found a container of strawberry yogurt and started examining it.
"What are you doing?" asked Harry.
"I'm curious to see what the expiration date is, but I can't seem to find it," she replied. "Here, you look."
Harry took the container from her hands, but as he did, the lid fell off and mouldy yogurt spilled all over Hermione.
"Harry!" she screeched, trying to wipe yogurt off her face.
"Sorry," he said, trying to control his laughter. "How does it taste?"
"Absolutely awful!" she cried. "And stop laughing, it's not funny Harry!"
"Yes it is," he answered, not bothering to contain his laughter anymore.
Hermione growled angrily and flung yogurt at him. It landed in his hair and dripped all over his face.
"What was that for?" he exclaimed angrily.
"Does it taste good, dear?" Hermione asked mockingly.
"Hey, have you guys seen mum?" asked Ron, walking into the kitchen. "What happened to you?"
"Strawberry yogurt," snarled Harry. "Very old strawberry yogurt."
"You better not let mum see this," warned Ron. "There's a big mess on the floor, and you guys smell like crap."
They looked down, and sure enough, the floor was splattered with yogurt, and the broken, rotten eggs had started to leak from the bag.
"Great, just great," mumbled Hermione, as Mrs. Weasley walked in.
"I'll be leaving now, have fun!" said Ron, slipping past his mother as Hermione shot him a menacing glare.
"So, how are Harry and Hermione doing?" asked Ginny, as Ron hurried down the basement steps.
"They've spilled mouldy yogurt over themselves and the floor," said Ron, grinning. "Mum walked in just as I was leaving."
"Oh wow, I wish I could have seen that!" laughed Ginny.
"Yeah, we got the easy job," replied Ron.
"Very easy," commented Bill. "Especially since neither of you is doing any work."
"Sorry Bill, I'll go start on the closet," said Ginny, still giggling.
Ginny opened the closet door, and screamed when she saw a dead Harry Potter looking at her with cold green eyes.
"It's just a boggart Ginny, I'll get it," said Bill, stepping in front of Ginny. The lifeless Harry was immediately replaced by the Fleur, with a very angry look on her face.
"Ridikkulus!" shouted Bill.
Fleur blew up like a balloon and started to float up to the ceiling.
All three of them laughed, and the boggart disappeared with a loud crack.
"The thing you're most scared of is Fleur?" asked Ron, laughing at his older brother.
"You haven't seen her when she's angry," replied Bill, his ears turning red. "Your boggart was certainly interesting, Ginny."
"If either of you tell Harry about it I will not hesitate to kill you," threatened Ginny.
"I won't tell him," promised Bill.
"Me either," said Ron.
"Good," said Ginny. "Let's get back to cleaning, then."
"What on earth happened?" asked Mrs. Weasley. "You two are covered in…whatever that stuff is!"
"Old yogurt," answered Hermione.
"Alright, well, lets get you two cleaned up," said Mrs. Weasley. "Scourgify."
Harry, Hermione, and the floor instantly became spotless.
"Perfect," said Mrs. Weasley. "Now, get back to work."
Mrs. Weasley left and Harry and Hermione started pulling things out of the fridge again.
"Hey, Fred, Charlie!" exclaimed George. "Come here and look at this!"
"What is it?" asked his twin, hurrying over to where George was standing by a fancy wardrobe.
"There's a door behind this wardrobe," replied George.
"Let's move the wardrobe then," said Charlie.
The three of them were quickly able to move the wardrobe to the side, and Charlie wrenched the door open.
"A staircase!" exclaimed Fred.
"Well come on then, let's go!" said Charlie.
The three of them raced up the dusty stairs and opened the door at the top. They found themselves in a very dusty attic.
"Oh, I guess it's just an attic," said Fred disappointedly.
"There might be something interesting up here," said George optimistically. "And anyway, it's a great place to hide from mum and get out of cleaning."
"Good point," said Charlie. "Want to look around a bit?"
"We should probably wait until later, mum will probably come to check on us soon," said George. "How about after dinner?"
"Sounds good to me," answered Fred, and the three of them went back to the ball room to continue cleaning.
They were lucky they hadn't stayed up there long, because Mrs. Weasley came to check on them a few minutes after they got back.
"It looks a lot better in here," she commented. "Harry and Hermione have finished cleaning the fridge out, so I'm going to go pick up some groceries in Diagon Alley. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."
"Is dad home?" asked Charlie.
"Yes, but he's upstairs with his beloved television," said Mrs. Weasley. "I think he's going to marry it."
The boys sniggered and Mrs. Weasley left the room.
"Want to go see what everyone else is doing?" asked Fred.
"Sure, they're probably in the basement," said George.
The three of them went into the basement and found everyone down there drinking butterbeer.
"Hey, where did you get those?" asked Fred.
"I brought them with me," said Bill. "You guys want one?"
"Sure," said George, and they each took one and sat down.
"Have you found anything interesting down here?" asked Fred.
"Just a boggart," answered Ginny.
"And a lot of spiders," added Ron, shuddering.
"Anyone home?" someone yelled from upstairs.
Ginny screamed and her butterbeer fell and smashed on the floor. "Death eaters!"
"Relax Gin, not even a death eater would be stupid enough to announce his presence like that," said Harry.
"Let's go see who it is," said Bill, leading the way upstairs.
"Who is it?" asked Charlie, when they reached the top of the stairs.
"It's me, Lupin," he said. "Is anyone else home?"
"Dad is upstairs and mum is in Diagon Alley," said Fred.
"What have you guys been doing?" asked Lupin.
"Cleaning," answered Hermione.
"Have you found any secret passages yet?" asked Lupin.
"There are secret passages?" exclaimed Ginny.
"Of course there are, this house was built by the marauders," said Lupin.
"We found a passage to the attic in the ball room," said George. "It was behind a wardrobe."
"Can I see it?" asked Ginny eagerly.
"We're going back up after dinner, we'll show you then," said Charlie.
"This house has more secret passages than Hogwarts," said Lupin. "You should look around a bit."
"Do you know about all of them?" asked Harry.
"No, I think there's probably a few that even I don't know about," he answered.
"Will you tell us where one is?" asked Ginny. "Please?"
"No, it'll be much more fun if you find them yourselves," he replied.
"Can we even have a hint?" asked Ron.
"Just one little hint, please?" asked Hermione.
"Well, alright," he said. "There's one in the kitchen."
They all ran to the kitchen, eager to find a secret passage. Lupin followed behind them, laughing at their enthusiasm.
A/N: I'm going to end it here I guess, I'm pretty sure this is my longest chapter yet. I'm going to start writing the next chapter tonight, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish it. It will probably be up by tomorrow. Please review!